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  • Roland RoutierRenault RoamingVoyageur

    Pumicient elephant

    4 février 2019, Italie ⋅ ⛅ 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.    En savoir plus

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  • Roland RoutierRenault RoamingVoyageur

    Syracuse

    5 février 2019, Italie ⋅ 🌧 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.    En savoir plus

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  • Roland RoutierRenault RoamingVoyageur

    Latomie du Paradis

    5 février 2019, Italie ⋅ 🌧 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.    En savoir plus

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  • Roland RoutierRenault RoamingVoyageur

    A bit of theatre

    5 février 2019, Italie ⋅ 🌬 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.    En savoir plus

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  • Roland RoutierRenault RoamingVoyageur

    Brutal but I think I like it.

    5 février 2019, Italie ⋅ 🌬 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.    En savoir plus

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  • Roland RoutierRenault RoamingVoyageur

    A question of taste

    6 février 2019, Italie ⋅ ⛅ 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.En savoir plus

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  • Roland RoutierRenault RoamingVoyageur

    Hill Towns

    10 février 2019, Italie ⋅ ⛅ 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    En savoir plus

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  • Roland RoutierRenault RoamingVoyageur

    Piazza Armerina

    11 février 2019, Italie ⋅ 🌫 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.]    En savoir plus

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  • Roland RoutierRenault RoamingVoyageur

    Villa Romana del Casale

    11 février 2019, Italie ⋅ ⛅ 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-…    En savoir plus

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  • Roland RoutierRenault RoamingVoyageur

    Akraga

    12 février 2019, Italie ⋅ ⛅ 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.    En savoir plus

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  • Roland RoutierRenault RoamingVoyageur

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

    12 février 2019, Italie ⋅ ⛅ 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.    En savoir plus

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  • Roland RoutierRenault RoamingVoyageur

    Sciacca

    13 février 2019, Italie ⋅ 🌬 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.    En savoir plus

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  • Roland RoutierRenault RoamingVoyageur
    1

    Selinunte

    14 février 2019, Italie ⋅ ☀️ 13 °C

    From being one of the most progressive and eminent cities in Magna Graecia, in 409 BCE Selinunte was transformed, almost overnight, into a large expanse of rubble. The reason for this was an attack from the old enemy, the Carthaginians, who, for many years, had seen this upstart town as a threat to their influence in Sicily. Taking advantage of some trouble between the Greeks of Selinunte and the Elymians of Segesta, the Carthaginians sent some 100,000 men to lay siege to the town, which was only able to hold out for nine days. The subsequent sacking involved the massacre of some 16,000 of the town’s inhabitants while most of the remaining citizens were taken into slavery.
    Since then most of the history has been lost and even creative archaeologists have refrained from giving the ruins names: they are just known by letter. All that is worth saying is that some of the buildings go back nearly 3 centuries.

    https://en.visitselinunte.com/archaeological-park/    En savoir plus

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  • Roland RoutierRenault RoamingVoyageur
    1

    Streets of Selinunte

    14 février 2019, Italie ⋅ ☀️ 14 °C

    These are the streets of the well laid out city. The house construction and layout is the same as Agrigento and would have been very comfortable to live in.
    One of the cross roads.
    Some treasures were found on site, but these have been whisked away to Palermo museum. From the relics, archaeologists have been able to determine the colour schemes and designs with which the temples were richly adorned.
    It doesn't look much, but this little circle is the world's first documented spiral staircase. Not even a sign on it! Understated, you could say.    En savoir plus

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  • Roland RoutierRenault RoamingVoyageur
    1

    Marsala

    15 février 2019, Italie ⋅ ⛅ 14 °C

    I awoke to find the fishing fleet in from the sea. Compared to real boats in Sciacca, these did not seem so impressive but I gather they are used for much shallower waters.

    During the afternoon the place is empty as sensible people stay out of the sun and eat lunch. Unfortunately there was little sun but I did find an open restaurant for lunch - fish!
    Their famous sweet wine is only one of many from the region. Nice enough and hard to distinguish from any other Sicilian wine.    En savoir plus

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  • Roland RoutierRenault RoamingVoyageur

    Salt

    16 février 2019, Italie ⋅ ⛅ 12 °C

    Just up the coast from Marsala, opposite Isola San Pantaleo, the 12thC salt pans are still working near the Phoenician Mozia. In fact by squinting into the shallow waters of the bay, an old road from the era can be seen leading to the islands, where a settlement called Motya was uncovered in 2005.

    When the Dutch arrived I do not know, though their evidence is hard to miss. The mills were used to pump water into the pans.    En savoir plus

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  • Roland RoutierRenault RoamingVoyageur
    1

    Antico Erice

    17 février 2019, Italie ⋅ 🌙 9 °C

    750m above Trapani on the Sicilian West coast, the Elymians (whoever they were,) built a town and a temple dedicated to Venus complete with Temple prostitutes. The temple remained intact after numerous invasions (no prizes for guessing why,) until the Normans came and flattened it to erect the Castello di Venere.

    A pleasant and unspoilt mediaevil town which took a couple of hours to walk around. Cobbles, narrow streets, stone houses pressed together ... ....    En savoir plus

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  • Roland RoutierRenault RoamingVoyageur

    Rock concert

    18 février 2019, Italie ⋅ ☀️ 10 °C

    This huge 5thC BCE Temple was built by the Elysians in a remote valley near Segesta.
    When the wind blows through the 36 columns it produces weird notes so I was told.
    However, since the only way in was by paying for parking, taking a bus and then buying an entrance ticket I felt not like forking out 20 Euro for yet another monument.En savoir plus

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  • Roland RoutierRenault RoamingVoyageur

    On the Beach

    18 février 2019, Italie ⋅ ☀️ 13 °C

    Before braving the streets of Palermo I spent the night in the equivalent of Brighton, Mondello. It became popular at the end of the 19thC for tourists from the city seeking a nice beach to promenade on. The pier was built as an added - the only added - attraction in town; being Italian of course it is mainly a restaurant.En savoir plus

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  • Roland RoutierRenault RoamingVoyageur

    Family rivalry

    19 février 2019, Italie ⋅ ⛅ 4 °C

    The less culturally sensitive may say that this is what you get when building from the leftovers of various other church construction kits.
    UNESCO on the other hand regard it as one of the finest examples of Norman / Arab / Byzantine / salted with classical elements architecture.
    King Roger II had a bit of a reputation, having built the cathedral in Cefalu and the Cappella Palatina in Palermo. His grandson, King William II, wanted to outdo the old man. So he became inspired by a vision of the Virgin and ordered this cathedral in Monreale to be assembled.

    The interior was completed in 1184 and covered in cartoon mozaics of 42 Old Testament stories.

    Roger version in Palermo.    En savoir plus

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  • Roland RoutierRenault RoamingVoyageur

    Palermo

    19 février 2019, Italie ⋅ ⛅ 12 °C

    Fortuitously I arrived as people were returning home for lunch, so I was able to park opposite a school in the middle of town.

    The architecture in this town can best be described as "blended".

    The lion is on the front door of the Teatro Massimo which resembles another Greek temple. What else would you do on the back of a lion than have a pipe?En savoir plus

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  • Roland RoutierRenault RoamingVoyageur

    A bridge too far (from the river)

    19 février 2019, Italie ⋅ ⛅ 13 °C

    + Admiral George of Antioch in the reign of Roger III, had this bridge across the river Oreto built when he arrived around 1132. Since then the river has been diverted. It was built entirely of dry stone and is large for its time. A nice bit of Norman engineering.
    + The harbour side of Porta Felice, one of the 5 main gateways into the old town; named after Felice Orsini, wife to Viceroy Marcantonio II Colonna, commander of the Papal fleet at the Battle of Lepanto (1571).
    The lower section has a rather neat design, while the upper one is more elaborate; probably because it was started in 1584 and finished in 1637, when many XVIIth century Italian monuments became more fancy.
    Here is what Goethe had to say about it:
    "Our first business was to examine the city, which is easy enough to survey, but difficult to know; easy, because a street a mile long, from the lower to the upper gate, from the sea to the mountain, intersects it, and is itself again crossed, nearly in its middle, by another. Whatever lies on these two great lines is easily found; but in the inner streets a stranger soon loses himself, and without a guide will never extricate himself from their labyrinths. (..) Through the singular gateway, which consists of two vast pillars, which are left unconnected above, in order that the tower-high car of S. Rosalia may be able to pass through, on her famous festival, we were driven into the city."

    + The gate called Porta Nuova because it was opened as recently as 1460. In 1535 Emperor Charles V passed through, followed by thousands of Arab prisoners and Christians he had freed from slavery after conquering Tunis. Fifty years later Viceroy Marcantonio Colonna decided to rebuild the gate in the form of a triumphal arch which celebrated the victory of the Emperor, hence the four telamons portraying Arab prisoners.    En savoir plus

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