CENTURIPÆ, Centoripa, or Centuripe, in Ancient Geography, a town in the south-west of the territory of Etna, on the river Cyamauros: Now Centorbi or Centurippi. It was a democratical city, which, like Syracuse, received its liberty from Timoleon. Its inhabitants cultivated the fine arts, particularly sculpture and engraving. In digging for the remains of antiquities, cameos are nowhere found in such abundance as at Centurippi and its environs. The situation of the place is romantic: it is built on the summit of a vast group of rocks, which was probably chosen as the most difficult of access, and consequently the properest in times of civil commotion. The remains still existing of its ancient bridge are a proof of its having been a considerable city. Cicero speaks of it as such. It was taken by the Romans, plundered and oppressed by Verres, destroyed by Pompey, and restored by Octavius, who made it the residence of a Roman colony.