Legend of Erice chickpeas
The legend of the chickpeas of Erice speaks of a key word needed to enter the city passing through Porta Spada.
Porta Spada is located north of the walls of Erice and is so named for the massacre of the Angevins who garrisoned Erice during the war of the Vespers in the thirteenth century, following which the French invaders were expelled from Sicily.
The legend narrates that the inhabitants of Erice, to get rid of the French invaders, used the following stratagem: they instituted a key word to access the city through Porta Spada. The choice of the key word fell on “ciciri”, or “chickpeas” in Sicilian, and this key word made it possible to easily distinguish the Sicilians from the French. The French were thus easily identified and pushed away.
