Enna (Italian pronunciation: [ˈɛnna] ⓘ or [ˈenna];[3] Ancient Greek: Ἔννα; Latin: Henna, less frequently Haenna), known from the Middle Ages until 1926 as Castrogiovanni (Sicilian: Castrugiuvanni [ˌkaʂʂ(ɽ)ʊddʒʊˈvannɪ]), is a city and comune located roughly at the center of Sicily, southern Italy, in the province of Enna, towering above the surrounding countryside.

Enna is situated near the center of the island; whence the Roman writer Cicero called it Mediterranea maxime, reporting that it was within a day's journey of the nearest point on all the three coasts.

The ancient city was placed on the level summit of a gigantic hill, surrounded on all sides with precipitous cliffs almost wholly inaccessible.

[citation needed] Archaeological excavations have revealed artifacts dating from the 14th century BC, proving human presence in the area since Neolithic times.

[citation needed] In historical times, Enna became renowned in Sicily and Italy for the cult of the goddess Demeter (the Roman Ceres).

Accounts of the First Punic War repeatedly refer to Enna; it was taken first by the Carthaginians under Hamilcar, and subsequently recaptured by the Romans, but in both instances by treachery and not by force.

[citation needed] In the Second Punic War, while Marcellus was engaged in the siege of Syracuse (214 BC), Enna became the scene of a fearful massacre.

[citation needed] Cicero referred to it repeatedly in a way to suggest that it was still a flourishing municipal town: it had a fertile territory, well-adapted for the growth of cereal grains, and was diligently cultivated till it was rendered almost desolate by the exactions of Verres.

Around 408 AD the politician and grammarian Nicomachus Flavianus worked on an edition of the first 10 books of Livy during a stay on his estate in Enna.

[citation needed] After the fall of the Western Roman Empire, Enna flourished throughout the Middle Ages as an important Byzantine stronghold.

The city retained its name in the local dialect of Sicilian as Castru Janni (Italianized as Castrogiovanni), until Benito Mussolini ordered renaming in 1927.

Troops of North Italian soldiers,[7] from regions such as Lombardy, Piedmont, Liguria and Emilia-Romagna, came to settle in the city and neighbouring towns such as Nicosia and Piazza Armerina.

Forced to retreat to the Sicilian interior in during the Angevin invasion of 1299, King Frederick III of Sicily chose the highly defensible Enna as his headquarters.

[8] Frederick III favored the city, embellishing it with honors, and following the vespers era Enna enjoyed a short communal autonomy.

[10] The spot assigned by local tradition as the scene of this event was a small lake surrounded by lofty and precipitous hills, about 8 km from Enna.

The former says that around Enna were lacus lucique plurimi, et laetissimi flores omni tempore anni[13] ("very many lakes and groves, and very delightful flowers at every time of year").

In the 21st century, a small lake was found in a basin-shaped hollow surrounded by great hills, and a cavern near is noted as that described by Cicero and Diodorus.

Pergusa is strongly linked to the myth of the Greek Persephone, Demeter's daughter, who was kidnapped from here by Pluto and taken to Hades, the underworld, for part of the year.