0963, 0964, 1907, 2931, 2981 ITALY (Sicily) - The map and the flag of Sicily

0963 The map of Sicily

Posted on 12.01.2014, 19.09.2015, 19.01.2017, 12.03.2017
Located in the extension of the tip of the Apennine peninsula, from which is separated only by the narrow Strait of Messina, Sicily is the largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. Its terrain is mostly hilly and intensively cultivated, but has also mountain ranges. The eastern coast is dominates by the Mount Etna, the largest active volcano in Europe, and the Aeolian Islands, in the Tyrrhenian Sea, to the northeast of mainland Sicily, exhibit also a volcanic complex, including Stromboli. With a population of slightly more than 5 million, it has only two metropolitan areas: the capital Palermo, and Catania.

2931 Images from Sicily (1)

For a long time the poorest region of Italy, with a social, economic and political life dominated by Mafia (Cosa Nostra), which led to massive waves of emigration, especially in Americas, in the last years Sicily had a regular growth, mainly due to the reforms in agriculture, the investments in industry and tourism development, so that today it is the eighth richest italian region in terms of total GDP. The earliest archeological evidence of human dwelling on the island dates from 8000 BC. At around 750 BC it was host to Phoenician and Greek colonies and for the next 600 years it was the site of the Greek-Punic and Roman-Punic wars, which ended with the destruction of Carthage.

2982 Images from Sicily (2)

After the fall of the Roman Empire, Sicily often changed hands, and during the early Middle Ages it was ruled in turn by the Vandals, Ostrogoths, Byzantines, Saracens and Normans. Later on, the Kingdom of Sicily lasted between 1130 and 1816, first subordinated to the crowns of Aragon, Spain, the Holy Roman Empire, and finally unified under the Bourbons with Naples, as the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies. Following the Expedition of the Thousand, a Giuseppe Garibaldi-led revolt during the Italian Unification process and a plebiscite, it became part of Italy in 1860. After the birth of the Italian Republic in 1946, Sicily was given special status as an autonomous region.

0964 The flag of Sicily (1)

As in the rest of Italy, the official language is Italian (even if the most people are bilingual and speak also Sicilian, a distinct and historical Romance language) and the primary religion is Roman Catholicism. In its long and tumultuous history, it received a variety of different cultures, each of them contributing to the island's culture, particularly in the areas of cuisine and architecture. It's the reason for that it has a rich and unique culture, many poets, writers, philosophers, intellectuals, architects and painters having roots on the island.

0964 The flag of Sicily (2)

The flag of Sicily (which is also its coat of arms) was first adopted in 1282, after the successful Sicilian Vespers revolt against the king Charles I of Sicily. It is characterized by the presence of the triskelion (trinacria) in its middle, the (winged) head of Medusa and three wheat ears. The three bent legs allegedly represent the three points of the triangular shape of the island. The present design became the official public flag of the Autonomous Region of Sicily on 4 January 2000. The flag is bisected diagonally into regions colored red and yellow, red representing the municipality of Palermo, yellow representing Corleone, which in medieval times was an agricultural city of renown. The triskelion appears also on the flag of the Isle of Man.

1267, 1327, 1906, 2964, 2972 ITALY (Sicily) - Arab-Norman Palermo and the cathedral churches of Cefalù and Monreale (UNESCO WHS)

1906 Sicily - Church of San Cataldo in Palermo

Posted on 03.10.2014, 08.11.2014, 19.09.2015, 27.02.2017, 05.03.2017
Located on the northern coast of Sicily, Arab-Norman Palermo includes a series of nine civil and religious structures dating from the era of the Norman kingdom of Sicily (1130-1194): two palaces, three churches, a cathedral, a bridge, as well as the cathedrals of Cefalú and Monreale. Collectively, they are an example of a social-cultural syncretism between Western, Islamic and Byzantine cultures on the island which gave rise to new concepts of space, structure and decoration. They also bear testimony to the fruitful coexistence of people of different origins and religions (Muslim, Byzantine, Latin, Jewish, Lombard and French).

1267 Sicily - The Cathedral-Basilica of Cefalù

Located on the central Piazza Bellini in Palermo, the Church of San Cataldo is annexed to that of Santa Maria dell'Ammiraglio. Founded around 1160 by admiral Majone di Bari, in the 18th century the church was used as a post office. In the 19th century it was restored and brought back to a form more similar to the original Medieval edifice. It has a rectangular plan with blind arches, partially occupied by windows. The ceiling has three characteristics red, bulge domes (cubole) and Arab-style merlons. The interior has a nave with two aisles. The naked walls are faced by spolia columns with Byzantine style arcades.

2972 Sicily - The cloister of the abbey of Monreale (1)

Located on the northern coast of Sicily, Cefalù deserves noted mainly for its Cathedral, begun in 1131, in a style of Norman architecture, which would be more accurately called Sicilian Romanesque. According to tradition, the building was erected after a vow made to the Holy Saviour by the King of Sicily, Roger II, after he escaped from a storm. The Cathedral was consecrated in 1267. The exterior is well preserved, and is largely decorated with interlacing pointed arches. On each side of the façade is a massive tower of four storeys.

1327 Sicily - The cloister of the abbey of Monreale (1)

 

The interior of the cathedral was restored in 1559, though the pointed arches of the nave, borne by ancient granite columns, are still visible; and the only mosaics preserved are those of the apse and the last bay of the choir; they are remarkably fine specimens of the Byzantine art of the period (1148) and, though restored in 1859-1862, have suffered much less than those at Palermo and Monreale from the process. The figure of the Christ Pantocrator gracing the apse is especially noteworthy.

2964 Sicily - Mosaic of Christ Pantocrator
in the apse of the Cathedral of Monreale

 

Located 15km south of Palermo, on the slope of Monte Caputo, overlooking the very fertile valley called La Conca d'oro (the Golden Shell), Monreale was for a long time a mere village, and started its expansion when the Norman Kings of Sicily chose the area as their hunting resort. Under King William II the large monastery of Benedictines coming from Cava de' Tirreni, with its church, was founded. The Cathedral of Monreale, one of the greatest extant examples of Norman architecture in the world, was begun in 1174 by William II, and in 1182 the church was elevated to the rank of a metropolitan cathedral.

2935, 2958 ITALY (Sicily) - Teatro Massimo in Palermo

2958 Palermo - Teatro Massimo

Posted on 24.01.2017, 21.02.2017

The Teatro Massimo Vittorio Emanuele is an opera house and opera company located on the Piazza Verdi in Palermo, dedicated to King Victor Emanuel II. Built between 1874 and 1897, it is the biggest in Italy, and one of the largest of Europe (the third after the Opéra National de Paris and the K. K. Hof-Opernhaus in Vienna), renowned for its perfect acoustics. Realized in the late-Renaissance style, the auditorium was planned for 3,000 people, but, in its current format, it seats 1,350, with 7 tiers of boxes rising up around an inclined stage, and shaped in the typical horseshoe style.

2935 Palermo - Interior view of the Teatro Massimo

 

For many years there had been talk of building a big new theatre in Palermo, worthy of the second biggest city in southern Italy (after Naples) and designed to promote the image of the city following the unification of Italy in 1861. The opera house was designed and overseen by the Italian architect Giovan Battista Filippo Basile, well known in Sicily. Following his death in 1891, construction was then overseen by his son, Architect Ernesto Basile. The Rutelli and Machì Company, represented by Giovanni Rutelli and Alberto Machì, was contracted for the main construction.

0615, 0685, 1251, 2924, 2929, 2937, 2938 ITALY (Sicily) - Late Baroque Towns of the Val di Noto (UNESCO WHS)

0615 Ragusa Ibla

0615 (posted on 25.04.2013) - RAGUSA
Can be said that Val di Noto (Province of Noto), a area located in south-eastern Sicily, owes its notoriety to a disaster, the enormous earthquake of 1693. After that, the representative of the king of Spain, the ruler of the time, received the permission to redesign the damaged towns based on rational and scenographic town plans. So these new towns were redesigned according to renaissance and baroque town planning, with streets crossing each other or starting from a central square, in what came to be known as the Sicilian Baroque style. In 2002, UNESCO inscribed eight of these towns on the World Heritage List as "representing the culmination and final flowering of Baroque art in Europe". One of this city is Ragusa, formed from two distinct areas, the lower and older town of Ragusa Ibla, and the higher Ragusa Superiore (Upper Town), separated by the Valle dei Ponti, a deep ravine crossed by four bridges. Ragusa Ibla hosts a wide array of Baroque architecture, including nine major churches and seven major palazzi.

0685 Catania - Metropolitan Cathedral of Saint Agatha
and Palace of the Seminary of the Clerics

0685, 2924, 2929, 2937, 2938 (posted on 19.06.2013, 04.01.2017, 16.01.2017, 28.01.2017) - CATANIA
Another city is Catania, located between Messina and Syracuse, at the foot of the Mount Etna. Founded in the 8th century BC by the Greeks, it has had a long and eventful history, and has been buried by lava of seventeen times. In the 14th century and in the Renaissance period it was one of Italy's most important and flourishing cultural, artistic, and political centers. Originally constructed in 1078-1093, Catania Cathedral, dedicated to Saint Agatha, has been destroyed and rebuilt several times. Today, traces of the original Norman edifice include part of the transept, the two towers and the three semicircular apses, composed of large lava stones, most of them recovered from imperial Roman buildings.

2924 Catania - Metropolitan Cathedral of Saint Agatha
and the elephant with the egyptian obelisk (1)

The current appearance of the cathedral dates from the work in 1711 of Gian Battista Vaccarini. It has three levels with Corinthian columns in granite, perhaps taken from the Roman Theatre of the city. All the orders are decorated with marble statues of Saint Agatha over the gate, Saint Euplius on the right and Saint Birillus on the left. The main door, in wood, has 32 sculpted plaques with episodes of the life and martyrdom of Saint Agatha, papal coats of arms and symbols of Christianity. In the right of the postcard 0685 can be seen the Palace of the Seminary of the Clerics, a very complex structure built by the architect Alonzo Benedict, connected to the Cathedral through a step above the Porta Uzeda.

2929 Catania - Metropolitan Cathedral of Saint Agatha
and the elephant with the egyptian obelisk (2)

The elephant in Piazza Duomo was sculpted of volcanic stone during the Roman era and stands as an emblem of the city. It supports a transplanted Egyptian obelisk, brought by the Romans some time after circa 30 BC. The monument's nickname in the Sicilian language is "Liotru," a reference to Elidoros, a heretical eighth century apostate and wizard who sought, through magic, to make the elephant walk. Fashioned of typical pinkish red granite from the Aswan quarries, the obelisk bears hieroglyphs identifying the goddess Isis, whose Egyptian cult reached the height of its popularity from 664 to 610 BC, although the style of writing dates the work to an earlier period.

2937 Catania - Teatro Massimo Bellini and adjoining piazza

The creation of what was to finally become the Teatro Massimo Bellini took almost two hundred years, beginning with discussions following the 1693 earthquake. The construction of a public theatre was discussed, and a foundation stone was finally laid in 1812. Architect Salvatore Zahra Buda began to prepare a plan for a theatre in the Piazza Nuovaluce, in front of the Santa Maria di Nuovaluce monastery, the location of the present-day theatre. The plan of the Teatro Nuovaluce (New Light Theatre) was a grandiose one in all respects, and was conceived to create one of the most innovative works in Italy.

2938 Catania - Interior of the Teatro Massimo Bellini

Named after the local-born composer Vincenzo Bellini, it was inaugurated on 31 May 1890 with a performance of the composer's masterwork, Norma. It seats 1,200. The exterior of the house matches the distinctive Sicilian Baroque style of the neighboring buildings of the late 17th Century. Its marble foyer, the Ridotto, is ornate and stuccoed, and a statue of Bellini is located between the central arches. The beautiful red-plush interior includes the main floor seating and four tiers of boxes. Surrounding them, on the upper level, are unusual arched arcades. The painted ceiling by Ernesto Bellandi depicts scenes from four of Bellini’s most well-known operas.

1251 Caltagirone - Staircase of Santa Maria del Monte

 

1251 (posted on 27.09.2014) - CALTAGIRONE
Caltagirone, located about 70km southwest of Catania, has been long famous for the production of pottery, particularly maiolica and terra-cotta wares. Virtually all buildings in the old town are decorated with ceramic tiles, shops spill their delightfully crafted wares onto the pavements and the effect is one of multichromatic vivacity. The highlight is undoubtedly the 142 steps of the Scalinata di Santa Maria del Monte (Staircase of Santa Maria del Monte), built from 1609, that connect the lower town with the older upper town. The peculiarity is that each step is decorated with different hand-decorated ceramics, using styles and figures derived from the millennial tradition of pottery making. At the end of July (24th and 25th), in honour of the town's patron saint, San Giacomo, and in the middle of August, the steps undergo yet another transformation, the "Illuminata". Thousands of candles flicker away creating a truly breathtaking sight.

2590 ITALY (Sicily) - The Dancing Satyr of Mazara del Vallo

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.

2472 ITALY (Sicily) - The feast of Santa Rosalia in Palermo

Saint Rosalia (1130-1166), also called La Santuzza (The Little Saint), and in local dialect as Rusalia, is the patron saint of Palermo, and hers celebration, called the festino, is still held each year on July 15, and is a major social and religious event in the city. According to the legend, four centuries after her death, in 1624, Saint Rosalia appeared to a hunter during a great plague in order to make honor to her remains. Miraculously such relics, passing through the streets of Palermo, healed the people from the disease who followed in procession.

2107 ITALY (Sicily) - Alcantara's gorges

The river Alcantara has its source on the south side of Monti Nebrodi , at an elevation of 1,250m, and its mouth in the Ionian Sea at Capo Schiso in Giardini-Naxos. On its way to the sea (52km), past the north of Randazzo, Mojo Alcantara, Francavilla di Sicilia, Motta Camastra, Castiglione di Sicilia, Graniti, Gaggi, Calatabiano, Taormina and Giardini-Naxos.

1499, 2046 ITALY (Sicily) - Carretto siciliano

1499 A typical carretto siciliano

Posted on 28.03.2015, 18.11.2015
The Sicilian cart (or carretto siciliano in Italian and carrettu sicilianu in Sicilian) is an ornate, colorful style of horse or donkey-drawn cart native to the island of Sicily. Horses were mostly used in the city and flat plains, while donkeys or mules were more often used in rough terrain for hauling heavy loads. The cart has two wheels and is primarily handmade out of wood with iron metal components. There are two types of carts: Carretto del Lavoro (cart for work), used for hauling miscellaneous, and Carretto de Gara, used for festive occasions. They were introduced to the island by the ancient Greeks, and reached the height of their popularity in the 1920s. The Museo del Carretto Siciliano, in Terrasini, in the province of Palermo, is a museum dedicated to the carts.

2046 A carretto siciliano in Taormina

The crews that built carretti included woodcarvers, metal workers, and painters. The woodcarvers carved panels that were often historic reliefs. The metal workers worked the iron, in a 'ferro battuto' style, which included highly decorated metal undercarriages. Each province of Sicily has their own style. The carretti made in the province of Palermo have more of a square box design, those made in Catania are made with more elaborate 'keys', and the carts made in Agrigento have their own distinctive style. Carts are known for being covered with scenes from Sicilian history and folklore as well as intricate geometrical designs. These scenes also served the purpose of conveying historical information to those who were illiterate. The colors of Sicily's flag, yellow and red, feature prominently on the carts.

1973 ITALY (Sicily) - La Vucciria

One of the legacies of Palermo’s past as a commercial center and port that continues to manifest itself in the present day is the Palermo market culture. In particular, Palermo’s muslim history has made an imprint on the bazaars and markets of the town. Bustling, crowded, and full of all kinds of treasures, a day at the markets is a unique way to connect with the real lifestyle of the Palermo locals. And the most famous Palermo market is the Vucciria market.