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“Sacred Landscape Sicily”, a journey through history

The “Sacred Landscape Sicily” project

The In the footsteps of Early Christian Rural Communities (social: Fb – Sacred Landscape; IG – Sacred Landacape Sicily), financed by the Society for Church Archaeology and by the University of Leicester, is about to start. ArcheoMe decided to follow this activity of academic research in detail because of its uniqueness. In fact, it’s not just a pure documentary analysis, but rather a “journey through time”, a physical exploration of the territory in order to trace the mobility through central Siciliy among the first rural Christian communities of the island.

A moment of field survey

 

Living the sacred landscape

The explorarion of the sacred landscape in central Siciliy will focus on the areas of Enna, Caltanissetta, and Catania. This is not a random choice: several scientific studies show the existence of a rich and complex archeological landscape. The objective of the research is to identify the possible routes that, centuries ago, were followed by the early Christians. We’re talking about the rural communities that inhabited the region between the 4th and the 9th century AD, which have left rural churches, monuments and necropolis. For a better understanding of the travel dynamics of this ancient time, the exploration will be done on foot, but not without a little help: in fact, two donkeys, the main “vehicles” of the past, will be used to transport the equipment, thus giving the right pace to the research activity. The Sacred Landscape Sicily Project rewrites the pure academic research in a new, experimental form, an active study of the territory in which it is immersed.

Aerial view of the rural church of Philosophiana

The path between landscape and archeology

The Sacred Landscape Sicily exploration, which will be documented by ArcheoMe, is led by Dr Margherita Riso of the University of Leicester, Director and founder of the project and by co-directors Matteo Randazzo and Andrea Arena. This journey will allow us to discover an unknown sicilian landscape: an overlooked archeological horizon, yet of great importance and unspeakable beauty. ArcheoMe will follow the research group through the roman villas of Gerace, Rasalgone and Casale; between the sizeable rural village of Philosophiana and other settlements inhabited from the prehistory to the Middle Ages; along the road axis of Imperial Roman age that connected Catania to Agrigento. The research team will attempt, once again, to bring all these puzzle pieces together. Quoting Dr Riso’s words, the times and the challenges of the journey “will be experimented by our team within a cultural landscape that has become a genuine container of collective and individual memory”.

Dr. Margherita Riso

 

Before the first steps

It should be known that, behind an experimental investigation such as that of Sacred Landscape Sicily, there is an extended period of study and scientific preparation. What might look like a “lighthearted hike” is actually quite different. The possible courses that have been identified by the research group are not influenced by the modern morphology of the territory, but rather by the ones of the Early Middle Ages. In particular, the philological research and the field survey are accompanied by the GIS (Geographic Information System) digital elaborations. Thanks to this software, it is possible to map the main elements of the landscape, both archeological and environmental, in order to grasp the hypothetical paths of the ancient road networks. At this point, “human” feedback is necessary to validate (or invalidate) the range of possibilities offered by the computer analysis.

The research team taking a selfie

It is about time: on the 24th of September 2022, Sacred Landscape Sicily will move its first steps with a presentation conference which will be held in Piazza Armerina, the picturesque ennese town that houses the famous Villa Romana del Casale, ever since at the center of a systematic archeological research. The “Litterio Villari” archeological group, which has always supported the archeologists working in central Sicily, will also be present at the conference.

Logo of the Sacred Landscape Sicily project, which can be followed on Instagram and Facebook

For the italian version click here.

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ENGLISH VERSION | Statue of Goddess Athena arrives in Sicily

On Wednesday 9th February, at 11:00 A.M, the statue of goddess Athena arrived in Sicily at the Antonio Salinas Archeological Regional Museum

 

Partnership between Greece and Sicily
Alberto Samonà, Regional Councillor for Cultural Heritage and Sicilian Identity

This statue will be given to the Salinas Museum for four years after a close cooperation agreement with the Greek authorities which was strongly desired by Alberto Samonà, Regional Councilor for Cultural Heritage and Sicilian identity.

Last month, the partnership between the sicilian museum and the Acropolis Museum of Athens had already allowed the return to Greece of a Parthenon frieze fragment (the so-called “Fagan Artifact”), which was conserved at the Salinas Museum. However, the arrival of this statue marks the first time that an artifact from the Athenian Museum comes to Sicily for a long-term exposure.

Return ceremony of the “Fagan artifact” at the Athens Acorpolis Museum, to which Councilor Alberto Samonà took part.

Accompanying the precious exhibit, which dates to the 5th century B.C., will be Lina Mendoni, Minister of Culture and Sport of Greece, and Nikolaos Stampolidis, director of the Athenese museum. They will entrust it to the Sicilian region, to the presence of Alberto Samonà and Caterina Greco, director of the Salinas Museum. For the important cultural occasion, senator Lucia Borgonzoni, Undersecretary of Culture, will also be present.

 

The Statue

This headless statue, made of pentelic marble, depicts the Goddess Athena: the 60 cm tall figure is dressed in a peplum, complete with a belt on the waist. The deity was probably adorned with a banner transversely placed on the chest which, likely during ancient times, was decorated in the center by a gorgon, which has been lost.

Statue of the Goddess Athena

The figure puts the body weight on the right leg, while using the left arm, in a sort of synchrony, to lean on what was supposed to be a spear. The whole thing is sinuous and smooth thanks to the skillful use of clothing, which is typical of the attic style of the last quarter of the 5th century B.C.

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ARCHAEOLOGY | The expression of the power of Akràgas, the Temple of Concordia

The expression of power of Akràgas, the Temple of Concordia, is the most famous Greek temple in Sicily. The inhabitants of ancient Agrigento built as many as 10 temples during the fifth century BC, in a fierce challenge to the last capital against Syracuse. The so-called Temple of Concordia, in particular, was built in 430 BC and today is located inside the famous Valley of the Temples of Agrigento. The monument owes the name Concordia to the interpretation that the historian Tommaso Fazello made of a Latin epigraph found nearby, but which, in fact, has nothing to do with the temple.

Map of the Temple of Concordia

It is a hexastyle peripterus in Doric style: a quadrilateral with six columns on the front and thirteen on the long sides (it follows the classical canon, therefore, which has the columns on the long sides being double plus one compared to those on the front). The perfectly preserved peristasis rests directly on a crepidoma composed of four steps and consists only of Doric columns: the shaft is not particularly slender and ends in a capital with a simple shape. Each column has twenty grooves and, towards two thirds of the height, presents a harmonious entasis. The peristasis supports an entablature composed of a lintel, a frieze decorated with metopes and triglyphs and an unsculpted tympanum.

Map, elevation and photo of the Temple of Concordia

The inner naos (the cell), accessible through a step, is preceded by a pronaos in antis (framed between two columns) and is followed by another vestibule. This second space, called opisthodomos, was usually used for the custody of the treasure, the donations and the archives of the temple. Of great interest is the presence, on the sides of the pronaos, of pylons with stairs leading to the roof. Likewise, on the top of the walls of the cell and in the blocks of the trabeation of the peristasis, the recesses for the wooden roof truss are clearly visible. Studies have shown that the exterior and interior of the temple were covered with polychrome stucco. The chromatic hypothesis made by the experts suggested a white stucco covering for the whole structure, with the exception of the frieze and the tympanum which, instead, had to be colored red and blue.

From Temple to Church

At the end of the sixth century AD, the Temple of Concordia was transformed into a Christian basilica by Bishop Gregory II and dedicated to Saint Peter and Paul. This metamorphosis brought about a series of changes, which contributed to the survival of the structure to the present day: the overthrow of the ancient orientation, the demolition of the wall of the opisthodomos, the closure of the intercolumni and the construction of twelve arched openings in the walls of the cell; all this allowed the three canonical naves to be built. The pits, instead, which are located inside and outside the church, refer to high-medieval burials. In 1748 the temple returned to its ancient forms, with the reopening of the colonnade, and stopped being used for worship.

With one of the symbols of the classical art of Sicily we close the first phase of life of this column with a Sicilian flavor. From 2021, in fact, the column Archaeology in Sicily will change “location” and will be published in ArcheoMe’s magazine. We certainly could not limit the history of our land to a few lines: Sicilian archaeology still has so much to tell and I will continue to be its humble spokesperson. 

See you soon!

Tradotto da: https://archeome.it/archeologia-lespressione-della-potenza-di-akragas-il-tempio-della-concordia/

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ARCHEOLOGY | The Sant’Angelo Cave, the tomb infested by the devil

Entrance to the Prince’s Tomb

The Sant’Angelo Cave is the largest early historic tholos tomb in Sicily. In 1931 Paolo Orsi discovered a group of large tholos tombs located on the slopes of the hill of Sant’Angelo Muxaro, in the valley of Platani, in the Province of Agrigento. The rich grave goods set the site, from the beginning, as one of the most important and worthy of attention in early historic Sicily. Among them, the largest is the so-called “Tomba del Principe” or Grotta Sant’Angelo. The second name comes from the patron saint who would have chosen the cave for his hermitage after having freed it from the devil. According to tradition, in fact, the cave was abandoned because of the strong dampness of the walls and because it was infested by many evil spirits. One day, from the sea came a holy man, Angelo, who, invoking an earthquake from God, drove out the spirits and settled there.

The structure of St. Angelo Cave

The innermost room of Sant’Angelo Cave

Sant’Angelo Cave consists of two large, almost circular and communicating rooms. The largest has a diameter of 8.8 meters and a height of 3.5 meters and is equipped with a quay that runs all around the walls. The inner chamber, however, although smaller in size, has a dome shaped like a spherical cap. The entrance, not in axis with the previous one, leads into a space, in the center of which there is a funeral bed carved into the rock. Inside the tomb there is a series of petroglyphs that Paolo Orsi mistakenly attributes to the Byzantine period. In reality, they are of Sikan origin and testify that the entire group of tombs is to be attributed to the Sikan world.

The interpretation

This tomb was called by Paolo Orsi “Tomb of the Prince” because it was supposed to be the “mausoleum of the prince of the anonymous Sicilian town of Muxaro”. According to the scholar, the inner cell was reserved for the prince, his wife and relatives, while in the outer one, on the quay that goes around the walls, “were originally arranged to banquet the employees and servants of the prince’s house.”

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ARCHAEOLOGY | Mount Sabucina, symbol of ancient Sikania

Mount Sabucina is located about 10 km northeast of Caltanissetta. Officially declared a Regional Archaeological Park by decree in 2001, together with the nearby Mount of Capodarso, the mountain constitutes a single system overlooking the valley of the Salso river, the ancient Himera.

Its plateau, at 720 m a.s.l., has constituted over time an important point of control and domination of the trade routes that crept into the territory of ancient Sikania. This characteristic has not escaped the populations that have inhabited this territory from the Ancient Bronze Age until the Roman Age. The first archaeological investigations date back to the 60s of the last century by Piero Orlandini.  

The Bronze Age

The very first site of the Ancient Bronze Age, at the foot of Mount Sabucina, is composed of several villages corresponding to the prehistoric culture of Castelluccio. Later, around the XIII century B.C., the village moved to the hillsides, probably for defensive reasons. Between the XIII and the X century the inhabited area, attributable to the facies of North Pentalica, evolved.

This unique large settlement consists of circular huts, placed both on the platform and on the slope of the hill. Among the huts, moreover, there are hypogea dug into the rock, used as burial places, deposits or shelters for animals. Lastly, some of the huts display moulds and ceramic objects that indicate their function as metallurgical workshops and ceramic workshops. During the X and IX centuries B.C., the huts were built with dry stone walls and the built-up area was more modest in size. Moreover, the site, equipped with terraces and small channels, was part of the cultural horizon of Cassibile.  

Mount Sabucina in the Iron Age

 

Clay model of a small temple from Sabucina

 

Between the VIII and VII century B.C. a new settlement was established on the top and slopes of Mount Sabucina. The houses are rectangular in plan and the inhabited area seems to be organized in specialized areas. In the sacred area there are two shrines, perhaps dedicated to the Chthonian divinities, which have been enlarged and modified over time.

Of considerable interest is one of the cells, which is oriented towards the east. It is a circular cell, built with irregular stones and reinforced at the base by a second ring that doubles the wall thickness. The remains tell us that it is a structure in antis (two columns on the front): this testifies the contacts between the indigenous world and the Greek one. The famous “Shrine of Sabucina” also comes from the sacred area: a clay model on a high foot of a small temple in antis with a rectangular plan, whose sloping roof is surmounted by figures of knights and decorated on the forehead by two gorgons.

The classic face of Sabucina
Sabucina
Archaeological area of Sabucina

The process of Hellenization, attested by the “Shrine of Sabucina”, ends around the VI century B.C., with the arrival of Rhodium-Cretan settlers from Gela. The settlement, even though it has fortification walls in the Greek style, lacks a regular urban plan. In fact, it appears as an agglomeration of irregular streets and alleys. This polis was violently destroyed by Ducezio in the V century B.C., during the uprising of the Sicilian cities against the Greeks.

During the IV century, like many other towns on the island, Sabucina also was repopulated with new settlers by Timoleon. The city was also rebuilt and protected with powerful fortified walls and equipped with rectangular and semicircular towers. After 310 B.C. the site was abandoned and the population returned to live at the foot of the mountain.

In Roman times, especially during the Imperial Age, the inhabitants continued to live in villas and dwellings that extended to the foot of Mount Sabucina. The residential centre of Piano della Clesia and the necropolis in the Lannari district, where the marble bust of Emperor Geta (209 – 212 A.D.) was found, testify to the continuity of life on the site.

Tradotto da: https://archeome.it/archeologia-il-monte-sabucina-cl-simbolo-dellantica-sikania/

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ARCHITECTURE | The Gothic in Sicily, the affirmation of a new style

Between the 13th and 15th centuries Sicily experienced a long period of political instability, during which numerous sovereigns reigned, including the Hohenstaufen of Swabia (1198-1266), the Angevins (1266-1282), the Aragonese (until 1516) and the Spanish (until 1713). They shared a welcoming spirit in a remote land, creating masterpieces which were disregarded in the rest of the peninsula. This is how the Gothic style developed in Sicily.

The military buildings of the Hohenstaufen family

Under the domination of Henry VI (1194-1197) and, above all, of Frederick II, whose reign lasted even longer (1198-1250), the numerous religious buildings and palaces inherited from the Normans were preserved. These rulers marked their era with the construction of strongholds, designed by architects from northern Europe: Gothic style arrived in Sicily in the 13th century in the form of fortified architecture.

The castles of Syracuse (Castello Maniace), Catania (Castello Ursino) and Augusta date back to this period, as do the fortifications of Enna’s castle, the strategic centre of the island, occupied since the Byzantine era, of which eight imposing towers remain. These buildings were characterised by a strongly geometrical plan (square structure with angular or median towers), portals or pointed arch windows, bare and austere walls, dominated by slits and merlons; finally, there were also rooms with ogival vaults.

The 14th century and the chiaramontano style

An important contribution to the development of Gothic architecture in Sicily was made by the Chiaramonte family. Powerful Sicilian lords for almost the whole fourteenth century, they established themselves thanks to the weakening of royal power. They also demonstrated their influence through the numerous constructions of civil and religious buildings; on these, they imposed as their artistic seal, which later became the family mark, the zigzag moulding, applied to portals, columns and mullioned windows, borrowed from the Arabs and adopted by the Normans.

From the second half of the 13th century, when the Sicilian population of Arab origin converted to Christianity, the Arab architectural influence in the construction of religious buildings and civil dwellings disappeared. The decorative zigzag motifs, imported from the East to Sicily, were applied by the Normans in many buildings: in Palermo, in the columns of the Palatine Chapel of the Palazzo dei Normanni, in the mullioned windows of the Monastery of San Salvatore in Cefalù and in the upper façade of the Cathedral.

In Agrigento and in several centres of the same province, this style, called “chiaramontano”, had a greater presence than other Sicilian sites; this is because the state owned city of Girgenti, for a certain period, was under the direct jurisdiction of the Chiaramonte family, who made it the artistic peak of 14th century architecture.

Among the buildings included in the so-called “chiaramontano style” Palazzo Chiaramonte is worth of special mention. It is called “lo Steri” and it is located in Piazza Marina in Palermo. It was the residence of an important Sicilian family; also worthy of notice is its façade of refined beauty, crowned by slits and decorated only with splendid windows with pointed arches. On the inside, there are various rooms and chapels with ogival vaults, a large room and ceilings with frescoes, recalling biblical and chivalrous scenes, attributed to the three Sicilian painters Simone da Corleone, Cecco di Naro and Darenu da Palermo.

All the subsequent urban palaces were built on the basis of these examples, characterised by mullioned and three-light windows, surmounted by drain arches both openworked and decorated with polychrome geometric motifs.

Gothic-Catalan art of the XV century

Catalan Gothic art developed in Sicily following the Spanish domination of the island from the end of the 14th century with the reign of the Aragonese. This development, clearly behind other European countries, was endorsed by the Catalan-Aragonese confederation, which became one of the greatest powers in the Mediterranean from the 13th century onwards. At the behest of the confederation, interest in a relatively sober Gothic style spread on the island, characterised by refined figures, a sense of proportion, breadth of form and large windows, open onto smooth, bare façades.

To this period belong the palaces Santo Stefano and Corvaja, in Taormina, the portal of the Cathedral of Palermo and the Bellomo palace in Syracuse. It seems useful to mention the artist Matteo Carnelivari, who, towards the end of the 15th century, designed the plans for the Abatellis, Aiutami Cristo palaces and, probably, also those of the Church of Santa Maria della Catena, in Palermo. These are the most representative creations of Gothic-Catalan art, characterized by Byzantine, Arab and Norman elements deriving from the most ancient local tradition.

Tradotto da: https://archeome.it/architettura-il-gotico-in-sicilia-laffermazione-di-un-nuovo-stile/

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THEATRE | The curtain falls to the theatre Vittorio Emanuele of Messina in 2020

The curtain fell before their start on many of plays and ballets scheduled in the 2019/2020 artistic season of the theatre Vittorio Emanuele of Messina. Like all other national theatres, even the historic one in the city of the Strait closed its doors for the second time this year, in compliance with the new Prime Minister’s Decree that establishes and tightens measures to contain the spread of COVID-19. The theatre season showed a great start in October last year with Bram Stoker’s “Dracula”, directed by Sergio Rubini together with Luigi Lo Cascio. Full house and a warm welcome from the audience.

Before the closing of the theatres last March, the brilliant and hilarious “Massimo Lopez and Tullio Sollenghi show” amused, entertained and even touched the loyal visitors of the former trio, now a duo, of italian comedians, for two hours and non-stop.

Indeed, the curtain fell but not the desire to go back to sit on the red armchairs, enjoy the darkness in the audience in the moments before the start of a show, as much a play, ballet as opera, and then witness the magic that only the stage of a theatre can give to fans of the genre. The shows, scheduled for the 2020/2021 season, are for now suspended and postponed to a later date. Let us hope that it will be as soon as possible.

History

The Vittorio Emanuele Theatre of Messina was commissioned by Ferdinand II of Bourbon in 1842 and saw its inauguration ten years later. Due to the devastating earthquake of 1908 it was seriously compromised and underwent extensive restoration work, which almost entirely rebuilt it and ended only in 1980. It was inaugurated again in 1985 and the first opera represented was “Aida”, the last to be performed before the earthquake.

The layout of Vittorio Emanuele Theatre

The entrance to the theatre is characterized by a three-arched portico, surmounted by the marble sculptural group “Time that discovers the Truth and Messina” created by the Messina sculptor Saro Zagari. The internal ceiling is decorated with a huge work by Renato Guttuso, depicting the myth of “Colapesce”, which dives into the waters of the Strait, surrounded by sirens. The fresco overlooks the stalls and offers a glimpse, with fairytale tones, of the depths of the sea and legend has it that the heroic swimmer supports even today the Messina tip of the island.

Tradotto da: https://archeome.it/teatro-il-vittorio-emanuele-di-messina-cala-il-sipario-sulla-stagione-2020/

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ARCHAEOLOGY | The wonders of the Archaeological Museum Luigi Bernabò Brea in Lipari

Luigi Bernabó Brea and Madeleine Cavalier

The Regional Aeolian Archaeological Museum Luigi Bernabò Brea, born from a previous Antquarium and located on the plateau known as “Il Castello” (The Castle), was inaugurated in 1954.

Its arrangement was strongly desired by the scholar Bernabò Brea, to whom it was later dedicated, and by the famous Madeleine Cavalier. The latter, after having carried out prehistorical excavations and research in Liguria, was his research partner since 1951, when she took over the scientific direction of the excavations in Lipari and of all the archaeological activity in the Aeolian Islands. The collaboration between the two significantly allowed so much the expansion of the previous museum collection that it was necessary to open new centres. Today, the Archaeological Museum of Lipari consisting of six pavilions that contain respectively: Prehistory, Epigraphy, Minor Islands, Classical Age, Vulcanology and Paleontology of the Quaternary which are located in as many buildings. The exhibition makes use of a rich and exhaustive information that spread across captions in Italian and English. It documents the development of human settlements and the development of the successive civilizations in the Aeolian Archipelago.

The Prehistoric Section

This Section is located in an eighteenth century building which, built on the ruins of the Norman monastery, was the seat of the “Palazzo Vescovile” (Bishop’s Palace). The finds preserved in it show the succession of cultures from the Neolithic age (end of the 5th millennium BC) to the Late Bronze Age (11th-10th century BC). The materials come from excavations carried out in the area of “Il Castello”and in the areas that have given their names to successive cultures. From Piano Conte, for example, we get the typical ceramics of the homonymous Middle Eneolithic culture; from Castellaro Vecchio, on the other hand, the traces of the most ancient Neolithic settlements come. To these are added the artifacts found in Contrada Diana and Spatarella. In this section, for the Bronze Age, the finds from the settlements of the culture of Capo Graziano (Filicudi) and the culture of Milazzese (Panarea) are also exhibited.

The exhibition itinerary of the Prehistoric Section of the Museum continues with the evidence of Ausonius I and Ausonius II, whose handcrafted ceramics seem similar to those of the Late-Apennine and to the Protovillanovian culture of the Italian peninsula. Finally, the itinerary ends with the interesting votive offerings, found inside the bothros dedicated to Aeolus, dating back to the Cnidian foundation of Lipàra (580-576 BC).

The Epigraphical Section of the Museum

The Epigraphical Section of the Archaeological Museum of Lipari is also located in the former “Palazzo Vescovile”, inside Room X. This exhibits numerous memorial stones and funerary stelae from the Greek and Roman age, found in the archaeological area of Contrada Diana. The inscriptions bear the names of the deceased, to which, at times, dedicatory or auspicious formulas are added. The large number of finds made it necessary to place the numerous stelae also in the adjacent garden, where they are accompanied by numerous sarcophagi from the same necropolis.

The Minor Islands Section

This section, on the other hand, is located in a small building opposite the Pre-Historic Section. Inside its showcases, there are numerous finds, coming from the archaeological contexts of the smaller islands and datable between the Upper Neolithic and the Middle Bronze Age. The highlight of this exhibition is the reconstruction of a Bronze Age hut. This reproduction, which occupies the central area of the pavilion dedicated to the archaeology of the smaller islands, was made possible through the joint study by archaeologists and archaeobotanists.

The Classical Section of the Museum

 

 

 

Room XIX with reconstruction of the excavation trench of the Bronze Age necropolis

The Classical Section is certainly the largest and occupies the largest number of rooms inside the main twentieth-century building of the Museum. Through the three floors dedicated to it, the finds are exhibited in order to reconstruct the rich historical-cultural framework of the Greco-Roman city. Beyond Room XX, in which the different types of burial are exemplified (sarcophagi and vases of medium and large dimensions), there is Room XIX, which offers a faithful reconstruction of the excavation trench of the Bronze Age necropolis, located below the former Piazza Monfalcone. On the upper floors are exhibited the numerous finds from the rich funeral objects, including the magnificent masks, divided by age and type: they are masks of Greek and Roman comedy and tragedy. Other exhibition spaces are dedicated to the numismatics and jewellery objects.

 

The great pyramid of the amphorae of Wreck A Roghi on display in room XXVII

Finally, the large room dedicated to underwater archeology is part of the Classical Section. In this room Greek and Roman ships are showcased unfortunately shipwrecked in the waters of the Archipelago, as well as materials from various eras, coming from port dumps in landing areas that have now disappeared. The visitor is immediately attracted by the pyramid-like display of the wreck amphorae of A. Roghi of Capo Graziano , which occupies the centre of Room XXVII. Subsequently, the visitor continues the exhibition itinerary through the finds from different eras, masterfully displayed in chronological order.

The Vulcanological Section

The Vulcanological Section is based in a 14th century building, next to the Minor Islands Section, which was later enlarged in the 17th century. The collection is named after the great vulcanologist Alfred Rittmann and showcases the geomorphology of volcanic origin of the Aeolian archipelago. The exhibition itinerary leads the visitor to observe a series of geological samples – including the famous obsidian – and the plastic reconstructions, which have the didactic purpose of getting him in touch with the productive and economic aspects of the various human settlements that have occurred on the islands .

The Paleontology of the Quaternary Section

Finally, this Section currently occupies a small room located in the south-western sector of “Il Castello”. The collection includes a series of sediments and fossils that must have been present on the various islands of the Aeolian Archipelago during the Quaternary. Of considerable interest is a fragment of the shield of a terrestrial turtle, incorporated in the pyroclasts of Valle Pera di Lipari and dating back to a time period between 127,000 and 104,000 years ago.

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EMINENT FIGURES | Antonia Ciasca, The Mediterranean between Etruscans and Phoenicians

The November column

We would like to dedicate the November Eminent Figures column to the women who have made the history of archaeology and culture in Italy, starting with an archaeologist who, without a doubt, has left an indelible mark in her studies on the Phoenician and Punic Mediterranean.

Antonia Ciasca

Antonia Ciasca was one of the most prominent archaeologists in the Italian and Mediterranean panorama of the second half of the 20th century. Etruscologist and scholar of the Phoenician civilization, student of giants such as Massimo Pallottino and Sabatino Moscati, she left her mark on the history of the excavations on the island of Mozia in Sicily.

She was born in Melfi (PZ) on 21 March 1930 from Raffaele Ciasca (historian and Senator of the Italian Republic) and Carolina Rispoli (writer, essayist and novelist). Following the relocation of her father, a university lecturer, she attended schools first in Genoa and then in Rome, where she obtained her classical high school diploma.

Between Etruscans and Phoenicians

In Rome she graduated from the University La Sapienza, where she was a pupil of Massimo Pallottino and Sabatino Moscati and participated in the excavations of the Etruscan centre of Pyrgi (Santa Severa). Pyrgi, a very famous centre in which, a few years later, gold foils with bilingual inscription in Etruscan and Phoenician were found, is a first thin thread which, uniting the Etruscan and Punic worlds, brought the new Ph.D. Ciasca closer to studies on the Phoenicians.

She soon became assistant professor to Sabatino Moscati, at the time teacher of Semitic epigraphy, and with him began the path that would take her to the East, until she became one of the field archaeologists, in 1959, of Ramat Rahel’s archaeological expedition in Israel.

A youthful portrait of Antonia Ciasca with Palestinian kefiya (from http://www.lasapienzamozia.it )

Since 1963, for six consecutive years, she directed the excavations of the first Italian archaeological mission in Tas Silg (Malta): here she identified the sanctuary of Astarte, known by classical sources (Cicero speaks of it) as a well-known place of worship where the faithful from all over the Mediterranean landed.

The following year she became director of the archaeological mission in Mozia (TP), a site to which she dedicated a large part of her work. In Mozia Antonia Ciasca chose to start her research from a place that was a symbol of Phoenician and Punic civilization: the Tophet, the burial place of children and, according to some ancient texts, the place where infants were sacrificed to the god Baal Hammon. At the same time, however, he began to systematically excavate the inhabited area of the Punic city, starting the first discoveries concerning the urban planning of the island. A brilliant and methodical archaeologist, Antonia Ciasca published annually the preliminary reports of her researches in the field, showing that she mastered the stratigraphic method in a commendable way. Her devotion to work led her, in 1966, when she was only 36 years old, to take up, first in Italy, the newborn chair of Punic Antiquities at La Sapienza University.

 

A historical image of the excavations of the Tophet of Mozia

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mozia in the context of the Western Mediterranean

The studies and research in Mozia led the Lucanian scholar to participate in excavations and research in other Punic centres in the Mediterranean, in order to have a wider vision of the Punic culture that the Sicilian island was returning. In 1975 Ciasca went to Tharros (Sardinia), in the 80’s to Algeria and Tunisia, to Cap Bon and Ras ed-Drek; finally, in 1998 she resumed the research in Tas Silg.

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HISTORY | His Majesty, Etna

The superb peak of Mount Etna that soars up to the sky, and its valleys that are already all black, and its snows that shine with the last rays of the sun, and its woods that tremble, that murmur, that stir. G. Verga, Story of a Capinera

This is how Verga describes Etna, the highest active volcano in Europe with its 3326 mt. Declared World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 2013, the Mongibello (another name of the Sicilian volcano), rises majestically and bursting on the Ionian coast. From its top you can admire a wonderful panorama, which includes not only the Ionian coast and the sea, but also Calabria, the Nebrodi mountains, the mountainous ridge of the Madonie and the inland areas of Sicily.

Called by the Greeks Αἴτνη (Aítnē), the Romans Aetna, and the Arabs Mongibello, Etna has inspired legends, myths, stories and tales in anyone who saw it.

It is quite difficult to reconstruct the etymology of the name, which seems to derive from the Greek toponym Aitna (Aἴτνα-ας, a name also attributed to the centre of Catania), which derives from the verb αἴθω (aitho, “to burn”). Another possible origin is from the noun “sicano” aith-na (“burning”). Perhaps the most evocative denomination is that of the Arab authors who called it Jebel al-burkān (“mountain of the volcano”), Jebel Aṭma Ṣiqilliya (“sum mountain of Sicily”) or Jebel an-Nār (“mountain of fire”). From these expressions it is possible to trace the dialectal name “Mongibello”, which seems to derive from the fusion of the Latin word Mons (“mountain”) and the Arabic word Jebel, with the same meaning. Today, instead, Sicilians often refer to the volcano with the appellation “a Muntagna”.

Etna (geologically a volcanic stratum) has its origins around 570,000 years ago, in the Quaternary period (during the middle Pleistocene), when construction and destruction processes took place, which started violent eruptive activities. Today Etna is one of the main places for geology studies: in fact, in Catania there is the important National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology which monitors its activities. In this regard, the presence of the Astronomical Observatory at an altitude of 2900 mt. cannot not be forgotten. This one, no longer in operation today, is one of the oldest in Italy.

To inspire more the works of ancient and modern writers, poets and directors is precisely its grandeur and its unpredictable behaviour.

Particularly suggestive are the explanations of the eruptive activity of the volcano, described by ancient authors such as Thucydides, Diodorus Siculus and Pindar. For example, it is said that the god of the winds Aeolus had reclosed, after a bitter fight, some winds in the caves below Etna.

Hesiod, Aeschylus and Virgil, instead, tell that the reason for the eruptions is linked to the rebellions of some giants like Enceladus. This one, defeated by the gods after a war, was buried under an enormous heap of land, the island of Sicily. Under Etna would be found, therefore, his head and the crater would coincide with his mouth. The eruptions would be the cries of pain of the defeated giant. The ancients, however, also thought that in the belly of the Mountain there was the workshop of Hephaestus (or Vulcan), god of fire, metallurgy and blacksmith of the gods.

The Volcano

Today there are four slopes of Mount Etna that can be visited, but the most easily reached are the northern slope (Linguaglossa) and the southern slope (Nicolosi).

Characterized today by a variegated flora and a very rich fauna, Etna represents a unique place in the world. It satisfies, in fact, the interest of mountain and winter sports enthusiasts (alpine skiing, cross-country skiing, ski touring, snowboarding), nature lovers and hikers (Etna Park). Moreover, the most demanding “palates” can enjoy unique dishes and taste the famous “Nero dell’Etna” wine, both during local festivals (Sagra del Pistacchio di Bronte, etc.) and in very characteristic places. For art lovers it is possible to buy works of the typical Etnean handicraft and to admire in the ethnic villages (Bronte, Randazzo, Maletto, Milò, Paternò, Adrano, just to name a few), numerous sanctuaries, churches, fountains or the wonderful buildings built in lava stone.


BIBLIOGRAPHICAL REFERENCES 

– Patanè, S. La Delfa, J. Tanguy, L’Etna e il mondo dei volcani’, Catania, Giuseppe Maimone editore, 2004.

– AA VV, Etna, myth of Europe, Catania, Giuseppe Maimone publisher, 2000.

– Etna Cooperativa Etna Sud – Environment, history, traditions, 1990, Tringale Editore.

– Carlo Gemmellaro, La vulcanologia dell’Etna (anastatic reprint by Salvatore Cucuzza Silvestri), Catania, Giuseppe Maimone Editore, 1989.

– Pierre Grimal, Mythology, Garzanti, 2005.