Like many others settlements from Sicily, Mazara del Vallo, located in southwestern of the island, was founded by the Phoenicians, then passed successive under the control of Greeks, Carthaginians, Romans, Vandals, Ostrogoths, Byzantines, Arabs, Normans, Angevins, Aragonese, Habsburgs, Bourbons, finally joining the Kingdom of Italy. Besides it is an quiet agricultural and fishing centre, even if its port gives shelter to the largest fishing fleet in Italy.
Mazara made national news in March 1998, when a bronze statue called the Dancing Satyr (Satiro Danzante) was recovered from the sandy sea floor at a depth of 500m off the port, in the nets of the same fishing boat that had in the previous year recovered the sculpture's left leg. When first displayed to the public after conservation, it was hailed as the finest new discovery in Italian waters since the Riace bronzes were found in 1972.
The statue is believed to have been sculpted by Greek artist Praxiteles, and since 2003 is on display to the public in a dedicated museum in the city, Museo del Satiro in the church of Sant'Egidio, after having been on show at the Chamber of Deputies of Rome, and in Aichi, Japan. After this event, the city quickly gained in terms of visiting tourists and a national advertising campaign was mounted with the slogan Mazara del Satiro.
About the stamp
The stamp are part of the series Parks, Gardens and Botanic Gardens, about which I wrote here.
References
Dancing Satyr of Mazara del Vallo - Wikipedia
Sender: Marius Vasilescu
Sent from Palermo (Sicily / Italy), on 15.09.2015
Photo: Antonino Bartuccio
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