2014 Malta and Sicily

SICILY & MALTA August 2014 Author: Lois Olive Gray Photos: Kay Ellen Gilmour, MD Website: kaygilmour.smugmug.com

Melting Malta and Sizzling Sicily Travel Company: Zegrahm Expeditions Group Travel Ship Based: Island Sky Activity Level: Moderate, very long days of sightseeing and bus-riding August 29 to September 11, 2014

INTRODUCTION ...................................................................................................................... 1 SICILY ....................................................................................................................................... 8 AGRIGENTO.............................................................................................................................. 8 MAZARA DEL VALLE/SELINUNTE .......................................................................................... 11 MARSALA ................................................................................................................................ 15 TRAPANI & ERICE .................................................................................................................... 18 PALERMO/MONREALE .......................................................................................................... 24 MONREALE ............................................................................................................................. 34 CEFALU ................................................................................................................................... 38 LIPARI...................................................................................................................................... 39 TAORMINA / MT. ETNA ........................................................................................................... 47 CATANIA / MORGANTINA ...................................................................................................... 52 SIRACUSA/ORTYGIA............................................................................................................... 68 THE REPUBLIC OF MALTA: SMALL BUT GOLDEN COUNTRY ............................................... 73 THE GARDEN OF THE FRENCH AUBERGE ........................................................................................ 79 CONCLUSIONS ...................................................................................................................... 88

INTRODUCTION Our visit began in Malta, a fascinating island very important in the history of human activity in the Mediterranean Sea because of its strategic location near the center of the Sea. We spent one night and the next day in this tourist "hot spot." In addition, we discovered immediately that "hot spot" has several relevant meanings here.

Tourists, primarily from European countries, flock here because of the beautiful beaches and sophisticated tourist infrastructure: fine hotels, excellent restaurants, many different activities to enjoy, easy transportation, and many companies catering to the wishes of tourists.

The island nation is also a mecca for history, culture and archeology buffs because of the many cultures that have left their imprint on the land itself, the language, food, traditions, laws, religion, ethnicities.

In our minds, however, the most salient meaning of the term described the incredible heat radiating from everywhere we went: the sun bore down from above and the golden stones of the buildings, the streets, and the very sand among the ruins reflected that withering warmth right back up to searing our skin. It really felt "meltingly " hot in Malta!

Though Sicily is a bit farther north than Malta (60 Miles), we found that the term "hot spot" fit that sizzling island too.

All three of the points listed above under the Maltese "hot spot" label fit well in our descriptions of Italy's island province. Some of the Sicilian cities we visited even had the golden look of Malta's major cities of Valletta and Mdina.

Therefore, our first advice for visitors to either area in August and September is to dress as lightly as is decent and wear only light colors. Your body will need all the help it can get to avoid your being struck down by the crushing heat.

Of course, there are other "hot spots" on Sicily that claim attention from visitors and residents alike: the two major volcanoes that are much more than metaphorical hot 1

places: Mt. Etna and Mt. Stromboli. Stromboli spews constantly, with red ribbons of lava flowing down its flanks, very visible at night. Also some fire glows appear at its cone all the time. Perhaps this lesser activity keeps Stromboli from blowing its top catastrophically. Mt. Etna on the other hand is much more destructive, but does not display volcanic activity regularly between its outrageous eruptions. More on the similarities and differences between the two cone-shaped mountains later on in this journal.

Important first question: Why does anyone want to visit these two islands? Well, there are many reasons, but perhaps the incredible history of this part of the Mediterranean provides the best answers. Many people have been coming to these islands for thousands of years, beginning with the ancient Phoenicians (also dubbed Carthaginians later in their own history) who started "tourism" in Sicily in the years 2500 to 900 BC. These intrepid sailors left their presumed homeland in the Eastern Mediterranean around present-day Lebanon (Tyre was one of their cities) to explore what they considered "their sea." At first, they mainly sought for good harbors where they could meet with the indigenous peoples (the Sicani, Siculi, and Elymians) for trading purposes.

They rarely met with hostility at first and the meetings were mutually beneficial, chiefly because these early traders were not interested in taking land from the inhabitants or in establishing their own towns or cities.

Later, of course, that changed when the Phoenicians realized that creating trading settlements on the island's coasts was more efficient. Then there was some fighting ignited. The locals recognized the power of the Phoenician sailors and generally were allowed to just retreat further along the coast or further inland away from the coast trading ports.

This modus vivendi went on for many years until the ancient Greeks began their own sailing tradition, on their part chiefly looking for fertile land. Greek soil had been exhausted and there had not really been much fertile land on their rocky homeland anyway. They came looking, not to trade, but to find a place to support the food needs of their populations. They were more aggressive in taking lands away from the indigenous peoples; if those folks did not just melt away as they had done with the Phoenicians, these Greeks forced them off the desired territories and annihilated towns and villages.

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They established their first permanent colony on the southwest coast of the triangularshaped island that is current Sicily and called it Gela in 735 BC. The Greek colonies here and in other areas around the Mediterranean became known as Magna Graecia, because, indeed, their towns and cities and populations became more numerous, larger, and more productive than the original Greek city-states at home.

Things might have continued that way forever had not another significant power arisen on the Med--Rome. Rome began to explore and conquer beginning around 282 BC. They too needed fertile farmland to feed their own burgeoning populations and their huge armies that roamed the known world looking for plunder, slaves, and new territories and products to exploit. The Greeks could not oppose the Roman legions with any hope of success and gradually withdrew from any areas desired by the Romans. Many of the existing sites of earlier Greek settlements reveal that the Romans utilized Greek buildings, temples, and theaters by altering them to fit their own needs and traditions. Therefore, many a Greek ruin we visited showed the effects of Roman renovations.

The Greeks may not have felt that they could challenge the Romans in Sicily since they had already been conquered by them in the home country, but such was not the case with the Phoenicians. They were such a powerful seafaring nation that they felt themselves to be fully capable of engaging the Romans and winning as well. Thus started the three Punic Wars between the Romans and the Carthaginians as they now called themselves, having established their capital away from Tyre; now their capital city was on the North African Coast in what is now the country of Tunisia.

The dates of the three Punic wars are: 264 BC to 241 BC, next 218 BC to 201 BC, and last 149-146 BC. The first Punic war ended in a virtual draw, although the Carthaginians did concede the city of Messina to the Romans. The second of the wars was fought over conflicting interests in Spain. Even though the excellent General Hannibal with his elephants crossed the Alps into Italy and inflicted heavy defeats on the Romans, Hannibal was ultimately beaten by Rome and not only lost Spain and other areas under their control, but also had to accept very harsh peace terms. The third Punic war was probably concocted by the Romans who accused the Carthaginians with flouting some of 3

the peace treaty terms. In reality, the Romans, led by Cato, had decided that "Carthage must be destroyed." From this war came the stories covering the complete razing of the city and sowing the fields with salt to prevent any resurgence in the area.

As usual, the victors in any war write the history and so it is with these three conflicts.

Thusly, the Phoenician/Carthaginian influences and "leftovers" in Sicily are much more difficult to locate or see. Certainly, the greatest legacy of this once dominant culture was the introduction of the Phoenician alphabet which was rapidly adopted all around the Mediterranean Sea and even into Northern Europe as well. Some linguists even see roots of the Phoenician alphabet in the Cyrillic and Hebrew letters! A lasting and utilitarian bequest indeed.

When Rome itself finally fell in 440 AD to the Vandals, the various northern Germanic tribes including the Ostrogoths, had their "moment" in Sicilian history; it ended in 535 AD when the Byzantine Christians drove them out. Even less remained of their presence on the island than the physical evidence of the Phoenicians.

Not so of the fervently religious Byzantine rulers of Sicily. They changed so much about the island physically that it is impossible not to see it in the towns and cities all over Sicily. Their glory days lasted almost 300 years from 535 AD until 878 AD. The magnificent churches that the Byzantines created either from Greek/Roman temples or built de novo themselves are testament sufficient to prove their deep and lasting influence on Sicily and its inhabitants regardless of their ethnicity.

The Byzantines made a big mistake when they invited the Arabs into the island because of the importance they attached to trade with this very advanced culture. By 878 AD, the Arabs had become the rulers of the island and remained so until 1071 AD. The Arabs of course changed many of the Byzantine churches and Greek/Roman temples into mosques for their own religious uses. Because of their beauty, people of all faiths adopted their marvelous mosaic work and their elegant design decorations. In the beginning, though governance changed between the Byzantines and the Arabs (many of whom were probably Christian rather than Muslim), the relationships between the two cultures were surprisingly peaceful and cooperative.One would have thought that the Arabs would recognize the dangers of calling in another power to help maintain or administer a territory, but surprisingly, they did not. They called in the Normans from 4

France who ran the island for 100 years, from 1071 to 1171. However, the relationship between the Normans and the Arabs was the most cordial of any mixture yet to achieve sway over the island because the Normans greatly respected their administrative, artistic, organizational skills, and scientific achievements and kept them on to help run the "government" for them. There was a true Golden Age for Sicily during this period because the arts flourished, trade blossomed, internal relations among the Jews, Arabs, Christians, & even the Muslims worked effectively and kept peace and prosperity well nourished.

However, most good things are doomed to end somewhere along the way and the same was true for Sicily. Mostly because of political and religious machinations in Europe, many conflicts arose that caused the Normans to leave Sicily. Then for 700 years, there was a more and more repressive succession of empowered entities to rule the island.

First there was the short-lived reign of the Hohenstauffen dynasty, followed by the Angevins (French partisans of the Pope at that time), then the Spanish took a turn at leadership, even the Duke of Savoy (Italy) had a short period of ruling. The Austrians were among the last to hold sway over the benighted and no doubt very puzzled citizens of Sicily. The last outsiders to have a turn at trying to govern Sicily were the Bourbon Spanish. The Italian hero, Garibaldi, at last ousted them as well in the 1860s and Sicily began its journey towards union with the Italian mainland.

Unfortunately, the one constant that obtained throughout all the centuries of different rulers was the total disregard for and oppression of the ordinary people who lived on the island. None of the leaders was interested in their welfare and all wanted them left uneducated and unrepresented. No matter that their labor was important to all, when the agricultural work was finished during a year, they were left to their own devices which usually meant periods of unemployment, starvation and misery. No effort was made to create a middle class and none ever has really developed on Sicily.

Each successive power group found new ways to neglect and exploit the peasants, even the rich Sicilians themselves. Even the Mafia which grew alongside the various governmental trials was no friend of the peasants, though some commentators have tried to portray these criminals in a positive light, just as some Southern Americans have attempted to put a positive spin on the Ku Klux Klan in its earliest incarnations.

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The Mafia is still quite alive in Sicily though it has turned to other sorts of criminal activities than in the formative periods. Apparently, its interests now are in human trafficking, drugs, and internet crimes. The most pernicious aspect of the Mafia however is its tangled and corruptive intertwining with the political powers and with the Church.

May the current Pope Francis have some luck in getting the Vatican finances disentangled from Mafia money for the betterment of all Sicilian citizen lives.

So why did all these different entities want Sicily within their sphere of influence? Why did the foreigners come and why did they stay? History seems to answer this question with pretty much the same answer for all: the fertile volcanic land supplied with plenty of rivers so that water was never a problem. The arable plains and hills of Sicily became the bread basket or granary for all the rulers whose main home was elsewhere. The Greeks and Romans in particular wanted to control agriculture so that there was a good supply of wheat for their homelands. Sadly, this abundance of water is not the case any longer since so many of the rivers have dried up over the centuries and the alterations in weather patterns have changed the rain patterns. The second almost as important reason is that the island occupies such an important strategic position geographically in the Mediterranean Sea, making it possible for the rulers to control sea lanes and therefore trade routes. Even in World War II, the American & British military commands were aware that they must capture Sicily to defeat the Nazis and Fascists. Sicily was also blessed with other natural resources which were ripe for exploitation by whoever controlled the island and peasants. Chief among these natural gifts were the abundance of sulphur ( at one time, Sicily produced 60% of the world's sulphur) and salt, which is still a major export from the island. At one time, the abundance of fish in the Mediterranean was considered one of Sicily's major natural resources as well. However, because of overfishing and pollution in the Med, this valuable resource has been considerably depleted.

Now, why should we modern visitors feel drawn to this largest island in the Med Sea? It is about the size of Vermont at 9,927 square miles and has a population of 5 million people. The island is shaped roughly like a triangle sitting just off the toe of the Italian peninsula's boot. Most of us probably are not overly concerned with its natural resources or its trading possibilities as were earlier migrants and casual visitors.

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Many are attracted by its beautiful beaches and Mediterranean climate--lots of warmth and sunshine. Northern Europeans no doubt find it a convenient destination for escaping the cold, damp and dark winters where they live, particularly the UK, Dutch & German visitors. However, I would not suggest that travelers with these interests should be contacting Zegrahm Expeditions to plan a "fun in the sun" vacation for them.

The magnet for typical Zegrahm visitors is the chance to see so many of the historical sites all around the coastlines accompanied by experts in archaeology, art history, political history, culture, and anthropology. A circumnavigation of the island is perfect for these aims since the expedition ship can land in small ports and allows easy one-time packing and unpacking since all your belongings stay on your floating hotel. Another attraction of this type of visit is the surrendering of all logistical planning to the experienced staff of Zegrahm helped by the regular crew of the Island Sky. This aspect is especially important because tourist infrastructure is not particularly good on the island.

Multiple ways to reach various historical and ecclesiastical sites are not usually available, so it is important that transportation is organized for you, good restaurants are preselected, expedited entry into popular tourist sites are arranged. Equally important is the staff's expertise regarding what sites are worthwhile to visit at all. On one's own, you might find yourself wasting a lot of time trying to get to a site that is not all that interesting or significant.

Furthermore, from a visit to Sicily, a person with interests in history will want to achieve an overarching understanding of the tumultuous, significant historical movements and trends that make Sicily such a rich place to visit. The excellent speakers and experts that accompany the traveler on Zegrahm trips, and especially this one, make that expanded timeline in European history accessible, fascinating and understandable.

So come along with us as we sail from important cities to small towns bordered with ancient ruins with our staff to help us weave a coherent tapestry of the history of this volcano-topped, strategically placed, Mafia-haunted, somewhat lost in time island that now is part of the modern state of Italy. It certainly wasn't always clear that such would be its destiny.

Stops along our route demonstrated the amazing cultural interweaving that created modern Sicily: 7

SICILY AGRIGENTO Though this city is not the earliest Greek settlement on Sicily, it is the first one on our itinerary--and for good reason too: the hauntingly beautiful Valley of the Temples which lies in the outskirts of the city. It contains 8 Doric temples in varying stages of ruin and is considered to be the most informative & well-preserved site in Magna Graecia, other than those ruins on the Greek peninsula itself.

The city began life as Akragas, a sub-colony created by a group of Greeks from Rhodes and Crete who had first established a city nearby called Gela. These Greeks moved south and built the city from 582 to 580 BC. The "valley" of the temples is not really a valley but a ridge behind the city. From its heights, the early citizens could watch as the massive temples were built--no doubt many of them had a hand in the construction. The site has been designated a UNESCO heritage site and for good reason. The largest Doric temple ever built is the ruined and fragmentary Temple of Zeus. The temple now called Concordia (archeologists admit they have no idea to whom it was dedicated by the original builders) is in the best condition of all the temples and it is truly beautiful.

After the Greeks came the Carthaginians to rule Agrigento, then the Romans, then the Ostrogoths, later the Byzantines, and then the Normans and finally the Aragonese Spanish. The beginning of the interwoven tapestry of Sicilian history is illustrated well in the Valley. It is clear to archeologists that the Romans simply adapted the great Doric temples to their own uses. Many of their gods were the same ones the Greeks worshipped; they were just named differently in Latin: Zeus/Jupiter, Hera/Juno, Herakles/Hercules. Byzantines transformed the temples into Christian churches during their hegemony. When the temples were in ruins because of earthquakes that leveled them, the Byzantines simply used the ruin sites as quarries for building their own churches. The Church of San Nicola is an example of such cannibalism from the 13th century. The Byzantines also used the fallen columns, supporting structures, and necropolis monuments as their own mausoleums. The Normans who followed the 8

Byzantines created their own "recycled" church from Greek ruins and called it The Church of Santa Maria dei Greci on the site of an old Greek temple in the 13th century.

Then the Spanish (Aragonese Kings) built the 14th century city Cathedral using borrowed/stolen stone from the Temple of Zeus. Inside this cathedral can be seen the influence of the Arabs in Sicily in the beautiful glowing mosaics, particularly above the altar. The final indignity committed against the great temple happened in the 18th century when Sicilians themselves took more stone from Zeus to build the jetties for the "new" harbor city (Porto de Empedocle) serving Agrigento (the Romans had romanized the city's name to Agrigentum) .

Just visiting the ruins, the churches, the buildings in this ancient city teaches the visitor to appreciate the amazing history of the city. Almost all the major players in the frequent changes of government in Sicily over the centuries are portrayed in stone.

Temple of Concordia

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Temple of Juno 1

Temple of Heracles 10

MAZARA DEL VALLE/SELINUNTE The ancient city of Mazara was founded by the Phoenicians in the 9th century, before they renamed themselves Carthaginians. At that point in their history, they were chiefly interested in establishing trade outposts, not colonies or cities. Mazara thrived as a trading post to the point that the familiar parade of conquerors started here as well, first by the Greeks, then the Romans, Ostrogoths, Byzantines, Arabs and all the rest with the Spanish being last to hold sway until Garibaldi ran them out in the 1860s and encouraged the citizens to consider joining his plan to unite all Italy.

Examples of the leavings of the various conquerors include a Norman Arch, the only remains of an Old Norman Castle built in 1073. The Royal St. Nicholas Church is a rare extant example of Norman architecture from 1124. The beautiful Seminary on the impressive Piazza del Repubblica was built by the Aragonese Spanish kings who were in many ways absentee landlords of the city and also really of Sicily itself.

Surprising Selinunte was a great pleasure to visit. The setting is beautiful with the open fields and the ghostly temple remains looking out to the blue Mediterranean. The Acropolis of the city stands above the plains that contain 5 temples while the old city 11

center on the hill also holds a sea-facing orientation. Some reconstruction was done in 1920s which helps the visitor understand more easily what the area looked like before its many destructions.

This city, like Agrigento, was a secondary sub-city, this one founded by the Greeks of Megara Hyblea in the 7th century BC. It completely surpassed its founding mother city and became one of the most powerful and rich cities in Magna Graecia. The site selected was between two rivers (now silted up completely) so that two ports were quickly constructed. At first the citizens were able to make treaties with their much smaller neighbor towns, thereby avoiding constant border conflicts that plagued many Greek settlements. For about a century, the town prospered and grew to a population of near 30,000. Unfortunately, covetous eyes among the Carthaginians recognized and focused on wealthy Selinunte. Recognizing their perilous position when other Greek cities and Carthage began warring against one another, Selinunte tried to remain neutral.

However, this stance won them no friends or allies in any camp.

It wasn't long before the crafty Carthaginians realized the tenuousness of Selinunte's position, and they laid siege to the city, which could hold out only 9 days against the vastly superior forces. The Carthaginians were absolutely brutal to the defeated citydwellers and managed to kill all but 6000 of the 30,000 people and those 6000 they enslaved. After ridding the city of its citizens they laid waste to it, destroying as much as they could.

During the 1st Punic War, the Carthaginians completely destroyed what was left of the now poor & unimportant city to prevent the Romans taking it. The ruined city was then abandoned and lost in the sands of time for two thousand years, until an devastating earthquake completed the destruction in the 9th century AD just before the Arabs arrived in the area.

Only in the 20th century did archeologists begin to recognize the rich treasure trove of ancient ruins that stood lonely on those hillsides with a single column still pointing skyward in one fallen temple, a foundation of another temple protruding up through the fields, the skeleton of a Doric temple standing like a sentinel atop the Acropolis. A considerable amount of excavation as well as some partial reconstruction has been done in the ensuing years so that the site is well documented. Because of the reconstructions, 12

it is a very satisfying site to visit for amateurs who are interested in what an ancient Greek city looked like.Because the city really only existed in Greek times and Carthaginian hegemonies, the Greek architecture has not been modified by successive inhabitants. On the Acropolis of the city, some stones in a house originally Greek reveals etched pictures of the Carthaginian goddess, Tanit, just about the only evidence located so far that they did anything to change the Greek temples or any other parts of the extensive site of Selinunte. Since it was destroyed so early in the history of Sicily, it never suffered nor benefitted from the many cultures that rolled over Sicily.

Selinunte Archaeological Park

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Selinunte Archaeological Park – Temple E

Selinunte Archaeological Park – Temple G

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MARSALA This Sicilian town's name is familiar to wine lovers all over the world and has been since the 18th century when exporting the product began on a large scale. However, its historicity begins well before that time. The Phoenician residents of an island community, Moyta, were conquered by the tyrant king of Siracusa in 397 BC and fled to the mainland where they built another home which they called "Lilybaion"-the city that looks at Libya. Current Marsala was built on the ruins of that city by the Romans who were never able to conquer it but won it at the conclusion of the 1st Punic War in 241 BC. There are some old Roman ruins consisting of palaces and public buildings, but the bombardments by the British in World War II destroyed most of the city center, including the Baroque central area.

So even the city as it took on different characters through the Vandal Era in the 5th Century AD, the Byzantines in the 6th, the Arabs in the 8th, and Normans,, French, and Spanish bears mostly old churches and palaces as testaments to those times. One of the many churches, reflecting the influence of the British who came not to conquer but to drink, is dedicated to Saint Thomas a Becket of Canterbury, England.

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Marsala street scene

Marsala Church of Purgatory

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Cantine Florio Wine Estate It probably isn't fair to say that the first British wine industry developer, John Woodhouse, who arrived in 1773 really came to imbibe the local product. Actually, he vacationed in the area and tasted the local wine and enjoyed it enough to believe that his fellow countrymen would also like it very much. So he started an exporting business to share the delicious drink and to get rich, of course. First, though, he had to develop a process that would allow the wine to survive the long voyages to England--that process consisted of fortifying the wine with right amounts of alcohol to preserve it. Mr. Woodhouse was quite successful in this early business and soon other Brits came to the area to compete with him. Marsala is still a quite popular product of the area and it is now shipped all around the world. At present, the chief aim of the present vintners is to convince the very large wine market in the USA that Marsala is good for more than just cooking, that it is an excellent drink as well. The names Woodhouse, Ingraham, Whitaker survive today among the various wine producers offering their delicious beverage.

Marsala has another even more modern claim to a place in history. It was the first landing site for Garibaldi when he arrived there on 5/11/1860 to begin his "crusade" to claim Sicily for Italy and to promote the unification of all Italy under one national flag.

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TRAPANI & ERICE Traveling on northward along Sicily's west coast, we stopped at the city of Trapani, a city founded by the rather mysterious Elymian people. Some historians think they are somehow related to the Phoenicians, others postulate a kinship with ancient Etruscans (this possibility allowed them to co-exist peacefully with the Roman invaders), still others believe (as did the ancient Greeks) that they were survivors of the Trojan War who wandered from the Plains of Troy into the Med Sea and finally came upon this corner of the Sicilian triangle. From its veryearliest beginnings and up until today, the major business of the city is fishing, no matter which culture controlled the city.

Carthage took it over in 260 BC but had to cede it to the Romans in 241 BC following the 1st Punic War. Of course, the usual procession of countries and cultures passed through the place in succeeding centuries. The city played an important part in the Crusades due to its excellent port and position on the Med Sea. After the invasion & disappearance of the Vandals, the town revived during Byzantine rule. This importance and prosperity greatly increased after the Muslims came in 830 AD since they reconstructed the town, with walls to enclose and protect it, and introduced a new street plan peculiar to the Arabs (also to be seen in other Arab-influenced cities and towns in Sicily). The Arabs also introduced salt production, tuna fishing and preserving, and mining of coral.

There are no ruins extant from ancient times in this area. Interesting churches, buildings, and palaces still present are from the Medieval Period onwards. When the Normans arrived, they continued to build there and even rewarded Trapani with the title "Royal City" to proclaim its importance. There still exists a Palazzo della Guidecca which proves that there was an important Jewish population in Trapani. During the Spanish domination, coral production and decoration with that resource grew along with the extraction and export of marble. Of course, Spanish rulers, even though they governed from afar, began to drive Jewish citizens out of Sicily during the Inquisition. Charles V restructured the city walls adding a deep moat and channel around the city to protect it from attack.

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In modern times, the city was heavily damaged during the Allied invasion of Sicily during World War II, but the Baroque and Medieval buildings have been pretty much restored.

Today, one of the tourist draws along the coast of Trapani is the salt "farming." Modern salt "farmers" use the same techniques that the Arabs taught their forefathers, except that these days the folks are not averse to using modern machinery for the "heavy lifting"--tractors, motorized vehicles, and windmills. The dazzling white conical mounds of salt taking the shape of the most famous volcanoes probably look just about the same as they did back in 9th century AD

Even in earliest times, Trapani was a gateway to Erice, the township on the hill overlooking the sea and the port from its 2,460 foot perch. A lovely story explaining its origins claims that the tiny town having been founded by Elymians who named it Eryx was taken over by the Phoenicians (by now called Carthaginians) led by Aeneas after he sailed away from Carthage seeing Dido waving goodbye in her sorrow. The ruins of the Temple of Venus Aeneas founded are now under the Castle Venus built by our now familiar friends, the Normans. The steep Medieval cobbled streets give a distinct flavor to visits in this picturesque site, as the visitor puffs up the hills, grateful for the stones that give a sure footing to the climb. There are 60 different churches to explore and countless shops, restaurants, and bars provide resting places between hikes uphill. In the northeastern section of the little city, there are remnants of old Phoenician and Elymian walls.

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Church of San Domenico in the San Domenico square

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Church Of St. Giovanni Battista

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Church of Our Lady of Assumption

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The highlight of the Erice has to be the 13th century Norman Castle di Venere. This monumental structure was built over the ancient Roman temple to Venus. The views from the castle down to the seashore are astounding.

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PALERMO/MONREALE After we rounded the northern cape of Sicily's geographical triangle, we would next visit the "famous in America" city of Palermo - famous because of the connection with the American version of the Sicilian Mafia and because it was the target for George Patton's army in the liberation of Sicily and Italy during World War II. As we would learn, Palermo has other claims to fame too; it is also one of the ancient settlements on the island of Sicily and went through most of the metamorphoses that other parts of Sicily experienced--that grand cavalcade of conquests by the cultures already enumerated in this piece in discussions of other cities and towns. As we were learning during this exploration, Sicily was surely the most often conquered and settled place in Europe and perhaps the world.

Palermo is currently the capital of the Autonomous Region of Sicily and has been the capital city for other earlier cultures as well. It was founded by the Phoenicians in the 8th Century BC, ruled from Carthage, until it was wrested from them by Rome in 254 BC, allowed to lose importance and deteriorate under the Romans, until it was recovered from the Ostrogoths by General Belisarius of the Byzantine Empire after 535 AD. The Arabs took over in 831 AD, the Normans from 1072-1194, and then the French and Spanish took their turns.

The Golden Age of Palermo was during the Norman hegemony chiefly because it was a period of outstanding cultural cooperation and harmony. The Norman kings welcomed the input of all their citizens so Greeks, Jews, Arabs and Christian Normans lived and worked together in an unusual and highly productive period in history. Our visit to this vibrant city was to center on the many buildings (secular & religious) which provide such gorgeous proof of this melding of cultures. The first eye-popping edifice most visitors come to see is the Palazzo dei Normanii, which today serves as the seat of city government, and its incredible Palatine Chapel (constructed between 1132-1189). It is a certainly a masterpiece of the European Middle Ages, not just in Sicily but anywhere. It is a splendid blending of Greek, Arab, Byzantine and Norman Baroque styles in architecture and decorative arts.

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The mosaics and paintings are just amazing--colorful, precise, imaginative, even moving.

The decorations on the walls and columns are Arab designs. The intricately carved ceiling is a masterpiece on its own and the paintings on the side walls, depicting Biblical stories from the Old and New Testaments remain bright and filled with narrative flourishes to instruct the illiterate Christians in their religion's story line.

Palazzo dei Normanii

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The Metropolitan Cathedral of the Assumption of Virgin Mary has an even richer history having started out as Byzantine church, then trans- forming into a Arab Mosque, and finally changing into a Christian church again. There are the tombs of 6 of the many rulers in Sicily housed in the Cathedral. There is also an impressive Treasury in the church which houses vestments, crowns, scepters, etc. from the 17th Century. On the exterior, the Cathedral's four Norman bell towers give the building its distinctive appearance. However, the rest of the façade was created in the Spanish Baroque Style in the 17th century. In an ongoing architectural war of styles, a Neapolitan architect was commissioned to alter the cathedral's exterior once again. So in 1771 and again in 1809, he added Neoclassical touches to both the interior and exterior. Many say this constant revising was a result of the church hierarchy wanting the church to be more impressive than the big Cathedral in Monreale, just up the hill a bit.

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Metropolitan Cathedral of the Assumption

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However, there is yet another Palermo Church that demands the attention of anyone who appreciates church design and architecture. This one goes by two different names but we were introduced to it as the Martorana Church from the 14th Century. However, in 1143, when the church was founded, it was Santa Maria Dell Ammiraglio--The Admiral's Church of St. Mary. It was originally founded as an Orthodox Greek church but it is now characterized by a great conglomeration of styles in architecture and decorations because so many different faiths have left their mark upon it. Currently the church is home to Sicilian citizens of Albanian heritage and it functions under the Byzantine Rite, even though it is owned by the Catholic Church. The real glory of this church too is the fantastic mosaic work chiefly in gold but containing other colors as well.

The icons are done in the typical style of the Eastern Orthodox rites. The altar mosaics show Christ as Pantocrater surrounded by archangels, the four evangelists, and various saints.

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Besides churches, Palermo boasts three medieval arches of considerable character: St. Agata's Gate, Porto Mazara, and the Monumental Gate, also called Porto Nuova.

Monumental Gate (Porto Nuova) 32

The Praetoria Fountain is another site we enjoyed.

There are two famous theaters in the city: The Massimo Theater which is the largest in all Italy, constructed after the style of ancient Greece, but decorated inside in the art nouveau style popular in the early 20th century.

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This theater now brings opera and ballet to the city. The newer of the two important theaters is the Politeama Garibaldi with its enormous arch over the entrance depicting Apollo and his horses. Another opera house is the Teatro Bellini where the composer actually created his very popular work "Norma."

Though extortion, prostitution, gambling and protection rackets are not the current salient "work" of the Mafia, the influence on all institutions in the city connected with both government and private entities is still very strong. Today the Mafia is more interested in human trafficking and internet crime. Many Mafia members came to the USA from Palermo from 1880s to 1920s and spread their way of life to their new home as well. Despite some concerted efforts to rid Sicily of the Mafia, there has been no discernible lessening of their power on the island.

MONREALE This little town is in the same district as Palermo but it sits higher in the hills. If not for the beautiful Cathedral Church of Monreale it boasts, the town would not be a place of any interest to visitors since it is quite non-descript. In 870 when the Arabs overran Sicily, they banished the Bishop of Palermo from his city-based cathedral there and sent him to Monreale. The Bishop built a small church there to keep the Christian community in close communion with their faith. In 1174 when the Arabs were defeated, King William II ordered the construction of a new church dedicated to the Virgin Mary to replace the Bishop's small one. He was an educated and enlightened ruler who greatly appreciated the arts and crafts of all his subjects and encouraged them to participate in the building and decorating of his new church. The result is the most wondrous fusion of Arabic, Byzantine and Norman styles.

As is the case with most of these gorgeously decorated and designed churches from the Norman period, pictures are worth much more than verbal descriptions. The intricate mosaics with their brilliant gold tiny tiles, the refined woodcarvings, the still vibrant paintings with their vivid storytelling all need to be experienced visually. Most of the churches have been retrofitted with organs but we were not privileged to hear any of them in action while we visited.

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35

The cloister adjacent to the great cathedral is a marvel in itself, having also been designed and implemented by all the best artisans in William II's kingdom and it is also something that needs to be seen. The most amazing parts of the cloister are the many, many columns, no two of them alike, with such compelling designs on each one.

Monreale Cathedral, though perhaps not as rococo in its decorations as the Palatine Chapel, was probably my favorite because there was a bit more restraint in its celebrations of mankind's skill in representing impressions of the glory of their religious convictions.

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No Two Columns Alike

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CEFALU This small city has enough history and beautiful beaches to attract over a million tourists every year to its crowded ancient and medieval streets, its many shops, gelaterias, at least 12 major churches, and many relics proving that it went through the same multiple transformations from old Greek to modern Italian statehood. Only 14,000 live here year round where the city name origin is clear from the huge headland that towers above town below. Cefalu in Greek means "head" or "headland." On top of the precipitous rock are the remains of a Saracen Castle, an old verys mall Greek settlement, a mysterious ruined relic which has never yet revealed its true origin.

Remains of two Roman walls running from the hillside down to the sea show how the city inhabitants moved down from their high fortress to the plain below it to utilize the small but excellent harbor. These walls formed jetties when they met the sea. Over the years the lure of trade and easier living must have overcome the inhabitants' fear of constant invasions somewhat. And of course they had their fortress to retreat to when that became necessary.

Cefalu is a city of churches, amazing in their number considering that the population was never very large. Besides the important Norman Cathedral started in 1131 but never completely finished, there are 12 other religious edifices of note. The enormous cathedral is built in what is currently identified as Sicilian Baroque. Its façade shows interlacing pointed arches and its windows are also in the pointed style. There are two massive towers on either side of the entrance, each one four story tall. The interior of the church had been damaged over the years and underwent restoration in 1559. Since some of the mosaic work is not as expert as could have been hoped, many art historians have been disappointed in the results. However, the Christ Pantocrater surrounded by his archangels and disciples is quite impressive.

38

In a secular vein, an important and interesting site is the Medieval Laundry off the main street of Vittorio Emanuel. The laundry women entered a portico and started down stone steps to reach a series of stone pools through which flowed the waters of a river above the city. The laundry's waters then ran on down to the sea below. A constant supply of clear water was thus afforded to the laundry ladies. Today at almost the bottom of the steps is a restaurant within this wonderful historic setting and also with an open view to the sea. It does not appear that modern washerwomen use this old facility nowadays however.

Another great memory from Cefalu will always be our first experience of the delicious, creamy, tasty, cold "gelato" that all Italy is famous for. There were so many flavors to choose from when we stopped along the way at an attractive ice cream parlor but we settled upon "strachiatella" and it was the perfect choice: flavorful vanilla laced with chocolate sauce and chocolate chips . Italian Ice cream (gelato) has no reason to feel in second place to Haagen Dazs, Ben & Jerry's or any other premium ice cream we are acquainted with.

LIPARI Our next exploration took us into the Aeolian Islands to the city of Lipari. Geologists agree that this archipelago is the child of 4 volcanoes whose significant eruptions beginning about 20,000 BC and continuing until about 3000 years ago created the islands, devastated them, changed their physical appearance, and finally left them with fertile land but most importantly large stores of pumice and obsidian. There is clear evidence of early trading among Neolithic peoples who prized the valuable black glass obsidian that could be honed into such sharp cutting edges. Today, more pumice than obsidian is shipped from these islands, especially the port of Lipari.

39

The Greek foundation of the city is popularly (& mythically) believed to have been the work of the son of Aeolus, the Greek god of the winds. While the Greeks controlled the area and intermarried with the earlier peoples, the islands prospered. But they made the mistake of siding with the Carthaginians during the First Punic War, so when the Romans were victorious, they made it a point to punish these poor and fairly defenseless peoples.

The Byzantines had a go in the islands as well but were never very interested in them.

But the conquering Arabs did make use of the islands and left their marks upon them as well. The Normans had the greatest influence but the worst calamity that befell the islanders was when the Barbary Pirate, Barbarrossa, attacked and destroyed the city of Lipari and carried off the women and children into slavery in the 1500s.

The population gradually recovered with immigrations and today it is a thriving part of the Sicilian Autonomous Region. Most of its prosperity today is due to the pumice export industry and extensive tourism. The big Cathedral of Lipari has housed the venerated bones of St. Bartolomeo who was martyred by being skinned alive. His bones were said to have washed ashore in Byzantine times and the cathedral was constructed to protect them. However, the first cathedral was not saved by these relics from destruction by the Arabs as they raged though the area. The Normans built yet another St. Bartolomeo Cathedral on the site in 1100 AD when they reconquered the islands. When the Spanish took ownership of Sicily, they rebuilt St. Bartolomeo Cathedral in Spanish Baroque, thus creating a 3rd iteration of this church.

40

Basilica Cathedral Of St. Bartolomeo

41

42

There are two old gates into the city too--worth a stop as well. The first is built on a Roman "skeleton" of red bricks and is topped by a Norman tower. Gate number 2 displays a pointed arch and leads the way into the archeology park.

There is also a fine museum in Lipari which covers the rise of the Aeolian Islands through volcanic activity and takes one through the history of the islands to the time of Italian Statehood. Many necropic jars are displayed as testament to burial practices. The museum is arranged chronologically as well as by local excavation sites all over the archipelago.

43

We took the time to walk up to the Costello Fortress with its amazing overview of the surrounding city and coastline. A layout of Roman ruins is found just outside the museum at the entrance to the fort’s walkway.

44

45

Our sail away from Lipari took us by the island of Stromboli volcano where we anchored for a while, had a delicious dinner on the Lido Deck under the stars with an unobstructed view of the still lively volcano. In the dark we could see a tiny ribbon of fiery red lava streaming down from the cone.

As the darkness deepened, we could see the upside-down cone of red light issuing from the crater. We were both dismayed and surprised to see the villages on the plains below the huge mountain which is always signaling its potential destructive force. But the villagers apparently live blithely on with this "Sword of Damocles" ever overhead.

46

TAORMINA / MT. ETNA From one of the Sicily's potent volcanoes (continuous activity from 350 BC to 2014) to the most destructive one in the area (prehistory to the present): From Stromboli to Etna.

Actually, Mt. Etna is considered to be one of the most active volcanoes in the world! This huge volcano has actually produced about 1/3 of the area of the island of Sicily with all the many lava flows over the millennia. This little "ring of fire" in the Med Sea is a very active site of plate tectonics in action with the European

plate

diving

under

the

African plate at present. T his movement creates "hot spots" and volcanoes, like Etna, Stromboli, and Vesuvius.

Taormina lies near Mt. Etna, too near for me to want to live there. But because we were going to explore the town, we had the chance to go up on the shoulder of the volcano. It was an easy trip since we were driven up to the 7000 ft level by bus. There are gift shops, restaurants, and tourist facilities there, as though the people are tempting the volcano.

We rented parkas there since we had been told it would be very windy and cold at the 9000 ft. mark even though it was still stiflingly hot on the coast at Taormina.

47

From that level we went up by an aerial gondola to a plateau where we boarded 4x4 tundra-type buggies to reach the crater we were to explore at 9200 ft. Our guide then led us on a hike around the crater we were allowed to visit. It is indeed a bizarre landscape with only the most stubborn of vegetation clinging to life in the cindery, black lava rocks and gravel. As we climbed around, we encountered fumaroles belching hot steam but nowhere did we see any red magma roiling about in the crater as we had anticipated. Perhaps if that action had been ongoing, we would not have been allowed on the mountain.

48

All sound was reduced by the roaring winds which made us very happy we had rented the parkas. However, we could feel and hear the crunching of the clinkery pieces of broken lava formations on which we were hiking. We were denied any of the expected views of the world from our spot on the shoulder because the volcano is high and massive enough to produce its own weather and it did just that--bringing in cloud curtains to keep us focused on our feet on the trail. Still, even though we saw no red magma and no spectacular views, the experience was enjoyable and exhilarating--just being atop Mt. Etna was an amazing feeling.

Later on during the day, we had the chance to explore Taormina itself. It is a small town

49

which has been a tourist draw since the 19th century. Before that recent time, the area had been the home of the original population, the Siculi. Greeks from an earlier city (Naxos) came to the area in 734 BC and with the Siculi founded the more formal city of Tauromenion. The city flourished and somehow escaped the attention of the Carthaginians but not the Romans who took it over in their general conquest of Sicily.

Following the fall of Rome, the usual string of conquerors "came, saw & conquered" this town too: the Byzantines, the Arabs, the Normans, French & Spanish as well as some of the shorter reigns interspersed.

Taormina Heights There are many churches to see as well as examples of extant city walls erected by the Romans. However, the real magnet for tourists interested in ancient history is the magnificent Greek/Roman Theater. The design and physical orientation of the theater make it clear to the archeologists that it was originally a Greek Theater. The red bricks that currently characterize the theater reveal the changes and renovations that the Romans made in the 2nd century. The theater is in a remarkable state of preservation and contains examples of parts of old theaters that are usually lost in other theater sites.

The proscenium, the back wall and scena are unusually well preserved as are the decorationsin the building. The extant columns are Corinthian in design as are other decorative motifs.

50

There are records in ancient writings of visitors that tell us that Greek comedies and tragedies were regularly performed here, the works of Aeschylus, Euripides and Sophocles. Later on, when the Romans ruled the known world including Sicily, works of Italian comic and tragic playwrights from the Italian mainland were presented, Terence, Plautus and Seneca. Today the theater still lives and breathes live presentations of these ancient works as well as modern opera performances.

Taormina was once the haunt of modern writers as well since the weather was lovely and the scenery gorgeous. People as disparate as D.H. Lawrence, Truman Capote, Evelyn Waugh, and Haldor Laxness (the Icelandic Nobelist) rented villas here and wrote important titles in their overall works.

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CATANIA / MORGANTINA One vibrant present city and the other an ancient ruin now with only hints of the lively populations who lived and died there so many hundreds of years ago. Catania is a city of 300,000 today and is the 2nd largest in Sicily and 10th biggest in all Italy. It is actually a wonderment that the city has survived all these centuries because it has been totally destroyed on so many occasions by natural disasters. Huge earthquakes in 1169 and 1693 and then a tremendous volcanic eruption by Mt. Etna in 1669. Each time the different peoples have stubbornly rebuilt their city on top of the ruins. The record of "burials" is 17 times covered in ash and magma for Catania. Mt. Etna is not a benign neighbor.

The Sicels were the first peoples known to have occupied the area that is now Catania, and then came Greek colonists from Naxos (originally from Knidos in Greece). By this point in the journal every reader knows what the next chain of events will be: Carthaginians, Romans, Arabs, Normans, French and Spanish rulers have played their various roles in Sicily. And if those historic eras of devastation and rebirth were not enough, the Allies bombed Catania to the ground in 1942 during World War II. With various stages of rebuilding beginning with the Arabs and then the Normans, Catania still contains many edifices, both religious and secular that are historically significant and interesting. There is a Greek/Roman theater from the 2nd century BC, a Roman Odeon from the 3rd century, a Roman amphitheater constructed about the same time as the Odeon for gladiatorial games: opponents being Christians, wild animals, and other gladiators. Remnants of Roman walls and parts of an early Roman aqueduct still stand. But perhaps most impressive in terms of the continuous rebuilding of the city are the numerous churches which almost seem to outnumber the population. At least 100 of these structures are considered worthy of tourist visits.

52

As we travelled into the countryside to visit the fantastic Villa Romana del Casale. and the ancient ruin of Morgantina, we learned that Sicily is composed of 61% hills, 14% plains, and 25% Mt. Etna. No wonder this volcano is such a huge influence on the island.

Though not mentioned before perhaps, we were also reminded of what we have been seeing in terms of the landscapes. Both Malta and Sicily are covered in prickly pear cactus in fruit at this time. Both peoples use the fruits for many things: wine, desserts, a sugar substitute, preserves and jellies. The plants are quite large and the fruits every color from yellow to deep red. Since the cactus grow along roadways, in empty fields, as well as up on hillsides, no one seems to need to cultivate the plants. And everyone harvests the fruits at will. They were originally brought from Mexico and then fell in love with the Mediterranean lands and climate. Prickly pear cactus thrives all over the area.

No one seems to be able to state with authority when they first appeared in the Mediterranean. We also saw considerable cultivation of citrus fruits, particularly lemons, limes and blood oranges.

53

Everyone knows who brought the citrus with them to Sicily--the Arabs from North Africa when they conquered Sicily. But they brought much more with them of great value in arts, architecture, industry, science and literature, but most especially in agriculture.

The list of plants, spices, fruits, and vegetables is astonishing: buckwheat, carob, cumin, jasmine, saffron, pistachios, spinach, sugar cane and sugar itself, tarragon, grapes, dates, melons, alfalfa, cotton, flax, mulberries and silkworms from which the Sicilians developed a very productive silk textile industry. They also introduced papyrus for writing, particularly in the Palermo district at first.

In addition to all these riches, the Arabs also introduced advanced methods of producing salt, catching fish, preserving foods by drying, salting, and pressing. With them from their dry countries on the North African shore, they brought more sophisticated methods of irrigation, water conservation and catchments. They also allowed the cultivation of any unclaimed lands that any citizen wanted to farm, whether Arab or not. Thus the productivity of Sicily was exponentially increased, until Sicily earned the title "The Garden of the World." Arab cooking methods were also absorbed by the locals to the extent that today, Sicilian cooking is quite different from that on the mainland of Italy.

Arab art and architecture still exist in Sicily in the form of Christian churches which adapted mosques to their ecclesiastical needs but did not destroy the Arabic flourishes, public buildings decorated with the designs associated with Arabic culture, but most ubiquitous of all, the adoption of the Arabic alphabet and numbering systems.

Before reaching Morgantina, we stopped at the most amazing "ruin" that we had seen up to this point--the Villa Romana del Casale, also known as Piazza Armerina. Its very location makes it a puzzle and a challenge since it is quite a bit inland from the coastal areas where more Roman ruins are found. It is a very large manor house which obviously belonged to someone of wealth and position. The house was built in the first quarter of the 4th century BC on the foundations of an earlier villa not nearly as large.

The architectural style is typical ancient Roman.

It was damaged or maybe even destroyed during the invasions of the Vandals and Visigoths. Outbuildings continued to be used until the 12th century AD when an enormous landslide engulfed and buried the entire site, probably thereby preserving the 54

beautiful mosaics on the floors. Today these mosaics are recognized worldwide as the richest, largest and most complex Roman mosaics in the entire world. And of course they are designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site (one of 49 in Sicily). The site was forgotten until the late 19th century when the first formal excavations were done. The last digs lasted from 1950-60. Some reconstruction was done on the manor house in order to make it clearer how the mansion appeared in Roman times and also to further preserve

the

precious

mosaics.

Original Outer Walls at the Entrance

This is another site where pictures are worth much than words because the beauty, the fine details, the complex patterns and scenes defy mere words. Two of the most famous scenes are called The Little Hunt and The Big Hunt. There are fine representations of wild animals like tigers, lions, elephants, antelope, wild boars being hunted or attacking the human hunters and their dogs.

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56

57

58

Mosaics throughout the complex convey movement and danger. The clothing and gear worn and carried by the hunters reveal how Romans dressed and outfitted themselves.

Almost all of the 40+ rooms in the palatial mansion have flooring of mosaics, sometimes depicting the function of the room: like those adorning the thermal baths, the massage rooms, the spa, the bedrooms. The huge dining room is floored by a enormous depiction of the Labors of Hercules. It seems impossible to describe the grandeur and scale of this private home, the largest that has ever been unearthed in the Roman world. Another place that must be seen to be appreciated or even believed.

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Our final visit of the day was to the ruined city of Morgantina. It was quite underwhelming after the experience of the Villa Romana. However, its very antiquity commanded our respect and curiosity. The archeological site is on a ridge running about 1.3 miles Southwest to Northeast. The ridge is called Serra Orlando and at the northeast quadrant sits a hill called the Cittadella. The site has been occupied over several different periods but the two most important are the earliest and the latest. The first was on the Cittadella and lasted from about 1000 BC to 450 BC and the last was a Roman site on the Serra Orlando ridge that lasted from 450 BC to 50 AD. The site has been studied since the early 20th century, principally by archeologists from Princeton University.

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The site is a windswept plain now and is often called the Pompeii of Sicily though the accuracy of that title was never clear to us. There are certainly no bodies encased in lava coffins.

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There is a huge agora area, a fountain, the foundations of a stoa, a portico which was probably shaded and probably lined with shops, and in an area above the flat plain on the ridge are the ruins of the residences of the richer inhabitants of the city. There is also a large semi-circular theater missing its top level of seats and some of the seats have also disappeared. There is a well which was evidently considered a shrine to the Underworld.

Written records have revealed that the Emperor Augustus visited this important city after the assassination of Julius Caesar. But he decided to destroy it because the citizenry had sided with Pompey in the struggles for power following Caesar's death. That was certainly the end of Morgantina. Nothing was ever rebuilt on the site after the destruction.

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Museum of Archaeology of Aidone

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The Acolytes of Demeter and Kore

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The Goddess of Morgantina

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SIRACUSA/ORTYGIA

Our last stop was this biggest and most important city in Magna Graecia, Siracusa, and its island port, Ortygia. The island is now connected to the city by a short bridge constructed in 1870. At its height, Siracusa was called by Cicero "the greatest Greek City and the most beautiful of them all." This 2700 year old city was founded by Corinthian and Tenean Greeks in 733 BC. It grew and prospered through the millennia, standing firm against Carthage in two different wars, besting Athens when it attacked wanting to take over the city's territories, but finally falling to the Romans, probably through guile.

The Byzantines took the city from the Romans in 535 AD and the Arabs prevailed in 82728 AD. And of course the French and Spanish had their periods of hegemony.

Yet Siracusa survived these onslaughts as well as two devastating earthquakes in 1542 and 1693. Even the plague tried to destroy the city in 1729, but she even won out over these natural disasters. As if all that contentious history and even an unstable earth beneath her, Siracusa was the target of General Montgomery's attacks in World War II during 1943. She fell to the British General in only one day whereas she had held out for 8 months during one of the Carthaginian sieges. Despite all this destruction, the city has been named a UNESCO World Heritage

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Site because of all the extant buildings, ruins from various periods, the intricately braided threads of all the various cultures whose influences are still present. Rebuilding and renovation has been slowly undertaken since the 1990s.

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The one day we spent in this area was not nearly enough to have explored all the many historical treasures here. So many churches, many of which have gone through so many metamorphoses in response to the religious needs of the conquerors, so many public buildings which have undergone many of the same changes, ancient walls and limestone quarries, Greek and Roman theaters and amphitheaters, a Spanish/Sicilian Baroque town center on Ortygia, fountains from Greek times, statuary and columns standing as lonely reminders of ages past, a wonderful archeological museum which ties together all the disparate historical periods. Combine those wonders with more modern treasures such as the Cathedral of the Weeping Madonna built in 1953 with its ultramodern architecture and one can see that Siracusa is a "must see" part of Sicily.

The Third Century Greek Theater

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Paul of Tarsus preached Christianity in Siracusa and Archimedes Even Aeschylus is said to have visited the city to see his plays performed in the wonderful Greek Theater from the 5th century carved out of the hillside stone, while 15,000 screaming and cheering Romans watched bloody gladiatorial combats in the amphitheater

One of Many Stone Quarry Caves

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Ear of Dionysius Most depressing perhaps of all were

the

limestone

quarries

where slaves, war prisoners and enemies

of

the

state

were

condemned to work until they perished. Because the quarries were so deep and dark, the poor souls who survived long enough went blind because they never saw the sun again. The acoustics in the quarry we visited are perfect and the section called "Dionysius's

Ear"

supposedly

included an opening through which the tyrant could listen in on the conversations

of the

prisoners to determine whether they were plotting escape. It is so disheartening to realize that human beings have always been capable of incredible cruelty to their fellows, but totally naïve to be surprised by it. The saying "The more things change, the more they stay the same" is attributed to many, but the inability to prove its provenance does not disprove its truth.

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THE REPUBLIC OF MALTA: SMALL BUT GOLDEN COUNTRY We spent long enough in meltingly hot Valletta, capital of Malta, to become entirely enchanted with this tiny historically rich and currently beautiful spot in the center of the Mediterranean Sea. The country is an archipelago composed of 7 islands, only 3 of which are inhabited, Malta, Gozo and Comino. Total land mass is 122 square miles with a population of 412,655, making the country one of the most densely populated nations in the world. Small as Malta is the country doesn't even make the top 10 smallest in the world--its position is #11. To create an impression of the size of Malta, the CIA Factbook uses this comparison: slightly less than twice the size of Washington, D. C. One of the surprises about Malta is the fact that UNESCO has graced it with 9 Cultural Heritage citations, including the entire capital city Valletta and the Megalithic Temples, among the oldest freestanding structures in the world.

Recent history reveals that Malta won its independence from Great Britain (its last foreign occupier) in 1964 when it joined the United Nations. It became a republic in 1974, joined the European Union in 2004 and became part of the Eurozone in 2008. But there was a lot of history leading up to the present that makes Malta a fascinating tourist, professional and amateur historian and archeologist destination. Northern Europeans have long found Malta a welcoming vacation spot to explore beautiful beaches with crystal clear waters, bask in the sun, enjoy a tasty new cuisine, and amble through the storied streets and photograph the wonderful architecture, churches, and Neolithic sites.

The

CIA

Factbook

states

Phoenician/Carthaginian

that

peoples

Maltese with

citizens

strong

are

elements

descendants of

Italian

of

ancient

and

other

Mediterranean regional heritage. That information begins to suggest the amazing history of this small and rocky island with no fresh water of its own, even in ancient times. The ancients and even the Crusaders of the Middle Ages had to collect rainwater to satisfy their needs. Today rainwater is still collected seriously and desalinization plants supply something like 66% of the fresh water for the island but the process is responsible for 22% of its energy usage. Not an easy place to live in is Malta. That that has not stopped humanity from visiting, exploring, conquering, colonizing, exploiting , warring over, 73

cultivating, and inhabiting this tiny spot in the middle of the Mediterranean.

As we discovered, even pre-historic peoples occupied Malta and built their lives there, creating religious centers, homes, pottery, statuary, and puzzling features to captivate the imaginations of their descendants way down the years. We visited two of the most significant of these religious sites as well as the archeological museum documenting and exhibiting findings from these sites--Hagar Qim and the Mnajdra Temple (both these sites date from 3000 BC to 2500 BC placing them in the Temple Building Age as described by archeologists). Other sites that we were not able to visit date from 5000 BC, older than the Egyptian Pyramids. Hard to believe, right?

Hagar Qim was first discovered and explored in modern times in the 19th century.

Studies have been ongoing ever since, as moneys come available to interested archeologists. The is the site where so many "fat figures" representing human beings have been found--some are definitely female and others are not designated as either sex. The exquisitely

carved

"Reclining

Fat

Woman"

figure

(displayed

in

the

Museum of Archeology in Valletta) was found here as were many other such figures, some fragmented, headless, in several pieces.

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In the structure called Hagar Qim, there is an open-air shrine inserted into the wall which is decorated with vague designs suggested male and female reproductive organs. There is also a unique 4-sided altar within the open-roofed structure--the whole having been carved from soft globigerina limestone. The construction uses corbelling (over-sailing) which reduces the size of the open-air section of the roof which can then be covered with animal skins more easily.

Hagar Qim Temple

The Mnajdra Temple just 1600, ft. from Hagar Qim, is more sophisticated in that it has an astrological alignment with the equinox sunrises. It is carved from harder coralline limestone. It is much more complex than Hagar Qim since it has separate temples on three levels. The temple is shamrock-shaped in that there are three rounded apses coming off the entrance complex. The temple shows the corbelling used at Hagar Qim as well.

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Hagar Qim Temples

Mnajdra Temples 76

Mnajdra Temples Both these sites were approached by flagstone pathways in the direct sun--only the temples themselves were covered in permanent canvas tenting. It was during our walk to these sites that we realized just how hot Malta really is. We finally resorted to using umbrellas to shade ourselves even though we had hats on and were wearing sunglasses.

It was easy to become dehydrated just walking to and between the sites.

Melting Malta became the title of this country's section of the journal. We had visited these two exposed sites first in the morning to avoid the crushing heat of late afternoon but it was still quite warm while we visited Valletta and Mdina.

The Valletta we see today is the product of the successive waves of foreigners who occupied this hot rock over the millennia. But the bulk of the city fortresses, protective walls, buildings were created in the period when the Knights of St. John Hospitallers lived there (from 1530 to 1798) and ruled the island as an aristocracy. The Order was founded in Jerusalem during the Crusades and was based on Rhodes at the time. However, Ottoman Turks drove them out of Rhodes and the Knights had to find a new home. They were granted the island of Malta by the Spanish and the consent of Pope Clement. There was only one credible threat to their ownership during their long tenancy: the 1565 77

Great Siege of Malta. But before that occurred, the Knights had completed all their fortifications and preparations for an attack and even a siege.

The Turks besieged the island for 3 long months but the Maltese and their Knights were triumphant and after that there was no serious threat to their ownership until 1798 when Napoleon came to Malta and with the compliance of the Maltese people threw the Knights off the island. The Maltese had tired of the Knights who insisted on living like an aristocracy instead of a benevolent and egalitarian society. They thought and hoped that the French Revolution's cry of "Liberty, Equality and Fraternity" would extend to them as well since they helped Napoleon. But Napoleon was not particularly interested in the welfare of the Maltese; he wanted to use the island as a stepping stone in his drive to conquer Egypt. He put repressive laws in place and taxed the Maltese to help finance his plans. His tyranny lasted only two years and in 1800 the British ousted both him and the French.

From then until 1964, the Maltese islands were a British colony and as such participated with the British in World War I. The nation was known as "The Nurse of the Mediterranean" because she functioned as the hospital for the wounded Allied soldiers having added 25,000 beds to the hospital facilities to care for the wounded.

Approximately 800 Maltese citizens volunteered to serve in the British Army and Navy and another 100 laborers were sent to help in the Dardanelles. World War II brought direct suffering on the Maltese people because the Island was the British Naval Center. The Nazis heavily bombed Malta with more tonnage and more bombing raids than suffered by Great Britain itself.

Malta was very close to capitulation when a damaged relief convoy with supplies and water limped into the Great Harbor and saved the country from surrender to the Nazis.

The ship arrived on August 15, 1942, the Feast Day of the Virgin Mary, ending the second great Siege of Malta. Ironically, the war ended for Malta on the same date (many years later) as the previous Great Siege of Malta by the Turks.

It is the only "population" to receive the George Cross from the British, earned because of the people's resilience and bravery under almost constant bombardments, great hardships for all the people and terrible physical devastation and economic ruination of 78

the country. The country was still recovering when independence was granted in 1964 and had completely regained its economic stability when joining the European Union and the Eurozone.

Much earlier than the 20th century wars and well after the Neolithic peoples lived on Malta, there was a succession of Mediterranean peoples who came to the craggy outpost for trading, colonizing, control and exploitation including the Phoenicians, the Romans, the Moors, the Normans, and the Spanish Hapsburgs. By the time that Spanish Queen Isabela and Pope Clement gave Malta to the Knights of St. .Johns, it was virtually abandoned anyway. Because of the extensive destruction of the capital, Valletta, most of the influences from these early cultures are gone, except in restored states.

But we visited as many different sites as we could in our short stay to achieve an appreciation of the richness of the island's heritage. Among the places we saw were:

The Garden of the French Auberge This lovely garden overlooking the Great Harbor and the Mediterranean had been the

site

of

the dormitories for the French members of the Knights of St. John. The

barracks are long since gone, but the view was stupendous.

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The Great Harbor

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The Prime Minister's Palace which was formerly the Grand Master of the Knights home.

The building was erected by the original Grand Master of the Knights, Jean Parisot de Vallette and was occupied by the subsequent Grand Masters until the British came to the island. It is possible to visit various rooms of the palace to see the collection of armory and weapons, the lavishly painted ceilings and walls, marble inlay floors. Quite an impressive home for Knights supposedly dedicated to caring for sick and injured crusaders.

Our Lady of Victory Church

St. Catherine's Church and Our Lady of Victories Church: across the square from one another. The oldest church in Valletta is our Lady of Victories started right after the lifting of the Great Siege of Malta in 1565. St. Catherine's was started a few years later and was the home of the Italian Knights of St. John.

St. John's Co-Cathedral: Looking like a military fortress on the exterior, the inside of this gem of the high Baroque style is extraordinarily ornate. Ceilings, floors, walls, chapels all decorated sumptuously. We were only allowed a brief peek inside because a mass was in progress and tourists are not allowed to visit during sacred services. But even with just a glimpse, we could see how it has earned the reputation as one of the world's great Baroque cathedrals. It was built between 1573 and 1578, hard to believe that it could 81

have been completed in that short a time!

Saint John's Co-Cathedral As we walked through this charming capital city, we saw the National Library, the Archeology Museum, statues of Queen Victoria and Pope Pius V, St. George Square and we walked the battlements and looked at the splendid views of the Great Harbor and the Small Harbor. We wandered through areas with gift shops, restaurants, souvenir emporia, and little cafes hidden away along the lovely alleys and smaller streets. The city is very walkable and tourist friendly even if the Maltese drive on the British side of the street.

Tourists need to be very conscious of that fact so that they look in the right direction before venturing across the busy roads.

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St. Catherine of Italy Church

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The Grandmaster's Palace was a highpoint. Built between the 16th and 18th centuries as the palace of the Grand Master of the Order of St. John, who ruled Malta, it became the Governor's Palace, and now houses the Office of the President of Malta. We visited the parts of thebuilding, namely the Palace State Rooms and the Palace Armory, that are open to the public and run as a museum by the origination, Heritage Malta.

Inner Courtyar

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Armory Displays And just one more Museum: The National Museum of Archaeology. The Museum exhibits a full range of artifacts dating back to Malta’s Neolithic period (5000 BC) up to the Phoenician Period (400 BC). The lighting and physical layout of the exhibited pieces are highly effective. We would strongly recommend a visit.

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Malta was indeed a wonderful jumping off point for our Circumnavigation of Sicily trip.

Most of us would have liked another day or two in the delightful island country.

This is a jewel to be placed in the crown of any adventuresome world traveler. And Before I End: A Brief Discussion of Volcano Types Though Stromboli, Mt. Etna, and Vesuvius are very close to one another geographically, there are big differences in them, chiefly based on their placements above the tectonic plates on which they ride. The three form what geologists sometimes call "The Mediterranean Ring of Fire." Stromboli and Vesuvius ride astride the fault line where the European Plate is diving beneath the encroaching African Plate. This fault line allows magma to rise up from the earth's core forming volcanoes and causing earthquakes as well. Tectonic plates move quite slowly so eruptions and quakes can be few and far between.

Geologists now believe that, unlike Stromboli and Vesuvius, Mt. Etna sits atop a far more active plate line: a minor plate called the Ionian which is also diving under the African plate but at a much faster rate since it is smaller. They believe that this accounts for the more explosive and destructive eruptions recorded since Roman times. It has erupted significantly over 200 times since 1500 BC. No doubt the more productive eruptions from Mt. Etna account for the fact that it has formed such a significant portion of the island of Sicily.

Of course, all three of the Italian volcanoes can and do erupt strongly and cause destruction of towns and deaths of inhabitants, but Etna has been the most destructive of all. With its constant but very low output activity, Stromboli has been nicknamed "The Lighthouse of the Mediterranean" by sailors for centuries since there is always a red glow from its summit and usually a small ribbon of red lava flowing down its flanks.

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CONCLUSIONS A visit to Sicily is greatly enhanced by an interest in history, both ancient and modern.

Infrastructure is not at the level of most parts of Europe so one must expect long bus rides between archeological sites and cities too. Since our journey was ship-based, we docked in ports and went inland to see many of the sites of interest. Sicilian food is plentiful but very much pasta-based. The prudent tourist will watch his intake or see his waistline expand. In the summer weeks of our trip, the weather is extremely hot and it is absolutely necessary to drink water copiously to avoid dehydration.

That being said, Sicily is beautiful in many places (though we did not see the countryside at its best since we were visiting in the dry season and most plants were sere and brown.

The views from many of the high spots in cities and countryside were impressive too. We found the local guides (tourist tour groups are required to hire local guides when visiting most of the sites) to be well-informed at each place. Whisper earbuds were very helpful since the streets are crowded and noisy so it is often impossible to hear the guide if one is not equipped with the hearing devices.

There are beautiful beaches and resorts in Sicily according to the advertisements but our trip was not focused on beach activities so I cannot comment on any.

We did visit two wineries to taste the justly famous Sicilian wines, but since I am not a wine drinker, I cannot discuss those visits with any expertise. I will say that the wineries themselves were located in lovely settings which were fun to explore.

So go to Sicily but prepare ahead by familiarizing yourself with the complicated history of this amazing part of Italy.Malta is a little jewel and warrants more than the partial day we spent there. Its history is also complicated but somewhat more interesting to me than Sicily's. The infrastructure is modern so getting around the island is easy. It is so small that nothing is very far away. Ferries are available to take tourists to the other two inhabited islands, Gozo, and Comino. Maltese cuisine is more varied than the typical Sicilian foods we were offered. It is probably hard to justify a long flight to such a small island but if Malta is on the way to somewhere else you are heading for, it is well worth your time and money to visit. Be warned though, it is equally hot or hotter in Malta than in Sicily in August/September.