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    Sicily
    Sicily
    Sicily
    Ebook103 pages51 minutes

    Sicily

    By Enrico Massetti

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    About this ebook

    Do you want to learn about Greece? So come to Sicily. It is a paradox, for sure, but only to a certain extent. The Greek cities of Sicily (Agrigento, Selinunte, Segesta, Syracuse, to mention the most important) were among the most beautiful of the Hellenic world. Nowadays, to visit the Valley of Temples at Agrigento or to watch a summer performance in the great Greek Theatre of Syracuse is to plunge yourself into the remote Hellenic past. And this is also true in Sicily for many other historical eras and civilizations, from the Spanish to the French. With the sole exception of Arab rule, that has left a scarce physical testimony.

    Sicily is a book of history and art history, a compendium of the greatest civilizations and cultures of all time. A sunny island whose landscape is rich in contrasts, with a splendid coastline and refined, delicious and varied cuisine of traditional flavors and exquisite aromas. The quintessence of Mediterranean culture, yet also dense with intellectual complexity and refinement, so well represented by the literary masterpieces of Luigi Pirandello, Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa, Leonardo Sciascia, Gesualdo Bufalino and today, Andrea Camilleri.

    This guide leads you in a week-long drive in the Island of Sicily: starting with Messina, touching the Aeolian Islands, and then Taormina, Acireale, Catania, Syracuse, Caltagirone, Piazza Armerina with its Roman Villa, Agrigento with the Greek Temples, Porto Empedocle, Selinunte, to arrive in Palermo, with a visit to Solunto and Monreale.

    It includes a section on Sicilian food.

    It includes color photos and descriptions of the attractions of all the localities touched.

    It is ideal for use on your smartphone, it contains links to the websites of many reviews for the best-recommended restaurants that are at the location described.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherEnrico Massetti
    Release dateJan 30, 2015
    ISBN9781311547101
    Sicily
    Author

    Enrico Massetti

    Enrico Massetti nació en Milán, Italia, donde vivió durante más de 30 años, visitando innumerables destinos turísticos, desde las montañas de los Alpes hasta el mar de Sicilia. Ahora vive en Washington, Estados Unidos. Sin embargo, visita regularmente su ciudad natal y disfruta recorriendo todos los lugares de su país, especialmente aquellos a los que puede llegar en transporte público. Puede contactar con Enrico en enrico@italian-visits.com.

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      Poorly translated (if indeed it was written in Italian) and poorly proofed.

    Book preview

    Sicily - Enrico Massetti

    Sicily

    Enrico Massetti

    Copyright Enrico Massetti 2015

    Published by Enrico Massetti

    All Rights Reserved

    Third edition

    Visiting Sicily

    An incredible fusion of races, civilizations, and systems of government; a fantastic interweaving of customs and habits; and an ever-changing and astonishing variety of landscapes with volcanoes and forests, seas and mountains are the attractions which await the tourist on his long journey from the tip of Italy to the wonders of Sicily.

    The itinerary:

    The itinerary

    From REGGIO CALABRIA where we can arrive by air or driving we take the ferry across the straits, and land at MESSINA.

    Messina

    Duomo

    Messina: a few hours will suffice to visit this city which was almost destroyed and rebuilt twice in last century: after the earthquake in 1908 and the bombardments in 1943. Of the original Norman structure of the Cathedral (1168) only the lower part of the facade and the magnificent Gothic portals have remained (inside, remains of ancient mosaics in the apse).

    Nearby is the church of SS. Annunziata dei Catalani, an elegant combination of Romanesque and Arab-Norman architecture, with a remarkable Apse. Noteworthy are: a Polyptych by Antonello da Messina, works by his pupils, two beautiful paintings by Caravaggio, works by Mattia Preti, ancient, medieval, and Renaissance sculptures, among the latter some by Laurana.

    Santa Maria Alemanna

    The church dates back to the second half of the 13th-century and was founded, together with an adjacent hospital, by the Teutonic Knights, thus explaining the name Alemanna, by which it is still known.

    The Knights set up their priory here and used the hospital to receive and tend veterans from the Holy Land. Only a small trace of the ancient hospital remains, in the form of a lancer arch and a fragment of the wall near the apses of the church. The church itself, abandoned by the knights at the end of the 14th-century, was struck by lightning at the beginning of the 17th-century and was further damaged in the earthquake of 1783, which caused the facade to collapse.

    Today it is under restoration, after having been dismantled stone by stone to allow consolidation. The Regional Museum contains an excellent portal from this church which is the purest example of Gothic architecture in Sicily since it was built using entirely German methods.

    The knights' hospital, which later passed to the Confraternita dei Rossi, admitted a famous patient after the battle of Lepanto in 1571, in the person of the great Miguel Saavedra Cervantes.

    Santissima Annunziata dei Catalani

    The church of the Annunziata dei Catalani stands on one of the most historically significant sites of the Straits. Nearby, there was once the Byzantine shipyard, guarded by the fortress of Castellammare. The church was built between 1150 and 1200 on the remains of a pagan temple dedicated to Neptune. It is an exciting example of how various architectural styles were added to a late Byzantine construction typical of those built by the Basilian Order of monks. The blind loggias and the play of color created by the exterior stonework, along with the two-tone arches of the interior and the elongated layout of the church, are all indications of Islamic and Byzantine influence, and also reflect contemporary architecture on mainland Italy.

    The original length of the naves was almost double their present length: they were shortened, and the facade was redone following a flood in the Middle Ages, which caused the front section of the church to collapse.

    The church has been known by the name Catalani ever since the 16th-century when the Senate of Messina gave it to the powerful guild of the Catalan merchants. The guild made it their headquarters and placed the coats of arms of Catalonia on the main entrance. The significant difference in height between the ground level of the church and that of the surrounding streets and buildings is due to the piles of rubble caused by the earthquake of 1908, which were later leveled for reconstruction.

    The Cathedral

    Duomo

    The church was originally built in Norman times, but only in 1197, in a ceremony presided over by Henry VI of Swabia ( the father of Frederick II, who lived and was buried in Messina), was it dedicated to the Virgin Mary.

    Nothing of the Norman construction remains today except the general layout and the overall exterior appearance which, after the 1908 earthquake, the architect Valenti reconstructed from ancient documents.

    Since at least the 14th-century the Cathedral has undergone various structural changes.

    Guidotto de Tabiatis, the bishop whose tomb, sculpted by Goro di Gregorio in 1333, can be admired in the transept, ordered the construction of an additional

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