Sciacca

Sciacca (anc. Thermæ Selinuntinæ), a seaport on the south coast of Sicily, stands on a bold cliff 30 miles NW. of Girgenti, has a fine 11th-century cathedral, the ruined castles of the Lunas and the Perollos (between whom there existed a terrible feud), hot sulphurous and saline springs, and halfway up the adjacent mountain San Calogero caves that have been used as steam baths since Phœnician times. Off the coast very productive coral banks were discovered in 1875-80. Agathocles, tyrant of Syracuse, was a native. Pop. 20,709.