Thus with the “licentia populandi” on January 6, 1606 thanks to Baldassare III Naselli Aragona was born. The Naselli ruled the country of Aragon until 1812, when feudalism was abolished. The following are the family members who ruled the fief of Diesi and then the land of Aragon:
– Baldassare I Naselli: count of Comiso, it was he who acquired the fief of Diesi. He resided for a long time in Agrigento and spent his last years in Comiso.
– Gaspare I Naselli: eldest son of Baldassare I, found himself entangled in his father’s adventures up to his neck, so much so that he even expatriated outside Italy to escape the vengeance of some enemies. He ended his days in Comiso.
– Gaspare II Naselli known as “The Red Count”: son of Baldassare II married Beatrice Aragona Branciforti of Castelvetrano.
The hamlet:
– Baldassare III Naselli: son of Gaspare, it was he who initiated the construction of a new village in the fief of Diesi, naming it Aragona in honor of his mother and the prestigious royal lineage. She died at a young age of malaria along with two of her sons, leaving her son Louis as her sole heir.
– Louis I Naselli: lived almost his entire existence in Palermo where he succeeded in obtaining the title of Prince of Aragon. Sick, widowed and elderly he settled in Sciacca where he died.
– Baldassare IV Naselli: son of Luigi, after holding important civil and military posts and distinguishing himself in the defense of the Island from Saracen and French raids, he decided to move to Aragon where he lived until his death. Here he initiated the construction of the great feudal palace and the yet-to-be-discovered network of underground connections. He also favored the arrival of the Mercedarian and Capuchin fathers in the village, financing the construction of their respective convents and churches. After ceding lordship over all family possessions to his son Louis (1702), he took religious vows and retired to live at the Capuchin Friars’ convent where he died in 1710. Remembered as “the father of the poor,” the prince was buried at the foot of the high altar of the Capuchin Church of St. Joseph (now the parish of St. Francis of Assisi). His remains are currently at the Aragona Municipal Cemetery where they were temporarily moved during the reconstruction work on the ancient church while waiting to be reburied at the original site.
– Baldassare V Naselli: born in the local palace, he was the most prestigious figure in the family. After being appointed president of the Council of Sicily he moved first to the court of Naples and then to Paris, where he lived as a guest of the king of France. At that time the town had a population of more than 6,000.
– Baldassare VII Naselli was the last member of the family to hold civil powers over the Aragonese community due to the abolition of feudality in 1812. Upon his death without direct heirs in Aragon in 1863, the title of prince passed to his sister Marianna Naselli, wife of Nicolò Burgio, and from her to her son Luigi.
– Luigi Burgio Naselli: priest, was the last direct heir of the Naselli family with the titles of duke of Villafiorita, prince of Aragon and Poggioreale, count of Comiso and marquis of Gibellina. After spending his early years in Palermo, he then moved to Aragon where he called around him the Daughters of Charity of St. Vincent of Paola who took up the care of the many poor and orphans in the town. In 1877, after the sulfur mines failed, he gave his property still to the Sisters of Charity of St. Vincent of Paola.
Upon his death in Aragon on Sept. 28, 1889, the family palace became part of the estate of the Prince of Aragon Institute, which for more than a century, under the leadership of the Daughters of Charity, would care for minors. He was most likely responsible for commissioning Palermo architect Giovan Battista Palazzotto to create the present chapel (1874). The sacred space consists of two adjacent rooms, both neoclassical, and both are equipped with a Eucharistic table. A neoclassical funerary monument dedicated to him by heir Antonio Burgio Brancaccio is located in the entryway to the chapels.
From about 1900 a group of sulfur mines located in the Aragona area in the Mintini district consortiumed with each other to form an industrial complex. Among these alchemical ones is that of the Pirandello family.