Rainbow on the Mediterranean

Monuments, sculptures or structures belonging to Ancient Mediterranean civilizations in or near our

town, city or in the Country Italia Castiglione-Caltanissetta

The Greek in Sicily Magna Græcia (Latin meaning "Great Greece", Greek : Μεγάλη Ἑλλάς, Megálē Hellás) is the name of the coastal areas of Southern Italy on the Tarentine Gulf that were extensively colonized by Greek settlers; particularly the Achaean colonies of Tarentum, Crotone, and Sybaris, but also, more loosely, the cities of Cumae and Neapolis to the north.The colonists, who began arriving in the eighth century BC, , brought with them their Hellenic civilization, which was to leave a lasting imprint in Italy, particularly on the culture of ancient Rome

Syracuse

Syracuse is a city founded by the Greeks in 734 BC. In Syracuse there are many remains of Greek domination, some of them are the Greek Theater, The Zeus’s Temple and The Aqueduct Galermi.

Francesco Miccichè IH

The Zeus’s Temple was built in VI century BC and it is the second oldest temple in Syracuse after The Apollo’s Temple.

The Aqueduct Galermi was built in 480 BC by Gelone, the Gela’s Tyrant, and carried the water in the city. Syracuse

Syracuse

Francesco Miccichè IH

Ear of Dionysious -Syracuse The Ear of Dionysius is a cave situated in the Archaelogical Park  in Syracuse, Sicily. Its S-like inner shape resembles the human ear as the cave winds 65 metres into the mountain and provides phenomenal acoustics. The legend says that Dionysius was able to eavesdrop on the conversations of prisoners inside the cave through the hole on top of the entrance. Because of its shape the cave focusses and amplifies all noises from the outside, even the far away street noises. Inside the cave, swallows are nesting and doves fly in occasionally. I recorded this track at the deep end of the cave in 2007.

Stefano IH

Aretusa Fountain -Syracuse

Aretusa Fountain This is one of the city’s greatest tourist attractions. Over the centuries it inspired poets and writers such as Virgil and Ovid, André Gide and Gabriele D’Annunzio, fascinated by the legend that is linked to this place. The story goes that Alpheus, son of Oceanus, fell madly in love with the nymph Aretusa. The nymph did not share his feelings. To save her, Artemides turned her into a water source but Zeus also turned Alpheus into a river, allowing him to meet up with Aretusa

Stefano IH

Eurialo Castle –Syracuse

The Eurialo Castle is a jewel of Greek defense military engineering. It stands just a few kilometers west of the city centre, on a scenic place from which approaching foes could be seen from afar.

Stefano IH

The Greek Theathre-SyracuseThe Greek Theater was built in V Century BC and then was modified by Greeks and Romans

Today classical works are staged during the spring in Syracuse’s ancient theatre.

Daily performances take place from mid-May through to the end of June.

The largest and one of the oldest theatres of ancient Sicily is for the most part intact and accepts modern stage sets and seating.

Francesco Miccichè IH

SAN CATALDO

Vassallaggi archeological zone- San Cataldo- CaltanissettaAntonio & Alex IH

Vassallaggi archeological zone- San Cataldo- Caltanissetta

Four kilometers from San Cataldo, in the district of  Vassallaggi, you can visit the ruins of an ancient city. Situated on a hill it was the road that led to Agrigento from Enna, it arose in prehistoric age,  the seventh century BC, as a town by indigenous peoples.In 570 BC was Hellenized: the Greeks arrived on the height of vassalage and built on the ruins of a village site dating from the Iron Age.

Antonio & Alex IH

The Normans in Sicily

• In Sicily there are many tracks of the Norman culture. In 1161, Lord Ruggero Bosso D’altavilla invaded Sicily which was under control of Saracens and arrived to Messina invading it as far as Palermo when he set the capital. For their conquests, the Normans left many important Cathedrals in Palermo, in Messina and the abbey in Caltanissetta.

Giorgio & Samuele IH

Palermo-Sicily

The cathedral was erected in 1185 by Walter Ophamil (or Walter of the Mill), the Anglo-Norman archbishop of Palermo and King William II's minister, on the area of an earlier Byzantine basilica.

Giorgio & Samuele IH

Messina

The Cathedral (12th century), had to be almost entirely rebuilt in 1919-1920, following the devastating 1908 earthquake, and again in 1943, after a fire triggered by Allied bombings. The original Norman structure can be recognised in the apsidal area. The façade has three late Gothic portals, the central of which probably dates back to the early 15th century

Giorgio & Samuele IH

Nel 1087, Caltanissetta wascaptured by the NormanCount Ruggero who founded Holy Spirit Abbey in the 11° century. It was consecrated much later on, in 1153. The building is Romanesque in style and the church has three Norman apses decorated with Lombard pilaster strips connected by arches. Inside there is a beautiful wooden crucifix from the 15° century, a Romanesque basin used for baptizing small children by immersion and a 17th centuryfigure ofChrist Pantocrator

( Davide and Angelo IH)

Caltanissetta

Norman Castle in Erice -Sicily

The Normans were one of Europe's strongest military powers. With a viking heritage they not only conquered England but also took Sicily.  This magnificent mountain top fortress at Erice is from the 12th and 13th centuries.  Rock and castle seem to have merged.   

The Spanish in SicilyThe Aragonese period of Sicily can be said to have lasted from 1282 until 1492, bridging the medieval and modern eras. The Kingdom of Aragon, which by the middle of the thirteenth century encompassed Catalonia and other lands, was an ethnically diverse region with its own language and a flourishing capital, Barcelona. Indeed, Aragon emerged as a powerful "Spanish" state in an age when most of the Iberian monarchies were struggling against the Moors, a conflict which was to continue well into the last years of the fifteenth century. Until the end of the Middle Ages, Spain was not a unified nation.

Palazzo Moncada-Caltanissetta

It is a large building, remained unfinished, erected in 1635 by Guglielmo Moncada. It has finely decorated corbels in the balconies of the main floor. The Moncada Family came from the Spanish town Montcada i Reixac

Francesco Iachetta IH