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  • Roland Routier

Renault Roaming

Italy -- Croatia - ?
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  • Roland RoutierRenault RoamingTraveler

    Sciacca

    February 13, 2019 in Italy ⋅ 🌬 12 °C

    I spent a couple of warm nights in Sciacca, a pleasant fishing port on the South coast. There was nothing particular to see, which added to the relaxed atmosphere. They are probably glad that the “Sciacca Case” - a bloody feud between the two most powerful families of the town, the Perellos and the Lunas - is over. The cause of this bloodbath was a jilted bride. No-one seems to know the exact circumstances anymore (if they ever did!) but suffice it to say that beautiful and rich Margherita Peralta, a member of the Spanish Lunas family, never did get to marry the handsome Giovanni Perollo! So enormous was the insult that all hell was let loose and an epic cycle of vendetta erupted that lasted over 100 years and killed over half the town’s population.
    The mural artwork had no description attached so I cannot explain it.    Read more

  • Roland RoutierRenault RoamingTraveler

    I said 'Doric' columns dear, D O R ic

    February 12, 2019 in Italy ⋅ ⛅ 13 °C

    + Heracles. Men chisled these stones 2600 years ago,
    + The temples were sited up high so that they could be seen from the sea.
    + Juno (without an invasion of American tourists)
    + Girgentana goat. The breed originated in the Markhor or Falconeri goat of Afghanistan and Baluchistan. Some say Greeks and some say Arabs first introduced them to Sicily. Now nearly extinct, it is slowly recovering numbers through action by the 'Slow food' movement.
    + Castor and Pollux
    + Agrigento, a town of built like Tower Hamlets: cheap blocks too close together and too many of them.
    All these names are imaginative guesswork. The dating is scientific, but meaning is very difficult to ascribe.    Read more

  • Roland RoutierRenault RoamingTraveler

    Akraga

    February 12, 2019 in Italy ⋅ ⛅ 11 °C

    A semi-circular ridge binds the 'modern' hilltop town of Agrigento to the sea,and half way down on a plateau overlooking the sea between the rivers Hypsas and Akragas, the town of Akragas was established around CLXXII anno urbis conditae (to use the Roman calendar). It was laid out on a grid sytem with standard blocks about 180m by 30m of standardised semi-detached bungalows. Traces of these homes are observable and I wandered through their sitting rooms and bedchambers imagining life 2600 years ago.
    Most of the site has not been excavated (yet) and people come to see the remains of eight temples (and various other remains). The temples are in the Doric style and unusually, had stairways giving access to the roof, presumably as a lookout station to sea.
    + At the East end: the Temple of Hera or Juno. There are some standing columns, the remains of a huge stone sacrificial altar alongside, and steps where the masonry still shows traces of the fires of 406 BC, when Akragas was conquered and sacked by the Carthaginians.
    + The next temple along the ridge, dedicated to Concordia, is one of the best-preserved temples of the ancient world as it was preserved by the Christians to use as a church.
    + Looking along one of the streets towards the temple of Concordia.
    + The olive tree is over 600 years old
    + Sunset on Concordia.    Read more

  • Roland RoutierRenault RoamingTraveler

    Villa Romana del Casale

    February 11, 2019 in Italy ⋅ ⛅ 14 °C

    An Unesco World Heritage Site mainly owing to the largest collection of Roman mosaics in the world - there are 3535 square metres of them. Built as a hunting lodge starting in the late 4th century, it is believed to have been used by Diocletian's co-emperor, Marcus Aurelius Maximianus. The buildings were covered by a mudslide in the 12th century, after some medievil infractions unfortunately, (like building ovens for firing clay on some of the floors,) and they place has only started to be cleaned up in the last 60 years.
    Very naturalistic in style they give an insight into Roman life. The 100 foot "hunting gallery" is a depiction of every stage of the 'hunt', from capturing animals in Africa to chasing them down in the park or arena.
    Two sets I particularly liked. The girls in bikinis taking part in the womens pentathlon would not have aroused much comment if they appeared on TV today. They remind us how little different people were then compared to now. The children's chariot race, mimicing the grown up ones even down to the four team colours, (white, red, blue,green;) but using birds to draw the chariot is something I can hardly imagine - geese? ducks? pheasant? - but that is how it is recorded, even down to the little boys whose job it was to keep the birds moving and throwing water to cool them.
    The painting is an archaeological reconstruction of what it may have looked like based on the fragments of paint etc recovered from the stone.
    Since it was dark and the viewing angles difficult, I did not take many shots but better pictures can be seen here:
    https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/832/gallery/
    https://martinaway.com/villa-romana-del-casale-…    Read more

  • Roland RoutierRenault RoamingTraveler

    Piazza Armerina

    February 11, 2019 in Italy ⋅ 🌫 10 °C

    I stayed in Piazza Armerina in order to visit the Roman Villa; another town spreading over the hills like an eiderdown.
    Started in the 10thC by the Saracens, these streets are 13thC although I couldn't find any houses obviously from that period as there has been quite a bit of rebuilding.
    Of particular interest is the Candy Cathedral, where votive offerings of sweets are piled up -yeah, even unto and surpassing the rafters - forming a conical roof. [Surprisingly, not a UNESCO World Heritage site. Yet.]    Read more

  • Roland RoutierRenault RoamingTraveler

    Hill Towns

    February 10, 2019 in Italy ⋅ ⛅ 13 °C

    Terrain here can be described as very hilly. The towns, most of them unsettled to a greater or lesser extent by volcanic earthquakes, are universally built on the tops of these hills, with sides approaching the perpendicular in many places.
    Towns like Modica and Ragusa are very atmospheric to walk around and have lunch on a hot day, but they are all much the same. Modica for example was founded in 1360 or 1031 BCE and was inhabited by the Sicels in the 7th century BCE (said Thucydides.) But most of it ws destroyed in the great earthquake of 1693
    To give you a taste:
    + Modica Bassa
    + Cathedral of San Giorgio in Modica Bassa. The nobles decided to stay and rebuild their part of town, whilst the rest decamped to:
    + Modica Alta
    + Piazza Armerina    Read more

  • Roland RoutierRenault RoamingTraveler

    A question of taste

    February 6, 2019 in Italy ⋅ ⛅ 14 °C

    Around a central paste, in this case a meat ragu in the dark one and pistachio in the other, a basket of rice is patted into the shape of Mt Etna before cooking.
    Called 'Arancino', Sicilians snack on them and so did I; and very nice too.Read more

  • Roland RoutierRenault RoamingTraveler

    Brutal but I think I like it.

    February 5, 2019 in Italy ⋅ 🌬 12 °C

    I first met this architectural style in the middle of Sydney, where the Masonic centre is a technically proficient example of 'brutalism'. Basically, the building is built from bare concrete, is stolid and soulless.
    So I was very surprised, not to say taken, with the Basilica of Our Lady of Tears in Syracusa.

    The story starts in a nearby house in which Antonina and Angelo Iannuso were staying after their marriage. As a present they had been given a plaster plaque of the Virgin Mary, massed produced in Tuscany. Now Antonina discovered she was pregnant, 4 months after the wedding, and was afflicted with toxaemia that caused convulsions and some blindness. At 3 a.m. On 29/Aug/1953 she had a seizure that left her blind. However, by 08:30 she recovered her sight and noticed that the Madonna was weeping.
    As soon as the new got out, the house was besieged by the curious and the sick, some of whom claimed to be cured immediately. So great was the crowd that the police took the statue to the Police station for safety, but returned it as it stopped working. A commission (of churchmen) was formed to investigate and quickly confirmed the authenticity of the event and of the tears. Since then over a 100 miraculous cures have been documented and this Santuario Madonna Delle Lacrime built in honour.

    The building appears quite light and insubstantial from the outside, an effect magnified inside where the space doesn't seem big enough to hold 6,000 people sitting and 11,000 standing; but it can, and ones attention is drawn upwards with little to hold it down. It feels like an infinite space, say the inside of the Tardis, 103m tall and 71.4m wide, without becoming a railway station. Maybe it's the lack of an echo coupled to the lines of the walls, but it works.
    I've spared you a photo of '... Frozen tears' which are the reason for the edifice. Frankly unconvincing and too dark in the crypt, although I did manage to snap an old chapel uncovered during construction work and remarkably well integrated into the present structure.
    A chapel off the crypt shows the simple and effective decoration that relieves the grey concrete.    Read more

  • Roland RoutierRenault RoamingTraveler

    A bit of theatre

    February 5, 2019 in Italy ⋅ 🌬 9 °C

    Here are the two arenas: the semi-circular Greek and the oval Roman one. The former mainly for culture and the latter for war sport.

    The majority view of the specialists in antiquities is that the Greek Theatre is 2500 years old: some claim theatre was performed here since the city was first established. Whichever view is correct - and maybe both are - the mind boggles. I can hardly get my head around the documented fact that tragedies such as 'The Persians' and ' ' written by Aeschylus had been performed here in 470 BCE.

    Originally, this site was chosen to be above the city and without a backdrop so the eye would be led out to infinity. The trees and apartment blocks would not have interrupted the view. Sound, unlike Roman theatres, was reflected back by large ceramic or bronze panels about where the trees start. The central chorus area was round until the Romans cut it up to add moving scenery. The 67 tiers could hold 18000 people and are laid out in an unusually shallow angle in the shape of a shell.

    Aristotle tells us that a visit to the theatre was a catharsis, a purification of the passions, but it also had a political and educative role to play as well. Unscripted meetings were held. In fact the theatre was civic utility controlled by the State who both censored productions, (only 1 in 5 submitted plays were ever performed,) and gave free entry tokens to those who couldn't afford the entrance fee. Plays by Euripedes and Sophocles were apparently acceptable.

    An aqueduct had been carved to bring in water from above the bowl. Astonishingly it still provides water 2500 years later, all we have done is pollute the supply so it is undrinkable.

    Only a few hundred metres away the Romans built their amphitheatre (AMPI = double sided, TEATRON= viewing,) in about the 3rd C. At 3 stories high it was the 3rd largest in Italy, only Rome and Verona were bigger. Compared to the Greek Theatre though it is a side-show.

    The tunnel between the first and second levels used by spectators to access their seats, was called the "vomitorium". Football stadiums should have them as well!

    Last, in the XII C the Normans built a small church, St Nicholas, from the remains of the Roman cistern that supplied water to the amphitheatre. It now collects money from pilgrims like myself visiting the old places - it's the Tourist Office - and I bet the church is kicking itself at the lost opportunity.    Read more

  • Roland RoutierRenault RoamingTraveler

    Latomie du Paradis

    February 5, 2019 in Italy ⋅ 🌧 10 °C

    Greek LITOS means stone and TEMNO, cut leading to the name of this ancient quarry.
    The mine, dug underground from solid rock, provided the best stone from the deepest levels. Unfortunately for the miners who were prisoners working day and night on bread and water and never leaving the site. The Vth C Greek historian Tucidide records that after the Athenian defeat in the Port of Syracuse (413 BCE) 7000 prisoners were entombed in the mines. Of course, they probably had been prisoners chained to oars of the triremmes and welcomed their new fate which avoided drowning. In fact Plutarch reminds us of the Syracusan kindness in offering freedom to each man who could recite a verse of Euripides.
    Only one pillar remains after the earthquake of 1693. Perched delicately on top are the remains of a mediaevil house. The outline elevations of more can still be seen on the rim of the quarry.
    A squared off cavern in the base of the cliff was used until about 1900 as a workshop for rope making, as it provided the shade and humidity required. Next to it is this marvellous acoustic chamber which Caravaggio called the ear of Dionysius, supposedly after a tyrant who built it to house prisoners and keep tabs of their conversation. The marks of picks and chisels on its walls give the game away though: it was really dug from the back and top of the quarry following a vein of 'good' rock. It snakes in 65m, with a height of 23m at the front and 30m at the rear. Standing in the doorway the sounds inside appear to be amplified rather than echoed and I was very lucky that a couple of ladies in front of me decided to sing Schuberts Ave Maria to test it. Rotel better watch out.    Read more

  • Roland RoutierRenault RoamingTraveler

    Syracuse

    February 5, 2019 in Italy ⋅ 🌧 12 °C

    A descendant of Hercules, one Archia Bacchiadi originally from Corinth, founded the town on the islet / promontory Ortygia in 734 BCE. It remained Greek for over 500 years becoming the richest Greek city and centre of trade and culture; Plato taught philosophy and maths here in 400 BCE and Archimedes was born here in 287. Most of that city no longer exists though.
    That was before the Romans came in 212 and nabbed it. They came behind the fascia of Legions, so we're early fascists and, like fascists, moved the art treasures of the city to Rome for 'safe keeping'. In 535 CE they lost the place to the Byzantines, in turn ousted by the Arabs in 878, then: the Normans in 1100; the Souabes in the 13thC; the Anjous whose rapacity is commemorated in the 'Sicilian Vespers'; Spanish from the XIV to the XVIII th C, (both Aragon and Catalan flavours,); and finally the Bourbons before joining the new Italian nation in 1861. Truly, a city with a past.

    The Spanish decided to use most of the available Greek and Roman stonework to fortify Ortygia so much has been lost. All that remains of the largest altar in the world, (at least the Greek world,) is the foundation cut into the rock substrata, (so no photo!) The Altar of Hieron II (270-215 BCE) was 200m long and 35m wide, capable of sacrificing 100 oxen at a time during the City Festivals (according to historian Hecatombes sp?) Actually, it was more like a huge banquet, since only the entrails were favoured by the gods so the population as a whole fed off the meat. Sort of like a giant McD.

    The island is a short bridge from the mainland but has its own city gate.
    Sculptures really should have explanations for philistines like me. It was stuck on the corner of a bank, if that helps..
    Most of the town seems relatively new. Here is the war memorial shaped like a biscuit tin.    Read more

  • Roland RoutierRenault RoamingTraveler

    Catania

    February 4, 2019 in Italy ⋅ 🌧 9 °C

    Can't resist throwing in a photo of a Norman castle found in the middle of town.
    And a couple of street scenes ..

  • Roland RoutierRenault RoamingTraveler

    Pumicient elephant

    February 4, 2019 in Italy ⋅ ⛅ 5 °C

    Most popular sight appears to be the elephant in Piazza del Duomo carved from lava and impaled on a granite shaft.
    The Piazza is another Unesco World Heritage site.
    Inside the cathedral I discovered the tomb of Vincenzo Bellini.
    During this festival, to thank S.Agata for her help, people buy these candles, long in proportion with the amount of thanks due. After their devotions before her statue, the remains of the candles are thrown to the ground in the customary Italian fashion.    Read more

  • Roland RoutierRenault RoamingTraveler

    Catania

    February 4, 2019 in Italy ⋅ 🌙 5 °C

    Festival of Santa Agata,the patron saint of Catania, the town founded by the Greeks in 729 BCE.
    This is the third largest display of public hysteria after those in Santiago and Sevilla. Similarly, they carry iconographic statues around from parish church to cathedral and back. Some 60,000 people throng the streets so I'm told and the centre gets completely choked by nightfall. This is the start of 5 days of festivities so the streets are fairly empty: ie I can move.
    At night I am locked out of the Piazza deal Duomo as the tiny roads gradually choke themselves to a standstill - even though arriving 2.5 hours before the firework show. I took a photo of the via Etnea as it plays an important role later in the pageant. As I leave there is a 2km roadblock of people trying to drive into the centre.

    The next 2 days were going to be rainy and I could not face the prospect of fighting for survival in the mob. How right I was.

    The culmination of the processions is a long march carrying a large icon of Santa Agata up the via Etnea to the cloistered convent at the top of the road pointing to Etna. The nuns are allowed this one time during the year to be seen in public and to sing in honour of the Saint, which they do, even though there are only a dozen left and not too strong in voice. Now here's the rub: the road has a perceptible steepness so the float, (weighing as much as a car,) is not only carried by about 20 men but also pulled by two long ropes with many people. When it starts to move there is no stopping it and apparently the carriers have to run to keep the momentum under some sort of control. Obviously a tricky and dangerous feat.

    I heard on the radio that this year the road was damp and too many people had hunkered down on the road to watch. Unacceptably dangerous. However, when the church and civic authorities asked people to leave the road so there was room, the spectators refused, falling to their knees and invoking the intercession of Santa Agata. Others started rioting.I don't know how they sorted it in the end, but it was all very unpleasant and I am glad to have missed it.    Read more

  • Roland RoutierRenault RoamingTraveler

    A Treasure

    February 2, 2019 in Italy ⋅ ☀️ 18 °C

    This site as been occupied since the Bronze Age, but the ruins look as though they are not more than 100 years old. The important part however, is the part you don't see. For buried underneath this rubble - somewhere unspecified - there lies a fortune in treasure waiting to reveal itself to the right candidate. The lucky man will be the first Moor who rides a white horse 5 or 6 kilometres from the little church of San Giuseppe in the middle of Caltagirone to San Mauro. Unfortunately for him, he has to canter without spilling a drop of water from a brimming glass held in his hand. Of course, he is allowed to choose in which hand, left or right, to grasp it.
    Nobody could tell me when the last Arab had attempted the feat, from which I deduce not too many have tried. Alas, I am not black enough.    Read more

  • Roland RoutierRenault RoamingTraveler

    Stalag

    January 29, 2019 in Italy ⋅ ⛅ 10 °C

    The Germans were here during WWII and left their camps behind. This one is a medium security prison, not more than 500m from the house. It is easy to see into the yard from the road outside the house, right into the multi-level accommodation block, and on Sundays it is not unknown to pass a family or two equipped with binoculars waving at the inmates.
    You may have missed the small, concrete building on the left but I can assure you that you would not miss it if you were here. At least not on Saturdays when the prison authorities release the captive sewage odours on parole.    Read more

  • Roland RoutierRenault RoamingTraveler
    1

    Pile of dirt

    January 27, 2019 in Italy ⋅ ☀️ 12 °C

    My first Hugel.
    This is a technique for growing veggies that was developed by central Europeans and now forms part of the permaculture bible. The bed is prepared like a compost heap, but starting with trunks of old wood covered with branches. Over this lies the manure and compost, the whole covered by earth. Finally the pundits recommend protecting the mound with inverted sods of grass.
    The way it works I gather, is that the wood breaks down releasing nutrients but also 'tilling' the soil as it crumbles. The bugs and fungi also help condition the earth. So no work on the bed is required: just stick your plant in and wait. They say Hugel raised tomatoes are particularly tasty, but I alas will not be here to sample any crop.
    It was so much fun I built a second one.
    When that was finished I made a stone path. Do you like my stone pig in the background?    Read more

  • Roland RoutierRenault RoamingTraveler

    Inside the winery

    January 27, 2019 in Italy ⋅ ☀️ 12 °C

    The old winepress, juice channels and vats have been incorporated into the main sitting room.
    What used to be the animal quarters is now a large kitchen.

  • Roland RoutierRenault RoamingTraveler

    Pinella's house

    January 27, 2019 in Italy ⋅ ☀️ 12 °C

    Getting ready to leave this workaway in the Sicilian countryside.
    The house was an old winery, converted by the present owners into a very attractive house.
    Guess the name?
    Prickly pears are regarded almost as a Sicilian dish. Unfortunately, this year they are a bit dry and tasteless.

    PS

    The name is Monte Leone.    Read more

  • Roland RoutierRenault RoamingTraveler

    My hosts

    January 27, 2019 in Italy ⋅ ☀️ 12 °C

    Pinella and Luca have incorporated me into their families during my stay and have made me feel very welcome.
    Luca is a criminal lawyer, (who has heard the old joke which is the same in Italian as in English,) and Pinella runs a farmstay with courses on local cuisine / archaeology etc.Read more

  • Roland RoutierRenault RoamingTraveler

    Dead space

    January 26, 2019 in Italy ⋅ ⛅ 8 °C

    In the second half of the 1800s the town council of Caltagirone built in a Gothic-Sicilian style his monumental cemetery, which was recognised as a national monument in 1931.
    The plan is square with a Greek cross made ​​up of 170 arches that form its four main avenues. The architect, Giovan Battista Nicastro, used white stone from the Ragusa area, lava stone from the Etna and the local terracotta and ceramic.
    Over time the grounds have become stuffed with individual tombs, sepulchae and ordinary graves - even the walls external and internal are full of full length interrals.
    Many plots are lined with terracotta tiles depicting angels and demon: these ones frame the ossary where old bones are dumped to recover burial space.
    I thought at first it was something from the Raj but in fact many chapels, designed by the architect Xavier Fragapane, are in Liberty (Art Nouveau) style.
    Unfortunately, the town council has no money to maintain the place and quite a few buildings have been forsaken and robbed. Although some places are leased by families, others have been bought outright and remain in the family even after abandonment. So the Council couldn't do anything even if it wanted to.
    Sic transit gloria mundi.    Read more

  • Roland RoutierRenault RoamingTraveler

    The end of Sicily

    January 20, 2019 in Italy ⋅ ⛅ 14 °C

    + Castello Tafuri a palace built in 1933 by marquis Bruno di Belmonte. The walls were built with the stone extracted from the cave of the Isola delle Correnti. It was never inhabited by the family of the marquis and was restored in 2015 as a luxury hotel. Rooms start at $140 per night: not quoted in Euros I notice.
    + The ruins are of an old Tonnara or fish processing factory.
    + The islet is called Capo Passero (sparrow) for its tapered shape, which imaginatively resembles the head of a sparrow.
    + Capo Passero is mistakenly considered the most Southern tip of Sicily, but really it is the third foot of the “Trinacria”, the female emblem representing Sicily.
    + Less fishing now, more play. Looking back to Marzamemi.
    + A patio heater on the end of the breakwater? Must be warming the cockles ...    Read more

  • Roland RoutierRenault RoamingTraveler

    Something fishy

    January 20, 2019 in Italy ⋅ ⛅ 14 °C

    Marzamemi started and continues as a tuna fishing village. No Greek roots here! It was settled first by by the Arabs and originally called Marsa' al Hamen (which translates as "harbour of the turtle doves"). Why I have no idea.

    + Looking into the central plaza
    + The cathedral on one side of the plaza
    + Fishermans' houses on another side of the plaza, looking more Moroccan or Arab than Italian
    + The old dock area
    + Flower arranging (by Mr Gumby?)
    + Every lane leads to the sea    Read more

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