Aragona (Sicilian: Araùna or Raona) is a commune in the province of Agrigento in the Italian island of Sicily. It is 16 kilometres (10 mi) northeast of Agrigento. It is known mainly for the Macalube natural reserve and for being the Italian municipality with the highest emigration rate.

History

Aragona is located on the eastern slopes of the Mount Belvedere at an altitude of 428 m. In the 13th century, the Castello di Barrugeri was built near what is now Aragona, but it no longer exists. The town was founded on January 6, 1606, upon the initiative of lord Baldassare III Naselli, Count of Comiso. He had previously submitted a request for the foundation of a new village in his fiefdom of Diesi during the 49th Extraordinary General Parliament, overseen by the Spanish viceroy Lorenzo Suarez de Figueroa e Cordoba on August 2, 1604 in Messina. On September 6 of that year, the viceroy ordered an official investigation into the matter, which eventually resulted on January 6, 1606, in the granting of a licentia populandi, i.e. the permission to increase the fief's population. The new village was named after the Count's mother, donna Beatrice Aragona Branciforti.