Visiting Christ and other Sicilian sites

Cathedral of Saint Agatha in Catania contains the tomb of opera composer
Vincenzo Bellini, the city's most celebrated native son.

It doesn't take us long to become "church weary" when visiting a region such as Sicily. I thought that France and Spain had a lot of churches, but other countries seem to pale by comparison. Even an entire month here is not enough time to check out every major house of worship. I'd rather not pay admission to visit them, however, we are truly awed by some of the cathedrals and churches we encounter in Sicily.

This Christ is located in Cefalù's cathedral, one of Sicily's major Norman monuments.

This Christ is located in the Cathedral of Monreale, considered to be a pinnacle
of Arab-Norman art. 

This Christ is located on the ceiling of Cappella Palatina, another jewel of
Arab-Norman art. The basilica is located at the Royal Palace in Palermo.

Prophets and biblical kings adorn the arches of Cappella Palatina in Palermo.

This Christ is part of an exhibit at Palermo's Royal Palace that features
a detail of the mosaic in Cappella Palatina. 

This Christ is located in Taormina's cathedral.

Palermo's cathedral is located just a couple of blocks from our apartment. It's
free to visit, although one must pay to visit the tomb area, crypt, and roofs.

San Domenico in Palermo belongs to the Dominican monastery. It's been
rebuilt and remodeled many times over the past six centuries.

We also visit a number of museums, although the fair weather encourages us to stay outside and enjoy the sunshine. Our second day in Palermo is the first Sunday of the month, and we take advantage of free museum admission as we figure out how to find our way around the city.

The large medieval fresco 'The Triumph of Death' (artist unknown)
is the centerpiece of the Palazzo Abatellis gallery in Palermo. 

Palazzo Abatellis was in 1490-95 for Palermo's harbour-master and magistrate.
The mansion was taken over by the Benedictine order, then the regional government.
It was damaged in the 1943 bombings, restored, and is now an art museum.

When it isn't the first Sunday, admission to most of the Palermo museums costs around 6 euros. Sometimes, this is a bargain, such as for the surprising Palazzo Mirto. For other sites, such as the Riso Contemporary Art Museum, not so much. 

We are pleasantly surprised by Palazzo Mirto, an 18th-century mansion
in Palermo that has preserved its original furnishings.

A fancy Rococo fountain at Palazzo Mirto is one of the highlights
of the elegant museum in Palermo.

We are not impressed by the Riso. When we visit Palermo's
contemporary art museum, the galleries are nearly empty,
except for one artist, whose paintings depress us.

A couple of pricier sites on which we splurge include visits to the Palazzo dei Normanni (the Royal Palace) and a tour of Teatro Massimo. We choose the 30-minute tour of the opera house, but more lavish backstage and rooftop tours are available. The Neo-Classical style building is famous for, among other things, being featured in "The Godfather 3." (Michael Corleone watches a performance from the Royal Box, and his daughter is killed on the front steps.)

Palermo's Palazzo dei Normanni was originally an Arab stronghold.
It became the royal palace in Norman times and is now the seat of
the Sicilian Regional Assembly.

We start our short tour of Palermo's Teatro Massimo at this model. The opera
house is the largest in Italy, and one of the largest in Europe. The
backstage area is huge, allowing for lavish productions.

Teatro Massimo's beautiful frescoed ceiling can be opened for ventilation during
Palermo's hot summers.

I'm pretty clever at finding free sites too, and I'll include those in an upcoming post.

Exploring 'Greater Greece' in Sicily

Almond blossoms frame Temple of Concord in Valle dei Templi, Agrigento.

Sicily has long been a prize for the powerful: Greeks, Romans, Byzantines, Arabs, Normans, Hohenstafens, Angevins, Aragonese, Spanish and Bourbons all had their time ruling Sicily before the country was finally unified with Italy in the last half of the 19th century. Throughout Sicily, one can find remnants of ancient cultures, but its Greek ruins are perhaps its most precious artifacts. In fact, there are more Greek archaeological sites in Sicily than in Greece.

Temple of Concord in Valle dei Templi, Agrigento

On one particularly beautiful day during our second week here, we take an early morning train to Agrigento, on the south coast of Sicily. It's an easy bus ride from the train station to the Valle dei Templi, where we spend the day exploring the incredible remains of a Greek colony.

Porta V in Valle dei Templi, Agrigento

Temple of Castor and Pollux in Valle dei Templi, Agrigento

Temple of Olympian Zeus in Valle dei Templi, Agrigento

Founded in 581 BC by settlers from Gela, the town of Akragas ballooned to a population of 200,000 within 100 years. Here we find the remnants of temples dedicated to Hercules, Olympian Zeus (Jupiter), Demeter, Hera (Juno), Concord, Vulcan, Aesculapius, and Castor and Pollux.

Temple of Hera in Valle dei Templi, Agrigento

Temple of Hera in Valle dei Templi, Agrigento

The largest and most magnificent structure in the Valley is Temple of Concord. According to Joseph Farrell in the guidebook, "Sicily: A Cultural History," the name Concord is a misnomer, having been taken from an inscription found nearby the site. However the Doric-style temple is one of the best-preserved Greek temples anywhere in the world.

Temple of Concord in Valle dei Templi, Agrigento

Early Christian cemetery and kilns in Valle dei Templi, Agrigento

The following week, we join an all-day tour out of Catania that includes a stop at the Parco Archeologico della Neapolis in Siracusa (Syracuse). The site contains a large number of well-preserved Greek and Roman ruins. The Greek Theater is the main attraction. Its 59 rows of seats could accommodate up to 15,000. Greek tragedies are performed here during an annual festival from mid-May through June.

Greek Theater in the Archaeological Park of Syracuse

The park also contains remnants of a massive Roman amphitheater, limestone caves, and a beautiful garden, once a quarry, called Latomie of Paradise. Here, we find the entrance to "The Whispering Cave," also called Ear of Dionysius, which is pitch-black inside. It was in this cave that Athenian prisoners were brought, tortured, taunted, and, if they lived for 10 weeks, were sold as slaves.

Latomie of Paradise in the Archaeological Park of Syracuse

Roman Amphitheater in the Archaeological Park of Syracuse

Our last stop on this tour is Ortygia (Ortigia), an island that is Syracuse's historical center. We pause at the Tempio di Apollo, located just over the short bridge that joins Ortygia to Siracusa. The remains are of the oldest Doric temple in Magna Graecia, the region that includes Sicily and southern Italy.

Tempio di Apollo, Ortygia

Tempio di Apollo, Ortygia

Escape to Sicily

Medusa's head in the middle of the Trinacria (triangle) is the symbol of Sicily.

An old Sicilian proverb says: Frivareddu è curtuliddu, ma nun c'è cchiù tintu d'iddu. (February may be short but it's the worst month.) * From my experience, this doesn't ring true.

Fishing boats, yachts, and sailboats are moored in Palermo's harbor on the
Tyrrhenian Sea.

This winter we look to Sicily to provide a respite from the cold soggy weather in France. Mother Nature cooperates and we see no rain for the whole month of February. We've taken an apartment in Palermo in the heart of the Mercato del Capo. In addition to having a daily market literally on our doorstep, we are just a few blocks from the main sites including Teatro Massimo, Quattro Canti, and the Cathedral, whose Norman clock tower we can see from our terrace. This incredible view, in fact, makes the trek up 76 very steep steps to our sixth-floor apartment, worth the effort.

Our apartment door in Palermo is next to a barbershop where Ken becomes a regular.

We spend a lot of time enjoying this view from our terrace in Palermo.

Each day, we wander the streets, discussing our next meal, avoiding dog poo, and dodging cars, motor scooters, bicycles, and pedestrians to whom we seem to be invisible. In the evenings we venture out for gelato and people-watching. It seems as if the entire city strolls up and down Via Maqueda: little children wearing superhero and princess costumes, teenagers glancing up from their phones to check out the shop windows, and elderly couples holding hands. 

Provocative statues adorn Palermo's Fontana Pretoria,
sometimes called "the fountain of shame."

Fontana Pretoria was designed for the garden of a Florentine villa and was
later installed in Palermo. 

Quattro Canti (Plazzo Vigliena) is located at the intersection
of two of Palermo's main streets. 

Palermo is a big city of more than 650,000, and although the hustle and bustle of a metropolis is initially exciting, by the end of our month here, I am firmly a small-town girl. Some native Sicilians tell us that the island has changed tremendously in the past 20 years, but it has yet to catch up on basics such as recycling and efficient mass transit. Nor can we find any English-language films in their original version.

We make shopping trips to at least one of the Palermo's street markets every day.

Sicily has a rich and complex history, as seen by its eclectic architecture.

We've opted not to rent a car during our visit, and it isn't hard to figure out how to get to some places — Agrigento, Monreale, Cefalù, Catania — by train or bus. Other areas, particularly towns in the center of Sicily or on the west coast, prove to be too much of a challenge, so we don't bother. For example, driving to Trapani from Palermo would have taken less than an hour and a half; the bus takes about five hours.

This statue is located in Villa Giulia in Palermo.

We spy this enormous mural on one of our aimless walks
in Palermo.

Ken is wishin' he was fishin' at Palermo's harbor.

It's just another beautiful day in Palermo.

Midway through the month we spend a week in Catania, where we stay in one of the best Airbnb apartments we've ever had. Needing a break from logistics, we treat ourselves to a small-group guided tour of Noto and Siracusa. Catania is in the shadow of Mount Etna, Europe's highest volcano and one of the world's most active. We spend a really enjoyable day on a slow train ride around the volcano. On another day, we take a bus to the beautiful hilltop town of Taormina. We're lucky and smart to be in Sicily in the off season, as we have avoided the crunching mass of tourists and the summer heat. 

The calendar and clock are accurate in the Giardino Bellini in Catania.

Mount Etna can be seen from Catania's main street, appropriately named Via Etnea.

I'll be sharing details of our Sicilian experience in the next five blog posts. Until then: Ciao!

An accordionist plays along the sea on beautiful Ortygia Island.

We stumble across what we think is a Carnivale Queen pageant in
Palermo's Piazza Verdi.

Ancient ruins such as Panormus in Piazza della Vittoria in Palermo
can be found throughout Sicily. 

Nearing the end of a long day of touring southeastern Sicily,
Ken enjoys the Ionian Sea view from Ortygia Island.

*The quote that opens this article is courtesy of: Filippo, Michael San. "Sicilian Proverbs and Sayings." ThoughtCo, Feb. 11, 2020, thoughtco.com/sicilian-proverbs-2011649.