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Geography and geologyPlaced at the centre of the Mediterranean,

Sicily is the biggest island in the latter (25,460square metres). Around it there is a series ofsmaller islands: to the north the AeolianIslands and Ustica, to the west the Egadi, tothe south the Pelagie and Pantelleria (altogeth-er 25,708 square metres). Its coast, prevalentlyrocky to the north, and sandy to the south, is1000 km. long. There is great movement in theSicilian landscape: the island is mountainousand hilly, with only one big plain nearCatania.

The most important massif is the Etna one(the whole area of which is protected by a bignature park), in the eastern part of Sicily. Thevolcano, 3300 m. high, is active, and is thebiggest one in Europe.

Along the northern coast, from east towest, there is a stretch of the Peloritans, theNebrodi and the Madonie mountains, whosepeaks go up to 2000 metres. Just west of theriver Torto, the Madonie give way to irregularcalcareous formations, isolated or in groups,dominating roundish low hills.

To the east, between Messina and Etna,the Peloritans continue, wholly similar to themountains of Calabria. Further south, again inthe eastern part of the island, there is a succes-sion of tablelands formed by lava, tufa andabove all calcareous rock, deeply carved out bygorges formed by erosion by water. Lastly, the

centre of Sicily is hilly. This is the so-calledsulphurbearing plateau, with a height varyingbetween 500 and 700 metres (with the excep-tion of the hill on which Enna stands, almost1000 metres hight).

ClimateIt is decidedly Mediterranean, with hot

summers and short and mild winters. Thehours of the sunshine on average are 2500,againts the 2000 of mainland Italy - and the1800 of northern France. The not very abun-dant precipitations are concentrated in wintermonths from October to March. The highesttemperatures are in July and August - average26 degrees Celsius - and the lowest fromDecember to February - average 10-14 degreesCelsius. The water temperature varies fromabout 16 degrees Celsius in winter to 27 insummer. For a trip to Sicily, which is not lim-ited to bathing purposes, we reccommend thespring and autumn months, in particular theperiods from the middle of April to the middleof June and September-October.

Government and populationSicily, with the islands around it, is an

Autonomus Region with a main town, whichsince 1946, has been Palermo, and since 1947it has had its own Parliament. Its population isestimated to be about 5,000,000, with a densi-ty of 190 inhabitants per square kilometre.

The infiniteisland

“Who has never longed at least to know it? Few people or no one; so uni-versal is the fame of its beauty, and so much the memory of it is linked

to the history of the most widespread civilisation. "This is what we read in the preface to the big volume that the Italian

Touring Club devoted to Sicily in 1933. Looking at the old photos, we can-not help noticing that the 60 years that have gone by have left their mark:they have darkened the facades of the old monuments, they have filled thesquares and streets with cars, they have done away with black scarves andancient customs, they have changed the face of the countryside.

Nevertheless, although its fame has been obscured, although the time areremote when Palermo was a prize mecca for the rich and powerful, impa-tient to meet the local jet set which was the outcome of centuries of nobili-ty, yet still today it is worth knowing it, this Sicily with a thousand faces,at once poor and rich, closed and diffident in its noble decadence yet so anx-ious to be integrated in the modern world and modern times, "a nationrather than a region and, to boot, a plural nation, with so many differentidentities" (Bufalino).

"An island not sufficiently an island" (Borgese) or perhaps "too muchan island", mythological and concrete, dark and sunny, magnificent andterrible.

The Chronological history of Sicily

Prehistory - 35000-5000 B.C. Late Palaeo-lith-ic. The Sicilians lived on hunting and berries.Graffiti in grottoes on Monte Pellegrino and onLevanzo from this period.

1900 - 1800 B.C. Groups of Indo-Europeanpopulations penetrated into Sicily, blendingwith the natives and starting the Bronze Age.Findings at Castelluccio, Naro, Filicudi,Syracuse and Pantalica.

1400 B.C. Traces of the Aegean-Cretan civilisa-tion. The Elimi, founders of Erice and Segesta,and the Siculi came to Sicily. The latter broughtthe use of the horse and of copper, taught agri-culture and the cult of the dead.

1200 - 1000 B.C. The Iron Age began. Findingsat Barcellona Pozzo di Gotto, Monte Finocchit-to (Noto), Sant’Angelo Muxaro. In the 11th to10th centuries the Phoenicians came, foundingSolunto, Motya and Palermo.

The Greeks - 753 B.C. With the foundation ofNaxos by Greek settlers, Sicily entered into thehistory of the Greek Mediterranean. In the ensu-ing years many colonies flourished: Syracuse(734), Catania (729), Gela (689), Selinunte

(650), Agrigento (582). The colonies developedand became true towns, rich and decorated withmonuments.

485 B.C. Gelon, tyrant of Gela, conqueredSyracuse, which in the ensuing years becameone of the main cities in the Mediterranean.

405 - 367B.C. Dionysius I the Elder reached theapex of his power in Syracuse, getting himselfelected tyrant of the town. Together with theKing of Persia, he was the most magnificentruler of his days, thanks to the splendour of hiscourt and the power of his army, capable of rout-ing the Carthaginians who fought against theGreeks for the dominion over Sicily.

316 - 289 B.C. Agathocles, tyrant of Syracuse.After the death of Dionysius, he was the firstseigneur capable of competing with the power ofhis predecessor, keeping out the Carthaginiansand taking Syracuse back to its former splen-dour. After his death, the town was in the handsof weak governors until the accession of Jeron II(276 B.C.), a mild, yet firm king who made analliance with Rome, a newborn Italic power.Vestiges of Greek Sicily in Syracuse, Agrigento,Selinunte, Segesta and Gela. The Romans - 264 B.C. The Mamertines, an

1

Finds in theArchaeologicalMuseum ofAgrigento.

Italic population who had occupied Messina,feeling threatened by the Carthaginians, turnedfor help to the Romans, who, supported in Sicilyby Jeron II, started the first Punic War againstCarthage. At the end of the latter the whole ofSicily - except for the ally Syracuse - was pro-claimed a Roman province (241 B.C.).

219 - 212 B.C. Second Punic War. The Romansconquered and subjugated Syracuse too. Sicilian history under the Romans is not espe-cially rich in events, except for the slaves’ revolts(135 and 101 B.C.). It was a tranquil province,appreciated above all for agricultural produc-tion. Findings and vestiges at Termini Imerese,Tindari, Taormina, Catania, Syracuse, PiazzaArmerina and other places.

The Barbarians - 440 A.D. Genseric, king ofthe Vandals, landed at Lilybaeum (nowMarsala) and devastated Sicily. After a series ofoccasional raids in the ensuing years, in 468 hebegan a true dominion to last until 476. On thefall of the Western Roman Empire, Sicily wasceded to Odoacer, who in turn was to hand overthe government to the Visigoths of Theodoric.

The Byzantines - 535 Greek-Gothic War. Itwas set going at the behest of Justinian, the east-ern emperor, who wished to re-unify the empire.To Sicily general Belisarius was sent, who rapid-ly conquered the island, handing it over to theemperor. Sicily remained in the oriental orbit foralmost three centuries, absorbing numerous

social and cultural aspects of it. Monumentalvestiges at Randazzo, Castelbuono andPantalica.

The Arabs - 827 The Arabs landed at Mazara,starting the campaign for the conquest of theisland. This was to be completed in a hundredyears and marked a profound change for thesocial and cultural life of Sicily, which was hur-tled into the Muslim world after centuries ofChristianity. The Sicilian capital was Palermo, asplendid metropolis with an Islamic look.Monumental traces in Palermo, Favara, CefalàDiana, Caccamo.

The Normans - 1060 Led by Robert theGuiscard and Roger de Hauteville, theNormans, with the papal blessing, began toreconquer Sicily for Christianity. It was to takethem 31 years. The descendants of Roger deHauteville were to be kings of Sicily until 1194,and to leave recollections of a prosperous andpacific kingdom, the melting pot of the mostdiverse peoples perfectly integrated with oneanother. It was above all Roger Il, son of the previousRoger, that gave vital impulse to this kingdom,with a wise administration involving all the dif-ferent races. The capital was still Palermo, amagnificent city adorned with palaces and gar-dens. Monumental traces in Palermo, Monreale,Cefalù, Messina, Piazza Armerina, Caccamo,Troina, Calascibetta, Favara and other places.

Palaeolithicgraffiti in the

Genovesegrotto on

Levanzo, inthe Egadi

archipelago.

2

The Hohenstaufens - 1194 With the coronationof Henry Vl as king of Sicily, the throne went tothe German family of the Hohenstaufens. OnHenry’s death the throne was to go to his sonFrederick II (crowned in 1208), one of the great-est medieval monarchs. At his court in Palermothe arts, science and literature flourished, andindeed the first Italian poetic school was to comeinto being inside the walls of the Norman Palace. Monumental traces in Syracuse, Catania,Salemi and Agrigento.

The Angevins - 1270 Frederick II’s death start-ed bitter struggles over the succession. The pope,who had long broken off with the Hohenstaufens,arbitrarily assigned the crown to Charles ofAnjou and the latter’s army, which had come tostake his claim, clashed with Frederick’s directheirs: his illegitimate son Manfred and hisnephew Conrad. Having defeated both, Charlesof Anjou acceded to the throne and, moving thecapital to Naples, made an oppressive govern-ment, ill tolerated by the Sicilians. Monumentaltraces at Sperlinga.

The Aragonese - 1282 Vespers Revolt. Startingin Palermo, this rebellion was to lead to theFrench being driven out of Sicily. The island’sthrone went to Pedro of Aragona, Manfred’sson-in-law. Monumental traces in Palermo,Messina, Caltanissetta, Trapani, Agrigento,Taormina, Mussomeli, Aragona and Augusta.

The Spanish - 1409 With the extinction of theSicilian line of the Aragonese, direct relationsbetween the island and the Spanish crownbecame closer. The marriage of Ferdinand of

Aragona to Isabella of Castille laid the founda-tions for the birth of a Spanish state also com-prising Sicily. The island was governed byviceroys and was to belong to the Spanish crownfor about 300 years. Monumental traces inTaormina, Palermo, Syracuse, Enna, Nicolosiand on the Egadi Islands.

The Savoys and the Austrians - 1713 By thePeace of Utrecht, Sicily went to Vittorio Amedeoof Savoy. The Piedmont family was to have theisland for just five years. In 1718 the Spanish setout to re-conquer it, though they were stopped bythe Austrians. By the Hague Treaty (1720)Charles VI of Austria became the new king ofSicily.

The Bourbons - 1734 After the battle of Bitontobetween the Bourbon and Austrian troops, Sicilymoved back into the Spanish orbit. Charles I ofBourbon, the son of the king of Spain, wascrowned king of Sicily in 1735. Monumental traces in Palermo, Noto, Avola,Ragusa, Modica, Catania, Syracuse andTrapani.

The kingdom of Italy - 1860 After Garibaldi’sexploits, Sicily was annexed to the kingdom ofItaly. From then on the island was to share thefate of the new kingdom.

Autonomy - 1946 At the end of World War II,Sicily became an autonomous region in theframework of the new Italian Republic. ItsParliament met in 1947 at the Norman Palace -as it already did over eight centuries ago.

The NormanSan Giovannidei LebbrosiChurch inPalermo.

3

Nowhere did so many people come togeth-er, love one another, fight against each

other or just tolerate each other as in Sicily.Eyes, which are so light in colour as to seemtransparent, peeping out under crow-blackhair, words of Arabic origin interweavingwith French terms, clear-cut Hellenic geome-tries seen side by side with Baroque curls andvoluptuous art nouveau curves, are the resultof all this, and Palermo, the capital, is theripest fruit of a composite past. A past that forPalermo means slender Punic columns, redIslamic cupolas, gardens and water courses,boastful noble mansions and monumentalchurches, viceroys and saints.

It was founded by the Phoenicians on theseashore almost 3000 years ago, and it seemsthat at that time its name was Ziz, “flower”.Certainly it was very beautiful, even if noth-ing is left of this city now, except for the traceof its first layout, followed for centuries: along avenue leading from the sea to the lowhill where - today as then - the palace of thegovernment stands.

It was a base of the Carthaginians, then,after their defeat by the Romans, it was occu-pied by the latter. There are practically no ves-tiges of the Roman epoch either, though thecity flourished under them. In fact it was in arather marginal position with respect to the

heart of the empire and it became even more sowith respect to Constantinople, when Sicilybecame part of the possessions of the EasternRoman Empire.

In 831, after a siege lasting about a year,Palermo fell into the hands of the Arabs. Thiswas the start of a new life for the city, whichin a few years turned into a splendid metropo-lis, compared for its splendour to Cordoba andthe Cairo. Palaces and mosques rose amid thesplendid gardens of the “Western Medina”and the skyline was marked by numerousslender minarets. The city, which was calledBalarm, was the capital of the Sicilian emirateand is said to have had 300,000 inhabitants.

In 1061 the Norman army led by CountRoger and Robert the Guiscard set out toreconquer Sicily. Eleven years later they gotto Palermo. However, the coming of the newseigneurs did not lead to a decline of theIslamic city, quite the contrary. Though theNormans demolished the mosques, they usedArab architects in the construction of theirsumptuous Palermo dwellings; and thoughthey got a strong hold on the island, yet theyleft the administration of the kingdom in thehands of Islamic functionaries.

Under Roger II, Palermo - the capital ofthe new Norman kingdom - reached verygreat splendour. It was the centre of trade

4

Pal

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between east and west and from all over camenoblemen, traders, adventurers attracted bythe mirage of the rich city and the sumptuouscourt. Palaces and churches in Arabic-Norman style were built, still one of the mainattractions of Palermo.

This greatness continued under FrederickII of Hohenstaufen, who made his court thegreatest centre of cultural life in those days.Never again, in the centuries that followed,was such magnificence attained, even though,under the Spanish, the city was enriched withsplendid Baroque monuments.

A brief return of the past splendour cameat the start of the twentieth century, whenPalermo had its “belle epoque”, thanks to thesuccess of young families of entrepreneurswho brought a wind of modernity to the city,raising not only the economic level but alsothe cultural and artistic one.

Since 1946, Palermo has been the chiefcity of an autonomous region. It is a modernand active city, with about 730,000 inhabi-tants, very rich in monuments from allepochs.

A thorough visit to the city and its envi-rons takes about six days.

Artistic vestigesThere are very few monuments dating

from the period prior to the Norman domina-tion and very few finds have been made in thecourse of the rather sporadic digging cam-paigns carried out over the years. Only a fewremains of walls under the San Cataldo chapelremind us of the Punic past, while theremains of a patrician villa inside VillaBonanno document the Roman presence.

Diggings carried out in the area known as“Castello San Pietro” have led to the findingof some tombs and remains of human settle-ments, but studies are still going on.

The most important vestige of the Arabperiod, which has remained more or less intactover the centuries, is the language.

The Sicilian dialect is very rich in Arabicinfluences and likewise there are numerousnames which appear to be of Islamic origin (inPalermo, for example, Cassaro, Kalsa,Kemonia, etc.) The Palermo markets also havean Islamic impress which is further seen inalmost all monuments from the Normanepoch, built by Arab workers.

Norman Palace - On the little hill wherethe palace now stands, probably both thePhoenicians and the Romans built a fortifiedcitadel dominating the whole area of the city.However, nothing remains of these earliestconstructions. The Arabs, after building a

castle there, abandoned it, because the emirpreferred to move with all his functionariesand troops to the seaside Al-Halisah district.

It was the Normans, who restored thebuilding and transformed it into a splendidpalace. Its heart consisted in a very spaciousroyal room, also known as the green room,where the king held assemblies and banquets.The residential suites, the services and ser-vants’ quarters, were in different wings, con-nected by terraces, loggias and gardens rich ingreenery and ponds, which already revealedthe Arab-like taste of the sovereigns, who, hereas elsewhere, used Islamic architects. From thestylistic point of view the palace is one of thehigh points of Fatimite palatial art in thewest, because of both the architectural quali-ties and the abundant decorations, that theartists did in the various rooms.

After the death of Frederick II in 1250,began the decline of the palace, which went onfor about three centuries, until the Spanishviceroys made it their residence. However,though they saved the palace from completeabandon, they also modified it in accordancewith their own taste. Hence few of the roomshave maintained their original Norman look.Nevertheless, among these there are twoauthentic jewels: Roger’s Room and thePalace Chapel. Roger’s Room was originally abedroom. It is a belvedere room looking outover the Gulf of Palermo. The walls are ele-gantly decorated with mosaics showing hunt-ing scenes enlivened by stylised plants andfigures. This is a rare example of mosaic artfrom the period, with roots in the Persian eastand North Africa.

However, something, which by itselfmakes a visit to Palermo worthwhile, is thePalace Chapel. Begun in 1130, the year ofRoger’s coronation as the first king of Sicily,it was completed in 13 years and consecrated,as we know from an inscription in the cupola,in 1143. In this church, defined byMaupassant “the finest religious bijou dreamtof by human thought”, you see the fusion ofthe multiple different characters that formedSicily: European, Sicilian, Byzantine andArab. The chapel has the shape of a westernbasilica with three naves, divided by granitecolumns with rich gilded Corinthian capitals;also in western style, though influenced bysouthern taste, are the decorated floors and theinlays in the steps, the balustrades and thelower part of the walls, as well as the giganticambo, studded with gold, malachite and por-phyry, and the Easter candelabrum, a truebestiary in marble, donated by ArchbishopUgo of Palermo for the coronation of William,

5

Porta Felice.

Palermo

the son of Roger II. The mosaics are amongthe finest products of Byzantine art, unri-valled in any Constanti-nople church. Amongthem we see Christ Pantocrator in the cupola,the Angels surrounding him and theEvangelists engrossed in their studies, whichare the oldest mosaics. Lastly, the Islamic tra-dition is represented by the wooden ceilingwith ‘muqarnas’ (stalactites), a most surpris-ing ceiling for a Christian church. It is theclassical ceiling that we would expect to findin the biggest and most elegant mosque, butnever in a church. Intricate decorations adornthe stalactites and, something that is extreme-ly rare in the history of Islamic art, the deco-rations comprise human figures. The Arabartists, in the tolerant atmosphere of NormanPalermo, decided to risk this type of designand thus, with the help of binoculars, todaywe can make out realistic scenes of daily life ofdignitaries and busy maids.

St. John of the Hermits - It was foundedat the behest of Roger II in 1142, and in themost splendid years of the Norman domina-tion the annexed monastery was the richestand most privileged in Sicily.

The church, now no longer consecrated, isvery small and, despite traces of tiles, mosaicsand frescoes and the stalactite ceiling of themosque on which it was built, it has no par-ticular elements of interest to the layman.What is fascinating, instead, is the exterior ofthe building. The five red cupolas struck youfirst of all, a characteristic element of variousArabic-Norman buildings. Then there is the

garden: the construction is immersed ingreenery and the colours of citrus fruit trees,agaves, bougainvillaeas, roses, pomegranatesand other flowering shrubs. The luxuriantplants climb up the walls, wind round thewhite columns of the little cloister, daze onewith their scent. This is one of the most char-acteristic monuments of Norman Palermo,and is often chosen as a symbol of the city.

The Cathedral (Madonna Assunta) - Itis in the oldest sacred part of Palermo, wherethe Phoenicians, the Romans, the Byzantinesand the Arabs put up their own places of wor-ship. After getting to power, the Normanswere at once concerned to replace the Muslimmosque with a Christian church. Then in1184 the archbishop of Palermo, Walter of theMill, had the building demolished and startedthe construction of a splendid new cathedral,a symbol of religious power in the city. Afterjust a year the church was consecrated anddedicated to Maria Assunta. In the ensuingcenturies additions and restoration modifiedthe original look.

The picturesquely incongruous union ofstyles gives life to a grandiose and on thewhole not unpleasant overall effect.

The façade, closed in between two hightowers with mullioned windows and littlecolumns, is linked by two ogival arches to thecampanile at the front of it. In the façade thereis a big fourteenth-century portal with bronzewings. A picturesque portico in fifteenth-cen-tury Gothic-Catalan style, under which thereis a very ornate portal also fifteenth century,

The Cathedralin Palermo.

6

decorate the long right side.Lastly, particularly beautiful and charm-

ing is the apse part, the only one which hasmaintained the original twelfth-centuryshapes. The interior, though big and bright,appears cold compared to the exterior. Alongthe walls there are Gagini statues of saints inmarble.

In the first and second chapels in the rightnave there are royal and imperial tombs,including those of Roger II, Henry VI ofHohenstaufen, Constance de Hauteville andFrederick II of Hohenstaufen, all imposingporphyry sarcophagi: in the family tomb wethus find the founder of the Norman kingdomof Sicily, its destroyer, the involuntary causeof its end and its last beneficiary.

Among the numerous chapels we mustmention the one known as Santa Rosalia’s,where, in a silver urn, done in 1631, the ashesof the patron saint of Palermo are kept. Lastlythere is a very fine treasure, including pre-cious objects and embroideries found in theroyal and imperial tombs (particular mentionmust be made of the golden tiara of Constancede Hauteville), sacred vestments, chalices,censers, etc.

Santa Maria dell’Ammiraglio orMartorana Church - It was completed in1143 thanks to a generous donation byAdmiral George of Antiochia. An Arab trav-eller, lbn Giobair, who visited it in 1184,defined it “the finest work in the world”.Today, unfortunately, the church no longerhas its original splendour, having undergonenumerous modifications, which disfigured itsoriginal look. Nevertheless it remains one ofthe finest religious edifices in Palermo andindeed in all Sicily. In 1436 it was ceded tothe nuns at the nearby “Martorana” convent,from which it takes its second name, as thechapel of the convent. In 1588, in order tocontain the ever-increasing number of nuns,the edifice was enlarged: knocking down theoriginal façade (replaced by a Baroque one)lengthened it, and the atrium and narthexwere incorporated in the new construction. In1683 the apse was demolished and replaced bya big chapel with frescoes.

Intact in its splendid proportionsremained only the Romanesque campanile,raised over the entrance to the originalchurch, though unfortunately deprived by the1726 earthquake of the little cupola sur-mounting it.

Entering the church you can still makeout the original Greek cross layout which sostruck Ibn Giobair. The mosaics at theMartorana, like those at Cefalù and the finer

ones at the Palace Chapel, were done by agroup of artists who were brought on purposefrom Constantinople to Palermo and workedhere between 1140 and 1155. However, unlikethose at Cefalù and the Palace Chapel, no lateradditions have been made to them.

At the entrance, on the northern side ofthe nave, there is a dedicatory mosaic inwhich George of Antiochia is portrayed at thefeet of the virgin Mary - the latter has comedown to us in a perfect state of conservation.On the other side we find what is perhaps themost precious treasure of the Martorana: amosaic of Roger II symbolically crowned byChrist.

Zisa - The construction of this “sol-latium” (place of pleasure) was undertaken inthe last years of his life by king William I andcompleted by his son William II. Hence itdates from between 1165 and 1167. Its namederives from the Arabic Al-Aziz, i.e. “splen-did”, and indeed still today it is one of themost magnificent Arab-Norman civic edificesin the world. According to Romualdo ofSalerno, the king had the palace built in theGenoardo park and “surrounded it with mag-nificent fruit trees and beautiful gardenswhich he rendered pleasant with variouswatercourses and big fish-ponds”. Over theyears the Zisa has been restored and altered,not always with very good results, and it isonly recently - as far as possible in its integri-ty - that it has been made available to the pub-

The ZisaManor.

7

Palermo

lic once again. The castle has been trans-formed into a “Museum of Islam” and bringstogether interesting items from the Arab civil-isation in Sicily. Moreover, as in the course ofthe restoration work an endeavour was madeto respect the original structure of the build-ing as far as possible, a visit to the interiormakes it possible to learn something about thearchitecture of medieval Islamic palaces. Ofparticular interest is the system for airing andcooling the rooms and, among the latter, theso-called Fountain Room, decorated withmosaics.

Palazzo Chiaramonte or Steri - This isthe finest monument which has come down tous commemorating the powerful Chiaramontefamily, which starting from the fourteenthcentury had a very important role in the polit-ical and economic history of Sicily. The histor-ical head of the family was Manfred I, whoalso decided to show all his power through theconstruction of a big and magnificent fortifiedpalace, a “Hosterium”, the first stone of whichwas laid in 1307. Construction was continuedby his son Manfred II and his grandsonManfred III. After the decline of theChiaramonte family, the building became thecourt of King Martin and then was used forthe tribunals of the various governments thatfollowed one another in Sicily, as well as thetribunal of the Inquisition. At present in the

building there is the office of the rector of thePalermo University. From a stylistic view-point the Steri is the main example of four-teenth-century Sicilian architecture in the so-called Chiaramonte style, which showmarkedIslamic and Norman influences.

San Francesco d’Assisi Church - Builtin the thirteenth century, it was several timesenlarged and modified in the ensuing cen-turies. After the bombardments of World WarII, radical restoration work was undertakenwhich gave back to the church its thirteenth-century appearance.

In the austere and high façade there is amagnificent Gothic portal surmounted by abig rosette. The vast interior, which shows theinfluence of the late Romanesque, has threenaves, with big Gothic arcades. There arenumerous works of art by famous sculptorsand painters, including the Gaginis, PietroNovelli, Francesco Laurana and GiacomoSerpotta.

Praetorian Fountain - It was originallycreated for the Florence villa of Don Pedro ofToledo by the mannerist architect FrancescoCamilliani. However, Don Pedro’s son pre-ferred to sell it to the Palermo council, andwas paid an exorbitant sum for it. In 1574 itwas brought to Palermo in 644 pieces and thesculptor’s son, Camillo Camilliani, was calledon to put it together again. The whole square,

Bagheria: VillaPalagonia.

8

in which there are several elegant edifices,including Palazzo delle Aquile, the town hall,was laid out in a different way in relation tothe fountain, which from then on became theboast and glory of the city.

Circular in layout, the fountain is madeup of superimposed tubs on which there areallegories, divinities, animals’ heads, allenlivened by the pleasant playing of the water.The iron railings around it were designed byGiovan Battista Basile and put up in 1858.

Quattro Canti (Four corners) - This isthe better known name for the little PiazzaVigliena, which is the centre of the oldest partof the city.

It is also referred to as the “theatre of thesun”, as it is lit up by the sunrays from dawnto dusk. The project for the layout of thesquare was made in 1608 and work began inthe same year. Once the architectural workwas done, it was possible to move on to thedecoration of the four walls on three levels: atthe bottom, four fountains, surmounted bystatues each representing one of the four sea-sons; above them the statues of the Spanishmonarchs Charles V and Philip II, III and IV;at the top, the four saints protecting the city:St. Christine, St. Olive, Santa Ninfa and St.Agatha.

The square was for a long time the centreof the city, a place for elegant promenades,exchanges of news and gossip, a market forservants seeking masters. It was also a symbolof the Spanish town planning reform, whichsought to give magnificence to the two mainstreets in the city, Via Maqueda and theCassaro, now Corso Vittorio Emanuele, byopening up a square at their intersection.

Gesù (or Casa Professa) Church - Itstands on a rise full of dark crannies in which,according to the tradition, hermit saints oncetook refuge and where there are still earlyChristian tombs.

The first construction on the rise was amonastery of the order of St. Basil, built in theninth century. Starting from this date, variousedifices were built in this place, including fivechurches which were all absorbed by the firstJesuit church, founded in 1564. This church inturn was engulfed by another one, which wasbegun in 1591 and completed in 1633.

In 1943 a violent bombardment destroyeda large part of the prestigious monument.However, almost all the stuccoes and frescoeshave been restored, giving the church its origi-nal look back.

The interior blends late Renaissancerigour with new Baroque spaciousness.Everywhere there is an uninterrupted cover-

ing of decorations, made up of the mostdiverse elements: flowers, fruit, leaves, ani-mals, little putti, in an extremely lively andgraceful inlay showing an almost infiniterange of colours.

The Oratory of the Rosario of SanDomenico - This little chapel was built in1578 at the expense of the Rosario company,which was founded ten years earlier andbrought together the richest traders andartists in the city.

Giacomo Serpotta entirely decorated it inthe course of the second decade of the eigh-teenth century, producing a work of excep-tional beauty. Along its walls bright sculp-tures, enlivened here and there by touches ofgilding, present themselves to the admirationof the visitor, whose attention is drawn aboveall by the fine female figures - not exactlyascetic! -which portray the Virtues, surround-ed by a myriad of putti.

Among the statues there are picturesshowing the Mysteries, and the ceiling is dec-orated with a fresco by Novelli. The altar isdecorated with a fine painting by Van Dyck,showing the Madonna del Rosario.

San Lorenzo Oratory - It was builtaround 1569 by the San Francescocompany, near the church dedicatedto the saint from Assisi. In 1699-1706 it was decorated byGiacomo Serpotta, who hereachieved great formal perfection,creating his masterpiece. Theartist’s fantasy, free from allconstraints, showed great cre-ative capacity. An uninter-rupted flow of joyful littleputti frames reliefs withscenes from the lives of St.Laurence and St. Francisand allegorical statues,giving life to an overalleffect of great beauty.

Massimo Theatre - It isone of the biggest and mostmagnificent theatres inEurope, designed by G.B.Basile, under whose directionwork began (1875), to be com-pleted by his son Ernesto(1897).

It stands in Piazza G.Verdi, a square made by demol-ishing a lot of Baroque build-ings, some of great value. The the-atre, with noble architectureinspired by neo-classicism,occupies a surface area of 7730

One of themonsters of VillaPalagonia inBagheria.

9

Palermo

square metres and fully satisfied the desire fordecorum and balance of the bourgeoisie in thelast century.

BAGHERIAThis town is placed in a valley full of cit-

rus orchards, olive groves and vineyards. Itwas built up during the eighteenth century inthe shadow of the villa of Prince GiuseppeBranciforti, who cultivated the land and builthis villa in 1657.

In 1769 Salvatore Branciforti laid out thestraight road that leads from the villa to thesea and the one intersecting it, which togetherbecame the axes for future development of thelittle town. The latter is well known for thenumerous villas that the Palermo nobilitybuilt there as holiday homes in the eighteenthcentury.

Villa Gravina di Valguarnera was builtin 1721 on a project by Tommaso M. Napoli. It

is the most sumptuous and best conserved one,also as regards the park around it. It is also theone being most faithful to the“classical” six-teenth-century design which involved two lowbuildings like curtains in front of the main one,a type of architectural layout which was highlysuccessful in the eighteenth century and waswidely applied in the construction of villas.

10

Cefalù.Above,

the façade ofthe Norman

cathedral,built at the

behest ofRoger II.

To the right,Christ

Pantocrator, a mosaic with

a gilt back-ground in thecupola of the

cathedral.

In front of the house a big area in a doublehexahedron shape opens up and a big pincer-shape staircase leads to the entrance to the res-idential floor. On the landing there are statuesby Ignazio Marabitti and inside there are richdecorations by Elia Interguglielmi.

Villa Palagonia was designed by thesame architect as Villa Valguarnera and has

some of the same characteristics. However,wholly different is its originality and fame,linked not so much to the building in itself asto the incredible statues put there by one ofthe grandsons of the founder, reported on witha mixture of amazement and horror by eigh-teenth-century travellers, like Goethe,Brydone, Swinburne or Hoüel.

11

The latter did an accurate series of draw-ings allowing us to imagine what the villa ofthe extravagant nobleman was originally like.Ferdinand Gravina - this is the prince’s name- seized by a bizarre fantasy, interpreted bymany contemporaries as true madness - com-missioned 600 monsters from various crafts-men and, judging by the results, they viedwith one another to create the one which wasugliest, most deformed, most shocking orsimply funny.

Today of this singular parade of statuesthere remain only 62 exemplars, placed allround the boundary wall of the villa, as if tocourt it in a grotesque gathering.

CEFALÚThanks to the strategic importance of the

place, protected by an imposing rock, as wellas to the fertility of the land, people settled inthe Cefalù area starting from very remotetimes, as we know from finds made in thegrottoes on the east side of the rock. However,the urban history of the place only began inthe fifth century B.C.

From the later epoch date the remains ofthe megalithic walls which went round the lit-tle town at the foot of the rock.

It was precisely the latter, because of itsdominant position, that gave the name to thesettlement, known as Cephaloedium, i.e.“head”, because of the shape of the rock. Theplace was refounded by Roger II in the twelfthcentury and laid out in a new way on thebasis of the town plan that still characterisesit. The meaning of this new foundation isgrasped above all in the cathedral, the symboland synthesis of Roger’s power, which wasnot only political but also religious.

Starting from the second half of the thir-teenth century, there was unchallengedsupremacy in the town for the Ventimigliafamily, whose residence was the OsterioMagno, a fortified palace founded in theNorman epoch, still to be seen in the mainthoroughfare.

The little town, which became part of theroyal estate in the second half of the fifteenthcentury, went through a period of tranquillityand wellbeing, interrupted by a phase of com-parative decline in the nineteenth century,from which it has recovered in recent decadesthanks to a flourishing tourist industry.

The cathedral (Transfiguration of OurLord) was founded in 1130 at the behest ofRoger II, who, according to a legend, had

Detail of thefaçade of

the cloister in Monreale.

12

made a vow to have it built, if he came safeand sound through a terrible storm thatstruck his ship on the way to Palermo. Thefury of the elements hurled him up on theshore of Cefalù, where the king laid the firststone of the imposing construction. This isundoubtedly one of the finest cathedrals in theworld, a perfect example of the southernRomanesque style.

A striking feature of the façade is the twocorner towers, added in 1240, whose massivebulk is lightened by mullioned and double-mul-lioned windows. It is decorated by an inter-weaving of two tiers of little false loggias whichgo from one extremity to the other. In 1472 anairy portico with triple arches was added to it.

In the interior there are three naves divid-ed by two rows of marble columns on whichseven arcades rest. The ceiling of the centralnave is in painted wood and is an importantexample of Islamic art in Sicily.

The apse, the ceiling and the adjacentwalls are decorated with gilded mosaics whichculminate in a magnificent ChristPantocrator, a perfect example of pure styleand Byzantine craft, perhaps the most sublimerepresentation of Christ in all Christian art.

Below there are the Virgin, the Angels, theApostles, all placed in accordance with theliturgical hierarchy.

MONREALEOn the slopes of Monte Caputo, 300 metres

above sea level, this little town slowly formed inthe late Middle Ages, around the Benedictineabbey and the monumental cathedral.

The latter (Santa Maria la Nuova) rose upin a short time in 1174-76, at the behest of kingWilliam ll. According to a legend, he had thecathedral built after an apparition of the VirginMary, who revealed to him the place in which arich treasure was buried. He was to use it forthis purpose.

William was probably also motivated by thedesire not to be inferior to his grandfather Roger,the founder of the Cefalù cathedral, of St. John ofthe Hermits and the Palace Chapel in Palermo.The big church was thus to serve to perpetuatehis name over the centuries.

For the designing of the church Islamicarchitects linked to Fatimite art were called in.They transferred and adapted expressive modesand spatial solutions typical of palatial architec-ture in their own countries to Christian places ofworship. Despite not always appropriate addi-tions and restorations, the cathedral has comedown to us substantially intact in its splendour.

The façade is decorated with a motif of lit-tle blind arches, today partly hidden by a por-

tico done in the eighteenth century, underwhich a big portal with bronze wings opensup, done in 1186 by Bonanno Pisano.

Along the left side there is another long por-tico, done in the sixteenth century by GianDomenico and Fazio Gagini, and lastly wecome to the three big apses, still intact and mag-nificent in their sandstone and lava decoration.

The interior of the cathedral still has thelook that it had in the twelfth century (apartfrom the wooden ceiling, redone after a fire in1811). The layout is that of a basilica, with avery vast surface area, 102 by 40 metres.

The walls are almost entirely covered withgilded mosaics totalling 6340 square metres.The general level of these decorations, regard-ing both design and execution, is surprisinglyhigh. The execution of the mosaics wasentrusted to Byzantine workers and theimagery is typically Greek.

Yet the relaxed stances of the characters,their softly draped garments, the rhythm of themovements, show a clear evolution in style withrespect to the Palace Chapel and the Martoranachurch, a typically Italian evolution. At the endof the twelfth century, it was in fact Italianartists who were the leaders in imagery art.

The cycle of mosaics works out the con-cept of the triumph of Christianity in threedifferent phases, showing: events prior to theincarnation (Old Testament); episodes fromthe life of Jesus (New Testament); events fol-lowing the death of Christ, and lives of theApostles (New Testament and Acts of theApostles).

The whole is dominated by a giganticChrist Pantocrator (the right hand alone is 2metres long) in the main apse, representingthe synthesis and goal of the whole complexrepresentation.

The cloister, also dating from the epoch ofWilliam II, was part of a Benedictine abbeyadjacent to the cathedral.

It measures 47x47 metres. Its layoutundoubtedly belongs to the Christian area,but its general tone harks back to the spiritand atmosphere of Muslim courtyards withporticos. The little arcades delimiting the richlittle garden are held up by 228 little twinnedcolumns. They are all very richly decoratedand with capitals inlaid with plants, animalsand fantastic motifs. Of particular interest isthe 19th capital on the west side, where wecan see William II offering the cathedral to theVirgin Mary.

In the south corner, inside a little squarearea, there is a delightful fountain, whosecrystalline water bursts forth from a littleinlaid column.

13

Palermo

Asplendid spring like the one that smiled atus this morning at sunrise, was certainly

never granted to us during our mortal life....The Temple of Concord is seen just peepingout at the southern extremity of this plainwhich is all green and all flowers; to the eastthere are the sparse ruins of the temple of Juno;the ruins of all the other sacred edifices on thesame straight line as the two mentioned do notpresent themselves to the eye of anyone stand-ing high up, running more northward, alongthe coast, reaching out for another half hourtowards the seashore ...

Still today little or nothing of the landscapethat Goethe was able to admire in April 1787has changed, and the Valley of Temples is thebest known and most praised part of Agrigento.The monuments are what is left of the ancientcity of Akragas which was founded in the sixthcentury B.C. by settlers from Gela and became,in the space of 100 years, “the finest city ofmortals” (Pindar). Destroyed by theCarthaginians in 406, it was re-founded byTimoleontes in 340 B.C. and enjoyed newmoments of splendour, though inevitably head-ing for a decline, which became definitive withthe Byzantine.

The ancient city was abandoned in theninth century, after the Arab conquest, and theurban nucleus was restricted to a hill above andtook the name Gergent.

After this it went to the Normans; the citywas made a diocese and was embellished withnumerous churches. Palaces and monumentsalso continued to be put up in the fourteenthand fifteenth centuries and again in the seven-teenth to eighteenth centuries. In 1927 the citytook the name Agrigento and today it has56,000 inhabitants.

A visit of the town takes a day.

Artistic vestiges -The Valley of TemplesThe Temple of Olympic Jove - “The

sacred temples and that of Jove in particularprove the splendour of the city in that epoch.The other temples were burnt or ruined, sincethe city was conquered several times.

The Olympic temple remained rooflessbecause a war started, and after the city havingbeen ruined, the people of Agrigento were nolonger able to complete it …”.

Thus Diodorus Siculus described thisimmense sacred edifice, absolutely one of thebiggest in antiquity.

It has various peculiarities with respect tothe building canons of the Greeks: a six-columnperipteral building, more than 112 metres longand almost 57 wide (with a surface area ofalmost 6500 square metres) it was divided on

the outside by half-columns (7 by 14), 57metres high and with a diameter of no less than4.5 metres (!) protruding from a full inter-columnar wall. Built in the most splendid peri-od of the history of Akragas, i.e. after the victo-ry of Himera, this immense temple, over 30meters high, presented a wholly new solutionfrom the architectural point of view: telamons,

14

Agr

igen

to

colossal human figures with their arms foldedat the sides of their heads, so that they consti-tuted an ideal plane supporting the enormousbeams and hence participating, together withthe columns, in the bearing function.

However the exact position of the telamonsis not known for certain: various hypotheseshave been formulated by scholars and the rele-

vant reconstructions in miniature are on dis-play at the Agrigento archaeological museum,in the same evocative room where there youfind the only one of the giants that is extant (areproduction of the latter lies supine in the temple area).

At the same time the telamons were ele-ments of architectural decoration of great

In the verdantvalley, aglimpse of the Temple of Hercules.

15

importance and performed a precise symbolicfunction, that of commemorating in theOlympeion the triumph of Olympus over theGiants, when the latter attempted to climb upto the skies.

The people of Akragas had almost complet-ed the construction of the colossal edifice (to geta further idea of the size, one should rememberthat the altar in front of it, as big as a normaltemple, was used for hecatombs: sacrifices ofone hundred oxen at a time!) and only the roofwas missing, when the city was taken by theCarthaginians. Himilco sacked it and devastat-ed its interior, but on account of its grandiosityand solidity failed to demolish it.

Thus despoiled of sculptures and orna-ments, it remained standing until the MiddleAges when, because of neglect, weather erosion,earthquakes and the ferocity of Berber and Arabraiders, it was completely ruined. Though thoseruins are still big today, they are nothing com-pared to the size of the Olympeion, the ruins ofwhich were used over the centuries as buildingmaterials and principally to realise, on theorder of Charles III of Bourbon and at the sug-gestion of the Agrigento bishop LorenzoGioieni, the wharf at Porto Empedocle (!!).

The Dioscuri temple - In the big sacredarea surrounding the temple of Jove, wherethere are numerous shrines, traces of other tem-ples and the agora, four columns soar elegantlyup which are left from a little edifice built in thefifth century.

Its name presumably derives from the thirdode of the Olympics sung by Pindar in the cele-bration of the feast of the Dioscuri.

The temple, Doric, a six-column peripteralbuilding, was the smallest one on the sacredhill, but in shapes, number and position of thecolumns (6 by 13) did not break away from theother bigger ones.

Seriously damaged by the Carthaginians, itmay have been restored and modified in theHellenistic epoch, as is suggested by the stylis-tic differences to be found in it. Completelyruined in the ensuing centuries, it was partlyrebuilt in 1836, when the four columns wereput up with the relevant beams.

The Temple of Hercules - Perhaps themost ancient of the Akragas temples (end ofsixth century) - as is documented by somearchaic characters in the construction, like theelongated area (6 by15 columns) and the taper-ing of the columns - and considered one of themost beautiful on the hill, it was certainly themost famous one in the city.

A six-column peripteral building, it mea-sured 74 metres by almost 28, and hence had asurface area of about 2000 square metres and so

16

was second only to the Temple of Jove. It wascertainly dedicated to the demigod, whose veryfine bronze statue was kept at the back of thecell placed on a pedestal to be venerated by the townspeople.

Of the ancient construction - in a spectacu-lar position above the Porta Aurea - unfortu-nately there only remain 8 columns (on which,though only slightly, we can make out traces ofpurple painting); four of them still have stu-pendous capitals, as well as the base and theremains of the altar.

Enriching this splendid monument, insidethere was an extraordinary painting by Zeuxis,showing Alcmene and Hercules in his cradlestrangling the serpents.

Of this work, wonderfully described byPliny, it is recounted that, as it appeared excep-tionally beautiful to the artist, he refused tocede it to anyone at any price, and decidedinstead to place it in the temple.

The Temple of Concord - “In the templeof Concord”, writes Pietro Griffo, one of themost important scholars on Akragas, “theDoric architecture from the middle of the fifthcentury B.C. is seen in the whole gamut ofrefined subtleties that characterise its style.

The whole edifice, if one looks at it from asuitable position, offers even to the naked eye -in the base, the columns, the beams - curvingand tapering like that which we know fromother Greek temples (the last, chronologically,is the Parthenon) but which here perhapsattained such extremes of application as tomake it an absolute masterpiece of forms with

pleasant rhythms, exquisite harmonies, impos-sible to express with words.

Fineries of this kind must also have beenpresent in other Agrigento temples from thesame period as this one, and here and there wehave proof of this; but never again that overallperception through which the Temple ofConcord, apart from the evocative effect of thegrandiose landscape around it, is reflected inthe sensibility of the visitor with vibrationswhich have something musical about them,with all the power of astonished enchantment.

And may God wish that the visitor arrivethere at the magic hour of sunset: he will carryaway an impression of it, which will neverleave him again all his life.”

Its name is wholly conventional, havingbeen given to it because inside a Romaninscription was found referring to the conse-cration of a shrine to concord betweenAgrigento and Lilybaeum, which however hasno connection with the temple.

The excellent state of preservation is due toa lucky episode: unlike the other pagan temples,which superstition and ignorance led theChristians to demolish (in accordance with anappropriate edict), in the sixteenth century itwas converted into a Catholic church, dedicat-ed to St. George.

On this occasion the arches in the walls ofthe cell were done and other alterations weremade: however, this “conversion” made it pos-sible to preserve it. It was only in 1788 that thebuilding (apart from the arches) was restored toits ancient unrivalled form.

On the opposite page,the columns ofthe HerculesTemple.

Above, one of the tela-mons.

17

In this magnificent sacrarium one can alsoperceive the absolute rigour of constructiontechnique marking the temple, both in the pre-cision with which the massive tufa blocks of thecell were squared off for the maximum recipro-cal adhesion and in the grooving in thecolumns (done after the drums were placed on

top) whose thin strips, running along thecolumns themselves, give perfect correspon-dence between one drum and another.

In short, this is a sublime work of art, which superbly represents Greek culture in Sicily.

The Temple of Juno Lacinia - Its name,18

like that of the nearby Temple of Concord, iswholly conventional (due to confusion withthe Temple of Hera at Crotone), but it is niceto think that this temple, spectacularly placedon a cliff at the top of the eastern part of themagic hill, may have been the place of the wor-ship of the goddess of fertility. The traces of

fire, which are extraordinarily still visible inthe walls of the cell, remind us of that unluckyyear 406 B.C. when this magnificent temple,almost wholly identical to that of Concord,was destroyed by the Carthaginians.

Nearby (to the east) one can still see a bigaltar for sacrifices and a stretch of road withdeep grooves made by carts coming from gateIII of the town.

The Temple of Esculapios and the tombof Thero - This little temple, also from the fifthcentury, differs from the others both because ofthe unusual location outside the walls (belowthe Temple of Concord) and because of the shape (in antis) and the small size (about20 by 10 metres).

Mentioned by Polybius, in connection withthe Roman siege of 262 B.C., and by Cicero (inthe Verrines), it housed a statue of Apollo byMiro, first stolen by the Carthaginians and,once returned to the people of Akragas byScipio of Africa, stolen once and for all byVerro.

In the heart of the Roman necropolis whichextends on the slopes of the hill outside theancient walls (a few metres south of theTemple of Hercules), there is the tomb of Theroor Hereon, a magnificent example of Doric-Ionic architecture dating from the third centu-ry B.C., which, of course, has nothing to dowith the tyrant of Akragas. Very probably themonument was put up by the Romans to com-memorate the 300,000 soldiers they lost dur-ing the siege of the city.

The San Nicola hill and theHellenistic-Roman district - This very richarchaeological area is at the centre of theplateau where the town stood, and we havecertain knowledge of a succession of monu-ments, objects of worship, starting from archa-ic Greek times.

Here there stand out above all the Oratoryof Phalaris, the ekklesiaterion, later trans-formed, in the republican period, into a comi-tium, and the church with the annexed SanNicola monastery.

The Oratory of Phalaris (whose namederives from the tradition according to whichhere there was the palace of the first tyrant ofAkragas) is an elegant in antis building datingfrom the first century B.C., partly superim-posed on the ekklesiaterion, considerablyaltered by the Goths.

This was the place of assembly of thetownsfolk (there was room for 3000 of them),but today only the seats are left. In the samearea the bouleuterion was recently discovered.

Immediately to the west of this extraordi-nary archaeological complex is the Hellenistic-

The DioscuriTemple.

19

Agrigento

Roman district, an area of over 10,000 squaremetres, in which the magnificent urban com-plex extends, and part of this city, whoseremains, superimposed, can be dated from thefifth to fourth centuries B.C.

Of very great importance, this residue ofthe city at the time of Timoleontes and theRoman epoch allows the visitor to see the per-fection of the Hippodamean street system, thebig insulae and the remains of the magnificentbuildings.

The description of this whole area woulddeserve much more space; here we will simplymention the “peristyle house”, which is themost interesting one and still has several mosa-ic floors, the “two-storey house”, with mosaicsshowing the magic symbol representing themovement of the sun, the “gazelle house”, the“house of the abstract artist”, and the “house ofAphrodite”.

There are many other archaeological sitesin Agrigento, which are worth visiting: we willmention just a few.

Near the cemetery, there are ruins of theTemple of Demeter and Kore, over which, in theNorman epoch, the San Biagio church wasbuilt; the rock shrine of Demeter with archaicGreek forms, presumably used for indigenouspre-Greek worship; the remains of Gate I and ofthe Greek fortifications. Inside the area of theTemple of Jove, there are numerous sacredareas, the swimming pool and the agora.

The old part of the townSanto Spirito Abbey - It is one of the

finest Sicilian monuments. Built in 1260, thecomplex comprises the church and the adjacentCistercian monastery. On the outside, thechurch has a magnificent portal inChiaramonte style, surmounted by a richrosette, in a more recent Baroque context. Theinterior is also from the eighteenth-century.

Here one can admire numerous stuccoes bySerpotta which fantastically decorate the walls;a sixteenth-century holy water font; aMadonna by Gagini (or by one of his school)and a magnificent wooden caisson ceiling donein 1758, showing the coat-of-arms of theChiaramonte family - it was FedericoChiaramonte’s wife, Marchisia Prefoglia, thatmade the foundation of the complex possiblewith a generous donation. The adjacentmonastery, Badia Grande, dates from 1290.

It is embellished by a magnificent rectan-gular cloister, one of the oldest and best pre-served in Sicily. In it various Gothic portalsstand out: there is a splendid and imposingpointed arch, beside which there were mul-lioned windows, leading into the Chapter

Room. Inside the monastery there are somefrescoes dating from the sixteenth and nine-teenth centuries.

San Lorenzo Chapel and underwateraqueducts - Also known as the PurgatorioChurch, it was built in the seventeenth centuryon the site of an older sacred edifice with thesame name.

It has an elegant Renaissance-Baroquefaçade with two tiers of pilasters, a rich portal

The high altarof the Santo

Spirito churchwith Serpotta

stuccoes.20

softened by two spiralling columns and by alle-gorical groups to the sides showing Faith andCharity and, high up, a big window. The inte-rior has only one nave. Eight statues of femalefigures representing the Virtues, by Giuseppeand Giacomo Serpotta, embellish it.

To the left of the church, under a stone lion,is the main entrance to the ancient and perfect-ly conserved network of underwater aqueducts,which supplied Akragas with drinking water.

Done in the fifth century B.C. by the architectPhaeax. They were known all over MagnaGrecia as one of the many wonders of the city.

San Domenico Church - In PiazzaPirandello there is the fine complex made up ofthe San Domenico church and the adjacent for-mer monastery of the Dominican Fatherswhich was built over the palace of the Prince ofLampedusa.

It is an elegant seventeenth-century con-struction with a Renaissance-Baroque façadewith two levels, and beside it there is a cam-panile. In the façade there is a big portal to thesides of which there are two columns sur-mounted by a tympanum split by a medallionshowing St. Dominic.

The façade is completed by a row ofpilasters enclosing the lateral niches and by abig central window. In the adjacent elegant edi-fice of the former convent, in which now thetown hall is, there is the Luigi Pirandello the-atre, done by G. B. Basile; after a long period,this has at last been restored, and has recoveredits former splendours.

The cathedral - Heading northwardsalong the side of the San Domenico Church, tothe left of the façade you enter Via Delle Orfaneand you come to the vast square in which thecathedral magnificently looms up.

Founded towards the end of the eleventhcentury by the bishop of Agrigento, Gerlando,the building, in the Gothic-Norman style, wasseveral times enlarged and altered from thefourteenth to the seventeenth centuries, andmaintains its original look only in the magnifi-cent windows to be seen on the right side.

It has a façade which you get to up a broadand soft flight of steps, beside which there is amagnificent unfinished fifteenth-century cam-panile, embellished by two tiers of Gothic-Catalan blind windows and by another win-dow with a balcony surmounted by a fine andrichly decorated rounded arch.

The interior has a Latin cross layout. Thereare three naves divided by rounded arches rest-ing on octagonal pillars.

There is a magnificent and richly paintedwooden ceiling, at the centre of which the two-headed eagle of Charles V is shown. Insidethere are also rich stuccoes and frescoes givingan overall sumptuous effect.

In the right wing of the transept is the littleSan Gerlando chapel, surmounted by a finelymodelled Gothic portal. In the chapel the Ark, a1639 reliquary, is kept.

In the left nave is the De Marinis chapeland in the right apse there is a 1495 marblegroup of Madonna and Child. There are alsonumerous other sepulchres enriching the mag-

21

Agrigento

nificent interior of this great monument.Of very great importance is the treasure of

the cathedral, particularly rich in works of artof great historical and artistic value, amongwhich stands out the very famous sarcophagusof Phaedra, a stupendous and very elegantRoman marblework from the early third centu-ry B.C. inspired by the fifth century Greekstyle.

Described and praised by all the great for-eign visitors to Sicily in the eighteenth century,from Riedesel to Bartles, this masterpiece(momentarily kept at the San Nicola church)found in the Agrigentum Roman necropolis,represents episodes from the myth of Phaedraand Hippolyte.

Opposite the cathedral, in the same square,is the Bishop’s Seminary founded by bishopNarullo in 1574 and completed in 1611; insidethere is an elegant courtyard with a portico andtwo tiers of loggias.

Santa Maria dei Greci - Going along ViaSanta Maria dei Greci you come to the church of the same name, in the oldest part of themedieval town.

It was built in the twelfth century, and itsfoundations stand on the base of a fifth-centuryDoric temple which some believe to be that ofAthena, in the Akragas acropolis (where Gelias,a rich nobleman of Akragas, is said to have killedhimself, to avoid falling into the hands of theCarthaginians).

The Santa Maria dei Greci Church, in frontof which there is an elegant little courtyard, hasa refined façade softened by a thirteenth-centuryArab-Norman portal and by fine windows. Theinterior has three naves.

There is a fine ceiling which reminds one ofthe ceiling of the cathedral and it is enriched bytraces of fourteenth-century frescoes. There isalso a sixteenth-century wooden statue and asarcophagus with the remains of a noblemanfrom Palermo.

There is a very narrow passage leading fromthe left nave to the northern base of the Dorictemple where traces of the drums of its columnsstill can be seen.

SCIACCAPalaeolithic tombs, together with numer-

ous finds which have come to light in the last

Sciacca.Above,

Gothic rosewindow in the

façade of the Carmine

Church.

Right, a portal of

SantaMargherita

Church.

22

few years, show that already in prehistorictimes men settled along this stretch of coast.

These sites continued to be frequentedthroughout the subsequent period, by theSicans, the Phoenicians, the Greeks, theRomans, the Byzantines and the Arabs.

Sciacca, called Xacca (from the Latin ‘exacqua’, a clear reference to the warm waterswhich still gush out of its soil, forming a ther-mal basin which is one of the richest and most complete in the world) became one of themost active harbours on the island, and it isstill so today. It was further embellished withmonuments and the defensive walls werestrengthened. All those who subsequently gov-erned Sciacca enriched it with other works ofart, so much so that - as we read in the guide tothe town by Salvatore Cantone - there are “sig-nificant examples of architecture, sculpture andpainting (not to speak of the so-called minorarts) from all ages.”

The cathedral, which stands in PiazzaDuomo, is dedicated to St. Mary Magdalene,and was founded way back in the twelfth cen-tury by Count Roger’s daughter Juliet.

Of the original construction one can nowonly see the exterior of the three apses; thewhole building was redone in the eighteenthcentury. The interior is divided into threenaves by pillars. In it there are fine works ofart, among which, in the fourth chapel on theright, a statue of the Madonna della Catenastands out attributed to Francesco Laurana.

At the western extremity of Corso VittorioEmanuele there is the majestic PalazzoSteripinto, one of the most classical examplesof plateresque art in Sicily. The building, found-ed in the fifteenth century, has a broad façade

made of diamond-tip ashlars, crowned by battle-ments.

Over the elegant Renaissance door thereare three mullioned windows somewhat miti-gating the austere look of the ancient palace.

The Santa Margherita Church, in theGothic-Renaissance style, was founded in 1342and redone about 250 years later. The façade isdecorated by a fine Gothic portal dating fromthe year of foundation, while another elegantportal, a masterpiece by Francesco Laurana,can be admired on the side of the church.

The San Salvatore gate is one of the threeleft of those built in the imposing walls whichin the sixteenth century girded the town - onecan still see ruins of them in several places. Thegate, right opposite the Santa MargheritaChurch, is a wonderful example of Spanishdecoration blending together architecture andsculpture. The name derives from a nearbychurch, partly engulfed in the eighteenth-cen-tury Carmine Church, whose most interestingdecorative elements are the majolica-coveredcupola and the Gothic rosette in the façade.

There are about ten different thermalsprings in Sciacca and the waters form ahydrothermal basin of rare completeness - thereare notices of it in antiquity - suited to treatinga vast range of disorders of various kinds.

Of particular renown are the San Calogero“stoves”, two natural grottoes in which, thanksto the union of a karst phenomenon and a sec-ondary volcanic manifestation, there is steam ata temperature oscillating between 38 and 42degrees Celsius, very good for a sauna.According to a legend, Dedalus, who collectedthe hot vapour coming out of the ground in thecaves, made the “stoves”.

Bottom, the Thermalestablishmentof Sciacca.

Agrigento

The Sicilian landscape shows major varia-tions, being now soft and green, now arid

and rugged, while in other places you see theazure of the sea, the black of the volcano, thegrey of wrinkled mountains. The yellowcolour of corn, sulphur and sun is the colourof Caltanissetta.

This town, built on a hill 600 metres high,was perhaps the ancient Nissa mentioned byThucydides, or perhaps it only came intobeing with the Arabs, born of that Pietrarossacastle to which houses and cottages clung.

In 1086, when it was conquered by theNormans, its feudal history began, to go onuntil a quite recent past.

Great prosperity came to it from sulphurmining, reaching its climax at the start of ourcentury. Today, overwhelmed by internationalcompetition, many mines are closed, and thetimes of the “carusi” who worked there appearvery remote.

With intelligent promotional action,attempts are being made to recover the minesas places of collective memory, so that theycan take on a tourist function.

A visit to Caltanissetta takes one day.

Artistic heritageThe Cathedral - Dedicated to Santa

Maria La Nova and St. Michael, it was builtin Piazza Garibaldi in 1570-1622. Its broadfaçade is divided by pilasters and to its sidesthere are two campaniles (1840), with a mid-dle portal in Baroque style.

The ceiling in the main nave was decorat-ed with frescoes by the Flemish painterWilhelm Borremans in 1720. In the barrelvault three big compositions stand out: theImmaculate Conception, the Crowning of theVirgin and the Triumph of St. Michael.

Around these “Saints”, “Stories of St.Peter and St. Paul” and “The Old Testament”are placed. Elegant stuccoes complete the dec-orations in the nave. Borremans also did thebig altarpiece of “The Immaculate Virgin andSaints” placed in the presbytery.

Among the works of art in the cathedral,there is a fine seventeenth-century woodenstatue of “the Immaculate Virgin” with drap-ings in silver foil by Li Volsi; a sumptuousseventeenth-century organ with choir loft andpainted, inlaid and gilded panels, and, in theleft wing of the transept, a Crucifix attributedto Brother Umile da Petralia. Lastly, in the treasure there is a fine fifteenth-centuryGothic censer.

Opposite the cathedral, in the centre of thesquare, there is the fine Fountain of Triton,with a bronze group done in 1956 reproduc-

ing famous mythological groups by theCaltanissetta sculptor Tripisciano.

Palazzo Moncada - It stands to the leftof the Town Hall in Salita Matteotti. Built in1635-1638 for Don Luigi GuglielmoMoncada, viceroy of Sardinia and Sicily andcount of Caltanissetta, it was left unfinished,perhaps due to lack of money or because DonLuigi moved to Spain.

A summing-up of Sicilian Baroque, it hasmonumental exterior architectural forms andgrandiose interior spaces; on the lively façadethere are big ledges in the shape of human andanimal figures, perhaps the catalysing symbolof the power of the seigneur.

The palace, whose imposing walls are twometres thick, was begun on a design by theCapuchin Brother Pietro da Genova, usingarchitectural reliefs and stones taken from thePietrarossa castle and sandstone from MonteGebel-Habib.

The interior of the palace - which for 150years, starting from 1819, was used as aTribunal, Assise Court, Royal prosecutor’soffice and district prosecutor’s office - under-went serious alterations for the rooms to beadapted to the various functions.

There is still an underground tunnel(referred to as ‘u trabuccu’), that started fromthe prison under the palace to come out near the Capuchin monastery in Viale ReginaMargherita. In it, according to the tradition,anyone out of favour of the seigneur disappeared.

Sant’Agata al Collegio Church -Begun in 1605 for the Jesuits, its exterior ismarked by a severe façade, done on a designby Natale Mesucci. The interior has a Greekcross layout. It is decorated with rich marbleinlays in evident Baroque taste.

There is a fine altar with the Madonna delCarmine at the back of the right lateral arm,whose altarpiece is also profusely decoratedwith polychrome marble.

Opposite, in the left arm, another similaraltar was decorated by Ignazio Marabitti witha big marble altarpiece of “St. Ignatius in Glory”. Marabitti also did the marble cornice enclosing the altarpiece over the highaltar, done in the seventeenth century byAntonio Scilla.

Pietrarossa castle - This castle, the onlyone in inland Sicily that is inserted in theurban texture, stands on the top of a solitaryrock. It is of Arab origin and documents thenew town settlement around the rock after theabandonment of the Sabucina- Santo Spiritoterritory, where people had settled in pre-Christian times.

24

Cal

tani

sset

ta

It suddenly collapsed on the night of 27February 1567, perhaps because of an earth-quake, leaving only a high tumbledown wall,a watchtower in open stone, embankments,bastions and a communication bridge.

The ruins of the castle now bear witnessto a very important historical epoch forCaltanissetta, when it was a stronghold ofroyal power in the Middle Ages in the centreof Sicily and divided by struggles forsupremacy.

Santo Spirito Abbey - It is three km. fromthe centre, immersed in a charming landscapewhich comprises the Imera valley, Pietrarossacastle, the outlines of Enna and Calascibetta and,on very clear days, Etna in the background.

It is the oldest church in Caltanissettaprovince, built long before its consecration on 2June 1151. Founded by the Norman CountRoger and his wife Adelasia, it is a Romanesquechurch in the early Christian style with three

small apses divided by pilasters connected by lit-tle arches.

In the lunettes of the portal we note “ChristBlessing”, a fifteenth-century fresco (for safetyreasons and to avoid weather damage, the frescoon the portal is a replica of the original, which iskept inside); immediately to the right of themain entrance there is a Romanesque bath forbaptism with immersion (practised from thebeginning of Christianity until the twelfth cen-tury) and a seventeenth-century crucifix on aboard.

In the apse to the left of the arcade there isthe epigraph of the consecration. In the sac-risty there is an original Arabic ark, a littleRoman urn and a tin chalice, the use of whichwas forbidden first in 220 and then, once andfor all, by Pope Leo IV in 855.

There are also paintings of major artisticvalue, a sixteenth-century chaise and ancientsacred texts.

25

Ruins of the originalnucleus ofPietrarossacastle.

Picturesque and noisy, Catania is the city ofthe volcano. Dark and closed like a grumpy

god, Etna dominates from on high the continualcomings and goings which enliven the city’sstreets, which symbolise an intrinsic character-istic of the people of Catania: their being hardworkers. This was a quality which was noted byBartels, a German scholar who visited Sicily in1786 and defined Catania “a city of active peo-ple who put ruins back up and look courageous-ly to the future.” It is also a quality which hasallowed this city to resurrect several times fromits own ashes like a phoenix, ignoring earth-quakes and wars - ancient and modern.

Highly suited to the people of Catania arethe symbol of the city, the elephant, a good andstrong animal, and their saint, Agatha, a vir-gin and martyr even capable of halting the furyof Etna with the supernatural force of her veil.

Catania is a dark city, built with blacckvolcano stone and yet absolutely sunny andluminous, on account of its 2528 hours of sunper year - the highest average in Italy. It is anancient city, boasting of pre-Greek origins, yetsometimes more or less indifferent to its past so

much so that the Greek Theatre is almost hid-den at the end of a little street.

A city of frivolous people, devoted to gossiplike in Brancati’s plays, but at the same timepainfully aware of the tragic reality of life, ofthe need to roll up their sleeves against themafia and other criminals who submerge theircity with cement and corruption.

Katane was founded on the fuming ruins ofa Siculo burgh by Chalcidian settlers in 729B.C. Its name means “hill”, and indeed theacropolis was built on a hill, in the area nowoccupied by the big Benedictine monastery. Inthe course of time, around it there rose temples,a hippodrome, a gymnasium, the mint, anodeon, aqueducts and thermae.

In 476 B.C. Jeron of Syracuse conqueredthe prosperous town. He deported the inhabi-tants to Leontonoi, re-populated the town withpeople from Syracuse and new Doric settlersand gave it the name “Etna”. However, thepeople of Katane were only in exile for 15 years:in 461 they returned to their town and gave itits former name back, and swore eternal hostili-ty to Syracuse.

Above, a glimpse of the

cathedral.

On the oppositepage the statue of Sant’Agata.

26

Cat

ania

27

In 415 they allowed the Athenians to usetheir town as a base in the war againstSyracuse and this brought new destruction toit: having defeated his enemies, Dionysius I,the tyrant of Syracuse, turned his anger onKatane, leaving it at the mercy of his soldiers.

In 263 B.C. Katane was taken by theRomans and declared a colony. Under theemperor Augustus, its population greatlyincreased, and it was embellished with presti-gious new buildings (like the grandioseamphitheatre) while others were restored.

In the course of the ensuing centuriesCatania followed the vicissitudes of all Sicily,though its destiny was a little different fromthat of the rest of the island because of its pecu-liar intimate rapport with the volcano.

The history of the city was linked not onlyto human affairs but also to the whims of Etna,a dispenser of life but also of death and destruc-tion. One could list various dates: 1169, whena major earthquake caused the death of some15,000 people; 1669, when the lava got as faras the harbour and fell hissing into the sea,leaving nothing but despair behind it; 1693,when the whole city was wiped out by theearthquake, which buried in the ruins some16.000 innocents.

However, the latter date also brought hap-pier things with it. In the last years of the sev-enteenth century there was busy reconstruc-

tion, whose finest fruits are still the city’sboast.

A visit to Catania takes two days.

Artistic heritageThe Elephant Fountain - Placed at the

centre of Piazza Duomo, it was done byGiovanBattista Vaccarini. It comprises an ele-phant in lava stone from the Roman epoch andan Egyptian obelisk in Syene granite withhieroglyphics regarding the worship of Isis. Ina peculiar combination of sacred and profanethe elephant holds up the obelisk, which is sur-mounted by a ball and the insignia of St.Agatha: the cross, the lily, the palm and theangelic table.

The elephant, like the tortoise, is often rep-resented as an animal holding up the worldand it is considered a cosmic animal in that itsbody contains the structure of the cosmos: fourpillars holding up a sphere.

The Cathedral of St. Agatha - Built in1078-93 over the Thermae of Achilles, fromthat epoch it preserves the three apses and thebody of the upper transept.

It was later rebuilt by Girolamo Palazzottoafter the 1693 earthquake, with materials com-ing from other buildings like for example theRoman columns in the main façade, done byVaccarini, who took over thirty years to com-plete them. Scholars consider the façade too

Above, Ursino Castle,now housing

the CivicMuseum.

28

rigid with respect to the irradiation of thecolumns. The marble balustrade is from thenineteenth century and in it alternate vasesand statues of saints.

Inside the cathedral are the tombs ofVincenzo Bellini and of Aragonese kings,including Frederick II, and Constance ofAragona, the wife of Frederick III. On the rightwall a very ornate portal closes off the chapel,where the relics and treasure of St. Agatha, thepatron saint of the city, are kept.

There are celebrations for this saint for overa month, from 5th January to 12th February,but the climax of the feast is on 3-4-5 February,when the bier with the relics of the saint istaken round the city.

Ursino Castle - The castle was built at thebehest of Frederick II of Hohenstaufen in 1239-50 and now houses the municipal museum.

Once surrounded by the sea, in the four-teenth century it was the residence of theAragonese royal family; transformed in accor-

dance with Renaissance taste in the sixteenthcentury, it was surrounded by lava in the 1669eruption and hence now stands on the main-land.

The edifice has a square layout with fourcylindrical keeps at the corners and had semi-cylindrical towers, only two of which are left,halfway along each side. Similar to the Casteldel Monte castle in Apulia, Ursino castleblends together Hohenstaufen rationalism andthe Arab taste for stereometry. On the pointedarch over the entrance there is an aedicule withthe Hohenstaufen eagle seizing a hare.

The museum, in which there is also theBenedictine collection, part of that of theprinces of Biscari and the donations of BaronZappalà-Asmundo, is at present being restored,and so it is only possible to visit the entranceand courtyard of the castle.

The Roman Theatre and Odeon - Thetheatre had a diameter of about 87 metres andcould seat 7000 people. It was built on a side of

The RomanTheatre, withroom for 7000spectators.

29

Catania

the hill on which there was a Greek acropolis,and we cannot rule out the possibility thatoriginally it was actually founded by theGreeks. The orchestra, which has a diameter of29 metres and a marble slab floor, is oftenflooded by the waters of the river Amenano.

Under the present pit there are traces oftwo other distinct pits; they all date from theimperial Roman age.

Adjacent to it is the Odeon, only recentlyreopened to the public, which was used forchoir rehearsals and competitions and couldseat 1300 spectators. The space between the pitand the external wall was divided into seven-teen rooms, sixteen of which are left.

Badia di Sant’Agata Church - Done byGiovan Battista Vaccarini in 1735-67 it standsin Via Raddusa with an elegant façade, theopenings in which have frames in white cal-careous stone. Convex in the interior part, theconstruction resolves itself into a concave shapehigher up with great balance. It is surmountedby a cupola which optically harmonises thesurrounding buildings. Inside, all the surfacesare in white stucco, on which the altars in yel-low Castronovo marble stand out. The floorshows a rich design with fascias interwovenwith big flowers and volutes in white marbleon a grey background.

Palazzo Biscari - Done by FrancescoBattaglia, it is a magnificent example of theCatania Baroque. The façade, which looks outon the harbour, is classical and shows a rectan-ular terrace. The portal leads into a courtyarddominated by a pincer staircase typical ofBaroque villas in the Palermo area too; thesouth side is the oldest, probably done on a pro-ject by Alonzo Di Benedetto, while the parts tothe east were done on a project by GiuseppePalazzotto in 1750. The interior was completedin 1766. One is struck above all by the ball-room, which according to Blunt is the firstexpression of rococo decoration in Sicily. It hasthe shape of an elongated octagon terminatingin an alcove, which is believed originally tohave contained a “lit de parade”. At the centreof the concave ceiling there is an oval skylight,through which the eye runs to an outer cupola,decorated with an allegorical fresco, that takeslight from windows under the level of the innercupola; a gallery goes round the skylight andhere, during balls, the orchestra was seated.The rocailles decoration was probably done bystucco workers from Venice or Bavaria; thefrescoes are by Sebastiano Lo Monaco. In thegallery on the marina there is a winding stair-case also showing the Catania rococo style.

Via Crociferi - It starts from Piazza SanFrancesco d’Assisi, passing under the arch of

St. Benedict (1704). This is one of the most sig-nificant areas for the Catania Baroque. It owesits name to a religious order who looked afterthe sick.

Most of the buildings in Via Crociferi weredone on projects by Vaccarini or close collabo-rators of his, like Giuseppe Palazzotto and,instead of aligning themselves to the perspec-tive axis of the street, they “compose” thestreet.

Particularly worthy of attention are theJesuit College with the adjacent San FrancescoBorgia, San Giuliano and San Benedettochurches.

Saverio Fiducia, letting Via Crociferi speakin the first person, writes: “Then celestialmusic rained down from the choir lofts andchoirs on the bent backs of the devout, and thesmoke of incense, coming out of the grandiosemarble portals, wrapped me too in a scentedatmosphere, rising sweetly towards the fastigiasilvered by the moon ...”

The San Nicolò l’Arena BenedictineMonastery - Around 1136 some Benedictinefathers retreated to meditate on Etna andfounded the San Leo monastery with the help ofCount Errico. However, inclement weather,eruptions and earthquakes forced the monks togo down to Nicolosi to the San NicolòMonastery which was originally built for sickmonks.

Since the situation there was not much bet-ter and there was the threat of thieves, around1550 they decided to move to Catania and themonastery was built, the second biggest inEurope, which now houses the Faculty of

On the left, theBenedictine convent, alsodescribed byFederico DeRoberto in hisnovel “I Vicerè”.

Above, a detail ofPalazzo Biscari.

31

Catania

Letters and Philosophy. After the 1693 earth-quake, which had almost completely destroyedthe church and the monastery, work was done,among others, by Antonino Amato, FrancescoBattaglia and Vaccarini.

After the Baroque portal and the courtyard,a pincer-shaped staircase of honour leads intothe building. You thus come to the corridorsorganised along the two cloisters. The first one,with a neo-Gothic church, like the second onehas doors and big windows done on a design byAntonino Amato. You get to the second cloisteralong the clock corridor; it has a 1606 marbleportico, and, at the centre, the remains of a sev-enteenth-century marble fountain.

In the west wing of the monastery there

are the united civic and Recupero libraries:opened in 1897, they are made up of the origi-nal nucleus of 50,000 volumes of the library ofthe Benedictine fathers, to which there wereadded the libraries of the suppressed religiouscorporations, the one donated by Baron UrsinoRecupero (made up of about 40,000 volumesand booklets, it is a precious collection for localand Sicilian history), that of the poet MarioRapisardi and a Sicilian newspaper library.

Roman amphitheatre - What remains ofthis magnificent edifice, probably dating fromthe second century B.C., is on one side ofPiazza Stesicoro, along which it originallyextended as far as what is now Via Penninello.It could seat 16,000 and was 31 metres high.

Above, the Church

of SanSebastiano in Acireale.

32

The lower corridor is well preserved all along,and the arena, second only to that of theColiseum in Rome, had a diameter of 71metres. One notes a curious mixture of build-ing materials - basalt, calcareous stone and redbricks - conferring a particular variety ofcolours on the building.

AClREALEAcireale came into being 3000 years ago

on the banks of the streams into which theriver Aci divides. In 1000 B.C. it became aPhoenician emporium of major importanceand 300 years later it was colonised by theGreeks, who called it Xiphonia, meaning“sword”, perhaps because of the shape of thepromontory on which it stood.

Later, the Romans called it Aci, from Akis,a word with the same meaning as Xiphonia.The story of the town is marked by conquests,devastations - wrought not only by men butalso by Etna - and reconstructions. TodayAcireale stands on a terrace looking out on thesea - a position chosen in the fourteenth centu-ry - and has the look that it took on in the eigh-teenth century after the 1693 earthquake. Sideby side with Byzantine and moorish elements,which survived the earthquake, we hence findmany Baroque aspects.

The main monument is the Cathedral,built around the end of the seventeenth centu-ry; it has a façade in Gothic style done in theearly twentieth century, on a design byGiovan Battista Basile, in which there is aBaroque portal (1667-72).

The interior is divided into three naves.There are frescoes by Giuseppe Sciuti andPietro Paolo Vasta. Other works of art includea holy water font by Antonello Gagini (1525)and a silver statue of Santa Venera (to whomthe church is dedicated together with theVirgin of Assumption) in the chapel of thesame name. In the sacristy the bier of the saintherself is kept, used in the procession in herhonour.

Also outstanding is the San Seba-stianoChurch, with a lively Baroque façade decorat-ed with putti, statues, friezes and festoons. Theinterior is divided into three naves, and is dec-orated with frescoes by Pietro Paolo Vasta.

CALTAGIRONEFinds dating from the Neolithic and the

first half of the Bronze Age testify to the pres-ence of man in the place, where Caltagironehas stood since the remotest times. The Arabsbuilt a castle there - which soon became a pri-mary military objective - and around it devel-oped an urban centre, about which however we

know little or nothing as regards the periodbefore the Norman conquest in 1090.

Few buildings remain from before the 1693earthquake and hence the little town has a typ-ically Baroque look. Caltagirone is famous forthe beauty and quality of its splendid ceramics,which began to be made in prehistoric times,thanks to the abundance of the required raw material.

The Cathedral, in Piazza Umberto I, isright at the heart of the town. It was foundedin the Norman period, but redone at the startof the last century. It has a fine façade in theart nouveau-flowery style of the early twenti-eth century. Not far away is the long buildingof the Captain’s Court, in whose front atintervals there are portals and windows byGiandomenico Gagini (sixteenth-seventeenthcenturies). Among the Baroque churches spe-cial mention must be made of the Jesuit GesùChurch and the San Giacomo Church.

Lastly, there are the fine and majesticSanta Maria del Monte steps, decoratedwith coloured ceramic tiles, built in 1608 tolink two parts of the town at different levels.

Below,Caltagirone.

Catania

“We sported in the meadows gatheringlovely flowers, irises, the beautiful crocus

and young roses and lilies which had justbloomed, stupendous hyacinths and narcissi,with them and with the crocus that immenseland flowered and while I gathered them withmy soul all blissful the earth broke and from itleapt out the god ...”

Thus begins the story of Persephone, thesweet daughter of Ceres, goddess of fertility,abducted by Pluto on the shores of LakePergusa, at the foot of Enna, a town whichhas always been a magic place, the epicentre ofthe most ancient myths of Sicily, those linkedto fertility and the land.

Ceres had her temple at Enna, a muchvenerated one, to which gifts and legates camefrom all parts, and from here she set out insearch of her daughter, desperately calling her,indifferent to the land turning arid.

Ceres’ Rock, on which her shrine stood,

can still be seen, yellow and white, solitary,less mysterious, certainly, than at one time.

It is not a true “tourist attraction” like somany other monuments in Enna, but it isworth having a look at, possibly while you areadmiring the panorama, which is one of themost celebrated in Sicily: from the top of thePisan Tower, on clear days, you can make outthe African Sea, an evanescent azure thatmelts into the sky.

On all other sides there are hills andmountains, as far as the eye can see, and, overit all, Etna, with the top hidden by cottonwool clouds and white veils.

Certainly it was the very breadth of thepanorama that convinced first the Sicans andthen the Siculi to settle here, where they couldeasily defend themselves.

Archaeology has provided proof of theseprehistoric presences. For example, theGuardiola grotto was already a collectivetomb in the Neolithic epoch.

However, we know little about the firstsettlements: systematic excavation only began in 1978.

In the seventh to sixth centuries B.C. thetown was under Greek influence and itsimportance increased more and more as themain place of worship of Ceres.

Henna, at the centre of a land rich in leg-ends and myths, also attracted interests thatwere more human than religious: possessionof this florid town was indispensable not onlyto complete an unchallenged dominion overSicily but also for the enjoyment of the prod-ucts of the fertile land around.

In 307 B.C. Henna had to submit to thedominion of Syracuse, and later, after a briefperiod of independence, to that of the Romans.

Every new conqueror of Sicily, in order toobtain lasting power, had to face the adver-saries perched up in the little town in the Ereimountains and often only betrayal made con-quest possible.

This was the case of the Arabs, who onlygot in thanks to betrayal by a Byzantine pris-oner. And it was also the case of the Normans,who, having laid siege to the town in 1061,only succeeded in taking it by deceit in 1088.

At the end of the Arab domination, withthe advent of the Normans, Henna, which hadbecome Castrogiovanni (from the ArabicQasr-Jannih, which in turn came from theLatin Castrum Hennae) was enriched withreligious monuments, an enrichment whichwent on all through the Middle Ages andendowed the town with a major patrimonywhich in some respects can still be seen today.

A visit to Enna takes one day.

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Enn

a

Artistic heritageLombard Castle - It is the most impor-

tant vestige of the fortifications which girdedHenna. Built on the citadel which causedEnna to be called “Urbs inexpugnabilis”, itwas defined by Strabo the most beautifulfortress in Sicily, and its origins are veryancient. What you visit today is the result ofnumerous alterations undertaken by everynew conqueror.

Among the most important modificationswere those made by the Arabs, who trans-formed it into a true stronghold, and by theHohenstaufens, who gave the definitive layoutto the outer walls, and lastly by Frederick ofAragona, who chose it as his own dwelling.Its name probably derives from the Lombardgarrison entrusted by the Normans with thecontrol of the castle, although actually theArabs called Lombardy the eastern coast of theAdriatic and the areas in Calabria occupied bythe Normans and so the name may have amore ancient origin.

The irregular layout of the fortress, whichis one of the best preserved in Sicily, remindsone of the castles built by Frederick in Apulia,in particular the one at Lucera; its overallsurface area is 26,230 square metres. The cas-tle is divided into three courtyards - SanNicola, Maddalena and San Martino - sepa-rated by robust walls reinforced by towers, sothat the capitulation of one courtyard did notweaken the resistance of the others. The mostinteresting courtyard is the San Martino one:here there are remains of the royal apartments,of a church, of the royal room, as well as thoseof an underground rock oratory confirmingthe antiquity of the fortified place, certainlypreceding the present castle. From this court-yard you can get to the Pisan Tower, alsoknown as the “Eagles’ tower”, because of thepresence of numerous birds of prey on its bat-tlements in ancient times.

The Octagonal Tower - Set to guard thesouthern area of the town, it has remainedintact and rises solitary at the centre of a pub-lic garden.

This tower is also known as “FrederickII’s tower”. Historians have not yet succeededin establishing its age for certain: there arethose who maintain it dates from the time ofthe Hohenstaufen emperor Frederick II, othersfrom the time of Frederick of Aragona, whileothers date it from the epoch of Manfred.

However, the most fascinating theory isthe one which identifies it with the ancientgeodetic centre of Sicily. Twenty-four metresup on the top of this tower, ancientastronomers, making reference to this centre,

are believed to have given life to the delimita-tion of the island and the creation of its roadsystem. Later the Arabs are believed to haveused the same starting point to divide theisland into three “valleys”.

On the ground floor there are narrow ogi-val mullioned windows, on the first floor twobroad rectangular decorated windows, openedin 1457. The third floor has no roof. You get toit up 2 winding staircase cut out in the thick-ness of the wall (3,3 m.) and from the top - asfrom every point in Enna - you can admire avery vast panorama.

The Cathedral - This is the mainmonunent in Enna. It was probably founded -perhaps on the ruins of a temple dedicated toPersephone - in 1307, the year of the birth ofPedro, when his mother, Queen Eleonora,expressed her desire to restore “the main tem-ple in the town”. Almost entirely destroyed bya fire in 1446, it was rebuilt starting from

Left, theLombard Castle.

Above, theoctagonal tower.

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1451: work on it went on almost throughoutthe sixteenth century.

The sixteenth-century façade is dominatedby a high seventeenth-century campanile withtwo tiers of pilasters. On the right side thereare two portals: one, done in the sixteenthcentury by Jacopino Salemi, in Renaissancetaste, decorated at the centre by a low relief ofSt. Martin and the poor man; while the other,known as the Porta Santa (Holy Gate), is inGothic style. On the outside, also noteworthy,are the apses and the transept, originally dat-ing from the fourteenth century, and an archwhich was part of the ambulatory of the ceme-tery of the church, the only element left of acloister portico.

The interior has a Latin cross layout withthree naves divided by black alabastercolumns with richly decorated bases and capi-tals. In particular, the second on the right andthe second on the left are true masterpieces byGiandomenico Gagini. Also particularly wor-thy of attention are the three chapels in thetransept: the one on the left, dedicated to theMost Holy Sacrament, appears once again,after restoration, in the original fourteenth-century look; the right chapel is dedicated tothe patron saint of Enna, the Madonna ofVisitation, whose simulacrum, kept in thechapel, is carried in a procession every year on

36

2 July; the central chapel, done in the six-teenth century, is dedicated to the Virgin ofthe Assumption, and is richly decorated in allparts with stuccoes, statues and picturesillustrating various moments in the life of theVirgin Mary. Lastly, the ceiling of the church,made up of three types of carved caissons, is atrue work of art in walnut: particularly fine isthe one over the central nave and the transept,done by the sculptor Scipione di Guido, whoworked on it for five years with his assistants.He also did the choir lofts in the central naveand the choir of the high altar.

MORGANTINAThe village of Morgantina is about 6 km

from the village of Aidone. Way back in 1955,thanks to systematic diggings carried out bythe Archaeological Mission of PrincetonUniversity, a town was identified there in itsvarious architectural and urban phases, goingfrom the Hellenistic to the Roman period.

A first phase of occupation is to beascribed to the Iron Age (1000-850 B.C.), andit is documented by ceramic fragments andremains of huts, as regards the upper area ofthe hill called the “Citadel”. Further down, atthe foot of the latter, various digging cam-paigns brought to light the ruins of the shrineof Demeter and Kore, the “stoàs”, the mar-

kets, the Senate hall or bouleuterion, thechapels, the theatre, the chthonic shrine of theagora, the ekklesiasterion, the big kiln, thestate granary, all structures belonging to thetown of the Hellenistic and Roman periods.The link between these two realities, which areso different, is provided by the settlement inthis place of a strong Greek-Chalcidian com-ponent coming from Katane, roughly in thefirst half of the sixth century B.C. In thefourth and third centuries the town reachedthe apex of its greatness. Though favoured bythe prosperity of the period of Jeron, because itsided with the Carthaginians in the SecondPunic War, the town was attacked anddestroyed by joint regular Roman soldiers andHispanic mercenaries in 211 B.C. Assignedfrom that time on to these Hispanic people, itwas not well reconstructed, and its approxi-mate reconstruction did not reflect its pastgreatness. Embroiled in the slave wars, itdeclined in architecture (the theatre became aquarry), and Morgantina was graduallyabandoned, so that its life as a town came toan end in the second or first century B.C. Themain monument is the theatre.

PIAZZA ARMERlNARich in medieval monuments, Baroque

palaces, elegant religious edifices and gardens,

On the oppositepage, top, a viewof Enna; below,the urn of deadChrist in a GoodFriday proces-sion in Enna.

Above, the ves-tiges of the the-atre atMorgantina, a Hellenistictown nearAidone.

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it is on the top of three heights in the inlandhilly area of Sicily. The town is of latemedieval origin, having risen in the twelfthcentury from the ruins of the older Piazza,destroyed by William I for having given hos-pitality to rebel barons.

The Cathedral, dedicated to the Virgin ofAssumption, dominates the whole town fromon high. It was built at the start of the seven-teenth century on a previously existingchurch; of the latter remains only the lowerpart of the campanile in Gothic-Catalan style.Among the various works of art inside there isa precious fifteenth-century wooden crucifix,the work of a not clearly identified “PiazzaArmerina cross artist”.

A short distance from the town, on a hill,one can visit the Sant’Andrea priory, builtat the behest of a nephew of Roger I, Simoncount of Butera, in 1096. The interior is deco-rated with frescoes from the twelfth, thir-teenth and fifteenth centuries; among otherthings, they show the Passion of Christ.

To Piazza Armerina is linked above allthe Roman Casale villa, one of the mostimportant archaeological finds in Sicily. Itwas built in the third or fourth century A.D.for an unknown client, identified by scholarswith a member of the Roman senatorial aris-tocracy or even of the imperial family.

Whoever he was, the owner of the villawas a very rich man, who loved luxury, con-venience and art. For the decoration of hisprestigious country residence he had goodmosaic workers come from Africa and for fiveyears they devoted themselves to the creationof splendid mosaics that still today give us avivid image of Roman life and mythology. Ona surface of about 3.500 square metres thereis a succession of hunting and dancingscenes, mythological characters and animals,fishermen and all sorts of plants and fruit,models and leaders of a style of mosaics thatin subsequent centuries became widespreadin Italy, France and Spain. Centuries later,Arabs and Normans lived between thesewalls, making all the modifications theydeemed necessary to adapt the villa to theirown needs, also unfortunately damaging theoriginal structures.

In the twelfth century a terrible floodgave rise to a river of mud which, havinginvaded the valley, destroyed the upper partof the villa, entirely covering it.

But it’s an ill wind that blows nobodygood, they say, and in this case the sayingproved true: if on the one hand the muddestroyed the ceilings, which must have beensplendid, on the other hand it protected the

mosaics which have thus come down to usmore or less intact. Digging campaigns, con-ducted in an almost amateur fashion at firstbut afterwards more systematically, led, in1950, to the recovery of the villa, under theguidance of the archaeologist Gino Gentili.

The residential complex is made up offour distinct groups of buildings, each used

The wild pighunt, detail of

the mosaic“the big hunt”in the Romanvilla at Piazza

Armerina.

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Enna

for different functions of social life, hospitali-ty, rest, etc. Under the ground there are stillthe servants’ quarters, the stables, the ware-houses and other buildings. Of particularinterest: the thermae, which occupy variousrooms, and which, in addition to the mosaics,show traces of the system used for the watersupply at the villa; the big hunt ambulatory,

decorated with scenes showing the huntingand capture of beasts; the room of the tenfemale gymnasts with ten women perform-ing various sports; the apartments of thelord of the villa, in which, among otherthings, there are a decoration showingUlysses and Polyphemus and the celebrated“erotic scene”.

39

One is highly tempted - when dealing withthe history of Messina - to let oneself be

carried away by the magic of legend and tolose oneself in myth and fable.

Besides few cities are so rich in folk beliefsas the city on the Straits: from Carybdus toGlaucus, from Mata and Grifone to the WhiteDame, from Colapesce to Morgan le Fay, theorigins and very history of Messina are per-meated with these extraordinary events.

But scientists and archaeologists, lesspoetic and more historical than the ancientwriters, less fanciful and more rational, havereconstructed the “true” story of this extraor-dinary place, and they tell us that it is nottrue that Neptune separated Sicily from themainland with a single trident blow and thatSaturn, enamoured of the beauty of this place,founded the ancient city there.

If there are few notices referring to thepre-Greek period - on the shores of the StraitsSiculo farmers and hunters and Phoenicianmerchants left traces of their presence - thereare more abundant ones about the Helleniccolonisation of the site.

It was, besides, precisely here, in the shortstretch of Ionian coastline going from theStraits to Syracuse that the Greek adventurein Sicily began, with the foundation ofZancle, Naxos and Syracuse. Here, those set-tlers coming from Cuma and Chalcis, around756 B.C. (or 730 or 727 B.C., according to theversions of different historians), founded theirtown, Zancle, or “sickle”.

It was possible to reconstruct the planime-try of that ancient settlement - most probablylaid out on the south side of the big harbour -on the basis of archaeological finds: a regularlayout with edifices divided from one anotherby narrow passages, some sacred structureslike that of a shrine from the late eighth centu-ry B.C., at the extreme tip of the tongue ofland that closes off the harbour and, also fune-real monuments like the one (in LargoAvignone) in the area of the necropolis itself,in the form of an underground chamber.

The vicissitudes of the city - Zancle,Messana, Messina - were always to be closelyconnected to the economic and strategicimportance of the site itself: a place ofencounter and clash for so many peoples andfor the most diverse interests.

Conquered and reconquered by SicilianGreeks and by Carthaginians, Messana - thiswas the name given to it by the tyrant ofReggio - was to be the first Roman colony inSicily and, during the last two centuriesbefore the Christian era - was to reach a posi-tion of major importance, so much so that

Cicero defined it “civitas maxima et locu-pletissima”. This splendour was to last atleast until the fall of the Western RomanEmpire (476 A.D.), that is to say the start ofthe barbarian invasion, to recover with theByzantines, becoming a “protometropolis” ofMagna Grecia and Sicily.

Recovering its role as an important strate-gic port-of-call in relations with the east, andgetting control of the Calabrian shore, fortifiedand administered by structures of its own,Messina succeeded, at least until 843 A.D., inholding out against a new invasion, that ofthe Muslims.

After a new grave period of decline - thecity was to be abandoned by its people and tobe re-peopled only in 956, under the Arabs - itwas to become Norman in 1061 and to receivefrom the Normans privileges that were at thebasis of a municipal constitution to last untilthe seventeenth century.

Messina then went to the Angevins andbecame an important military port at the timeof the Crusades, so that its commercial andcultural strength increased.

These were the last centuries of greatsplendour for the city on the Straits. Thewealth, the great development in terms oftown planning and monuments, the politicalimportance, were reflected in the major devel-opment of culture, and in Messina there was aflourishing of men of letters and humanists,thinkers and artists. One name stands outamong them all, that of Antonello.

Then its decline started again, thanks toboth man and nature. Rebelling against theSpanish in 1675-78, the people of Messinaheld out as long as they could count on thehelp of the French, but then came underSpanish dominion once again.

The Spanish repealed all the centuries oldprivileges of the city on the straits, demol-ished the senatorial palace and built - as asevere warning - the imposing San Raniericitadel. Then the plague, which in 1743 emp-tied the city, the 1783 earthquake, the furiousbombardments by Frederick II of Bourbon -the “bomb king” - the terrible earthquake of1908 - sixty thousand victims and thedestruction of 90% of the buildings - anddevastation with the allied bombings of 1943,were to do the rest, largely wiping out thesigns of a splendid past.

Yet it is misguiding to think of Messinaas a completely “new” city, substantiallyrebuilt after the 1908 earthquake and thebombings of World War II: the same doggedand victorious resistance of the people ofMessina that defeated Charles of Anjou in

Messina, the Cathedralwith the cam-

panile enli-vaned by

a big astro-nomic clock.

40

Mes

sina

1282, also made it possible to overcome theculpable greed and barbaric behaviour of manand also the innocent ferocity of nature.

Today Messina is a beautiful and charm-ing city, rich by nature and also thanks towhat the people have succeeded in preservingand reconstructing.

A visit to Messina takes one day.

Artistic heritageSanta Maria d’Alemanna (or degli

Alemanni) - The beautiful ruins of this churchlie in Via Sant’Elia and Via Santa MariaAlemanna. These ruins are very important, asthey are the only vestige of Sicilian Gothicarchitecture. Built in the first half of the thir-teenth century, for the Order of Teutonic

The church ofthe Catalans, a successful

blend of various styles.

42

knights, the church was gradually abandonedstarting from the end of the fifteenth centuryand in 1808 it ceased to be used as a church.Although wars and earthquakes preyed onthis little Hohenstaufen bijou, in its ruins itstill preserves all its characteristics of eleganceand refinement.

Santa Maria Annunziata dei CatalaniIt is one of the most precious treasures ofMessina. Built in the second half of thetwelfth century under the Normans, probablyon a previous church, it has a simple but ele-gant thirteenth-century façade, in which thereare three portals; it also has a cupola andsplendid apses. It is a very elegant example ofsuccessful blending of styles - Byzantine,Romanesque, Arab and Norman. The interiorhas three naves on columns with barrel andcross vaults and the cupola rests on Byzantinepinnacles.

In the little square in front of the churchthere is the bronze statue of John of Austriawho in 1571 won the battle of Lepanto, defeat-ing the Ottoman fleet; he is shown in the actof crushing the cut-off head of Al Pasha, thecommander of the fleet. Also interesting arethe low reliefs in the base, commemoratingsome moments in the historical event.

The Cathedral - The stupendousNorman building was built in 1160 under thereign of Roger II and altered in the fourteenthand sixteenth centuries. It has a basilica lay-out divided into three by a double row ofcolumns with three semicircular apses, besidewhich the fine campanile soars up.

The cathedral, which is one of the oldestchurches in all Sicily, is a symbol of the mis-adventures of the city on the Straits, but alsoof the desire of the people of Messina never tosurrender to the inevitable.

In the thirteenth century it suffered a ter-rible fire, and in the seventeenth and eigh-teenth centuries earthquakes, was almostentirely destroyed by the 1908 earthquakeand, once reconstructed, badly damaged byAmerican bombs in 1943.

Today, in its splendid façade, it conservesthree magnificent portals from the fifteenthand sixteenth centuries, the main one ofwhich, completed by Pietro di Bonàto in 1468,was originally started by Baboccio da Piperno,the fourteenth-century artist who did the stat-ue of the Madonna originally placed in thelunette and now kept at the local museum.Some windows and the fine rosette have alsobeen recovered and restored.

Inside, where there is a fine painted wood-en ceiling, of major interest are the numeroussepulchral monuments, among which that of

Cardinal Guidotto de Tabiatis stands out, afourteenth-century work by Goro di Gregorio;twelve altars dating from the sixteenth centu-ry; a St. John, probably by Antonello Gagini;and a relief of St. Jerome, from the fifteenthcentury. There is a very fine treasure, withrefined gold, silver and woven objects, done bylocal craftsmen known all over Europe.Adiacent to the church is the fine campanile,

The main portal of the Cathedral.

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several times reconstructed, in which there isthe biggest astronomic clock in the world,made in 1933 in Strasbourg: made up ofnumerous animated dials showing hours,

days, months, planets and religious feasts,at midday it puts on a true music and ani-mation spectacle lasting a quarter of an

hour: a spectacle not to be missed,just as one must not miss theclimb up the campanile itself

(height 65 metres), which is possi-ble from 9 am to 1 pm.

Orion’s Fountain - A sixteenth-centurymonumental work by Montorsoli,showing Orion, one of the mythical

founders of the city.Neptune’s Fountain -

Also done by Montorsoli,in 1557, it is in Piazza

Unità d’Italia. Several times

altered, the foun-tain showsNeptune pla-cating thewaters ofthe Straits.

TAORMINAThe origins of this town can be dated to

prehistory: in the late Bronze Age a group ofSiculi settled on top of a hill looking out on theIonian coast of Sicily. In the little town ofTauromenion the inhabitants of Naxos,destroyed by Dionysius I of Syracuse, tookrefuge. Dionysius occupied it in 392 B.C. Itshared the fortunes of Greek and Roman Sicily.There was a decline, but it picked up againwith the Byzantines, and in 902 it was one ofthe last places to surrender to the Arabs.

The Islamic domination was always ill ac-cepted, and the people rebelled twice. After thesecond revolt, in 969, the destruction of theplace was decreed, and only the fortificationprotecting Naxos, called Tambermin, wassaved. In the thirteenth century, after the foun-dation of some convents, Taormina too wasgiven a new lease of life, though it remained lit-tle more than a village. Its real fortune began inthe nineteenth century, when, after a visit byGoethe, who praised its beauty all over Europe,it became almost a must in the “Grand Tour”.The visitors in the last century were the fore-

runners of the very numerous tourists whoevery year visit Taormina, the capital ofSicilian tourism.

The main monument is the ancienttheatre, not only because of its intrinsic artis-tic value, but also because of its picturesqueposition. The panorama to be enjoyed from upthere has even been defined the “panorama parexcellence”, something you really must notmiss once you are in Sicily. It is the secondbiggest ancient theatre on the island (diameter109 m.) after that of Syracuse and was built inthe Hellenistic epoch (third-second centuryB.C.). Modified and enlarged about 300 yearslater, it was used by the Romans for gladiatori-al fights. The theatre, whose acoustics are out-standing, is used for musical an theatricalshows in summer.

The Romans also built the Odeon, a littleedifice at the back of the present-day SaintCaterina church, perhaps the bouleuterion(meeting place) the Naumachia. The latter,together wlth the theatre, is the second mainvestige of the Roman town and also one of thebiggest Roman monuments on the island. Itwas a big terrace protecting a now no longerextant cistern. It seems that naval battles wereheld there, and hence the name.

Palazzo Corvaja, built in the fifteenthcentury on a structure from the previous cen-tury, was the seat of the Sicilian Parliament in1410. On the front there is a fascia in whichthere are inscribed a series of moral sentencesin Latin. Further up, on the first floor there arebig double-mullioned windows. The innercourtyard is very picturesque.

The Cathedral, dedicated to St. Nicholas,was built in the thirteenth century. Later, inthe fifteenth, sixteenth and seventeenth cen-turies, it was altered. Its squared-off and severelook reminds one of Norman cathedrals.

The main portal, surmounted by a smallrosette and flanked by two ogival mullionedwindows, was done in 1636 in the Renaissancestyle; two other portals, from the fifteenth andsixteenth centuries, are respectively on the leftand right sides (the first one in particular isoutstanding).

The interior has three naves; there areinteresting paintings by Antonino Giuffrè(1436) and a polyptych by Antonello de Saliba(1504). The elegant palace of the dukes ofSanto Stefano, built in the fourteenth and fif-teenth centuries, is a fine example of Sicilianarchitecture.

The imposing perimeter walls are lightenedby double-mullioned windows, four downbelow and four - more elegant - on the residen-tial floor.

Above, theFountain of

Orione.

Right,Cariddi,

a detail of the Neptune

Fountain.

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TINDARIFounded on the site of the Siculo village of

Abaceno in 396 B.C. by Dionysius I ofSyracuse, as a military outpost against possi-ble Cartha-ginian raids, Tyndaris was one ofthe last Greek colonies in Sidly. Growingrapidly, the town played a major strategic rolein guarding the Tyrrhenian maritime routesand went through all the painful vicissitudesof the conflicts between Siceliots,Carthaginians and Romans for the control ofthe island. Occupied by the Carthaginians in246 B.C., it was conquered by the Romans tenyears later and afterwards became one of thefive Roman colonies, enjoying all the privilegesof this status. A very big landslide, an earth-quake, in 365 A.D., and the devastations bythe Arabs, in 836, put an end to the adventureof Tyndaris; but its beauty survived.

The theatre, probably built at the end ofthe fourth century A.D., was completelyrestructured and transformed into an arenaduring the Roman epoch, with the demolition,unfortunately, of the stage.

The basilica was a big meeting roomwith arches, originally structured on threefloors and giving access to the agora. It proba-bly dates from the end of the first centuryB.C., wonderfully blending Greek and Romanstyles and techniques. Only the first of thethree floors of which it was made up is pre-

served fairly well; it consists of a single broadnave covered by a series of nine arches, two ofwhich are still standing (one was reconstruct-ed in 1956) together with part of the twoperimeter walls. One should also see the ther-mae, perhaps dating from the third centuryA.D., with interesting mosaics; the Romanhouses with courtyards and columns, datingfrom the imperial period; the street layout,organised around three decumans intersected,by steep transversal streets, and the longstretches of walls, among the most grandioseand best preserved ones in Sicily.

The shrine of the Tindari Madonnastands on the site of the ancient agora, rightat the top of Cape Tindari. It is a mecca forpilgrims on account of the effigy of the BlackMadonna, a Byzantine work which is consid-ered miraculous.

Tindari is also one of the most beautifulplaces on the island in terms of nature andlandscape: from up there, at a height of 230metres above sea level. there is an extraordi-nary scenario.

Particular mention must be made of theOlivieri lagoon, now a nature reserve. Formedby cordons of sand and gravel, greatly vary-ing in shape with the currents and waves ofthree little pools - Verde, Marinello andVergolo - it is an important calling place forinteresting birds during migrations.

Above,Taormina, the

ancient theatre.

Right, Tindari,the ruins of the

basilica, a bigmeeting room

which gaveaccess to the

agora.46

Ragusa is right at the heart of the “land ofthe carob, the olive and honey” wonder-

fully described by Gesualdo Bufalino, sweetlyrevealing, before our eyes, silent and tranquilscenarios, uniform flatness broken by thelimpid geometries of low walls which traceout non-existent labyrinths. It stretches outwhite and grey on a long and narrow rockspur between two deep and steep valleys. Athird valley, almost an isthmus, separates thetwo nuclei of the town: Ibla, to the east, theoldest part, with an irregular and picturesquelayout, rich in splendid Baroque edifices, andupper Ragusa, to the west, with a modernlook, extending towards the south, spanningthe Santa Domenica quarry with three boldbridges. Thus is it seen from a distance, withthe clear eye of the visitor.

From close up Ragusa is a sleepy provin-cial town, Sundays spent walking in the mainthoroughfare, with the ambition of having asolution for everything; peeping betweenclosed shutters hiding the cool of splendidancestral mansions; counting the doves amidthe twirls of the rich Baroque sculpting thehouses. Ragusa is an old man-sized town;woman-sized, child-sized, clean, the colour ofstone, in the air like a scent of honey. Ibla, theancient Hyblea Heraia of the Siculi, who dom-inated the valley of the Irminio, was colonisedby the Greeks of Syracuse and over the cen-

turies shared the fate of the whole of Sicily,going through the dominions of the Romans,the Byzantines, the Arabs, the Normans, theAngevins and the Spanish. Totally destroyedby the terrible earthquake of 1693, it rose upagain, extending to the west and being deco-rated with fine Baroque monuments, whichyou come across practically everywhere.

A visit to Ragusa takes one day.

Artistic heritageThe Cathedral - Dedicated to St. John, it

rises imposingly at the junction of the twomain streets of upper Ragusa, Via Roma andCorso Italia. It was built starting from 1694and looks out, with a broad hanging terrace,on Piazza San Giovanni.

The broad and lively façade is flanked by amassive bell tower ending in a cusp.

The interior has three naves; in it there arenineteenth-century chapels decorated withfine stuccoes.

Santa Maria delle Scale - It is a littlechurch founded for the Cistercians in the four-teenth century, near the long flight of stepsconnecting upper Ragusa to Ragusa Ibla. Itwas rebuilt after the earthquake, preserving,outside, the original Gothic portal and pulpit,and, inside, the four chapels with Gothic andRenaissance arcades.

Ibleo Garden - This is the municipalpark of Ragusa Ibla. Inside it is the SanDomenico Church.

Not far away is the Capuchin Church,whose importance is linked to the fact that thetriptych painted by Pietro Novelli is kept here,and the ancient portal of the tumble-downSan Giorgio Vecchio Church, a fine example ofGothic architecture.

The St. George Church - It rises highover Piazza Duomo from the top of an impos-ing flight of steps leading to the portal sur-mounted by beautiful low reliefs showingscenes from the martyrdom of St. George. Thehigh and soaring façade, almost seeming towant to reach the sky, is a masterpiece byRosario Gagliardi (who also did - among otherthings - the similar splendid façade of St.George at Modica).

The interior has a Latin cross layout.Inside the majestic Serassi organ stands out,which since 1881 has been called OrganumMaximum, since it is the biggest one everbuilt by the Serassi company. In addition tothe arches and the decorated ceilings, there are33 storied windows, twelve of which showscenes from the martyrdom of St. George, thepatron saint of IbIa (St. John is the patronsaint of upper Ragusa).

Above, thefaçade of theCathedral of

Ragusa.

Right, view of the old

part, Ibla.

48

Rag

usa

The interior of Syracusecathedral: alongthe left navethere stand outvery clearly thecolumns of theTemple ofAthena.

51

“It is small, pretty, seated on the shores ofthe gulf with gardens and promenades

going down as far as the waves.”Syracuse, in the words of Guy De

Maupassant, who visited it in the late nine-teenth century, is something quite differentfrom the magnificent metropolis that it was inthe fifth century. At that time, whenDionysius I reigned, it was one of the biggestand most powerful cities in the Mediter-ranean, embellished by temples and palaces,gardens and fountains, rich in terms of money,culture and power.

It was an ideal city according to Plato,who visited it several times, placing in it hishopes for political and social renewal.

It was a magnificent city according toSimonides, Pindar, Bacchilides and Aeshylus,who sang of its beauty.

A city of enormous military power, capableof checkmating the terrible cities of Carthageand Athens.

Syracuse was founded in 734 B.C. by set-tlers from Corinth who were inspired, inchoosing the name, by the local name for anearby arsh, called Syraka. It is highly unlike-ly that these settlers already had any inkling ofthe great future that their colony was destinedto have, but it is certain that expansion beganalmost immediately, with the subjugation ofall the nearby places.

In the fifth century the influence ofSyracuse was felt all over the Mediterraneanand to this city there are linked events whichwere decisive for the history of those years: thedefeat of the Carthaginians near Himera in480 B.C.; the defeat of the Etruscans at Cumain 474, preventing their southward expansion;the victory over the Athenians in 413, in oneof the most grandiose naval battles of antiqui-ty. It was only with great sacrifices and deceitthat in 212 B.C. the Romans succeeded in tak-ing the city, which had the wonderful defencesdone by Archimedes.

Despite a certain decline, Syracuseremained the best known and most importantcity in Sicily, and indeed the eastern emperorConstant II for a period made it the capital ofhis empire.

It was only with the Arab conquest, in878, that Syracuse lost its supremacy amongSicilian cities and its true slow decline began.The dominations common to all Sicily wereshared by Syracuse too, which never againreached the incredible vertices of the fifth cen-tury, but changed into that tranquil city thatit is today, the silent and proud heir to a mag-nifìcent past.

A visit to Syracuse takes two days.

Artistic heritage - OrtigiaThe Temple of Apollo and Artemis -

The ruins of this temple are in Largo XXVLuglio. It dates right back to the seventh cen-tury B.C. and hence is the oldest Greek templein Sicily. Over the centuries it was convertedinto a Byzantine church, a mosque and then aChristian basilica, and of all these successiveconstructions traces were found in the courseof digging campaigns in 1938-43. The templewas Doric and shows some peculiarities due toits antiquity.

The Cathedral - It is in Piazza Duomo,surrounded by elegant Baroque palaces (thelatter are a particular feature of Ortigia, andare disseminated all over the island), and occu-pies an ancient sacred area.

Diggings here and in the immediate vicin-ity have made it possible to reconstruct thedevelopment of the building right from theSiculo settlement. There was a Ionic temple,the only one of its kind known in the Greekwest; its sparse ruins can be seen in the base-ment of the Town Hall.

The cathedral is the outcome of successivetransformations made to the grandiose templeof Athena, probably built by the Diomenides,the family founded by Gelon, the first tyrant ofSyracuse.

It was a six column per row peripteralbuilding, with 36 columns almost 9 metreshigh with a diameter of 2 m. Its magnificencewas celebrated by Cicero. To get an idea, oneneed only think its doors were made of goldand ivory. On its top shone the golden shieldof Athena, guiding navigators. In about theseventh century the intercolumns were closedand the temple transformed into a Christianchurch, later proclaimed a cathedral.

The façade, which dates from the eigh-teenth century, is imposing and lively, deco-rated with statues and Corinthian columns.

The interior, of the basilica type, has threenaves: the middle one occupies what was thecell of the ancient temple, whose columns pro-trude from the walls. There are numerousworks of art, among which we will mentionthe painting on wood with a golden back-ground showing St. Cosimo, attributed toAntonello da Messina, in the Crocifisso chapel;the Gagini statue of the Madonna della Neve,on the altar in the left apse, the only one fromthe Byzantine church; the gaudy Baroque highaltar, the flat part of which is a monolithicblock from the beams in the Temple of Athena.

The Fountain of Arethusa - In a squarelooking out over the sea, this little fountain,inhabited by white ducks and surrounded byslender papyri, is the symbol of the relations

Syr

acus

e

between Syracuse and the mother-cityCorinth, never interrupted despite the dis-tance. The legend has it that Arethusa, to getaway from the impetuous love of Alpheus,threw herself into the sea. The goddessArtemis, taking pity, transformed her into aspring which, disappearing under the groundin Greece, reappeared this side of the sea atOrtigia. Alpheus was changed into a river, butthis was not enough to keep him away from hisbeloved nymph: his waters too crossed the sea,to burst out in a spring not far from theFountain of Arethusa.

Maniace Castle - Now incorporated in abarracks, it rises imposingly on the waterfrontat Ortigia. It was built at the behest ofFrederick II in about 1239. The castle, whichblends military architecture with the eleganceof a court, still preserves the external thir-teenth-century structure with a square layout,with massive corner towers.

The entrance is decorated with a magnifi-cent marble portal in the Gothic style. Thegreat fortress, whose name derives from“Eurvelos”, i.e. “nail with a broad base”, wasprotected to the west by three big moats, thethird of which was connected to the wholedefensive system, made up of an intricate mazeof tunnels and passages with an overall lengthof 480 metres, and of five towers a full 15metres high.

The Neapolis archaeological parkThe Latomie - These are the quarries

from which the material was obtained which

was used to build up Syracuse. The mostinteresting one is the Paradise Latomia,immersed in a luxuriant garden. In it there isthe so-called “Dionysius’ Ear”, a big artificialgrotto in which there is an extraordinaryacoustic effect of amplification.

It is narrated that the tyrant, who gave thegrotto its name, standing near an appropriatecrack at the top of the cave, listened to everyword, even whispered, of the prisoners in it.Not far away there is the appropriately named“rope makers’ cave”. Lastly, further on, thereare the Intagliatella and Santa VeneraLatomie, which are the smallest ones.

Seven thousand people were put in thelatomie to do forced labour - they were the sur-vivors of the enormous Athenian army defeat-ed by the Syracuse army in 413 B.C. It is nar-rated that some of them were freed simplybecause they knew Euripides’ verses by heart.Most of them perished miserably.

The Greek Theatre - It is the most perfectexample of theatre architecture that has comedown to us and it was one of the biggest the-atres in the Greek world (diameter 138.6 m.).We have notices of it starting from the fifthcentury B.C., when Syracuse was already oneof the most important cultural centres in theMediterranean.

However, the form in which we can admireit today is a later one and was probably donein the second century B.C.

In the theatre, hewn out in the rock of thehill, the “premières” of tragedies and comediesby famous authors, like Aeschylus and

The Fountainof Arethusa,

on the islet ofOrtigia, which

is the oldestpart of

Syracuse.

52

Epicharmus, were performed and the stage isstill used today: every two years, the NationalInstitute for Ancient Drama organises Greekclassical performances here.

Jeron’s arena - The remains of this gigan-tic structure are a short distance from the the-atre. This was an altar, almost 200 metreslong, on which the town’s public sacrificeswere made.

The Roman amphitheatre - Dating fromthe third or fourth century A.D., it is an ellip-tical shape, with external diameters of 140 and119 metres, so that it is only slightly smallerthan the Verona arena.

Starting from 1526 the Spanish began sys-tematic despoiling of the Neapolis monumentsto build the Ortigia fortress, obviously doinggrave damage to the structures, which wereprobably still well preserved at that time.

The monuments were brought to light indigging campaigns starting from the nine-teenth century.

Euryalus Castle - In the Epipolis district,it was built at the behest of Dionysius I at thestart of the fifth century B.C. and is one of themost interesting military complexes in the an-cient Greek world.

It is a big fortress with a surface area of15,000 square metres, at the junction of thenorth and south walls of Syracuse, in a raisedplace, whence one could easily observe a largepart of the territory and the sea around thecity. It was redone several times in subsequentcen- turies to adapt it to new military andtechnical requirements.

NOTONeas is believed to have been founded by

Sican populations, at the time of the fall ofTroy, on the Mendola hill. Falling into thehands of the Syracuse conquerors, the townassimilated Hellenic customs and rites, andwas raised to the rank of a “gymnasium”.

Coming under the Roman domination, asa federate city, in the imperial epoch it wasdeclared a Latin ‘municipium’, a singular con-dition which brought the town considerableprivileges, like that of being able to governitself with its own laws.

Conquered by the Arabs, who made it ahighly armed stronghold, it took the presentname and was the capital of one of the three“valleys” into which they subdivided Sicily.After two centuries of Islamic domination, in1090 Noto negotiated surrender with Roger.

The history of Noto has been determinednot so much by men as by nature: in 1693 itwas destroyed by the earthquake which struckall south-western Sicily.

Conceived of like a big theatre withoutwings, as a big and open, lively and flowingtown, Noto returned to life, sumptuous andsuperb, on the side of the Meti hill, on thesouthern slopes of the Iblei mountains.

The architectural vicissitudes of the newtown were dominated by the artistic fancy ofthree architects, Rosario Gagliardi, VincenzoSinatra and Paolo Labisi, who succeeded indeveloping an amazing masterpiece showingarchitectural unity.

These were three different personalities

53

Syracuse

The Greek theatre, one ofthe biggest inthe world.

which, though living and working in theprovinces, conferred on the town an originalimpress which goes beyond the rigid Baroqueidiom, being enriched with Renaissance, pseu-do-Spanish and neo-classical elements andgiving life to a fanciful and dreamy style.

The triumphal arch, along the main thor-oughfare, marks the start of the town.Surmounted by three symbolic sculptures - atower with battlements (power), a dog (fideli-ty) and a pelican (sacrifice) - the monumentwas erected during a visit to Noto ofFerdinand II of Bourbon, who inaugurated itin 1838. The royal gate was built in the typicalgolden calcareous stone used in the previouscentury for churches and palaces in the town.

The San Francesco all’ImmacolataChurch rises at the top of an imposing flight ofsteps at the right of the main thoroughfare. Itwas built, together with the annexed convent,

in 1704-45. The church has a single nave, inaccordance with the Franciscan custom. Allwhite, the walls are decorated with rococo-style stuccoes.

The Santa Chiara Church, by Gagliardi,a delicate Baroque expression, was built in1785. The interior, small and oval, decoratedwith stuccoes and putti, has its rhythmmarked out by twelve columns, and it is one ofthe most interesting examples of spatial solu-tions by this architect.

The Santissimo Salvatore monastery isthe biggest edifice in the town, built in 1710-91 on a rectangular area of 11,000 squaremetres. On the first floor flat twin pillarsframe the big windows, whose rich decorationis reminiscent of the Portuguese plateresquestyle.

Then follows a protruding wing whichacts as a key in the construction conception; it

View ofOrtigia with

54

rises imposingly like a tower over buildingsand cupolas around it, and leaves no doubtabout the superiority of this monastery com-pared to other orders. This impression isemphasised by the rich stone decoration andthe railings in wrought iron.

The Santissimo Salvatore Church, builtat the end of the eighteenth century, rises in abig square. Its particular feature lies in thetraces, in the façade, of the transition fromBaroque to Classicism.

The Cathedral, which stands at the top ofa monumental staircase, was begun just a fewmonths after the earthquake, but was onlycompleted in 1770. The façade, devoid of orna-ments and extravagances, incorporatesBaroque motifs and classical elements. Thethree naves of the church are divided by highpillars with double pilasters. In the chapel atthe back of the right nave the silver ark of the

patron saint of the town, San Corrado, is kept.Opposite the cathedral there is Palazzo

Ducezio, which houses the Town Hall. Designed by the architect Sinatra, the

palace, raised with respect to the square inwhich it stands, was built in 1746-1830 witha single floor. A hundred years ago a secondfloor was superimposed on it which has dam-aged the original neo-classical look. Of inter-est, inside, is the representation room, rich ingilding and stuccoes.

Not far away there is PalazzoVilladorata , which looks out on ViaNicolaci, a narrow side street. The broadfaçade is enlivened by protruding balconies inwrought iron held up by all sorts of ledges,with human and animal figures amid volutesand arabesques, the most extreme manifesta-tion of Noto Baroque.

Built in 1731, the palace, which for a longtime was the residence of the princes ofVilladorata, was recently largely purchasedby the town council. In it there are ninetyrooms, and in the ceilings there are eigh-teenth-century frescoes. In May in ViaNicolaci there is a tra-ditional flower proces-sion. At the end thestreet is closed off bythe MontevergineChurch, attributed tothe architect Sinatra.On the outside it isconcave in shape, closedoff between two lateraltowers; inside there isonly one nave, alongwhich there are Co-rinthian columns.

The CrocifissoChurch is the second onein the town after thecathedral. It stands inthe upper part of Noto,in Piazza Mazzini.

Designed by Ga-gliardi (1715), it is therichest church in worksof art. Inside there aretwo, column-bearinglions from the Ro-manesque epoch, recov-ered from the ruins ofthe Crocifisso church inthe old town; there isalso the white marblestatue of the Madonnadella Neve done in 1471by Francesco Laurana.

A bracket ofone of the balconies ofthe ZoccoPalace inPalazzoloAcreide.

Syracuse

PALAZZOLO ACREIDEAkrai, from which the modern town

descends, was the first colony founded bySyracuse (664 B.C.) in the course of itsexpan- sion towards inland Sicily. It was animportant station for controlling the so-calledSelinunte Way linking Syracuse to the townson the southern coast.

We have notices of it starting from theRoman and Byzantine epochs. The firstnotices of present-day Palazzolo date from thetwelfth century, when a village developedaround the Norman castle which is no longerextant. The growth of the medieval town wasarrested by the 1693 earthquake, after which,however, Palazzolo was rebuilt and enlarged.

From this reconstruction date the SanPaolo Church, built by architect Sinatra,with an interesting façade preceded by a porti-co, rich in decorations and statues, and theAnnunziata Church.

The latter is one of the oldest in Palazzolo.Particularly striking is the façade, decoratedby a Baroque portal with spiralling columnsand stone decorations. Inside there is a refinedhigh altar with marble inlays which is quitewell preserved.

The Akrai archaeological area is not farfrom the centre. The parts so far discovered

refer to the Hellenistic and late Roman peri-ods, though there are also older finds. The dig-gings have brought to light the ‘plateia’ (mainstreet) connecting the two main town gates(the “Syracuse” and “Selinunte” gates), andthe little theatre, still well preserved and usedfor performances. Not far away is also thebouleuterion (meeting place) and theIntagliatella and Intagliata latomie, in whichthere was worship of the dead, and which wereused later, in the early Christian age, asdwellings and a burial place. The latomia ofthe so-called “beast temples”, in the westernpart of the hill, was also frequented for theworship of dead heroes. Behind the latomie, onthe hill over the theatre, one can see the foun-dations of an archaic temple dedicated toAphrodite.

Nearby, in the Santicello area, there arethe “Santoni” (big saints), twelve rock sculp-tures - unfortunately rather ruined - done intwelve niches hewn out in the rock. They areconnected to the worship of Cybele, the GreatMother of Gods, and mostly show the goddessherself, standing, sitting with three lions or inthe company of other characters difficult toidentify. The complex, which is the most com-plete and vast which has come down to us,dates from the third century B.C.

Above, the Greek theatre at

Akrai, theancient nucle-us of which is

now PalazzoloAcreide.

Right, view of

Trapani.

56

At the foot of rugged Mount Erice, whichseems to watch over it, Trapani extends as

far as the sea, stretching out on an archedpromontory.

Along the coast adjacent to the town, andthen gradually away along the coast as far asMarsala, heaps of salt glisten white on theshore, guarded by windmills that, with theirbig blades, stand out against the sea like fantas-tic monsters. Opposite, often wrapped in aslight haze making their outlines uncertain,there emerge three islands, the Egadi, welcom-ing the visitor coming from the sea.

Trapani is a little town, in its sea cradle,with the slightly shabby look of those who hidetheir treasures so as to show them only to peo-ple who can really appreciate them.

Historically the origins of Trapani arebelieved to date from the Sicans, who are sup-posed to have founded a village here, but per-haps, as ancient writers recount, it grew up onthe sickle that Ceres dropped, while she desper-ately wandered around seeking her daughterPersephone, abducted by Pluto. What is certainis that on these shores numerous more or lessfantastic peoples followed one another. Startingwith the Cyclops, then came the Elimi, theGiants, the Trojans, the Phoenicians and manyothers, but Trapani only acquired importancein 260 B.C., when Hamilcar brought here the

inhabitants of Erice, the town of which it hadlong been the emporium (harbour).

During the Roman domination the townlost much of its prestige. The only major eventwas the arrival of the Jews, who liked it somuch here, that they founded a very importantcommunity. Trapani followed in the shadow thevicissitudes of the rest of Sicily, coming intothe limelight of history in the thirteenth centu-ry, when Frederick of Aragon conferred privi-leges on it. Trade flourished: tuna and refinedcoral objects, hard stones, wood were sold allover the world then known.

The town was a base for crusaders’ shipsgoing to the Holy Land, and there were con-sulates of the Catalans, the Genoese, theVenetians, the Pisans, the French and manyothers. The apex of its power was reachedunder Charles V, who landed here on his returnfrom Tunis and conferred other particular priv-ileges on the town, allowing it to improve itsposition further. In the eighteenth centurythere went up Baroque buildings which are stilla feature of its old part.The activity of the har-bour, though less than in the past, is still at thecentre of the town’s economy.

A visit to Trapani takes one day.Artistic heritage

The shrine of the Madonna of theAnnunciation - This is the main monument

57

Trap

ani

in the town. It was erected in 1315-32, laterenlarged and then totally redone in 1760. Thefaçade is the original one and is decorated by amagnificent rosette and an early fifteenth-cen-tury Gothic portal. On the little side portalsthere are two sixteenth-century statues of theAngel and of the Madonna of theAnnunciation.

Inside there are in particular two chapels tovisit: the Sailors’ Chapel and the Fishermen’sChapel. The former is to the left of the pres-bytery and was built in tufa in 1514-52. In itswarm yellow colour there are blended differentstyles and motifs - Gothic, Renaissance andoriental - interpreted with abundance of deco-ration with a local flavour. The other chapel, onthe opposite side, dates from the sixteenth cen-tury. It has a square layout, surmounted by an

octagonal apse; in the chapel there are frescoesrepresenting episodes from Genesis.

Behind the high altar there is the access tothe shrine proper, at the back of which there isthe chapel of the Madonna, done in 1530. Thebig outer marble arch was done by Antonello,Antonio and Giacomo Gagini, who decorated itwith fine reliefs (Eternal Father and Prophets).

On the altar there is the magnificentMadonna with Child, done by Nino Pisanoand his workshop. According to the most wide-ly held opinion, the statue came to Trapani inthe early years of the fourteenth century,brought by a knight of the Order of Jerusalemof Pisan origin, who commissioned the work.

The folk tradition has it, that the latter atfirst took the statue with him to the east, but afew years later decided to make it safe againstthe Saracens and set out for the west with theprecious simulacrum. Then, during the voyage,the boat was caught by a storm and the knightmade a vow to leave the statue on the first land,he should touch.

It chanced, that this was Sicily, which sincethen has given hospitality to it. In the work theartist succeeded in blending rare beauty, greatnobility and fineness, and the evocative statuewas for centuries a model for the works of localartists from Laurana to Gagini, who soughtabove all to equal the very sweet and ineffablesmile of the Madonna which has made the stat-ue famous.

The Cathedral - Dedicated to St.Laurence, it was built in 1635 on a previousfourteenth-century church, in the place wheresince 1129 there had been the lodge of theGenoese, who left a trace in a coat-of-armsinside the edifice. The elegant Baroque portalwas enriched in the eighteenth century by anairy portico and a cupola, bizarrely flanked bysmaller cupolas. The interior is decorated in theearly Baroque style. There are numerous worksof art, including a Crucifixion attributed to VanDyck.

Santa Maria di Gesù Church - It datesfrom the first half of the sixteenth century. Thefaçade has mixed Gothic and Renaissanceforms and in it there is a fine pseudo-Catalanportal. At the back, to the right of the pres-bytery, there is the Staiti Chapel, inside which,under a refined marble canopy by A. Gagini(1521), there is a glazed terracotta statue ofMadonna degli Angeli, a fine work by A. dellaRobbia (1435-1525).

Collegio Church - It was built in the firsthalf of the seventeenth century, with a solidRenaissance structure with fine sculptural dec-orations. The interior has a latin cross layoutwith three naves and is harmoniously decorat-

Above, Trapani,the Church of

Annunziata.

58

ed with mixtilinear marble and stuccoes. Onthe high altar there is a marble low relief of theImmaculate Virgin by I. Marabitti (1766) andin the sacristy a magnificent walnut cupboardwith very delicate eighteenth-century carvings.

Palazzo Ciambra - It is in Via Giudeccain the Jewish Quarter. It is a typical example ofthe plateresque style of Catalan derivation,which spread in Sicily from Spain in the six-teenth century. The palace which now looksrather old - it dates from the middle of the six-teenth century - was once splendid thanks tothe use of carved stone and the richness of theornaments. A fanciful artist translated intostone the subtle fascination of the work of thegoldsmith and of gems in the processing ofwhich the Jews were unchallenged masters.

ERICEIt stands on the top of a solitary mountain,

which dominates Trapani, the valley and thesea. Its origins are very ancient and mysteri-ous, wrapped in legend. On the peak first therewas a temple, dedicated to a female divinity offertile nature. She was always highly veneratedby all Mediterranean peoples and her mainconcern was to protect sailors, who from a dis-tance saw the fire that burnt in the sacred edi-fice and also gave them their bearings. Soon apowerful fortress was built there, fought overby Phoenicians, Greeks, Carthaginians andRomans. It was destroyed by the Carthaginiansin 260 B.C. and the inhabitants were taken toTrapani. In the Roman epoch the old fortresswas of little importance. Not so the temple,which indeed was set at the head of a religiousconfederation of seventeen Sicilian towns andpermanently defended by a garrison. There areno further notices of the town and shrine untilthe Arab epoch, when it reappears with thename Gebel-Hamed. During the Norman dom-ination and in subsequent centuries Erice gotthe look that has come down to us and is itsmain attraction. All gathered in a triangularperimeter, it is one of the most singular littletowns in Sicily.

The narrow cobbled streets, the smallsquares, the tiny flower-filled courtyards, richhandicraft comprising ceramics, confectioneryand carpets, make it a mecca not to be missedon any excursion in the Trapani area.

The Cathedral was built in the secondhalf of the fourteenth century and was dedicat-ed to the Virgin of the Assumption. It is pre-ceded by an imposing isolated campanile, origi-nally a watchtower.

In the fifteenth century to the façade therewas added a rectangular portico on four ogivalarches. The interior shows a hybrid Gothic

style, on account of modifications made in1865. In it there are numerous paintings,sculptures and other artistic objects attributedto well-known Sicilian artists, such as Lauranaand Mancino.

There is a castle which stands on the ruinsof the ancient temple of Venus. There areremains of it from the fifth to seventh centuriesB.C., on a high isolated rock which in ancienttimes people got to on a drawbridge. lt was ren-dered impregnable by the Normans, who addedwalls with battlements.

At the start of this century some drums ofcolumns and fragments of cornices from thetemple were found; they date from the Romanmodification. Later, remains were also found ofa mosaic floor. Around the castle there are theBalio gardens, which are magnificent for theirterrace arrangement and the variety of plantsgrown there. They take their name from theNorman governor (“Bajulo”) who resided inthe adjacent castle.

The medieval towers are the outpost ofthe Castle of Venus, to which they were joinedby imposing walls. They were partially recon-structed in the middle of the last century at thebehest of Count Pepoli, who also built the littlePepoli Tower, a manneristic construction in avaguely Moorish style.MARSALA

Its origin is believed to date from 397 B.C.,

Below,Erice, the four-teenth-centuryMotherchurch.

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Trapani

when the Phoenician inhabitants of Motya,after their defeat by Syracuse, took refuge onthe Lilybaeum promontory, founding a townthere to be called Lilybaeum, which became thelast and most powerful bulwark of Phoenicianpower in Sicily. In 241 B.C., after various vainattempts, the Romans succeeded in gettinghold of it; the town became a Roman province,it was given a quaestor and a praetor, and longremained the most important port on theisland. This preeminent position was main-tained throughout the Middle Ages, until, inthe sixteenth century, Charles V blocked theharbour to defend the town from pirate attacks.However, the remedy was worse than the evil,because from then on Marsala (which had gotthis name in the meantime, from the ArabicMarsa-Alì) began inexorably to decline.

In Italian history its name is linked to thelanding of Garibaldi, who started here theexploit to lead to the unifìcation of theKingdom of Italy. Most people, however, knowit rather as the place of production of therefined liqueur named after it. The first produc-tion plants, called “bagli”, came into being herein 1773 through the initiative of anEnglishman, G. Woodhouse.

Marsala, in its different varieties, is nowknown all over the world.

The Cathedral, dedicated to St. Thomas,

was founded in the Norman age and subse-quently modified until the eighteenth century,when it was rebuilt in a grandiose fashion,though remaining unfinished. Seriously dam-aged in the course of the last war, it wasrestored and the façade, of which only the lowertier had previously been done, was completed.Inside, it is decorated with numerous works byGagini and his school.

The real treasure of the church is made up ofeight big sixteenth-century tapestries of theFlemish school, donated by archbishop Lom-bardo, who in turn had received them fromPhilip II of Spain. They measure four metres byfour and, in a rich setting of flowers, fruit andallegories, they represent episodes from the warof Titus I against the Judaeans.

The thermae are the main edifice discov-ered in the area of the ancient Lilybaeum, amidruins of other buildings, remains of the bound-ary wall, bits of the ancient harbour, necrop-oles, ceramics, sculptures and various objects.Dating from the third to fourth centuries B.C.,they were very probably part of a grandiosebuilding complex, as is testified by the continu-al finds in the surrounding area.

MOTYAAn ancient legend has it that Hercules

once had his herds robbed. After long seeking

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them in vain, he was fortunately helped by awoman named Motya, who pointed out to hima cave in which the animals were hidden. Outof gratitude, our hero decided to found a townin honour of the woman and to give it hername. Historians have handed down to us thestory of a town founded in the eighth centuryB.C., on an island in the Stagnone lagoon, nobigger than 40 hectares (100 acres) which,thanks to its favourable position on traderoutes, very soon became one of the most floridPhoenician colonies in the Mediterranean.

The town was surrounded by high walls, inwhich at intervals there were watch towers,semicircular battlements, typical of Semiticarchitecture, and two gates which are still wellpreserved. Its economy was based mainly ontrade and on the production of ceramics.

It was an important naval base, and so a‘kothon’ was built there, that is to say, a drydock for repairing ships, which, after the biggerone at Carthage, is the only one found in thewestern Mediterranean.

According to Diodorus Siculus, the townhad elegant houses and sumptuous palaces, butthe residential area has not yet been excavatedand at present only two houses are visible: oneof them has floor mosaics with black and whitepebbles, showing real and fantastic animals.Among the most interesting areas discovered is

the “tophet”, consisting of a shrine insidewhich there is a cemetery, where there wereplaced the remains of human sacrifices offeredto cruel Phoenician divinities like BaalHammon, who demanded the sacrifice of thefirstborn male. In 397 B.C. Motya wasdestroyed by Dionysius of Syracuse, and thesurvivors moved to the mainland, founding thecolony of Lilybaeum, now Marsala.

From then on this little island remaineduninhabited, until Joseph Whitaker, enamouredof the place, bought it. The results of the dig-gings he set going were displayed in one of thelow buildings of his villa, which thus became amuseum. Off Motya, in the late 1970’s, thewreck of a Punic ship was found. Unique in theworld, it is on display at the Baglio AnselmiMuseum in Marsala.

MAZARA DEL VALLOThe ancient town looks out on the Sicilian

Channel to the left of the river Mazarò, pre-sumably on the site where the Phoeniciansfounded the commercial colony Mazara, anative name perhaps meaning “castle”. Thanksto its position, it acquired importance both as aport and as a fortress. It flourished to someextent during the Roman domination too, andthere are some vestiges of the latter period.

It attained true splendour under the Arabs.They landed at Mazara to start the colonisationof the island and placed the town at the head ofone of the three administrative districts intowhich they divided Sicily. The various Islamictravellers who visited it praised the fertility ofits territory, the quality and quantity of com-mercial activities, the economic prosperity, theflourishing plantations and gardens, the beautyof the edifices. All this has indelibly remainedin the town, the street layout having beenhanded down intact.

With the coming of the Normans, the townwas enriched with churches, convents andmonasteries, and a boundary wall was put upround it. New monuments were later built inthe sixteenth to eighteenth centuries, and in1852, with the demolition of Roger’s walls,expansion began in the surrounding area.Particularly interesting to visit is the canalharbour, built on the estuary of the riverMazarò, the commercial centre of the town. Onit one of the oldest districts looks out: along theshores there lived Arab traders, whose bloodhas been visibly perpetuated in the veins of thelocal people. When motor and other fishingboats come in in the morning, there is a contin-ual shouting very much reminding one of theancient cries of merchants of the past. This is

The DoricTemple atSegesta.

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Trapani

one of the most important fishing ports in Italy,with an annual production of about 200,000quintals of fish.

The main monument is the Cathedral,dedicated to San Salvatore. It was originallybuilt at the end of the eleventh century andthen totally redone in 1690-94.

There are a few vestiges of the original con-struction, and specifically the walls of thetransept and the apse, decorated outside withniches, as in the ancient pseudo-Arab style ofthe Norman epoch. The most outstanding workof art among those kept inside the church is a“Transfiguration”, a marble composition of sixstatues done, with a marked folk taste fromsacred representations, by Antonio Gagini inthe 1430’s.

SEGESTAThe town was founded in the pre-Hellenic

age by the Elimi, a population of uncertain ori-

gin, probably oriental. It soon took on majorimportance, both economically and because ofits strategic position between the Punic townson the northern and western coasts. It was theeternal enemy of Selinunte, against which in409 B.C. it called for the help of theCarthaginians, who razed Selinunte to theground. The destruction of Selinunte markedonce and for all the entry of Segesta into thePunic orbit, but this had no inf1uence on thecustoms of the people that, on the contrary,became more and more Hellenistic. Under theRomans, the town was well treated, thanks to a“blood relationship” supposed to exist betweenthe two peoples, but nevertheless it declined,and its name was quite forgotten.

So far little of it has been excavated, thoughdiggings have already brought to light the firstvestiges of the ancient dwellings. Two monu-ments have also been brought to light: the the-atre and the temple. The former, founded inthe fifth century at the top of Monte Barbaro,in a very picturesque position, was rebuilt inthe Hellenistic age and now has the look datingfrom that period.

The pit has a diameter of 63 m. and is wellpreserved, while of the stage there only remainthe lower structures. The theatre is used forinternational performances especially poetry,reading, ballet and ancient tragedies. The tem-ple is probably the main building of a suburbanshrine which is still unexplored. Also built inthe fifth century, it is a six column per rowperipteral building. It is unfinished; thegrooves were not made in the columns, andthere is no trace of a roof and a cell. The templelooms up solitary on a hill in a very charmingposition, and it is one of the most perfect andbest preserved examples of Doric art.

SELINUNTEOn a soft little hill the ruins of Selinunte

extend, rightly considered one of the mostimportant archaeological areas in the Mediter-ranean and indeed in all Europe. Founded inthe course of the seventh century by settlersfrom Megara Hyblaea, it was the westernmostoutpost of the Greek territories in Sicily.Hence it was here that for about three cen-turies there was the encounter and clashbetween the Greek and Phoenician-Punic civi-lizations which long marked the life of thepeoples of the lands around theMediterranean. Selinunte had developed overthe centuries, until it became the mostgrandiose city of Hellenistic Sicily, especiallyon account of its colossal temples, the onlyones in Sicily that were decorated with sculp-

Above, Temple E of

Selinunte. Thisarchaeological

area is one of the most

important in theMediterranean.

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tures. Its inhabitants, proud of so much power,felt invincible, and when in 409 B.C. the peo-ple of Segesta, with whom there had been con-stant quarrels, called on the Carthaginians tohelp them, they were not very worried. Butthey were wrong. An army of 100,000 menlanded in Sicily and laid siege to Selinunte.Despite a strenuous defence, the town suc-cumbed and the enemy seized it. Historianstell us of a true massacre; 16,000 people werekilled, 5,000 taken away as slaves. Everybuilding was sacked and destroyed, includingthe magnifìcent temples, desecrated by war-riors thirsty for booty. Selinunte never recov-ered, despite the generous efforts of a Syracuseman, Hermocrates, who, in the ensuing twoyears, tried to get its walls rebuilt. There existno traces of subsequent settlements, until theByzantine domination. In the latter period,among the ruins hermits and religious com-munities settled, and, later, during the Arabdomination, Muslim tribes. In the course oftime, ancient Selinunte was wholly forgotten,and it was only in the sixteenth century thatthe historian T. Fazello identified its site. Inthe nineteenth century began a systematic dig-ging campaign. The archaeological areadivides into two main zones; that of the east-ern temples and the acropolis.

Temple E, according to an inscription, wasdedicated to Hera. Built in the fifth century, itis one of the best examples of a Doric temple.Four metopes from it are now at the archaeo-logical museum in Palermo.

Temple F, in the archaic style, was built inthe sixth century. It is the one which was mostdespoiled, yet here too some metopes werefound which represent Athena and Dionysiusfighting with the giants.

Temple G is one of the biggest temples ofclassical antiquity. It seems it was dedicated toApollo, the god who guarded the people ofSelinunte. They began to build it in 580 B.C.but one hundred years later it was still unfin-ished. The temple has a surface area of about

6.000 square metres, and around it there is aperistyle of 46 columns 16,27 m. high, with acircumference of 10,7 m.

From the enormous mass of its ruins thereemerges the solitary shaft of a column, restoredin 1832, which can give an idea of what agrandiose building it was.

In the irregular area of the acropolis,which is girded by walls 2 - 3 metres thick,gates and towers have been recognised. In thisarea there were six big temples in addition tosmaller religious buildings. These temples tooare referred to with various letters of the alpha-bet. Of particular importance is Temple C, thebiggest in the acropolis, built in the middle ofthe sixth century at the highest point in the ter-race. The two pediments - inside which therewas a terracotta Gorgon mask now at thearchaeological museum in Palermo togetherwith the metopes from the same temple - werecovered with slabs of terracotta decorated withflower motifs. We will also mention thesocalled “small metopes” temple which hasyielded six metopes, the oldest sculptures com-ing from Selinunte, since they date from thestart of the sixth century B.C. At the northernextremity of the acropolis you can see the maingate, defended by imposing fortifications, dat-ing partly from the ancient city and partlyfrom the reconstruction by Hermocrates.

THE CUSA QUARRIESAlthough they are not part of the archaeo-

logical area proper, the quarries from which thepeople of Selinunte got their building materialsare very interesting to visit, at least for thecharming beauty of the archaeological parkencompassing them. Silvery olive trees, as faras the eye can see, surround the big drumsmeant for columns, abandoned here for over2000 years. Some still in the rock, others readyto be transported to Selinunte, the imposingdrums emanate something mysterious, linkedto the secret of the building of the temples.

Above, the Motya island.

On the followingpages, a splendidexemplar of dwarfpalm and a bay in the Zingaroreserve.

63

The creation, in 1980, of the Zingaronature reserve, the first in Sicily, led to thepassing of a series of decrees which in thirteenyears have outlined the map of the protectedareas on the island.

Today in Sicily there are three natureparks - Etna, Madonie and Nebrodi - which,without a break, involve a set of environmentsof very great value in terms of nature andlandscape, amounting to 200,000 hectares -the biggest protected area in Italy - and overone hundred nature reserves and fauna oases,for a total of almost 150,000 hectares, equal to15% of the island’s surface.

ZINGAROThe first nature reserve set up in Sicily

takes in a stretch of about seven kilometres ofsplendid and absolutely unspoilt coastlinelooking out on the Gulf of Castellammare andthe mountain chain serving as a magnificentsetting for little bays and imposing cliffs.Zingaro is very important for the great rich-ness of rare and endemic plants, and it is per-haps even more so as regards fauna: the exis-tence of very varied ecological niches permitsvery great variety of fauna, not to be found inother places on the island.

At the Zingaro reserve at least thirty-ninespecies of birds nest and reproduce, mainly

birds of prey, including the pilgrim falcon, thewindhover and the buzzard. The reserve isalso of great archaeological importance,because in the spectacular Uzzo grotto therewas one of the first prehistoric settlements inSicily.

Magnificently organised for public enjoy-ment (paths with exact indications, shelters,waterplaces, picnic areas, museums, carparks,etc.), the reserve can only be visited on foot, asthere are no roads inside it.

The itineraries best representing the vari-ous aspects of Zingaro are three: one going allalong the coast from the south-east entrance(Scopello side) to the north entrance (San Vitoside); one going halfway and then turninginto one of the higher Zingaro zones and backto the sea; and a more difftcult one, practicallya complete tour, taking in both the coast andthe whole upper part of the reserve.

ETNAThe biggest volcano in Italy and indeed in

Europe, it goes up to 3.323 metres, with a cir-cumference, at the bottom, of about 250 km.and an overall volcanic surface area of 1.400square km.

Although it is active and has many timesshown its destructive potential, its highly fer-tile slopes are cultivated and inhabited by

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thousands of people. Etna, to which there islinked many a myth, and which Pindardefined a “column of the sky”, is made up ofseveral lesser eruptive centres and two biggereruptive mouths, Trifoglietto, which is wheretoday there is the grandiose Bove Valley, andMongibello. The latter pushes its path downto a depth of 50 km. and in 3.000 years hasnever been quiet very long.

Past eruptions have given rise to curiousrock formations like “dykes” and “bombs” -lava flows and petrified lava masses - or“dagale” covered with vegetation and even“needles” emerging from the sea nearAcireale. Eruptions have also caused the par-ticular shape of some zones like Salto dellaGiumenta (Mare’s Leap) and Monti Rossi(Red Mountains).

There are three vegetation zones on Etnacorresponding to different heights. In the first(from the coast to 1500 metres above sea level)we have typical maritime vegetation along theshore, and then citrus fruits, nuts, pistachiosand olives.

Then follow the first woods, with oak,chestnut and pine trees. Between 1.500 and2.000 metres above sea level there are beech

and birch (Betulla aetnensis) woods, andamong them big clumps of golden broom.Lastly, amid the ashes and lapilli, there isSicilian astralagus, Anthemis nobilis andSenecio.

There are so many different ways of mak-ing an excursion on Etna, that we find our-selves in serious difficulty about recommend-ing any particular itinerary.

The network of roads (state highways,provincial highways, council roads, forestryroads, tracks) now existing offer differentopportunities for climbing up the volcano andvisiting places on it, all interesting, or formaking charming outings into the woods, orlastly for getting to other former craters of theEtna complex. At all events, the simplest wayto discover Etna is to go round by car: it willtake about five days to see it all.

There are a lot of itineraries for those wholove trekking; we advise them to apply to aspecialised guide.

THE MADONIEThe territory of this park comprises the

highest peaks in Sicily - except, of course, forEtna. In the Madonie there are almost 50% of

Above, a view of Etna.66

Parks andreserves

the flora species on the island and variousendemic species of great importance, like theAbies nebrodensis, a relict from the third IceAge. In the woods there are oak trees, mannaelms and chestnut trees with thick under-growth of holly, Asperula and prickly plumplants. Visiting the vast Madonie area is cer-tainly a unique experience: in it there is agreat number of varied and charming envi-ronments, including high peaks, mediumhills, the very fine stretch of sea washing theTyrrhenian edge of the park itself.

Any season can be chosen for this visit. Itcan be made in winter, when the highest topsare covered with snow, sometimes very abun-dant; in spring, when all the colours of thedense Madonie undergrowth explode; or insummer, when, between one bathe and anoth-er at Cefalù or at other splendid seasideresorts nearby, you want to get away from theheat for a while. To visit the park you canmake a loop round it, including a visit to allthe towns and villages in the park itself and,of course, to the zones, which in terms oflandscape and nature offer the most interest-ing sights.

THE NEBRODIThis mountain chain - part of the Sicilian

Apennines (formed by both Madonie andPeloritans) - extends for about 70 km. parallel

to the northern coast of the island. Markedcharacteristics of the natural landscape of theNebrodi are the absence of symmetry betweenone face and another, the varied modelling ofthe mountains, the very rich vegetation andthe humid environments.

Some sites are particularly important inthemselves because of peculiar features, con-stituting unique entities which are sometimesessential for the structure of the general geo-logical and ecological balance: the CesaròBiviere (pool), the Rocche del Crasto, LakeTrearie, the woods at Mistretta, MontePomiere, San Fratello and Mangalaviti aresome of them.

The vegetation, which was one of the fun-damental reasons for setting up the park, isextremely varied and divides into three differ-ent levels, as on Etna.

The first, up to 1000 metres, is subdividedinto various bands: while the lower ones arecultivated, on the highest there are oak trees,cork oaks, euphorbias and turkey oaks.

Turkey and ilex oak trees are also presenton the successive level (up to 1400 m.) togeth-er with beech trees. The latter go on up to thegreatest height (Monte Soro, 1847 m.).

Lastly, there are maple trees, elms, thenthe yew, rarities in the Nebrodi. In the under-growth there is holly, hawthorn, butcher’sbroom and other plants.

Bottom, awood in theNebrodiMountains.

On the followingpages, left,Salina; right,Stromboli.

THE AEOLIAN ISLANDSOn the routes of the mythical Ausonians

and Cnydian sailors north-east of the Siciliancoast, whipped by a salty wind, the Aeolianarchipelago spreads out, like a fan, its sevenenchanted isles which, because of their explo-sive volcanic nature, are sisters of theHawaiian islands, the pearls of the Pacific.

The Aeolian islands, starting in remotetimes, were colonised by Neolithic peoplesinterested in exploiting obsidian, an insupera-ble material for making carving tools. Betweenthe sixteenth and fourteenth centuries B.C., theislands became an important commercial stageon the metal way, and in particular on the tinroute, which from the British Isles went downto the orient, passing through the Straits ofMessina.

Later, in the Roman epoch, the archipelagoprospered with the sulphur, alum and salttrade, which however gradually declined, untilthe islands were abandoned. This was due tofurther eruptions and also to the fact that theSecond Nicea Council designated them adwelling of the devil and a place of physicalmanifestations of this disturbing presence.Then in the Norman epoch the islands were

gradually re-peopled and started a new seasonof splendours, taking on what is more or lesstheir physiognomy now.

Vulcano still appears like a relict of theworld’s prehistory, perennially fuming amidlava flows and mud bubbling with gas. Theeruptive mouth rises to a height of 386 metres,where the big crater, which you can get towithout too much difficulty and peril, raises itscrest which dominates the western and easternharbours, the Valley of Monsters and the pro-files, gradually further and further away, of theother islands.

Well worth a visit are the alum grottoesand the sulphur mines, where in the Bourbonepoch a population of damned people livedforced to extract the precious mineral. On thecoast, in the north-western part of the island,there is the imposing Cavallo (horse) grotto,along the wild and half-deserted shore whichslopes gently down to the sea with the blackGelso beaches over which there is an euphorbiascrub and twisted prickly pear plants.

Lipari, as you approach it, appears livelyand picturesque, dominated by the rock onwhich the ancient town stands; it has alwaysbeen the heart of the archipelago. In its muse-

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um, which is one of the most interesting in theMediterranean, there are countless vestiges ofthe history of the island and the successivestratifications, as in a gigantic palimpsest of aperiod of 5000 years of civilisation perfectlylegible in the open diggings among the impos-ing walls with bastions.

On Lipari a volcanological tour is anabsolute must, amid flows of obsidian andwhite expanses of pumice, materials with thesame chemical composition, differing only intheir state: the former glassy, spongy the otherone, because of the sudden reduction of temper-ature in the magma in the final phase of erup-tions.

Between Canneto and Acquacalda, twonice maritime burghs not yet ruined by masstourism, along the sea, in the direction ofPunta Castagna, lies the spectacular obsidianflow of the Rocche Rosse (Red Rocks). Betweenthe Pomiciazzo gorge and Lami, a lunar land-scape heralds in the now inactive crater ofMonte Chirica, beyond which the soft cliffs ofCampobianco go down to the sea and into thecrystalline waters off the Porticello beach.Likewise unrivalled are the panoramas that onecan enjoy from the Quattrocchi heightstowards the monumental Perciato cliffs, to thesides of which there are the picturesque “nee-dles”, beyond which the gaseous and sul-phurous fumes of Vulcano rise.

But Lipari is not only this. It is also in theold part of the town, a nice salon from theUmberto period with windows and balconies as

delicate as lace, from which multicoloured cas-cades of geraniums and delicate carnationsdescend. An island for all tastes, with shadygardens scented with jasmine and basil, sunnyterraces facing the sea, where gastronomic hos-pitality is perpetuated with its own physiogno-my and traditions.

On Salina one must not fail to visitMonte Porri and Monte Fossa delle Felci. Onthe latter, at almost 1000 metres above sealevel, the ancient crater has been colonised bygigantic aquiline ferns which are added to theluxuriant vegetation of Salina, conferring onthe latter an almost tropical look.

Not far away, Filicudi and Alicudi,between which the soaring spire of the Cannarock stand out against the horizon. Both dis-tant from the din of mass tourism, they offerscope for abandon and meditation, which areunthinkable at the noisy latitude of our civili-sation. Near Canna, sea beds rich in spongesand coral offer unexpected sights for those wholove underwater photography.

Another highly fascinating sight in thearchipelago is the basalt rocks of Basiluzzo,Dattilo and Lisca Bianca facing Panarea, withwhich, as Strabo tells us, they once formed asingle island, Evonimos, which a cataclysmsplit into the present ones. Monumental soli-tudes characterise this group of rocks nearwhich, from imposing mouths of submergedfumaroles, gurgling bubbles of gaseous vapoursrise, which, in ancient times, were the scenarioof probable worship of Hephaestus.

Lampedusa,the Island of

the Rabbit.70

On Panarea, on the Cala Junca cliff, CapoMilazzese conserves intact the vestiges of a cul-ture which here went on from 1440 to 1270B.C., giving rise to a settlement of majorarchaeological interest.

Further along, Stromboli rises out of thewater with the dry symmetry of its shapesperennially crowned by eruptive fumes. Itsimpervious Ginostra harbour is the smallestone in the world, while, beyond the fire zone,where moaning and hissing the lava touchesthe sea, the villages of Piscità, Ficogrande andScari, open up, airy and white, gatheredaround the white mass of the San Vincenzochurch. Beyond the very black glassy beach,where there are reeds rising from the abyssesof the Tyrrhenian, raises Strombolicchio, theprimeval duct of the volcano, a fanciful natur-al sculpture in which fire, water and windhave left their eternal impress.

THE PELAGIE ISLANDSA raft of calcareous stone between the sea

and the sky, Lampedusa emanates a strangeand ambiguous fascination. Flat and almostdevoid of vegetation, infinitely solitary becauseof the absence, on the horizon, of any referencepoint, it has very beautiful coasts. An absolutemust for anyone visiting Lampedusa is a tripto the Isola dei Conigli (rabbit island), a tinyislet declared a nature reserve, in whose dunesthe Caretta Caretta turtle lays its eggs.Another place which is a must is the shrine ofthe Madonna di Porto Salvo, about which there

are various legends. The island is a mecca forvery exclusive tourism, for those who are truenature lovers and not in search of social plea-sures.

Linosa, which is little more than a vol-canic rock, came up from the sea bed throughsuccessive eruptions, in the course of millennia,in the “fire line” of the Italian geological sys-tem.

Totally different from nearby Lampedusa, acalcareous offshoot of the Tunisian plateau(indeed, with the nearby rock Lampione, geo-logically it is unquestionably part of theAfrican continent), it is the emerging tip of asubmerged volcano going down to a depth of1000 metres.

The coast is very jagged and dark, whileinland there are fertile plains around threecraters - Monte Rosso, Monte Nero and MonteVulcano. The natural environment, both ter-restrial and maritime, has remained practicallyintact and is extremely charming.

PANTELLERIASet between Africa and Sicily, nearer to the

black continent than to our own, Pantelleria, avolcanic island, can be considered a true natureparadise. Its shape is circular and culminates,at the centre, in Montagna Grande (“bigmountain”) from whose top, on dry clear days,one can admire that spectacle of incomparablebeauty which is the view of the African andSicilian coasts in a single vista.

Of volcanic origin, it still shows residual

Above, the gulf ofSanta Maria at Salina.

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signs of its ancient activity, both around thenow spent crater of Montagna Grande - wherethere are twenty-four mouths locally known as‘cuddìe’, and inside the crater itself, wherethere is the “Venus’ mirror” pool, fed by ther-mal springs whose temperature can go up to 50degrees Celsius - and in other places, wherethere are other activities, such as fumingvapours, called “lavare” or “mofete”.

Morphologically, the area is very interest-ing: beaches, splendid coasts, rich in needles,like the famous natural “Elephant arch”; noless famous and fascinating are the numerousgrottoes on Pantelleria, including the very

interesting “Pertusa di Notaro”, also known asthe “Cold cavity” because of the cold air com-ing out of the cracks in it.

One should not miss the easy excursionsto the “Bagno dell’acqua” (“water bath”), toMontagna Grande, to Punta Spadillo, to thepretty Gadir village, to the Western Bay, theTurks’ Rock, Scauri, Monte Sant’Elmo andthe Sesi, very ancient megalithic cupola-shaped tombs.

THE EGADIFavignana, Levanzo, Marettimo, are

islands perhaps less known to tourists, and for

Tipycal constructions

of Pantelleria.

72

this reason good places for those who do notlove mass tourism.

This archipelago, already inhabited in pre-historic times - when it was still attached to themainland - though it has never been the theatreof important historical events (except for anaval battle which took place in the stretch ofsea dividing Favignana and Levanzo, betweenthe Romans and the Carthaginians), hasalways attracted the attention of sailors in theMediterranean, especially that of pirates, whoregularly stopped here to get water.

The first true appearance of these islands inhistory dates from the fifteenth century, when

they were transformed into a “barony of thetuna fish” and assigned to Giovanni deKarissima. It was thanks to tuna fishing thatthe three islands, and especially Favignana, inthe space of a few decades reached great pros-perity, shared by everyone, from the last fisher-man to the entrepreneurs.

The latter were first Ligurians, whoacquired the archipelago in the seventeenthcentury and then the Florios, a powerfulPalermo family, whose mansion, built by archi-tect Damiani Almeyda, can still be admired onFavignana.

Thanks to the Florios, the ‘mattanza’

The natural“swimmingpool” atUstica.

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(slaughter), processing and preservation of thetuna fish was given a new lease of life. Stilltoday this activity is a vital one in the economyof the islands.

Favignana, the biggest of the threeislands, is also the one with the best accommo-dation facilities. The little village, all gatheredaround the harbour, still has some buildings ofa certain value, like the little mansion of theFlorios and some small Baroque churches. Itsname is indissolubly linked to the tuna fish.Here, indeed, there is the biggest tuna process-ingstation in the Mediterranean, which, deci-sive for the island’s economy for centuries, isonce again picking up now. You can easily getanywhere on the island on a bicycle, as it israther flat. It is largely tufa rock, which hasbeen used since time immemorial in building.Along the paths deep quarries open up, partlyhewn out by man, and partly caused by sink-ing of friable rock; they are surrounded andcovered by low bushes. The coasts, rich in cran-

nies, little bays and grottoes, are bathed by aclear turquoise sea with splendid reflections.

Levanzo is known above all for theGenoans’ grotto, which conserves decorationsand graffiti considered the most interesting inItaly. On the walls the accurate hand of anunknown artist of 10,000-15,000 years agotraced out men, women and children, animalsand fish, thus handing down to us anunknown ancient world. One should also notmiss the natural beauties of the island, whichhas nothing to envy her sisters.

Marettimo, the furthest from the Siciliancoast, is perhaps for this very reason the mostunspoilt, but also the most different.Mountainous, unlike the other two, it hides inthe bowels of its caves freshwater springs, andit is covered with incredibly luxuriant sponta-neous vegetation, partly consisting of very rareor even unique plants. In the tiny white villagethe accommodation is at the homes of fisher-men, from whom one can hire a boat to go

Egadi Islands,the bay of

Punta Lunga at Favignana.

74

round the island, which is absolutely the mostinteresting excursion (this also goes for theother islands), since it makes it easy to discoverthe most inaccessible beauties of the coast,above all the grottoes. Among the latter, partic-ular mention must be made of the Cammello(camel), Bombarda and Presepe (crib) grottoes,with stupendous and unrivalled colours.

USTICAFrom finds made on this island, which is

57 km. from Palermo, it appears that the firstinhabitants were Phoenicians orCarthaginians. Coins, mosaics and variouseveryday objects also testify to the presence ofthe Romans, who called it Ustom, “burnt”,which gave the present name. From the eighthcentury it was an Arab dominion, with a singleinterruption during the Norman domination -in the course of which the Benedictine conventand the Santa Maria church were built. It wasonly in 1763, after repeated attempts, that the

Spanish government succeeded in occupyingand re-populating the island, which was after-wards fortified by the Bourbons. The new pop-ulation was brought from the Aeolian Islands,and it is for this reason that the inhabitantspreserve customs and dialect from the latter.

The main attractions of Ustica are its mag-nificent sea beds, protected, starting from a fewyears ago, by the setting up of a marine reserve.Coming to the island, you usually land at theSanta Maria harbour, which the black volcanicsand under the surface of the water gives a deepturquoise colour.

There are various interesting excursions: forexample, you can go up to the fortress, at 157meters on Cape Falconara, where there is a mag-nificent view of the whole island, the sea and theSicilian coast, or sail round the island, visitingthe numerous grottoes along the coast. Amongthem we will mention the Grotta Azzurra,Grotta della Pastizza and Grotta di Blasi.

The natural“swimmingpool” at Ustica.

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The major geological and climatic differencesfound in Sicily between one area and anoth-

er, even neighbouring ones, permit the develop-ment of a very varied flora, boasting exemplarsof plants being typical of northern climates andsubtropical ones. Along the coastal zones, andup to a height of 300 metres, there are above allcitrus fruits, olives and vines.

Almost all these plants, which today arefound all over the island, were actually importedby the successive conquerors of the island: forexample, the Greeks and Phoenicians broughtthe vine, the olive, the fig and the pomegranate;the Arabs - among other things - the lemon andthe almond. The orange was only grown start-ing from the fifteenth century, like the tomatoand the prickly pear, imported to Sicily after thediscovery of America. Lastly, the mandarinorange was introduced at the start of the nine-teenth century.

On the slopes of the mountains, and upto 600 metres, there is luxuriantMediterranean scrub, made up of variousshrubs: broom, lavender, rosemary, wildolive, dwarf palm, lentisk and others. Thereare also cork oaks, oleanders, carobs andtamarisks.

Flor

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The great forests that covered the wholeisland having disappeared, woods are found onlyon the summits of the main mountain chains -the Nebrodi, the Madonie, the Peloritans - andon Etna.

Cork and other oaks, chestnut trees andbeeches are the trees making up these woods,and there are now only rare clumps of pinesand Sicilian fir.

The local flora also includes the oleanderand the plane tree, as well as plants introducedby man in more or less recent times: in addi-tion to the previously mentioned prickly pear,vine and fruit trees, we find agaves, palms,ficus, cedars, mulberries, eucalyptuses and allsorts of flowers.

Changes in climate and environment,

together with indiscriminate destructive actionby man, have considerably reduced the presenceof wild animals on the island.

The big mammals have mostly disappeared,as have most of the birds of prey, the only signif-icant presences being those of the wild cat, themarten, the dormouse (rare) the hedgehog, thewild rabbit, the hare and the weasel.

Among birds there are the falcon, the pil-grim hawk, the windhover, the kite and theeagle, the rock partridge, the imperial crow.

Some migratory birds also stop off in Sicily,such as common species of waders, the pinkseagull, the greater sea swallow, the spoonbill.There are a great number of insects and inverte-brates: among snakes, special mention must bemade of the very beautiful spotted grass snake.

Sicilian gastronomy, though in general itis quite homogeneous, varies greatly in

detail from province to province. The varyingdistance from the sea and the availability ofdifferent products have caused this difference,but the variety of dishes is also due to the dif-ferent dominations that followed one anotherin Sicily, which felt the influence of bothEurope and Africa.

Starters - Apart from the very vast choice ofvegetables in oil, in salt and pepper dip, orfried in oil, which are offered in great abun-dance, there are also some specialities: rice“arancine”, for example, “beccafico” sar-dines, “panelle” and “cazzilli” in Palermo.

First courses - If in Palermo the queen ispasta with sardines - closely followed, howev-er, by baked pasta - in Catania the first coursepar excellence is “pasta alla Norma”, whichtakes its name from the masterpiece byVincenzo Bellini.

Another great Sicilian, Pirandello, gives thename to spaghetti with tomato and chunks of“tuma” cheese found in his home town,Agrigento.

Again on the coast, in Trapani, the Arabinfluence has given cous-cous, which ratherthan a first course is a complete meal. InMessina, you must taste the “sciusceddu”, adelicious vegetable soup with little meat ballsand cheese, and lastly, in inland Sicily, inCaltanissetta, the tasty “cavateddi”.

Meat - From the famous “falsomagro” -aroll of meat filled with hard-boiled eggs, ham,mincemeat and caciocavallo cheese, cookedin wine and tomato sauce - to sausages, frombittersweet rabbit to stuffed pork - particular-ly found in Ragusa province - there is a wholeseries of gastronomic delights. Also very com-mon are kid and lamb, generally barbecued

and f1avoured with all sorts of aromas thatSicily offers abundantly.

Fish - Even more varied - if possi-ble - is the choice of fish: “scop-pularicchi” (fried squids andtiny sepias) in Syracuse, “stum-

mi abbuttunati” (stuffed mackerels) inCatania, “stoccu a missinisi” (cod with veg-etables) in Messina. And then again sword-fish, tuna fish - still caught, in Trapani, withthe ancient “mattanza” - lobsters andseafood, big fish and small ones, simply grilledand served with tasty “salmoriglio”, whichis a sauce made of olive oil, lemon, salt, pep-per, parsley and - sometimes - garlic.

Vegetables - Only imagination can set alimit to the preparation of vegetables: beans,artichokes, mushrooms, olives, tomatoes,onions, egg plants, cauliflowers are flavouredwith the most varied aromas, steamed, roast-ed, fried in oil or left raw, to form - alone or incompany - delicious salads or accompani-ments: “alivi cunzati” (olives f1avouredwith little peppers and pickles), “milinciania parmigiana” (egg plants fried and thenbaked with tomato sauce and parmesancheese), artichokes stuffed with parsley andanchovies (Agrigento).

Desserts - Desserts have always had a placeof honour in Sicilian cuisine: honey andalmonds have always been the main ingredi-ents, together with soft very sweet full wheycheese, the basic element of “cassata”. InMessina there is the predominance if theexcellent “pignolata”, in Syracuse the“blancmange”, made with almonds, is amust, as is the “cuccìa”, and in Catania thereare the “little olives of St. Agatha”.

Separate mention must be made of icecreams and above all of iced lemon, coffee, etc.which in the morning in summer is consumedwith a blob of cream and a warm bun. Thereare all sorts of possible tastes!

A little of everything - Lastly, we must atleast mention the excellent cheeses (ricotta,tuma, caciocavallo, primosale) and the pizzas;a particular kind is “sfinciuni”, soft pizzawith tomato and onions on it, the “schiac-ciate” which, especially in Ragusa province,are flavoured in every way immaginable.

In the end the wines. Among these we willmention the Alcamo whites, the VittoriaCerasuolo, Marsala, Moscato, Malvasia, theEtna wines and the Caltanissetta bitter liqueur.

78

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79

What to buySicilian handicraft is very varied,and each area has its peculiarities.This is particularly evident whenyou look at the different types ofceramics to be found on the island.In Sicily there are big clay quarriesfrom which the raw ma te rial isvery easily extracted, and someplaces, like Santo Stefano di Ca ma -stra or Caltagirone, base their econ-omy almost exclusively on the pro-duction of ceramics. Each of themhas an ancient tradition as regardsshapes and decoration, but besidethese new decorationtrends areemerging. In addition to vases,plates, cups of all kinds, shapes andsizes, one can buy lamps, candle-sticks, tiles and figurines for cribs. A typical Sicilian product is thecoffa, a pleated and decorated bas-ket available in various sizes. InErice you can buy delightful mul-ticoloured hand-woven carpets.More or less everywhere, there areembroidered objects, such as table-cloths, blankets, sheets, towels andnapkins. Lastly, the classic sou-venir is the little Sicilian cart andthe traditional puppet, both avail-able in all sizes.

Bank opening timesBanks are open from 8,15am to 1,20pm and from 2,45pm to 4pm every day except Saturdays and holidays.

Shop hoursShops are generally open from

9,00am to 1,00pm and from4,00pm to 7,30pm with slightvariations. In tourist resortsshops are often open all day.In addition to Sunday closing,there is a half day in the week, the day depending on the type ofshops. Some big stores do not closefor lunch.

Post office hoursPost offices are open from 8,30am to 1;15pm; on Saturdays and on the last dayof the month from 8,30am to 11,20. Closed on Sundays. The following offices are open inthe afternoon (until 6,30pm):

Palermo:Corso Pisani, 246; Piazza Verdi, 7; Via Danimarca, 54; Via Roma (Central Post Office);piazza Unità d’Italia; Via Alcide de Gasperi

Messina:Via Garibaldi, 190; Via XXVII Luglio, 5; Piazza AntoneIlo

Catania: Viale Africa; CorsoItalia, 33-35; Viale Rapisardi, 82

CurrencyThe Italian currency is the Euro(€)

TipsA tip is always appreciated butnot mandatory. The amountdepends on the service performed.

Intemational phone callsYou can phone overseas from any private or public phone bydialling the country code precededby 00 (e.g. to call Munich, inGermany, you must dial 00 fol-lowed by 49 - intemational code -by 89 - city code - and the sub-scribers number). You can make reverse charge callsor credit card calls by calling theoperator in your own country by dialling a special number (for information call 176Information service every day from 8am to 11pm). Italian public phones take coins of10, 20 and 50 cent of €, telephone cards costing 1-2,50-5-7,50 €

StampsLetters and postcards to Italy and EEC: 0,41 €.Letters and postcards to non-EEC countries: 0,52 €. Allcharges indicated are for mailweighing less than 20g.

For regional transports visitthe site:www.regione.sicilia.it/turismo/trasportiFor city transports, visit thesites of the commons.

For mueums and archaeologi-cal areas visit the site:www.regione.sicilia.it/beniculturali

Useful Information

Publisher: © KREA srl - Palermo

Text: M. C. Castellucci, F. Alaimo, D. Polizzi Piazza

Photo by: Archivio Krea, ArchivioRegione Siciliana e LIPU (Gela)

Illustrations: E. Massara

Printing: MediaCenter&Management

Printed: October 2008

Public Relations OfficeRegione Siciliana - Assessorato

Turismo, Comunicazioni e Trasportivia Notarbartolo, 9 - 90142 Palermo

tel. +39 (0) 91 7078230/258/276fax +39 (0) 91 7078212

urp.dipturismo@regione.sicilia.it

Free copy - Assessorato Turismo,Trasporti e Comunicazioni

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Geography and geologyPlaced at the centre of the Mediterranean,

Sicily is the biggest island in the latter (25,460square metres). Around it there is a series ofsmaller islands: to the north the AeolianIslands and Ustica, to the west the Egadi, tothe south the Pelagie and Pantelleria (altogeth-er 25,708 square metres). Its coast, prevalentlyrocky to the north, and sandy to the south, is1000 km. long. There is great movement in theSicilian landscape: the island is mountainousand hilly, with only one big plain nearCatania.

The most important massif is the Etna one(the whole area of which is protected by a bignature park), in the eastern part of Sicily. Thevolcano, 3300 m. high, is active, and is thebiggest one in Europe.

Along the northern coast, from east towest, there is a stretch of the Peloritans, theNebrodi and the Madonie mountains, whosepeaks go up to 2000 metres. Just west of theriver Torto, the Madonie give way to irregularcalcareous formations, isolated or in groups,dominating roundish low hills.

To the east, between Messina and Etna,the Peloritans continue, wholly similar to themountains of Calabria. Further south, again inthe eastern part of the island, there is a succes-sion of tablelands formed by lava, tufa andabove all calcareous rock, deeply carved out bygorges formed by erosion by water. Lastly, the

centre of Sicily is hilly. This is the so-calledsulphurbearing plateau, with a height varyingbetween 500 and 700 metres (with the excep-tion of the hill on which Enna stands, almost1000 metres hight).

ClimateIt is decidedly Mediterranean, with hot

summers and short and mild winters. Thehours of the sunshine on average are 2500,againts the 2000 of mainland Italy - and the1800 of northern France. The not very abun-dant precipitations are concentrated in wintermonths from October to March. The highesttemperatures are in July and August - average26 degrees Celsius - and the lowest fromDecember to February - average 10-14 degreesCelsius. The water temperature varies fromabout 16 degrees Celsius in winter to 27 insummer. For a trip to Sicily, which is not lim-ited to bathing purposes, we reccommend thespring and autumn months, in particular theperiods from the middle of April to the middleof June and September-October.

Government and populationSicily, with the islands around it, is an

Autonomus Region with a main town, whichsince 1946, has been Palermo, and since 1947it has had its own Parliament. Its population isestimated to be about 5,000,000, with a densi-ty of 190 inhabitants per square kilometre.

The infiniteisland

“Who has never longed at least to know it? Few people or no one; so uni-versal is the fame of its beauty, and so much the memory of it is linked

to the history of the most widespread civilisation. "This is what we read in the preface to the big volume that the Italian

Touring Club devoted to Sicily in 1933. Looking at the old photos, we can-not help noticing that the 60 years that have gone by have left their mark:they have darkened the facades of the old monuments, they have filled thesquares and streets with cars, they have done away with black scarves andancient customs, they have changed the face of the countryside.

Nevertheless, although its fame has been obscured, although the time areremote when Palermo was a prize mecca for the rich and powerful, impa-tient to meet the local jet set which was the outcome of centuries of nobili-ty, yet still today it is worth knowing it, this Sicily with a thousand faces,at once poor and rich, closed and diffident in its noble decadence yet so anx-ious to be integrated in the modern world and modern times, "a nationrather than a region and, to boot, a plural nation, with so many differentidentities" (Bufalino).

"An island not sufficiently an island" (Borgese) or perhaps "too muchan island", mythological and concrete, dark and sunny, magnificent andterrible.