It was founded in 1583, as part of the new cities established by the Spanish administration of King
Philip II of Spain to repopulate the abandoned feudaries, and was granted a licentia populandi on September 22, 1595, though people had lived in the area continuously from circa 1400. It was granted to Baldassarre Gomez de Amezcua; who was married to Francesca
Lercaro, daughter of Leonello and Elisabetta Ventimiglia, who had some marriage dowries in the feudary of Friddi, Friddigrandi, and Faverchi, dedicated to the production of wine and wheat. The descendants of Baldassarre Gomez de Amezcua and Francesca Lercaro were the Counts of Lercara Friddi until 1956. Leonello
Lercaro was a
Genoese entrepreneur of Armenian origin, who came to
Sicily in 1570 in search of better luck, and thanks to whose resourcefulness the original city nucleus was created. The family was
Catholic, of Greek rite, and this can be seen in Lercara with the icon of the Madonna of Constantinople, found by the twelve-year-old Oliva Baccarella in 1807. The graffiti effigy, bearing the date of 1734, came presumably from a Lercarese church that followed the rite of the Lercari. The church, was found outdoors nearby stream: the popular tradition passes on that event as miraculous, from which were the origins of the patronal feast and the church of Maria Santissima of Constantinople (which preserved the graffiti). For a long time, the major urban areas of Lercara Friddi were mainly places of worship: after the church of St. Gregory of Armenia, built by Leonello Lercaro between 1573 and 1580 in the area of Via dei Martiri, there was the church of Our Lady of the Rosary, built by Baldassarre Gomez de Amezcua between 1595 and 1604 on Pucci Street, the church of St. Anne, built by Francesca Lercaro between 1605 and 1610 on the same street of the same name, and the church of San Gregorio Traumaturgo, initially built by Raffaella Lercaro de Amezcua between 1627 and 1640 and then rebuilt several times until the early 19th century, corresponding to the upper part of Giulio Sartorio Street (all disappeared over time). By 1651, Lercara Friddi had a population of 281 residents. The initial development of the settlement suffered from the dangerous conditions imposed on the settlers, but it found impulsed in 1618 with the arrival of Francesco Scammacca Gravina, heir to the Lercaro barony, who in addition to residing in the nascent center favored improvements such as new roads, beverage works and additional churches. In 1708, the barony of Lercara was elevated to the rank of principality. In the book
About Noble Sicily, written in 1754 by
Francesco Maria Emanuele Gaetani,
Lercara delli Friddi turns out to be "Baronial land with a mere and mixed empire [...] inhabited by 1536 souls, for which there are 483 houses [...] six Churches." On 24 June 1800, Lercara Friddi was visited by the
King of Sicily Ferdinand I , along with his wife, Queen
Maria Carolina of Austria. They were hosted by Don Stefano Petta, Archpriest of Lercara, along with Don Marcello Sartorio. In 1801 the poet
Giovanni Meli mentions Lercara Friddi (with the place-name of
Alcara de freddi), in a passage of his reflection of the current state of the
Kingdom of Sicily about agriculture and farmers: "...Those few, who remain in the villages, attached to their little families, finding themselves weak, and ill-fed, or falling into rhapsodization (terrible disease, first described by the cel.
Linnaeus) which between weakness, and contraction takes away the use of their knees, and legs or they do not have the strength to withstand the aerial vicissitudes of autumn, or the rigors of winter, hence the frequent epidemics, which depopulate the villages, and the countryside; as we have seen in this year that in Alcara alone of the colds between the space of a few months one thousand were missing, half dead and half fled for misery, and debts. And oh the great loss, which is this to the state! [...]" In 1781 the position of Mayor of Lercara Friddi was established, with Martino Ciancio serving as the first Mayor. That same year the positions of 'Magnifico Giurato' and 'Tesoriere' (treasurer) were also established; both were abolished in 1811.With the
Sicilian Constitution of 1812 and the repeal of the
feudality, Lercara Friddi was also given the title of "Free University." In 1820, the position of Decurione (Municipal Administrator) was established. It was the discovery of
sulfur that changed the fortunes of the town, making it an important mining center, the only one in the province of Palermo, for the extraction and processing of Sicilian sulfur, spurring its growth from 1828. The development led to an unprecedented population increase. In 1896, the Lercara Friddi Cemetery was moved from the main town square, to the outskirts of the city. Families who had relatives buried in the old cemetery had the opportunity to move their relatives to the new cemetery, but at the families cost. Only a few families paid. The families that didn't pay had their relatives moved for free, but they had no tombstone, only a small stone marker. However, after the
Unity of Italy the conditions of much of the population of the
Mezzogiorno (and Sicily in particular), still remained largely unsatisfactory. The
Southern question saw the upsurge of
brigandage, which in 1863 and 1876 also involved two members of the Rose-Gardners, who were kidnapped and freed upon payment of a ransom. In 1893, the year of the beginning of the crisis in the sulfur industry, several Lercarean miners complained of serious wage delays. And during the
Sicilian Fasci, Lercara paid a toll of eleven victims in the
Christmas Day protest. The slow decline of the sulfur economy was also associated with dramatic labor conditions, particularly child and female labor, denounced by
Alfonso Giordano and
Jessie White-Mario. Over half a century later, they were echoed by
Carlo Levi in 1951 and the journalist and poet
Mario Farinella. In 1956, the title of Count of Lercara Friddi was abolished, following the death of the last count, Giuseppe Turrisi–Grifeo. ==Historical sites and monuments==