Buseto Palizzolo

The casale Busith, a name of Arab origin, due to its particular topographical position which is isolated and in the centre of the Erice countryside, has assumed over the centuries its own identity: firstly from an economic point of view, with many companies including an internationally famous bicycle producing factory; secondly, under a residential-town planning profile, by characterising itself as a real garden city. Memories of past times are evoked in the Museum of Local Civilisation, which shows the ancient traditions founded upon the culture of farming work. Its territory, rich in old bagli (rural fortified structures), holds a rare example of Mediterranean wood: Scorace (or Arcudaci) wood, in which rare varieties of mushrooms, succulent strawberry trees and cork oaks with a rich floral accompaniment are to be found.
LANDSCAPE
The urban landscape is closely linked to the countryside which is noticeable whilst following the main roads from valley to mount.  It possesses the soul of this city-garden with its widespread green areas in front of the houses, with no strict hierarchy, with winding roads connecting the various town hamlets. The aesthetics unilaterally emphasises few aspects or needs of a real city: in particular, the pleasantness of the widespread green areas, which distances it from the constrictions of a real urban centre and a pleasant urban plan on a human scale in which the complexity of the city is deliberately avoided. In this way, Buseto Palizzolo unfolds in her countryside, immersed in the olive groves, the vines, the fruit trees and the fields of wheat and melon in summer which frame it. From its small but well looked after, public garden,  perceive the charm of this unique urban landscape can be perceived.
HISTORY
Buseto Palizzolo has been an independent town since 1950, when it separated from Mount San Giuliano (today’s Erice) of which it represented the more fertile area. The origins of its name probably come from the Arabic Busith, a term which appeared for the first time associated with  Casale, in an official of 1241. The addition of Palizzolo, which may have happened around the mid eighteenth century came from the name of the wealthy family which had an influential hegemony over the territory for many centuries.
Today’s town is made up of a lively urban centre of which the Town Hall and the Mother Church are the most representative buildings, and of the hamlets Badia, Battaglia, Pianoneve, Bruca, Tangi and Blandano.
Since Byzantine times, the town has had an agricultural vocation and still today, the economy is based above all on agriculture. The coat of arms of the town is significant , with an olive tree trunk with a grapevine curled around it, accompanied by an ear of wheat.
NATURE
Only 11 km from Buseto Palizzolo is the Scorace wood, and  An important European Community Site (SIC) due to the biodiversity of the species animal and vegetation. It  covers  750 hectares and has a remaining strip of historic wood of Quercus suber (cork oaks) which represents an ecologic niche of extraordinary botanic value. The wood whose name comes from the term Arcu d’Aci, initially referring an Arab hamlet and then to a barony, was originally composed of cork oak, most of which were cut down in the post war period: later, the Corpo Forestale (forestry corps),  undertook reforestation work favouring the planting of conifers. In this uncontaminated habitat, a rich fauna lives including wild boar which populate the thicker parts of the wood, rabbits, hares, hedgehogs and, in the higher zones, small rodents.
In the eastern part, where there is a prevalence of oak, the undergrowth thrives and the cistus abounds. The shrubs present in the wood include the strawberry tree, blueberry, blackthorn, hawthorn, broom, butcher’s broom, and myrtle. Species of mushroom are to be found here, like the Amanita caesarea, which the Romans called food of the Gods for its delicious flavour. The pathways, looked after like the rest of the wood by the Corpo Forestale (forestry corps), lead to picnic areas complete with rustic benches and tables, cooking areas, slides and swings and see-saws for children, plus a hillside lake.  From the top of the hill, 646 metres above sea level, there is a suggestive view of Bruca, a hamlet outside Buseto Palizzolo, of the archaeological area of  Segesta with its amphitheatre and the temple on the summit of Mount Barbaro and its Splendid Doric temple of  Mounts Inici and Sparagio and Montagna Grande, and also of the Gulf of Castellammare.
MONUMENTS
The fortified structures of the “bagli” (farmhouse hamlets) characterize the countryside around Buseto: these are built in dominating positions in order to control the surrounding land and the various phase of the agricultural work. The main element is an internal courtyard, in Arab bahal from where the name Baglio probably comes from, around which there are accommodation buildings, stables and storerooms. Special spaces were destined for grape pressing (palmentu) or olive pressing (trappitu) . The highest part was the owners dwellings who stayed there seasonally. The most fascinating and significant bagli are Bombolone, Coppola, Fontana, Murfi and Ragaleo. In the town centre is the Mother Church,  dedicated to the Beata Vergine Maria SS. Del Carmelo, built at the end of the XVII as a small, rural church and enlarged in the following century.
TRADITIONS
The popular literature patrimony is important, characterised by not only dialectic poetry but also a multitude of proverbs talking about life in the fields, country wisdom or wit, the calendar and the weather. There are also rhymes, nursery rhymes,  prayers, lullabies, various sayings accompanied by superstitions, popular beliefs and dialectic expressions. The farmers sing in the barnyard, to invoke the animals, appealing to Gesù Maria e Giuseppi… e a tutti li Santi di lu Pararisu – Jesus, Mary and Joseph …and all the Saints in Heaven is particular: it can be heard during the event Natura…lmente a Tangi,  which takes place in the town hamlet of the same name and re-evokes the phases of the wheat harvest without the use of mechanical means..
On the evening of the 18 March, the evening before the San Giuseppe celebration,  there is the tradition of lighting a bonfire, called luminaria, as a propitiatory rite.
TYPICAL PRODUCE
In Buseto there is a company over fifty years old which produces 75.000 bicycles a year and is one of the first ten national companies of its sector and the first in the Centre-South of Italy for quality, innovation and variety: from racing bikes to mountain bikes, from children’s bikes to   utility or trekking. This production occupies an important position in the cycling panorama and 50% is destined for exportation: the various models are built combining advanced technology and craftsmanship..
Another skilled company produces wood stoves while a craftwork laboratory keeps the ancient art of rug making from Erice alive. The typical product is la tappita, a popular rug made with strips of coloured material. The patterns of these rugs are characterised by vibrantly coloured geometric figures.
WINE AND FOOD
To the renowned production of Erice DOC wines is added a fine gastronomy with strong flavours and excellent cheese. A biscuit factory produces biscuits and cakes distributed all over Italy. 
It is probable that in the surrounding area of Buseto, busiati, originated. This is a typical pasta, handmade with buso, a Sicilian term which indicates the rod of the ampelodesma (Mauritania Vine Reed) used to twist lengths of fresh pasta into curls with a movement of the hand. This pasta is excellent with Pesto alla trapanese - oil, tomatoes, garlic and basil- with wild boar or mutton meat sauce.
Also typical is country-style couscous, dressed with pork broth and the babbaluci a ghiotta , snails cooked in tomato and garlic. A real delicacy are the Scorace wood mushrooms, including the porcini neri variety. A traditional loaf of bread is the one made at Christmas with characteristic carvings. 
MUSEUMS SCIENCE  EDUCATION
The Museo della Civiltà locale – Museum of Local Civilisation holds the historic memories of the city and has an interesting patrimony of manufactured articles, work tools, objects of everyday use which allow the exploration of the cultural identity of the town through a journey in the material culture of the working classes. The museum is situated in a single room of the Baglio Maranzano, the ancient casale (hamlet) Busith, which might have belonged to the Palizzolo family; At the local middle school  Scuola Media Alessandro Manzoni, on whose initiative the materials for the museum were collected, there is an educational section organised with part of the objects left there. Tools and instruments with now almost unknown shapes and names which, if read or better, pronounced in dialect, seem have more significance than their Italian meaning, are exhibited in thematic areas, in small section: in addition, one of these section is dedicated to the reconstruction of domestic scenes, all furnished with simplicity and traditionally with authentic objects donated by families from Buseto.
With a little imagination, one can witness the ploughing of the fields, the harvest, and also the bread making, the construction of a barrel, now a melancholic, and secret  legacy of few, the work of a blacksmith or cobbler.
The Public Library  is an important cultural attraction, not only as regards Buseto but also for the hinterland of Trapani: It holds around 7000 volumes, plus magazines, periodicals, and multimedia supports, and numerous events take place here, including literary and artistic competition prize givings, and book presentations. 
An active association of Literature, Art and Sport promotes  cultural initiatives like exhibitions, competitions and extemporary painting exhibitions, from which the works exhibited in the Pinacoteca  Comunale  - Municipal Picture Gallery.
RELIGION REMEMBERENCE TIES
On the 16th July,  the celebration of the patron saint, the Madonna del Carmelo, takes place with a suggestive procession, behind a nocturnal torch and the faithful who create an atmosphere of profound mysticism with chants and prayers. The simulacrum of the Madonna, worshipped in the Mother Church, is carried on shoulders by a few young men, on an artistic vara (platform), and accompanied by a music band. 
The week before Christmas, the external space of the Istituto Comprensivo A. Manzoni  is a scenic frame to the suggestive Living Nativity Scene organized by the same institute. An ancient confraternity, dedicated to SS. Crocefisso was founded in 1864, and has been revived since 2006, encompassing the organising committee of the Via Crucis  with living pictures which takes place on Palm Sunday. At nightfall on Good Friday, in a mystical silence, the  SS. Crocefisso passes through the town accompanied by a procession of followers in prayer.
ENTERTAINMENT, SPORT AND FREE TIME 
The town has a municipal sports ground, used by various associations which, during the year promote different sporting disciplines particularly football, five aside football and athletics. There is also a public gym at the Istituto Comprensivo A. Manzoni, used out of school hours, by various associations for volleyball, basketball and dance. There are three private gyms which promote individual and group sports: gymnastics, aerobics, judo, table tennis, and dance; The three private swimming pools offer swimming lessons. There are frequent sporting events like football and volleyball tournaments, athletics races and meetings.
Inside Scorace wood the nature paths, the picnic areas equipped with benches, tables, cooking areas and children’s playgrounds allow for relaxing walks and pleasant stops. 
SHOWS AND EVENTS
On Palm Sunday, a suggestive Via Crucis takes place with sixteen still images made up of living people composed upon spectacular wagons which parade through the city. Unique in its kind, the sacred representation of the passion, death and resurrection of Jesus happens every year, each time becoming more and more accurate, through careful research and study of evangelical historiographical  sources.
In the town hamlet of Tangi, at the end of June, beginning of July, Natura..lmente a Tangi  rediscovers and makes the most of the ancient rural civilisation, re-evoking the harvest and gathering of the wheat.
In summer the market exhibition Buseto produce  proposes typical local products, through  performances and tasting. Another appointment, the evening before Ferragosto - 15th August national holiday, at the piazza di Battaglia, there is the spaghettata- spaghetti feast with pesto trapanese, accompanied by roast sausage, wine and local muskmelon.