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MEW     WINTER 


Kansas  Olttg 
f  ubltr  Cthrartf 


This  Volume  is  for 
REFERENCE  USE  ONLY 


I 


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THE   CASA  NORMANNA  (SALITA  S.    ANTONIO),    PALERMO 

From  a  drawing  by  BENTON  FLETCHER 
Frontispiece 


THE    NEW    WINtj£    RESORT 

AN    ENCYCLOPEDIA    OF    SICILY 

BY    DOUGLAS    SLADEN 


WITH    234    ILLUSTRATIONS,    A     MAP,    AND    A    TABLE    OF    THE 

RAILWAY  SYSTEM  OF  SICILY,  SHOWING  UNDER  THE  HEADING 

OF    EACH    STATION    THE    MONUMENTS    AND   SCENERY    SERVED 

BY   IT,    EITHER  DIRECTLY   OR   BY   DILIGENCE 


NEW   YORK 
E.    P.    BUTTON   AND    COMPANY 

31  WEST  TWENTY-THIRD  STREET 
1907 


DEDICATED  TO 

COMMENDATORE   LUIGI   MAUCERI 

AN    EMINENT    SICILIAN    ANTIQUARY, 

TO    WHOSE    LOVE    OF    HIS    COUNTRY, 

KNOWLEDGE  OF  ITS  MONUMENTS, 

AND  ORGANIZING  POWER 

THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF 

SICILY 
IS  SO  LARGELY  DUE. 


CONTENTS 


PAGE 

PREFACE:  WITH  A  KEY  TO  THE  SICILIAN  DIALECT      .       .     xv 


PART  I.     INTRODUCTORY  CHAPTERS 

CHAPTER 

I.    SICILY  AS  A  WINTER  RESORT— ITS  CLIMATE— WHAT 

THERE  IS  TO  SEE— WHAT  THERE   IS  TO  DO  .          .          I 

II.    TRAVEL  IN  SICILY       .  .  .  13 

III.  THE    MAFIA    AND    OMERTA  — THE    IMMUNITY  OF 

FOREIGNERS  FROM  MOLESTATION  IN  SICILY       .     22 

IV.  VARIOUS  TYPES  AND  COSTUMES  OF  VARIOUS  PLACES— 

PlANA  DEI  GRECI,  AND  OTHER  ALBANIAN  SETTLE 
MENTS—THE  LIFE  OF  THE  PEOPLE    .  27 
V.    THE  SCENERY,  THE  GARDENS,  AND  THE  WILD 

FLOWERS  .  .  .  ...  40 

VI.    THE  BARGAIN-HUNTER  IN  SICILY  .  49 

VII.    THE  CHURCHES' A$JD  THE  LIFE  IN  THEM         .       .  58 

VIII.    THE  PALERMO  MUSEUM  .  .  .  68 

IX.    MOTORING  IN  SICILY  .  .  ...  85 

PART  II.    THINGS  SICILIAN 

Gives,  alphabetically  arranged,  in  the  manner  of  an  encyclopaedia, 
paragraphs  of  the  newest  and  most  necessary  information  concerning 
the  principal  cities,  monuments,  and  scenery  of  Sicily,  together  with 
brief  accounts  of  its  institutions,  customs,  expressions,  historical 
facts,  books,  biographies,  etc. 

THINGS  SICILIAN  (GENERAL)  .  .  .          .      .    107 

THINGS  OF  CASTROGIOVANNI  .  .  .          •       •    3r5 

.,         CATANIA  .  .  •    324 


viii  CONTENTS 


PAGE 

THINGS  OF  CEFALU 

'       332 

„         GIRGENTI 

-    337 

„         MARSALA 

•    353 

„         MAZZARA 

•    357 

„         MESSINA 

.        .    358 

„         MODICA  . 

.    386 

„             MONREALE 

.    391 

„         MONTE  S.  GIULIANO 

•    394 

„         PALAZZOLO-ACREIDK 

.        .    393 

„         PALERMO 

.    401 

•  „         RAGUSA  . 

.    457 

„         RANDAZZO 

.    462 

„         SCIACCA  . 

.    468 

„         SEGESTA 

.    472 

„         SELINUNTE 

•    479 

„         SOLUNTO 

.    488 

„         SYRACUSE 

.    490 

„         TAORMINA 

.    544 

,,         TERMINI 

.    '        .        .    563 

„         TRAPANI 

.    568 

„         TYNDARIS 

•    571 

PART  III.    THE 

A  TABLE  OF  THE  SICILIAN  RAILWAYS  AND  THE  COACHES 
RUNNING  IN  CONNECTION  WITH  THEM,  SHOWING  WHAT 
MONUMENTS  AND  OTHER  PLACES  OF  INTEREST  MAY  UK 
REACHED  FROM  EACH  RAILWAY  STATION,  EITHER  DIRECT 
OR  BY  THE  MAIL-VETTURA  ,  .  .  579 

BAEDEKER'S  MAP  OF  SICILY  .  .  .  at  the  end 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS 


PAGE 


The  Casa  Normanna,  Palermo.    Drawn  by  Benton  Fletcher          Frontispiece 

Etna        .                .                .                .                .                ...  i 

Selinunte  :  Ruins  of  Temples  G,  F,  and  E  outside  the  Acropolis    .        .  2 

The  Greek  Theatre  at  Segesta  .                            .  3 

The  Moorish  Cloister  of  Monreale        .                .                ...  4 

The  famous  gallery  of  Hellenistic  Tombs  in  the  Val  d'Ispica           .         .  6 

The  Tomb  of  the  Vice-Re  d'Acuna  (in  Catania  Cathedral)  .  7 

The  entrance  to  a  Sikel  tomb                 .                .                .  '         .        .  8 

Arch  in  the  Garden  of  the  Casa  Leva  at  Modica  .                .  9 

The  Madonian  Mountains      .                .                .                .  10 

The  Madonian  Mountains,  another  view              .                .  1 1 

Val  d'Ispica :  Grotta  di  S.  Alessandro  .                .                .  12 
•The  Strait  of  Messina :  Ferryboat  of  the  Sicilian  Railways  with  the  train 

de  luxe  on  board             .                .                .                .  14 

Messina:  the  Cathedral  and  the  Fountain  of  Orion             .             ,         .  15 
Taormina  :  the  view  of  Etna  from  the  Grreco-Roman  Theatre         .         .16 

Palermo  :  the  Garden  of  the  Eremiti     .                .                .                     .  17 

The  Cloister  of  Monreale      .               ...               .  18 

Syracuse:  the  Moat  of  the  Castle  of  Euryalus      .                .  19 

Tyndaris :  the  Basilica  or  Palaestra        .                .                .            .         .  20 

Selinunte  :  the  moats  and  walls  of  the  Acropolis  .                .                     .  21 

The  Bridge  of  the  Admiral    .                .                .                ...  26 

In  the  Madonian  Mountains :  Mufra    .               .               .                    .  28 

Moclica :  the  Cloister  of  S.  Maria  di  Gesu            .                .            .        .  29 

Modica' :  Contadini-in  their  national  dress            .                .                    .  31 

The  Madonian  Mountains      .                .                .                                    .  33 

The  Parco  d'Aumale              .                .                .                ...  39 

Prickly-pears,  with  the  Strait  of  Messina  in  the  background           ,         .  40 

The  Madonian  Mountains :  the  Aspro  Monte       .                .                    .  41 

An  Olive  Garden    .                ,                .                .                ...  42 

Syracuse :  Papyrus  on  the  River  Anapo                .                .            .         ,  44 

The  Madonian  Mountains :  Torrente  Lanzeria    .                .            .        .  46 

Syracuse  :  the  Wall  of  Euryalus  :  the  Northern  Gate           .            .         .  49 

Selinunte :  Ruins  of  Temple  G  (Jupiter  Olympius)              .            .         .  54 

Girgenti :  the  ruins  of  the  Temple  of  the  Olympian  Jove    .             •         •  55 

Syracuse  :  south  side  of  the  Castle  of  Euryalus    .                .            .         .  56 

The  Cathedral  of  Palermo     .               .               .               ...  59 

The  Cathedral  of  Cefalu        .                .-              .                .            .         .  60 


x  LIST   OF   ILLUSTRATIONS 

PAGE 

The  Cathedral  of  Monreale :  Interior    .                .  .             .         .  61 

Palermo :  the  Martorana,  Interior         .                .  ...  62 

Messina :  the  left-hand  door  of  the  facade             .  .             .         .  63 

Messina :  the  Cathedral  and  Montorsoli's  Fountain  of  Orion           .         .  64 

Messina :  S.  Maria  degli  Alemanni       .                .  .             .         .  65 

Modica  :  S.  Maria  di  Gesu  .                  .                .  ...  66 

Palermo :  S.  Maria  alia  Catena             .                .  ...  67 

View  of  the  Val  d'Ispica,  with  the  Grotta  of  S,  llano  .                      .  70 
Palermo    Museum :     the   Selimmte   metope    of   Hercules    fighting    an 

Amazon           .                .                .                .  72 

Palermo  Museum :  the  Bronze  Ram  from  the  Castle  of  Maniace  at  Syracuse  76 

Petralia  Sottana :  Vista  dal  Casso          .                 .  ...  88 

Petralia  Sottana :  Appicco  Zimpetto      .                 .  .             .         .  88 

Randazzo :  S.  Maria               .                 .                 .  ...  90 

Messina :  panorama                .                 .                .  ...  92 

Tyndaris :  the  Church  of  the  Madonna  del  Tindaro  .  92 

Monreale  Cathedral :  west  front             .                .  .             •         •  93 

Sciacca    .                .                .                 .                 .                                      .  97 

General  view  of  the  coast  of  Montallegro             .  .            .         .  98 

Montallegro  Antica                .                .                 .  ...  98 

The  Temple  of  Castor  and  Pollux  at  Girgenti       .  .                     .  99 

Ragusa  Superiore  from  the  Ponte  dei  Cappuccini  .            .         .  101 

Immemorial  olive  trees           .               .               .  .            .        .  104 

LIST   OF  ILLUSTRATIONS   PART   II. 

Aci-Castello  and  the  Rock  of  the  Cyclops  .  .  .  107 

Taormina :  the  panorama  to  Cape  S.  Alessio  .  .  .  .  1 1 1 

The  River  Assinaro,  where  Nicias  and  his  army  surrendered  to  the  Syra- 

cusans,  with  the  so-called  Ponte  della  Castagna  .  .  .116 

Baldachin  inlaid  with  precious  stones  in  the  Cathedral  at  Messina  .  .  I2O 
The  valley  between  Castrogiovanni  and  Calascibetta  .  .  .129 

Caltagirone :  the  Public  Gardens  .  ,  ,  .  .  1 30 

General  view  of  the  environs  of  Caltabelotta  .  .  .  .131 

View  of  the  Castello  Agristia  above  S.  Carlo  .  .  .  135 

The  reconstruction  of  a  Greek  house,  the  Casa  dei  Viaggiatori,  at  the 

Castle  of  Euryalus,  Syracuse          .  .  .  .   137 

Castelbuono :  the  Castle         .  .  .  .  .         .   138 

Castelbuono :  the  torrent        .  .  .  .  .   139 

Messina  Cathedral :  the  principal  door  .  .  .         .141 

Collesano,  where  Comm.  Luigi  Mauceri  found  prehistoric  buildings  of 

the  same  epoch  as  the  house  at  Cefalu  .  ,  .  .  150 

The  rocks  of  the  Cyclops,  off  Aci-Castello  .  .  .  .  156 

The  famous  Urbino  drug-jars,  formerly  in  the  hospital,  now  in  the 

Museum  of  Messina        .  .  .  .  .         .   161 

The  Harbour  of  Porto  Empedocle         .  .  .  ..165 

Etna:  the  Valle  del  Bove  .  .  .  ,  .  .  168 

Etna,  with  Catania  in  the  foreground  .  .  .  .  .  169 


LIST   OF    ILLUSTRATIONS  xi 

PAGE 

Etna  and  the  Monti  Rossi  and  Nicolosi        .  .  .   170 

Etna  :  at  the  mouth  of  the  grand  crater  .  .  .         .171 

The  Faro  of  Messina  .  .  .  .  .         .   173 

Gagini :  the  Cappella  della  Pieta  in  Messina  Cathedral,  designed  and 

partly  carried  out  by  Antonello  Gagini          .  ...   182 

Salaparuta,  seen  from  Gibellina  .  .  ...   187 

Gibilmanna,  the  new  summer  resort  for  Palermo:  a  country  road    .         .   187 
Gibilmanna  :  in  the  woods    .  .  .  ...   188 

The  River  Tellaro,  the  Helorus  of  antiquity         .  ...   198 

Hygeia  :  the  holy-water  stoup  inscribed  with  the  name  of  this  goddess  in 

the  Cathedral  of  Messina  .  .  ...  203 

General  view  of  the  Cava  d'Ispica,  showing  the  Cave  of  the  Troglodytes  205 
The  Lipari  Islands  :  view  of  Panaria    .  .  .  .  212 

Madonian  Mountains  :  the  Costa  del  Daino          .  ...  215 

An  Urbino  Drug-jar  sold  by  the  Ospedale  Civico  to  the  Museum  of  Messina  220 
Messina:  S.  Francesco  dei  Mercanti — "The  Miracle  of  the  Roses"       .  221 
Milazzo :  general  view  .  .  .  ...  223 

A  piece  of  the  Coast  under  Montallegro  .  ...  225 

The  Mosaic  of  the  Madonna  della  Ciambretta  in  S.  Gregorio  at  Messina  ,  228 
Mussomeli :  the  Castello        .  .  .  ...  230 

Nicolosi :  the  Monti  Rossi      .  .  .  ...  233 

Messina  :  a  Carretta  drawn  by  oxen      .  .  ...  240 

Messina  Museum  :  S.  Chiara  (school  of  Antonello  da  Messina)       .         .  242 
Messina  Museum  :  Holy  Family,  by  an  unknown  artist  (Flemish)  .         ,  243 
Palagonia,  panorama  of  .  .  ...  245 

The  Lake  of  the  Palici,  the  oldest  sanctuary  in  Europe       .  .        .  246 

The  City  of  the  Cave-dwellers  at  Pantalica  .  .  .  248 

View  of  the  River  Anapo  below  Pantalica  .  ...  249 

The  environs  of  Petralia  Sottana  in  the  Madonian  Mountains         .         ,  252 
The  same  from  a  different  point  .  .  .  .         .  253 

Piana  dei  Greci :  Albanian  costumes     .  .  ...  255 

La  Pizzuta,  alleged  to  be  the  monument  erected  by  the  Syracusans  to 

commemorate  the  capture  of  Nicias  and  his  army         .  .         .  258 

The  Coast  between  the  River  Belice  and  Porto  Palo  .  .        .  262 

The  environs  of  Sambuca-Zabut  .  .  ...  275 

The  coast  between  Selinunte  and  Porto  Palo        .  ...  279 

The  Valley  of  the  Anapo  between  Solarino  and  Sortino       .         •  .         .  286 
The  ancient  city  of  Sperlinga  .  .  ...  287 

Troglodyte  dwellings  at  Sperlinga          .  .  ...  288 

Environs  of  Sperlinga  .  .  .  ...  289 

Stromboli,  the  volcano  in  the  Lipari  Islands         .  .  .         .  291 

Sutera  :  Monte  S.  Paolino     .  .  .  ...  293 

Swordfish-harpooning  between  Scylla  and  Charybdis,  in  the  Strait  of 

Messina  .  .  .  .  ...  294 

Cathedral  of  Messina  :  the  Tomb  of  Archbishop  Bellorado,  A.D.  1513  .  300 
The  Tomb  of  Archbishop  Guidotto  de  Tabiatis  in  the  Cathedral  of  Messina, 

by  Gregorio  di  Gregorio,  A.D.  1303  .  .  .  .  301 

Zancle,  the  sickle-shaped  harbour  of  Messina  .  .  .  .  315 


xii  LIST   OF   ILLUSTRATIONS 

PAGE 

Castrogiovanni :  the  Castle  of  Manfred  .  ...  320 

Castrogiovanni :  the  Rocca  di  Cerere,  on  which  the  great  Temple  of  Ceres 

at  Enna  stood  .  .  •  ...  323 

Catania  :  the  Porta  of  S.  Carcere  .  .  .  •  327 

Etna  from  the  plain  of  Catania  (Bicocca)  .  .  •  33 r 

Cefalu :  the  City  and  the  Rock  .  .  .  •  333 

Cefalii,  the  prehistoric  house  on  the  Acropolis       .  ...  336 

Girgenti:  the  Temple  of  Juno  (Minerva),  where  Gellias  burned  himself  343 
Girgenti :  the  fallen  Telamon  in  the  Temple  of  Jupiter  Olympus  .  .  34$ 
Girgenti :  the  Temple  of  Concordia  .  .  ...  349 

Girgenti :  the  ruins  of  the  Temple  of  Hercules     .  ...   350 

Girgenti :  the  Tomb  of  Theron  (so  called)  .  ...   352 


MESSINA 

Messina  from  the  Strait          .  .  .  ...  358 

Messina :  the  Badiazza,  exterior  .  .  ...  359 

Messina :  the  Badiazza,  interior  .  .  ...  360 

Messina  :  Detail  of  the  Principal  Gateway  of  the  Cathedral  .         .361 

Messina :  the  Cathedral          .  .  .  ...   362 

Messina  :  the  Pulpit  of  the  Cathedral    .  .  .  .   363 

Messina  :  Gothic  Door  in  the  Church  of  S.  Agostino  .  .         .  364 

Messina  :  the  interior  of  SS.  Annunziata  dei  Catalani          .  .         .   365 

Messina  :  Ospizio  dei  Trovatelli  near  the  SS.  Annunziata  dei  Catalani    .  365 
Messina  :  Roman  relief  in  S.  Franceso  d'Assisi,  the  Rape  of  Proserpine    .  366 
Messina :  Gothic  Doorway  of  S.  Franceso  d'Assisi  .  .         .  366 

Messina  :  the  Church  of  S.  Gregorio     .  .  ...  367 

Messina  :  the  Luca  della  Robbia  in  S.  Maria  della  Scala     .  .         .   368 

Messina  :  the  Church  of  S.  Maria  della  Scala       .  ...  369 

Messina:  the  Fountain  of  Neptune,  by  Montorsoli  .  .  .  371 

Messina  :  the  Madonna  del  Popolo  in  S.  Agostino,  by  Antonello  Gagini .  372 
Messina :  the  Fountain  of  Orion  by  Montorsoli,  the  most  beautiful  in 

Sicily  .  .  .  .  ...  373 

Messina  :  the  Madonna  del  Graffeo  in  the  Chiesa  della  Cattolica     .         .  374 
Messina  :  the  Monte  di  Pieta  .  .  ...  377 

Messina :  the  famous  Urbino  Drug-jars  sold  by  the  Ospedale  Civico  to 

the  Museum     .  .  .  .  ...  378 

Messina :  the  Municipal  Palace  .  .  .  •         •  379 

Messina  :  the  Portrait-Jar  in  the  above  .  ...  380 

Messina :  the  Palazzata  or  Marina        .  .  ...  380 

Messina  Museum  :  Picture  of  S.  Pietro  Alcantara,  by  D.  Maroli  .  .381 
Messina  Museum  :  The  Deposition  from  the  Cross  (Dutch  School)  .  383 

Messina :  the  Temple  of  Neptune  at  the  back  of  SS.  Annunziata  dei 

Catalani  .  .  .  .  .  384 

Messina :  the  Interior  of  the  Cathedral,  showing  the  columns  taken  from 

the  Temple  of  Neptune  at  the  Faro  .  ...  385 


LIST   OF    ILLUSTRATIONS  xiii 

Modica :  the  Carmine             .                .  .  m             .         .  "87 

Modica  :  S.  Maria  di  Betlem                 .  .  ...  ^88 

Modica:  after  the  great  flood  of  1902   .  .  ...  390 

View  of  Monreale  .                .                .  .  f  ,gr 

Monreale  :  the  Cathedral,  north  front    .  .  ...  392 

Monreale  Cathedral :  South  Tower  and  Cloister  .  ...  393 

Monte  S.  Giuliano :  the  Castello  Pepoli  .  ...  396 

Palazzolo  Acreide  :  "a  perfect  Greek  Theatre,  clean  forgot"          .         .  401 

PALERMO 

The  Palazzo  Abatelli  .  .  •  p  40^ 

The  Cappella  Reale  (Cappella  Palatina),  the  most  beautiful  ecclesiastical 

building  in  Europe  .  ,  .  ...  409 

Arch  in  the  Casa  Normanna  in  the  Salita  S.  Antonio,  Palermo.  From  a 

drawing  by  Benton  Fletcher  .  .  .  .  .  411 

The  Cathedral  .  .  .  .  t  .  .'  412 

S.  Francesco  d'Assisi  (S.  Francesco  clei  Chiodari)  .  .  .415 

S.  Giovanni  degli  Eremiti,  founded  by  Gregory  the  Great  .  .  .417 

The  Martorana  and  S.  Cataldo  .  .  ...  418 

La  Cuba,  the  Arabo-Norman  Palace  of  Palermo,  which  is  the  scene  of 

one  of  Boccaccio's  stories  .  .  ...  423 

The  Harbour  and  the  Foro  Italico         .  .  ...  426 

Marabitli's  Genius  of  Palermo  Fountain  in  the  Villa  Giulia  .        ,  427 

The  Villa  Tasca  at  Palermo—one  of  the  finest  gardens  in  the  world        .  429 
The  view  of  the  Harbour  from  the  Villa  Belmonte  and  the  Hotel  Igiea  .  431 
The  Royal  Palace   .  .  .  .  ...  440 

The  Fountain  in  the  Piazza  Pretoria      .  .  ...  444 

The  Porta  Felice    .  .  .  ,  .  .'         !  446 

The  Porta  Nuova    .  .  .  .  ...  447 

The  Teatro  Massimo— the  largest  theatre  in  the  world         .  453 

Politeama  Garibaldi  .  .  .  ...  454 

The  Arabo-Norman  Palace  of  the  Zisa  .  .  ...  457 

Ragusa  Supcriore  :  the  Duomo  (S.  Giovanni)  .  ...  458 

Ragusa :  a  chapel  in  S.  Maria  della  Scala  .  .            .        .  459 

View  of  Ragusa  Inferiore       .               .  .  .            .         .  461 

Ragusa  Inferiore  :  the  Gateway  of  S.  Giorgio  .  ...  462 

Randazzo  :  the  Church  of  S.  Maria       .  .  ...  464 

Ranclazzo  :  the  Volta  S.  Nicolo             .  .  ...  465 

Randazzo :  the  Casa  Finocchiaro           .  .  ...  466 

Sciacca  :  the  environs  seen  from  the  tableland  of  Tradimento          .         .  469 

Segesta  :  the  Temple  of  Diana              .  .  ...  476 

Selinunte  :  the  main  street  of  the  Acropolis  .  ...  481 

Selinunte  :  the  Valley  of  the  River  Madiuni  .  ...  484 

Selinunte  :  Ruins  of  Temple  C  (Hercules  or  Apollo)  .  .        ,  486 

Selinunte:  Ruins  of  Temple  F  (Minerva)  .  ...  487 

Solunto  :  the  Sicilian  Pompeii :  Ginnasio  .  ...  489 


xiv^  LlST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS 

SYRACUSE 

PAGE 

The  Roman  Amphitheatre     .               .               .  ...  496 

General  view  of  the  Valley  of  the  Upper  Anapo  from  Poggio  Santoro    .  497 

The  Ara,  or  Altar  of  Hecatombs           .                .  .                     .  499 

The  Fountain  of  Arethusa     .                .                .  ...   500 

The  Cathedral,  built  into  the  Temple  of  Minerva  .  .  503 
The  finest  coin  in  the  world,  the  Arethusa  tetradrachm  of  Syracuse,  struck 

to  commemorate  the  conquest  of  the  Athenians  in  413  B.C.      .         .  509 

The  Temple  of  Diana            .               .                ,  .                    .  511 

The  Wall  of  Dionysuis,  on  the  northern  edge  of  Epipokc    .  ,        .513 

The  Due  Fratelli  Rocks         .               .               .  .  514 

The  Keep  of  the  Castle  of  Euryalus      .                .  ,                    .  516 

View  of  the  Hyblsean  Hills  from  the  Castle  of  Euryalus  .            .        .517 

The  Marina  and  Great  Harbour  of  Syracuse        .  .                    .  519 

The  Great  Harbour               .                .                .  ...  522 

Panorama  from  the  Latomia  clei  Cappuccini         .  .            .        .  524 

The  Latomia  del  Paradiso      .                .                .  ...  525 

The  Grotta  dei  Cordari  in  the  Latomia  del  Paradiso  .            .        .  526 

The  Suburb  of  S.  Lucia        .               .               .  ...  527 

The  Museum          .               .               .               .  ...  529 

The  Island  of  Ortygia            .                .               .  .                    .  531 

The  Palazzo  Montalto — Donna  Rusidda's  window  in  Mr.  Sladen's  novel, 

The  Admiral                  .                .                .  .                    .  533 

The  Papyrus  Groves  of  the  River  Anapo              .  .                    .  535 

The  Street  of  Tombs              .                .               .  ...  540 

The  Greek  Theatre                .               .               .  .                   .  541 

The  Timolonteum  or  Palaestra  .  .  ...  543 

TAORMINA 

The  Badia  Vecchia                 .                .  .  ...  547 

The  Hotel  S.  Domenico  and  View  of  Etna  .  .                   .  555 

Isola  Bella  and  the  Capo  S.  Andrea      .  .  ...  556 

Palazzo  Corvaja      .               .                .  .  ,                    .  558 

The  Grasco-Roman  Theatre :  Auditorium  .  ...  562 

The  Grseco-Roman  Theatre  :  view  of  Etna  .  ...  563 


Trapani :  the  Spedale  in  the  Giudecca  .               .  .                    .  570 

Tyndaris  :  the  Roman  Basilica  or  Palaestra          .  ...  573 

Tyndaris  :  the  Convent  of  the  Madonna  del  Tindaro  .            .        .575 

Tyndaris :  the  Grseco-Roman  Theatre                  ,  .            •        •  577 

Tyndaris :  the  ancient  Greek  Walls       .               .  ...  578 


TO    THE    READER 
THE    SCHEME    OF    THE    BOOK 

THE  pictures  of  the  book  are  a  feature.  There  are  nearly  two  hundred 
and  fifty  of  them  reproduced,  mostly  from  photographs  taken  for  the 
purpose,  at  a  great  outlay  borne  by  patriotic  Sicilians.  These  gentle 
men  were  eager  to  have  the  romantic  fastnesses  of  their  country  (in 
which  the  primitive  races  may  well  have  lingered  into  the  Middle 
Ages)  known  to  the  English  and  Germans,  who,  with  the  Japanese, 
are  the  scenery- connoisseurs  of  the  world.  About  half  of  them 
illustrate  the  hitherto  unexploited  and  un photographed  interior.  Most 
visitors  to  Sicily  have  not  even  heard  of  places  like  Piazza-Armerina, 
Petralia,  Nicosia,  Montallegro,  Pietraperzia,  Palazzolo,  and  the  Cava 
d'  Ispica.  Quite  a  number  of  the  pictures  give  vistas  of  mountain 
scenery,  or  isolated  volcanic  hills  crowned  with  antique  cities. 

The  book  consists  of  three  parts  :  Part  I.  contains  introductory 
chapters  to  draw  the  eyes  of  those  who  do  not  know  their  Sicily  to 
the  wealth  of  attractions  lurking  in  the  bosom  of  the  ancient  Roman's 
Island  of  the  Sun,  from  the  City  of  the  Cave-Dwellers  in  the  Cava 
d'  Ispica  and  the  house,  which  the  wandering  Ulysses  may  have 
seen  with  his  own  eyes  on  the  hill  above  Cefald,  to  the  castle  of 
Dionysius  at  Syracuse,  the  temples  of  Girgenti  and  Selinunte,  and  the 
palaces  of  the  Arabs  at  Palermo.  Sicily  has  forty  Greek  temples,  and 
in  the  Royal  Chapel  of  its  Norman  kings  the  most  beautiful  church  in 
Christendom. 

A  novel  of  ancient  Syracuse  is  the  original  of  the  story  of  Romeo 
and  Juliet  (see  p.  144).  Shakespeare's  Much  Ado  About  Nothing  has 
its  scene  laid  in  Messina,  when  Peter  of  Aragon  was  marching  to  the 
help  of  the  Sicilians  after  the  revolution  of  the  Sicilian  Vespers.  The 
garden  where  Beatrice  met  Benedick  could  well  be  the  earthly 
Paradise  at  the  Villa  Rocca  Guelfonia  (p.  382). 

Part  II.,  Things  Sicilian,  takes  its  name  and  its  idea  from  the  famous 
Things  Japanese  of  Mr.  Basil  Hall  Chamberlain,  to  which  I  had 


xvi  PREFACE 

constantly  to  refer  in  preparing  a  book  on  Japan  which  I  was  writing 
simultaneously  with  this.  Miss  E.  M.  Stevens,  to  whose  untiring 
industry  in  following  up  clues  the  book  owes  so  much,  suggested  that 
I  should  take  Professor  Chamberlain's  model.  This  is  necessarily 
a  larger  and  more  detailed  work  than  his,  because  there  are  so 
many  more  points  in  which  Sicily  comes  into  the  ken  of  English 
people. 

To  be  brief,  the  portion  of  the  book  entitled  'Things  Sicilian  deals 
in  short  and  simply-worded  paragraphs  with  such  subjects  as  the 
principal  sights,  whether  monuments  or  scenery  ;  legends,  historical 
or  mythological  ;  biographies  of  celebrities ;  the  expressions  one  hears 
most ;  the  customs  and  institutions  one  sees  ;  the  common  objects  of 
the  country  ;  and  hints  to  travellers  for  avoiding  expense  and  annoyance. 

Under  monuments  may  be  included  the  remains  of  the  prehistoric 
races  of  Sicily,  Sicanian,  Sikelian,  and  what  not,  mostly  of  the  kind 
which  always  last  longest — tombs,  but  with  one  glorious  exception  at 
Cefalu.  The  Phoenician  and  the  Carthaginian  have  left  us  little  but 
walls  and  beads.  They  were  at  the  bead  stage  of  civilization  ;  their 
very  money  was  borrowed — in  its  designs.  The  Greek  filled  every 
point  of  vantage  near  the  sea  with  his  citadels  and  temples  and  theatres : 
his  golden  ruins  are  broadcast  yet.  The  Roman  was  content  with  an 
amphitheatre  for  his  gladiators  and  a  gymnasium  for  exercise  in  a  few 
great  towns.  He  ruled  Sicily  as  one  who  had  no  abiding  city  there, 
and  hoped  to  be  pensioned  home.  The  luxurious  Arab,  whose 
Granada  is  the  Paradise  of  architecture,  left  not  a  wrack  behind 
except  the  Emirs7  palaces  and  mosaiced  churches,  which  he  helped  to 
build  at  the  bidding  of  his  Norman  conqueror.  The  Norman,  like 
the  Greek  in  his  heyday,  left  us  an  imperishable  heritage  of  beauty  in 
stone  transmuted  by  the  centuries,  like  the  philosopher's  stone,  into 
gold.  The  Greek  and  the  Norman  were  the  creators  of  Sicily,  the 
old  and  the  medieval.  After  the  Norman  the  Spaniard  overwhelmed 
Sicily,  like  the  heavy  sands  of  the  Central  Asian  desert. 

The  scenery  of  Sicily  is  superb ;  the  wooded  valleys  of  the 
Madonian  Range  are  a  terra  incognita  to  foreigners,  but  Etna,  the 
Fujiyama  of  Europe,  can  be  seen  from  half  Sicily,  and  the  mingling 
of  mountain  and  ruin  and  sea  at  Taormina  and  Tyndaris  beggar  the 
pageants  of  Turner.  The  legends,  historical  and  mythological,  of 
Sicily  are  like  the  stories  in  the  Bible,  short  episodes  which  ail  the 
world  remembers,  such  as  the  Rape  of  Proserpine,  the  Sword  of 
Damocles,  and  the  Sicilian  Vespers.  The  same  element  will  be 
found  in  the  biographies  of  her  great.  Empedocles  died  in  the  crater 
of  Etna.  We  have  the  names,  even  the  figures  on  coins,  of  two  pious 
men  of  Catania  who  carried  their  aged  parents  from  one  of  Etna's 


PREFACE  xvii 

red-hot  lava  floods,  Archimedes  fell  in  the  storming  of  Syracuse,  the 
general  of  its  defence.  And  Gorgias  of  Leontini  lured  Athens  to  her 
ruin  with  his  silver  tongue. 

Among  Things  Sicilian  will  be  found  the  "Ate"  and  the  " Amonine," 
the  cries  that  echo  in  Sicilian  streets  ;  tit-bits  of  information  about  the 
terrible  Mafia  and  omerta ;  courtships  and  the  vendetta;  the  pro 
cessions  and  ceremonies  of  the  church  and  the  country-side ;  folk 
songs  and  gambling  ;  begging  and  superstitions  ;  and  the  catacombs  of 
mummies.  The  common  objects  of  the  country  embrace  such  pictur 
esque  sights  as  the  peasants,  whose  national  dress  forms  the  subject  of 
a  chapter;  street-saints  and  roadside  shrines  ;  yellow  carts  gaily  painted 
with  stories  from  the  Scriptures  or  the  poets ;  dwarf  Sardinian  asses ; 
mules  with  red  trappings  carrying  Madonna-like  women,  or  men  in  the 
hooded  Sicilian  cloak,  or  ingots  of  yellow  sulphur  ;  the  tombs  of  pre 
historic  races ;  and  women  bearing  water  from  the  fountains  in  Grecian 
urns  on  their  heads.  There  are  numerous  hints  for  travellers  on 
arrival  by  railway  or  steamer  ;  on  the  facchini,  the.  plunderers  licensed 
as  porters ;  on  the  humours  of  the  parcels  post ;  on  baths  and  cabs 
and  theatres,  museums  and  shops  ;  on  photographs  and  photographic 
materials ;  on  cafes  and  food  and  drink.  Bargain-hunting  occupies  a 
chapter,  but  many  paragraphs  of  Things  Sicilian  are  devoted  to  the 
chief  treasure-troves  of  the  curio-collector  in  Sicily, — old  majolica  and 
Greek  pottery  and  statuettes  ;  the  unrivalled  coins  of  ancient  Sicily ; 
the  seventeenth-century  enamels  and  filigree  and  plate  ;  the  rich  lace 
and  embroideries ;  the  carved  corals ;  the  ivory  Christs  on  tortoise- 
shell  crucifixes  ;  the  old  chased  ruby  and  rose-diamond  pendants. 

Part  II.,  Things  Sicilian,  arranged  alphabetically,  is  designed  to  tell 
the  traveller  the  meaning  of  everything  he  sees. 

Part  III.,  the  Elenco,  or  Road-Guide,  is  a  table  of  all  the  towns  of 
Sicily  to  which  there  is  any  reasonable  means  of  access  by  road,  rail,  or 
steamer,  and  gives  lists  of  the  monuments  or  natural  beauties  accessible 
from  each. 


The  interior  of  Sicily  is  to  most  visitors  a  terra  incognita  beyond 
what  they  see  from  the  windows  in  the  train  between  Palermo,  Catania, 
and  Girgenti.  Even  Castrogiovanni,  the  ancient  Enna,  is  passed  by, 
though  full  of  the  life  of  a  medieval  mountain  town.  I  have  tried  to 
make  Tyndaris  and  Sciacca  assume  their  proper  places  beside  Girgenti 
and  Taormina,  and  to  make  the  visitor  aware  that  there  are  places  like 
Nicosia,  Piazza-Armerina,  Petralia,  and  others,  on  which  the  patient 
diligences  of  Sicily  converge  from  many  points.  Motorists  are  only 
just  beginning  to  venture  into  Sicily,  the  land  par  excellence  which  calls 
b  2 


xviii  PREFACE 

for  their  intervention,  with  its  excellent  provincial  roads  leading  up  to 
cities  of  ancient  fame,  which  have  been  practically  inaccessible  so  far, 
but  can  be  reached  by  motors  in  a  few  hours  from  comfortable  centres 
like  Catania,  such  cities  as  Centuripe  and  Agira,  with  their  multitudes 
of  Roman  ruins ;  Nicosia,  an  unspoiled  bit  of  the  Middle  Ages ; 
Sperlinga  ;  Troina ;  Entella ;  Noto  Antica,  the  medieval  Pompeii ; 
Palazzolo,  with  its  Greek  ruins  and  its  marvellous  tombs ;  and  the 
city  of  the  prehistoric  dead  at  Pantalica.  There  is  a  scheme  sketched 
out  for  them  in  the  last  chapter  of  Part  I. 

Messina  has  been  unexploited  by  modern  travellers,  almost  as 
markedly  as  the  interior.  I  have  therefore  given  a  great  deal  of  atten 
tion  to  it,  both  by  going  into  detail  in  the  letterpress  and  by  including 
about  fifty  illustrations  of  that  beautiful  and  interesting  city. 

There  is  but  one  thing  really  wanting  to  the  content  of  the  Sicilian 
to-day — that  Victor  Emmanuel  III.  should  revive  the  glorious  tale  of 
Norman  Sicily  by  calling  himself  King  of  Italy  and  Sicily. 

THE    SICILIAN   DIALECT 

For  Sicily  is  not  as  the  other  principalities  and  duchies  which  have 
been  welded  into  modern  Italy.  It  has  its  dialect,  almost  a  language, 
a  sealed  book  to  the  Continental  Italian,  though  all  its  words  have  the 
same  form  as  the  Italian,  with  the  exception  of  slight  differences  in 
various  vowels  and  consonants  depending  on  the  nature  of  the  dialect 
and  the  phonetic  necessities  to  which  the  people  have  to  submit.  The 
root  of  the  words  is  therefore  nearly  always  the  same  in  Italian  and 
Sicilian,  and  the  phonetic  development  is  equally  identical,  since  all  the 
words  end  in  vowels. 

The  principal  differences  between  Italian  and  Sicilian  forms  are  the 
following  : — 

The  Sicilian  dialect  usually  changes  <?  into  /,  as  is  shown  by  the 
following  : — 

latte  latti  lume  lumi 

carne  carni  vivere  viviri 

verdura  virdura  penare  pinari 

pesce  pisci  viaggiare  viaggiari 

It  often  substitutes  u  for  o,  as  in  the  following  instances  : — 
passo  passu  correre  curriri 

viaggiatore       viaggiaturi  carretto  carrettu 

pozzo  puzzu  compasso          cumpassu 

freddo  friddu  moneta  munita 

caldo  caudu 


PREFACE 


It  usually  changes  the  double  //  into  double  dd^  giving  to  this 
consonant  the  sound  of  the  last  consonant  in  the  English  word 
Wedgwood. 

castello  casteddu  bellezza  biddizza 

gallo  gaddu  gallina  gaddina 

bello  beddu  cavallo  cavaddu 


But  many  words  keep  the  double  //  of  the  Italian,  as 
Portogallo,  which  are  pronounced  villa  and  Portuallo. 

It  often  changes  the  syllable  glio,  gllay  g/i9  glie,  into  ggtio, 
gghi,  gghie.  Thus,  for  example  : — 


Villa 


giglio 
figlio 
soglio 
famiglia 
pariglia 
paglia 

gigghiu 
figghiu 
sogghiu 
famigghia 
parigghia 
pagghia 

conigli 
consiglio 
maglia 
moglie  or 

mogliere 
sparpagliare 


cunigghi 
cunsigghiu 
magghia 
mogghie  or 
mugghieri 
sparpagghiari 


It  sometimes  changes  the  consonant  b  into  v9  e.g. : — 


barba 
barca 
battesimo 


varva 
varca 
vattisimu 


barbiere 

nerbo 

botte 


paan 
liari 


passeggiare 
battezzare 


It  sometimes  changes  /  into  r,  for  example  : — 
balcone  barcuni  incolpare 

falda  farda  palmento 

salsa  sarsa  pulpito 

cavalcare          cavarcari 

It  sometimes  omits  the  g  and  the  2,  e.g. : — 
pagare 
legare 
portogallo         portuallo  patteggiare 

In  some  words  it  changes  the  g  into  j,  e.g. : — 
giumenta          jumenta 
giunco  junco  genero 

giuocare  jucare 

1  n  followed  by  d  changes  into  double  nn,  e.g.: — 
dimandare        dimannari  intendere 

vendere  vinniri  mondo 

rendere  renniri  propaganda 

sospendere        suspenniri  ghirlanda 

comprendere     cumprenniri 


varvien 

nervu 

vutti 


incurpan 
parmentu 
purpitu 


passian 
vattiari 
pattiari 


jenniru 


mtennin 
munnu 
prupaganna 
ghirlanna 


xx  PREFACE 

d  is  sometimes  changed  to  t  or  r. 

madre  matri  radere  rariri 

padre  patri  ridere  ririri 

madrice  matrice  cadere  cariri 

Thus  the  Madonna  is  called  "Bedda  Matri"  (Bella  Madre). 

In  some  words  the  syllables  pia,  plo^piu  become  chla^  chio^  ckiu,  e.g. : — 
piano  chianti  piovere  chioviri 

piantare  chiantari  piuttosto  chiuttostu 

piangere  chianciri  non  v'e"  piti       non  c'£  chiu 

An  example  of  contraction  is  the  word  "gnuri"  for  "signore." 
Thus  the  common  people,  instead  of  saying  "  signer  padre,"  "  signora 
madre/'  say  "gnu-patri,"  "  gnura-matri."  A  coachman  is  addressed 
as  "gnuri." 

The  words  which  depart  widely  from  Italian  roots  are  really  few, 
and  show  the  origins  of  the  race  and  the  contact  which  it  has  had  at 
different  periods  with  foreign  nations.  Some  words  preserve  a  Greek 
root,  e.g.  :— 

daramlta  or  ceramlta^  for  tiles  of  terracotta. 
sdntino  for  "undisciplined,"  "dangerous." 
tatiare  for  "  guardare." 
vastasi  or  bastasi,  for  "facchino." 

Some  have  an  Arab  root,  e.g.  "  raisi"  meaning  the  captain  of  the 
galley  in  the  Tonnare. 

Others  are  French,  e.g. : — 

muccatun  for  "handkerchief"  (fazzoletto). 

monsu  for  "cook/' 

In  the  province  of  Messina,  to  distinguish  fruit  trees,  they  adopt 
the  French  form,  making  the  noun  feminine ;  e.g.  instead  of  saying 
il  fico,  il  sorbo,  il  limone,  lo  arancio,  1'ulivo,  etc.,  the  Messinese  say  la 
ficara,  la  sorbara,  la  limonara,  1'aranciara,  1'olivara,  etc. 

Some  words  come  from  the  English,  e.g.  trincnre>  for  drinking 
heavily  (in  playful  tones). 

Some  words  which  are  of  obscure  root  it  is  possible  may  have  a 
Sican  or  a  Sikel  origin. 

The  differences  between  Sicilian  and  Italian  have  never  before,  I 
think,  been  explained  in  an  English  book.  I  owe  this  masterly  little 
summary  to  Commendatore  Mauceri,  who  has  helped  me  at  every  turn 
in  the  compilation  of  this  work.  I  have  received  much  assistance  also 
from  Mr.  Joshua  Whitaker,  who  read  the  proofs  of  Part  IL,  and 


PREFACE  xxi 

Mr.  Ambroise  Pare  Brown,  who  procured  me  much  of  the  information, 
and  has  given  me  all  manner  of  assistance. 

The  map  given  is  the  famous  map  prepared  by  Baedeker  for  his 
guide-book,  and  was  supplied  by  him. 


BOOKS    ON    SICILY 


There  are  a  few  hundred  volumes  in  English  on  the  subject  of 
Sicily,  but  most  of  them  the  traveller  can  read  by  his  fireside  in 
England.  The  books  which  give  most  direct  information  are  Baedeker ; 
Murray;  Augustus  Hare's  Cities  of  Southern  Italy  and  Sicily  ;  Joanne; 
and  the  Italian  guide-book  of  the  Fratelli  Treves,  among  the  regular 
guide-books.  To  these  may  be  added  Frances  Elliot's  Diary  of  an  Idle 
Woman  in  Sicily  ;  E.  A.  Freeman's  History  of  Sicily  from  tke  Earliest 
Times  (4  vols.,  Clarendon  Press) ;  E.  A.  Freeman's  Sicily  in  the  Story 
of  the  Nations  Series  (Unwin) ;  Marion  Crawford's  Rulers  of  the  South 
(Macmillan) ;  F.  Hamilton  Jackson's  Sicily  in  Methuen's  Little 
Guide  Series;  Norma  Lorimer's  By  the  Waters  of  Sicily  (Hutchinson) ; 
Enrico  Mauceri's  Guida  drcheologica  ed  artistic  a  dl  Siracusa;  W.  A. 
Paton's  "Picturesque  Sicily  (Harper) ;  Reber's  Guida  di  Palermo,  the 
best  guide,  with  which  I  am  acquainted,  to  any  city,  much  consulted 
by  me;  Douglas  Sladen's  In  Sicily  (Sands,  1901);  John  Addington 
Symonds's  Sketches  in  Italy  and  Sicily  (Tauchnitz) ;  G.  Rizzo's 
Guida  di  Taormina  e  Dintorni ;  and  the  splendid  Messina  e  ^Dintorni 
published  by  the  municipality  of  that  city. 

Those  who  wish  to  understand  the  classical  antiquities  of  the  island 
will  consult  continually,  as  I  have  done,  Sir  William  Smith's  'Dictionary 
of  Greek  and  Roman  'Biography  and  Mythology  (Murray,  3  vols.) ;  and 
Sir  William  Smith's  Dictionary  of  Greek  and  Roman  Geography 
(Murray,  2  vols.);  G.  F.  Hill's  Coins  of  Ancient  Sicily  (Constable, 
2U.) ;  Guhl  and  Koner's  The  Life  of  the  Greeks  and  Romans  described 
from  Antique  Monuments  (Chatto,  Js.  6d.} ;  Huish's  Greek  Terra- 
Cotta  Statuettes  (Murray,  zis.  net);  Hutton's  Greek  Terracotta 
Statuettes  (Seeley,  js.  net) ;  Cicero's  Verres  (Bohn's  translation) ; 
Diodorus  Siculus  (Booth's  translation) ;  G  rote's  History  of  Greece  / 
Mitford's  History  of  Greece  (for  the  life  of  Dionysius) ;  Theocritus, 
Bion,  and  Moschus,  translated  by  Andrew  Lang  (Golden  Treasury 
Series) ;  Thucydides  (Bohn's  translation,  vol.  ii.)  ;  John  Ward's 
Greek  Coins  and  their  Parent  Cities  (Murray) ;  and  Plutarch's  Lives 
of  Dion,  Nicias,  Timoleon,  and  Marcellus. 

Brydone's  A  Tour  through  Sicily  and  Malta,  Letters  1775,  is  the 
foundation  of  many  subsequent  books  on  Sicily,"  including  Dumas's 
Speronara.  The  French  books,  Ren&  Bazin's  En  Sidle  and  G. 
Vuillier's  finely  illustrated  work,  are  elegant  rather  than  informing. 


xxii  PREFACE 

Paul  Bourget's  Cosmopolis  and  Marion  Crawford's  Corkone  deal  with 
Sicily.  The  late  Samuel  Butler,  in  his  The  Authoress  of  the  Odyssey 
(Longmans),  attempted  to  prove  not  only  that  the  Odyssey  was  written 
by  a  woman,  but  that  its  scenery  was  exclusively  Sicilian,  Ithaca  being 
really  one  of  the  ^Egatian  Islands.  There  is  a  delightful  essay  on 
Palermo  in  the  late  E.  A.  Freeman's  Historical  Essays,  third  series. 
There  is  a  good  deal  about  Sicily  in  Goethe's  Travels  in  Italy  (Bonn's 
translation) ;  but  he  visited  the  island  very  unintelligently,  as  the 
reader  will  see  from  the  numerous  passages  quoted.  There  is  a  great 
deal  about  Sicily  in  J.  C.  Jeaffreson's  writings  on  Nelson.  The 
health  aspect  is  specially  treated  in  the  pamphlet  published  in 
the  Lancet  Special  Commission  upon  Sicily  as  a  Health  Resort 
(Florence,  G.  Barbera,  1896).  Norma  Lorimer's  Josiatts  Wife 
(Methuen)  has  its  scene  laid  at  Girgenti,  and  her  On  Etna  in  the 
various  towns  and  gorges  round  the  great  mountain ;  and  Selma 
Lagerlof's  Miracles  of  Anti-Christ  deals  with  Taormina.  My  novel, 
The  Admiral,  has  many  scenes  in  Palermo  and  Syracuse.  John  Henry 
Newman  wrote  some  exquisite  descriptions  of  Sicily,  published  in  his 
Letters  and  Correspondence  (Longmans).  The  histories  of  Sicily, 
except  in  the  very  early  period,  are  all  in  Italian.  Many  other  works 
may  be  consulted  with  advantage ;  but  Muller's  History  of  the  Dorians 
has  hardly  anything  to  say  about  Sicily,  though  the  Dorian  race  there 
reached  the  zenith  of  its  civilisation  and  power. 

ART 

Sicily  has  two  great  sculptors  —  the  fifteenth-century  Antonello 
Gagini,  a  worthy  rival  of  Verrocchio  and  Mino  da  Fiesole,  and  the 
seventeenth-century  Giacomo  di  Serpotta,  the  most  exquisite  artist 
who  ever  worked  in  plaster. 

Painting  was  not  luxuriant  in  Sicily,  though  Antonello  da  Messina 
introduced  the  art  of  oil-painting  not  only  into  Sicily,  but  into  Italy. 
The  greatest  Sicilian  painters,  after  Antonello,  were  mostly  Messinese, 
though  the  very  best  of  them  came  from  Palermo  and  the  neighbour 
hood,  such  as  the  fifteenth-century  Riccardo  Quartararo,  Tommaso  di 
Vigilia,  and  Lorenzo  da  Palermo ;  the  sixteenth-century  Vincenzo  da 
Pavia  and  Crescenzio  ;  and  the  seventeenth-century  Piero  Novelli, 
one  of  the  finest  painters  of  the  Italian  naturalistic  school.  The 
painters  of  a  certain  rank  in  Messina  were '  numerous,  and  their 
paintings  form  a  most  interesting  field  of  study  for  amateurs  of  the 
later  period.  Antonio  Ricci,  nicknamed  Barbalunga,  1690-1749; 
Letterio  Palladino,  who  died  in  1 743  ;  are  among  the  best-known 
later  painters  of  Messina,  while  Francesco  Cardillo  was  one  of  the 
earliest  great  painters  of  the  fifteenth  century. 


PREFACE  xxiii 

In  the  related  art  of  mosaics  Sicily  stands  higher  than  any  country. 
The  mosaics  of  Cefalu,  genuine  work  of  the  Calogeri ;  of  Palermo 
and  of  Monreale,  have  a  world-wide  fame ;  and  many  mosaics  are 
gradually  being  uncovered  at  Messina. 

WHAT    SICILY    HAS    TO    OFFER    THE    TRAVELLER 

Sicily  has  the  prime  claim  on  the  English  traveller,  that  it  is  near 
its  best  when  England  is  at  its  worst.  When  Christmas  has  passed, 
and  our  desperate  days  of  fog  and  frost  and  wind  begin  to  crowd  upon 
"us  here,  there  Proserpine,  the  Spring  Goddess,  bursts  from  the  nether 
world,  and  all  Sicily  flings  flowers  before  her  feet  from  the  shoulders  of 
the  mountains  to  the  skirts  of  the  sea.  The  pink  plumes  of  the  asphodel, 
the  silver  of  cactus  and  olive,  the  golden  columns  of  temples,  and  the 
vast  opal  of  Etna  stand  out  clear  and  sharp  against  a  cloudless  sky, 
while  through  the  summer  air  float  the  tinkle  of  goat-bells,  and  the 
dance  tunes  blown  by  the  goatherds  on  reed  pipes  since  the  days  of 
Theocritus. 

In  Sicily  tradition  points  the  spots  where  the  gods  of  Greece 
roamed  the  earth,  Pluto  chasing  Proserpine,  and  Ceres,  with  her  torch 
lit  at  the  fires  of  Etna,  questing  her  lost  child;  the  wandering 
Hercules  driving  the  oxen  of  Geryon  before  him,  and  wrestling  the 
giant  for  the  hill  of  Venus  at  Eryx  ;  and  Arethusa,  a  shy  nymph, 
pursued  by  Alphseus. 

One  great  Cambridge  scholar,  in  his  The  Authoress  of  the  Odyssey, 
maintains  that  the  greatest  poem  in  the  world,  the  epic  of  Ulysses, 
was  written  in  Sicily  and  of  Sicily.  History  in  any  case  dawned 
early  in  the  Garden  of  the  Mediterranean,  the  Eden  Isle  where  Greek, 
Roman,  and  Carthaginian  fought  their  three-cornered  duel  for  the 
lordship  of  the  ancient  world.  It  was  nearly  five  centuries  before 
Christ  that  Gelon  of  Syracuse  marched  in  hot  haste,  with  fifty 
thousand  horse  and  foot,  to  relieve  Theron  of  Acragas  leaguered  in 
Himera  by  Hamilcar,  shophet  of  Carthage,  and  his  three  hundred 
thousand  Africans.  This  was  on  the  day  of  Salamis.  Herodotus 
tells  us  that,  and  then  tells  us  how,  at  the  end  of  that  awful,  day, 
Hamilcar  flung  himself  into  the  flames  of  the  altar  where  he  had  called 
upon  his  gods. 

The  great  Gelon  stayed  the  tide  of  slaughter  for  ransom,  and  to  this 
day  the  coins  stamped  out  of  Carthaginian  silver  by  his  fair  queen 
Damarete  exist  in  numbers  sufficient  for  plain  persons  like  myself  to 
own  one. 

I  will  not  tell  the  tale  of  Sicily  here.  Nicias  and  Demosthenes, 
Dionysius,  Pyrrhus  the  Epirote,  Marcellus  and  Scipio,  Roger  the 
Norman,  Frederick  of  Hohenstauffen,  Manfred  and  Conradin, 


xxiv  PREFACE 

Charles  the  Fifth  and  Nelson,  and  every  other  worthy  of  Sicily  have 
their  mention  in  the  pages  which  follow. 

But  I  must  speak  of  the  mission  of  the  Dorian  race  worked  out  in 
Sicily.  It  is  Syracuse,  not  Sparta  or  Corinth,  which  stands  to  us  for 
Dorian  Greece— Syracuse,  which  beat  back  the  Carthaginian  till 
Rome  could  take  her  place — Syracuse,  the  greatest  and  richest  city  of 
the  Greek  world  ;  and  we  have  enough  of  ancient  Syracuse  to  call  up 
her  wars  with  Athens  and  Carthage  and  Rome — the  temple  of  her 
goddess,  the  theatre  where  Pindar  and  ^Eschylus  sang  the  glories  of 
Hiero,  and  the  people  listened  to  the  wisdom  of  the  blind  Timoleon. 

What  manner  of  men,  then,  were  the  Dorian  Greeks  of  Sicily 
against  whom  Athens  and  Carthage  broke  their  power  ?  The  sculp 
ture  of  their  temples  had  not  the  grace  of  the  metopes  of  the  Parthenon, 
they  had  no  Phidias,  no  Praxiteles,  no  Myron  ;  but  Euryalus  has  no 
rival  as  a  castle  of  the  Greeks,  and  the  great  ten-drachma  pieces  struck 
in  triumph  by  the  Syracusans  from  the  dies  of  Euasnetus  and  Cimon 
when  the  armies  of  Athens  surrendered,  are  the  gems  of  all  coinage 
from  that  far  day  to  this. 

The  story  of  Syracuse  is  romantic  above  all  other  Greek  story 
because  we  hear  so  much  of  their  women,  partners  of  their  husbands  in 
power,  martyrs  in  their  fall. 

But  history  is  not  my  province  here.  That  will  be  treated  in  my 
Cities  of  Sicily.  Rather  must  I  indicate  briefly  what  Sicily  has  to 
tempt  the  intelligent  sojourner — her  forty  Greek  temples  ;  her  half- 
dozen  Greek  theatres  ;  her  Greek  castles ;  her  Roman  amphitheatres 
and  palaestrae;  her  palaces  of  Emirs  at  Palermo ;  her  unrivalled  mosaics ; 
her  churches,  where  Norman  and  Moresco  meet ;  her  majestic  scenery, 
of  mountain  and  sea  compact ;  her  wealth  of  palms  and  wild  flowers. 

No  scenery  affected  the  Greeks  so  profoundly  as  that  of  Sicily. 
Theocritus  was  the  father  of  the  appreciation  of  scenery,  and  though 
the  cool  pine  woods  have  long  since  withered  from  the  hills  behind 
Syracuse,  the  lemon  groves  and  the  olive  gardens,  and  Etna  climbing 
from  blue  sea  to  blue  sky,  give  Syracuse  one  of  the  most  charming 
scenes  in  the  world.  This  is  the  humour  of  Sicilian  scenery ;  the  sea, 
with  blossom  and  verdure  stealing  down  to  its  listless  waves ;  the  moun 
tains,  grey  with  cactus  and  golden  with  euphorbia  and  genesta ;  olive 
gardens,  grey  on  green,  between.  Except  in  spring,  when  the  almonds 
fling  a  scarf  of  living  snow  round  the  shoulders  of  the  hills.  Nowhere 
does  Spring  illumine  the  earth  with  such  a  rainbow  of  wild  flowers. 

DOUGLAS   SLADEN 

32,  ADDISON  MANSIONS, 
KENSINGTON,  W., 

November  2$th,  1904 


SICILY 

THE    NEW   WINTER    RESORT 

CHAPTER  I 

ITS   CLIMATE— WHAT    THERE   IS    TO    SEE  —  WHAT    THERE    IS    TO    DO 

SICILY  is  the  best  winter  resort  in  Europe  ;  its  climate  is  more 
equable  than  the  Riviera,  it  has  no  mistral,  and  there  is  more  to 
interest  people  who  go  abroad  to  see  fresh  scenes,  and  not  merely 
to  reproduce  English  life  under  more  genial  skies.      For  the  present, 
it  cannot,  of  course,  equal  Cannes  in  English  house-party  life.     It 
has  not  the  number  of  villas  rented, by  English  Society,  nor  has  it 


the  same  choice  of  British  amusements.  In  entertaining  and  enter 
tainers,  it  is  behindhand;  but  there  is  no  reason  why  it  should  remain 
so,  for  there  are  quantities  of  magnificent  villas  about  Palermo  which 


2  SICILY  THE    NEW   WINTER    RESORT 

could  be  rented  if  there  was  any  demand  for  them.  Golf  is  to  be 
started ;  there  is  plenty  of  scope  for  yachting  and  motoring  ;  there  is 
an  opera,  with  the  largest  opera-house  in  the  world  ;  and  with  proper 
introductions,  strangers  of  position  are  invited  freely  to  the  balls  given 
by  the  nobles  in  their  superb  palaces. 

Sicily  makes  yachtsmen  and  motorists  feel  very  important,  there  are 
so  many  places  which  they  can  see  more  easily  than  other  people.    The 

,  /-          TT»  i        .       , . _    c<  ... i  _.„..,,.    <nn :.,:    f^r,,i,\ 


of 
ancient  Gela  ;   Scicli,  for  the  ruins  of  ancient  Camarina ;   Syracuse, 


SELINUNTE  —  RUINS  OF   TEMPLES   G,    P,   E:    OUTSIDE  THE   ACROPOLIS 

Megara  and  Thapsos,  Augusta,  Catania,  the  Isles  of  the  Cyclops, 
Taormina  and  Messina.  Several  of  the  trips  he  can  do  in  a  day  on 
a  fast  steam  yacht,  saving  most  wearisome  train  journeys. 

With  the  almost  solitary  exception  of  Castrogiovanni,  the  ancient 
Enna,  and  Randazzo,  the  places  of  interest  which  cannot  be  reached  by 
a  yacht  are  motorist's  places,  by  which  I  mean  that  what  would  have 
taken  a  longish  railway  journey  and  a  patient  climb  with  Sicilian  horses, 
is  a  ridiculously  easy  day's  excursion  in  a  motor.  The  motorist  can 
visit  in  a  day  from  Palermo,  the  perfect  Greek  temple  of  Segesta  ;  the 
four-miles-round  ruins  of  Entella  ;  Termini,  with  its  ruins  of  ancient 
Himera ;  Cefalu,  with  its  glorious  cathedral,  and  its  house  on  the  hill 
as  old  as  Homer ;  while,  if  he  rests  the  night  at  the  not  intolerable  inn 
of  Castelvetrano,  he  can  take  Segesta  on  the  way  the  first  day,  and 


WHAT   THERE    IS    TO    SEE  3 

Selinunte  the  second  day,  and  sleep  the  second  night  at  mysterious 
Sciacca,  the  third  at  Girgenti,  with  its  ten  Greek  temples,  and 
the  fourth  at  Castrogiovanni,  the  Enna  of  Proserpine  and  Ceres,  all 
places  with  hotels,  if  the  new  hotel  which  Cook's  correspondent, 
Mr.  Von  Pernull,  is  opening  in  a  baronial  palace  at  the  last,  is  ready. 
If  it  is,  one  could  spend  a  week  there  well,  making  day  motor-trips  to 


THE  GREEK  THEATRE  AT  SYRACUSE,  WHERE  AESCHYLUS  HAD  SOME  FIRST  NIGHTS 

mysterious  medieval  towns  like  Piazza  Armerina,  Nicosia,  Troina,  and 
Sperlinga,  all  of  them  full  of  antique  buildings  and  paved  with  history, 
and  to  the  hardly  explored  old  Roman  towns  of  Agira  and  Centuripe. 
When  he  has  exhausted  the  centre  of  the  island,  there  are  fresh  groups 
of  famous  old  cities  to  explore  in  the  south  and  east.  As  the  interior 
of  Sicily  is  a  sea  of  hills,  a  motor  that  takes  no  account  of  them  is 
almost  as  good. as  the  wings  with  which  Dsedalus,  who  might  well  be 
the  god  of  motorists,  flew  to  Sicily.  The  great  mail-roads  are  good 
and  kept  in  line  condition,  though  the  byroads  are  only  torrents  out  of 
work. 

Let  no  reader  run  away  with  the  idea  that  this  book  is  only  for  the 
rich.  As  a  matter  of  fact  it  hardly  considers  them,  it  tells  them  of 
these  line  fresh  fields  for  their  yachts  and  their  motors,  and  the  kindliest 
winter  climate  in  Europe,  and  there  it  stops  for  them,  unless  they  are 
also  lovers  of  the  picturesque,  the  romantic,  and  the  curious. 

The  great  point,  to  my  mind,  in  which  Sicily  excels  the  Riviera  is, 
that  it  feeds  the  mind.  Grant,  which  I  do  not  believe,  that  the  climate 
of  the  Riviera  is  equal  to  that  of  Sicily;  it  remains  a  Paris  on  the 


4  SICILY   THE  NEW   WINTER    RESORT 

Mediterranean,  while  Sicily  is  Japan  on  the  Mediterranean,  it  is  so  much 
the  antipodes  of  England. 

In  this  land  of  summer-in-winter  the  hotels,  with  only  one  or  two 
exceptions,  are  not  what  Englishmen  call  first-class,  but  they  are  good 
enough  ;  and  though  the  Sicilian  has  not  always  choice  meat  to  cook, 
he  cooks  it  well ;  the  living  is  endurable,  and  the  outdoor  life  which 
you  lead  keeps  you  in  the  highest  health  and  spirits.  There  are  so 
many  amusing  things  to  see  and  do.  Take  your  life  in  Palermo,  for 
instance  ;  if  you  want  the  air  and  like  old  palm  trees  in  a  riot  of  half- 
tropical  flowers,  you  can  go  and  lose  yourself  in  the  Duke  of  Orleans' 
park  ;  if  you  like  a  garden  more  formal  and  costly,  you  can  walk  in 
Count  Tasca's  villa ;  if  solitude  and  romance  suit  your  mood,  you  can 
take  a  carriage  to  the  medieval  convent  of  the  Gesu  embosomed  on  a 
mountain-side  and  approached  through  the  cypress  avenues  of  the 
Tombs  of  the  Nobles. 

If  you  have  been  reading  of  Palermo's  magnificent  Emirs,  you  can 
go  and  stand  by  the  mosaiced  fountain  which  ripples  across  the  marble 
floor  of  the  vaulted  court  of  the  Zisa,  or  stand  in  the  pathetically 
beautiful  cloister  of  the  Eremiti  looking- at  its  five  red  mosque  domes. 


THE  MOORISH  CLOISTER  AT  MONREALE 


If,  as  an  Englishman,  you  are  flushed  with  pride  at  the  glory  of  those 
other  Norman  kings,  who  were  the  greatest  of  their  time,  when  the 
Conqueror  had  been  gathered  to  his  fathers,  you  will  find  such  mani- 


WHAT  THERE    IS   TO    SEE  5 

festations  of  their  splendour  and  power  as  that  jewel  of  ecclesiastical 
architecture,  the  Royal  Chapel  at  Palermo,  and  that  golden  house  set 
in  a  court  of  ineffable  beauty,  the  cathedral  of  Monreale. 

Say  that  you  have  done  all  the  sight-seeing  which  your  brain  can 
take  in  without  tiring  and  feel  "the  need  of  the  little  things  of  life  ;  to 
pass  the  remaining  hours  you  have  only  to  step  into  the  old  market  of 
the  Piazza  Nuova  to  see  people  living  in  the  simplicity  of  life  which 
can  hardly  have  altered  in  the  long  procession  of  the  nations  which  have 
tramped  through  Sicily  from  the  age  of  the  Greek  and  Phoenician  to 
the  yesterday  of  the  Spaniard.  The  life  of  the  people  in  Sicily  is  the 
life  of  primitive  peoples  in  all  ages. 

To  some,  the  greatest  relaxation  is  shopping.  They  soon  find,  in 
Palermo,  shops  where  pale  interesting  men  sell  all  manner  of  things, 
whose  loveliness  grows  upon  them,  although  until  they  set  foot  in 
Sicily,  these  were  things  not  dreamt  of  in  their  philosophy — time-worn 
-religious  jewels,  coins  immortalising  with  startling  distinctness  the 
beauty  of  the  women  who  walked  in  Sicily  two  thousand  years  ago, 
bronzes  or  terra-cottas  that  were  placed  by  Greek  hands  in  Sicily's 
million  tombs. 

Sicily  is  the  land  of  tombs  and  tombless  corpses  stranger  still.  In 
the  catacombs  of  the  Cappuccini  at  Palermo,  you  see  soldiers  and 
cardinals  and  court  beauties,  dried  into  mummies  and  leaning  forward 
in  their  robes  from  the  vaulted  walls,  to  preach  from  their  silent 
withered  lips  a  startling  sermon  to  humanity. 

These  epitomes  of  well-hewn  airy  catacombs  are  the  first  example 
which  come  to  most  foreigners'  eyes  of  the  underground  cities  of  the 
dead,  that  honeycomb  a  Sicilian  town.  The  other  catacombs  of 
Palermo  are  closed,  though  they  run  in  all  directions.  You  go  to 
Girgenti  and,  above  all,  Syracuse  to  see  the  noblest  catacombs  in 
Europe. 

The  catacomb  of  St.  John  at  Syracuse  is  a  mile,  perhaps  two  or 
three  miles  long  ;  no  one  has  ventured  to  seek  its  end  ;  a  second  and 
a  third  catacomb,  hardly  entered,  lie  underneath  it.  Off  its  broad  main 
street  run  smaller  terraces  of  the  dead,  with  here  and  there  a  Rotondo, 
like  the  Quattro  Canti,  which  form  the  hearts  of  traffic  in  Sicilian  towns. 
Sepulchres  innumerable  are  finely  carved  in  the  walls  of  each  passage 
and  chamber  in  these  cities  of  the  dead.  When  modern  eyes  first  saw 
them  they  contained  here  and  there,  raised  on  a  rocky  plinth,  a  royally 
carved  marble  sarcophagus,  now  the  glory  of  some  museum.  The 
emblems  of  Christian  martyrdom  and  immortality  were  then  fresher  on 
the  rocks. 

And  these  are  only  Christian  graves  of  the  period  when  the  Roman 
Empire  was  decaying  to  its  fall.  In  a  way,  they  may  be  the  most 


6  SICILY  THE  NEW  WINTER  RESORT 

interesting,  but  they  belong  to  the  least  interesting  period,  except  when 
you  come,  as  you  do  at  Palazzolo,  in  the  bowels  of  the  earth  to  long 
galleries  cut  with  fine  architectural  grace  into  a  forest  of  columns  and 
arches. 

There  are  earlier  tombs  and  later  belonging  to  lordlier  races.  Of 
the  Saracens,  we  have  naught  but  honeycombed  rocks.  But  it  is  not 
so  with  the  Normans ;  those  lords  of  mankind  went  back  to  mother 


THE  FAMOUS  GALLERY  OF  HELLENISTIC  TOMBS  IN  THE  VAL  D  ISl'ICA 
(From  a  photo  by  Cavaliere  Napolitano  of  Ragusa) 

earth  leaving  not  a  wrack  behind,  save  when  they  were  great  enough 
for  princely  sepulchres.  The  tombs  of  the  Norman  kings  are  so 
downright  in  their  costly  imperishability,  that  you  see  what  kind  of 
men  they  were  who  made  the  Byzantine  and  the  Saracen  and  the 
Sicilians  of  ancient  Greek  and  Roman  strains  build  their  glory.  Roger 
and  his  imperial  successors  He  in  the  cathedral  at  Palermo  in  mighty 
blocks  of  porphyry  like  trunks  of  trees  shaped  into  coffins,  below 
canopies  that  are  warriors7  tents  in  marble.  At  CefalCi  a  Norman 
Marquis  Geraci  sleeps  in  an  ancient  Greek  sarcophagus. 

Soon  there  followed  the  gracious  tombs  of  the  Renaissance  with 


WHAT   THERE   IS    TO   SEE  7 

fair  women  sleeping  in  white  marble,  or  knightly  figures  meekly  kneeling 
like  the  Vice-re  d'Acuna  in  the  Catania  Duomo. 


THE   TOMB   OF   THE  VICE-RE   D  ACUNA   IN   CATANIA   CATHEDRAL 

With  them  came  the  incomparable  Gagini,  carving  his  human 
semblances  like  a  Verrocchio  and  his  fillets  of  foliage  with  the 
delicacy  of  the  Fiesole  Mino.  Gagini's  masterpiece  is  his  tribunal 
behind  the  altar  in  S.  Cita  at  Palermo,  but  his  gracious  Madonnas  are 
scattered  up  and  down  the  land — a  new  sculptor,  ranking  with  the 
great  Florentines,  to  swim  into  the  ken  of  the  art-lover ! 

Post  hoc  diluvies  .  .  .  after  these  came  the  Baroque,  the  style  of 
monsters,  which  before  it  finished  had  to  writhe  into  the  plaster 
nightmares  of  the  Palagonia  Villa.  But  amid  the  deluge  blossomed 
Sicily's  other  candidate  for  the  suffrage  of  sculpture-lovers,  Serpotta, 
the  poet  in  plaster  of  the  eighteenth  century.  This  extraordinary  man 
filled  the  churches  of  Palermo  with  a  statuary  of  stucco  so  hard  and 
fine  that  it  has  lasted  perfect,  and  executed  with  such  a  sense  of  beauty 
that  one  is  forced  to  forgive  him  when,  like  the  maker  of  the  Tanagra 
figures  in  old  Greece,  he  gives  us,  irrespective  of  his  subject,  the 


8 


SICILY  THE   NEW  WINTER  RESORT 


haughty  beauties  of  his  own  day  in  the  height  of  feminine  fashion. 
Serpotta's  work  is  so  beautiful  and  spirited  that  you  forgive  him  all  his 
faults  of  taste,  though  you  feel  that  it  was  he  who  founded  the  Campo 
Santo  school  of  sculpture  in  modern  Italy. 

Before  the  Christian  tombs  of  the  catacombs  came  the  tombs  of 
Roman,  Greek,  Phoenician,  and  the  earlier  races.  Here  and  there  in 
Sicily  the  'Roman  has  left  the  towers  of  masonry  in  which  he  loved  to 

lay  his  dead.  Here  and  there  a 
Greek  necropolis,  like  that  of  an 
cient  Gela,  yields  great  finely- 
moulded  sarcophagi  of  terra-cotta 
with  the  dead  man's  funeral 
trappings  undisturbed.  Here  and 
there  Phoenician  graves  have  held 
terra-cotta  corpse-cases  indicating 
the  human  form  with  Egyptian 
severity.  The  prehistoric  men  ex 
celled  them  all  in  rock  sculpture, 
with  their  fair  round  beehive 
chambers  and  low,  square  door 
ways,  as  finely  smoothed  round 
their  edges  as  though  they  had 
been  moulded  and  not  hewn. 
Perhaps  they  lived  in  their  tombs 
until  they  had  occasion  to  use 
them.  Who  knows  but  that  this 
was  etiquette  with  Troglodytes. 
It  was  certainly  the  practice  of 
the  early  Christians  in  troubled 


THE  ENTRANCE  TO  A   SIKEL  TOMB 


times. 


Fresh  tombs  are  constantly 

being  found  and  opened  in  Sicily,  and  from  them  flows  the  undiminish- 
ing  stream  of  genuine  antiques  which  find  their  way  into  the  market. 

From  tombs  the  transition  to  churches,  if  not  temples,  is  easy,  and 
one  may  take  the  temples  first,  though  there  is  little  evidence  of  any 
connection  between  temples  and  cemeteries,  unless  it  be  the  heroum — 
the  templum  feriale — the  mortuary  shrine  of  the  Syracusans  who  fell 
in  the  most  glorious  battle  of  their  history,  under  the  rock  of 
Palazzolo. 

Sicily  has  of  one  kind  and  another  about  forty  Greek  temples,  few 
indeed  like  those  we  name  Concordia  "and  Juno  at  Girgenti,  Diana 
at  Segesta,  and  the  ancient  and  complete  temple  built  into  the  cathedral 
at  Syracuse,  though  there  are  many  with  picturesque  bits  like  the  angle 


WHAT   THERE    IS   TO   SEE  '§ 

of  the  Temples  of  Castor  and  Pollux  at  Girgenti.  But  the  first  view 
of  ancient  Girgenti  or  Segesta  is  a  sight  never  to  be  forgotten.  The 
stone  of  these  shrines  of  the  men  who  endowed  the  world  with  a 


ARCH   IN   THE  GARDEN   OF   THE   CASA   LEVA   AT   MODICA 
(From  a  photo  by  Cav.  Napolitano  of  RagusaJ 


The 


literature  and  an  art  of  immortal  beauty  has  ripened  into  gold, 
finest  of  the  Greek  ruins  are  temples  and  theatres. 

The  churches  as  a  whole  are  unworthy  of  comparison  with  the 
temples.  The  one  church  in  Sicily  whose  outward  form  one  may 
compare  without  shame  with  the  cathedrals  of  Florence,  or  Siena, 
or  Pisa,  is  the  cathedral  of  Palermo,  which,  if  its  dome  were  taken 


io          SICILY  THE   NEW  WINTER   RESORT 

down,  might  rank  almost  next  to  St.  Mark's  in  outward  form.  The 
charm  of  Cefalu  depends  more  on  simplicity  and  mellowness  of  colour 
than  on  pure  lines  of  beauty  ;  indeed,  of  gems  of  architecture  the 
churches  have  little  to  instance  beyond  the  interior  of  the  Cappella 
Reale,  the  cloister  of  Monreale,  the  mosaics  of  Monreale  and  Cefalu, 
and  certain  features  of  the  mosque-like  Eremiti. 

I  speak  of  pure  gems.  Sicily  is  a  land  of  rough  jewels.  Just  as 
the  jewellers'  windows  are  full  of  uncouth,  battered,  but  still  beautiful 
seventeenth-century  pieces,  so  is  the  island  full  of  windows,  and 
porches,  and  loggias  with  Gothic  graces.  In  the  humours  of  baroque 
vulgarity  Sicily  is  rich.  For  the  earthquake  of  1693  threw  down 
half  the  buildings  of  the  island  in  the  foolish  heyday  of  baroque. 
But  those  who  delight  in  ingenious  inlays  of  rich  marbles  will  reap 
their  reward.  It  was  the  fashion  of  the  day,  and  all  Sicily  is  veined 
with  jasper,  and  porphyry,  and  agates. 

I  must  not  linger  too  long  on  what  man  has  given  to  Sicily,  for 
Heaven  has  been  so  bountiful  to  her.  Her  mountains  are  full  of 
springs,  and,  with  water,  anything  not  too  tropical  will  grow  in  Sicily. 
She  is  wrapt  in  deep,  clinging  garments  of  wild  flowers.  Was  there 
ever  such  a  place  for  them  in  Europe  ?  But  it  is  not  always  the  richest 
vegetation  which  makes  for  most  beauty  in  Sicily.  The  rolling 
champaign  sprinkled  with  old  spiralled  olives,  the  abrupt  volcanic 
mountain  swathed  in  the  dusty  green  of  prickly-pears,  are  often  more 


THE   MADONIAN    MOUNTAINS 


WHAT  THERE    IS   TO   SEE 


TI 


beautiful  than  a  Lato- 
mia  of  Venus,  where 
desperate  roses  climb 
twenty  feet  through  tan 
gled  rivals  to  the  light. 

The  mountains  and 
the  dells  in  Sicily  touch 
the  very  heart  of  beauty. 
Etna  is  another  Fuji 
yama,  a  beheaded  pyra 
mid  with  shoulders 
mantled  in  snow. 

Monte  Maggiore 
couches  like  a  lion  be 
fore  the  eyes  of  half 
the  island.  The  peaks 
of  the  interior  of  Sicily 
are  like  the  wave  crests 
of  the  whirlpool  at 
Niagara  in  their  multi 
tude  and  their  tossing. 
Look  whichever  way 
you  will  in  Palermo, 
your  vista  is  bounded 
by  a  mountain,  a  crown 
of  stone  like  Monte 
Pellegrino,  or  a  linger 
pointing  to  heaven  like 
Monte  Cuccio.  There 
is  no  spot  in  all  Sicily . 
from  which  you  cannot 
see  a  mountain  except 
when  you  step  down 
into  one  of  the  little 
valleys  where  the  old 
Greeks  looked  to  meet 
their  half-  gods  and 
goddesses,  or  a  strayed 
Olympian  come  down 
to  earth  for  the  love  of 
a  mortal  maid. 

In    the    marvellous 
Val  d'Ispica,  the  eight- 


12 


SICILY  THE    NEW   WINTER    RESORT 


mile  gorge  which  was  a  city  of  the  prehistoric  men,  I  know  a  little  dell 
whose  low  cliffs  hold  the  rock  chambers  in  which  these  strange  men 
lived  and  died.  It  is  filled  almost  to  the  brim  with  trees  and  flowers, 
and  murmurs  with  the  voices  of  running  waters.  How  easily  might 
these  have  been  taken,  in  an  age  which  worshipped  only  with  superstition, 
for  the  invitations  of  Naiads,  the  saints  of  springs  ;  how  easily  might 
the  wood-spirit  Dryads  lurk  in  such  tangles  of  greenery ;  and.  what  place 
like  this  for  the  Oreads,  the  mountain's  daughters,  who  hide  in  caves. 


VAL    D'lSPICA  :    GROTTA    DI    S.    ALESSANDRO 
From  a  photo  by  Cav,  Napolitaao  of  Ragusa) 


CHAPTER    II 

TRAVEL    IN    SICILY 

THE  \ery  first  question  anybody  asks  you  about  Sicily  is,  "How 
do  you  get  there  ?  " 

There  are  several  ways ;  the  three  which  commend  themseh  es 
most  to  those  to  whom  expense  is  no  object  are — if  they  do  not  like  the 
sea  at  all  to  take  the  train  de  luxe  through  to  Palermo  ;  if  they  do  not 
like  the  sea  much  to  take  the  train  de  luxe  through  to  Naples  ;  and  if 
they  are  fond  of  the  sea  to  go  by  one  of  the  great  Australian  liners  to 
Naples.  From  Naples  there  are  admirable  boats  to  Palermo — the 
white  boats  of  the  Florio-Rubattino  (Navigazione-Generale  Italiana) 
which  are  like  little  Atlantic  liners,  with  their  gorgeously  decorated 
music-rooms  and  ocean-steamer  saloons  and  berths.  You  go  on  board 
in  time  for  dinner  and  you  wake  up  at  Palermo.  By  the  train  de  luxe  to 
Palermo,  all  the  sea  you  get  is  the  Channel  crossing  and  the  Strait 
of  Messina,  which  is  only  a  few  miles  broad  where  you  cross,  and 
completely  landlocked.  Your  carriage  runs  on  to  the  steamer,  and  you 
proceed  in  the  same  carnage  to  Palermo.  As  arrangements  were 
when  we  were  in  Sicily  last  spring,  the  only  time  you  had  to  leave  the 
carriage  was  at  Rome.  Perhaps  even  that  will  be  dispensed  with. 

For  more  experienced  travellers,  or  those  who  have  to  consider 
economies  more  closely,  there  are  two  fresh  alternatives,  to  go  by  sea 
from  Marseilles  to  Palermo  by  a  French  boat,  or  to  go  by  sea  from 
Genoa  to  any  port  in  Sicily  by  an  Italian  boat.  The  latter  takes  time, 
because  the  boats  put  into  Naples  for  a  day  and  each  of  the  Sicilian 
ports  for  about  a  day ;  but  this  is  the  route  which  we  prefer  ourselves. 
We  generally  sail  by  night,  and  spend  the.  day  in  port.  We  enjoy  a 
few  hours  ashore  at  old  fa'miliar  haunts  like  Pisa  (from  Leghorn), 
Naples,  or  Messina.  These  boats  are  not  very  luxurious,  but  they  are 
sometimes  quite  large,  and  the  food  is  about  as  good  as  the  average 
hotel  food.  It  is  rather  like  yachting. 

You  have  less  difficulty  with  the  customs  and  faccHni  in  the  train 
than  any  other  way,  and  Palermo  is  the  most  civilised  port  to  land  at. 
At  other  ports  the  ship  does  not  go  alongside,  and  the  faccttni  look 

13 


TRAVEL    IN    SICILY  15 

like  howling  savages,  -though  they  mean  no  harm  except  to  your  purse. 
The  Florio-Rubattino  Company  has  not  yet  grasped  the  way  to 
popularise  itself  with  strangers  ;  at  the  offices  you  can  never  get  a 
direct  answer  about  accommodation  until  the  boat  is  in,  and  in  a  land 
where  the  boatmen  and  facchini  are  always  more  or  less  troublesome, 
it  is  a  serious  drawback  when  steamers  do  not  discharge  their  pas 
sengers  at  the  wharf. 

Suppose  all  these  troubles  over,  and  that  you  are  safe  in  Sicily,  the 
question  arises,  Where  shall  you  go  ?  There  are  only  two  towns  in 
Sicily  where  creature-comforts  come  first — Palermo  and  Taormina. 
I  think  I  am  not  unfair  when  I  say  that  the  only  globe-trotters'  hotels 
are  the  Hotel  Igiea,  the  Hotel  de  France,  and  the  Hotel  des  Palmes  at 
Palermo ;  and  the  Hotel  Timeo  and  the  Hotel  S.Domenico  at  Taormina. 
Messina  and  Catania  do  not  get  enough  visitors  to  give  much  society. 
Syracuse  and  Girgenti  are  more  serious  places  ;  people  go  to  them 


THE  CATHEDRAL  AND   FOUNTAIN  OF  ORION  AT   MESSINA 

not  for  society,  but  because  they  are  well  enough  read  to  wish  to 
see  the  glorious  Greek  ruins.  Outside  of  these  places  the  ordinary 
traveller  would  not  understand  the  hotel  accommodation ;  it  is  often 
not  really  bad,  but  it  is  so  primitive  that  visitors  are  disgusted  before 
they  give  it.  a  fair  trial-  In  mountain  towns  it  is  sometimes  appalling 
£o  weak  nerves. 


i6 


SICILY  THE   NEW   WINTER   RESORT 


•  To  people  who  go  to  Sicily  without  any  idea  of  what  they  are  going 
to  see,  but  simply  because  its  winters  are  warm  and  other  people  go 
there,  Palermo  and  Taormina  are  the  only  places.  At  the  latter  they 
get  beautiful  air  and  beautiful  views  ;  there  is  hardly  a  lovelier  place  in 


*          *      *'  ""  •  ''*    •'   1 


TAOKMINA  :    THE  VIEW   OF   ETNA    FROM   THE   GK/BCO-KOMAN   T  UK  AT  KB 

the  world.  They  sit  about  in  the  Greek  theatre,  or  in  the  garden  of 
the  Hotel  San  Domenico,  as  they  sit  out  a  dance  in  London,  and  visit 
all  the  curio-shops,  with  which  the  town  abounds,  to  see  if  there  is 
anything  left  worth  buying  ;  they  even  take  a  walk  up  to  the  castle. 

Briefly,  Taormina  is  an  ideal  loaiing  place,  where  you  meet  a  number 
of  nice  people,  and  there  are  plenty  of  beautiful  old  bits  for  anybody 
who  really  enjoys  them,  and  you  can  get  your  kodaks  developed, 
and  buy  refills. 

Palermo,  on  the  other  hand,  is  an  extremely  interesting  place  to  those 
who  wish  to  be  interested,  and  has  a  good  deal  to  offer  alike  to  the 
idealist  and  the  unintelligent.  For  the  latter,  the  Hotel  Igiea  is  the 
place,  with  its  exquisite  gardens  of  palms  and  brilliant  parterres  of 
flowers,  reaching  down  in  terraces  to  the  sea.  The  views  across  the 
bay  are  superb,  and  there  are  plenty  of  the  Riviera  set  to  enjoy  yourself 
with.  There  you  escape  the  main  drawback  to  Palermo,  the  difficulty 
of  getting  out  into  the  country ;  the  chief  difficulty,  of  course,  is  the 
time  it  takes  to  get  into  the  town,  and  that  is  why  other  people  prefer 
to  go  to  the  Hotel  de  France,  on  the  Piazza  Marina  itself,  and  the 
Hotel  des  Palmes,  which  is  fairly  central.  For  Palermo  is  so  full. 


TRAVEL    IN   SICILY  17 

of  interesting  things — parts  of  it  are  quite  medieval;  and  it  is  also- 
full  of  life— the  Via  Macqueda  is  always  crowded.  Caflisch's  cafes 
are  entertaining  at  afternoon  tea-time,  and  the  coffee  and  cakes  are 
excellent.  There  are  beautiful  things  in  the  expensive  curio-shops 
of  the  Maequeda  and  the  Corso,  and  you  gradually  learn  where 
the  shops  are  at  which  you  can  pick  up  greater  bargains  in  lace  and 
old  enamels  and  seventeenth-century  jewellery. 

Even  the  stupidest  person  cannot  fail  to  be  impressed  with  the 
artistic  glories  of  Palermo;  the  Royal  Chapel  is  the  most  beautiful 
ecclesiastical  building  in  Christendom;  the  cathedral  looks  like  a 
golden  bit  of  the  Orient ;  the  Eremiti  is  like  a  mosque  in  a  Persian 
garden  ;  the  museum  is  a  dream  of  beauty ;  and  when  you  have  done 
these,  there  are  rich  sub-tropical  gardens  like  the  Orto  Botanico, 
the  Duke  of  Orleans'  park,  and '  Count  Tasca's  villa ;  and  there  are 
the  delightful  excursions  to  Monreale,  with  its  golden  mosaics  and  its 
exquisite  Saracen  cloister,  and  to  the  Campo  Santo  of  the  nobles  at  the 


THE  GARDEN  OF  THE  EREMITI  AT   PALERMO 

Gesu,  a  tumble~down  medieval  church  on  the  side  of  a  mountain  ;  not 
to  mention  the  Emirs'  hall  at  the  Zisa,  which,  with  its  fountain  and  its 
honeycomb  roof  and  its  hunting  mosaics,  looks  like  a  bit  out  of  the 
Arabian  Nights. 

Not  the  least  interesting  thing  about  Palermo  is  its  numerous 
nobility.  They  have  noble  palaces,  full  of  accumulated  treasures, 
at  which,  once  in  a  way,  they  give  a  gorgeous  fete.  The  opera- 


i8.         SICILY   THE   NEW   WINTER    RESORT 

house,  the  largest  in  the  world,  is  kept  up  for  them,  and  they  have 
their  races,  and  passeggiata  at  sunset,  and  make  Palermo  a  real  capital, 
more  of  a  capital  than  any  city  in  Italy  except  Rome. 

Palermo  I  can  never  resist :  it  is  so  full  of  medieval  stones  and  the 
footsteps  of  history ;  but  there  are  many  places  in  the  island  which. I  find 
more  interesting  than  Taormina,  and  I  shall  now  turn  to  those  who  go 
to  Sicily,  not  so  much  for  society,  but  because  they  are  interested  in 
the  island's  rich  and  varied  associations.  They  will,  of  course,  find 
much  to  interest  them  both  in  Palermo  and  Taormina,  the  two  gayest 


THE  CLOISTER  OF   MONREALE 


places  in  the  island  as  far  as  strangers  are  concerned.  But  they  will 
enjoy  many  other  places  also,  such  as  Syracuse,  which  is  literally 
paved  with  history  ;  and  has  buildings,  like  its  Greek  theatre,  which 
were  famous  in  the  time  of  Thucydides-;  and  haunted  spots,  like  the 
fountain  of  Arethusa,  in  which  Cicero  saw  the  sacred  fish,  whose 
descendants  are  still  in  possession.  Syracuse  is  full  of  wonders, 
too, — the  ear  in  which  the  prisoners  of  Dionysius  had  their  lightest 
whisper  overheard,  the  sunken  gardens  of  the  Latomias,  in  which 
captive  armies  of  Athenians  languished,  and  the  mile-long  catacombs 
where  Christians  lived  among  their  dead  in  the  days  of  the  Saracen 
persecution. 

Syracuse  is  wonderful,  but  not  so  wonderful  at  first  glance  as  Girgenti, 
whose  five  chief  temples  stand  in  waning  procession  on  the  skyline  of 


TRAVEL   IN    SICILY  .  19 

the  acropolis ;  or  Selinunte,  the  Sicilian  Babylon,  with  its  ruins  so  vast 
in  extent  and  tossed  in  such  fantastic  piles  that  they  look  like  the  work 
of  a  volcano,  a  lava  stream  of  precipitated  columns. 


THE  MOAT  OF  THE  CASTLE  OF  EURYALUS,   SYRACUSE 

There  are  good  hotels  at  Syracuse  and  Girgenti,  though  they  are  not 
globe-trotters'  places.  But  to  visit  Selinunte,  and  Segesta's  perfect 
temple  on 'its  lonely  mountain-top,  the  non-motorists  must  get  up  at  a 
preposterous  hour  in  the  morning,  or  try  a  country  inn. 

My  advice  is  to  get  accustomed  to  country  inns  as  soon  as  possible, 
because  then  you  can  visit  Marsala,  with  its  underground  city  and  its 
great  wine  industry  ;  Eryx,  with  its  Carthaginian  walls  ;  Modica,  with 
its  wonderful  peasant  costumes  and  its  eight-mile  valley  of  the  homes  and 
tombs  of  the  cave-dwellers  ;  Ragusa,  with  its  famous  asphalt  mines ; 
Palazzolo,  with  its  Greek  theatre  and  its  labyrinths  of  Hellenistic 
tombs ;  the  city  of  the  dead  at  Pantalica ;  unawakened  medieval 
cities  like  Randazzo  and  Nicosia ;  forgotten  cities  with  mighty  Greek 
ruins  like  Tyndaris,  the  Taormina  of  the  north  coast ;  Cefalu,  with  its 
tall  Greek  house  built  in  the  days  of  Homer,  and  its  mosaics  of  the 
Hermits  of  Mount  Athos ;  Sciacca,  with  its  healing  vapour-caves, 
used  by  the  Ancients,  which  bring  back  health  with  the  swiftness  of  a 
magician's  wand  ;  and  Castrogiovanni — the  Enna  of  Ceres. 

Motor-cars,  as  I  show  in  the  final  chapter,  will  let  one  see  almost  any 
of.  the  cities  of  the  interior  from  some  centre  with  a  passable  hotel. 


20          SICILY  THE   NEW   WINTER   RESORT 

Paris  was  worth  a  mass  to  Henri  Quatre,  and  Sicily  is  _so  full  of 
marvels— of  old  Greek  ruins  and  volcanic  phenomena,  that  it  is  worth 
roughing  it  to  the  limit  of  one's  endurance,  • 


THE   BASILICA   OR   PALAESTRA,    TYNDARIS 

But  those  who  keep  to  the  great  towns  of  the  coast,  at  all  periods  01 
Sicilian  history  the  chief  places  in  the  island,  will  not  have  to  rough  it 
at  all,  and  will  find  that  they  have  left  the  winter  behind  them. 

P.S. — As  for  clothes,  men  will  find  that  their  flannels,  if  one  suit 
is  dark,  and  their  dress-clothes  will  carry  them  through,  with  plenty  of 
overcoats.  On  most  days  thick  suits  are  oppressive,  but  at  sunset  or  in 
the  shade  it  may  be  quite  cold,  so  it  is  wise  to  keep  a  coat  in  the  cab. 
Cabs  are  so  cheap  in  Sicily  that  you  generally  have  one  in  tow.  For 
hats  you  Only  need  a  cloth  cap  and  a  Panama  straw  or  a  Monte  Carlo 
felt,  You  never  see  a  tall  silk  hat.  For  shirts  most  men  wear  just 
what  they  would  wear  if  they  were  staying  on  the  river  or  the  moors 
in  England. 

Ladies  do  not  need  large  wardrobes  in  Sicily.  A  few  evening  dresses 
or  evening  blouses  for  table  d'hote,  and  tailor-made  skirts,  which  they 
can  wear  with  or  without  their  coats  for  the  day-time,  is  all  they  want, 
unless  they  mean  to  go  into  society  at  Palermo,  which  alters  the  case 
altogether.  Hats  and  parasols  can  be  bought  cheap  and  pretty  in  the 
great  Sicilian  towns,  as  they  are  needed.  But  a  good  supply  of  wraps 
is  advisable.  When  you  are  going  any  distance  in  winter,  you  always 
take  wraps  in  case  you  are  kept  out  after  sunset,  or  in  case  of  a  cold  wind 


TRAVEL    IN    SICILY  21 

springing  up.  Furs  and  capes  and  long  travelling-coats  will  all  come 
in  useful.  The  boots  and  shoes  which  do  for  the  Riviera  do  for 
Palermo  ;  but  in  the  ^country  ladies  will  do  well  to  come  provided  as 
they  would  for  smart  houses  on  the  moors.  Sicily  is  so  rocky  that 
they  have  to  wear  their  shooting-boots  whenever  they  go  for  a  walk. 

The  great  thing  in  Sicily  is  not  to  catch  cold  needlessly.  There  is 
no  malaria  in  winter.  But  a  cold  may  change  into  a  fever.  With 
ordinary  care  you  need  never  catch  a  cold  in  this  delightful  climate. 

I  think  Sicily  would  satisfy  even  the  American  child  who  asked  its 
mother  if  heaven  was  as  nice  as  people  make  out.  "  Of  course,"  replied 
the  horrified  mother;  "why  do  you  ask?"  "Because  none  of  the 
places  we  go  to  in  summer  ever  come  up  to  the  agents'  advertisements." 


SELINUNTE  :    THE    MOATS   AND   WALLS   OF   THE   ACROPOLIS 


CHAPTER  III 

THE    MAFIA    AND    OMERTA THE    IMMUNITY    OF    FOREIGNERS    FROM 

MOLESTATION    IN    SICILY 

SINCE  the  introduction  of  motoring  has  opened  up  the  interior  of 
Sicily  to  foreign  visitors,  many  inquiries  have  been  made  as  to  the 
risks  run  by  motorists  from  evil-doers.  The  assailants  principally 
dreaded  are  of  two  kinds — brigands  and  mafia,  but  neither  of  them  molest 
foreigners  unless  they  happen  to  be  residents  and  property-owners.  The 
only  people  foreigners  really  run  any  risk  from  are  common  footpads, 
and  that  only  in  wild  districts  like  the  country  behind  Corleone. 
Eastern  Sicily  enjoys  a  much  better  reputation  than  western  Sicily  in 
this  respect.  Throughout  the  favoured  provinces  of  Syracuse  and 
Messina,  and  through  nearly  the  whole  province  of  Catania,  even 
naturalists  and  others  whose  avocations  take  them  into  the  loneliest  and 
most  remote  parts  are  secure  from  molestation.  Indeed,  in  some  parts 
of  the  province  of  Syracuse,  as  in  the  Palazzolo  district,  evil-doers  are 
expelled  by  the  community.  And  with  regard  to  the  west  of  Sicily, 
it  must  be  remembered  that  most  other  parts  of  Europe  anything  like 
as  wild  are  viewed  with  apprehension  by  the  lonely  traveller.  To  show 
how  safe  even  the  tremendous  fastnesses  of  the  interior  are  to  the 
foreigner,  I  have  secured  the  following  opinion  upon  the  mafia  from 
Dr.  Pitr&,  one  of  the  greatest  living  authorities  on  the  subject.  This 
should  be  read  carefully,  as  it  revolutionises  the  impression  which  has 
hitherto  prevailed  in  this  country. 

"It  is  generally  believed  among  foreigners  that  the  arrogant  and 
oppressive  spirit  referred  to  in  omerth  and  mafia,  which  tends  to  elude 
the  courts  of  justice,  and  to  secure  respect  and  legal  profits  to  the  benefit 
of  the  less  scrupulous  people  through  menace  or  intimidation,  is  an  evil 
extending  throughout  Sicily,  especially  among  the  lower  classes  of  its 
inhabitants.  This  is  a  mistake  ;  it  is  neither  right  nor  correct  to  speak 
of  Omerth  Sidliana  and  Mafia  SiclRana.  These  evils,  to  say  the  truth, 
are  more  or  less  prevalent  in  some  provinces  ;  more  or  less  deeply 
rooted  in  some  cities  of  the  same  province ;  but  they  do  not,  by  any 
means,  form  the  main  features,  nor  are  they  characteristic  of  all  the 


THE   MAFIA  AND   OMERTA  23 

lower  classes  of  the  whole  island.  The  eastern  Sicilian  provinces 
(Messina,  Catania,  and  Syracuse)  may  justly  be  said  free  from  mafia 
and  omerta.  And  if  in  some  of  the  towns  of  the  province  of  Catania 
is  sometimes  observed  a  single  phenomenon  of  omerta,  this  never  happens 
in  the  other  two  above-mentioned  provinces,  viz.  Messina  and  Syracuse. 
In  the  large  cities,  like  Messina,  Catania,  and  Syracuse  themselves,  the 
conditions  of  the  public  security  and  criminality  are  very  satisfactory, 
and  the  public  spirit  in  repressing  misdoings  helps  the  Government's 
action  ;  therefore,  the  law  is  never  obstructed  in  its  work  of  reform  and 
punishment. 

u  Even  in  those  provinces  where  manifestations  of  omerta  occur,  it  is 
noticeable  that  the  evil  finds  easier  ground  among  farmers  and  those 
who,  by  their  business,  are  brought  into  daily  contact  or  transactions 
with  them  ;  when  cases  do  happen  among  the  upper  classes,  they  are 
entirely  isolated,  and  can  be  explained  either  by  the  desire  to  be  un 
molested  or  by  the  exigencies  of  politics  which  are  apt  to  dictate  a 
man's  associates  and  establish  ties  between  electors  and  elected." 

To  give  a  sufficiently  clear  idea  of  the  mafia  and  omerta,  so  much 
spoken  of  ktely,  I  may  quote  what  this  illustrious  writer,1  the  famous 
folklorist  and  ethnologist,  says  : — 

"  Put  together  and  blend  a  little  of  self-possession,  boldness,  bravery, 
valour,  prepotency,  and  you  shall  have  something  like  mafia  without, 
however,  constituting  it.  Mafia  is  neither  a  sect  nor  an  association. 
It  has  neither  regulations  nor  statutes.  A  mafioso  is  not  a  thief  nor 
a  rascal ;  and  if  for  an  outward  meaning  of  the  word  the  quality 
of  mafioso  has  been  applied  to  the  thief  and  the  rascal,  it  is  simply 
because  the  greater  part  of  the  public — not  always  highly  cultivated — 
has  had  no  time  to  "reflect  upon  the  value  of  the  word,  nor  has  it  cared 
to  know  that  in  the  thief's  or  rascal's  own  estimation  the  mafioso  is 
simply  a  bold  and  valiant  man — one  who  will  not  tolerate  any  insult 
whatever,  and  therefore  regards  the  being  mafioso  as  necessary,  nay,  in 
dispensable.  Majia  is  the  consciousness  of  one's  individuality,  the 
exaggerated  conceit  in  one's  strength,  which  is  regarded  as  the  sole 
arbiter  of  every  dispute,  of  every  conflict  of  interests  and  opinions, 
which  results  in  an  intolerance  of  anyone  else's  superiority,  or  worse 
still,  anybody  else's  power.  The  mafioso  desires  to  be  respected,  and 
he  nearly  always  respects  others.  If  he  has  been  offended,  he  never 
applies  to  justice,  never  submits  himself  to  the  laws ;  if  he  did  so,  he 
would  consider  it  an  act  of  weakness  and  transgressing  the  principles 
of  omerta,  which  reckons  as  schlfiusu  or  'nfami  (detestable  or  dishonoured) 
him  who  calls  in  the  magistrate.  He  knows  how  to  defend  his  rights 
himself,  and  when  he  thinks  he  is  not  capable  of  doing  so  .(nun  sljida), 

1  Pitre's  Usi  e  Costuml^  credence  e pregwdi'z'i  del  Popolo  S'ci/iano,  v.  2°. 


24          SICILY  THE   NEW  WINTER   RESORT 

then  he  does  it  by  the  intervention  of  somebody  else,  whose  thinking 
and  feelings  are  like  his  own.  If  this  person  is  unknown  to  him,  a 
sign  or  a  mere  syllable  will  suffice  to  make  himself  understood  and 
render  himself  sure  to  get  satisfaction  and  have  his  wounded  honour 
restored.  Omerta  does  not  signify  *  humility'  as  it  might  wrongly 
seem  at  first ;  but  the  quality  or  peculiarity  of  being  omit  ('  a  man '), 
i.e.  serious,  steady,  strong.  The  omerta  is  a  special  feeling  which 
consists  in  rendering  oneself  independent  of  social  laws  ...  in  re 
solving  all  controversies  either  by  force  or,  at  least,  by  arbitration 
entrusted  to  one  of  the  most  influential  representatives  of  the  omerta  in 
that  neighbourhood. 

"  The  spirit  of  omerta  goes  so  far  as  to  have  its  own  code  of  honour, 
resembling  in  this  respect  the  code  of  honour  in  duels.  In  all  other 
classes  nearly  every  quarrel  would  be  settled  by  the  sword ;  the 
chivalrous  point  of  honour  would  never  be  considered  otherwise 
satisfied.  The  point  of  honour  in  omerta  takes  the  same  view  ;  it 
never  considers  itself  satisfied  unless  means  differing  from  those  of  the 
law  are  used.  Such  means  vary  from  the  duel,  quite  rare  with  men, 
and  occasioned  by  motives  of  omerta,  to  the  murdering  of  the  offender 
or  of  those  who  have  had  a  hand  in  the  offence.  The  omerta  has  its 
basis  in  the  silence  without  which  the  omu  could  not  be  an  omu  or 
maintain  his  unquestioned  superiority.  Were  he  to  be  disco\ered 
by  Justice's  eye,  he  would  suffer  its  penalties.  But  omerta  goes 
unpunished  'and  unnoticed,  inasmuch  as  nobody  would  dare  to 
denounce  it,  and  if  ever  it  were,  no  one  would  bear  witness  against 
it.  Besides  the  omerta  of  the  criminal  there  is  the  omerta  of  the 
honest  man,  who,  if  he  happens  to  be  wounded  in  a  quarrel,  never 
denounces  his  wounder,  however  earnestly  he  may  be  solicited  to  do  so, 
and  will  rather  decline  any  idea  of  vengeance  than  to  Jack  in  what 
he  thinks  to  be  his  unavoidable  course.  As  a  matter  of  omerta  the 
culprit — innocent  of  the  crime  ascribed  to  him — does  not  utter  a 
word,  and  if  circumstances  so  dictate,  takes  silently  the  condemnation 
which  sentences  him  either  as  the  author  or  accomplice,  and  pays  for 
it  willingly,  whilst  the  guilty  remains  free  and  unsuspected. 

"The  same  silence  is  sometimes  kept  about  injuries  or  offences 
which  the  courts  should  be  called  upon  to  repair,  and  this  peculiarity 
extends  itself  also  to  women,  not  only  in  anything  that  would  call  for 
the  interference  of  the  police,  but  of  any  person  who  is  invested  with 
public  authority,  civil  or  military.  Should  a  pickpocket  steal  a  hand 
kerchief  off  a  by-passer,  and  a  policeman  chase  him,  no  one,  man  or 
woman,  who  can  stop  the  thief,  will  do  so  ;  and  if  summoned  to  bear 
witness,  neither  one  of  them  would  acknowledge  to  have  seen  the 
rascal.  The  very  individual  who  was  robbed  or  swindled  may  perhaps 


IMMUNITY   OF   FOREIGNERS  25 

reveal  the  mischief  he  has  suffered,  but  never  divulges  his  suspicions  as 
to  the  true  culprit.  Should  an  officer  discover  a  fraud  against  a  grocer 
and  seize  the  goods  as  well  as  the  man,  the  populace  would  think 
it  to  do  a  good  deed  to  help  the  defrauder  to  escape.  If  a  cabman  or 
a  carter  happens  to  run  over  somebody,  the  bystanders  will  help 
the  offender  to  run  away,  because  the  dead  is  dead,  and  it  is  the  living 
ic ho  must  be  helped.  From  this  follows  an  extraordinary  distrust  towards 
any  unknown  person,  and  a  natural  reluctance  to  show  anyone's  dwelling 
to  a  stranger  who  asks  for  it.  It  is  quite  useless  to  ask  a  boy  whether 
your  friend  So-and-So  lives  in  the  same  building  as  he  does,  and  on  the 
very  next  floor  to  his ;  for  his  mother  taught  him  that  cast  nun  si  'nni 
'nsignanu  (abodes  must  not  be  indicated),  and  you  might  be  a  detective 
on  his  way  to  notify  a  fine,  a  collector  for  the  income-tax  to  seize  the 
furniture,  a  policeman  to  summon  the  party  looked  for  to  the  police- 
court,  etc.  Is  this  omerta  ?  No.  Here  the  omerta  ends,  and  the 
diffidence  of  Cicero's  genus  suspiciosum  begins.  It  is  quite  interesting  to 
observe  during  cross-examinations  and  criminal  processes  what  a  stupid 
face  the  omu,  who  appears  before  the  court,  assumes,  whether  he  be 
culprit  or  witness,  and  how  humble  and  submissive  he  shows  himself  to 
the  judge  or  any  member  of  the  court,  with  the  view  of  deviating 
suspicion  and  having  time  enough  to  reflect  upon  the  questions  ad 
dressed  to  him,  and  not  seeming  the  man  he  is  suspected  to  be. 

"This  is  written  to  give  the  traveller  an  idea  of  what  the  words 
mafia  and  omerta  mean  in  Sicily ;  but  it  has  no  further  interest  for 
him,  inasmuch  as  foreigners  who  travel  through  Sicily  are  generally 
entirely  unmolested.  Even  in  small  towns,  or  out  in  the  country  where 
some  of  the  country  people  go  in  for  omerta,  strangers  have  nothing  to 
fear,  because  the  mafioso,  at  the  bottom,  loves  his  own  country  and 
is  hospitable.  He  would  consider  it  cowardice  and  still  worse  to 
attack  a  foreigner. 

"  In  the  provinces  of  Messina  and  Syracuse,  where  crime  is  at  a 
minimum  and  probably  far  below  that  of  many  regions  of  northern 
Europe,  the  traveller  may  go  about  quite  alone  in  the  outskirts  of 
cities  and  visiting  monuments  and  archaeological  sites  without  the  least 
apprehension." 

In  confirmation  of  the  above,  a  question  addressed  to  the  Ora,  one 
of  the  principal  Palermo  newspapers,  elicited  the  following  reply, 
though  the  editor  was  unwilling  even  to  print  the  word  owerta,  to 
which  the  question  alluded  :  — 

"  A  Curious  Ragusano. — The  etymology  of  the  word,  which  can  be 
most  relied  on,  is  the  word  '  omu?  which  in  vernacular  means  a 
person  who  is  conscious  of  his  own  rights,  and  of  the  respect  due  to 
him.  And  I  may  add  that  the  word  means  that  should  a  crime  be 


26 


SICILY  THE  NEW  WINTER  RESORT 


committed  in  the  sight  of  A,  brother  of  the  victim,  he  will  absolutely 
ignore  it  before  the  authorities,  but  later  on  he  himself,  A,  will  shed 
the  blood  of  the  murderer  in  such  a  way  that  the  authorities  may  have 
no  hold  upon  him,  and  thus  revenge  his  relative.  Again,  outside  this, 
'one  of  the  mafia  witnessing  the  murder  of  another  majioso  by  one  who 
does  not  belong  to  the  brotherhood,  will  never  come  forward  as  a 
witness,  will  never  assist  in  bringing  the  criminal  to  judgment,  but  later 
on  he  himself  will  accomplish  the  revenge,  in  a  sure  and  swift  fashion, 
as  a  rule  causing  the  man  to  disappear.  The  head  of  the  Palermo 
police  once  remarked  to  me,  '  Were  a  cross  to  be  placed,  on  every 
spot  where  a  victim  lies  buried  in  the  plain  of  Palermo,  the  Conca 
d'Oro  would  be  one  vast  cemetery.'  " 

The  decision  of  last  July  in  the  great  mafia  case,  which  lasted  four 
years,  in  favour  of  Signor  Palizzolo,  who  was  accused  of  the  murder 
of  Signor  Notobartolo,  of  Palermo,  does  not  in  any  way  impugn  the 
accuracy  of  the  above.  It  took  place  in  one  of  the  western  provinces, 
that  of  Palermo,  where  the  writer  allows  the  mafia  and  omerth  to  exist, 
and  no  foreigner  was  in  the  least  concerned.  The  only  foreigners  ever 
troubled  by  mafa  or  brigands  in  Sicily  have  been  men  with  property  in 
the  island,  like  Mr.  Rose,  which  introduced  the  question  of  employer 
and  employed,  or  of  submission  to  the  levies  of  the  mafa. 


THE  BRIDGE  OF  THE  ADMIRAL 


CHAPTER  IV 

VARIOUS    TYPES   AND    COSTUMES — PIANA    DEI   GRECI,    AND   OTHER    ALBANIAN 
SETTLEMENTS THE    LIFE    OF    THE    PEOPLE 

ONE  of  the  great  charms  of  Sicily  is  its  un-Europeanness.  Europe 
has  been  civilised  for  so  long  that  there  is  a  sort  of  decimal- 
coinage  likeness  about  its  clothes,  and  its  customs,  and  its 
dwelling-places  ;  they  are  not  precisely  the  same  ;  a  coin  worth  9^., 
English,  may  in  its  different  types  be  called  a  franc,  or  a  lira,  or  a 
drachma,  but  it  is  essentially  the  same,  and  it  is  this  sort  of  cosmo 
politan  sameness  which  spoils  most  countries  of  Europe  for  the  traveller. 
But  in  Sicily  and  in  Spain,  and  in  Greece  and  in  Turkey,  there  is 
virgin  country  yet  not  trampled  out  of  recognition.  Of  the  four,  the 
easiest  and  safest  to  travel  in,  the  one  where  you  are  always  sure  of 
food  against  which  your  stomach  will  not  rebel,  is  Sicily,  which  has  the 
best  winter  climate.  Its  nearest  rival  in  that  respect  is  the  Riviera, 
but  the  Riviera  is  liable  to  be  swept  by  the  terrible  mistral,  beside  which 
the  "Levanter"  of  Sicily  is  child's  play,  and  it  of  all  places  has 
suffered  most  from  the  subtle  feet  of  change.  When  the  day  is  fine 
and  still  and  bright,  it  is  delightful  to  lounge  about  the  promenades  of 
Nice,  among  beautiful  and  beautifully  dressed  people,  whose  happy 
resolve  it  is  to  extract  the  utmost  pleasure  out  of  life  ;  but,  take  away 
the  sunshine  and  the  company,  and  there  is  mighty  little  to  do.  It  is 
all  lounge  and  promenade.  How  different  it  is  in  Sicily,  where  you 
are  always  on  the  point  of  exhuming  buried  civilisations,  and  are  in  the 
presence  of  a  population  which  has  hardly  changed  since  the  days  of 
Dionysius. 

There  is  much  in  costume.  A  people  that  changes  its  costume 
changes  its  creeds.  Dress  is  so  much  the  outward  and  visible  sign  of 
opinion.  Sicily  is  conservative  in  the  matter  of  costume ;  there  is,  of 
course,  always  the  element  of  people  well  enough  off  to  adopt  the 
cosmopolitan  standard ;  it  is  only  the  poor  who  show  their  quality  of 
mind  by  retaining  the  indestructible  plain  clothes  of  the  country,  in 
the  place  of  being  submerged  in  cast-off  shoddy. 

In   the  matter  of  costume,  there  are  degrees  even  in   Sicily.     In 

27 


28         SICILY  THE   NEW  WINTER   RESORT 

Palermo,  Taormina,  Catania,  Messina,  the  cosmopolitan  element  is 
slowly  but  surely  spreading.  The  coloured  handkerchief,  tied  round 
the  head  hoodwise,  and  perhaps  a  pair  of  top-boots,  are  the  only  marks 
which  distinguish  the  countryman  from  the  town  pauper  ;  but  even 
there  you  find  one  purely  national  touch,  one  sterling  artistic  element, 
the  cappa,  or  capote — Sicily  has  not  forgotten  its  Spanish  yet — the 
dark-blue  hooded  cloak,  which  every  man  wears  in  bad  weather,  and  in 
the  cold  dawning  hours  in  which  the  Sicilian  working  day  begins.  It 
reaches  down  to  below  the  knees,  and  is  generally  of  a  sort  of  native 


IN  THE  MADONIAN  MOUNTAINS  I    MUFRA 


pilot  cloth,  dark  blue  and  rough  surfaced,  though  in  Modica  it  has  a 
smooth  face,  and  in  some  towns  is  black  instead  of  blue.  In  the 
mountain  towns  every  man  wears  top-boots,  because  every  man  rides  to 
and  from  his  work.  The  Sicilian,  finding  his  plains  ravaged  by 
malaria,  and  lonely  houses  subject  to  the  visitation  of  robbers,  lives  in 
the  little  cities  which  crown  his  native  hills  like  eagles'  nests.  It  is  no 
matter  if  he  has  to  ride  forth  at  dawn,  and  not  get  back  till  nightfall ; 
his  ass  carries  him  there  and  back,  shares  his  house,  even  his  room,  and 
receives  no  food  but  what  he  can  pick  up  himself.  He  is  a  fine  beast, 
and  when  his  master  is  cloaked  and  he  is  fully  panniered,  the  pair  of 
them  make  a  splendid,  almost  scriptural,  figure  in  the  landscape.  The 


TYPES  AND  COSTUMES 


29 


women,  on  tall  asses,  are  even  better.  There  are  tableaux  vivanis  of 
Murillo's  holy  families  by  the  dozen  on  every  great  country  road. 

The  women  of  the  people  attire  their  heads  with  simple  grace  in 
kerchiefs  dyed  with  the  saffron  crocus  of  the  mountain-side.  Their 
shawls  are  put  on  with  fine  instinct,  and,  when  they  are  not  riding 
scripturally  on  asses,  they  will  be  clustering  in  one  of  the  two-wheeled 
yellow  carts,  built  to  fit  Greek  chariot-ruts  and  painted  with  legends 
out  of  history  and  Scripture.  The  patient  ass  is  harnessed,  it  may  be, 
to  a  cart  with  a  dozen  souls  in  it,  but  he  is  allowed  to  go  at  his  own 
pace  that  never  kills,  and  is  decked  with  splendid  scarlet  trappings, 
such  as  a  scarlet  plume  a  yard  high. 

All  these  are  no  more  than  you  may  see  in  the  skirts  of  the  largest 
towns,  but  Sicily  has  in  her  gift  more  precious  sights  than  these. 

Take  Modica,  for  instance,  a  great  city  of  60,000  inhabitants, 
seldom  visited  by  foreigners.  Beyond  a  little  weaving  for  the  cloth  of 
the  peasants7  dresses,  it  is  entirely  given  up  to  being  the  centre  of  an 
agricultural  district.  Most  of  the  inhabitants  are  the  cultivators  of  the 
land,  who,  except  at  fist  as,  are  out  all  day  at  their  work.  But  take  a 
Sunday  morning,  and  you  will  find  them  standing  about  the  market- 


THE  CLOISTER  OF  S.   MARIA  DI  GESU   AT  MODICA 

(Frcm  a  photo  by  Cav.  Napolitano  of  Ragusa) 


3o         SICILY  THE   NEW  WINTER   RESORT 

place  turning  it  into  a  fifteenth-century  picture,  with  their  clean-shaven, 
anmodern  faces,  and  the  traditional  costumes  of  the  countryside. 
The  Modica  women  are  very  proud  of  their  little  quarter-cloaks  of 
fine-faced  cloth  of  a  lovely  dark  blue,  trimmed  with  three  or  four  rows 
of  black  velvet  down  the  front.  Nowhere  else  in  Sicily  do  I  remember 
these  cloaks  ;  indeed,  there  are  very  .few  places,  except  at  Modica  and 
Randazzo,  where  the  women  wear  cloaks  at  all.  These  cloaks  are 
worn  over  their  heads,  held  in  at  the  throat,  just  like  the  black  shawls 
worn  by  the  women  of  Girgenti  and  Eryx.  Their  dresses  have  full 
skirts  and  their  tight-fitting  bodices  lace  up  the  front,  like  a  pair  of  stays, 
over  a  white  stomacher  ;  the  sleeves  are  very  full  and  tied  in  at  the 
wrists. 

The  men  of  Modica  are  far  more  picturesque  than  the  women, 
although  the  cloaks  of  the  latter  are  so  handsome  and  becoming. 
They  are  said  to  have  three  distinct  costumes — the  native,  the  Spanish, 
and  the  African  ;  they  have,  at  any  rate,  two  very  marked  costumes — 
a  short  frock  very  like  a  very  full-bottomed  Norfolk  jacket  made  of 
brown  frieze,  which  is  their  ordinary  everyday  dress,  and  a  sort  of 
sleeveless  bolero  of  faced  black  cloth,  opening  down  the  front  some 
thing  like  the  women's.  This  is  worn  over  a  very  full,  finely-ironed 
white-linen  shirt,  with  bishops'  sleeves.  Their  legs  are  quite  differently 
clad  from  other  places  in  Sicily,  the  tight  breeches  of  the  same  stuff  as 
their  jacket,  whichever  it  may  be,  coming  down  almost  to  their  ankles. 
They  do  not  wear  top-boots,  but  a  sort  of  rough  bluchers,  not  unlike 
the  Breton  peasants',  and  not  coming  quite  up  to  the  bottom  of  their 
breeches.  Their  caps  are  as  peculiar,  the  three  favourite  varieties  being 
a  sort  of  coif,  like  those  worn  by  Popes  and  Doges  ;  a  black  silk 
stocking-cap,  which  costs  about  twelve  francs,  and  is  sold  by  weight ; 
and  a  black  stocking-cap  of  cloth  in  which  the  stocking  does  not  fall 
slack  at  the  side  like  the  Neapolitan  fisherman's  cap,  but  is  carried  with 
a  sort  of  stiffening  over  the  back  of  the  head.  These  are  really  most 
remarkable,  and  no  one  but  a  native  can  put  them  on.  The  frieze  of 
which  their  working  clothes  are  made  is  well  worthy  of  notice,  they 
weave  it  themselves,  and  dye  it  a  bright  chestnut-brown.  It  is  just 
like  the  rough  Irish  friezes  used  for  the  original  ulsters,  and  the  grease 
is  left  in  the  wool,  from  which  it  is  woven  for  winter  garments.  In 
the  severe  winter  of  these  mountains  it  is  doubtless  admirable,  but  the 
heat  of  it  in  summer  must  be  appalling. 

The  old  men  wear  their  hair  very  long,  and  look  just  like  the  men 
in  Pinturicchio's  pictures. 

After  Modica  the  best  towns  I  know  for  costumes  are  Randazzo 
and  Aderno,  both  of  them  on  Etna,  but  the  best  women's  head-dresses 
are  at  Palazzolo.  At  Randazzo  on  festa  days,  the  women  wear  white 


TYPES   AND   COSTUMES  31 

cloaks,  made  in  the  same  style  as  the  Modica  cloaks,  but  coming  down 
a  few  inches  below  their  waists,  of  a  white  flannely  cloth.  They  have 
also  very  distinct  jewellery — necklaces  of  large  gold  beads,  as  large  as 
blackbirds'  eggs?  and  long  dropping  earrings  of  gold  filigree  work. 


MODICA  CONTADINI 
(From  a  photo  by  Cav,  Napolitano  ot  Ragusa) 

These  white  woollen  mantelinl  have  hoods.  In  Randazzo  you 
sometimes  see  the  contadinl  from  Tortorici,  whose,  dress,  with  the 
swathed  legs,  reminds  you  more  of  the  people  of  the  Saracen  villages  in 
the  south  of  Italy,  very  wild  and  poor-looking  people.  The  men  of 


32          SICILY  THE   NEW   WINTER   RESORT 

Randazzo  are  the  ordinary  Montesi,  with  top-boots  and  cloaks,  and 
keep  their  heads  and  necks  swathed  in  grey  woollen  shawls ;  the  moun 
tain  Sicilian  might  suffer  from  chronic  toothache,  judging  by  the  way 
he  shawls  his  head  up. 

The  most  beautiful  dresses  worn  by  any  Sicilian  women  are  those  of 
Aderno,  where  until  1 794  the  commons  all  wore  Greek  costumes  and 
the  nobles  Spanish.  On  Easter  Sunday  when  the  miracle  play  is  going 
on,  you  may  see  dozens  of  exquisite  brocade  shawls  of  pure  lemon, 
pink,  lavender,  peach,  and  other  delicate  tints  with  full  skirts  to  match 
of  a  plain  silk.  The  skirts  and  the  shawls,  though  of  different  materials, 
are  always  exactly  the  same  colour,  showing  that  they  must  have  been 
dyed  at  the  same  time,  and  you  very  seldom  see  two  alike.  They  are 
magnificent  fabrics,  as  soft  and  rich  as  Liberty  could  produce,  and  of 
exquisite  shades.  The  women  also  have  distinctive  jewellery,  noticeably 
rich  and  elegant ;  the  men  of  Aderno  wear  black  cloaks  with  silver 
buttons,  and  short  black  jackets  rather  in  the  Spanish  style,  trimmed 
in  coster  fashion  with  silver  buttons. 

The  women  of  Palazzolo  and  Canicattini  have  a  very  striking  head 
dress,  consisting  of  a  flat  pad  as  large  as  a  Leghorn  hat,  with  the 
shawl,  which  the  men  use  for  swathing  their  heads  and  necks,  draped 
over  it  and  falling  down  in  elegant  curtains  like  an  American  woman's 
mourning  veil. 

At  Taormina  and  some  other  places,  the  contadini,  who  have  not 
sold  their  birthright  of  shawls  to  artists  and  curio-hunters,  have  very 
valuable  shawls  made  with  whorls  rather  similar  to  those  of  Cashmere 
shawls.  The  best  of  them  have  a  white  ground,  and  the  colouring  is 
sometimes  very  rich  arid  lovely,  but  they  have  mostly  been  replaced 
with  cheap  shawls  stamped  with  patterns  imitating  their  own.  These 
shawls  are  not  worn  over  the  head,  but  with  a  headkerchief  of  similar 
material.  In  Eryx  (Monte  S.  Giuliano)  and  Girgenti,  the  women 
wear  valuable  fine  black  shawls,  with  a  very  rich  fringe,  and  these  they 
put  on  over  their  heads  and  draw  them  in  a  little  at  the  throat.  Even 
in  Palermo  these  black  mantl  are  constantly  worn  by  quite  well-off 
women  to  church,  the  reason  being  that  the  lower-class  Sicilian  women  , 
do  not  wear  hats,  and  that  their  Church  is  very  strict  about  women  not 
entering  a  place  of  worship  with  uncovered  heads.  The  tiniest  girl 
child  will  spread  its  handkerchief  over  its  head  if  it  has  no  hat  or 
shawl  when  it  goes  into  church,  and  I  have  been  in  a  mountain  town 
of  ten  thousand  inhabitants,  on  a  Sunday  morning,  when  all  the  women 
were  about  and  not  seen  one  in  a  hat. 

In  some  towns  such  as  Castrogiovanni,  you  hardly  see  the  women 
at  all.  At  Taormina  the  men  have  a  good  national  costume,  and  often 
wear  it  to  get  money  by  being  photographed  or  painted.  It  consists  of 


TYPES   AND   COSTUMES  33 

an  Eton  jacket  and  tight  knee-breeches  of  rough  pale  blue  cloth.  The 
legs  are  swathed  and  thonged,  and  the  feet  laced  into  bits  of  hide  with 
the  hair  still  left  on,  shaped  like  walnut-shells.  They  wear  stocking- 
caps.  At  Syracuse  the  women  wear  shawls  and  headkerchiefs  of 
nc5  particular  pattern,  and  the  men  beyond  their  cloaks  show  little 


THE  MADONIAN  MOUNTAINS 


distinctive  costume.  By  the  side  door  of  the  Villa  Politi,  however, 
there  is  an  old  farmer,  with  Spanish  mutton-chop  whiskers,  who  dresses 
in  a  short  Spanish  jacket  of  black  cloth  and  a  black  stocking-cap  like  a 
Modican.  I  have  purposely  left  Piana  dei  Greci,  and  its  sister  Albanian 
communities,  to  the  last.  Flying  from  Turkish  oppression  in  the 
fifteenth  century,  a  colony  of  Albanian  Greeks  established  itself  here, 
and  still  keeps  up  its  national  costume  and  customs  and  Greek  rites  ; 
though  it  puts  on  the  former  and  goes  in  for  the  latter  largely  to  win 
the  money  of  strangers,  who  are  interested  in  this  tenacious  community, 
which  has  kept  up  its  national  characteristics  through  four  or  five 
centuries  of  txile  in  a  distant  land.  Your  hotel-keeper  arranges  with 
the  priest  at  Piana  dei  Greci  to  have  a  wedding  for  such  a  day,  the 
wedding  ceremony  being  the  best  of  the  customs  which  have  survived. 
The  priest  demands  a  dowry  of  so  many  francs  for  the  bride,  and  to 
earn  this  pound  or  two,  two  people  lightly  accept  each  other  for  the 
better  and  worse  of  a  lifetime,  and  are  joined  together  in  holy  matrimony. 


34          SICILY  THE   NEW  WINTER   RESORT 

These  people  wear  a  dress  similar  to  that  of  the  Albanians  at  Athens — 
the  fustianella  petticoat,  the  bolero,  and  the  fine  underlinen  with 
bishop's  sleeves. 

In  dealing  with  types  one  is  not  on  such  firm  ground  as  in  dealing 
with  costumes.  One  sees  a  good  many  people  with  fair  or  reddish 
hair  and  blue  eyes  in  addition  to  the  large  section  of  the  population  who 
have  what  are  called  Sicilian  eyes  of  a  dark  grey  which  looks  blue  in 
some  lights  and  black  in  others. 

I  asked  a  Sicilian  prince,  who  is  one  of  their  best  antiquaries,  whether 
he  attributed  this  to  the  Norman  blood  in  bygone  ages.  "No,"  he 
said,  with  a  cynicism  well-nigh  brutal,  "to  the  Northern  sailors  of 
the  day."  Perhaps  he  was  right,  perhaps  he  was  wrong.  Those  who 
specialise  about  such  things  profess  to  find  a  Moorish  strain  in  the 
people  round  Palermo  as  they  do  round  Modica  and  Marsala.  The 
handsomest  people  are  supposed  to  come  from  the  province  of  Messina, 
especially  round  Taormina,  and  this  is  claimed  to  be  an  ancient  Greek 
type.  Crupi,  the  photographer,  has  certainly  photographed  some 
hauntingly  lovely  faces  and  wonderfully  elegant  nudes.  I  think  the  best- 
looking  btfys  that  have  come  into  my  experience  have  been  at  Girgentf, 
where  there  might  reasonably  be  both  Greek  t  and  Arabic  strains. 
I  am  speaking  for  the  moment  of  youths,  the  Greek  ephebi  of  whose 
beauty  we  hear  more  than  that  of  the  Greek  women. 

Coming  to  the  question,  not  so  much  of  youthful  beauty  as  of  a  fine- 
looking  population,  the  people  in  the  mountain  districts  are  decidedly 
superior,  and  this  superiority  is  paralleled  in  their  manners.  The 
people  in  Palazzolo  and  Castrogiovanni  and  Modica  are  magnificent 
specimens  of  an  unspoiled  primitive  race.  They  have  majestic  faces, 
straight  muscular  bodies,  and  delightful  manners.  They  are  good  to 
strangers,  very  polite  and  smiling,  willing  to  take  any  trouble. 

At  Modica,  if  one  poor  person  forgets  himself  and  is  too  inquisitive, 
another  touches  him  and  tells  him  not  to  go  so  near  fatforestieri.  At 
Palazzolo,  they  say  that  there  are  no  evil-doers,  that  public  feeling  will 
not  allow  them  to  remain  in  the  district.  At  Castrogiovanni  we 
often  had  a  small  crowd  with  us,  but  it  was  a  crowd  of  sympathisers. 
The  only  disagreeable  people  in  the  town  were  the  man  and  woman 
who  kept  the  only  hotel  of  these  days,  and  they  were  Milanese,  not 
Montesi.  The  Montesi  consider  themselves  a  superior  race. 

As  to  types,  I  must  confess  that  the  people  of  Modica  puzzled  me 
most ;  large  eagle  features  are  so  common.  The  peasants  of  Modica 
do  not  strike  one  as  being  Greek,  or  Moorish,  or  Spanish  in  type, 
though  they  have  preserved  the  costumes  of  all  three.  They  look  more 
like  the  mid-Italians  of  the  fifteenth  century,  the  people  in  Pinturic- 
chio's  and  Fiorenzo  di  Lorenzo's  paintings.  The  type  is  medieval. 


TYPES   AND   COSTUMES  35 

Artists  who  go  in  for  character  drawing  will  find  Modica  extra 
ordinarily  rich  in  material. 

And  this  brings  me  to  the  third  point  in  this  chapter,  the  life  led  by 
the  people  of  Sicily. 

To  begin  at  the  top,  there  is  the  coterie  of  the  wealthiest  people  in 
the  island  who  mix  a  little  with  the  English  residents,  and  many  of 
them  speak  and  read  English.  They  are  accomplished  cosmopolitans, 
the  men  dressing  in  London  and  the  women  in  Paris.  Then  comes 
the  mass  of  the  Sicilian  upper  class,  who  are  mostly  not  well  off, 
though  the  nobles  among  them  may  have  enormous  palaces  in  Palermo 
and  fine  castles  in  the  country.  A  few  of  the  men  are  very  studious, 
good  scholars,  scientists  or  antiquaries,  but,  with  few  exceptions,  they 
have  not  got  rid  of  the  idea  that  it  is  bad  form  for  a  gentleman  to 
maintain  himself  otherwise  than  by  rents  and  the  produce  of  his  land. 
They  even  frown  on  the  army  and  the  navy. 

Women  never  do  anything  more  intellectual  than  read  foreign  novels; 
that  is  their  high-water  mark.  They  have  no  topics  of  conversation 
but  dress  and  domestic  worries  and  intrigues,  and  dress  is  not  a  very 
inspiring  subject,  when  you  have  no  money  to  spend  on  it.  They  have 
no  interest  in  life  except  novels  and  intrigues.  Women's  rights  are  in 
a  very  elementary  stage,  they  have  little  more  freedom  than  the  women 
of  Eastern  nations.  Except  when  they  go  to  parties,  their  only  dis 
sipation  is  the  passeggiata,  the  sunset  dawdle  in  the  decaying  family 
chariot. 

The  men  go  to  their  clubs  and  gamble,  and  pay  their  two  francs 
for  the  right  to  go  and  sit  in  richer  friends'  boxes  at  the  opera- 
house,  the  largest  in  the  world.  The  women  economise  sturdily  in 
order  to  have  any  sort  of  a  carriage  and  pair  for  the  passeggiata. 
They  would  almost  rather  go  without  food  than  go  without  a 
carriage.  They  do  go  without  dress  to  achieve  it.  The  poor  Sicilian 
aristocrat,  provided  that  she  has-  a  hat  with  a  bouquet  and  hearse 
plumes,  and  a  velvet  jacket  to  fill  up  the  little  peep  you  get  of  her 
as  she  paces  along  in  the  passeggiata  in  the  closed  brougham,  will, 
when  she  is  in  her  own  house,  go  about  dressed  like  a  boarding- 
house  keeper  who  does  her  own  cooking.  The  idea  of  keeping 
fresh  and  neat  for  the  society  of  their  own  family  never  occurs  to 
them. 

The  -men  do  not  wish  to  work  and  they  do  not  wish  to  give  up  the 
carriage — ergo,  dress  and  diet  are  cut  down  to  the  finest  point.  But  the 
Sicilian  aristocrats  who  have  looks  and  money  dress  exquisitely;  they 
show  taste  when  they  have  the  means. 

That  economising  upper  class  is  not  very  attractive  to  the  stranger 
until  it  is  compared  with  the  well-off  class  below  it,  which  supplies  the 


36          SICILY   THE   NEW  WINTER   RESORT 

pushing  business  man,  and  the  more  pushing  loafer  who  stands  about 
in  the  passeggiata  all  gloves,  and  cane,  and  collar,  and  tie.  The 
"  bounder  "  class  in  Sicily  is  appalling,  and  sometimes  annoys  foreign 
ladies.  There  is  this  excuse  for  them,  that  Sicilians  do  not  stand  upon 
introductions  between  the  sexes,  when  a  man  wishes  to  propose 
marriage  to  a  woman.  Which  is  partly  explained  by  the  further  fact 
that  no  man  is  supposed  to  take  any  notice  of  any  woman  whom  he 
does  not  wish  to  make  his  wife,  or  his  kept  mistress.  That  is  the 
idea  in  the  country.  In  Palermo  the  bounder  ogles  any  woman  who 
has  not  a  man  to  protect  her.  Nor  are  the  women  of  the  prosperous 
middle  class  always  attractive,  though  sometimes,  like  the  women  of 
the  class  below  them,  they  have  wonderful  looks  for  their  breeding  and 
station. 

With  the  exception  of  the  great  aristocrats,  few  of  the  ranks  I  have 
been  mentioning  are  very  interesting.  It  is  the  classes  below  who 
make  Sicily  so  charming.  There  are  three  millions  and  more  of  the 
simple  classes,  and  there  is  much  to  admire  in  them.  They  are 
patient,  they  are  frugal,  they  are  natural.  How  the  young  shop  girl 
both  in  Sicily  and  Italy  contrives  to  dress  her  beautiful  hair  so 
elegantly  it  is  difficult  to  understand.  Her  clothes  fit  well,  and  are 
made  of  attractive  materials.  She  is  neatly  shod,  and  when  she  is 
married  will  have  a  most  elaborate  trousseau.  Yet  her  wages  spell 
starvation  by  our  standards.  By  a  cruel  irony  in  a  land  where  hats 
are  so  pretty  and  cheap,  no  one  of  this  class  uses  them  except  the 
degenerates  in  cities.  We  have  nothing  corresponding  to  them  in 
England;  they  are  the  moosmes  of  Sicily,  cheerful,  pretty-looking, 
and  industrious,  but  they  are  not  the  real  people  any  more  than  those 
above  them.  Nobody  can  claim  to  belong  to  the  real  people  in  Sicily 
who  does  not  wear  rags.  Rags  are  the  hall-mark  of  Sicily  j  some 
times  they  are  loose  and  fluttering  in  the  breeze,  sometimes  they  are 
united  with  a  dozen  incongruous  patches  of  assorted  colours.  The 
professional  beggar  imitates  this  effect  by  sewing  patches  over  an 
untorn  garment.  But  beggars  do  not  often  want  a  make-up  in  Sicily. 
Except  in  certain  places,  such  as  Modica,  anyone  who  works,  and  does 
not  wear  a  uniform,  is  more  or  less  in  rags  on  his  working  days.  And 
as  for  fadings,  most  Sicilian  garments  are  a  natural  khaki,  faded  from 
preposterous  colours  of  dyes  so  fast  that  they  run  out  in  the  first  week 
of  the  summer  sun.  An  artist  might  compare  the  rags  of  the  Sicilian 
to  autumn  leaves. 

We  have  a  proverb  that  the  tailor  makes  the  man ;  perhaps  it  is  true 
of  the  Sicilian,  who  lives  as  the  inhabitant  of  such  rags  might  be 
expected  to  live.  In  town  his  dwelling  is  a  cellar  under  somebody 
else's  house,  with  only  three  walls  and  no  window,  the  place  of  the 


LIFE   OF   THE   PEOPLE  37 

fourth  wall  being  taken  by  a  door  which  can  be  shut  at  night.  During 
the  day  it  is  always  open,  so  that  the  owner  may  take  as  much  of  the 
street  as  he  requires  into  his  premises.  Tenements,  too,  are  rearing 
their  ugly  heads.  The  few  poor  who  live  in  the  country  live  in  hovels, 
not  half  so  well  as  the  people  who  live  in  tombs. 

I  have  never  seen  a  census  of  the  number  of  people  in  Sicily  who 
live  in  tombs,  but  it  must  be  quite  large,  and  if  catacombs  were  not 
generally  private  property  they  would  be  immensely  popular  as  residences. 
I  have  made  the  personal  acquaintance  of  quite  a  number  of  the  modern 
troglodytes  who  live  in  tombs  and  caverns,  most  respectable  people.  I 
expect  the  rents  are  high,  for  these  novel  dwellings  can  never  stand  in 
want  of  repair.  Round  the  Villa  Politi,  at  Syracuse,  there  were  several 
families  of  tomb-dwellers.  One  family  lived  in  a  long  cavern  which 
had  various  tomb-chambers  cut  in  its  walls  ;  these  were  used  as  bed 
rooms  and  storerooms,  and  the  cavern  itself  for  shutting  up  the  goats 
at  night. 

You  might  have  thought  that  if  there  was  any  animal  capable  of 
looking  after  itself  at  night  it  would  be  a  goat,  especially  in  a  climate 
like  Sicily  ;  but  probably  it  is  their  neighbours  and  not  the  goats  who 
cannot  be  trusted.  There  was  another  family  who  lived  in  a  range  of 
tombs  in  a  low  cliff  half-way  between  the  Villa  Politi  and  the  Borgo  of 
S.  Lucia  :  they  were  the  aristocracy  of  tomb-dwellers.  The  tombs 
had  once  belonged  to  what  the  guides  called  a  "nobile"  family,  by  which 
they  mean  they  were  of  sufficient  dignity  to  have  used  sarcophagi. 
The  Sicilians  stood  their  sarcophagi  on  low  platforms  cut  out  of  the 
rock,  about  a  yard  wide  and  a  couple  of  yards  long.  Less  important 
members  of  the  family  were  accommodated  with  arcosoli,  lunette- 
shaped  niches  with  a  grave  in  the  bottom,  cut  like  our  holy- water 
niches  in  the  rock  walls  of  the  cave. 

This  particular  necropolis  did  not  have  any  of  the  still  cheaper  kind  of 
graves,  which  are  so  many  coffin-shaped  holes  cut  in  the  surface  of  the 
rock  as  close  as  they  can  be  packed. 

The  family,  simple  people,  quite  clean  in  spite  of  their  rags,  had 
established  themselves  most  comfortably  in  these  dwellings  of  the 
noble  dead.  They  used  the  sarcophagus  platforms  for  bedsteads,  such 
good  solid  rock  bedsteads,  and  they  had  some  sort  of  blankets  and 
quilts,  whereas  they  might  very  well  only  have  had  the  skins  of  goats 
who  had  died.  On  the  cavern  wall  behind  these  novel  bedsteads  hung 
cheap  prints  of  saints,  and  the  arcosoli  came  in  handy  as  cupboards,  in 
which,  because  they  had  nothing  else  to  keep  there,  they  kept  cheeses. 
They  had  nothing  but  themselves,  and  their  rags,  and  their  cheeses, 
which  we  ate  at  the  hotel  ;  and  yet  they  were  clean.  It  seemed  as  if, 
like  Toddy,  they  could  not  be  bothered  with  a  whole  lot  of  things. 


38          SICILY  THE   NEW   WINTER   RESORT 

Other  tombs  they  used  for  making  cheeses,  the  outward  and  visible  sign 
of  which  is  a  huge  smoke-blacked  cauldron  over  a  few  sulky  embers. 
But  the  result  was  good — a  goatVmilk  cheese  that  looked  something 
like  Port  du  Salut.  Other  tombs  they  used  for  folds  for  their  goats  at 
night.  These  people  never  struck  me  as  being  very  poor,  though  they 
dressed  in  rags  and  lived  in  tombs. 

The  Sicilian  is,  above  all  things,  a  cultivator ;  in  mountainous  places 
he  builds  terraces  from  the  top  to  the  bottom  of  a  mountain,  and 
deposits  good  earth  in  them,  which  he  is  perpetually  digging  and  irri 
gating.  Unobservant  tourists  call  the  Sicilian  idle ;  he  is  never  idle, 
except  when  there  is  not  enough  work  to  go  all  round.  Then  the 
poorest  stands  beside  the  rich  loafer  in  the  most  amusing  part  of 
the  town,  smoking  the  picked-up  end  of  a  cigarette  and  seeing  life. 
The  difference  between  a  Sicilian  working  man  and  an  English  working 
man  is  that  when  want  of  work  gives  the  former  an  enforced  holiday, 
he  makes  a  holiday  of  it,  and  enjoys  it  just  as  he  would  a  festa.  But  give 
any  sign  that  you  want  a  job  done  for  you  by  which  a  few  coppers  can 
be  earned,  or  for  the  matter  of  that  one  copper,  and  every  one  of  the 
unemployed  will  step  forward.  Beggars  are  the  servants  of  the  commti- 
nity,  and  there  is  evidently  honour  among  beggars ;  they  are  often 
trusted  with  money.  You  go  into  a  Sicilian  shop  to  buy  something 
which  the  proprietor  has  run  out  of ;  he  puts  his  head  out  of  the  door 
and  calls  a  beggar  and  sends  him  for  it.  If  the  beggar  had  sufficient 
intelligence  and  he  happened  to  want  a  post-office  order  he  would  send 
him  for  it.  I  have  seen  Madame  Politi  hand  two  hundred  francs — 
;£8 — to  an  awful-looking  tramp  of  a  cabman,  and  ask  him  to  telegraph 
it  to  Milan  for  butter.  Of  course  everyone  knows  everyone  in  a  small 
Sicilian  town,  and  they  are  more  or  less  of  a  happy  family. 

The  cabmen  are  a  numerous  and  entertaining  section  of  the  commu 
nity.  Their  horse  and  cab  sometimes  look  dear  at  a  sovereign,  and  the 
driver  no  better  than  a  beggar  ;  but  these  may  be  only  indications  of 
the  amount  of  business  the  owner  has  been  doing  lately.  "  You  don't 
give  your  horse  enough  to  eat,"  said  an  inflated  Boston  lady  to 
Francesco  Donati.  "I  haven't  enough  for  my  children,"  was  his 
reply  ;  "  when  we  have  plenty  to  eat  the  horse  has  plenty  to  eat ;  you 
cannot  expect  more,  signorina." 

Considering  what  intelligent  men  they  are  (they  are  often  quite  good 
guides,  even  interpreters)  their  fares  are  small  and  few.  There  is 
something  illimitably  dejected  about  a  poor  Sicilian  cabman,  with  his 
mended  and  shikety  vehicle  and  his  bony,  flea-bitten  white  horse,  with 
three  mangy  pheasant's  feathers  nodding  on  its  head.  The  horse  too, 
like  Homer,  nods  sometimes ;  its  pace  is  about  four  miles  an  hour,  and 
less  when  going  down  hill,  for  fear  of  slipping,  in  spite  of  the  ridiculous 


LIFE    OF    THE    PEOPLE 


39 


brake,  which   works   with   a  wheel,  like   the  steering  gear   of  a  river 
steamer. 

That  is  the  Sicilian  cab.  But  the  cabman  has  his  good  points, 
for  unless  you  take  him  outside  the  gates,  for  which  there  is  no  regular 
tariff,  and  which  he  dislikes  in  spite  of  the  increased  gains,  he  does 
not  expect  more  than  his  fare,  and  a  very  small  pourboire,  and  you  can 
leave  anything  in  his  charge,  and  he  will  always  help  you  to  make  a 
bargain. 


PARCO  D'AUMALE  (PALAIS  D'ORLEANS) 


CHAPTER  V 

THE    SCENERY,    THE    GARDENS,     AND    THE    WILD    FLOWERS 

THE  scenery  of  Sicily  has  certain  individual  notes ;  the  grey-green 
of  its  cactus  foliage,  the  intimate  meeting  of  the  sea  and  cultivated 
land,  are  perhaps  the  most  marked.     But  it  is  difficult  almost 
anywhere  in  the  island  to  forget  that  you  are  in  Sicily,  even  when  for 
the  moment  you  are  out  of  sight  of  Etna.     With  an  almost  tideless 
sea  you  may  have  orchards  running  down  to  the  water's  edge,  as  you 
have  in  the  Conca  d'Oro.     Sicily  is  a  land  of  mountains  ;  they  seem  to 


PRICKLY-PEARS.      STRAIT  OF   MESSINA  IN   THE   BACKGROUND 

be  rolling  on  you  one  over  the  other,  like  the  waves  of  the  sea  ;  it  is 
only  in  three  or  four  places  that  you  are  not  hemmed  in  between  the 
mountains  and  the  sea.  The  mountains  have  impressed  themselves 
deeply  on  the  lives  of  the  people.  Etna  is  not  regarded  by  Sicilians  as 

40 


THE   SCENERY 


41 


vengeful,  but  as  the  mother  of  fertility;  the  people  who  live  on  its 
seaward  slopes  are  regarded  with  envy.  And  even  the  barren  mountains 
of  the  interior,  lonely  peaks  two  and  three  thousand  feet  high,  play  their 
part  in  the  national  life  as  the  homes  of  the  workers  in  the  fields.  Each 
of  them  is  capped  with  its  little  ancient  city.  A  large  proportion  of  the 
population  of  Sicily  lives  on  the  sites  of  the  old  Sikelian  cities,  in  the 
old  Sikelian  way,  riding  down  to  its  work  in  the  morning,  and  back 
to  the  security  and  healthfulness  of  the  mountain-tops  in  the  evening. 
These  Montesi  are  fine  men,  with  charming  manners.  It  is  only  when 


THE   MADONIAN   MOUNTAINS  :    THE  ASPROMONTE 

the  mountains  are  precipitous,  like  those  two  great  crowns  of  stone, 
the  rock  of  Pellegrino  and  the  rock  of  Cefalti,  that  they  are  barren. 
The  contadlnl  terrace  the  cones  of  the  interior  to  their  very  eye 
brows,  and  plant  them  with  vines  and  almonds.  Sicily  in  spring  is  a 
sheet  of  almond  blossom. 

The  great  modern  cities,  like  the  great  Greek  cities  of  antiquity, 
are  all  seaports,  though  there  are  cities  of  fifty  thousand  inhabitants 
inland,  like  Modica,  Ragusa,  Castelvetrano,  Caltagirone,  Alcamo,  and 
Caltanisetta,  agricultural  centres  for  the  most  part,  and  not  one  of  them 
important  in  ancient  times.  It  is  strange  that,  in  a  land  where  the  great 
cities  were  all  on  the  sea,  hardly  any  of  them  had  good  natural  ports. 
Perhaps  beaching  did  well  enough  for  the  small  ships  of  the  ancients, 


42          SICILY  THE   NEW  WINTER   RESORT 

at  all  events  the  Greeks  settled  on  the  shore,  and  considered  the  citadel 
a  much  more  important  matter  than  the  seaport.  Acragas,  as  Girgenti 
was  called  in  the  days  of  its  sovereign  power,  had  a  most  flourishing 
trade,  but  it  could  never  have  had  a  real  harbour  until  the  Emperor 
Charles  V.  carried  away  its  temples  to  build  one.  This  had  a  great 
influence  on  Sicilian  scenery.  Beauty  of  site  was  allowed  to  count  for 
so  much.  Nowhere  else,  except  in  corresponding  parts  of  Italy,  do  you 
get  such  delightful  blendings  of  antique  city  and  country  life  and  sea. 

Girgenti  is  a  good  instance.  From  the  Hotel  Belvedere,  on  the  city 
wall,  you  look  down  on  tiny  hand-tilled  fields,  with  the  green  feathery 
fennel,  the  blue  acanthus-like  artichoke,  and  the  grey  prickly-pear  and 
olive.  In  summer,  festooned  with  vines,  a  little  further  off,  is  the 
Norman  convent  of  S.  Nicola,  amid  its  majestic  stone-pines ;  beyond 
that  again,  embosomed  in  the  almond  blossom,  sheets  of  living  snow, 
rise  the  golden  temples  on  a  minor  acropolis ;  and  beyond  that  is  the 
blue  sea  embraced  in  the  green  arms  of  mountains. 

The  acropolis  was  the  keynote  of  Greek  cities.  Here  at  Girgenti 
they  had  two,  the  lower  given  over  to  the  temples  of  the  gods,  the 
last  place  held  against  the  Carthaginians  on  that  awful  night  of 
406  B.C.,  which  left  marks  of  fire  not  faded  yet  on  Juno's  temple 
at  the  highest  point.  This  temple -crowned  acropolis  at  Girgenti 
is  after  the  order  of  the  glorious  acropolis  of  Athens,  as  you  see 
very  clearly  if  you  drive  along  the  lower  road  between  the  temples 
and  the  sea. 


AN  OLIVE  GARPBN 


THE   WILD    FLOWERS  43 

Selinunte  had  just  such  another  acropolis,  but  there  the  columns 
of  the  mighty  temples  lie  where  they  fell  when  the  earthquake  or  the 
Carthaginian  laid  them  low.  Certainly  the  prime  charm  of  Sicily, 
after  the  immortal  beauty  of  Etna,  lies  in  the  mingling  of  Greek  ruins 
with  the  beauties  of  nature  on  the  southern  coast. 

Syracuse  had  no  proper  acropolis,  but  the  natural  beauty  of  the 
country  round  Syracuse  is  very  great  as  you  drive  towards  Palazzolo 
over  a  rolling  champaign,  set  with  the  silvery  spiral  trunks  of  old  olive 
trees  in  meadows  royal  with  flowers. 

This  brings  me  to  my  second  point— the  flowers.  The  wild  flowers 
of  Sicily  are  marvellous ;  they  flood  the  meadows  and  nod  from  the 
stony  heights.  The  asphodel  is  their  chief,  from  association  as  old  as 
Homer  and  from  the  size  and  freedom  of  its  growth.  When  the 
asphodels  are  in  their  prime,  on  every  bank  above  you,  you  see, 
standing  out  against  the  sky,  rich  clusters  of  their  swordlike  leaves, 
and  Prince  of  Wales's  plumes  of  pink  blossoms  veined  with  brown. 
Almost  as  typical  are  the  dwarf  pink  campions,  which  sheet  the  turf 
like  daisies.  You  look  into  the  young  corn  and  you  find  it  is  as  purple 
with  anemones  as  a  Kentish  copse  might  be  with  bluebells ;  the  next 
ridge  may  be  all  scarlet  and  apple-green  with  the  adonis.  As  you  pass 
further  from  the  city,  the  narcissus,  growing  single -headed  like  a 
flowering  rush,  or  many-headed  like  the  blossom  fatal  to  Proserpine, 
whitens  the  grass  beneath  the  olive  trees. ;  and  further  and  higher  still, 
where  the  road  climbs,  the  mountain  iris  of  many  hues  brightens  the 
Sicilian  moorland.  Or  perhaps  you  have  turned  aside  to  some  building 
of  the  ancient  Greeks,  which  has  snapdragons  of  the  tender  hue  of 
human  flesh  springing  from  its  unmortared  walls,  and  sages  with  their 
crowns  of  pale  gold  blossoms,  and  marigolds,  glowing  almost  scarlet, 
on  the  banks ;  but  none  of  them  so  gold  or  so  ruddy  or  so  generous  in 
their  growth  as  the  spurge,  which  springs  from  the  lava  streams  of 
Etna.  And  the  Etna  forests  shelter  a  flower  undreamed  of  as  wild — 
peonies,  rose,  pink,  and  white. 

These  are  the  flowers  of  the  meadows  mounting  to  the  heights. 
Wend  your  way  another  day  to  the  ruins  of  Selinunte,  on  the  low 
shores  of  the  African  sea ;  there,  too,  you  will  be  in  corn  breast  high, 
except  when  you  are  crossing  the  sandy  hollow  which  was  the  haven 
of  a  mighty  city  till  the  wise  man  Empedocles  drew  off  its  waters  and 
freed  the  city  from  fevers.  Out  of  that  corn  spring  three  vast  tempjes, 
the  prey  of  the  Carthaginian  and  the  earthquake.  As  you  tread  the 
thin  path  through  the  corn,  you  see  the  flowers  which  have  sprang  up 
beneath  this  miniature  forest — the  pink,  scentless  garlic,  the  pied 
convolvulus  dashed  with  bright  blue,  the  pimpernels  of  brighter  and 
the  borage  of  lighter  blue — as  big  as  crown  pieces  these  last — and  the 


44          SICILY   THE    NEW  WINTER   RESORT 

waving  crimson  bells  of  the  gladiolus  standing  out  from  the  jostling 
vetches  and  tares. 

You  step  from  the  corn  to  the  sands  of  the  dead  haven,  and  your 
guide  plucks  you  a  leaf  of  the  lowly  selinum  which  gave  this  vast 
city  its  name.  It  is  the  wild  parsley  he  gives  you,  not  the  wild  celery. 
Whichever  it  really  was,  and  scholars  wage  a  wordy  warfare  over  it, 
it  played  a  commanding  part  in  the  lives  of  the  Greeks.  With  it  they 
crowned  the  winners  in  the  Isthmian  and  Nemean  games,  with  it  they 
crowned  the  dead.  "  I  am  ready  for  the  selinum,"  said  a  dying  hero, 
smiling.  Once  upon  a  time  selinum  decided  a  battle,  perhaps  not  far 


PAPYRUS  ON  THE  RIVER  ANAPO  AT  SYRACUSE 

from  here,  on  the  banks  of  the  southern  Crimesus.  Timoleon  with 
eleven  thousand  Greeks  met  seven  times  the  number  of  Carthaginians. 
The  fight  was  about  to  begin,  when  three  mules  laden  with  selinum 
passed  ;  the  soldiers  remembered  the  words  of  the  hero  ;  here  was  the 
selinum  for  laying  them  out.  But  Timoleon  proved  a  living  hero.  To 
him  the  selinum  recalled  the  crowning  of  the  winners  of  the  Isthmian 
ganies  celebrated  at  Corinth,  the  mother  city  of  them  all.  They  took 
heart,  and  the  God  of  Battles  justified  the  omen  by  sending  a  thunder 
or  hail  storm,  that  drove  into  the  eyes  of  the  Carthaginians  and  only  on 
the  backs  of  the  Greeks. 

In  a  minute  the  sand  will  be  hidden,  you  will  have  passed  out 


THE   WILD   FLOWERS  45 

of  the  bed  of  the  haven,  and  be  climbing  a  slope  carpeted  with  the 
white,  gold,  and  blue  convolvulus,  blue  and  red  pimpernels  growing 
side  by  side,  puce-coloured  crane's-bill,  bright  blue  borage,  crimson 
orpine,  and  the  tall,  silvery  plumes  of  the  vermouth,  the  wormwood 
that  yields  the  wine,  A  little  higher  up  you  will  be  footing  the 
Sicilian  trefoil,  with  its  musklike  golden  hoods ;  crane's-bill  and 
campion ;  anemones  purple  and  pale  rose ;  and  marching  between  the 
great  grey  swords  of  the  agaves,  glittering  with  snow-white  snails ; 
poppies  and  marigolds  and  Sicilian  daisies.  A  lordly  plant  is  the 
Sicilian  daisy,  with  its  great  white  or  lemon-coloured  blossoms,  and 
its  straight,  feathery  stems  springing  in  thick  clusters  a  yard  high ; 
but  it  is  the  tiny  vetch,  the  creeping  tare,  which  show  that  Flora  with 
her  cornucopia  has  passed  that  way.  They  are  of  all  colours,  pink  and 
white,  and  purple,  and  purple  and  pink,  pure  white,  pale  lemon,  and  rich 
velvety  crimson.  And  the  tares  are  white,  with  that  dash  of  vivid 
blue  which  tells  of  the  generous  climate  and  generous  soil — the  soil 
which  you  cannot  see  for  this  gay,  close-threaded  woof  of  flowers.  It 
hardly  suffers  the  mighty  stones  of  the  acropolis  to  show  their  heads ; 
it  spreads  like  fire  over  the  land. 

,  You  pace  the  broad  main  street  between  houses  as  of  Pompeii,  for 
which  each  scholar  finds  dwellers  of  a  different  race,  and  out  of  the 
great  gate  where  the  most  stupendous  of  the  ruins  surround  you.  They 
will  not  keep  you,  for  on  the  farther  hill  you  see  men  plying  their 
picks,  and  know  that  the  earth,  just  scratched  for  the  crops  of  two 
thousand  years,  is  being  made  to  yield  up  her  dead,  and  the  imperishable 
toys  which  were  buried  with  their  crumbling  bones.  A  temple  of  Hecate 
and  a  long  white  propylaea  have  risen  from  the  spade  work,  and  every 
yard  of  earth  yields  its  bronze  or  vase  or  figure  of  a  goddess  in  the 
style  that  men  used  before  the  Carthaginian  came,  400  years  B.C. 

In  the  bottom  of  the  valley  runs  a  deep,  muddy  river,  which  a  man 
could  leap  with  a  run.  A  modern  Empedocles  would  dread  that  puling 
stream  more  than  a  sandy  harbour  filled  with  the  dark  blue  waters  of 
the  African  sea.  Wherever  such  rivers  run  in  Sicily  fever  exacts  her 
summer  toll.  But  you  are  there  in  spring  when  you  cannot  see  the  river, 
and  only  know  that  it  is  there  by  the  winding  lines  of  reed  and  tall  yellow 
iris  and  weaving  bramble.  These  are  the  flowers  of  the  lowlands. 

In  the  highlands  which  cover  all  the  heart  of  Sicily  you  get  new 
effects.  Half  a  mountain-side  will  be  glowing  crimson  with  sainfoin,  or 
a  meadow  will  be  nodding  with  comfrey  whose  bells  are  bright  and  rich 
beyond  belief.  In  that  favoured  land  the  dwarf  wild  stock  covers  whole 
banks  with  its  puce,  and  the  shy  yellow  asphodel,  a  noble  lily,  towers 
like  the  mullein  where  it  has  the  whim.  And,  as  you  draw  near  the  fated 
Fields  of  Enna,  your  heart  will  leap  to  see  the  many-headed  narcissus 


46          SICILY  THE   NEW   WINTER  RESORT 

there  to  tempt  the  Proserpine  of  to-day,  as  she  foots  it  back  from  the 
fountain  with  her  great  Greek  water-jar  balanced  on  her  graceful  head. 
The  transition  from  wild  flowers  to  gardens  is  easy,  for  in  Sicily  the 
wild  blossoms  are  not  treated  as  fallen  sisters,  even  in  the  botanical 
gardens  of  the  capital.  The  gardener  does  not  plant  them  it  is  true ; 
they  would  sulk  if  he  did,  but  they  are  welcome  to  use  every  foot  of 
earth  in  which  he  has  no  occasion  to  dig,  and  they  crawl  over  and 
caress  his  choicest  plants. 


THE  MADONIAN  MOUNTAINS  i    TORRENTE  LANZERIA 

The  botanical  gardens  of  Palermo  are  a  joy  to  Northern  eyes,  with 
their  giant  bamboos  and  wildernesses  of  old  palms,  and  yuccas  and 
euphorbias.  Some  of  these  are  very  rare,  but  the  non-professional 
visitor  has  no  burden  to  carry  there,  for  he  need  not  think  of  their 
rareness ;  they  are  set  out  to  display  their  beauties  as  parts  of  a  forest. 
These  gardens  are  famous  amongst  botanists,  too,  for  the  hand  of 
science  has  been  here  a  hundred  years  and  more,  and  there  are  plants 
in  the  houses  like  the  giant  Bougainvilleas,  which  are  of  European 
fame.  You  can  believe  it  when  you  see  these  lofty  walls  of  crimson 
or  vieux-rose  blossoms,  and  you  can  buy  cuttings  and  seeds  of  every 
thing,  and  the  gardener  who  takes  you  round  will  earn  his  franc  well 
by  picking  you  any  blossoms  you  may  set  your  heart  on.  The  earth 
brings  forth  so  abundantly  that  her  plant-children  need  the  hand  of  the 
gatherer  as  the  she-goat  needs  the  milker. 


THE   GARDENS  47 

Sicily  has  delightful  gardens,  but  few  of  them  are  of  the  formal 
Italian  type,  except  at  the  old  court  suburb  of  Bagheria,  where  the 
gardens  are  forgotten. 

The  most  gracious  of  the  gardens  of  Palermo  is  the  Duke  of 
Orleans'  Parco  d'Aumale.  It  lies  in  and  beyond  a  clifT-bound  hollow 
that  was  part  of  Panormus,  the  all-harbour  of  the  ancients.  A  quake 
of  the  earth,  started  as  the  Greeks  believed  with  the  sea-god's  trident, 
rolled  its  waters  back  into  the  sea  for  evermore.  Now  it  is  a  lemon 
grove,  which  reaches  with  its  tide  of  dark  shining  leaves  starred  with 
golden  fruit  half-way  to  Monreale.  Under  the  lemon  trees  is  a  rich 
sward  of  the  musky  Sicilian  trefoil.  But  it  is  the  farther  shore  of  that 
lemon  grove  which  touches  the  heart,  when  you  have  passed  the  tall 
palms  and  the  dark  evergreens,  and  find  yourself  in  the  long  avenue  of 
roses,  or  sitting  under  the  naming  canopy  of  the  Judas-tree  on  a  mossy 
marble  seat  with  Monreale  full  hi  view. 

The  joy  of  this  garden  is  its  mellowness,  its  air  of  poetic  decay, 
sympathising  with  the  lot  of  the  exiled  king  who  is  its  master.  I  like 
it  better  far  than  the  ordered  splendour  of  Count  Tasca's  garden  just 
above,  like  all  these  famous  gardens,  free  to  the  traveller  for  a  trifling 
fee  to  the  gatekeeper,  who  keeps  out  beggars  only. 

This  garden  in  its  way  is  the  finest  in  Sicily.  Its  groups  of  palms 
and  yuccas,  its  tangles  of  aloes  and  agaves  are  so  magnificent :  its  lake, 
its  island,  its  temple  are  so  skilfully  managed.  But  English  taste 
inclines  more  to  the  gardens  of  Mr.  Joseph  Whitaker,  at  Malfitano, 
and  Mr.  Joshua  Whitaker,  at  Sperlinga,  where  the  clumps  of  rare 
palms  spring  out  of  broad  airy  lawns,  and  masses  of  colour  are  secured 
with  frisias  and  ranunculi  and  hedge-like  walls  of  roses. 

A  charming  feature  in  these  Sicilian  gardens  is  the  dwarf  hedge  of 
crimson  China  roses,  another  is  the  ordered  line  of  the  dark  laurel  of 
Camoens,  or  the  heavily  blossomed  laurestimis.  Sicilian  fountains 
are  joys  with  their  white  nymphs  or  sea-horses,  in  green  tangles  of 
aquatic  plants,  papyrus,  cyperus,  lotus,  and  arum.  Often,  too,  there 
is  the  play  of  fancy  as  at  the  Flora  at  Palermo,  where,  against  the 
romantic  background  of  the  tropical  lake  garden  in  the  Orto  Botanico, 
you  have  the  open-air  Valhalla  of  immortal  Sicilians  grouped  round 
the  fountains  of  the  Genius  of  Palermo  and  the  Trinacria  shield  of 
Sicily — Gorgias  the  Orator,  Zeuxis  the  Painter,  Archimedes  the 
Engineer,  Empedocles  and  their  peers. 

Gardens  differ  in  character  in  different  localities.  At  Marsala,  in 
another  Whitaker  garden,  I  have  seen  a  corn  crop  grown  in  the  centre 
with  the  happiest  effect.  It  was  edged  with  butcher's-broom  and 
genesta,  and  the  trees  that  love  generous  climates,  bounded  all  with  the 
old  fortress  walls  of  the  Baglio. 


48          SICILY  THE   NEW  WINTER   RESORT 

As  different  again  is  the  Villa  Rocca  Guelfonia  at  Messina,  filling 
the  stronghold  of  the  Mamer tines,  which  later  conquerors  built  up 
into  astounding  ramparts  as  high  as  Rome's  Pincian  hill.  There  is 
room  within  them  for  the  prison,  and  King  Roger's  Norman  keep, 
and  many  a  tomb,  all  lost  in  thickets  of  roses,  and  rose-geraniums  and 
fieri  di  miele,  clipped  here  and  there  for  paths  to  wind  and  climb. 

But  few  Sicilian  gardens  are  more  lovable  than  Madame  Politi's  at 
Syracuse,  the  old  and  the  new.  The  old — the  Villa  Landolina — is 
hardly  a  flower  garden,  though  the  terrace  on  which  roses  clamber  over 
rosemary  and  ivy,  and  make  a  parapet  without  a  parallel,  as  you  wander 
past  the  graves  of  Protestants,  denied  Christian  burial,  is  as  fine  a  floral 
effect  as  heart  could  desire.  Its  graciousness  lies  rather  in  its  poetical 
lemon  groves,  and  its  stately  bamboos  and  plantains,  and  its  air  of 
almost  tropical  repose. 

But  it  yields  in  charm  to  Madame  Politi's  newer  garden,  the  creation 
of  her  own  imagination.  She  had  wonderful  material  to  work  upon — 
the  great  Latoinia  with  its  white  limestone  precipices  flooded  with 
golden  ivy,  and  caper  and  vermouth,  and  tall  obelisks  of  rock  rising 
from  its  bed,  left,  as  lonely  as  lighthouses,  by  cjuarrymen,  whose  race 
had  been  forgotten  before  Thucydides  wrote  his  history.  The  bed  is 
filled  with  a  garden  where  Theocritus  is  said  to  have  walked  and  sung, 
a  garden  of  wild  growth,  whose  glades  are  filled  with  olive  and  almond 
and  citrous  fruit,  and  the  scarlet  pomegranate  and  hibiscus  with  violets 
clustering  round  their  roots. 

Where  these  grow,  seven  thousand  captive  Athenians  cursed  the  day 
they  were  born.  Graves  of  these  or  others  are  thick  in  the  caves 
beneath  the  inexorable  cliffs  which  shut  them  in,  and  there  are  wells 
that  speak  of  ancient  human  habitation. 

This  great  waterless  lake  Madame  Politi  surrounded  with  a  low 
parapet  on  the  edge  of  the  precipice,  built  of  the  same  loose  stones, 
smoothed  with  stucco,  that  formed  the  palaces  of  Achradina  and 
Epipolae  which  have  returned  to  their  elements  this  many  a  century. 
These  hanging  gardens  are  filled  with  palm  and  lentisk  edged  with 
vermouth  and  Jove's-beard  and  Indian  fig  and  golden  ivy,  and  flooded 
with  fragrant  stocks  and  China  roses.  When  winter  reigns  elsewhere, 
the  old  stone  wall  of  the  monastery  garden  is  lined  with  thickets  of 
lavender  and  rosemary,  the  glittering  white  foundation  of  the  tiny 
temple  and  the  Greek  house  spring  from  tangles  of  vermouth  and 
snapdragon  and  Sicily's  errantry  of  vetches  and  tares.  The  rocks, 
whose  niches  were  once  filled  with  the  marble  memorials  of  Roman 
nobles,  are  almost  veiled  in  the  wealth  of  almond  and  lemon  blossom, 
and  down  below,  in  the  pris6n  of  the  Athenians,  the  garden  of 
Theocritus,  hoary  olives  raise  their  heads  to  the  brow  of  the  latomia. 


CHAPTER    VI 

THE    BARGAIN-HUNTER    IN    SICILY 

ONE  of  the  great  charms  of  Sicily  is  that  it  is  a  collectors'  country 
where  the  bargain-hunter  can  still  come  across  a  real  treasure- 
trove.      Even  the  wealthy  can  buy  things  reasonably,  because  at 
present  the  supply  is  far  in  excess  of  the  demand.    If  you  fly  high  and 
are  on  the  look  out  for  services  of  antique  plate,  or  noble  pieces  of 
antique  jewellery,  you  are  under  a  certain  disadvantage.    The  people, 
in  whose  hands  very  valuable  pieces  lie,  are  expert  dealers  who  know 
their  value  and  mean  to  make  a  large  profit.     About  such  buyers  or 


:.-V-i|p£r;.;;. ' ,  J  •:"%^a 


SYRACUSE  :  THE  WALL  OF   EURYALUS,    THE   NORTHERN   GATE 

sellers  I  am  not  greatly  concerned.  Mr.  Von  Pernull,  Cook's  corre 
spondent,  is  an  expert  in  old  gold  and  silver,  and  will  gladly  advise 
visitors  on  the  subject. 

But  Sicily  is  full  of  things  to  tempt  the  real  bargain-hunter,  the  man 
who  can  put  out  a  few  pounds  for  a  great  prize,  but  much  prefers  to  put 
out  a  few  francs,  or  even  sous. 

E  49 


So          SICILY  THE   NEW   WINTER   RESORT 

Sicily's  specialities  for  the  curio-hunter  are  fine  plate,  fine  jewellery  and 
enamels  a  century  or  two  old,  old  lace,  old  ivories,  old  embroideries, 
old  majolica,  old  pearl  and  tortoise-shell  work,  silk  pictures,  old  wood- 
carving  and  hammered  iron,  and  ancient  Greek  articles,  such  as  coins, 
jewellery,  ornaments,  bronzes,  vases,  and  terra-cotta  statuettes. 

It  is  not  part  of  my  purpose  in  this  book  to  advertise  particular 
shops,  it  is  sufficient  to  indicate  the  towns  or  districts  which  deal  most 
in  any  special  line.  Take  lace!  there  are  shops  sufficiently  humble 
where  you  can  buy  bargains  in  Jace — in  Palermo,  Taormina,  and 
Girgenti ;  and  Sicilian  lace  is,  for  its  price,  charming.  Besides  lace, 
you  should  be  on  the  look  out  for  the  delicate  old  drawn-linen  work, 
and  embroideries,  taken  chiefly  from  ecclesiastical  vestments.  Even  in 
baroque  times,  the  church  embroideries  of  Sicily  have  amounted  almost 
to  a  separate  art.  If  you  have  a  long  purse  you  can  also  buy  tapestries 
of  unchallengeable  pedigree,  going  back,  at  any  rate,  as  far  as  the 
sixteenth  century.  Many  Sicilian  nobles  are  now  impoverished  and 
have  wonderful  art  treasures  accumulated  in  their  palaces.  But  do  not 
be  persuaded  that  you  can  buy  the  old  Saracenic  silk  work ;  there  is 
hardly  a  scrap  of  it  even  in  the  museum  at  Palermo. 

There  is  a  law  now  against  the  exportation  of  old  masters ;  there 
must  be  a  great  many  of  them  in  Sicily,  and  their  value  is  not  at  all 
perfectly  known :  the  art  dealer  has  not  yet  scoured  Sicily.  There  are, 
for  instance,  a  good  number  of  Vandyck's  religious  pieces. 

One  of  the  most  fascinating  things  to  collect  is  the  old  Sicilian 
jewellery.  This,  except  where  the  pieces  are  important  enough  to 
attract  the  big  dealers,  is  moderate  in  price,  and  it  is  an  easy  thing 
to  take  out  of  the  country.  Your  boxes  are  not  searched,  and  in  any 
case  you  can  get  a  museum  permit  for  any  article  not  coveted  for 
the  museum.  The  old  jewellery  of  Sicily  is  now  famous,  and  of 
certain  kinds  there  is  a  plentiful  supply.  Take  for  example  the  pendants 
and  earrings — which  are  large  enough  to  make  into  pendants— of  gold 
and  silvery  tracery,  set  with  rose  diamonds,  ruby  shavings,  garnets ;  and 
the  numerous  articles  into  which  old  turquoises  and  pearls  enter.  In 
various  parts  of  Sicily  and  Italy  you  come  across  delightful  pearl 
ornaments,  in  which  the  pearls  instead  of  being  set  are  pierced  and 
sewn  with  gold  wire.  At  Taormina  especially,  you  see  many  of 
these  offered  for  sale  at  prices  which  delight  pearl  lovers.  It  is 
astonishing  how  effective  tassels  of  pearl  are.  Taormina,  too,  is  a  good 
place  for  what  one  may  call  coral  cameos,  heads  or  groups  cut  in  coral 
of  good  colour  a  couple  of  centuries  ago.  The  head  of  Christ 
crowned  with  thorns  is  a  favourite  subject.  These  old  corals  are 
beautiful  and  effective  pieces  in  this  age  of  rough  gems  of  fine  colour. 
Among  the  most  fascinating  things  to  buy  are  little  old  enamels,  chiefly 


THE    BARGAIN-HUNTER   IN   SICILY  51 

religious  in  subject,  splendid  bits  of  colour,  set  in  little  openwork  frames 
of  silver  gilt  garnished  with  pearls  and  garnets  and  turquoises,  a  century 
or  two  old,  or  more  often  in  the  old  Sicilian  Renaissance  filigree  work 
of  silver  and  silver  gilt.  The  seventeenth-century  work  of  this  kind  is 
quaint  and  almost  noble,  and  it  is  not  very  expensive.  Silver  gilt  is 
quite  a  feature  of  Sicily.  It  is  much  more  usual  than  gold  in  old  pieces, 
and  there  is  a  good  deal  of  beautiful  and  delicate  jewellery  which  is  only 
gilt  brass,  or,  as  they  call  it,  bronze.  It  makes  little  difference  in  price 
whether  it  is  silver  gilt  or  bronze  gilt,  the  beauty  of  the  object  is  what 
counts,  but  you  can  buy  fine  gold  jewellery  in  this  same  tracery  work  set 
with  more  precious  stones.  At  the  same  time  such  pieces  are  not 
particularly  characteristic  of  the  country.  A  great  charm  in  the 
jewellery-buying  lies  in  the  quantity  of  genuine  old  pieces,  especially 
in  the  matter  of  reliquaries  and  settings  for  little  enamels  of  the  saints. 
All  these  are  delightful. 

With  them  I  should  mention  crucifixes ;  fine  old  ivory  Christs  can 
be  bought  for  a  matter  of  francs  if  you  look  about.  They  are  some 
times  exquisitely  carved,  and  mounted  as  a  rule  on  crosses  veneered 
with  tortoise-shell. 

Tortoise-shell  veneering  is  a  Sicilian  speciality,  you  can  buy  many 
articles  in  it,  but  the  most  usual  are  crucifixes,  picture-frames,  and  little 
chests  or  cabinets.  The  Sicilians  are  also  fond  of  veneering  with 
mother-of-pearl,  and  the  chased  crucifixes  set  on  little  Calvarys  in  this 
work  are  very  quaint  and  light  up  a  room.  In  the  Arabo-Norman 
times  ivory  veneering  was  much  used,  and  once  in  a  way  a  box  of  that 
period  comes  into  the  market,  but  so  seldom  that  almost  any  piece  must 
be  regarded  with  suspicion. 

Splendid  early  Renaissance  hammered  ironwork  is  still  fairly  plentiful, 
from  its  difficulty  of  transport  and  want  of  adaptability  inside  a  house. 
Wood-carving  may  be  had  at  moderate  prices  for  similar  reasons. 
There  is  a  great  deal  of  Empire  furniture  in  Sicily,  and  probably 
a  certain  amount  of  Chippendale  and  Sheraton,  introduced  during 
the  English  Protectorate.  In  out-of-the-way  churches,  in  the  sacristy 
lumber-rooms,  you  see  many  a  neglected  sixteenth-century  chair  of 
noble  pattern,  and  occasionally  some  stamped  Spanish  leather.  They 
are  often  for  sale,  but  there  is  practically  no  stained  glass  in  Sicily. 
One  of  the  least  costly  things  to  buy  in-  Sicily  is  Renaissance  ornament, 
you  see  delightful  pieces  that  could  be  worked  up  into  every  species  of 
frame  or  canopy,  going  almost  a-begging. 

The  Sicilian  majolica  is  well  worthy  of  attention,  but  it  is  not 
all  made  in  Sicily ;  the  city  of  Messina,  for  instance,  prides  itself  on  the 
possession  of  a  set  of  seventy  gloriously  decorated  drug-jars,  made  at 
Urbino,  to  the  order  of  its  Civic  Hospital  in  the  sixteenth  century. 


52          SICILY  THE   NEW  WINTER   RESORT 

The  capital  of  Sicilian  majolica  is  Caltagirone,  and  one  of  its  great 
specialities  was  the  making  of  table  salt-cellars,  which  only  held  a  pinch 
of  salt.  These  seventeenth-century  Caltagirone  salt-cellars,  with  their 
rich  blues  and  oranges,  supported  by  lions  and  other  monsters,  are 
charming  ;  they  are  like  miniature  fountains  standing  several  inches 
high.  Sicily  is  full  of  majolica  drug-jars  and  wine-jugs  of  admirable  blues 
and  pleasing  shapes,  two  centuries  and  more  old.  Another  majolica, 
much  collected,  is  the  mattone  stagnate,  or  tile,  bearing  the  armorial 
bearings  or  religious  device  of  its  owner,  which  formerly  ornamented 
the  right  top  corner  of  the  gateway  of  every  house  belonging  to  a 
noble  or  a  religious  body.  At  the  museum  in  Palermo  and  in  some 
private  palaces,  like  Mr.  Joshua  Whitaker's,  there  are  magnificent 
collections  of  these  door-tiles,  hardly  any  of  which  remain  In  situ. 

Sicily  abounds  in  fine  rock-crystal  and  Venetian  glass  chandeliers, 
a  useful  thing  to  know  during  the  present  craze. 

Few  objects  of  the  Saracen  era  ever  come  into  the  market  except 
water-jars  covered  with  Arabic  emblems  or  inscriptions. 

So  much  for  modern  and  medieval  curios.  But  even  their  plentiful- 
ness  is  less  remarkable  than  that  of  ancient  Greek  articles,  all  of  which, 
except  important  Greek  objects  like  statues  or  monumental  pieces  of 
jewellery,  can  be  exported  if  the  permission  of  the  director  of  a  museum 
is  obtained. 

In  coins,  in  terra-cotta  figures,  and  in  vases,  Sicily  has  an  immense 
choice  to  offer  the  collector  of  antiquities.  Coins  above  all !  The 
silver  coins  of  Greek  Sicily  have  never  been  equalled.  The  great 
decadrachms,  struck  by  Syracuse  to  commemorate  her  conquest  of  the 
Athenians,  from  the  dies  of  Euaenetus  and  Cimon,  are,  with  their  bold 
high  relief  and  majestic  beauty,  the  glory  of  Doric  art,  the  Dorian 
rivals  of  the  sculpture  of  Phidias  and  Praxiteles.  There  are  no  such 
Apollos,  no  such  beautiful  female  heads  in  the  whole  range  of  art,  as 
are  to  be  found  on  various  coins  of  Greek  Sicily,  especially  Syracuse. 
A  good  specimen  of  one  of  the  grand  decadrachms  mentioned  above 
fetches  about  ^50  to  ^60.  There  are,  of  course,  imitations  of  them 
about,  executed  in  silver  by  a  very  clever  coin-maker  of  Catania ;  but 
it  is  almost  impossible  for  an  imitation  to  equal  the  majestic  beauty  of 
the  original.  In  the  reign  of  Agathocles  also  there  were  some  very 
fine  and  beautiful  coins  struck,  and  some  of  these  were  imitated  by  the 
Carthaginians,  who  had  a  habit  of  taking  their  coins,  even  to  the  letter 
ing,  from  the  Greek.  The  tetradrachms,  bearing  the  head  of  Hiero  II. 
and  his  wife  Philistis,  are  very  handsome  and  striking,  but  less  refined 
pieces.  The  well-known  pegasi — coins  with  the  head  of  Minerva  on 
one  side  and  a  flying  horse  on  the  other — which  were  introduced  into 
Sicily  from  Corinth  by  Timoleon,  and  many  elegant  little  drachmas  and 


THE   BARGAIN-HUNTER   IN   SICILY  53 

obols  are  not  expensive  and  are  very  decorative,  even  if  not  collected 
for  a  coin  collection.  Greek  and  Roman  copper  coins  can  often  be 
bought  for  the  merest  trifle,  the  peasants  find  them  in  such  quantities 
when  they  are  digging.  There  are  some  beautiful  little  gold  coins 
also.  But  it  is  better  to  buy  gold  imitations  of  these,  because  they  are 
so  very  difficult  to  tell  from  the  originals. 

Next  we  may  take  the  terra-cotta  figures.  Here  I  may  own  at 
once  that  for  decorativeness  the  Sicilian  figures  are  not  to  be  compared 
to  those  of  Tanagra  or  Myrina.  They  belong  to  an  earlier  period, 
the  fifth  or  sixth  century  B.C.,  and  nearly  always  represent  goddesses 
instead  of  giving  us  portraits  and  sketches  of  the  smart  women  of  the 
period. 

I  think  this  is  to  be  regretted,  beautiful  as  the  heads  of  these 
Sicilian  figures  are,  recalling  the  smiling  loveliness  of  the  statues  of  the 
same  period,  discovered  in  the  excavations  of  the  Parthenon  and  the 
Erectheum  in  1887,  beautiful  every  one  of  them.  They  have  not 
the  immortal  youth  and  Praxitelean  grace  of  those  figures  which,  in 
their  hundreds  at  the  Louvre,  set  the  lovely  coquettish  women  of 
ancient  Greece  before  us — hats,  parasols,  and  all.  As  human  documents, 
the  little  clay  people  of  Tanagra  are  worth  all  the  marbles  in  the 
Vatican. 

What  an  irony  it  is  that  the  Greeks  of  Athens,  who  set  their  com 
plexion  on  the  great  events  of  their  time  by  their  command  of  human 
sympathies  in  their  writing,  should  have  had  their  verdict  on  the  lovely 
women  who  shared  their  lives  reversed  by  circumstantial  evidence. 
They  thought  nothing  of  their  women  ;  they  were  like  the  Japanese, 
who  think  that  women  should  leave  all  accomplishments  to  geishas. 
They  believed  their  women  not  worth  the  chronicling,  but  we  know 
better.  We  see  that  their  personality  was  so  penetrating  that  they 
have  survived  by  sculpture.  The  Athenians  did  so  little  for  their 
wives  in  their  lives  that  when  they  died  they  felt  it  incumbent 
on  them  to  call  in  cunning  portrayers  of  the  human  form  (always  a 
leading  industry  in  marble-carving,  vase-making  Athens).  To  honour 
their  memory,  the  little  asdiculae,  the  chapel-shaped  tablets  with  sunken 
panels,  were  carved  with  photographic  fidelity  to  represent  a  beautiful 
young  Hegeso  delighting  in  her  toilet,  or  a  meek  wife  entertaining 
at  the  supper-table  the  husband  who  spent  his  entire  life  at  the  Greek 
equivalent  of  clubs.  The  vase-makers  of  the  Ceramicus  painted  on 
the  white  clay  vessels  which  have  been  the  marvel  of  every  succeeding 
age — the  graceful  Hetaira  dancing  or  breathing  soft  music  in  the 
banquet-room.  The  dress  and  the  furniture  are  there  as  plainly  as  in  a 
printed  illustration  of  to-day.  On  one  vase  the  very  music  which  she 
was  playing  has  been  interpreted. 


54         SICILY  THE  NEW  WINTER  RESORT 

Sicily  has  taken  her  full  part  in  supplementing  these  friezes  and 
paintings.  Four  hundred  and  nine  years  before  Christ,  Hannibal,  the 
son  of  Gisco,  landed  in  Sicily  to  avenge  the  defeat  and  death  of  his 
grandfather  at  Himera  on  the  day  of  Salamis.  Never  was  invasion  so 


SELINUNTE  :    RUINS   OF   THE  TEMPLE  OF   JUPITER   OLYMPIUS   (TEMPLE  G) 

triumphant.  He  died  before  his  work  was  done,  but  when  it  was 
done,  every  Greek  city  in  Sicily^except  Syracuse  lay  in  ashes,  and  two 
of  the  greatest — Selinunte  and  Girgenti — never  lifted  their  heads 
again  in  sovereign  state.  Four  hundred  and  nine  years  before  Christ 
Selinunte  bowed  its  head  to  fate,  and  three  years  later  the  Girgenti 
of  Gellias,  who  could  entertain  five  hundred  guests  upon  a  winter 
night  and  give  them  each  a  cloak  when  they  left,  was  in  the  dust. 
From  that  century  to  the  last  the  work  of  the  scornful  Carthaginian 
lay  undisturbed.  A  new  Selinunte,  a  new  Girgenti  arose,  shrunken 
from  their  former  greatness.  But  it  is  their  deserted  ruins  buried  deep 
beneath  the  dust  of  ages  which  yield  us  so  much  of  the  life  which  the 
Greeks  lived  in  Athens*  century  of  glory.  Dorian  were  the  women 
of  these  two  slain  cities,  but  we  may  take  it  that  the  ornaments  and 
utensils  of  a  woman's  life  were  the  same  in  this  island  Greece  as  they 
were  in  the  little  Greece  which  was  the  mother  of  all  Greeks.  When 
a  new  necropolis  comes  to  light  in  Girgenti,  and  the  lastra  are  taken 
off  which  hid  the  inmates  from  the  sky,  the  happy  finder  picks  out 
toilet-boxes  and  unguent-jars  of  earthenware  exquisitely  light,  such  as 
you  see  in  Hegeso's  chamber  on  the  tomb.  For  filling  her  little  chased 
clay  lamp  there  is  an  oil-jug — the  ancestor  of  our  cream-jug — or  a 


THE   BARGAIN-HUNTER  IN   SICILY  55 

spouted  vase  identical  in  shape  with  many  a  Japanese  teapot.  There 
may  be  other  and  larger  jugs  painted  with  scenes  from  the  stories 
of  the  gods,  or  vases  and  bowls  with  wonderful  curves  and  a  black 
glaze  like  polished  ebony.  Once  in  a  way  there  may  be  the  pre 
sentment  in  clay  of  the  woman's  face,  or  little  clay  images  of  the 
gods  in  whom  she  put  her  trust  for  the  long  journey,  mostly  of  Proser 
pine  the  Saviour. 

I  do  not  think  that  the  connection  between  Ceres  and  Proserpine, 
and  the  Madonna  and  Christ  had  ever  been  emphasised  in  English  till 
I  drew  attention  to  it  in  my  In  Sicily  after  visiting  Castrogiovanni. 
There  I  saw  the  statue  of  Ceres  holding  the  infant  Proserpine,  dating 
from  ancient  Roman  times,  which  had  for  centuries  done  duty  in  the 
cathedral  as  Mary  holding  the  infant  Christ  in  spite  of  the  fact  that  the 
child  was  obviously  a  girl.  It  had  only  recently  been  removed  from 
the  cathedral,  and  I  was  informed  that  there  were  others  in  the  town 
which  were  used  in  the  same  way.  The  Ceres  held  her  child  in  the 
way  that  half  the  Italian  Madonnas  in  existence  hold  theirs — the  in 
vention  of  Praxiteles  himself.  Here,  as  I  pointed  out,  was  plainly  the 
original  of  the  type.  The  Ceres  was  to  all  intents  andfpurposes  the 


GIRGENTI  :   RUINS  OF   THE  TEMPLE   OF   THE   OLYMPIAN   JOVE 

ordinary  Madonna,  only  the  child  was  a  little  girl.  A  recent  study 
of  Pausanias  has  developed  the  situation  extraordinarily,  for  there 
I  find  that  the  Arcadians,  who  made  a  special  cult  of  "the  great 
goddesses,"  habitually  spoke  of  Ceres  as  the  Mistress  (Madonna),  and 


56         SICILY  THE  NEW  WINTER  RESORT 

of  Proserpine  as  the  Saviour.*    There  is  even  the  further  circumstance 
of  the  resurrection  of  Proserpine. 

But  to  get  back  to  Greek  graves,  there  is  at  Syracuse  a  pathetic 
coffin  of  a  Greek  girl,  who  was  buried  with  her  jewellery  and 
her  playthings  and  an  exquisite  little  terra-cotta  image  of  her  god 
dess.  From  such  a  grave  we  get  all  manner  of  glimpses  of  Greek 
life,  and  bronze  mirrors  like  the  Japanese  mirror  of  to-day,  bronze 
needles  like  our  packing-needle,  little  bronze  bells,  bronze  weights, 
bronze  platters,  bronze  fibula  brooches,  bronze  bracelets  like  the 
bangles  of  to-day,  bronze  rings  like  our  wedding-rings,  bronze  spoons. 


SYRACUSE  :  SOUTH  SIDE  OP  THE  CASTLE  OF  EURYALUS 

Mingled  with  the  bronzes  at  times  are  vessels  that  in  their  day  were 
ordinary  glass,  but  have  been  tempered,  with  the  slow  magic  of  the 
earth  that  lapped  them,  into  something  which  has  caught  the  iris-of  the 
rainbow.  This  glass,  which  has  suffered  an  earth  change  into  some 
thing  rare  and  strange,  is  exquisite  beyond  words. 

Sometimes,  but  less  often,  the  woman's  ornaments,  which  were 
buried  with  her,  will  be  of  gold  which  neither  moth  nor  rust  can 
corrupt.  They  come  out  of  two  thousand  years  of  burial  shining 
like  pale  fire — finger-ring  and  earring  and  bracelet  and  breast  orna 
ments. 

In  contrast  to  which,  two  graves  at  Girgenti  have  yielded  with 
their  bones  pairs  of  iron  fetters  with  the  ankle-cuffs  so  small  that  they 
would  only  have  gone  round  a  woman's  slender  legs,  so  that  these  two 
*  The  masculine  form  "soter,"  not  the  feminine  "soteira,"  was  used. 


THE    BARGAIN-HUNTER    IN    SICILY  57 

persons,  whose  feet  were  chained  together  when  they  died  and  were 
thrust  into  their  graves,  must  have  been  women — slaves  already,  or 
captive  ladies  of  Girgenti,  who  succumbed  as  they  were  being  driven 
in  fetters  to  the  sea  to  be  shipped  to  the  slave-markets  of  Carthage. 

It  is  not  everyone  who  cares  to  transport  larger  pieces  even  where 
the  museum  will  pass  them.  But  once  I  was  offered  a  fine  bronze 
tripod,  and  large  vases  may  always  be  bought  at  a  fair  price,  not  only 
Greek,  but  Sikel  and  Sicanian. 


CHAPTER   VII 

THE    CHURCHES    AND    THE    LIFE    IN    THEM 

THE  chief  charm  in  the  Sicilian  churches  is  their  lovableness  ; 
there  is  hardly  a  splendid  church  in  the  island,  if  one  excepts 
the  cathedrals  and  the  royal  chapel  of  the  Norman  kings.     But 
there   are   many,  in   one  or  the   other  way,  endued  with  the  soul   of 
beauty,  and  in  Sicily  they  are  built  into  the  life  of  the  people  still.     The 
scarcity  of  really  splendid  churches  is  the  more  surprising,  in  view  of 
the    fact   that  there   are   some   few  which   stand  in   the  forefront   of 
Christian  architecture. 

First  comes  the  Royal  Chapel  of  Palermo  with  the  most  beautiful 
interior  of  any  church  in  Christendom.  It  is  only  about  a  hundred 
feet  long  and  not  fifty  feet  high,  but  there  is  no  work  of  the  same 
size,  even  in  S.  Mark's,  Venice,  that  will  stand  comparison.  For 
Roger,  the  greatest  monarch  of  his  day,  embellished  it  with  spoils  of 
the  East — marbles  not  to  be  matched  in  Rome  itself,  most  cunningly 
disposed  in  columns  for  pulpit  and  altar,  in  panels  for  screens,  and 
panels  along  the  walls,  under  the  golden  mosaics  glowing  with  the 
Old  and  New  Testament,  known  as  King  Roger's  Bible.  From  this 
revetement  of  marble,  glittering  with  bands  of  Cosmato,  he  carried  a 
surcoat  of  golden  mosaic  gemmed  with  the  figures  of  saints  over  arch 
and  wall  to  the  roof  in  the  ancient  Arabic  style.  The  chapel  rises 
eastward  from  the  incomparable  Easter  candlestick  and  pulpit,  and  the 
marble -outworked  choir  to  the  three  apses  glowing  with  the  most 
transcendent  marbles  of  all,  the  white-flowered  crimson  porphyry  and 
the  pavonazzetto,  of  which  only  two  examples  exist  outside  of  these 
walls.  The  mosaics  remain  almost  in  their  pristine  mellowness,  change 
has  dealt  lightly  with  them.  Mellowness  is  the  keynote  of  King  Roger's 
Chapel,  the  service  is  as  mellow  as  its  music,  and  roof  and  arch  have 
lost  every  straight  hard  line.  In  the  vestry  are  priceless  caskets  made 
by  Arab  hands  in  Norman  times,  and  charters  in  Greek  and  Latin. 
The  crypt  where  S.  Peter  sheltered  himself  contains  in  the  same 
cavern  the  cross  used  as  an  excuse  for  the  iniquities  of  the  Inquisition, 
happily  abolished  in  Sicily  one  hundred  and  twenty  years  ago.  The 

58 


THE   CHURCHES   AND  THE   LIFE   IN   THEM     59 

pavement  in  the  inlay  of  Alexandria  has  been  worn  by  the  feet  of 
eight  hundred  years. 

Across  the  square  from  the  royallest  of  chapels  is  the  cathedral  of 
Walter  of  the  Mill,  gutted  inside  by  the  Neapolitan  Fuga's  Campo- 
Santo  restorations,  and  with  its  wonderful  skyline  vulgarised  by  a  thin 
dome — the  cathedral  which,  but  for  this,  would  have  had  hardly  a 
superior  among  medieval  churches. 

It  is  majestical  in  its  conception  with  its  flat  roof  in  unbroken  length, 
made  light  with  the  elegance  of  Saracenic  detail,  and  set  off  at  the 
corners  east  and  west  with  beautiful  little  campanili,  almost  as  gracious 
as  Giotto's  Tower,  the  western  linked  by  flying  arches  of  rainbow 


THE  CATHEDRAL  OF   PALERMO 


curves  to  the  glorious  tower  of  the  archbishop's  palace.  The  fabric  of 
the  cathedral  is  as  golden  as  the  temples  of  Girgenti,  its  porch  has  a 
mosque-like  beauty  of  form  and  is  wrought  of  stones  whose  inscriptions 
and  ornaments  show  that  once  they  stood  in  a  mosque.  The  eastern 
exterior  has  the  delightful  sunk  arcades  the  Sicilian  Normans  loved, 
and  the  tawny  west  front  is  adorned  with  inscriptions  to  the  cathedral's 
worthies,  on  white  marble  tablets  set  in  the  golden  stone.  Within, 
few  pause  to  look  at  S.  Rosalia's  silver  shrine,  or  the  benitiers  of  Gagini ; 
their  footsteps  are  drawn  to  the  significant  porphyry  sarcophagi  of 
Roger  and  his  daughter  Constance,  and  her  husband,  the  Emperor 
Henry  VL,  and  her  son,  the  greater  Emperor  Frederick  II.,  under 
marble  canopies  of  primeval  majesty.  These  were  spared  when  the  stucco 
stream  of  Fuga  rolled  over  the  cathedral,  like  the  liquid  lava  of  Etna. 


6o 


SICILY   THE   NEW  WINTER    RESORT 


Down  to  the  crypt  below  the  stream  did  not  pass.  The  vulgar 
who  restore  churches  out  of  recognition  go  on  the  principle  of  the 
woman  with  the  expensive  dress  and  the  poor  underlines  They  do 
not  spend  money  on  what  cannot  be  seen,  so  crypts  escape  their  embel 
lishments.  Down  here  we  still  have  the  stately  English-Norman  of 


THE  CATHEDRAL  OF  CEFALU 


Archbishop  Walter,  who  came  to  Palermo  with  William  the  Good's 
English  wife ;  fighting  Odo  of  Bayeux ;  and  the  Doria  archbishop,  who 
hit  upon  the  happy  idea  of  exploiting  Santa  Rosalia  ;  and  others  of  the 
olden  time. 

One  other  English-Norman  church  shames  with  its  bold  round 
arches,  the  narrow  stilted  arch  apertures  of  the  Arabo-Norman.  It  is 
the  Church  of  the  Vespers,  rising  out  of  its  dark  cypresses  by  the  spot 
where  Mastrangelo  (well  called  the  master  angel)  raised  the  signal 
for  the  massacre  of  the  Sicilian  Vespers  on  the  brow  above  the  rushing 
Oreto. 

The  arabesque  beauty  of  the  cathedral  at  Palermo  is  known  only 
to  those  who  have  set  eyes  on  it,  but  what  student  is  there  who  has 
not  heard  of  the  mosaics  of  Monreale  and  CefaKl?  They  have 
wonderful  sites  these  two  great  churches — one  on  a  citadel  rock 
overhanging  the  flood  of  fertility  known  as  the  Conca  d'Oro,  and  the 
other  under  the  crown  of  rock  which  bears  the  Saracen's  Castle  and 
the  Pelasgic  House,  at  CefaliX  Outside,  they  are  sufficiently  alike 


THE   CHURCHES   AND   THE   LIFE   IN   THEM     61 

with  their  west  porches,  flanked  by  primitive  towers,  and  their  apses 
laced  with  exquisite  arcading.  Inside,  Monreale  with  its  eighty 
thousand  square  feet  of  mosaics,  and  its  airy  dimensions  recalling  Santa 
Sophia,  and  its  tremendous  columns  with  their  richly  arabesqued 
capitals,  stands  far  ahead  of  Cefalu,  except  to  those  more-seeing  people 
who  love  to  come,  upon  old  far-off  forgotten  things. 

The  mosaics  of  the  Royal  Chapel  and  Monreale  and  Cefald  are  all 
of  the  twelfth  century ;  but  the  last,  at  any  rate,  are  claimed  as  genuine 
handiwork  of  the  Calogeri,  the  hermits  from  the  monasteries  of  Mount 
Athos.  Be  that  as  it  may,  the  best  gifts  that  the  mosaics  of  the  world, 
pictures  immortalised  in  glass,  have  for  us  are  the  portraits  of  Christ 
in  these  three  churches,  precious  alike  for  their  majesty,  and  as  publishing 
to  later  generations  the  tradition  preserved  by  the  mosaicists  of  Mount 


MONREALE  CATHEDRAL  (INTERIOR) 

Athos,  who  had  this  tradition  down  from  men  who  hacj  seen  Christ  in 
the  flesh.  Behind  Monreale,  too,  is  the  antique  cloister  unequalled  for 
grace  through  the  length  and  breadth  of  Italy,  and  i^ith  a  different 
story  deftly  carved  by  Norman  hands  on  each  of  its  \j;wo  hundred 
capitals,  eclipsed  all  of  them  by  that  Moorish  fountain.  ^ 


62 


SICILY   THE   NEW   WINTER   RESORT 


Palermo  has  other  Norman  churches,  such  as  S.  Cataldo  and  the 
Eremiti.  It  is  hard  to  believe  that  they  were  not  born  mosques.  But 
the  records  are  clear  as  to  S.  Cataldo,  although  tradition  allows  Saracen 
worship  to  have  taken  place  in  the  e'xisting  fabric  of  S.  Giovanni 
degli  Eremiti,  one  of  the  monasteries  founded  by  Pope  Gregory 
the  Great,  out  of  the  estates  of  his  Sicilian  mother.  Those  five  red 


PALERMO  :  THE   MARTORANA 


Saracen  domes,  that  rich  half-tropical    garden,  that   exquisite  ruined 
cloister,  who  could  forget  them  ? 

The  Martorana,  another  Norman  church,  shares  with  the  Royal 
Palace  and  its  chapel ;  the  Monreale  and  Cefald  and  Messina  Cathedrals ; 
the  Saracen  Hall  of  the  Zisa ;  and  a  church  and  a  convent  at  Messina, 
the  glory  of  having  mosaics  of  the  Norman  princes.  From  them, 
quite  low  down,  we  learn  what  Roger  the  King  was  like,  and  the 
Admiral  George  himself  who  built  the  famous  bridge  and  had  the 


THE   CHURCHES   AND  THE   LIFE   IN   THEM     63 

word  admiral  invented  for  him.    The  church  itself  was  dedicated  to 
.  S.  Mary  of  the  Admiral. 

The  cathedral  of  Messina  must  be  mentioned  in  this  context,  because 
the  whole  east  end  of  it  is  discovered  to  have  mosaics  covered  with 
later  work  which  can  be  removed.  But  little  of  it  belongs  to  the 
period.  It  was  burned  at  the  burial  of  an  emperor,  and  in  its  place 


LEFT-HAND   DOOR  OF   THE   CATHEDRAL  AT   MESSINA 

rose  one  of  the  few  great  Gothic  churches  in  Sicily,  with  its  noble  and 
richly  sculptured  west  front.  The  interior  has  many  precious  monu 
ments — the  stately  columns  of  Neptune's  temple ;  the  mosaics ;  the 
curious  old  coloured  roof;  the  marvellously  rich  high  altar ;  the  splendid 
sculptures  by  Gagini.  But  taken  as  a  whole  it  is  not  impressive — 
it  is  a  collection  of  items.  Between  its  period  and  that  of  the  early 
Norman  Palermo  churches  come  a  most  interesting  group,  mostly 
ruinous  and  mostly  about  Palermo,  churches  like  the  Magione  of 
the  Teutonic  Knights. ;  the  S.  Antonio  of  the  Chiaramonte  palace  ;  the 


64 


SICILY  THE   NEW  WINTER   RESORT 


Maddalena  in  the  Carabinieri  barracks ;  the  Incoronata  behind  the 
cathedral,  where  Roger  assumed  his  crown ;  with  the  church  of 
the  Alemanni,  and  the  Badiazza  at  Messina;  and  the  marvellous 
minster  of  Fmme  d'Agro  near  Taormina.  This  period  corresponded 


CATHEDRAL  AND   MONTQRSOUS  FOUNTAIN  "OF   ORION  AT  MESSINA 

in  a  way  to  our  Early  English,  when  arches  grew  acute  and  simplicity 
severe.  The  architecture  of  these  churches  is  very  elegant  and  noble, 
but  it  has  none  of  the  gentle  charm  of  the  tall  Saracenic  arches  of  the 
Royal  Chapel,  which  look  as  if  they  had  grown  downward  like 
stalactites.  In  one  place  and  another,  I  suppose,  there  are  a  good 
many  churches  of  these  two  periods  scattered  throughout  the  length 
and  breadth  of  Sicily,  but  they  are  not  over-numerous,  for  the  hand 
of  the  earthquake  has  been  heavy.  Nor  are  there  a  conspicuous  number 
of  the  churches  of  the  next  period,  when  magnificent  nobles  like  the 
Chiaramonti  were  bidding  for  the  crown  of  Sicily.  That  was  the 
fourteenth  century,  the  age  of  portals.  In  Sicily,  portal  means  more 
than  a  front  gate ;  it  has  its  true  technical  significance  of  an  entrance 
or  gateway  of  a  monumental  character  ;  specifically  an  entrance  which 
is  emphasised  by  a  stately  architectural  treatment,  such  as  may  make  it 
the  principal  motif  in  an  entire  fa$ade. 

The  typical  fourteenth-century  church  in  Sicily  has  for  its  west 
front  a  gable  of  the  Pisan  type,  relieved  only  by  a  beautiful  doorway, 
with  slender,  clustered  columns  and  retreating  arches,  under  a  chaste 
rose  window.  These  churches  as  a  rule  are  hemmed  in,  and  show 


THE   CHURCHES   AND   THE   LIFE   IN   THEM     65 

only  their  simple  and  majestic  facades,  because  they  were  monastery 
churches.  The  effect  is  good;  S.  Francesco  and  S.  Agostino  at 
Palermo,  and  S.  Giovanni,  near  the  Greek  theatre  at  Syracuse,  are 
types.  They  may  be  regarded  as  the  beginning  of  the  Sicilian-Gothic 
if  we  are  going  to  limit  the  name  to  the  period  following  on  the 
Norman. 

They  are  succeeded  by  the  commonest  type  of  Sicilian-Gothic, 
a  pointed  doorway,  with  a  hood  moulding  of  the  same  shape,  or  a 
square  label  above  it,  and  rather  indefinite  Gothic  windows.  The 
early  fifteenth-century  Gothic  of  Sicily  is  pleasing  from  its  unassuming- 
ness,  but  it  is  not  great,  and  the  surviving  churches  built  in  this  period 


S.    MARIA   DEGLI  ALEMANNI   AT   MESSINA 


are  not  usually  of  great  magnitude.  As  it  grows  less  pure,  it  grows 
more  interesting.  The  very  late  Gothic,  passing  into  early  Renaissance, 
has  been  treated  with  much  felicity  by  local  architects  who  did  not 
feel  themselves  bound  by  traditions.  The  gateway  of  S.  Giorgio 


66 


SICILY  THE   NEW  WINTER   RESORT 


at  Low  Ragusa,  the  portal  of  S.  Maria  di  Gesii  at  Modica,  the 
chapel  in  S.  Maria  della  Scala  at  High  Ragusa,  are  like  some 
of  our  late  Perpendicular  work  in  England,  they  are  so  rich  and 
spirited;  and  at  Palermo  two  churches,  S.  Maria  alia  Catena  and  S. 


S.   MARIA  DI  GESU 


Maria  Nuova,  constitute  almost  a  school  of  architecture  to  themselves, 
their  porches  are  such  a  wonderfully  happy  combination  of  the  Gothic 
and  the  Classic.  They  have  an  elegant  freedom  all  their  own. 

After  this  came  the  deluge.     Between  1550  and  1850  Sicily  was 
burdened  with  increasingly  bombastic  ecclesiastical  edifices,  with  domes 


THE    CHURCHES    AND   THE   LIFE    IN   THEM     67 

and  colonnades  and  other  massive  defects.  Some  of  them  are  less  dis 
tressing  than  others;  there  is  a  type  that  has  no  balloon,  but  two 
western  towers,  with  little  domed  roofs,  which  has  a  certain  solid 
majesty.  Stone  was  cheap,  and  masons  were  good.  But  as  a  rule  the 
churches  went  from  bad  to  worse,  until  about  half  a  century  ago.  They 
were  especially  bad  in  the  eighteenth  century.  The  great  earthquake 
of  1693  had  shaken  down  half  the  churches  in  Sicily,  and  the  baroque 
style  was  in.  full  blast :  architects  were  inflated.  However,  there  was 
a  great  revival  of  good  taste  in  the  last  century,  when  another  earth 
quake  was  vouchsafed  to  shake  down  some  of  these  monstrosities. 
Modica  has  three  admirable  nineteenth-century  churches,  each  of 
them  fit  tp  be  a  cathedral.  The  flights  of  steps  that  lead  up  to 
the  churches  at  Modica  are  astonishingly  fine.  S.  Giorgio  at 
Modica  rivals  the  famous  Spanish  Steps  at  Rome. 

But,  after  all,  though  the  Royal  Chapel  at  Palermo  is  the  most  flaw 
less  gem  of  ecclesiastical  architecture,  the  charm  of  a  Sicilian  church 
seldom  lies  in  its  tout  ensemble.  It  has  this  or  the  other  feature  which 
quite  captivates  you,  and  the  rest  of  it  may  be  cheap.  Sicily  is  a 
country  of  choice  bits.  Take  as  an  example  the  cathedral  of  Syra 
cuse,  which  has  a  whole  Greek  temple  of  the  best  period  embedded 
in  it,  or  the  cathedral  at  Taormina,  which  is  made  quite  charming 
inside  by  the  ruined  red  marble  seats  of  the  Corporation,  rising  in  a 
ridiculous  pyramid  under  a  groggy  eagle  in  the  nave.  They  have  sunk 
and  decayed  to  just  the  proper  pitch,  and  you  forgive  the  whole  build 
ing  for  them.  A  worthless  Neapolitan  architect  made  the  interior  of 
the  Palermo  Cathedral  like  a  railway  station,  but  he  spared  one  spot — 
the  chapel,  which  contains  the  masterful  tombs  of  the  Norman  kings. 


CHAPTER  VIII 

THE    PALERMO    MUSEUM 

THIS,  the  most  beautiful  of  all  museums,  has  notable  collections  of 
(i)  Sicilian-Greek  terra-cottas ;  (2)  Sicilian-Greek  statuary,  par 
ticularly  the  famous  metopes  of  Selinunte,  and  (3)  Sicilian-Greek 
antiquities  generally,  such  as  fragments  of  temples,  sarcophagi,  vases, 
lamps,  bronzes,  jewellery,  coins,  etc.  ;  (4)  Etruscan  sarcophagi, 
cinerary  urns,  and  pottery;  (5)  Sikelian  and  Sicanian  pottery;  (6) 
Sicilian-Arabic  and  Sicilian-Norman  antiquities  ;  (7)  Sicilian-Gothic 
doors,  windows,  tombs,  statues,  etc. ;  (8)  Sicilian  needlework  and 
embroideries  ;  (9)  Sicilian  majolica  and  other  pottery  of  the  last  few 
centuries  ;  (10)  a  picture  gallery,  including  the  chamber  of  Novelli,  the 
famous  Jan  Mabuse,  etc.;  (n)  the  Stucchi  of  Serpotta ;  (12)  Gari 
baldi  relics. 

The  moment  you  are  inside  the  museum  you  are  struck  by  its 
beauty.  It  is  situated  in  the  Convent  of  the  Oratory  of  the  Filippini, 
which  has  two  cloisters  by  Marvuglia  in  the  style  of  the  Renaissance, 
unequalled  by  anything  of  their  late  period.  These  the  fine  taste  of 
the  Director  of  the  Museum,  Professor  Antonino  Salinas,  has  trans 
formed  into  garden  courts,  which  are  simply  ideal.  Their  centres  are 
filled  with  palms,  plantains,  papyrus,  bamboos,  and  other  sub-tropical 
foliage  ;  while  the  colonnades  are  filled  with  the  architectural  gems  of 
the  collection.  The  following  objects  should  be  noted  ; — 

GROUND    FLOOR 

FIRST  COURT 

(Medieval  and  modern  sculpture  and  epigraphs.)  Notice  in  the 
centre  the  *  Triton,  a  statue  of  the  sixteenth  century,  from  the  Royal 
palace,  decorating  a  fountain. 

*  Column  erected  In  1737  in  the  Piazza  Croce  del  ^espri  on  the  place 
where,  according  to  the  antique  tradition,  the  French  massacred  in  the 
Sicilian  Vespers  were  buried. 

No.  1,038.  A  lovely  fifteenth-century  medallion  of  the  Madonna  and 
Child. 


PALERMO   MUSEUM  69 

No.  1,172.  A  gate  of  dark  marble  from  the  Monastery  of  S.M.  del 
Bosco. 

The  last r a  sepolcrale  of  Antonio  Gurrcri,  date  1521. 

No.  1,190.  The  lastra  sepolcrale  of  7incenzo  Gagini,  the  son  of 
Antonello. 

No.  1,019.  The  *Edicola  degll  ^malone^  1528,  attributed  to  the 
celebrated  Sicilian  sculptor,  Antonelio  Gagini.  A  beautiful  statue  of 
the  Madonna  in  an  equally  beautiful  niche. 

Nos.  1,214  and  1,215.  A  Madonna  in  marble,  with  an  aedicula  cut 
in  tufo  from  the  Monastero  delle  Repentite.  Above  is  a  window  of 
the  fourteenth  century  taken  from  the  demolished  church  of  S.  Gia- 
como  la  Marina  in  tufo  and  lava. 

In  two  little  rooms  at  the  end  of  the  court  are  two  ancient  state 
chariots  of  the  Senate  of  Palermo  painted  by  Giuseppe  Velasquez 
(1750-1825). 

SALA  DEL  S.  GIORGIO 

A  few  steps  down  from  the  first  court.  (Sculptures  and  plaster 
work  of  the  Renaissance.)  Notice  : — 

Little  sleeping  amorlno  on  the  balustrade. 

In  front  a  large  *"* '  tedicula  in  marble  with  an  altar  attributed  to 
Antonello  Gagini.  Erected  at  the  expense  of  the  Genoese  in  Palermo 
in  i  526.  In  the  centre  it  represents  St.  George  on  horseback,  and  on 
the  sides  are  beautiful  medallions  with  the  busts  of  saints.  The  bottom, 
in  high  relief,  still  preserves  the  ancient  painting.  The  coloured  bas- 
reliefs  behind  are  lovely,  and  the  Madonna  overhead  is  charming. 
St.  George  is  one  of  the  best  figures  of  the  fifteenth  century. 

On  the  right  the  *edlcola  di  S.  Lulgi.  The  architectural  part  (six 
teenth  century)  was  once  the  cornice  of  the  Spasimo  of  Raphael. 

No.  1,134.  *$*•  Michael,  attributed  to  Antonello  Gagini. 

No.  1,003.  *  Sarcophagus  of  Cecilia,  1495.  A  sleeping  figure  almost 
as  beautiful  as  the  famous  sleeping  figure  in  Lucca  Cathedral. 

No.  1,002.  * 'Madonna  with  Child. 

No.  998.  * 'Bust  of  a  young  man,  fifteenth  century. 

SECOND  COURT 

(Epigraphs,  sculptures,  and  architectural  bits.) 

Under  the  portico  to  the  left  are  a  Phoenician  inscription  from 
Lilybseum  ;  some  sculptures  and  inscriptions  of  the  Roman  period 
from  Tyndaris ;  some  inscriptions  and  figures  from  Solunto,  and  a  very 
interesting  exhibit  of  a  *f  re- Hellenic  tomb  cut  in  tufo  with  two  little 
chambers  at  the  side  of  the  entrance  wall.  This  should  be  compared 
with  the  Sikel  tombs  which  have  recently  been  laid  bare  in  the  Forum 


at  Rome  near  the  temple  of  Antoninus  and  Faustina.  The  glass  at 
the  side  shows  how  the  bones  and  vases  were  found  in  a  similar  but 
much  larger  tomb. 

*  On  the  wall  above  are  some  frescoes,  very  like  those  of  Pompeii, 
from  a  house  at  Solunto,  They  are  festoons  and  scenic  masks  on  a 
ground  of  vermilion  which  has  turned  black. 


VIEW  OF  THE  VAL  D  ISPICA,  WITH  THE  GROTTO  OF  S.    ILAKIO 
(From  a  photo  by  the  Cavaliere  Napolitano  of  Ragusa) 

At  the  bottom  of  the  court  a  colossal  statue  of  Jove,  sitting,  found 
at  Solunto  in  1825.  The  two  little  columns  at  the  side  sculptured 
with  figures  formed  part  of  the  throne  of  the  deity. 

Jt  standing  statue  of  Jove,  much  restored,  from  Tyndaris. 

*A  very  small  fragment  of  the  frieze  of  the  Parthenon  given  by  an 
Englishman. 

THE  VESTIBULE  AT  THE  BOTTOM  OF  THE  COURT 
Plaster  copy  of  the  fallen  *tclamon  of  the  Temple  of  Jove  at  Girgenti, 

2  5  feet  long. 

Plaster  copy  of  a  *  capital  from  the  Temple  of  Apollo  at  Selinunte, 

a  dozen  feet  across. 


PALERMO   MUSEUM  71 

PASSAGE  LEADING  TO  THE  SALA  DI  PANORMO 

Two  Phoenician  sarcophagi  looking  like  mummy-cases,  found  in  vaults 
at  Cannita,  near  Palermo,  in  1695  and  1725.  These  are  the  only 
two  undoubted  Phoenician  remains  found  near  Palermo,  though  it  was 
their  chief  city  in  the  island.  Both  bear  on  their  lids  figures  of 
women. 

SALA  DI  PANORMO 

Contains  on  its  floor  a  very  large  and  fine  ** 'mosaic  floor  about  35  feet 
long  and  25  feet  wide,  divided  in  33  principal  compartments. 

On  the  wall  facing  you  is  a  **  mosaic  pavement  representing  Orpheus, 
who  plays  the  lyre  in  the  midst  of  many  animals,  nearly  20  feet 
high  and  over  1 6  feet  wide.  These  two  grand  mosaics,  together  with 
many  other  fragments  of  simple  and  symmetrical  design,  form  the 
pavement  of  a  large  Roman  house  discovered  in  1869  in  the  Piazza 
Vittoria.  The  larger  of  the  two  mosaics  belongs  to  the  first  century 
A.D.  The  Orpheus  is  rather  later.  These  two  mosaics  form  together 
one  of  the  most  remarkable  examples  in  existence  of  mosaic  paving. 

SALA  DEL  FAUNO 

In  the  centre  the  *Faun  of  Torre  del  Greco^  given  by  Ferdinand  II. 
No.  1,028.  The  black  stone  with  hieroglyphic  inscriptions,  called 
by  Egyptologists  " The  Pietra  di  Palermo'''  * 

The  *  cornice  of  a  'temple  at  ancient  Himera  (Bonfornello). 

A  *  sarcophagus  cut  out  of  a  piece  of  tufo,  found  at  Girgenti,  1830. 

SALA  DI  SELINUNTE 

(Contains  the  architecture  and  sculpture  from  Selinunte.) 

Its  principal  feature  consists  of  the  world-famous  metopes  brought 
from  Selinunte.** 

The  height  of  the  plinth  on  which  the  metopes  are  mounted 
represents  that  of  the  original  architrave. 

On  the  wall,  on  the  left  as  you  go  in,  are  the  more  ancient 
metopes  from  the  so-called  Temple  of  Hercules*  (Temple  C*).  They 
comprise  :  — 

(1)  A  four-horse  chariot. 

(2)  Perseus   killing   Medusa,  from  whose  blood   issues    the   horse 
Pegasus. 

(3)  Hercules  carrying  the  Cercopes. 

(4)  Two  lower  halves  of  metopes. 


72          SICILY   THE   NEW   WINTER   RESORT 

On  the  wall  facing  you  the  metopes  of  the  fine  period**     Temple  E, 
attributed  to  Hera  (Giunone).     They  comprise  :  — 

(1)  Hercules  lighting  with  an  Amazon. 

(2)  Jupiter   surprised    with    the    beauty    of    Juno    when   she   had 
,  borrowed  Venus's  girdle. 

(3)  Diana  having  Actason,  whose  transformation  is  indicated  by  a 
stag-skin,  torn  to  pieces  by  her  hounds. 

(4.)  Pallas  combating  with  a  giant. 

(5)  A  badly  preserved  metope  of  uncertain  subject. 


THE  SEL1NUNTE  METOPE  OF  HEKCULES  FIGHTING  AN  AMAZON 

In  the  centre  of  the  room,  on  isolated  bases,  small  archaic  metopes*** 

1 I )  Europa  and  the  Bull,  with  traces  of  colour. 

(2)  The  Sphinx. 

(3)  Hercules  taming  a  Bull. 

These  were  rescued  by  Prof.  Salinas  from  the  fortifications  impro 
vised  by  Hermocrites  to  the  north  of  the  Necropolis  of  Selinunte. 

(4)  Another  metope  of  exquisite  and  ancient  workmanship  repre 
senting  Juno  and  Mercury. 


PALERMO   MUSEUM  •  73 

An  important  inscription*  on  a  pilaster  of  tufo  found  at  the  large 
Temple  G  or  Apollo  at  Selinunte  in  1871. 

Various  architectural  pieces*  from  Selinunte  with  the  colouring 
unusually  well  preserved. 

At  the  bottom  of  the  Sala  Selinunte  is  the 

ETRUSCAN  MUSEUM 

(Etruscan  antiquities  found  at  Chiusi,  formerly  included  in  the 
Museo  Casuccini.)  Notice  some  fine  bas-reliefs.  Some  stairs  lead 
down  from  this  chamber  to  the  vaults,  in  which  are  stored  thousands 
of  terra-cotta  figures  and  other  objects  found  in  the  tombs  at  Selinunte. 
These  are  waiting  to  be  transferred  above,  when  room  is  found  for 
them,  and  are  very  interesting.  Any  proper  person  can  usually  obtain 
leave  from  the  Director  to  visit  them  with  an  officer  of  the  Museum  for 
purposes  of  study. 

SECOND  AND  THIRD  ETRUSCAN  ROOMS 

Contain  some  splendid  sarcophagi,  one  noble  example  having  a 
painted  inscription  and 'the  other  large  one  a  spirited  relief  of  the 
Battle  between  the  Greeks  and  the  Amazons.  On  the  right  there  is  a 
rather  indelicate  sarcophagus-lid  of  a  man  caressing  his  wife,  as  power 
fully  realistic  as  a  Japanese  wood-carving  of  the  best  period. 


FIRST  FLOOR 

(On  this  floor  are  bronzes,  terra-cottas,  coins,  jewels,  embroideries, 
lace,  majolica,  stucco  reliefs,  the  Sala  Araba,  and  the  Serradifalco 
Collection.  The  staircase  is  in  the  first  court  on  the  left  as  you  enter. 
In  a  room  to  the  right  as  you  enter  on  the  first  landing,  provisionally 
closed,  are  the  Giardini  inscriptions  from  the  Proprieta  Moschella, 
which  are  supposed  to  be  forgeries.) 

NORTH  CORRIDOR  (CORRIDOJO  DI  TRAMONTANA) 

Contains — 

Some  models  of  Serpotta  and  Marabitti. 

Manuscripts  in  Latin  and  a  charter  in  Greek.    . 

yd  and  \th  cases.  Greek  terra-cottas  arranged  by  their  towns.  Only 
a  few  complete  figures  from  Girgenti — all  archaic  forms. 

yh  case,  ditto.  Some  fine  heads  from  Naxos.  Splendid  Naxos  head, 
given  by  Prof.  Salinas,  equally  notable  for  its  antiquity  and  the  fineness 
of  its  execution. 


74          SICILY  THE   NEW   WINTER   RESORT 

tyh  case.  A  large  case  of  bronze  figures  and  bone  stili  and  needles. 
Small  glass  objects.  *Caduceus9  gift  of  Prof.  Salinas.  There  is  an  in 
scription  on  it,  mentioning  the  Sicilian  city  of  Imacara.  **  Marsala 
inscription,  of  two  clasped  hands,  with  an  inscription  in  bad  Greek, 
recording  that  Himilcon  Hannibal  Clorus,  son  of  Himilcon,  makes 
hospitality  with  Liso,  son  of  Diognetes,  and  his  descendants. 

loth  case.     Bone  and  Stone  Age  things  and  little  bronzes. 

Notice  also  the  carbonised  cereals,  fruits,  and  pieces  of  bread  from 
Pompeii. 

Off  this  leads  the 

SALA  ARABA 

Instituted  for  Arabic  and  Sicilian  medieval  monuments.  This  room 
has  been  used  for  the  magnificent  collection  •  of  terra-cottas  found  in  the 
new  temple  at  Selinunte,  but  they  were  only  placed  there  temporarily. 

Round  the  cornice  is  a  copy  of  the  inscription  in  Arabic  carved 
round  the  top  of  the  Cuba  (A.D.  1 180),  of  which  a  translation  is  given 
in  Italian  in  Prof.  Salinas's  guide  to  the  Museum. 

This  should  be  studied,  also  the  coloured  facsimile  of  a  portion  of 
the  roof  of  the  Cappella  Reale  and  a  cast  of  the  Arab  honeycombing 
at  the  Cuba. 

**  Carved  Arabic  door  of  the  twelfth  century  from  the  house  of 
GofFredo  di  Martorano.  It  is  about  15  feet  high,  covered  with 
arabesques  and  has  iron  bosses  like  the  Cappella  Reale. 

The  gem  of  this  room  is  the  glorious  **  Mazzara  JSase,  one  of  the 
finest  pieces  of  pottery  in  the  world,  of  Hispano-Arabic  manufacture, 
about  4  feet  high,  of  white  covered  with  greenish  gold  arabesques. 
The  lustre  of  this  famous  piece  is  extraordinary.  The  only  blemish 
in  it  is  a  hole  made  in  it  when  it  was  used  as  a  water-cistern  at 
Mazzara. 

The  student  of  Sicilian-Arabic  remains  will  find  also  a  good  deal  of 
ordinary  Sicilian-Arab  pottery  and  some  fine  pieces  of  lustre.  There 
is  a  large  collection  of  pottery  from  the  Martorana,  with  Arabic 
characters,  very  like  the  Palermo  peasant's  pottery  of  to-day. 

Notice  coins  and  pieces  of  ironwork  in  cases  by  the  window. 

Brass  vessels  and  astronomical  instruments,  including  an  astrolabe, 
signed  Hamid-ibn-AH  (954-5). 

Copies  of  Arabic  inscriptions  from  the  Eremiti  at  Termini. 

Fifteenth-century  painted  boards,  mostly  quaint  animals  from  St. 
Agostino  at  Trapani. 

A  splendid  Saracenic  chest  of  dark  wood  mosaiced  with  ivory  (by 
the  door). 


PALERMO   MUSEUM  75 

THE  SALA  SERRADIFALCO 

Given  by  Giulia,  Duchess  of  Serradifalco,  mostly  collected  by  the 
Cav.  Corrado  Ventimiglia. 

*Five  beautiful  Urbino  plates. 

Majolica  tile  signed  Francesco  Mazarixa,  I  544.. 

Greek  vases,  one  with  the  same  subject  as  the  Selinuntine  metope  of 
Hercules. 

Some  good  little  Greek  terra-cotta  statuettes  of  the  Tanagra  period. 

A  splendid  painted  and  inlaid  cabinet  of  the  seventeenth  century. 

Gobelin  tapestry  of  Rebecca's  reception  by  Abraham. 

Two  charming  pictures,  a  "  Ghirlandajo "  (No.  1,218)  and  the 
*"  Venus  and  Love,"  attributed  to  Novelli. 

Prof.  Salinas  stars  the  Vincenzo  da  Pavia  (No.  1,031). 

SALA  DI  SERPOTTA 

Giacomo  Serpotta,  1656-1732,  was  a  Palermitan  sculptor,  never 
beaten  anywhere  in  the  beauty  of  his  stucco-work.  He  heads  a  chapter 
in  the  history  of  Italian  statuary.  This  room  contains  some  fine  ex 
amples  of  his  work  taken  from  the  demolished  Chiesa  delle  Stimmate. 
Some  of  the  faces  are  exquisitely  beautiful. 

In  this  room  is  a  collection  of  old  weapons,  and  a  watch  several 
inches  across. 

CORRIDOJO  DI  MEZZOGIORNO 

(Majolicas.) 

The  cases  in  the  centre  contain  some  noble  Faenza  vases  and  lovely 
Palermo  majolica  vases. 

The  * 'eighteenth-century  Palermo  jars  are  from  the  factory  of  Baron 
Malvica.  The  drug-jars  are  not  Caltagirone,  but  Collesano,  Burgio, 
Sciacca,  etc.,  presented  by  Comm.  Luigi  Manceri,  the  well-known 
antiquary. 

On  the  walls  hang  a  number  of  the  "  mattoni  stagnati,"  the  tiles 
painted  with  inscriptions  and  coats-of-arms,  or  figures  of  saints,  placed 
above  the  entrance  door  of  a  house  to  the  right  to  show  the  proprietor 
ship.  There  are  some  small  ones  of  the  fifteenth  and  sixteenth  century, 
but  they  are  mostly  seventeenth  and  eighteenth.  These  are  much 
collected  now. 

Beautiful  **£Madonna  by  Luc  a  della  Robbia. 

Bronze  Greek  armour  in  the  end  case. 

PASSAGE  TO  THE  SALA  DEI  BRONZI 
Contains  some  Etruscan  bronzes  from  the  Casuccini  Collection. 


76          SICILY  THE   NEW   WINTER   RESORT 

SALA  DEI  BRONZI 

(Notice  the  highly  appropriate  Pompeian  decorations  and  furniture 
of  this  room  introduced  by  Prof.  Salinas.) 

Colossal  **  bronze  ram,  one  of  the  most  famous  of  Greek  bronzes, 
given  by  Victor  Emmanuel  II.  There  were  two  of  them  preserved  in 
the  palace  at  Palermo  up  to  184.8,  when  the  revolutionists  destroyed 
one  of  them.  They  formerly  stood  on  the  ledges  above  the  great  gate 
of  the  Castle  of  Maniace  at  Syracuse,  from  which  they  were  taken  in 
1448  by  the  Marquis  of  Geraci,  who  took  them  as  a  reward  for  putting 
down  the  revolt  at  Syracuse  in  that  year.  When  his  nephew  and  heir's 


THE   BRONZE  RAM   FROM  THE  CASTLE  OF   MANIACE  AT  SYRACUSE 

goods  were  confiscated,  they  were  brought  to  Palermo  and  used  to 
decorate  the  seat  of  •  government,  which  was  first  in  the  Chiaramonte 
palace,  then  at  the  Castellamare,  and  then  at  the  present  royal  palace. 
Even  Goethe  admired  this  ram  and  its  then  unbroken  fellow  :  "  My 
attention  was  chiefly  occupied  with  two  rams,  in  bronze,  which,  not 
withstanding  the  unfavourable  circumstances,  highly  delighted  our 
artistic  taste.  They  are  represented  in  a  recumbent  positura,  with  one 
foot  stretched  out  before  themj  with  the  heads  (in  order  to  form  a  pair) 
turned  on  different  sides.  Powerful  forms,  belonging  to  the  mythological 
family,  and  well  worthy  to  carry  Phrixus  and  Helle.  The  wool,  not 
short  and  crisp,  but  long  and  flowing,  with  a  slight  wave,  and  shape 
most  true  to  nature,  and  extremely  elegant — they  evidently  belonged 
to  the  best  period  of  Grecian  art.  They  are  said  to  have  stood 
originally  in  the  harbour  of  Syracuse," 


PALERMO   MUSEUM  77 

Famous  bronze  **  group  of  Hercules  and  the  Ceryneian  stag,  which 
formed  part  of  a  fountain  of  Pompeii  presented  with  its  basin  of  white 
marble  by  King  Francis  I.  The  water  came  from  the  mouth. 

The  room  also  contains  some  charming  Greek  bronzes  and  bowls  and 
jugs,  like  our  milk-jugs,  a  Roman  mosaic  pavement,  and  some  little 
Pompeian  frescoes. 

Notice  in  the  case  outside  the  Sala  dei  Bronzi  a  lovely  Japanese- 
shaped  looking-glass,  engraved  with  Greek  vase  designs. 

SALA  BELLA  CERAMICA  GRECA 

(Most  important  and  beautifully  arranged.) 

Notice  fine  collection  of  Greek  vases  in  the  anteroom. 

Just  inside  (No.  17)  is  the  famous  *  Greek  saucer  with  a  coral  plant 
growing  upon  it,  fished  up  in  the  Bay  of  Palermo. 

In  the  centre  (No.  1,285)  *  lovely  marble  antique  table  from  Pompeii. 
On  it  stands  **  the  celebrated  Gela  Vase,  the  finest  ever  found  in  Sicily, 
decorated  with  the  Battle  of  the  Greeks  and  the  Amazons,  who  are 
beautiful  and  full  of  movement.  On  the  neck  is  Hercules  between 
the  Centaurs  and  the  Battle  of  the  Greeks  with  the  Centaurs.  The 
vase  is  notable  alike  for  its  size,  its  decoration,  and  its  glaze.  It  is  the 
largest  found  in  Sicily. 

No.  1,628.  On  an  isolated  stand  is  a  *  Bacchus  and  Ariadne  with 
numerous  attendants. 

No.  656.  Also  on  an  isolated  stand,  *  Triptohmus  in  the  act  of  de 
parting  in  his  winged  car,  surrounded  by  figures  of  gods  and  men. 

No.  1,506.  *A  vase  with  a  beautiful  representation  of  the  judgment 
of  Paris. 

In  the  end  case  are  Etruscan  imitations  of  Greek  vases. 


SECOND  SALA  DELLA  CERAMICA  GRECA 

No.  578.  A  young  man  assisting  a  warrior  to  arm  himself,  of  very 
elegant  design. 

This  room  contains  many  vases  from  Magna  Grascia  (South  Italy). 

CORRIDOJO  DI  ORIENTE 

Etruscan   pottery   from   the   Museo    CasuccinL      Many   examples 
of  the  Black  Etruscan  pottery  called  "  bucchero." 
,    No.  1, 608.  Isolated  on  a  pedestal  **the  Death  of  Medusa—*  vase 
with  singular  figures  of  an  Oriental  character. 


78          SICILY  THE   NEW  WINTER   RESORT 

GABINETTO  DI  NUMISMATICA  E  OREFICERIA 

(Cabinet  of  coins,  jewellery,  enamels,  and  embroidery.) 

Note. — There  are  many  things  in  this  room  kept  shut  up  ;  for 
example,  only  a  small  collection  of  coins  and  medals  is  visible. 
Students  can  see  the  rest  by  application  to  the  Director. 

Notice  in  this  department  in  isolated  cases  Trapani  work  of  coral 
and  gilt  bronze,  seventeenth  century. 

An  * enamelled  triptych  imitating  Byzantine  work  of  the  doors  of 
S.  Paolo  at  Rome. 

*  Puces  of  the   Ostensorio  from  the  Olivella  Church,  seventeenth- 
century  Sicilian  goldsmith's  work. 

Antique  jewellery  of  gold,  etc. 

**  Antique  enamel  from  Syracuse  which  belonged  to  the  Emperor 
Constans  II.,  who  was  killed  at  Syracuse.  It  represents  Christ 
crowning  an  emperor  and  empress,  etc.  (No.  152). 

Sicilian  coins  arranged  by  cities  or  by  races. 

*  Tsits — a  unique  drachma  with  the  type  of  Himera  and  a  Phoenician 
legend,  given  by  Prof.  Salinas. 

A  set  of  the  coins  struck  in  Sicily  from  Byzantine  times  to  1836, 
among  which  may  be  noticed  * 'Justinian  II.  with  the  mark  of  the 
Syracuse  mint,  a  *  gold  coin  of  Charles  of  Anjou,  a  *  gold  Pierreale 
of 'Peter  I.  and  Constance,  the  *  coin  of  the  mintage  0/1836,  never  issued 
because  the  Neapolitans  objected  to  the  inscription  "Ferdinandus,  D.G., 
Siciliarum  Rex,"  the  baronial  issues  of  the  Chiaramonti,  Polizzi,  etc. 

*The  engraved  gems  given  by  the  Duchess  of  Salinas. 

*  Three  necklaces-  of  Byzantine  gold  found  at  Campobello  di  Mazzara. 
A  collection  of  the  seals  in  clay  found  at  Selinunte,  with  imprints 

of  engraved  stones.  In  Sicily,  as  we  know  from  Cicero,  it  is  customary 
to  seal  letters  with  clay  instead  of  wax. 

Medals  of  illustrious  Sicilians. 

German  and  Venetian  glass. 

Rings,  ancient  and  modern. 

Measures,  weights,  and  scales. 

Ivory  and  wax.  The  **  Last  Judgment  carved  with  singular  skill 
and  patience  in  one  piece  of  ivory,  given  by  Dr.  F.  Gaudiano. 

No.  257.  *  Fifteenth-century  bas-relief  of  the  Madonna  between  two 
angels. 

No.  253.   *  Top  of  a  fourteenth-century  pastoral  staff* 

No.  242.  Nude  figure  of  Bacchus. 

A  very  large  ivory  crucifix  on  an  amethyst  and  gilt-bronze  cross. 

The  coin  case  contains  two  beautiful  examples  of  the  great  Syracusan 
decadrachms  (fifth  century  B.C.),  the  finest  coins  in  the  world. 


PALERMO   MUSEUM  79 

SALA  NUMISMATICA  (Second   Room) 

(Fabrics,  embroideries,  lace.) 

In  the  centre,  the  **  horse-trappings  of  the  Viceroy,  Marquis  di  Villena, 
given  by  Victor  Emmanuel  II.  in  1876.  This  has  wonderful  enamels 
and  embroideries,  and  is  of  sixteenth-century  Spanish  work,  but  in 
many  parts  shows  an  Oriental  character.  It  is  historical,  for  it  was 
pawned  to  the  Municipal  Bank  when,  in  1609,  Villena  needed  a  large 
sum  of  money  to  ransom  his  son  from  the  Turks.  There  are  1 2,000 
scudi  still  owing  on  it.  In  1 8  5  8  the  Museum  was  ordered  to  send  it 
to  the  Museum  in  the  Capo  di  Monte  Palace  at  Naples,  but  it  was 
restored  to  Palermo  through  Minghetti. 

*Very  beautiful  vestments  given  by  the  Pope  Sixtus  IV.  to  the 
Convent  of  St.  Francesco. 

The  other  gems  of  this  room  are  the  wonderful  embroideries  executed 
by  Fra  Giacinto  Donate,  a  Dominican  of  Ascoli,  in  1674  ;  almost 
unexcelled  in  church  embroideries. 

CoRRIDOJO    DI    PoNENTE 

Prehistoric  vases  from  Naro,  Vicari,  S.  Ninfa,  and  Sutera. 

*  Female  figurines  in  terra-cot ta  resembling  those  of  Tanagra,  most 
elegant  in  form,  with  the  original  colour  still  left  and  traces  of  gilding. 
Near  this  are  shown  the  articles  found  at  Carini  in  the  tomb  exhibited 
under  glass  in  the  cortile  of  the  Museum  below. 

Here  are  provisionally  kept  the  beautiful  old  forged  Sicilian  iron 
work,  flowers,  etc.,  some  of  which  show  signs  of  polychrome  painting. 

Four  necklaces  of  Phoenician  beads  from  Girgenti  (Nos.  3,444, 
3,247,  3,217,  etc.). 

Off  this  gallery  is 

THE  CHAPEL 

It  is  lined  with  intarsia  and  mirrors,  and  contains  **the  famous 
bust  of  Eleanor  a  £  Aragona  by  Francesco  Laurana  (fifteenth  century),  a 
work  of  singular  nobility  and  exquisite  workmanship. 

Beside  it  is  a  plaster  copy  of  the  famous  Laurana  bust  at  the 
Louvre. 

In  the  centre  is  a  rich  silver  table  from  the  Monastero  del  Salvatore. 

On  the  far  wall  is  an  old  Flemish  triptych,  carved  and  painted, 
reminding  one  of  the  pulpit  in  Nieuport,  near  Ostend. 

CORRIDOJO  DI  TRAMONTANA 
A  collection  of  keys  and  some  Egyptian  things. 


8o          SICILY   THE   NEW   WINTER   RESORT 

SECOND    FLOOR 

(Pictures,  prints,  etc.) 

CORRIDOJO  DI  TRAMONTANA 

(Byzantine  school.) 

Near  the  door  of  the  staircase  which  leads  to  the  Memorie  Storiche 
are  some  interesting  Sicilian  pictures  of  the  twelfth  century  in  Byzan 
tine  style. 

No.  401.  A  St.  John  with  wings,  painted  by  Pietro  Lombardo, 
has  quite  as  much  expression  as  a  Cimabue. 

.No.  664  (fourth  century  A.D.).  Christ  riding  into  Jerusalem  on  a 
side-saddle. 

Nos.  691,  690,  680  are  twelfth-century  Madonnas  in  the  style  of 
Cimabue. 

CORRIDOJO  DI  MEZZOGIORNO 

(Sicilian  School,  fifteenth  and  sixteenth  century.) 

*No.  554.  By  Tommaso  di  Vigilta.  All  the  works  by  Tommaso 
di  Vigilia  here  are  as  charming  as  the  work  of  Lo  Spagna. 

*No.  814.  Riccardo  Quartararo.  Madonna  with  angels,  and  S. 
Rosalia. 

SALA  DEL  ROMANO 

In  this  room  (No.  161)**  there  is  a  Quartararo  with  distinct  charm. 
He  is  a  sort  of  Sicilian  Gozzoli  with  a  curious  pre-Raphaelite  charm. 
This  picture  is  of.  great  value  because  the  signature,  "  Riccardo  Quar 
tararo,  1494,"  has  been  found  on  it,  establishing  the  authenticity  of 
many  pictures. 

Vincenzo  da  Pavia  would  be  a  very  fine  artist  if  he  .was  not  so 
stagey.  His  colouring  was  delightful,  and  he  made  people  look  like 
human  beings  in  the  sixteenth  century.  He  was  formerly  called 
Vincenzo  II  Romano,  hence  the  name  of  the  room.  He  is  now 
known  as  Vincenzo  da  Pavia.  His  real  name  was  Ainemolo.  (See 
General  Index.) 

No.  102.  Vincenzo's  large  "Deposition  from  the  Cross  "  is  double- 
starred  in  the  Museum  Catalogue. 

Nos.  291,  364,  169,  101,  1,027,  97,  50,  51,  47  are  starred  in  this 
room,  the  last  three  being  by  Antonello  da  Messina,  q.v.,  the  head  of 
the  Sicilian  school  of  painting,  who  introduced  oil-painting  into  Italy 
from  Flanders. 

GABINETTO  MALVAGNA 

This  contains  the  gem  of  the  collection,  and  is  called  after  the  donor, 
the  Prince  of  Malvagna.  The  gem  is  the  little  **  Flemish  triptych, 
formerly  attributed  to  Van  Eyck,  then  thought  to  be  by  Jan  Mabuse, 


PALERMO    MUSEUM  81 

and  now  pronounced  to  be  by  an  unknown  master  of  the  sixteenth 
century.  In  any  case,  it  is  one  of  the  most  beautiful  pictures  in  the 
world.  It  represents  the  Madonna  and  Child  in  the  midst  of  various 
angels  under  a  tribune  of  Gothic  architecture,  exquisitely  carved.  On 
one  side  is  S.  Catherine,  on  the  other  S.  Dorothea.  On  the  outside 
of  the  doors  are  Adam  and  Eve  in  the  Garden  of  Eden.  In  a  glass 
case  is  preserved  the  stamped  leather  cover,  in  which  this  triptych  was 
kept  closed  for  centuries,  a  circumstance  to  which  is  due  its  admirable 
state  of  preservation. 

No.  48.  In  the  same  room  are  a  *Holbeln. 

No.  5.  A  *  Head  of  Christ  by  Correggio. 

No.  406.  *  Attributed  to  Raphael,  a  Judith  in  the  act  of  Killing 
Holofernes. 

No.  35.  *The  Family  of  Rubens,  by  Vandyck. 

No.  230.  *Paul  Potter,  a  Field  with  a  Herdsman  and  a  Cow. 

SALA  DI  NOVELLI 

Pietro  Novelli,  born  at  Monreale  the  2nd  March,  1603,  has  been 
called  by  his  admirers  the  Raphael  of  Sicily,  a  name  which  does  not 
much  accord  with  his  style  of  painting,  for  he  drew  too  much  from 
nature,  sometimes  from  low  subjects.  He  is  justly  esteemed  for  his 
fidelity,  and  robustness,  and  vivacity  of  colouring,  which  shows  the 
influence  then  prevalent  in  Sicily  of  the  Spanish  and  Flemish  schools. 
His  masterpiece  was  the  Paradise,  a  great  fresco,  now  destroyed,  in  the 
cortile  of  the  Palazzo  Sclafani,  of  which  an  idea  is  given  by  numbers 
49  and  30  at  the  bottom  of  this  room.  Nos.  56  and  57  are  actual 
portions  of  it.  It  was  destroyed  for  some  structural  alteration. 

No.  194,  "**an  Angel  Transporting  a  Soul,  is  double-starred  in  the 
Museum  Catalogue,  as  is  No.  196,  **two  half-figures  of  saints. 

Nos.  112,  1,028,  450,  no,  114,  and  24  are  starred. 

Pietro  Novelli  painted  delightful  cherubs  in  the  Sir  Joshua  Reynolds 
style,  and  some  of  his  angels  and  Magdalens  are  charming  in  colour 
and  voluptuously  beautiful.  Some  find  Romney's  work  like  his.  To 
me  he  seems  a  sort  of  Sicilian  Guercino. 

SALA  DEGLI  INTAGLI  IN  LEGNO 
In  the  Quadreria  Gallo.     There  is  a  Rubens  here  and  a  Velasquez. 

CORRIDOJO  DI  TRAMONTANA 

Off  this  is  the  Sala  di  Scuoli  Diversi,  which  contains  a 
* 'Velasquez  of  Philip  IV.  of  Spain  and  paintings  by  *  Alb  am,  Canaletto, 
*  Andrea  del  Sarto,  *Luca  Giordano;  *Vanni  'Pisano,  a  pupil  of  Giotto. 


82          SICILY  THE   NEW   WINTER   RESORT 

CORRIDOJO  DI  TRAMONTANA 

In  the  Corridojo  itself. 

No.  121.     *S.  Martire  by  Vandyck. 

In  the  little  Rooms  I.  and  II.,  at  the  angle  ot  the  Corridojo  di 
Tramontana  and  the  Corridojo  di  Ponente,  are  : — 

Fifteenth-century  frescoes  from  the  Chiesa  di  Risalaimi,  near 
Marineo,  which  belonged  to  the  Teutonic  Knights. 

Room  III.  Frescoes  of  Pietro  Novelli. 

Room  V.  Engravings  after  Sicilian  artists. 

Room  VI.  Water-colours  and  drawings  by  Sicilian  artists. 

Room  VII.  The  original  pen  designs  for  the  Loggie  at  the  Vatican, 
given  by  Sig.  F.  Gaudiano. 

Room  VIII.  A  selection  of  engravings. 

Room  IX.  Reproduction  of  the  mosaics  at  Monreale  in  chromo 
lithograph. 

Rooms  X.  to  XV.  Pictures  of  Sicilian  artists  from  the  seventeenth 
century  to  our  own  day. 

(At  the  bottom  of  the  Corridojo  of  Tramontana  on  the  left  is  a 
staircase  which  conducts  to  the  third  floor.) 

THIRD  FLOOR— (Top). 

(Historical  and  ethnographical  mementoes.  In  the  First  Room  are 
pictures  representing  the  Palermitan  Revolution  of  1860,  a  portrait 
of  Garibaldi  painted  in  1860,  etc.) 

In  the  Second  Room  are  memorials  of  1860,  including  some  wooden 
cannon  used  by  the  conspirators,  and  the  banner  of  Francesco  Riso, 
unfolded  in  Palermo  in  1860. 

Third  Room.  Memorials  of  the  beginning  of  the  nineteenth-century. 
Drawings  and  prints.  Two  pictures  of  tunny-fishing  at  Solanto  in  the 
presence  of  the  Sovereign;  hideous  portraits  of  -  F  erdinand,  Maria 
Caroline,  and  Lady  Hamilton.  A  picture  of  Admiral  Gravina,  who 
was  mortally  wounded  in  the  Battle  of  Trafalgar  where  he  commanded 
the  Spanish  Fleet.  In  a  glass  case  are  portraits  of  Cagliostro  and  his 
wife,  and  some  of  the  wonderful  Sicilian  eighteenth-century  pictures 
made  of  applique  stuffs  and  fine  silk  sewing.  Nos.  154,  155,  162, 
etc.,  represent  the  family  of  the  Prince  of  Belmonte. 

Fourth  Room.  Drawings  of  S.  Rosalia's  car  in  procession,  183, 
184,  etc.  These  are  very  interesting. 

Fifth  Room  contains  a  number  of  valuable  pictures  representing  old 
Palermo. 

Sixth  Room.  Plans  of  Palermo,  ancient  and  modern. 


PALERMO    MUSEUM  83 

In  the  CORRIDOJO  DI  TRAMONTANA  there  are  a  number  of  relics. 

Seventh  Room.  Contains  a  collection  of  the  various  kinds  of  modern 
Sicilian  peasant's  pottery,  arranged  according  to  their  places  of  produc 
tion. 

Eighth  Room.  Sicilian  costumes,  especially  those  of  the  Albanian 
colony  at  Piana  dei  Greci ;  also  ancient  measures. 

Ninth  and  Tenth  Rooms.  Contain  relics  of  the  Revolution  of 
1848. 

Eleventh  Room  is  a  bedroom  in  the  eighteenth-century  Sicilian 
style.  Notice  the  seventeenth-century  ironwork  on  the  bed,  the  old 
oak  chests  and  the  iron  camp  basin  stand,  a  picture  painted  on  grooved 
glass,  which  is  entirely  different  according  to  the  three  points  of  view 
from  which  you  look  at  it  (a  "  perspective  ").  The  room  also  con 
tains  a  rope-bottle  and  spindle,  three  Tuscan  lamps,  some  old  chairs,  a 
charming  wax  Madonna  with  a  stabbed  heart,  a  crucifix,  reliquary, 
and  holy-water  stoup. 

End  Room.  Contains  specimens  of  Sicilian  drawn  linen-work  and 
cross-stitch  on  linen. 

The  picturesque  lemon  garden,  with  magnificent  stone-pines  in  the 
centre,  seen  from  the  windows,  belongs  to  the  Monteleone  Palace. 

N.B. — This  guide  to  the  Palermo  Museum  is  abridged  by  special  permission 
from  the  admirable  Guida  to  the  Museum  written  by  its  Director,  the  great 
Antonino  Salinas. 


CHAPTER    IX 

MOTORING    IN    SICILY 

SICILY  presents  a  most  interesting  field  to  motorists.  It  is  prac 
tically  a  term  incognita  to  them.  Though  Mr.  and  Mrs.  C.  N. 
Williamson,  in  that  delightful  book,  The  Lightning  Conductor, 
opened  up  all  sorts  of  alluring  prospects,  they  had  not  brought  about 
any  influx  of  motors  when  we  were  there  last  spring. 

Sicily  has  the  crowning  charm  to  a  motorist — that  he  can  go  where 
other  people  cannot.  The  interior  of  the  island  is  full  of  superb 
mountain  scenery  and  little  mountain  cities  which  are  nearly  all  of 
them  on  the  site  of  antique  cities  as  old  as  history,  and  not  a  few  of 
them  retain  their  ruins.  But  these  mountains  and  cities  of  the  interior 
have  never  been  properly  explored,  because  of  the  difficulty  of  getting 
to  them. 

It  has  been  an  axiom  in  Sicily  that  no  place  which  is  not  within  an 
easy  carriage  drive  can  be  visited  if  you  wish  to  return  the  same  day. 
The  traffic  on  the  railways  is  not  sufficient  to  allow  of  them  running 
trains  at  times  that  suit  tourists,  or  it  would  be  done ;  the  managing 
director  of  the  railways  is  one  of  the  most  distinguished  antiquaries 
in  the  island,  and  a  patriotic  Sicilian  intensely  interested  in  the  matter 
of  attracting  forestieri  to  the  sights  of  Sicily.  The  difficulty  is  that  the 
trains  are  made  so  slow  by  having  to  stop  at  all  the  stations  that  they 
are  obliged  to  start  very  early  in  order  to  arrive  at  their  destination  on  the 
same  day,  and  they  arrive  equally  late  at  the  terminus.  But  the  ordinary 
tourist  does  not  care  to  start  before  breakfast  or  to  get  back  after 
dinner,  so  there  is  a  dead-lock  as  regards  railways.  A  greater  difficulty 
still  lies  in  the  fact  that  Sicilian  horses  are  very  slow,  and  the  distances 
to  the  cities  in  the  interior,  not  served  by  railways,  become  severe  to 
those  who  have  to  rely  upon  horses,  which  in  hilly  country  only  go  about 
four  miles  an  hour.  You  cannot,  therefore,  see  one  of  these  mountain 
cities  in  a,  day's  excursion,  while  in  most  of  them  the  hotel  accommo 
dation  is  primitive,  though  the  Sicilians  understand  how  to  cook  any 
food  that  can  be  procured.  The  motor  gets  over  all  these  difficulties  ; 
if  you  take  your  lunch  with  you,  it  is  perfectly  easy  to  see  Centuripe 


MOTORING   IN   SICILY  8=; 

«j 

and  Agira,  in  a  day's  excursion  to  each,  from  Catania.  Hardly  any 
tourists  visit  these  cities,  and  yet  they  are  intensely  interesting  ;  they  are 
most  boldly  and  picturesquely  built  on  mountain-tops ;  they  have  more 
Roman  remains  than  any  town  in  the  island  except  Catania,  or  Taor- 
mina,  or  Tyndaris.  Agira  has  rather  unique  medieval  buildings  too, 
and  is  full  of  historical  interest,  for  it  had  a  Sikel  king  who  was 
Dionysius  the  Great's  most  powerful  ally  in  his  Carthaginian  wars. 
Nor  did  Agira  stop  at  history,  for  it  shows  the  place  where  the  oxen 
of  Geryon  left  their  hoof-prints  while  Hercules  was  driving  them  off, 
and  the  cell  which  was  the  last  earthly  habitation  of  Saint  Philip  the 
Apostle. 

Paterno,  the  city  of  Hybla,  the  Sikel  Venus,  and  Aderno,  the  city 
of  the  Sikel  fire-god  Hadranus,  whose  temple  was  guarded  by  the  thou 
sand  dogs  of  preternatural  fierceness  and  sagacity,  can  be  reached  by 
the  Etna  railway,  and  Motta  S.  Anastasia,  with  its  medieval  castle, 
on  the  prismatic  cliff,  where  Bernard  Cabrera  was  imprisoned  four 
hundred  years  ago  for  his  attempts  upon  the  Sicilian  Crown,  has  a 
station  on  the  line  to  Palermo,  but  all  these  places  can  be  much 
more  pleasantly  visited  in  a  motor-car,  which  allows  you  to  begin  at 
your  own  time  and  take  your  own  time.  Taormina  itself  is  only 
about  fifty  km.  —  roughly  speaking,  thirty  miles  —  from  Catania  j 
Aci-Castello  and  Acireale  are  only  a  few  miles  from  it ;  and  the  lake 
and  ruins  of  Leontini,  and  the  wonderful  volcanic  lake  of  the  Palici, 
the  most  ancient  sanctuary  of  Europe,  can  be  done  in  a  fifty-mile  trip, 
out  and  home.  The  great  object  for  motorists  in  Sicily  to  give  them 
their  full  advantage  over  ordinary  mortals  is  to  hit  upon  centres  like 
Catania,  with  a  number  of  good  excursions  that  can  be  done  in  the 
day,  and  a  comfortable  hotel  to  stay  at.  Another  such  place  is  Syra 
cuse,  where  the  motor  will  be  found  very  useful  in  covering  the  fairly 
considerable  distances  between  the  groups  of  ruins  as  well  as  in  manag 
ing  the  excursions  so  difficult  for  horses.  In  a  motor  you  could  be  at 
the  castle  of  Euryalus  in  half  an  hour,  though  it  makes  quite  a  long 
morning  or  afternoon  with  horses.  For  excursions  it  is  badly  needed. 
Say  you  want  to  go  to  Pantalica.  To  have  anything  like  a  reasonable 
time  there  you  must  take  the  train  at  five  in  the  morning  and  get  back  at 
nine  at  night,  and  put  up  with  whatever  kind  of  carriage  you  can  get  at 
Lentini — a  mere  village,  or  else  you  must  take  the  long  carriage  drive 
uphill  to  Sortino,  another  mere  village,  and  sleep  the  night  there ;  while 
with  a  motor  you  can  •  go  there  and  back  in  the  day  easily  from  Syra 
cuse.  If  you  drive  in  a  carriage,  you  must  make  at  least  two  excur 
sions  of  Thapsos  with  its  prehistoric  tombs  and  the  ruins  of  Megara 
Hyblasa,  and  Melilli,  the  honey  town  with  the  mysterious  fortress 
above  it  that  is  said  to  be  another  Euryalus. 


86          SICILY   THE   NEW   WINTER   RESORT 

Palazzolo  Acreide  has  the  merest  apology  for  an  hotel,  but  if  you 
drive  there,  as  it  is  twenty-seven  miles  uphill,  you  have  no  choice 
but  to  pass  a  night  there.  Old  travellers  like  ourselves,  of  course, 
make  a  point  of  passing  a  night  in  any  interesting  town  where  the 
accommodation  is  no  worse  than  it  is  at  Palazzolo,  because  it  is  in  the 
morning  and  the  evening  that  you  see  the  life  of  a  Sicilian  town  ;  but 
a  fastidious  woman  would  be  frightened  out  of  her  wits  by  the  sight  of 
the  bedrooms  at  Palazzolo,  though  at  the  Italia  they  are  free  of 
vermin. 

In  a  motor-car,  however,  I  can  imagine  nothing  more  absolutely 
delightful  than  a  day's  excursion  from  Syracuse  to  Palazzolo,  going 
by  the  Canicattini  road  and  returning  by  the  Floridia  road. 

Appended  is  a  table  to  show  the  motorist  how  to  visit  all  the  most 
interesting  places  in  Sicily  by  road  without  covering  the  same  ground 
twice. 

There  are  three  possible  points  for  starting  a  motor-car  trip  round 
Sicily — Palermo,  Catania,  and  Messina.  Trapani,  a  very  rich  and 
progressive  town  for  its  size,  might  possibly  be  added  to  these  ;  but  it 
is  in  an  out-of-the-way  corner,  so  it  need  not  be  considered.  And  of 
these,  Palermo  is  much  the  best,  because  it  has  the  best  supplies  and 
is  the  best  place  for  getting  information  and  introductions. 

On  arriving  at  Palermo,  motorists  should  place  themselves  in  com 
munication  with  Mr.  Hans  von  Pernull  in  the  Corso,  near  the  Piazza 
Marina,  who  has  lately  become  Cook's  correspondent  for  Sicily. 
Mr.  Von  Pernull  will  give  them  every  species  of  information,  and  he 
will  make  their  arrangements  in  advance  for  them,  such  as  engaging 
accommodation  at  hotels  (payable  in  some  instances  with  his  coupons), 
or  having  supplies  to  meet  them  at  fixed  points.  He  is  himself  a 
motorist,  so  understands  the  requirements.  Mr.  Von  Pernull  will 
likewise  introduce  motorists  of  position  to  the  Bene  Economico,  an 
association  formed  in  Palermo  with  the  object  of  helping  travellers  and 
developing  and  improving  Sicily,  of  which  the  Conte  di  Mazzarino  is 
president,  and  Mr.  Joshua  Whitaker,  head  of  the  great  Anglo-Sicilian 
firm  of  Ingham,  Whitaker,  and  Co.,  of  Palermo  and  Marsala,  is 
vice-president. 

Palermo  is  the  best  town  in  Sicily  for  a  long  stay,  and  is  the  starting- 
point  of  a  network  of  great  roads  running  right  across  the  island.  The 
most  charming  hotel  is  the  Villa  Igiea,  situated  about  a  mile  outside  the 
town  on  the  seashore,  with  lovely  terraced  subtropical  gardens  and 
exquisite  views  of  the  bay,  the  most  beautiful  in  Europe.  The  favourite 
hotel  in  Palermo  itself  was  for  many  years  the  Hotel  des  Palmes,  but 
the  most  central  and  best  appointed  now  is  the  Hotel  de  France. 
Palermo  has  the  largest  opera-house  in  the  world,  and  an  opera  season 


MOTORING   IN   SICILY  87 

in  the  spring.  There  is  a  great  deal  of  good  lawn-tennis  at  Mr. 
Whitaker's  and  Signor  Florio's,  and  golf  is  to  be  inaugurated. 
Palermo  is  a  good  place  to  buy  old  lace,  seventeenth-century  silver 
plate  and  jewellery,  Sicilian-Greek  coins  and  terra-cottas,  and  old 
embroideries.  Expensive  pieces  should  be  shown  at  the  Museum  before 
the  purchase  is  concluded,  to  know  if  a  permit  will  be  granted  for  their 
exportation  —  the  Director  would  denounce  a  forgery  or  an  outrageous 
price.  The  principal  sights  of  Palermo  are  the  cathedral,  the  Royal 
Palace  which  contains  the  Cappella  Reale,the  most  beautiful  ecclesiastical 
building  in  Europe,  the  other  Norman  churches  with  their  golden 
mosaics,  dozens  more  of  fine  and  interesting  churches,  the  Arabic 
palaces,  like  the  Zisa,  the  tropical  gardens,  and  the  beautiful  and 
wonderful  Museum  ;  while  within  short  drives  are  Monreale,  with 
eighty  thousand  square  feet  of  Norman  mosaics,  and  the  loveliest 
cloister  in  Europe ;  the  church  of  the  Sicilian  Vespers  ;  the  medieval 
convent  of  the  Gesu  ;  the  cemetery  of  the  nobles ;  and  the  other 
medieval  convent  at  Baida.  While  in  the  outer  zone  are  Bagheria, 
the  old  court  suburb,  ten  miles  ;  Solunto,  the  Sicilian  Pompeii,  ten 
miles  ;  Piana  dei  Greci,  whose  inhabitants  wear  modern  Greek  dress 
and  speak  Greek,  about  double  the  distance  ;  Cefalu,  another  Norman 
cathedral  with  golden  mosaics,  forty  miles,  passing  on  the  way  Termini, 
the  ancient  Himera,  with  many  Greek  and  Roman  remains.  There  is 
much  to  detain  the  motorist  in  Palermo.  But  the  sights  he  can  see  in 
and  from  the  city  are  accessible  by  carriage  and  rail.  When  he  gets 
into  the  interior  he  will  have  the  satisfaction  of  seeing  what  nobody 
else  can  see  without  an  interminable  drive  behind  miserable  horses  and 
staying  in  a  poor  hotel. 

From  Palermo  naturally  started  the  great  coach-roads  through  the 
island,  and  these  are  still  the  easiest  way  of  approaching  the  cities  of 
the  interior,  except  the  very  few  which  happen  to  lie  near  the  railway 
lines  between  Palermo  and  Catania  and  Girgenti. 

The  following  may  be  taken  as  an  itinerary : — 

FIRST  DAY.— Start  from  the  hotel  at  Termini,  where  there  is  good 
accommodation,  and  make  a  long  day's  journey  through  Polizzi-La- 
Generosa  to  Petralia  Sottana  and  Petralia  Soprana,  famous  scenery  and 
interesting  towns,  and  pass  Gangi,  with  its  fine  feudal  castle,  ^  and 
Sperlinga  to  Nicosia,  which  is  always  allowed  to  be  the  most  medieval 
town  in  Sicily.  Sperlinga,  which  can  be  visited  in  a  day- excursion,  has 
an  early  Norman  castle,  and  has  played  a  leading  part  in  history,  for  it 
may  have  been  the  Herbita,  which  was  the  capital  of  King  Archonides, 
the  ally  of  Athens,  and  it  covered  itself  with  undying  glory  by  shelter 
ing  the  French  in  the  massacre  of  the  Sicilian  Vespers.  Its  people  still 


88 


SICILY   THE   NEW   WINTER   RESORT 


speak  bastard  French,  and  its  castle  records  this  in  the  proud  motto, 
"  Quod  Siculis  placuit  sola  Sperlinga  negavit."  Some  people^  put 
Herbita  at  Nicosia  itself.  There  is,  at  any  rate,  no  more  medieval 


VISTA   DAL  CASSO,   PETRALIA   SOTTANA 


town  than  this  city  of  King  Roger's  Lombards,  which  still  preserves 
its  Lombard  speech  and  architecture.  It  has  the  remains  of  a  Norman 
castle  and  cathedral  and  many  old  churches,  one  of  which  has  the 
superb  Cono  of  Gagini,  a  sculpture  thirty-six  feet  high  adorned  with 
sixty  figures. 


AJ'PJCCQ  ZIMPETTO,   PETRALIA  SOTTANA 


MOTORING   IN    SICILY  89 

SECOND  DAY. — (To  be  spent  at  Nicosia.) 

THIRD  DAY. — One  can  go  to  Randazzo,  visiting  Troina  by  the 
way  ;  but  it  is  better  to  give  the  third  day  to  an  excursion  to  Troina, 
and  leave  Randazzo  for  another  route.  Troina  is  the  highest  city  in 
Sicily,  3,650  feet,  and  fills  one  of  the  most  romantic  pages  in  its 
history,  for  it  was  here  that  Roger  the  Great  Count  and  his  girl  wife 
Eremberga  were  besieged  for  four  months  in  the  citadel  by  the  revolted 
Saracens  of  the  town,  and  had  but  one  cloak  between  them  for  the 
fierce  mountain  winter ;  and  when  the  valiant  Roger  had  won  back 
the  town,  he  left  his  countess  to  guard  it  while  he  went  to  Calabria,  and 
the  old  chronicler  loves  to  dwell  on  the  beautiful  girl  making  the  rounds 
of  the  ramparts  every  night.  She  held  the  city  safe,  and  when  Roger 
became  lord  of  Sicily  he  built  the  church  of  the  Assunta  on  the  site 
of  that  citadel.  Troina  is  the  Sikelian  Imacara,  the  Trajanopolis  of 
the  Romans,  often  mentioned  by  Cicero  ;  the  remains  of  the  ancient 
Pantheon  may  still  be  seen.  Between  Nicosia  and  Troina  is  Cerami, 
where  Roger  won  his  most  brilliant  victory  over  the  Saracens,  defeating, 
in  the  words  of  Gibbon,  "  fifty  thousand  horse  and  foot,  with  one 
hundred  and  thirty-six  Christian  soldiers,  without  reckoning  St.  George, 
who  fought  on  horseback  in  the  foremost  ranks." 

FOURTH  DAY. — From  Nicosia  there  is  a  much-used  coach-road  to 
Leonforte,  the  most  important  centre  in  Sicily  for  diligence  routes  to  the 
cities  of  the  interior.  It  is  better  to  stay  at  the  neighbouring  city  of 
Castrogiovanni,  where  Cook's  agent,  Mr.  Von  Pernull,  is  opening  a 
luxurious  hotel. 

FIFTH  DAY. — Spend  at  Castrogiovanni,  the  ancient  Enna,  famous 
for  its  temples  of  Ceres  and  Proserpine  and  the  rape  of  Proserpine  by 
Pluto. 

SIXTH  DAY. — From  Castrogiovanni  one  can  make  an  excursion  on 
the  sixth  day  to  Pietraperzia,  with  its  lordly  castle,  and  the  great  inland 
town  of  Caltanisetta,  with  a  population  proverbial  for  its  brutality,  but 
with  many  antique  and  medieval  remains. 

SEVENTH  DAY. — From  Castrogiovanni  there  is  more  than  one  road 
to  Catania.  One  of  the  best  to  take  is  that  via  Caltagirone,  where  the 
night  can  be  spent,  in  order  to  take — 

EIGHTH  DAY — the  road  to  the  coast  past  the  Lake  of  Palici,  which 
is  the  oldest  sanctuary  in  Europe,  and  the  malarious  lake  of  Lentim,  to 
the  ruins  of  the  famous  ancient  Greek  city  of  Leontini,  from  which 
there  is  a  direct  road  up  to  Catania.  Caltagirone  is  the  pleasantest 
inland  city  in  Sicily.  Why  foreigners  do  not  go  there  is  a  mystery : 
it  has  so  many  cfeims  5  it  stands  two  thousand  feet  above  the  sea,  and 


9° 


SICILY   THE   NEW  WINTER   RESORT 


has  a  fine  old  castle  with  other  ruins,  medieval  and  classical ;  its 
potteries  are  known  to  connoisseurs  all  over  the  world.  One  of  the 
greatest  pottery  artists  living,  Signor  Bartelli,  resides  there.  It  was  at 
one  of  its  monasteries  that  Cagliostro,  the  arch-impostor,  learnt  his 
smattering  of  science.  Across  the  hills,  mere  child's  play  for  a  motor, 
is  Piazza  Armerina,  the  virtual  centre  of  Sicily,  for  on  it  all  the  great 
coach-roads  converge,  from  Palermo,  Catania,  Syracuse,  and  Caltagirone, 
for  example.  No  foreigners  go  there,  although  it  would  well  repay 
them,  for  it  is  considered  the  acme  of  fertile  mountain  scenery,  and  the 
town  contains  many  medieval  buildings.  It  is  one  of  the  colonies 
settled  by  Greeks  or  Albanians  when  they  were  driven  into  exile  by 
the  persecutions  of  the  Turks  in  the  fifteenth  century.  And  close  by  is 
Aidone,  a  Lombard  colony  which  has  retained  its  very  dialect  from 
Norman  times.  Some  say  that  Aidone  was  the  Sikel  city  of  Herbita, 
and  some  that  it  was  Trinacia  itself,  while  Piazza  Armerina  in  the 
midst  of  its  well-watered  woods  was  perhaps  the  original  Gela. 

NINTH   DAY. — Spend  the  ninth  day  in   seeing  the    museum,   the 
Roman  baths,  the  buried  Greek  theatre,  and  other  sights  of  Catania, 


RANDAZZQ,   S.    MARIA 


TENTH  DAY. — From  Catania  (tenth  day)  one  can  motor  through 
Paterno  and  Aderno  with  their  ancient  and  medieval  remains  round 
the  back  of  Etna  to  Randazzo.  The  vegetation  at  first  is  wonderfully 
rich,  and  the  views  of  Etna  are  superb.  The  road  crosses  live  great 
lava  streams. 


MOTORING   IN   SICILY  91 

ELEVENTH  DAY. — Spend  the  eleventh  day  at  Randazzo,  the  highest 
city  on  Etna,  surrounded  by  walls  and  full  of  medieval  palaces  and 
churches,  and  in  running  over  to  Malvagna  to  see  the  ancient  Byzantine 
chapel.  Food  and  wine  must  be  taken  with  you,  but  the  Albergo 
dTtalia  is  otherwise  very  tolerable.  They  can  cook  when  they  have 
anything  to  cook.  The  landlord  is  the  contractor  for  the  ascent  of 
Etna  from  this  point.  He  supplies  guides  and  mules,  which  make  the 
ascent  in  five  and  a  half  hours.  Two  or  three  days  may  be  added  to 
the  stay  at  Randazzo  for  the  ascent  of  Etna,  if  the  season  of  the  year 
is  suitable. 

TWELFTH  DAY. — From  Randazzo  a  delightful  day-excursion  (twelfth 
day)  can  be  made  to  the  ancient  convent  of  Maniace,  with  its  Norman 
church,  now  the  seat  of  Lord  Bridport  and  the  capital  of  the  Duchy 
of  Bronte.  The  scenery  on  the  drive  is  very  beautiful,  and  Etna  from 
Randazzo  looks  like  Fujiyama. 

THIRTEENTH  DAY. — From  Randazzo  you  can  go  in  a  day  (thirteenth 
day)  to  Taormina,  passing  Castiglione,  which  takes  its  name  from  a 
glorious  medieval  castle  on  the  brow  of  a  precipice,  and  just  before  you 
get  to  Giardini,  the  fine  prehistoric  walls  of  Naxos,  the  earliest  Greek 
settlement  in  Sicily.  I  need  not  describe  Taormina,  the  most  popular 
place  in  Sicily  with  the  English — famous  for  its  Graeco-Roman  theatre, 
its  exquisite  Moresco  palaces  of  S.  Stefano  and  the  Badia,  and  its  in 
comparable  view  of  Etna.  But  the  traveller  often  forgets  that  it  has 
many  Roman  remains  if  he  takes  the  trouble  to  hunt  them  out.  The 
S.  Domenico  Hotel  here  is  one  of  the  most  popular  in  Sicily,  though 
it  has  never  displaced  the  Timeo. 

Spend  the  FOURTEENTH  and  FIFTEENTH  DAYS  at  Taormina. 

SIXTEENTH  DAY. — On  the  sixteenth  day,  motoring  from  Taormina 
to  Messina,  you  pass  at  Fiume  d'Agro  a  superb  Norman  abbey,  which 
may  be  compared  with  Monreale  and  Cefalti,  and  there  are  a  curious 
little  Gothic  hill-top  city  at  Savoca  just  beyond  it,  the  Castle  at  Sca- 
letta,  and  the  vast  and  famous  monastery  of  S.  Placido,  all  of  them 
a  little  off  the  road  and  all  of  them  interesting. 

SEVENTEENTH  DAY. — Spend  the  seventeenth  day  at  Messina,  which 
has  two  large  hotels ;  and  though  foreigners  generally  pass  it  by,  has 
many  charming  features,  such  as  the  splendid  cathedral  which  is  proving 
to  be  full  of  mosaics,  the  beautiful  fountain  of  Orion,  several  ancient 
churches,  the  medieval  street  of  the  monasteries,  and  the  rich  tropical 
garden  of  the  Villa  Rocca  Guelfonia  on  the  site  of  the  Mamertine 
citadel. 

One  can  make  a  day-trip  out  to  the  Faro,  the  famous  lighthouse 


92          SICILY  THE   NEW   WINTER   RESORT 

point,  so  as  to  see  the  exquisite  views  of  the  Strait  of  Messina  and 
the  swordftsh-harpooning,  or  one  can  take  it  on  the  way  to  Milazzo — 


MESSINA  ."  PANORAMA 


EIGHTEENTH  DAY — where  one  spends  the  night  in  order  to  visit 
the  next  day — 

NINETEENTH  DAY — the  splendid  ruins  of  Tyndaris,  a  Greek  theatre, 
Greek  towers,  walls,  and  tombs,  a  Roman  gymnasium,  and  the 
picturesque  church  of  the  Madonna  del  Tindaro  on  the  most  magnifi 
cent  mountain  site  in  all  Sicily.  From  Milazzo  also  you  could  visit 


THE  CHURCH   OF  THE  MADONNA  ..DEL  TINDARO 


MOTORING  IN   SICILY 


93 


the  Lipari  Islands  by  steamer  ;  and  on  the  motor  trip  from  Milazzo  to 
Palermo — 

TWENTIETH  DAY — you  pass  the  magnificent  forest  and  mountain 
scenery  of  the  Madonian  Mountains. 

TWENTY-FIRST  DAY. — Starting  out  from  Palermo  along  the  Mon- 
reale  road  (twenty-first  day)  you  put  up  at  the  old-world  city  of 
Alcamo,  on  the  way  to  which  you  pass  Monreale  and  the  famous 


MONREALE  CATHEDRAL,  WEST  FRONT 


monastery  of  S.  Martino,  one  of  the  largest  in  Sicily,  now  secularised. 
Of  Alcamo  I  cannot  speak  from  personal  experience.  It  is  a  town  of 
fifty  thousand  inhabitants,  unjustly  neglected  by  foreigners,  for  it  is  full 
of  fine  old  churches  with  works  by  Gagini,  Serpotta  and  Novell!,  and 
a  feudal  castle  of  the  fourteenth  century.  It  is  an  Oriental-looking 
town  with  Arabo-Norman  remains.  The  great  old  road  from  Alcamo 
to  Palermo  lies  inland,  but  there  is  a  coast-road  too,  much  longer, 
which  takes  you  past  Carini,  the  Hyccara  of  the  ancients,  the  Sikel 
town  which  was  Nicias's  one  conquest  in  Sicily,  of  which  the  chief  prize 
was  the  beautiful  courtesan  Lais,  who  became  the  mistress  of  his  rival 
Alcibiades— at  least,  that  is  the  legend  in  Sicily.  But  it  is  simpler 
to  leave  Carini,  with  its  beautiful  castle  of  the  Chiaramonti  and 
the  prehistoric  tombs  of  its  Sikel  lords,  to  a  day  excursion  from 
Palermo. 


94          SICILY   THE   NEW   WINTER   RESORT 

TWENTY-SECOND  DAY. — From  Alcamo  you  motor  past  the  Alcamo- 
Calatafimi  station  through  superb  scenery  to  Calatafimi,  the  town  near 
Segesta,  where  artists  stay  when  they  are  painting  the  temple.  At 
Calatafimi  Garibaldi  won  his  first  battle.  Segesta's  glorious  temple 
of  Diana  on  a  mountain-top  and  its  splendid  Greek  theatre  command 
ing  a  view  of  the  sister  city  of  Eryx  make  it  a  wonder  in  the  wilderness. 
It  has  many  other  ruins,  though  travellers  never  have  time  to  look  at 
them.  From  Segesta,  if  it  is  good  enough,  take  the  road  across  the 
mountains  to  Eryx  and  Trapani,  so  as  to  bring  into  your  mind  the 
closeness  of  the  connection  between  Eryx  and  Segesta,  which  were 
inhabited  by  a  different  nation  (the  Elymians)  from  the  rest  of  Sicily. 
The  Elymians,  who  claimed  to  be  Trojans,  allied  easily  with  the 
Carthaginians,  and  may  have  owed  their  survival  to  that ;  but  when 
they  were  brought  in  contact  with  the  conquering  Roman,  with 
Oriental  cunning,  they  traded  on  the  fable  of  their  Trojan  origin — the 
weak  point  in  Roman  vanity. 

Leave  Eryx  till  the  following  day,  and  go  on  to  Trapani.  Trapani  is 
now  the  fourth  city  in  Sicily — a  great  town  of  sixty  thousand  inhabitants, 
with  a  beautiful  sickle-shaped  harbour  like  Messina's  at  the  opposite 
corner.  The  name  Trapani  is  a  corruption  of  the  old  Greek  word  for 
a  sickle,  the  ancient  name  for  the  city,  Drepanum,  a  Greek  name, 
though  it  never  was  a  Greek  town.  Its  harbour,  where  the  boat-races 
were  held  in  the  ^Eneid,  is  now  full  of  northern  steamers,  though  its 
features  are  unaltered.  It  is  bordered  by  the  avenues  of  the  Marina. 
The  city  has  some  old  churches  and  palaces  worth  seeing,  notably  the 
pilgrimage  church  at  the  foot  of  Eryx,  near  the  spot  where  the  funeral 
games  of  Anchises  were  celebrated. 

But  few  people  linger  over  Trapani ;  if  they  stay  there  a  day  it  is 
to  make  the  excursion  up  Mount  Eryx,  one  of  the  most  interesting 
and  beautiful  spots  in  Sicily. 

Eryx,  which  has  been  called  Monte  S.  Giuliano  since  St.  Julian 
and  his  hounds  took  part  in  a  battle  against  the  Saracens  a  thousand 
years  ago,  is  one  of  the  most  ancient  towns  in  Sicily.  It  was  one  of 
the  two  great  strongholds  where  the  dwindling  nation  of  the  Elymians 
maintained  themselves  long  after  the  rest  of  their  empire  had  been 
forgotten,  Segesta,  just  in  sight  on  the  mountains  of  the  horizon,  being 
the  other. 

You  sleep  at  Trapani,  and  on  the 

TWENTY-THIRD  DAY,  after  a  hasty  glance  at  its  sights  (unless  you 
are  wise  enough  to  allow  yourself  an  extra  day  here),  you  go  up 
Mount  Eryx.  I  suppose  Eryx  can  be  ascended  in  a  motor,  though 
I  never  tried  it,  because  it  can  be  reached  by  carriage.  It  would 


MOTORING  IN   SICILY  95 

be  an  interesting  place  to  try.  When  you  get  to  the  top  you 
have  Carthaginian  walls,  a  Saracenic-Gothic  cathedral,  the  ruins  of 
the  great  temple  of  Venus — one  of  the  most  famous  in  the  ancient 
world,  and  the  ruined  castle  which  was  built  out  of  them,  not  to 
mention  Count  Pepoli's  castle  in  the  ancient  Greek  style ;  and  you 
have  a  view  of  surpassing  majesty  from  Segesta  in  the  mountains  and 
the  fortresses  of  Carthage  on  the  plain  to  the  jEgatian  Islands  out  at 
sea,  and  even  Africa  beyond. 

When  you  get  down  from  Mount  Eryx  you  go  on  to  Marsala,  the 
ancient  Lilybasum.  The  road  was  very  bad  when  I  saw  it  last,  but  it 
may  have  improved.  Between  Trapani  and  Marsala  the  sea  is  full  of 
islands,  among  them  the  ^Egatian  Islands,  famous  for  the  great  sea- 
fight  which  was  the  turning-point  in  the  hundred  years7  struggle 
between  Rome  and  Carthage,  and  twice  famous,  if  the  ingenious 
Samuel  Butler  is  to  be  followed  in  his  contention  that  the  Odyssey 
was  written  at  Trapani  about  these  islands,  and  that  by  a  woman.  t 
Looking  back  you  get  a  splendid  view  of  Mount  Eryx,  and  as  you  fly 
along,  the  saltworks  on  your  right  look  like  the  white  tents  of  an  army 
guarding  oyster-beds.  With  their  windmills  and  lagoons  they  are  like 
a  bit  of  Holland.  You  sleep  and  spend  the 

TWENTY-FOURTH  DAY  at  Marsala,  where  Garibaldi  began  his 
liberation  of  Italy  in  its  present  harbour ;  in  its  shoaled-up  ancient 
harbour  the  Carthaginian  fought  his  sea-fights  with  the  Greek  and  the 
Roman.  Across  its  waters  lies  the  island  of  S.  Pantaleo,  the  Motya, 
which  was  the  first  settlement  of  Punic  men  on  Sicilian  soil,  whose 
storming  by  Dionysius  inspired  the  finest  passage  in  Diodorus.  The 
great  gate  of  the  city  is  still  above  the  soil,  its  causeway  to  the  main 
land  lies  so  little  below  the  sea  that  the  carts  of  the  countrymen  use  it 
to  this  day.  It  belongs  to  an  Englishman,  Mr.  J.  J.  S.  Whitaker,  of 
the  family  who  own  the  great  Ingham  wine  industry  at  Marsala  ;  and 
it  will  be  excavated  when  the  authorities  give  the  necessary  guarantees 
against  the  confiscation  which  is  the  law  for  treasure-trove  by  foreigners. 
Mr.  Whitaker  has  a  small  museum  already  at  Marsala,  which  should 
be  visited  at  the  same  time  as  you  ask  permission  to  go  over  the  famous 
wine  establishment — one  of  the  most  perfect  in  the  world.  Marsala  is 
not  as  rich  as  some  towns  are  in  medieval  remains,  but  it  has  tremendous 
bastions,  and  its  underground  city  and  its  curious  little  medieval 
palazzetti  or  fortified  houses  of  the  lesser  nobles  are  not  exactly  to  be 
matched  elsewhere.  A  little  away  from  the  city  are  remains  of  high 
interest  for  the  antiquary,  the  remains  of  the  great  walls  of  ancient 
Lilybseum,  the  virgin  fortress  which  defied  the  Romans  for  ten  long 
years ;  and  the  sacred  spring  of  Lilyba  in  the  crypt  of  S.  Giovanni 


96          SICILY  THE   NEW  WINTER   RESORT 

Boeo,  which  is  doubtless  the  "pond  called  Lilybaeum,"  which 
Diodorus  says  gave  its  name  to  the  town.  Cape  Boeo,  which  gave 
the  church  its  name,  is  one  of  the  three  capes  which  gave  Sicily  the 
ancient  name  of  Trinacria,  the  three-cape  island.  Not  far  from  here 
is  Birgi,  the  best  Phoenician  necropolis  in  Sicily  for  the  discovery  of 
antiquities, 

TWENTY-FIFTH  DAY. — From  Marsala,  starting  early  (twenty-fifth 
day),  you  go  to  the  ancient  Norman  city  of  Mazzara,  which  still  has  its 
walls,  thirty  feet  high,  and  the  ruins  of  the  castle  of  Roger  the  Great 
Count,  who  made  it  his  first  capital.  It  was  the  emporium  at  the 
mouth  of  the  river  which  was  the  first  Greek  town  to  fall  in  that 
memorable  invasion  of  the  Carthaginians  beginning  in  409  B.C.,  in 
which  every  Greek  city  in  Sicily  fell  except  Syracuse,  and  it  was  at 
Mazzara  that  the  Saracens  began  the  conquest  of  Sicily  in  827  A.D. 
It  has  its  old  churches,  and  its  famous  sculptures  include  Gagini's 
great  "Transfiguration,"  and  here  and  there  in  its  convents  may  be 
found  specimens  of  Arabo-Siculan  lustre  ware  from  the  same  potteries 
as  the  glorious  Mazzara  Vase  in  the  museum  at  Palermo. 

From  thence  you  go  on  to  the  ancient  Greek  ruins  of  Selinunte,  the 
Sicilian  Babylon,  the  most  astonishing  mass  of  ruins  in  the  island. 
Excavation  is  generally  going  on  here,  and  enormous  quantities  of 
terra-cotta  figures  and  lamps  have  been  found  here.  The  scenery  is 
very  beautiful,  and  the  wild  flowers  are  richer  here  than  anywhere  else. 
At  Selinunte  there  is  no  town,  only  a  house  belonging  to  the  Palermo 
Museum,  and  a  little  fishing  station.  But  there  are  quantities  of  ruins 
of  the  finest  sort  to  captivate  the  visitor  and  hold  his  attention  for  more 
days  than  one.  There  are  the  ruins  of  eight  temples,  two  of  them  so 
perfect  as  they  lie  on  the  ground  that  they  could  be  re-erected  to  rival 
the  most  famous  temples  of  the  Grecian  world.  One  of  them,  not 
many  years  recovered  from  the  earth,  possesses  the  unique  feature  for 
Sicily  of  a  propylaea.  Three  of  them  bore  sculptured  metopes,  trans 
ferred  to  the  Museum  of  Palermo.  Much  of  the  mighty  citadel 
remains,  with  Greek  and  Byzantine  towns  within  it.  Nowhere  does 
one  get  in  Europe  Greek  streets  so  perfect,  and  outside  its  noble  gate 
way  are  the  fortifications  thrown  up  by  the  great  Hermocrates  when 
in  his  exile  from  Syracuse  he  sought  to  raise  Selinunte  from  its  ashes 
to  an  autonomous  state.  Selinunte  stands  right  down  by  the  sea  in  a 
theatre  of  mountains,  and  its  wild  flowers  are  richer  than  any  in  Sicily. 
At  Kusa,  in  the  Campobello  di  Mazzara,  which  you  pass  on  the  way, 
are  the  quarries  from  which  the  temples  at  Selinunte  were  built. 
Some  of  the  columns  of  the  prostrate  though  unfinished  temple  of 
Jupiter  Olympius  are  still  at  the  quarry  edge.  You  leave  the  ruins  in 


MOTORING   IN   SICILY  97 

time  to  go  on  to  Sciacca  for  the  night.  There  is  a  fair  hotel  there, 
much  used  by  Sicilian  visitors  in  the  bathing  season,  for  its  sulphur 
springs  are  considered  the  most  virtuous  in  the  kingdom  of  Italy. 

TWENTY-SIXTH  AND  TWENTY-SEVENTH  DAYS. — It  is  worth  staying  a 
day  or  two  (twenty-sixth  and  twenty-seventh  days)  at  Sciacca,  a  town 
which  few  foreigners  ever  see.  At  Sciacca  itself  the  ruins  of  the  Castles  of 
the  Di  Luna  and  Perollo  clans,  the  Montagus  and  Capulets  of  Sicily,  who 
made  the  Casi  di  Sciacca  one  of  the  world's  romances,  frown  on  that 


quaint  city  between  the  mountains  and  the  African  sea.  The  vapour 
springs  of  Sciacca  are  so  miraculous  in  their  virtue  that  they  may  well 
have  given  rise  to  the  legend  of  the  Fountains  of  Eternal  Youth. 
The  baths  in  the  caverns  of  Monte  S.  Calogero  are  as  curious  as  they 
are  antique,  and  the  district  between  this  and  Selinunte  is  full  of  secrets 
for  the  antiquarian.  Since  crowds  of  invalids  go  to  Sciacca  as  they 
went  in  ancient  days  to  the  Baths  of  Selinus,  there  is  a  hotel,  and  the 
possessors  of  a  motor  may  well  stay  therefa  second  day  to  pay  another 
visit  to  Selinunte.  There  are  also,  round  Monte  S.  Calogero,  remains 
of  the  baths  of  the  Greeks  and  Romans  who  used  the  Sciacca  waters 
as  much  as  modern  Sicilians  do.  The  vapour  baths  in  the  mountain 
have  an  instantaneous  effect  on  some  patients.  The  ancients  called 
Sciacca  the  Baths  of  Selinus. 


98 


SICILY  THE   NEW   WINTER   RESORT 


TWENTY-EIGHTH  DAY. — From  Sciacca  the  coast-road  takes  you  in 
the  day  (twenty-eighth  day)  to  Girgenti,  past  some  very  interesting  old 
towns  like  Montallegro,  the  Sicilian  Les  Baux,  and  Siculiana,  the 


GENERAL  VIEW  OF  THE  COAST  OF  MONTALLEGRO 

Camicus  where  Cocalus,  the  Sican  king,  entertained  Daedalus,  and  his 
daughters  murdered  Minos,  King  of  Crete,  who  was*  pursuing  Daedalus. 
Girgenti  has  two  almost  perfect  Greek  temples,  and  .the  remains  of 


MONTALLEGRO  ANTIGA 


MOTORING   IN   SICILY 


99 


eight  others.  The  Hotel  des  Temples  there  is  reckoned  one  of  the 
best  in  Sicily,  and  the  town  has  some  beautiful  medieval  buildings.  It 
is  the  best  place  to  buy  genuine  Greek  antiquities,  which  are  dug  up 
here  in  great  quantities.  Spend  the 

TWENTY-NINTH  and  THIRTIETH  DAYS  at  Girgenti ;  and  on  the 

THIRTY-FIRST  DAY  take  a  very  long  day's  journey  through  Licata, 
the  ancient  Phintia  ;  Terranova,  the  ancient  Gela  ;  Chiaramonte,  which 


"  ONE  OF  GIRGENTl's  GREEK  TEMPLES   (CASTOR  AND  POLLUX) 

has  a  splendid  medieval  castle  of  the  family  ;  and  Ragusa,  to  Modica. 
The  rich  necropolis  at  Cape  Soprano,  near  Terranova,  has  yielded 
the  finest  ancient  Greek  sarcophagi  made  of  terra-cotta  with  lofty 
steep-pitched  lids  like  Gothic  church  roofs.  The  temple  ruins  and 
other  footprints  of  ancient  Gela  lie  in  the  town  of  Terranova,  and  the 
road  beyond  takes  you  across  to  the  Campi  Geloi  of  Virgil,  where  the 
eagle  mistook  jEschylus's  head  for  a  rock  to  crack  tortoises  on,  with 
a  fatal  result,,  as  he  was  a  nonagenarian  at  the  time.  This  is  one  of 
the  four  plains  of  Sicily,  which  for  the  rest  is  like  a  piece  of  coral  with 
mountains  for  spikes. 


ioo        SICILY  THE   NEW  WINTER   RESORT 

Do  not  stay  at  Ragusa,  but  motor  on  into  Modica  before  night  falls 
— the  descents  are  tremendous,  the  angles  acute,  and  there  are  no 
lights  until  you  enter  the  town,  where  the  poor  flickers  are  hardly  light 
enough  to  keep  you  from  falling  into  the  river  which  runs  up  the  middle 
of  the  street  under  many  little  bridges  and  piazze  which  will  not  let 
floods  or  smells  escape.  It  was  the  piazza-tunnels  which  caused  the 
awful  flood  of  1902,  when  the  river  rose  to  the  lofty  first-floor 
windows  of  the  houses,  and  flowed  over  the  pulpit  of  St.  Mary  of 
Bethlehem.  The  tunnels  were  soon  choked  with  rubbish,  and  the 
waters  had  no  outlet.  Modica,  the  fifth  city  in  Sicily,  and  till  lately 
the  fourth,  is  wildly  picturesque.  It  spreads  over  three  heights  and  the 
broken  valley  into  which  one  of  the  heights  bearing  the  feudal  castle  of 
the  great  old  counts  is  driven  like  a  wedge.  No  one  could  describe 
Modica  ;  you  have  a  general  impression  of  a  Venetian  canal  with  an 
Amalfi  climbing  from  its  banks  up  each  of  the  heights.  There  are 
arches  and  stairways  at  all  sorts  of  mad  angles,  some  masonry,  some 
rock,  and  out  of  this  struggling  mass  of  stonework  leap  into  the  air  the 
three  great  churches,  each  a  cathedral  in  dignity. 

If  the  rooms  of  the  Stella  d'ltalia  are  dingy  wildernesses,  they  are 
free  from  vermin,  and  though  you  have  to  walk  through  the  kitchen 
to  the  dining-room,  the  dinner  is  as  good  as  any  in  Sicily.  The  cook 
is  really  admirable,  and  you  can,  if  you  choose,  watch  him  prepare  the 
dinner  in  the  great  old  vaulted  kitchen,  which  acts  also  as  bar  and 
club-room  and  the  proprietor's  office.  Be  sure  to  stay  a  Sunday  and 
see  the  magnificent  contadini  in  their  festa  dresses — Sicilian,  Spanish, 
and  Moresco. 

THIRTY-SECOND  DAY. — It  is  best  to  pass  Ragusa  and  go  back  to  it 
from  Modica  (thirty-second  day),  because  the  view  as  you  approach 
it  from  that  side  is  the  finest  view  of  a  city  conceivable.  It  bursts  on 
you  quite  suddenly.  One  minute  you  see  the  hillside  you  have  been 
creeping  round  for  miles,  and  the  next  High  Ragusa  and  Low  Ragusa 
are  standing  on  guard  in  front  of  you,  twin  cities  set  on  a  rock  which 
climbs  a  hill  like  the  ridge  of  a  fireman's  helmet.  Between  the  two  a 
gorge  runs,  like  a  moat,  spanned  by  an  antique  bridge.  The  dark  rock 
has  all  its  lofty  sides  honeycombed  with  prehistoric  tombs.  The  hill 
sides  are  flooded  with  almond  blossoms  in  the  spring ;  the  valley  is  filled 
with  orange  groves.  But  it  is  not  the  snow  of  the  almond  blossom, 
or  the  prehistoric  rocks,  or  the  green-and-gold  sea  of  orange  trees 
which  enchain  the  eye — it  is  those  two  grey  cities  bristling  like  sea- 
urchins  against  the  sky,  looking  like  the  background  of  an  Albrecht 
Diirer  or  a  Mantegna,  and  almost  crushed  by  the  majesty  of  the  great 
church  of  St.  George,  the  patron  of  both  Ragusa  and  Modica.  You 


MOTORING   IN   SICILY 


101 


forget  the  castle  on  the  skyline,  though  you  have  before  you  the 
citadel  of  the  Herman  Hybla,  which  the  great  Athenian  host  essayed 
in  vain  to  take,  perhaps  the  temenos  of  Hybla  herself.  Almost  as 
imposing  as  you  drive  down  between  the  cities  is  the  Donnafugata 
Palace  on  your  right,  towering  up  like  the  Palace  of  the  Popes  at 
Avignon. 

It  takes  little  time  to  see  the  old  St.  George — no  more  than  a  rich 
fifteenth-century  gateway  in  a  pigsty  ;  and  the  new  St.  George,  one 
of  the  stateliest  monuments  of  purely  modern  architecture.  Then  you 
can  send  your  motor  round  by  the  tremendous  viaducts  while  you 


RAGUSA  SUPERIORE  FROM   THE  PONTE  DEI  CAPPUCCINI 

climb  the  Scala — the  street  which  has  no  parallel  in  Europe.  It  is  a 
winding  stair  from  Low  Ragusa  to  the  top  of  High  Ragusa.  The 
stair-sidewalk  for  foot  passengers  hanging  over  a  road  for  beasts,  the 
houses  with  their  fine  angles  and  gables  and  arches  and  balconies  and 
panels,  are  as  picturesque  as  any  of  their  day ;  and  under  the  best 
t  of  them  is  the  quaint  relief  of  Joseph  driving  the  ass  into  Egypt. 
The  art  photographer  and  the  architectural  painter  could  desire  no  more 
effective  subject.  Those  quaint,  old-world  steps  wind  up  from  this  to 
S.  Maria  della  Scala,  the  half-way  church  with  an  open-air  pulpit  for 
haranguing  the  tide  of  humanity  ebbing  and  flowing  between  the  two 
cities.  This  church  has  the  richest  of  the  rich  late  Gothic  architec 
tural  ornaments,  which  are  the  feature  of  Modica  and  the  Ragusas. 
Chapel  after  chapel  in  a  style  not  to  be  found  outside  of  the  ancient 
contado  of  Modica  salutes  the  curious,  who  find,  too,  more  early 


102        SICILY  THE   NEW   WINTER   RESORT 

Renaissance  terra-cotta  reliefs  of  the  holy  story.  Above  that  there 
is  only  a  city  of  noble  post-earthquake  public  buildings,  culminating  in 
the  soaring  church  of  S.  Giovanni,  a  cathedral  in  all  but  name.  For 
Ragusa  is  very  rich.  It  is  the  rival  of  Marsala  in  its  great  English 
companies,  such  as  the  Val  di  Travers,1  which  have  long  been  extract 
ing  from  the  hills  round  Ragusa  the  precious  pletra  pece,  the  asphalt 
stone  with  which  London  and  Paris  and  New  York  are  paved. 

THIRTY-THIRD  DAY. — At  Modica  itself  (thirty-third  day)  you  see 
a  large  city  built  on  the  sides  of  three  precipices  and  in  the  ravine 
between  them,  a  kind  of  Amalfi  ;  specially  interesting  for  the  traces 
of  the  disastrous  flood  of  1902.  The  position  of  its  castle  is  extra 
ordinarily  fine,  and  the  stairways  leading  up  to  its  three  enormous 
churches  are  unique. 

THIRTY-FOURTH  DAY. — From  Modica  (thirty-fourth  day)  you  go  to 
the  Cava  d'Ispica,  and  spend  the  best  part  of  the  day  in  exploring  the 
valley,  which  is  full  of  the  tombs,  the  houses,  and  the  fortresses  of  the 
cave-dwellers,  and  has  two  caverns  frescoed  and  used  as  chapels  by 

1  The  eAsphalt  Industry  of  Sicily. — The  Val  de  Travers  Company,  which  is 
one  of  the  oldest  established  asphalt  firms  in  the  world,  and  which  is  well  known 
in  London  for  its  marble-like  compressed  asphalt  roads,  has  only  recently  absorbed 
the  business  and  mines  of  the  long-established  "  Compagnie  Generale  des  Asphalts 
de  France,  Ltd."  The  mining  property  of  Ragusa  is  of  great  value  and  importance. 
Mr:  Ambroise  Pare  Brown,  who  took  a  leading  part  in  conjunction  with  the 
Messrs.  Whitaker  in  the  formation  of  the  Society  for  the  Prevention  of  Cruelty  to 
Animals,  which  has  done  such  admirable  work  in  Palermo,  and  of  the  Humane 
Society  for  the  ingathering  of  waifs  and  strays  into  a  recently  erected  home,  is  the 
agent-general  and  manager  for  the  kingdom  of  Italy  of  the  Val  de  Travers 
Company. 

Asphalt  is  a  bituminous  limestone,  in  which  carbonate  of  lime  and  pure  mineral 
bitumen  are  by  natural  agency  compressed.  It  is  found  in  the  Ragusa  mines  in 
seams  from  four  to  twelve  feet  thick,  between  layers  of  hard  limestone  varying 
from  three  to  eight  feet,  and  is  extracted  by  means  of  blasting.  Shark's  teeth  and 
other  fossils  are  frequently  found  in  good  condition  embedded  in  the  rock. 

From  800  to  1,000  miners  are  employed,  and  from  400  to  600  carters,  who 
transport  the  rock  to  Mazzarelli  (an  open  roadstead)  or  to  the  station,  from  whence 
it  is  conveyed  by  train  to  Syracuse. 

From  Mazzarelli  and  Syracuse  it  is  shipped  to  all  parts  of  the  world,  and  is  em 
ployed  in  making  roads,  pavements,  promenades,  and  roofing.  For  this  purpose  the 
stone  is  ground  and  melted  in  boilers,  mixed  with  sand  and  gravel,  and  spread 
evenly  with  heavy  rollers.  When  cool,  the  mixture  becomes  very  durable  and  im 
permeable.  Asphalt  mastic,  bearing  the  trade-mark  "  Seyssel,"  is  extensively 
employed  in  various  ways  for  keeping  out  the  damp. 

Those  interested  in  asphalt  may  read  L'Asphalte :  son  engine,  sa  preparation,  ses 
applications,  by  Leon  Malo,  published  by  Baudry  et  Cie.,  15,  Rue  des  Saints-Peres, 
Paris.  Also  Twenty  Tears'  Practical  Experience  of  Natural  Asphalt  and  Mineral 
Bitumen,  by  W.  H.  Delano,  published  by  Spon,  125,  Strand,  London,  and  Spon  and 
Chamberlain,  12,  Cortlandt  Street,  New  York. 


MOTORING   IN   SICILY  103 

Byzantine  Christians  during  the  Saracen  persecutions,  besides  a  fine 
gallery  of  third-century  Hellenistic  tombs  like  those  at  Palazzolo. 
There  are  enchanting  little  gullies  running  off  the  main  gorge,  where 
finely  hewn  prehistoric  tombs  are  almost  hidden  in  the  rich  verdure 
induced  by  constant  springs.  It  is  here  that  you  find  the  scenery  of 
Theocritus  to-day,  not  round  Syracuse,  where  the  Romans  imprisoned 
every  spring  in  an  .aqueduct.  One  can  never  be  certain  here  that  the 
nymphs  and  the  fauns  have  been  extirpated ;  they  are  as  easy  to  believe 
in  as  ghosts.  To  walk  up  the  valley  of  Ispica  at  one's  leisure,  is  one 
of  the  pleasantest  things  in  Sicily ;  and  the  contadini  round  here  are 
a  noble  race,  though  they  may  not  go  so  far  as  the  men  of  Palazzolo, 
who  force^bad  characters  to  leave  the  district.  Leave  the  valley,  which 
is  six  or  eight  miles  long,  in  time  to  motor  to  Noto  and  sleep  there. 

THIRTY-FIFTH  DAY.— In  the  morning  motor  up  to  Noto  Antica, 
« the  medieval  Pompeii."  Neetum  was  one  of  the  chief  towns  of  the 
island.  It  was  a  Roman  colony  and  had  coins,  and  the  earthquake 
which  shook  down  the  city  till  no  man  could  live  in  it,  spared  a  gate 
which  had  survived  since  the  times  of  the  Romans.  This  was  in  1 693, 
and  the  terror-stricken  inhabitants  moved  to  a  safer  site  below,  leaving 
Noto  Antica  to  the  elements. 

I  have  only  visited  Noto  for  the  day,  but  it  is  a  fine  clean  town  built 
in  the  noble  style  which  has  appertained  in  South  Sicily  since  the  great 
earthquake  of  1693.  There  is  nothing  to  see  in  the  town  except  the 
general  effect  of  a  city  of  fine  yellow  stone,  which  is  all  public  buildings. 
Doubtless  there  is  a  good  enough  inn  there,  for  it  is  a  town  popular  with 
the  country  nobles. 

Then  motor  past  the  river  Falconara  (Asinarus),  the  battlefield 
where  Nicias  and  one  Athenian  army  surrendered  to  the  Syracusans, 
and  the  river  Cassibile  (Cacyparis),  where  Demosthenes  and  the  other 
Athenian  army  surrendered,  to  Palazzolo,  the  Acrean  Rock,  where  in 
a  three  days'  battle  the  Athenians  were  prevented  from  escaping  into 
the  interior.  Sleep  at  Palazzolo  (Albergo  d'ltalia),  but  be  careful  to 
take  your  own  food  and  wine  with  you. 

THIRTY-SIXTH  DAY. — Spend  the  thirty-sixth  day  at  Palazzolo,  the 
ancient  Acras,  one  of  the  most  interesting  Greek  cities  in  Sicily.  The 
battle  of  the  Acraean  Rock  took  place  near  the  wonderful  images 
called  Santoni  cut  out  of  the  rock.  Close  by  is  a  large  Greek  necro 
polis,  and  above  that  the  Pineta,  a  cliff  with  the  tombs  and  houses  of 
the  cave-dwellers.  Palazzolo  has  also  a  heroum,  a  beautiful  little 
Greek  theatre,  and  an  odeum,  and  the  most  wonderful  tombs  in  Sicily  j 
Greek  tombs  of  the  third  century  after  Christ,  running  far  into  the  rock 
in  chambers  divided  with  a  forest  of  columns  and  arches. 


104        SICILY  THE   NEW  WINTER  RESORT 

THIRTY-SEVENTH  DAY. — From  Palazzolo  (thirty-seventh  day)  motor 
first  to  the  mysterious  ruins  of  temples  and  baths  and  tombs  at  Giarra- 
tana  (Ceretanum),  which  no  foreigner  ever  sees ;  and  then  through  the 
most  beautiful  champaign  in  Sicily,  past  immemorial  olive  trees,  down 
to  Syracuse. 


IMMEMORIAL  OLIVE  TREES 


Spend  the  THIRTY-EIGHTH,  THIRTY-NINTH,  FORTIETH,  and  FORTY- 
FIRST  DAYS  at  Syracuse.  You  cannot  see  this  glorious  city  in  less. 
The  Castle  of  Euryalus,  the  Greek  theatre,  the  amphitheatre,  the 
various  necropoles,  the  Palaestra,  the  Latomias,  the  Street  of  the  Dead, 
the  excursion  to  the  Anapo,  the  excursion  to  Plemmyrium,  the  Scala 
Greca,  the  Fountain  of  Arethusa,  the  enormous  catacombs,  the  perfect 
Greek  temple  of  Minerva  now  embodied  in  the  cathedral,  the  Temple 
of  Diana,  the  Castle  of  Maniace,  and  the  medieval  palaces,  will  take 
all  of  this  four  days,  hardly  allowing  any  time  to  enjoy  the  beautiful 
subtropical  garden  of  the  Hotel  Villa  Politi.  You  had  better  spend 
a  week,  and  take  a  run  on  your  motor-car  to  see  the  wonderful  city  of 
the  dead  at  Pantalica. 

Those  who  wish  to  understand  the  catastrophes  of  the  Athenian 
campaign  in  Sicily,  can  do  it  best  in  a  motor-car  by  starting  from 
Syracuse.  The  first  part  of  the  journey  from  Syracuse  to  Canicattini 
lies  through  the  most  beautiful  olive  gardens  in  Sicily,  with  noble  old 
trees ;  the  gorge  of  the  Spampinato,  down  which  the  historic  Anapo 


MOTORING   IN    SICILY  105 

runs,  and  which  has  been  supposed  to  have  sealed  the  fate  of  the 
Athenians,  is  on  your  right ;  and  soon  after  you  have  passed  Canicattini, 
with  its  picturesque  contadini  watering  their  mules  and  asses  at  its 
copious  fountains,  you  debouch  on  to  the  rich  tableland  which  gives 
Palazzolo  its  wealth.  On  its  rocky  terraces  the  Athenians  pitched 
their  last  camp.  As  you  stand  among  its  orchids  and  irises,  looking 
at  the  great  hill  of  Palazzolo  rising  like  a  Doge's  cap  from  the  twin 
ravines  which  are  the  only  pass  over  the  Hyblaean  Hills  into  the 
interior  where  the  wild  Sikels  lived,  you  recognise  the  forlornness  of 
the  hope  of  the  Athenians.  It  is  difficult  to  conceive  a  more  perfect 
natural  fortress  than  this  well-located  hill  before  the  days  of  artillery. 

Follow  the  footsteps  of  the  Athenians  on  the  line  of  their  last 
retreat  down  to  Noto,  after  they  had  fought  the  three  days'  battle  in 
the  Contrada  dei  Santicelli.  You  will  soon  strike  the  Helorus  road 
which  they  must  have  followed,  crossing,  at  Cassibile  Station,  the 
Cacyparis,  where  Demosthenes  was  overwhelmed,  and  going  a  little 
below  the  modern  Noto  to  the  river  Asinarus,  where  Nicias  sur 
rendered.  Neither  of  them  seem  very  formidable  obstacles  in  the 
day  of  strong  armour  and  feeble  missiles  ;  but  the  Syracusans  threw 
up  works,  and  the  Athenians  were  worn  out  with  forced  marching 
and  want  of  food.  It  is  only  a  matter  of  minutes  in  a  motor  to  get 
from  here  to  La  Pizzuta,  though  you  must  walk  the  last  part.  This 
great  thirty-foot-high  column  of  stone,  reared  in  classical  times  on  a 
green  hill  towering  over  the  sea,  is  a  fine  sight  standing  by  its  dark 
carob  trees,  whether  or  no  we  may  believe  it  to  be  the  trophy  set  up  by 
the  Syracusan  for  his  final  victories  over  the  Athenian.  There  are 
other  antique  buildings,  not  far  off,  on  the  banks  of  the  Helorus  itself, 
which  are  also  claimed  to  be  the  trophies. 

An  extra  couple  of  days  may  be  well  spent  at  Catania,  to  take  day- 
trips  to  the  splendid  Roman  cities  of  Agira  and  Centuripe.  Allowing 
a  fortnight  for  Palermo,  this  will  bring  your  "trip  up  to  a  couple  of 
months — the  right  time  for  Sicily. 


PART   I 
THINGS    SICILIAN 


Abisama.    Arab  name  of  Buscemi  (q.v.). 

Achseus.  A  Greek  slave  who  commanded  the  army  of  Eunus  (q.v.)  in  the 
First  Slave  War. 

Achradina.    One  of  the  five  quarters  of  ancient  Syracuse  (q.v.). 

Aci-Castello.  A  town  on  the  coast,  N.  of  Catania ;  with  fine  medieval  castle 
held  by  Roger  di  Loria  against  Frederick  II.,  1297-  Opposite  the  Rocks  of 
the  Cyclops.  See  Cyclops. 


ACI-CASTELLO 

Acireale.  Near  Aci-Castello  ;  a  large  town  almost  rebuilt  since  earthquake 
of  i6<n  •  has  a  bath-house  with  warm  mineral  springs ;  remains  of  ancient 
Roman  bath;  cathedral;  Ch.  of  S.  Sebastiano  with  very  ornate  front;  Ch. 
del  Suffracio,  all  of  them  with  frescoes  by  Vasta. 

Mail  coaches  to  Ad-Catena,  I  hour;  Aci-S.  Antonio,  ij  hours;  Viagrande, 
2%  hours ;  Trecastagni,  2  hours  40  minutes. 

107 


io8        SICILY  THE   NEW   WINTER   RESORT 

Acithius.     The  ancient  name  of  Birgi  (q.v, ). 

Acrae.  The  oldest  Greek  inland  town  in  Sicily,  founded  by  Syracuse 
6643.0.  Now  Palazzolo  Acreide  (q.v. ). 

Acragas.     The  Greek  name  of  Girgenti  (q.v.). 

Acropolis.     The  Greek  for  a  citadel. 

Admiral,  the.  Origin  of  the  title  according  to  Freeman  from  the  success 
of  Roger's  Admiral,  George  of  Antioch,  whom  he  appointed  Emir  of  his  fleet. 
George  was  so  triumphant  that  Emir — gradually  changed  into  Admiral — 
became  the  title  of  sea-commanders. 

"  Admiral,  The."  A  novel  by  Mr.  Sladen,  with  Nelson  as  the  hero  and 
the  scenes  principally  laid  at  Palermo  and  Syracuse. 

Abside  (Apse).  The  rounded  east-end  characteristic  of  medieval  Sicilian 
churches. 

Acanthus.  A  weed  with  a  magnificent  purple  flower,  very  like  the  Crown 
artichoke.  Its  leaves  are  said  to  have  suggested  the  capitals  of  the  Corinthian 
columns.  Very  plentiful  in  ruins  and  other  stony  places. 

Acquaiuolo.  A  water-seller,  called  by  foreigners  the  Acqua-man.  A 
common  sight  in  hot  weather.  In  Palermo  they  have  beautiful  little  brass- 
mounted  tables  and  huge  water-jars  of  ancient  Greek  shape.  The  tables  are 
about  2  feet  long  by  18  inches  wide  and  high.  At  Syracuse  the  water  is 
carried  in  lean  five-gallon  casks  on  a  long  low  carro  drawn  by  a  little  Sar-, 
dinian  donkey.  At  Girgenti  the  water-jars  are  slung  in  panniers  on  a  large 
donkey. 

Acestes.  A  hero  invented  by  Virgil  to  give  the  name  to  Egesta 
(Segesta)  (q.v.). 

Acquacorsari.  A  stat.  on  the  Corleone  railway  ;  has  a  medieval  tower  to 
guard  against  corsairs.  Near  Palermo. 

Acquaviva-Platani,     A  stat.  bet.  Roccapalumba  and  Girgenti. 

Acquidotti.  Sicily  has  many  ancient  aqueducts,  but  few  carried  on  arches. 
(See  Syracuse^  Termini,  and  Girgenti,  which  has  superb  Greek  aqueducts.) 

Aderno.  A  large  town  on  the  Circum-^tnean  railway.  The  ancient 
Hadranum.  A  Sikel  town  named  after  Hadranus,  their  god  of  fire.  Re- 
founded  by  Dionysius.  Celebrated  for  its  Temple  of  Hadranus  guarded  by  the 
thousand  dogs.  Roger  I.  founded  its  mighty  castle  (some  Norman  remains). 
Convent  of  S.  Lucia,  now  a  magnificent  Renaissance  building  with  the 
columns  of  the  temple  in  its  courtyard.  Till  1794  the  people  dressed  in  the 
Greek  manner,  and  the  nobles  in  the  Spanish.  The  rich  brocade  shawls 
of  delicate  light  colours  worn  by  the  women  of  Adern6  at  festivals  form  the 
most  beautiful  national  dress  in  Sicily.  Distinctive  jewellery  also.  On 
Easter  Sunday  there  is  a  miracle  play  performed  in  front  of  the  castle.  See 
also  fragment  of  the  wall  of  ancient  Hadranum,  remains  of  the  temple  in 
a  garden  south  of  the  castle,  a  few  churches  with  Gothic  features,  and  the 
famous  antique  bridge  in  the  neighbourhood.  No  accommodation ;  people 
have  a  bad  name.  Best  visited  from  Randazzo. 

Adonis,  the  Scarlet.  This  brilliant  little  flower,  common  in  Sicily,  is 
said  to  have  sprung  from  the  blood  of  Adonis  when  he  was  killed  by  the  boar. 

Adonis,  Gardens  of.     See  under  Gardens  of  Gethsemane,  p.  1 86. 

Adranum  (Hacjlranum).  See  Adern6.  '*  During  these  actions  Dionysius, 
in  Sicily,  builds  a  town  at  the  foot  of  ^Etna,  and  from  a  certain  famous 
temple  calls  it  Adranum  "  (Diodorus  Siculus). 


THINGS   SICILIAN 


109 


Adytum  (Adito).  Greek  Aduton,  a  place  not  to  be  entered.  A  term 
applied  to  cave-sanctuaries.  See  Syracuse. 

^Egatian  Islands  (Isole  Egadi).  Where  C.  Lucatius  Catulus  defeated 
Hamilcar,  the  Carthaginian,  in  the  battle  which  ended  the  first  Punic  War 
241  B.C.  They  lie  off  Trapani.  Levanzo,  Marittimo  and  Favignana  are  the 
principal.  Signor  Florio  has  a  castle  here  and  the  best  tunny  fisheries  in 
Italy.  Noted  for  their  quail-shooting,  being  on  the  great  migration  route. 
The  birds  invariably  pass  over  Levanzo  going  north,  and  Favignana  going 
south.  Steamer  from  Trapani. 

JEgussi  (Greek  Aigousa).  One  of  the  ^Egatian  Islands ;  the  nearest  to  the 
ancient  Lilybseum. 

^jSineid"  in  Sicily.  Virgil's  third  jfiLneid  in  lines  554  to  the  end  gives  an 
itinerary  of  the  Sicilian  coast  from  Messina  to  Syracuse,  Syracuse  to  Selinunte, 
Selinunte  to  Trapani.  Almost  the  whole  of  the  fifth  &neid,  which  is  devoted 
to  the  funeral  games  of  Anchises,  relates  to  Trapani,  Mount  Eryx,  and  the 
neighbourhood. 

^Eschylus  in  Sicily.  ^Eschylus  came  to  Syracuse  468  B.C.  at  the  invita 
tion  of  Hiero  I.  in  disgust  at  being  defeated  by  Sophocles,  a  younger  man,  in 
a  tragic  contest  at  Athens.  He  wrote  his  Women  of  Etna  before  this,  in  471, 
at  the  request  of  Hiero,  who  had  built  the  town  of  ^Etna.  He  died  near  Gela 
B..c.  456.  An  eagle  mistook  his  bald  head  for  a  stone,  and  dropped  the 
tortoise  it  was  trying  to  smash  on  it,  the  oracle  having  declared  that  he  was 
to  die  by  a  stroke  from  heaven.  Sir  W.  Smith  points  out  that  he  was  also 
reputed  to  have  visited  Sicily  in  499  and  488  B.C.  He  was  so  much  in  Sicily 
that  Athenseus,  the  critic,  mentions  that  his  plays  contained  Sicilian  words 
and  expressions  not  intelligible  to  the  Athenians. 

•/Esculapius  (Esculapio).  The  god  of  medicine.  A  very  popular  god 
in  Sicily  on  account  of  the  malaria.  He  was  the  son  of  Apollo  and  Coronis. 
One  of  the  patron  gods  of  ancient  Messina.  See  Syracuse  Museum  and 
Messina. 

uEtna,  Mt.     See  Etna. 

^tna.  A  city  founded  by  Hiero  I.  at  Catania,  where  he  had  expelled  the 
original  inhabitants.  His  colonists  were  afterwards  driven  out,  and  retired  to 
Inessa,  on  the  back  of  the  mountain,  and  changed  its  name  to  u^Etna.  The 
exact  site  is  not  known — probably  between  Paterno  and  Centuripe. 

African  Sea.     Washes  the  south  coast  of  Sicily. 

S.  Agata.  Patron  saint  of  Catania,  where  she  was  martyred.  Her  festa, 
one  of  the  best  in  Italy,  is  on  February  5th  and  preceding  days.  See  Catania. 

S.  Agata-di-Militello.  A  stat.  between  Palermo  and  Messina.  Unim 
portant  except  as  a  railway  centre.  In  the  neighbourhood  is  the  Rosmarino 
River,  with  splendid  wild  oleanders  and  ruins  of  a  Roman  bridge. 

Agathocles.     King  of  Syracuse  (q.v.). 

Agathyraum.     See  Capo  d' Orlando. 

Agave,  or  American  aloe.  Called  the  Century  plant,  from  the  idea  that 
it  did  not  bloom  till  it  was  a  hundred  years  old,  and  then  died.  Jn  Sicily  it 
takes  a  very  few  years.  The  blossoms  are  sometimes  twenty  feet  high  or  more. 
A  feature  all  over  Sicily.  There  is  an  indigenous  variety  at  Cefalu  (q.v.). 

Agira  (S.  Filippo  d'Agiro).  Derives  its  modern  name  from  St.  Philip 
the  Apostle,  who  was  buried  there.  He  is  its  patron  saint.  Festa,  May  1st. 
Nine  miles  from  stat.,  on  Palermo  -  Catania  line.-  An  extremely  ancient 
town  connected  with  the  legend  and  worship  of  Hercules.  Also  interesting 


no        SICILY  THE   NEW  WINTER   RESORT 

as  a  Sikel  town,  whose  tyrant,  Agyris,  comes  into  history  as  an  ally  of 
Dionysius.  A  later  tyrant,  Apolloniades,  was  expelled  by  Timoleon,  when 
Agyrium  received  Syracusan  citizenship,  B.C.  339.  Diodorus  Siculus  (q.v.) 
was  born  here,  B.C.  50. 

See  castle,  magnificent  view ;  churches  of  S.  Maria,  S.  Salvatore,  and 
Realbatia.  The  last  contains  the  cell  and  tomb  of  St.  Philip.  S.  Maria  is 
an  early  church  with  massive  columns  and  pointed  arches.  S.  Salvatore  has 
round-headed  arches  and  a  good  campanile  (Murray).  There  are  remains  of 
a  Greek  fortress.  When  Hercules  was  driving  away  the  oxen  of  Geryon 
they  left  their  hoof-prints  here,  and  Hercules  won  the  land  on  which  the 
town  is  built  in  a  wrestling  match  with  the  giant  Eryx.  Under  the  Romans 
it  was  a  town  of  importance  and  splendour.  Coach  from  Catena- Nuova 
Stat.  to  Agira  (6  hours). 

Agora.  Greek  for  a  market-place.  The  term  used  in  Sicily  in  place  of 
the  Roman  forum. 

Agrigentum.     The  Roman  name  for  Girgenti  (q.v.). 

Agyris.  A  Sikel  tyrant  of  the  above.  The  most  powerful  king  in  Sicily 
in  the  time  of  Dionysius  I.,  with  whom  he  allied  against  the  Carthaginians. 
Famous  for  his  wealth. 

Agyrium.     The  ancient  name  for  Agira  (q.v.). 

Aidone.  Perhaps  the  ancient  Herbita.  A  city  on  the  mountain  above 
Piazza  Armerina.  Peopled  by  the  Lombard  soldiers  of  King  Roger,  said  to 
preserve  the  Lombard  dialect  to  this  day.  Perhaps  the  ancient  Trinacia 
(Freeman,  q.v.). 

The  ruins  are  four  kil.  away,  and  called  by  the  natives  Sella  d' Orlando. 

Ainemolo,  Vincenzo.     See  p.  112. 

Albanese.  Cav.  Carlo,  secretary  of  the  Bene  Economico  (q.v.),  and  head 
of  one  of  the  principal  insurance  companies  in  Palermo.  Takes  a  leading 
part  in  all  movements  for  the  improvement  of  Palermo  and  the  comfort  of 
foreigners. 

Albanians  and  modern  Greeks  in  Sicily.  The  most  famous  Albanian 
settlement  in  Sicily  is  Piana  dei  Greci  (q.v.).  Settled  by  Albanians  flying 
from  Turkish  oppression  in  1488.  There  are  other  Albanian  and  Greek 
settlements  which  keep  up  their  religion  and  distinct  nationality,  and  to  some 
extent  their  costumes,  at  Palazzo  -  Adriano,  Piazza -Armerina,  Biancavilla, 
S.-Michele-di-Ganzaria,  Mezzoiuso,  Contessa-Entellina,  Messina,  and  Palermo. 

Alcamo.  Named  after  Al-Kamuk  (q.v.).  A  very  large  and  important 
town  on  the  Palermo-Trapani  line.  Four  miles  from  the  stat,  where  nobody 
lives  on  account  of  the  malariousness.  It  is  an  Oriental-looking  town  with 
a  number  of  Arabo-Norman  remains,  and  is  most  unjustifiably  overlooked  by 
foreigners.  The  original  town  was  situated  on  Monte  Bonifato. 

The  traveller  should  visit  the  Chiesa  Maggiore  (frescoes,  fifteenth-century 
tower). 

(2)  Small  church  of  S.  Nicolo  di  Bari,  fifteenth  century. 

(3)  Ch.  of  S.  Maria  del  Soccorso,  fifteenth  century. 

(4)  Ch.  of  S.  Chiara  (stucco  reliefs  by  Serpotta). 

(5)  Ch.  of  Badia-Nuova  (stucco  reliefs  by  Serpotta). 

(6)  Ch.  of  S.  Tommaso  Apostolo,  fourteenth  century. 

(7)  Ch.  of  the  Carmine,  fourteenth  century. 

(8)  Ch.  of  S.  Oliva  ;  works  by  Gagini  and  Pietro  Novelli. 

(9)  Medieval  castle,  fourteenth  century. 

(10)  A  sulphur  saline  spring,  temp.  74°  centigrade. 


THINGS   SICILIAN  in 

Alcamo,  Vincenzo  (Ciullo)  d'.  The  Sicilian  poet,  temp.  Emperor 
Frederick  II.,  one  of  the  first  song-writers  in  Sicilian,  lived  here. 

Alcantara.  A  river  between  Taormina  and  Calatabiano,  on  which  Naxos, 
the  first  Greek  city  in  Sicily,  was  founded,  close  to  the  sea.  It  is  an  Arabic 
name  meaning  '*  the  bridge,"  and  there  are  said  to  be  remains  of  a  Saracenic 
bridge  higher  up.  The  Alcantara  which  has  an  order  of  knighthood  is  in 
Spain. 

Alcibiades.  An  Athenian  appointed  with  Nicias  and  Demosthenes  to  the 
command  of  the  expedition  against  Syracuse.  He  was  so  daring  and  able 
that,  had  he  accompanied  the  expedition.  Syracuse  would  have  fallen.  His 
position  in  the  state  was  so  great  that  Nicias  could  not  have  overridden  his 
protests,  as  he  did  those  of  Demosthenes  and  Lamachus.  But  the  "little 
Athenians,"  hating  the  grand  seigneur,  and  hating  the  prestige  of  their 
country,  trumped  up  a  charge  against  him  of  outraging  the  Hermse.  He  had 
to  retire,  and  Athens  was  conquered  in  Sicily,  and  eventually  captured  herself 
— a  spectacle  for  all  the  ages. 

Aldingh,  Henry.     Established  in  1473  the  first  printing  press  in  Sicily. 

Alcmena,  The.  Painted  by  Zeuxis  for  the  Temple  of  Hercules  at  Girgenti ; 
the  most  celebrated  picture  of  antiquity. 

Alesi,  Guiseppe  d'.     Revolutionary,  assassinated  in  1647. 

Alexander  VI.,  Pope.  Abbot  of  Maniace  (q.v.).  See  under  Borgia, 
Rodrigo. 

S.  Alessio,  Cape.  Stat.  Messina-Taormina  line.  Has  an  enormous 
castle  on  a  perpendicular  rock,  but  the  existing  buildings  are  late  and  not 
interesting. 


PANORAMA  TO  CAPE  S.   ALESSIO 


AIL  A  stat.  between  Taorrnina  and  Messina.  Said  to  owe  its  name  to 
being  a  colony  from  Elis.  Has  sulphur  baths,  whose  merits  are  widely 
known.  Valuable  mines  of  lapis-laziili,  etc. 

Alicata.     The  Saracenic  name  of  Licata  (q.v.). 


ii2        SICILY  THE   NEW   WINTER   RESORT 

Alimena.  Founded  by  Philip  IV.  in  1628.  Near  the  ruins  of  a  very 
ancient  city.  Famous  for  its  mountain  of  rock-salt.  4^  hours  by  mail- 
vettura  from  Petralia-Sottana  (q.v.). 

Ainemolo,  Vincenzo.  Better  known  as  Vincenzo  da  Pavia  or  Vincenzo  il 
Romano.  A  sixteenth-century  Palermo  painter  who,  according  to  Baedeker, 
died  after  1557.  There  is  a  room  devoted  to  him  in  the  Palermo  Museum. 
He  would  be  a  very  fine  artist  if  he  were  not  so  stagey.  He  made  people 
look  like  human  beings.  Pictures  also  at  the  Gancia  and  S.  Domenico  at 
Palermo. 

Al-Kamuk.  The  Arab  name  of  Alcamo  (q.v.).  Called  after  an  Emir  who 
led  a  numerous  army  into  Sicily  A.  D.  828. 

Almond.  Almonds  are  one  of  the  principal  exports  of  Sicily.  At  Gir- 
genti,  at  Castrogiovanni,  and  at  most  cities  between  Girgenti  and  Roccapa- 
lumba  the  almond  orchards  in  blossom  rival  the  cherry  groves  of  Japan.  At 
Girgenti  the  golden  temples,  rising  against  the  wall  of  almond  blossom  in 
spring,  offer  one  of  the  finest  colour  effects  in  the  world.  Round  Canicattl  is 
perhaps  the  best  place  to  see  it. 

Aloes.  The  real  aloe  looks  like  a  tangle  of  green  starfish  with  tall  spikes 
of  red  and  yellow  bloss'om.  The  name  is  often  applied  to  the  American  aloe 
or  agave,  which  is  much  more  plentiful. 

Alphaeus.  The  river  which  runs  into  the  fountain  of  Arethusa  at  Syra 
cuse  (q.v.). 

It  is  well  known  that  the  Alphseus  is  distinguished  from  all  other  rivers  by 
the  following  natural  peculiarity  :  it  often  vanishes  underground  and  reappears 
again.  .  .  .  Even  the  Adriatic  could  not  stop  its  onward  course ;  it  flows 
through  that  wide  and  stormy  sea,  and  in  the  isle  of  Ortygia,  off  Syracuse,  it 
shows  that  it  is  the  true  Alphseus,  and  blends  its  water  with  Arethusa. 
(Pausanias  viii.  (liv.)  2  and  3.) 

Altavilla.  Stat.  near  Palermo  on  Messina  line.  Has  a  church  built  in 
1077  by  Robert  Guiscard  and  a  famous  tunny  fishery.  (S.  Michele.) 

Amari,  Emerico.  One  of  the  leaders  of  the  Revolution  of  1848.  A  street 
in  Palermo  is  called  after  him. 

Amari,  Michele.  The  famous  historian  whose  work  upon  the  Sicilian 
Vespers  is  a  classic,  and  who  coined  the  phrase  that  Roger  the  king  was 
"a  baptised  Sultan."  Borfi  at  Palermo  July  7th,  1806.  Died  in  1889.  Son 
of  the  above.  Author  also  of  Storia  dei  Mussulmani  di  Sicilia,  Biblioteca 
Arabo-sicula,  Le  Epigrafi  Arabiche  di  Sicilia. 

Americans  in  Sicily,  Americans  have  taken  the  greatest  interest  in  Sicily. 
The  Hamburg-Amerik  and  other  steamship  lines  send  their  largest  steamers 
on  yachting  cruises  which  comprise  Sicily,  every  year. 

Ameselum.   A  Sikel  town — the  modern  Regalbuto. 

Amestratus.  Perhaps  the  same  as  Mytistratus — the  modern  Mistretta  (q.v.). 

The  name  Amistratus  only  exists  on  certain  late  coins  and  in  a  passage  of 
Cicero's  Verres. 

Amonine.  Let  us  go  together,  i.e.  '*  Come  on,  gee-up  !"  The  expression 
the  Sicilian  uses  to  his  horse. 

Amphitheatres.  A  Roman  institution  for  gladiatorial  combats,  etc.  •  As 
Sicily  has  few  purely  Roman  remains — the  Romans  never  did  anything  but 
own  it  and  rule  it — amphitheatres  are  rare  in  Sicily.  The  only  good  one  is 
at  Syracuse,  though  there  are  considerable  remains  at  Catania  and  traces  at 
Girgenti  and  Castrogiovanni. 


THINGS   SICILIAN  113 

Amphora.    Not  found  in  Sicily  unless  introduced  from  Italy. 

wht^etrf  i  Sicilif  s  are  great  on  amulets-   Besides  those  common  Q^y- 

where  m  Italy  you  buy  strange  little  bunches  of  iron  charms,  a  key,  a  phallus, 
Ae  tinvt'1  T1^  ^6  finger  outstretched>  etc.  Much  more  charming  are 
It  th^ryi  Le^r  ?Cl>etSu'ade  in  the  seventeent^  century,  which  often  bear 
at  their  back  the  seal  of  a  high  ecclesiastic  guaranteeing  their  authenticity. 

Anapo.    See  Syracuse.     A  river  famous  for  its  papyrus. 

Andromachus.   Tyrant  of  Taormina  (q.v.). 

Fi^JJS0011^  Sidiy  ?  ful1  °f  anemones>  b°th  the  common  rose-coloured 
English  variety  and  a  large  purple  variety  like  our  garden  anemone.  When 
you  see  sheets  of  purple  under  the  olive  trees  or  in  the  cornfields,  reminding 
anemones  blu^lls  in  an  English  copse,  it  will  be  due  to  these 

Angell.  An  English  architect  who,  in  1823,  in  company  with  Mr.  Harris, 
discovered  the  glorious  metopes  at  Selinunte,  now  in  the  Palermo  Museum 
(q.v.)  The  finest  in  all  Dorian  Greece. 

S.  Angelo  di  Brolo.  Reached  by  mail-vettura,  starting  at  9  a.m.  and 
7  p.m.  ;  distance,  11  kil.  ;  fare,  80  cent,  from  Piraino  Stat.  Palermo-Messina 
line  :  gets  Us  name  from  the  Castle  of  Brolo  (q.v.). 

Antirrhinum,  or  Snapdragon.  Called  in  Sicily  Bocca  di  leone.  Grows' 
splendidly  wild  m  the  ruins.  Generally  of  a  delicate  flesh  colour.  Another 
foSidl  nUm>  bnlliant  oranSe  and  lemon-coloured  toad-flax,  is  also  common 


Antichita.  One  of  the  greatest  pleasures  of  travelling  in  Sicily  is  the 
chance  of  buying  genuine  antiques  at  a  trifling  price.  They  are  found  in  vast 
quantities,  especially  round  Girgenti,  Selinunte,  and  other  cities  destroyed  by 
the  Carthaginians  in  the  fifth  century  B.C. 

f   Antis,  in.   An  architectural  expression,  which  implies  a  porch  terminating 
m  columns—  a  feature  of  most  Sicilian  temples. 

Aphrodite,  the,  of  the  Greeks,  like  the  Ashtaroth  of  the  Phoenicians  and 
the  Venus  of  the  Romans,  was  under  all  three  races  one  of  the  most 
popular  deities  of  Sicily.  Her  chief  shrine  was  at  Eryx,  of  which  a  few 
traces  remain.  A  temple  of  Venus  Erycina  existed  at  Rome.  Erycina 
Ridens  is  a  proverb.  The  temple  at  Eryx  was  one  of  the  chief  temples  of 
the  ancient  world.  Even  Verres  spared  it.  See  Venus  and  S.  Venere, 

Apollo  Archagetas.  The  first  deity  worshipped  by  the  Greeks  in  Sicily. 
At  his  temple  at  Kaxos,  the  earliest  Greek  settlement,  it  was  the  custom  for 
all  Sicilian  Greeks  to  sacrifice  before  crossing  the  sea  to  visit  the  mother  city 
of  their  town.  The  original  site  is  not  accurately  known,  but  the  church  of 
b.  Pancrazio  of  Taormina  embodies  the  cella  of  his  transferred  temple,  when 
the  Naxians  migrated  to  Tauromenium. 

Apollo  Belvedere.  It  is  claimed  without  sufficient  evidence  that  the 
famous  Apollo  Belvedere  in  the  Vatican  once  occupied  the  base  in  the 
Nymphseum  at  Syracuse  (q.v.). 

Apollonia.  The  modern  Pollina,  or  perhaps  S.  Fratello.  Originally  a 
Sikel  town.  Six  kil.  from  Pollina  stat,  on  the  Messina-Palermo  line. 

Aqueducts.     See  Acquidotti. 

Arabo-Norman  Architecture.    See  under  Norman. 

Arabs,  the.  The  Arabs  came  to  Sicily  in  827  A.D.  on  the  invitation  of 
Euphemius  of  Syracuse,  who  invoked  their  aid  against  his  enemies.  They 
landed  at  Mazzara.  The  last  Sicilian  city,  Rometta,  was  not  takea  till  965. 


ii4        SICILY   THE   NEW   WINTER   RESORT 

The  Normans  captured  Messina  in  1060  from  them,  and  Palermo  in  1071, 
and  by  1090  had  taken  the  whole  island.  There  are  very  few  buildings  left 
built  for  Arabs,  but  there  are  a  great  many  built  for  the  Normans  by  Saracen 
workmen  with  exquisite  taste  and  skill.  The  Arabo-Norman  period  of  Sicily 
under  Roger  and  his  descendants  was  even  more  brilliant  than  the  best  Greek 
period  under  the  hegemony  of  Syracuse.  These  princes  were  the  most  power 
ful  monarchs  of  their  time,  and  had  the  most  splendid  courts.  Under  them 
Palermo  was  the  largest  city  in  the  world,  and  the  centre  of  culture.  El 
Edrisi,  of  Palermo,  the  Arab  who  made  the  silver  map,  was  the  most  famous 
of  medieval  geographers.  The  Cappella  Reale  at  Palermo,  built  by  Roger's 
Saracen  workmen,  is  the  gem  of  church  architecture.  The  Norman  room  in 
the  palace  at  Palermo,  the  court  of  the  fountain  of  the  Zisa,  and  a  few  other 
buildings  attest  the  grace  of  the  surroundings  of  these  princes  in  a  rude  period. 
Sicilian  geography  is  full  of  Arabic  names,  as  the  language  is  of  their  words 
and  the  type  is  of  their  characteristics. 

Arag-on.  After  the  expulsion  of  the  French  at  the  Sicilian  Vespers,  Peter 
of  Aragon,  who  had  married  Constance,  daughter  of  King  Manfred,  became 
King  of  Sicily,  which  continued  in  his  family  until  Aragon  was  united  with 
Castile  and  became  Spain.  Dante  sympathised  with  the  Aragonese  in  the 
war  which  followed  the  Sicilian  Vespers.  (Cf.  Purgatorio,  vii.  112-120, 
iii.  112-117.) 

Aragona.  A  small  town  in  S.  Sicily,  one  stat.  from  Girgenti.  Founded 
in  1605  by  Baldassare  Naselli,  and  named  from  his  mother  Beatrice  Aragona. 
Noted  for  the  enormous  palace  of  its  princes  and  for  the  Macalubi,  or  mud 
volcanoes,  which  are  situated  about  an  hour's  drive  from  it,  and  the  Majaruca 
Spring  famous  for  healing  cutaneous  diseases. 

Aragona-Caldare  railway  stat.  two  miles  from  the  above. 

Arbutus.   Tree,  grows  splendidly  in  Sicilian  gardens. 

Archimedean  Wells.  Archimedes  is  said  to  have  invented  the  primitive 
method  still  used  for  raising  the  water  to  fill  the  garden  cisterns  in  S.  Italy 
and  Sicily. 

Archimedes.  The  celebrated  engineer  and  mathematician.  Born  at 
Syracuse  about  287  B.C.  Killed  in  the  sack  of  the  city  by  the  Romans 
212  B.C.  The  marvellous  engines  with  which  he  beat  off  the  Romans  for  two 
years  are  described  in  Plutarch's  Life  of  Marcellus.  Several  of  his  works 
survive.  He  built  a  ship  which,  from  its  description,  seems  to  have  been  as 
large  as  an  ocean  liner.  Cicero  discovered  his  tomb  in  75  B.C.  See  Syracuse, 
Tomb  of  Archimedes. 

Architecture.  See  under  Cyclopean,  Pelasgic,  Sikel,  Greek,  Doric,  Roman, 
Byzantine  (Moorish),  Saracenic,  Norman,  Gothic  (Sicilian-Gothic),  Renais- 
sance,  Baroque,  Modern. 

Architrave.  In  classical  architecture  is  the  lowest  part  of  an  entablature, 
which  signifies  the  horizontal  mass  laid  across  the  tops  of  the  columns.  Over 
the  architrave  is  the  frieze,  and  over  the  frieze  is  the  cornice,  the  three  con 
stituting  the  entablature.  It  is  of  course  derived  from  trabea,  the  Latin  for 
a  beam  (Sturgis). 

Archonides  I.  A  Sikel  king  with  his  capital  at  Herbita  (q.v.),  the  modern 
Sperlinga  (?).  He  was  an  ally  of  Ducetius  and  a  zealous  supporter  of  the 
Athenians.  He  died  during  the  Athenian  War,  and  the  Sikels  after  his  death 
took  the  other  side  in  considerable  numbers.  See  under  Calacte. 

Archonides  II.    King  of  Herbita,  founder  of  Halgesa  (q.v. ). 


THINGS   SICILIAN  TIS 

c,  -     T*e  *talian  ^ercenary  of  Dionysius  I,  whose  strata- 

llTl   fJV      storming  of  Motya,  the  principal  Carthaginian  stronghold  of 
Thucyyd?des  descnPtlon  of  which  in  Adonis  is  iqual  to  anything  in 

Arcosolio.  An  arched  recess  with  a  tomb  under  it  in  a  cave  sepulchre 
There  are  quantities  at  Girgenti  and  Syracuse. 

^doiii.  £  Lombard  captain  of  the  Greek  general  Maniaces  in  the  invasion 
of  Sicily.  _  He  refused  to  give  up  a  beautiful  horse  he  had  won  in  single 
combat  with  a  Saracen.  Maniaces  took  the  horse  and  scourged  Ardoin 
through  the  camp  This  led  to  the  desertion  of  Ardoin  and  the  Normans, 
and  m  the  end  to  the  establishment  of  the  Norman  power  in  South  Italy. 

Arethusa  The  Fountain  of  Arethusa,  one  of  the  most  celebrated  in  the 
ancient  world3  still  exists  at  Syracuse  (q.v.). 

Aristaeus.  The  god  of  flocks,  bees,  vines,  olives,  etc.  Through  the  oil 
derived  from  the  last  he  became  regarded  as  the  special  patron  of  nymnasia 
and  sports  It. was  an  outrage  to  Aristaeus  in  the  Palestra  at  Syracuse, 
which  was  the  last  straw  in  bringing  about  the  prosecution  of  Verres. 

Aristippus  of  Cyrene.  Founder  of  the  Cyrenaic  school  of  philosophy. 
He  passed  part  of  his  life  at  the  court  of  Dionysius  I.,  having  been  born  in 
421  B.C.  Inere  are  many  anecdotes  of  him  in  Diogenes  Laertius. 

Aristomache.   Wife  of  Dionysius  I.    See  Syracuse. 

Armorial  Tiles  (mattoni  stagnati}.  In  Sicily,  as  at  Siena,  etc.,  in  Italy  it 
was  the  custom  for  noble  and  religious  houses  to  affix  an  armorial  tile  (motions] 
by  the  right-hand  top  corner  of  the  front  entrance.  These  were  largely  made  at 
Caltagirone,  and  they  are  much  sought  for  by  the  collector.  Some  of  them  are 
elaborate  majolica  pictures,  like  an  Urbino  plate.  The  best  collections  are  in 
the  Palermo  Museum  (Corridojo  di  Mezzogiorno)  and  Mr.  Joshua  Whitaker's 
palace  at  Palermo. 

Artemis.    The  Greek  deity  identified  with  Diana  (q.v.). 

Artichokes.  Sicily  is  par  excellence  the  land  of  the  Crown  artichoke.  It 
has  an  indigenous,  rather  oval  variety,  which  is  a  feature  in  the  landscape, 
with  its  bluish-green  foliage.  Cooked  artichokes  are  sold  in  the  streets  in 
Palermo  for  a  halfpenny  each.  The  Italian  name  is  carciofo,  derived  like 
artichoke  from  the  Arabic  alharchaf. 

Ashtaroth.   A  Phoenician  deity  identified  with  Venus. 
_   Asinello.   A  donkey.    Besides  the  common  donkey,  there  are  two  varieties 
in  Sicily— the  large  Pantelleria  ass  and  the  small  Sardinian  ass,  which  is  no 
bigger  than  a  large  dog,  much  used  by  the  small  pedlars,  especially  for  selling 
coal  in  Palermo. 

Asparagus.  There  are  three  kinds  eaten  in  Sicily— the  ordinary  garden 
asparagus ;  the  same  growing  wild,  which  is  meagre  and  rather  bitter,  the 
so-called  asparago  selvaggio;  and  sparagi  di  trow,  which  is  not  an  asparagus  at 
all,  but  butcher's  broom,  a  plant  which  bears  sticks  looking  like  the  real 
asparagus,  with  a  bitter-sweet  taste.  In  Sicily  this  plant  is  used  for  hedges. 
It  may  sometimes  be  seen  in  the  market  at  Bath  and  Bristol. 

Asphalt  mines.  See  under  Ragusa  and  Pietra  Pece.  Such  asphalt  is  the 
chief  element  in  the  asphalt  paving  of  London,  Paris,  New  York,  etc. 

Asphodel.  Sicilians  call  this  also  Bastone-di-S.  -Giuseppe.  A  glorious  wild 
flower,  one  of  the  features  of  the  Sicilian  landscape,  with  its  plumes  of  pink, 
brown-pencilled  flowers,  spreading  ofat  like  Prince  of  Waks's  feathers  a  yard 


n6        SICILY   THE   NEW  WINTER   RESORT 

high  on  every  brae.  It  belongs  to  the  order  of  Liliace®.  There  are  at  least 
three  varieties  in  Sicily,  the  larger  pink-blossomed  asphodel,  which  has  leaves 
like  an  iris,  and  is  by  far  the  commonest ;  the  smaller  pink-blossomed  asphodel, 
which  has  a  leaf  like  our  common  rush,  of  -which  baskets  are  made  (Juncus 
conglomertus],  and  the  yellow  asphodel  known  in  English  gardens  as  the  King's 
Spear. 

Assaro.  A.  mountain  town  in  the  centre  of  Sicily  which  Verves  tried  to 
plunder  in  vain :  the  ancient  Assarus,  three  hours  from  the  Assaro- Valguar-nera 
Slat.,  Palermo- Catania  line. 


RIVER  ASSINARO,  WHERE  NICIAS  AND   HIS  ARMY  SURRENDERED,  WITH  THE 
SO-CALLED  PONTE  DELLA  CASTAGNA 


Assinarus,  or  Assinaro.  The  modern  Falconara,  a  river  running  near  Noto, 
where  Nicias,  the  Athenian  general,  was  routed  and  captured  with  a  thousand 
of  his  army,  413  B.C. 

Associazione  Siciliana  pel  Bene  Economico.  Founded  in  Palermo, 
July,  1895,  for  the  encouragement  of  foreign  travel  in  Sicily,  the  comfort  of 
foreigners,  etc.  See  under  B&ne  Economico. 

Ate,  "You  there,"  is  the  usual  expressidn  of  a  Sicilian  driver  to  anyone 
who  is  in  his  way. 

Athenagoras.  The  leader  of  the  party  in  the  Syracusan  assembly  opposed 
to  Hermocrates.  He  poohpoohed  the  idea  of  making  any  preparations 
when  the  Athenian  invasion  was  threatening.  See  Athenians  and  Syracuse. 
Chariton,  of  Aphrodisias,  the  author  of  the  Greek  novel,  The  Loves  of 
Choreas  and  Callirrhoe^  claims  to  have%een  his  secretary.  See  Chterects. 


THINGS   SICILIAN  ny 

Athenians  in  Sicily,  the.  The  first  connection  of  the  Athenians  with 
Sicily  was  an  alliance  with  the  Elymian  town  of  Segesta  in  454  B.C.  But  the 
cause  which  underlay  their  interference  in  the  island  was  the  fact  that  the 
lonians  in  Sicily,  the  Chalcidian  colonies  of  Leontini,  Naxos,  Catane,  and 
Camarina,  had  a  hard  struggle  for  existence  against  the  overwhelming  supe 
riority  of  the  Dorians,  and  looked  to  Athens  as  the  chief  Ionian  city.  The 
alliance  between  Athens,  Leontini,  and  Rhegium  across  the  Strait  was  made 
in  433.  But  Athens  never  did  anything  in  Sicily  on  a  large  scale  till  after  the 
second  treaty  with  Segesta  in  415.  In  the  same  year  they  sent,  commanded 
by  Nicias,  Alcibiades,  and  Lamachus,  a  fleet  of  136  triremes,  5,100  heavy- 
armed  troops,  and  1,300  light-armed.  If  Alcibiades  (q.v.)  had  not  been 
recalled,  they  would  have  captured  Syracuse,  which  was  not  ready.  His 
recall  left  Nicias  paramount,  and  the  war  dragged.  The  Athenians  tried  to 
blockade  Syracuse  by  building  a  wall  across  the  isthmus,  from  the  shore  below 
the  Catane  gate  (see  Syracuse,  Catania  Gate)  on  the  open  sea  to  the  shore 
below  the  Portella  del  Fusco  (q.v.  under  Syracuse]  on  the  Great  Harbour  side. 
Nicias  spoiled  even  this  by  his  dilatoriness,  and  after  Lamachus  was  killed  in 
the  moment  of  victory,  things  went  so  badly  for  Athens  that  a  fresh  expedition 
had  to  be  sent  under  Demosthenes  and  Eurymedon,  help  having  in  the  interval 
been  sent  to  Syracuse  from  the  Peloponnese,  with  an  experienced  Spartan 
commander,  Gylippus,  who  divined  how  to  stop  the  blockading  with  a  cross- 
wall  Demosthenes  saw  that  this  wall  and  its  forts  must  be  captured,  or  the 
attempt  to  take  Syracuse  given  up.  The  attack  failed,  but  Nicias  refused  to 
leave  until  the  fevers  of  the  shores  of  the  Great  Harbour,  which  raised  so 
many  sieges  of  Syracuse,  and  the  large  reinforcements  received  by  the  Syra 
cusans,  daunted  him.  Even  then,  just  as  they  were  about  to  sail,  there  was  an 
eclipse,  and  he  interpreted  this  into  a  sign  that  he  must  wait  for  the  next  moon. 
That  sealed  the  fate  of  the  Athenians.  The  Syracusans  blockaded  the  mouth 
of  the  harbour,  and  inflicted  a  crushing  defeat  on  the  Athenians'  fleet  when 
they  attempted  to  break  through.  The  Athenians  then  abandoned  their  ships, 
and,  believing  the  false  report  spread  by  the  Syracusans  that  the  direct  road 
to  Catane  along  the  shore  was  blocked,  marched  up  the  gorge  of  the  Anapo, 
called^the  Spampinato,  to  the  Acrsean  cliff  (Palazzolo),  which  commands  the 
pass,  into  the  interior.  Driven  back  from  this  by  the  slingers  on  its  precipitous 
sides,  they  took  the  Helorus  road  ;  but  Nicias,  avoiding  skirmishes,,  marched 
so  much  faster  than  Demosthenes,  that  the  latter,  being  some  miles  behind,  was 
taken  in  detail  and  overwhelmed  in  crossing  the  Cacyparis  (Cassibile),  near 
Cassibile  Stat.  3  Syracuse-Noto  line.  Demosthenes  tried  to  kill  himself,  but  was 
captured  with  all  the  6,000  left  of  his  army. 

The  Syracusans  sent  word  of  the  disaster  to  Nicias  and  called  on  him  to 
surrender  likewise,  but  he  pressed  on  to  the  fords  of  the  river  Assinaro  (now 
the  Falconara),  which  passes  Noto.  There  his  men  were  so  thirsty  that  they 
broke  into  utter  disorder  when  they  came  to  the  river,  and  were  slaughtered 
like  sheep.  To  stay  the  slaughter,  Nicias  offered  to  surrender  to  Gylippus 
without  conditions  for  himself.  About  a  thousand  of  his  men  surrendered 
with  him.  But  a  far  greater  number  surrendered  to  private  captors,  knowing 
this  to  be  a  preferable  fate.  The  public  captives  were  marched  back  to 
Syracuse  and  flung  into  the  Latomia  dei  Cappuccini,  where  they  were  kept 
exposed  to  the  elements  and  starved  on  half  slaves3  rations  for  seventy  days. 
They,  too,  became  slaves,  with  the  exception  of  Nicias  and  Demosthenes, 
who,  in  spite  of  the  efforts  of  Gylippus  and  Hemocrates  to  save  them,  were 
put  to  death,  it  is  said,  with  tortures.  There  were  40,000  Athenians  when 
the  march  began.  Of  these,  7,000  surrendered  to  Gylippus  and  a  multitude 


n8        SICILY  THE   NEW   WINTER   RESORT 

were  slain  ;  for  the  Syracusans  never  came  to  close  quarters  unless  they  had 
the  foe  absolutely  at  their  mercy.  They  had  no  mind  to  lose  a  single  man 
when  their  enemies  had  been  delivered  into  their  hand.  The  number  of 
private  captives  is  not  known,  but  probably  a  good  few  escaped  into  the 
interior,  aided  by  the  Sikels,  who  looked  upon  Syracuse  as  their  natural 
enemy.  The  Athenian  cavalry  cut  their  way  through  to  Catane  (Catania), 
after  which  their  commander,  Callistratus,  the  son  of  Empedos,  in  the  finest 
spirit  of  antique  heroism,  rode  back  to  Syracuse,  and  dashing  among  the 
plunderers  in  the  Athenian  camp,  slew  five  men  with  his  own  hand  before  he 
was  cut  down. 

So  ended  the  great  Athenian  invasion  of  Sicily.  Not  only  had  the 
Athenians  been  deprived  of  the  dashing  generalship  of  Alcibiades  (q.v.),  but 
they  had  driven  him  into  the  arms  of  their  enemies.  Knowing  that  he  would 
be  killed  if  he  stayed  in  Athens,  he  joined  the  enemy  and  gave  them  the 
advice  which  led  to  his  city's  downfall. 

Atlantes,  or  Telamons.  The  male  equivalent  of  Caryatides  used  in  support 
ing  the  architraves  of  temples.  Cf.  Girg&nti,  Temple  of  Giove  Olimpico. 

Augusta.  A  city  with  a  magnificent  harbour  on  the  Syracuse-Catania  line. 
Supposed  to  have  been  founded  by  Augustus  on  the  site  of  the  ancient 
Xiphonia.  At  any  rate,  refounded  by  the  Emperor  Frederick  II. ,  who,  in  1242, 
deported  the  rebellious  inhabitants  of  Centuripe  hither.  In  1360  it  was 
destroyed  by  the  Syracusans  and  Catanians,  In  1676,  when  Sicily  was 
trying  to  revolt  from  Spain,  the  French  admiral,  Duquesne,  defeated  De 
Ruyter  here.  In  1693  the  town  was  destroyed  by  the  earthquake.  The 
harbour  contains  twelve  square  miles  of  fine  anchorage.  At  Molinello, 
3kils.  from  the  stat,  are  some  prehistoric  tombs  and  Christian  catacombs. 

Augustus  (then  called  Caius  Julius  Caesar  Octavianus)  landed  at  Tauro- 
menium  (Taormina)  B.C.  36  in  his  successful  campaign  against  Sextus  Pompeius, 
which  was  decided  at  the  Battle  of  Mylse  (Milazzo).  He  sent  Roman  colonies 
to  Syracuse,  etc.,  B.C.  21. 

Avola.  A  city  near  Syracuse,  on  the  Syracuse-Licata  line,  destroyed  in 
1693  by  the  great  earthquake,  and  rebuilt  near  its  old  site. 

B 

Babies'  walking-frames.  In  Sicily  babies  are  taught  to  walk  by  wicker 
frames  like  stiff  crinolines  fitting  closely  under  the  arms.  They  are  so  wide 
that  the  baby  cannot  get  within  two  feet  of  anything  or  upset  itself.  When 
not  in  these  frames  the  babies  are  so  closely  swaddled  that  they  can  be  left  on 
a  window-ledge  without  being  able  to  roll  themselves  off.  They  look  like 
Red  Indian  papooses.  Both  must  be  good  for  children,  because  Sicilians 
have  lovely  straight  limbs  and  figures. 

Bacchus.  Identified  with  the  Greek  Dionysus,  the  god  of  wine.  The 
only  temple  left  in  Sicily  is  at  Syracuse  (q.v,). 

Badia  (Abbadia ;  Badiazza  at  Messina ;  Batia  at  Agira,  etc. )  signifies  a 
nun's  convent.  Our  word  abbey. 

Bagheria.  The  old  court  suburb  of  Palermo.  About  ten  miles  out  on  the 
Messina  road.  Villas  of  the  Bourbon  court,  especially  the  villa  Valguarnera, 
with  splendid  gardens  and  a  Calvary  and  view  of  the  Lipari  Islands ;  Palagonia, 
with  grotesque  monsters  described  by  Goethe;  Trabia,  with  a  waxwork 
Certosa ;  Cutb,  and  Cattolica.  Fine  private  gardens,  arabesque  pavilions, 
etc. ,  all  semi-abandoned.  Railway  stat.  convenient,  carriage  road  dusty. 


THINGS   SICILIAN  119 

Baglio.  Low  Latin,  ballium ;  English,  Bailey  ;  a  walled  enclosure.  The 
name  applied  to  the  great  wine  establishments,  such  as  the  Baglio  Ingham  at 
Marsala  (q.v.). 

Baglio  Palmenti.    Treading  vats  used  in  the  vintage. 

Bagni  Canicattini.     See  Canicattini. 

Balconies.  Magnificent  kneeling-balconies  (Spanish  balconies)  made  of 
hammered  iron  bulging  out  like  gourds  to  take  the  knees  of  the  faithful  when 
a  religious  procession  is  passing  by  are  found  all  over  Sicily;  best  at  Syracuse. 
The  bulging  part  is  decorated  with  superb  roses  and  sunflowers  in  high  relief, 
and  there  are  sometimes  resetted  frames  for  awnings,  and  spikes  rising  from 
the  rail  to  carry  the  pots  of  scarlet  carnations.  See  Garofano. 

Baldachin.  The  canopy  over  the  high  altar  of  a  church,  as  in  St.  Peter's 
at  Rome.  Not  very  usual  in  Sicilian  cathedrals  and  churches,  though  there  is 
a  magnificent  specimen  most  richly  inlaid  with  precious  stones  at  Messina. 

Balestrate.  A  town  on  the  Palermo-Trapani  line,  where  much  of  the 
grape  crop  for  the  Marsala  wine  is  grown. 

Balsamo  Giuseppe,  son  of  poor  parents.  Goethe,  in  his  Sicilian  Diary, 
identifies  him  with  the  famous  impostor,  Count  Cagliostro  (q.v. ). 

Bamboos.  Even  tropical  varieties  grow  freely  in  Sicily.  They  are  much 
used  for  garden  sticks,  goatherds,  pipes,  etc.  They  grow  gloriously  in  the 
Botanical  Gardens  at  Palermo  and  Villa  Landolina  at  Syracuse. 

Bananas.   Common  in  Sicilian  gardens,  and  often  fruit  well. 

Banks.  The  only  towns  in  Sicily  where  English  banks  have  correspondents 
are  Palermo,  Messina,  and  Catania.  At  Taormina  there  is  a  money-changer 
who  will  change  most  things  at  an  exorbitant  commission.  The  hotels  will 
often  change  cheques.  Strangers  usually  send  their  cheques  to  their  bank  in 
Palermo.  Sicilian  arrangements  for  registered  money  work  pretty  well. 
See  Palermo,  Messina,  Catania. 

Barba  di  Giove.  The  local  name  for  Mesembryanthemum  cquilatorah, 
the  Australian  plant,'  called  by  colonists  pig's-face,  a  name  originally  applied 
to  its  fruit  by  the  natives,  who  eat  it.  The  Italian  name,  Jupiter's-beard, 
arises  from  the  golden  colour  of  its  fleshy  trailers  in  the  autumn.  Jupiter  had  a 
golden  beard.  It  has  become  a  common  wild  flower  in  Sicily,  especially  on 
railway  embankments. 

Barcas  (bardie).  The  boats  of  Sicily  are  exceedingly  picturesque,  and  are 
generally  painted  with  brilliant  stripes.  Each  district  has  its  stereotyped  variety. 
They  all  commonly  have  eyes  on  their  bows  like  Chinese  junks.  At  Syracuse 
the  barcas  have  beaks — quite  possibly  a  survival  of  the  bronze  beaks  put  on  their 
triremes  by  Gylippus  for  the  sea-fights  against  the  Athenians  413  B.C.— and 
tall  bow-posts  covered  with  a  mop  of  tow.  These  are  to  show  the  safe  height 
for  your  head  when  passing  under  the  bridges  of  the  moats  between  the  two 
harbours.  At  Catania  they  are  elegant,  but  the  most  picturesque  are  at 
Trapani,  where  they  are  shaped  more  like  a  lifeboat  and  elaborately  decorated. 
They  are  fitted  with  a  jib  and  a  sort  of  spritted  mainsail.  The  barcaittoli  are 
often  splendidly  muscular  and  handsome,  invariably  exorbitant  if  you  do  not 
make  a  bargain,  but  very  cheap  to  those  in  the  know,  except  in  taking 
passengers  on  and  off  steamers,  for  which  there  is  a  tariff  not  favourable 
to  travellers.  The  oar  is  like  the  Japanese  yulo.  For  short  distances  they 
often  scull  over  the  stern  They  row  forwards  with  a  gondolier  stroke,  except 
for  heavy  work,  for  which  they  use  our  style. 


120        SICILY  THE   NEW   WINTER   RESORT 

Barbary  Corsairs.  Until  recently  Sicily  was  scourged  with  these.  Cor 
sairs'  towers  are  common  along  the  coast.  At  Motya  I  was  pointed  out 
an  old  person  whose  parent  had  been  carried  off.  They  have  disappeared 
since  Lord  Exmouth's  bombardment  of  Algiers  in  1816. 


M>b    BALDACHIN,   INLAID  WITH  PRECIOUS  STONES,   IN  THE  CATHEDRAL  AT  MESSINA 

3b'cv 

Barbers'  saloons  are  the  poor  people's  clubs.     They  shave  well,  but  it 
is  a  long  job,  and  they  have  no  fixed  charge. 

^  Barcellona.  Pozzo  di  Gotto,  a  flourishing  manufacturing  town  on  the 
river  Longano  between  Messina  and  Milazzo,  Train  and  steam -tram  from 
Messina.  Hiero  II.  defeated  the  Mamertines  here  B.C.  269. 


THINGS   SICILIAN  121 

Bargaining.  In  all  but  the  largest  shops  bargaining  is  necessary.  Curio  - 
dealers  especially  ask  two  or  three  times  what  they  expect.  Even  the  barber 
bargains.  It  is  safest  to  bargain  everywhere.  In  any  kind  of  order— at  a  hotel, 
a  shop,  with  a  carriage,  even  with  the  barber — it  is  necessary  to  fix  the  price 
beforehand.  If  you  don't  like  bargaining,  make  a  definite  offer  and  stick  to 
it.  I  often  fix  the  price  in  Sicily.  If  you  are  buying  many  things,  fix  a 
price  to  yourself  which  you  mean  to  pay  for  each,  add  them  all  together,  and 
offer  the  lump  sum.  The  Sicilian  does  not  like  refusing  a  large  sum,  and  is 
sure  to  attach  no  value  to  some  of  the  things  you  have  chosen. 

Baroque  is  a  style  of  architecture  (from  the  Portuguese  barroco,  a  rough 
pearl)  which  followed  the  Renaissance  in  Italy ;  in  vogue  from  the  sixteenth 
century.  Generally  applied  contemptuously  on  account  of  the  bad  taste  of  the 
period,  but,  like  Wren's  architecture  in  England,  very  good  for  the  introduc 
tion  of  fine  chambers.  In  other  respects  seldom  attractive.  At  its  worst 
its  plaster  angels  and  sausage  work  of  rich-coloured  marbles  are  appalling. 
Most  Jesuit  churches  were  built  in  the  baroque  period ;  and  Sicily  abounds 
with  baroque  buildings,  as  half  the  island  had  its  buildings  shaken  down  in 
the  great  earthquake  of  1693,  when  baroque  was  exuberant  as  a  cauliflower. 
One  of  the  best  baroque  palaces  is  Prince  Gangi's  in  Palermo.  At  Messina 
(S.  Gregorio,  etc.)  some  genius  in  baroque  is  shown. 

Barrafranca.  Has  the  remains  of  the  famous  Torre  di  Convicino,  a  feudal 
fortress.  Mail-vettura  from  Caltanisetta,  4^  hours.  Unimportant. 

Basket-stoves.  In  Palermo  men  go  about  with  a  basket-stove,  the  top 
part  of  which  contains  a  pan  of  hot  batter.  In  this  they  cook  the  offal  of  the 
land  and  sea,  such  as  fowls'  insides,  molluscs,  etc. — the  delicacies  of  the  poor. 

Basket-laundries.  In  Palermo  women  go  about  with  baskets,  in  which 
they  do  your  washing  while  you  wait. 

Bassi.  In  Sicily  the  poor  live  in  the  ground  floors  of  the  better-off,  even  the 
palaces  of  princes.  These  are  called  bassi  or  catodj*  They  have  no  windows, 
only  coach-house  doors,  which  are  kept  open  all  day.  In  time  these  often  get 
altered  into  hovels  with  doors  and  windows.  Even  in  Palermo  most  shops 
are  evolutions  of  bassi. 

Batteur.     See  Marsala.     A  sort  of  blending  churn  for  cognacs. 

Baths.  It  was  the  custom  of  the  Greeks  to  have  thermse  near  their  principal 
cities  in  Sicily.  The  springs  they  used  near  Himera  (Termini),  Selinunte 
(Sciacca),  etc.,  are  still  used. 

Batting  a  ball  through  a  ring.   A  favourite  Sicilian  game. 

Baucina.  A  stat.  on  the  Palermo-Corleone  line.  The  town,  five  miles  off, 
gives  his  title  to  a  prince,  one  of  the  principal  seigneurs  of  Sicily. 

Bazin  Ren&.    The  author  of  the  well-known  En  Sidle. 

Beans,  Broad.  One  of  the  staples  of  life  in  Sicily.  The  well-off  eat  them 
raw  when  they  are  young.  The  poor  grind  them  into  flour  for  bread,  etc. 
Sicily  has  beanfields  like  our  cornfields. 

Beauty.  In  Sicily  the  survival  of  antique  types  is  very  marked.  Beauty 
is  commoner  among  the  young  men  than  the  women.  In  the  province  of 
Messina  especially  you  constantly  meet  boys  as  beautiful  as  Greek  statues. 
Also  at  Girgenti,  Palazzolo,  etc.  At  Modica  you  get  a  superb  aquiline  type 
of  men,  but  not  beautiful  youths. 

Bedrooms.  Always  plain  in  Sicily,  and  sometimes  rather  appalling  in 
their  bareness  and  gloominess,  which  are  precautions  against  the  fiery  summer. 
In  cool  weather,  at  all  events,  insects  are  not  very  bad.  Patti  is  the  only 
place  where  we  were  eaten  alive. 


122        SICILY   THE   NEW   WINTER   RESORT 


Beggars  are  bad  in  Sicily,  as  a  rule,  though  the  chief  towns  are 
beginning  to  face  the  question.  Everywhere  there  are  privileged  beggars  who 
sit  at  church  doors,  etc.  Begging  is  the  Sicilian  form  of  poorhouses.  The 
natives  are  very  charitable  to  them.  Sometimes  they  look  like  lepers.  Their 
raggedness  is  a  revelation.  See  S.  Giuseppe. 

Belisarms.  The  general  of  Justinian,  the  Eadem  emperor.  He  conquered 
Sicily  from  the  Ostro-Goths.  His  name  is  Sclavonic,  and  means  the  White  Star. 

Bella  Cortina.    Three  miles  from  Patern6.    Has  remains  of  ancient  baths. 

Bella  Sombra.  The  Spanish  name  used  by  Sicilians  for  the  Japanese  kiri, 
a  tree  much  used  for  avenues. 

Bellini,  Vincenzo.  Operatic  composer,  born  at  Catania,  November  3rd, 
1802.  He  wrote  La  Sonnambula  before  he  was  thirty,  Norma  in  the  follow 
ing  year,  I  Puritani  two  years  later,  and  died  before  he  was  thirty-three. 
See  Catania,  Bellini. 

Bell-ringing.  At  Palermo  in  Lent  they  ring  the  bells  by  striking  them 
with  a  hammer,  a  custom  as  historical  as  our  curfew.  After  the  Sicilian 
Vespers  the  French  had  all  the  bell-ropes  cut  to  prevent  them  being  used  for 
calling  the  people  to  arms.  The  patriots  climbed  the  towers  and  rang  them 
with  hammers.  Ordinary  bell-ringing  is  forbidden  in  Lent. 

Belpasso.  A  stat.  on  the  Circum-^Etnean  line,  of  recent  construction, 
near  the  remains  of  the  ancient  Malpasso,  destroyed  by  lava  in  1669. 

Belvedere.  A  popular  institution  with  Sicilians,  who  like  tq  have  a  loggia 
on  their  house-top  or  at  some  point  in  their  grounds,  commanding  a  lovely  view. 

Bene  Economico  Asspciazione  Siciliana  pel.  A  society  founded  in 
1893  at  Palermo  for  the  improvement  and  good  management  of  Sicily  in 
every  way,  especially  with  regard  to  the  convenience  of  travellers  and  the 
preservation  of  the  national  monuments.  Its  offices  are  located  in  the  palace 
of  its  president,  the  Conte  di  Mazzarino,  one  of  the  most  eminent  noblemen 
in  Sicily,  who  devotes  much  time  and  trouble  to  its  work.  Its  vice-president 
is  Mr.  Joshua  Whitaker,  head  of  the  famous  Palermo  and  Marsala  wine  firm 
of  Ingham,  Whitaker  and  Co.  Its  secretary  is  the  Cav.  Carlo  Albanese, 
head  of  one  of  the  principal  insurance  companies,  and  among  its  committee 
are  Signor  Florio,  chief  owner  of  the  Florio  Rubattino  (Navigazione  Generale 
Italiana  Steamship  Line),  the  Prince  of  Scalea,  the  Prince  of  Patern6}  the 
Prince  of  S.  Elia,  Conte  Ferdinando  Monroy,  and  Commendatore  Luigi 
Mauceri,  the  well-known  antiquary,  who  is  the  head  of  the  Sicilian  railways. 
A  stronger  committee  could  not  be  desired,  having  as  it  has  the  sympathy  and 
support  of  the  Mayor  of  Palermo,  who  has  made  Palermo  known  as  tfre 
best-managed  city  in  Italy. 

As  examples  of  the  good  work  which  they  are  doing  may  be  quoted  the 
planting  of  ^trees  along  the  great  provincial  roads,  a  necessity  of  health  in  the 
sunbaked  Sicilian  summer  ;  the  movement  to  rescue  William  the  Good's 
Saracenic  Palace  of  La  Cuba  at  Palermo  (immortalised  by  Boccaccio)  from 
being  any  longer  an  artillery  barrack  ;  the  establishment  of  a  summer  station 
in  the  middle  of  the  exquisite  woods  round  the  great  monastery  of  Gibilmanna, 
on  ^  the  mountain  above  Cefalu  ;  the  improvement  of  steamer  and  railroad 
facilities  for  foreign  visitors  ;  the  abolition  of  beggars  ;  and  the  introduction  of 
golf  and  other  sports,  for  which  visitors  desire  facilities.  The  heads  of  the 
society,  moreover,  are  much,  though  not  officially  -,  interested  in  the  successful 
movement  for  abolishing  cruelty  to  animals  in  Palermo.  Those  who  wish  to 
know  more  of  the  society's  workings  should  apply  to  Joshua  Whitaker,  Esq., 
Via  Cavour,  Palermo. 


THINGS    SICILIAN  123 

Bentinck,  Lord  William,  administered  Sicily  during  the  English  occupa 
tion,  and  drew  up  the  famous  Sicilian  constitution  of  which  Blaquiere,  vol.  ii. , 
pp.  401-2,  gives  a  digest. 

ist.  The  supreme  authority  of  making  laws  and  imposing  taxes  is  vested 
alone  in  the  nation. 

2nd.  The  executive  power  is  in  the  king. 

3rd.  Judicial  authority  is  in  the  magistrates,  subject  to  the  approval  of 
parliament. 

4th.  The  king's  person  is  sacred. 

5th.  The  ministers  are  responsible  to  parliament. 

6th.  The  two  chambers  to  consist  of  lords  and  commons,  and  the  clergy  to 
have  seats  in  the  former. 

7th.  The  barons  to  have  only  one  vote  each. 

8th.  The  right  of  assembling  parliament  is  in  the  king,  and  necessary  every 
year. 

9th.  The  nation  is  sole  proprietor  of  the  state. 

loth.  No  Sicilian  can  be  judged  or  condemned,  except  by  laws  to  be 
recognised  by  parliament. 

nth.  The  feudal  law  is  abolished,  as  well  as  the  right  of  investiture 
(monopoly). 

1 2th.  The  privileges  of  the  barons  over  their  vassals  are  also  abolished. 

1 3th.  Every  proposition  relative  to  taxation  must  originate  in  the  lower 
chamber,  and  be  approved  by  the  upper. 

1 4th.  A  modification  of  the  British  constitution  to  be  recommended  this 
session. 

The  constitution  lasted  from  1812  to  1815,  when  Ferdinand  I.  was  restored 
as  constitutional  king  of  the  Two  Sicilies.  From  1806  to  1815,  while  Sicily 
was  a  separate  kingdom  under  British  protection,  Lord  William  was 
practically  dictator.  For  his  palace,  see  Palermo. 

Beribaida.    An  ancient  Saracen  castle  near  Campobello  di  Mazzara. 

Bersag-lieri.  The  quick-marching  Italian  infantry,  who  wear  beaver  hats 
with  masses  of  cocks'  feathers. 

Biancavilla.  One  of  the  Albanian  settlements,  who  keep  up  the  Greek 
language,  religion,  and  costumes.  Founded  in  1480  by  a  colony  of  refugees 
from  Epirus  fleeing  from  Turkish  oppression. 

Biasi,  G.  E.  di.  A  well-known  historian,  author  of  the  Storia  Cronokgica 
dei  Vice-re^  etc. ,  di  Sicilia  and  the  Storia  del  regno  di  Sicilia  daW  epoca  oscura 
efcrvolosa  sino  al  /77-j*. 

Biblioteca.  A  public  library.  (Libreria  means  a  bookshop  )  Each  great 
city  has  one,  generally  in  a  secularised  convent. 

Biblioteca  Lucchesiana.  The  public  library  of  Girgenti,  founded  in  the 
eighteenth  century  by  Bishop  Lucchesi.  Now  belongs  to  the  city. 

Bicarus.   An  ancient  city,  now  Vicari. 

Bicocca.  The  stat.  next  to  Catania.  Junction  for  Palermo,  Syracuse, 
Girgenti,  etc.  Situated  on  the  plain  of  Catania. 

Bidis.  An  ancient  city,  now  Vizzini ;  five  kil.  from  the  station  on  the 
Catania-Caltagirone  line.  See  VizzinL 

Bigini. 

Bion.  A  bucolic  poet,  Born  at  Smyrna,  settled  in  Sicily.  See  Lang's 
translation  of  Theocritus,  Bion,  and  Moschus  (Golden  Treasury  series). 
Flourished  about  280.  Moschus  was  his  pupil. 


124        SICILY  THE   NEW  WINTER    RESORT 

Birgi.  The  ancient  Acithius.  Here  Frederick  II.  of  Sicily  defeated  the 
.brench^and  took  Philip  of  Anjou  prisoner,  December  1st,  1299.  The  best 
Phoenician  necropolis  in  the  island  is  now  being  excavated  here,  a  short 
distance  from  Marsala,  on  the  shore  facing  Motya. 

Bisacquino.  _Four  and  a  half  hours  by  mail-vettura  from  Corleone.  The 
Saracen  Busekuin.  Agate  and  jasper  found  here. 

Bivona.  Forty  kil  from  Corleone  (mail-vettura) ;  the  ancient  Hipponia, 
founded  ^  by  Gelo,  tyrant  of  Syracuse,  as  a  trophy  of  his  victory  over  the 
Carthaginians  at  Himera  ;  nicknamed  Bisbona  because  it  gives  two  crops  of 
everything  in  a  year ;  has  a  bituminous  spring  used  for  cutaneous  diseases  ; 
agates,  jasper,  etc. ,  found  in  neighbourhood ;  town  church  of  fourteenth-century ; 
medieval  castle.  _  The  arch  at  Bivona  is  one  of  the  favourite  photographs  of 
bicily.  Bivona  is  9  hours  by  mail-vettura  from  Lercara  ;  ii£  from  Girgenti. 

Boats  and  Boatmen.     See  Barca. 

Boeo,  Cape.  The  old  Cape  of  Lilybseum,  one  of  the  three  capes  which  gave 
Sicily  its  ancient  name  of  Trinacria. 

Bolognetta.    Stat.  Palermo-Corleone  line ;  mail-vettura  to  Marinea. 

Bone-caverns.  Important  discoveries  of  prehistoric  bones  have  been  made 
at  the  Grotta  dei  Giganti  at.  Palermo,  Carini,  and  elsewhere. 

Bookstalls.  Only  at  the  railway  stats,  of  the  largest  towns  and  outside  a 
few  churches  in  the  Via  Macqueda  at  Palermo.  These  latter  are  second-hand, 
like  a  few  bookshops  in  the  Via  Macqueda  and  Corso. 

Books  on  Sicily.   See  Bibliography  in  Preface. 

Borage.  The  wild  borage  is  very  common  and  very  fine.  Its  brilliant 
blue  blossoms  are  bigger  than  half-crowns. 

Borch,  Count  de,  author  of  Letlres  sur  la  Sidle  et  sur  file  de  Malthe, 
adapted  from  Brydone's  Tour  through  Sicily  and  Malta  (see  Brydone)  It 
was  published  in  Turin  in  1782. 

Borgia.  Rodrigo  Borgia,  the  infamous  Pope  Alexander  VI.,  whose  real 
name  was  Lancol,  was  at  one  time  Abbot  of  Maniace  (q.v.). 

Borgetto,  or  Menfi,  near  the  ruins  of  the  ancient  Inicus  ;  on  the  river 
Hypsas,  which  flows  into  the  sea  at  Girgenti ;  4  hours  from  Castelvetrano 
I3t  hours  from  Corleone,  2|  hours  from  Sciacca  (by  mail-vettura).  There  is 
another  Borgetto  near  Monreale. 

Borgo  Annunziata.  A  suburb  of  Trapani  (q.v.)  with  a  famous  pilgrimage 
church  founded  1332.  fe 

Boscodi  Caronia.  The  largest  forest  in  Sicily ;  on  the  mountains  above 
Uaronia  btat.  (Palermo-Messina  line).  Bosco  is  the  Sicilian  for  forest. 

Bottaci.   The  Sicilian  for  puncheons  of  615  litres. 

Botti  Grandi.  Butts  of  1 10  gallons.  Botti  usuali  are  pipes  of  93  gallons. 
Mezze  botti  are  hogsheads  of  46  or  47  gallons. 

Bougainvillea.  A  tropical  plant  of  the  genus  Nyctaginacese.  A  gorgeous 
plant  with  clusters  of  rosy  or  purplish  leaves  the  same  colour  as  its  flowers. 
Much  used  as  a  creeper  in  Sicily,  where  it  grows  to  a  great  height  and 
blossoms  freely  in  the  open  air.  In  the  botanical  gardens  at  Palermo  are 
some  of  the  finest  bougainvilleas  in  existence. 

Boys.  Boys  are  a  feature  of  Sicily.  There  are  always  dozens  round  a 
stranger  sometimes  to  beg,  sometimes  to  plague,  as  at  CefaKi,  generally 
because  they  regard  strangers  as  a  free  theatrical  performance.  They  are 
always  delighted  to  answer  questions  or  act  as  guides.  Poor  boys  will  show 
you  the  way  to  any  place  that  is  near  for  a  halfpenny.  Well-off  boys  are  fond 


THINGS   SICILIAN  125 

of  acting  as  guides  too,  but  will  never  take  the  smallest  reward— not  even 
chocolates,  except  a  visiting-card,  which  they  appreciate  greatly.  Boys 
having  been  taught  in  the  schools  can  always  speak  Italian  as  well  as  Sicilian 
and  sometimes  a  little  English.  I  often  use  them  as  interpreters. 

Brambles.  The  common  bramble  grows  well  in  "Sicily. 
_  Brasswork.  The  old  brass  of  Sicily  is  a  lovely  colour,  and  needs  very 
little  cleaning.  Nowadays  it  is  replaced  by  copper.  It  is  not  at  all  easy  to 
buy  the  old  brass  trays,  which  are  as  beautiful  as  silver.  The  easiest  way  to 
pick  up  nice  brass  is  to  buy  the  various  pieces  from  the  water-sellers,  the 
cookshops,  the  barbers,  etc.  But  they  often  refuse  to  sell. 

Bread.  In  Sicily  and  Italy  bread  is  the  staff  of  life  to  a  degree  undreamt 
of  in  England.  The  poor  people  practically  live  on  bread  when  they  can  get 
it,  though  they  often  have  to  put  up  with  maize  or  beans.  It  is  sold  in  sticks 
the  shape  of  Jupiter's  thunderbolt.  Bread  riots  have  been  so  frequent  that  at 
Catania  the  bakeries  are  municipalised  so  that  bread  can  be  sold  cheaper  than 
elsewhere.  Foreigners  are  never  molested  in  these  riots. 

Breakfasts.  The  Sicilians  take  only  a  small  cup  of  coffee  instead  of  our 
breakfast.  In  hotels  where  foreigners  go,  except  the  most  expensive,  they  get 
tea  or  coffee,  bread  and  butter,  and  frequently  honey,  included  on  pension 
terms.  Eggs,  etc. ,  are  charged  extra.  Their  real  breakfast,  the  cotaziom 
served  11.30-12.30,  is  what  English  call  lunch. 

Bricinnia.    Remains  of  fortress  near  Lentini  (q.v.). 

Brigands  (Briganti).  It  is  proverbial  in  Sicily  that  brigands  never  touch 
foreigners  unless  they  happen  also  to  own  property  in  Sicily.  There  are 
two  main  factors  in  brigand  outrages,  the  capture  of  a  person  whose  wealth  is 
well  known  for  ransom  ;  and  revenge  against  the  person  who  has  asserted  his 
authority.  The  latter  outrages  can  perhaps  be  attributed  really  to  the  Mafia. 
It  is  a  question  which  Sicilians  prefer  undiscussed,  and  foreigners  have  nothing 
to  fear  from  it. 

Broccoli  is  a  great  feature  in  Palermo.  The  broccoli  carts  with  red, 
purple,  white,  and  green  broccoli  of  enormous  size  arranged  in  patterns,  are 
a  feature  in  the  streets.  Broccoli  forms  the  basis  of  the  wonderful  patterns  in 
which  Palermo  greengrocers'  shops  are  arranged,  as  bright  as  a  Kidderminster 
carpet.  They  are  more  picturesque  even  than  those  of  Venice,  and  the  cries 
of  the  broccoli  sellers  are  among  the  most  ordinary  and  musical  sounds  in 
Palermo.  It  might  be  called  jodelling. 

Brolo-Ficarra  Stat,  on  the  Palermo-Messina  line,  has  an  ancient  castle 
overhanging  the  sea,  dating  from  the  earliest  times  and  restored  by  the 
Lancia  family,  relatives  of  the  Emperor  Frederick  II. 

Bronte.  The  Duchy  of  Bronte,  bestowed  on  Nelson  in  1799  by  Ferdinand  I. 
and  IV.,  descended  differently  from  the  earldom.  -By  Sicilian  law  the 
daughter  of  Nelson's  brother,  the  first  earl,  took  precedence  of  the  male  heirs 
of  Nelson's  eldest  sister,  to  whom  the  English  entail  went  She  married  the 
ancestor  of  the  present  owner  of  the  estate,  The  family  reside,  not  at  BTonte, 
but  at  Maniace,  on  the  other  end  of  the  estate,  which  is  high  up  on  Etna,  and 
includes  a  vast  orange  forest.  Bronte  is  a  town  of  about  20,000  inhabitants, 
who  are  considered  the  most  villainous  people  in  Sicily,  The  town  only  dates 
from  the  Emperor  Charles  V.,  up  to  whose  time  they  had  been  scattered  in 
villages.  In  the  neighbourhood  of  Bronte  are  the  great  lava  streams  of  1603, 
1610,  1727,  1763,  1787,  1843.  This  is  the  best  place  to  see  them,  and  the 
railway  passes  through  them.  Bronte  is  a  stat.  on  the  Circum-^tnean  Hne. 
Mail-vetture  to  Cesaro  (3f  hours),  Troina  (7  hours). 


126        SICILY   THE   NEW  WINTER   RESORT 

Brown,  Ambroise  Pare,  agent-general  in  Sicily  for  the  Val  de  Travers 
Asphalt  Company,  which  has  large  mines  at  Ragusa,  takes  a  leading  part  in 
the  Society  for  the  Prevention  of  Cruelty  to  Animals,  so  successful  at  Palermo. 
Brydone,  P.,  F.R.S.  (also  written  Braydon),  author  of  A  Tour  through 
Sicily  and  Malta  in  a  Series  of  Letters  to  William  Beckford,  Esq.,  of  Somerby 
in  Suffolk,  from  P.  Brydone,  P.R.S.,  written  150  years  ago,  and  the  basis  of 
the  Count  de  Borch's  Letters  sur  la  Sidle  et  sur  Pile  de  Malt  he  (1782),  and  of 
Dumas's  The  Speronara. 

Buccheri.  Remains  of  an  ancient  castle  and  rocks  interesting  to  the 
geologist  near  Monte  Lauro.  In  mail-vettura  ten  hours  from  Syracuse. 

Burgio.  On  the  road  from  S.  Carlo  to  Sciaccajhas  in  its  Franciscan 
church  a  S.  Vito  by  Antonio  Gagini,  according  to  Baedeker. 

Buscemi.  The  Saracen  Abisama,  with  remains  of  an  ancient  city  called 
Casale,  8£  hours  in  mail-vettura  from  Syracuse  ;  one  hour  from  Palazzolo  on 
the  opposite  hill. 

Bullock-waggons  and  ploughs.  Primitive  waggons  drawn  by  "oxen 
with  rolling  gait "  are  common  round  Taormina,  Selinunte,  Palazzolo,  etc. 
Their  wains  are  of  the  old  Roman  pattern.  The  wooden  Virgilian  plough 
drawn  by  oxen  is  in  pretty  general  use  in  Sicily,  which  is  too  stony  for 
ordinary  ploughs.  A  good  place  to  see  them  is  round  the  Fountain  of  Cyane. 

Buon'amano,  or  Mancia.  The  pourboire ;  literally,  goodwill  offering. 
Twenty-five  centimes  (z\d. )  is  the  ordinary  tip,  rising  to  a  franc,  where  it  is 
the  reward  of  considerable  time  and  trouble.  Give  a  franc  to  a  cabman  whom 
you  have  been  employing  the  whole  afternoon. 

Buonfornello.  The  stat.  next  to  Termini  on  the  Palermo- Messina  line.  It 
has  ruins  of  a  Greek  temple  of  ancient  Himera. 

Burial  Guilds.  In  Sicily  most  people  belong  to  a  Confraternita  for  getting 
buried  impressively.  All  the  members  turn  out  for  a  fellow-member's  funeral 
in  hooded  dresses  which  cover  everything  but  the  boots,  the  eyes,  and  the 
mouth.  In  Sicily  they  are  generally  pure  white,  but  in  Naples  sky-blue  and 
scarlet  and  purple  enter  into  their  costumes.  They  often  have  burial-grounds 
of  their  own  in  the  Campo  Santo  ;  for  example  the  Confraternitk  di  S.  Orsola, 
del  Rosario,  in  the  Cemetery  of  the  Vespers  of  Palermo,  These  Confra 
ternita  have  likewise  chapels  of  their  own ;  some  of  the  best  Serpottas  are 
in  these  chapels.  The  attendance  of  the  Confraternita,  in  its  picturesque 
medieval  dress,  makes  a  Sicilian  funeral  very  impressive. 

Busekuin  ("  many  waters").   The  Saracenic  name  of  Bisacquino  (q.v.). 

Butcher's-broom.  A  plant,  which  grows  wild  in  England,  much  used  for 
hedges  in  Sicily,  because  it  bears  an  edible  shoot  resembling  asparagus. 
Sicilians  call  it  spartigi  di  trono. 

Butera.  A  stat.  on  Modica-Licata  line.  Tho  Prince  of  Butera  (and 
Trabia)  is  the  chief  seigneur  of  the  island.  In  853  it  was  besieged  by  the 
Saracens,  who  held  it  till  1089,  The  principality  dates  from  1563. 

Butler,  Samuel.  A  scholar  as  sardonic  as  the  author  of  Hudibras,  who 
spent  much  time  in  Sicily,  and  wrote  a  learned  and  plausible  book,  entitled 
The  Authoress  of  the  Odyssey,  to  prove  that  it  was  written  "in  Sicily"  by^a 
woman  (published  by  Longmans).  In  studying  Trapani,  Eryx,  and  Cefalu, 
his  book  is  very  suggestive. 

Butter.  All  good  hotels  in  Sicily  have  their  butter  sent  from  Milan  (q.v.). 
(Good)  butter  is  made  in  Palermo  but  nowhere  else  in  Sicily. 


THINGS    SICILIAN  127 

Byzantine  churches  and  frescoes.  The  only  pure  Byzantine  church 
above  ground  in  Sicily  is  at  Malvagna,  a  short  drive  from  Randazzo.  But 
there  are  a  certain  number  of  Byzantine  frescoes  in  subterranean  chambers 
used  by  the  Christians  in  Saracenic  times,  notably  in  S.  Marziano  at  Syracuse, 
S.  Giovanni  near  Cape  Boeo,  at  Marsala,  in  S.  Filippo  delle  Colonne  at 
Modica,  and  two  subterranean  chambers  at  the  entrance  of  the  Val  d'Ispica, 
one  of  which  was  uninjured  until  the  flood  of  1902.  There  are  probably 
others. 

Byzantine  houses,  necropolis,  and  tombs.  There  are  a  good  many 
Byzantine  tombs  about  Sicily,  called  in  a  loose  way  Lower  Empire.  In 
Selinunte  (q.v.)  in  the  acropolis  there  is  a  Byzantine  necropolis.  The  houses 
on  the  main  street  in  the  citadel  of  Selinunte  (a  sort  of  poor  Pompeii)  are  said 
to  be  Byzantine  and  not  Greek.  Byzantine  coins  are  found. 


Cabrera,  Bernardo.  A  Spanish  noble,  who  in  the  fifteenth  century  kept 
Sicily  in  a  ferment  by  his  pretensions  to  the  crown.  See  Motta  S.  Anastasio. 

Cabs  are  very  cheap  by  the  course,  which  means  any  distance  inside  the 
city  walls,  and  generally  any  number  of  persons  who  can  squeeze  in-  The 
usual  price  is  fifty  centimes,  sometimes  less.  By  the  hour,  the  fare  is  generally 
about  I  '50  fr. ,  but  the  cabman  will  accept  less.  From  expensive  hotels  they 
expect  more  than  their  tariff.  The  charge  to  the  station  is  always  more  than 
any  other  corsa,  but  most  hotels  have  their  own  buses.  The  Sicilian  cabs  are 
very  slow  and  generally  very  ramshackly.  Cruelty  to  horses  is  less  common 
now,  thanks  to  the  Society  for  the  Prevention  of  Cruelty  to  Animals,  backed 
up  by  the  Municipality  of  Palermo. 

Cabmen  as  guides.  The  cabmen  are  often  good  fellows.  An  intelligent 
one  makes  the  best  guide,  because  he  knows  that  you  will  go  on  taking  him 
while  he  has  your  money's  worth  to  show  you. 

Cactiatori  means  shooters.  La  Caccia,  shooting,  is  a  great  institution  in 
Sicily,  where  everyone  possesses  firearms,  except  the  beggars.  Except  in  the 
places  where  shooting  is  forbidden,  they  have  exterminated  nearly  every  living 
thing  at  most  seasons  of  the  year ;  but  Sicily  is  peculiarly  favoured  for  sports 
men,  owing  to  the  fact  of  its  lying  on  the  favourite  migration  routes  of  birds. 
At  certain  times  of  the  year  quail  may  almost  be  knocked  over  with  sticks. 
The  griffon-vulture  is  fairly  plentiful  on  Monte  Pellegrino  for  those  who  want 
to  shoot  a  good  big  bird.  There  are  wolves  in  the  Madonian  Mountains, 
and  porcupines  a  yard  long  in  the  wild  country  behind  Ragusa,  and  hares  are 
as  plentiful  at  Girgenti  as  they  were  in  ancient  times,  in  spite  of  the  number 
of  miners  in  the  neighbourhood. 

Caccamo.  The  Cucumum  of  the  ancients.  The  Karches  of  the  Saracens, 
said  to  have  been  founded  by  the  Carthaginians  in  400  B.  c.  It  suffered  much 
in  the  wars  between  the  Angevins  and  the  Aragonese,  but  repulsed  in  1302 
Robert  of  Anjou  (King  Robert  of  Sicily).  Jasper,  agate,  valuable  marbles 
and  Durazzo  porphyry  and  rock-crystal  are  found  here,  10  kils.  from  the 
Sciarra  Stat.  on  the  Catania-Palermo  line,  It  has  a  castle  with  ^beautiful 
Norman  windows  and  good  churches.  It  is  a  favourite  excursion  from 
Termini.  From  the  cave  at  Caccamo  Prof.  Ciofalo  derived  the  prehistoric 
articles  he  presented  to  the  Palermo  Museum. 

Cacirus.    The  ancient  name  of  Cassaro  (q.v.). 


128        SICILY  THE   NEW   WINTER   RESORT 

Cactus.  Sicily  is  the  land  of  the  cactus,  though  the  cacti  are  not  in 
digenous.  The  prickly-pear  (q.v.),  in  particular,  is  a  feature  in  every  country 
view  with  'its  greyish-green  foliage.  Aloes  do  very  well,  but  are  only  in 
gardens,  though  the  agave  or  American  aloe  is  used  for  hedges. 

Cacyparis  (the  Cassibile).  A  river  in  the  south  running  past  the  Cassibile 
Stat.  on  the  Syracuse-Licata  line.  Demosthenes  surrendered  here.  See 
Athenians  in  Sicily. 

Cafes.  In  Sicily  anyone  can  start  a  cafe  who  has  a  table  and  a  few  chairs. 
The  street  is  his  without  paying  any  rent  for  it.  In  Palermo  there  are  now 
cafes  like  you  get  in  Rome,  mostly  kept  by  Caflisch  in  the  Via  Macqueda, 
where  it  is  quite  amusing  to  take  coffee  at  afternoon  teatime.  There  is  a 
good  one  at  Girgenti.  Ices  are  a  great  feature  in  Sicily  in  the  summer. 

Cagliostro.  Goethe,  in  his  Sicilian  Diary,  gives  the  proofs  that  this  arch- 
impostor  was  in  reality  Giuseppe  Balsamo,  of  Palermo.  He  was  brought  up 
in  the  apothecaries'  department  of  a  monastery  at  Caltagirone.  He  died, 
at  52,  in  the  fortress  of  S.  Leo.  The  Inquisition  of  Rome  had  condemned 
him  to  death  for  being  a  Freemason,  but  sentence  was  commuted  to  imprison 
ment  for  life. 

Cakes,  Sicilian.  The  typical  Sicilian  cake,  sent  to  Rome  and  elsewhere, 
is  the  Cassata  layered  with  curds  (ricotta)  and  enclosed  in  pistacckio-marzipan, 
and  decorated  on  the  top  with  sugar-icing  and  candied  fruits. 

Calacte,  or  Cale  Acte.  Near  Caronia,  on  the  Palermo-Messina  line,  is 
known  to  have  been  a  Sikel  town.  It  was  founded  by  Ducetius,  B.C.  450, 
during  the  power  of  his  Sikel  league.  See  Freeman,  vol.  ii.,  p.  378. 

Calamajo.     See  Cuttlefish. 

Calatabiano.  A  stat.  on  the  Messina-Catania  line,  close  to  Taormina. 
Has  a  medieval  castle  on  an  extraordinary  steeple-shaped  rock. 

Calatafimi.  Celebrated  as  the  scene  of  Garibaldi's  first  victory  in  Sicily, 
May  1 5th,  i860.  Is  the  Calatafio  of  the  Saracens,  and  the  Longaricus  of  the 
ancients.  It  has  the  remains  of  a  castle  and  a  few  picturesque  old  convents, 
and  an  inn  where  people  stay  when  they  wish  to  do  Segesta  (2j  miles  distant) 
at  their  leisure.  According  to  Baedeker,  Samuel  Butler  (1835-1902),  the 
author  of  £rewhont  did  much  of  his  work  at  Calatafimi,  where  a  street  and 
a  hotel  have  been  named  after  him.  Calatafimi  is  5^  miles  from  the 
Calatafimi  Stat.  "Calatafimi,  where  we  slept,  I  dare  not  mention  facts" 
(Cardinal  Newman). 

Calatafimi,  Battle  of.     See  above. 

Calascibetta.  A  little  medieval  town  on  the  hill  opposite  Castrogiovanni. 
The  residence  of  the  Aragonese  kings.  Peter  II.  died  there  in  1342. 

Calogeri.  Greek  for  hermits.  S.  Calogero  simply  records  the  presence  of 
a  hermit.  The  Calogeri  or  monks  of  Mount  Athos  came  from  the  East  and 
introduced  into  Sicily  and  Italy  their  splendid  mosaics,  a  pagan  art  which 
they  harmonised  with  liturgical  needs,  It  is  considered  that  the  Byzantine 
art,  which  culminated  in  Cimabue  and  Giotto,  was  derived  from  their 
mosaics.  The  mosaics  at  Cefalit  are  believed  to  have  been  the  wdrk  of 
actual  calogeri  from  Mount  Athos.  This  is  extremely  interesting  because  the 
Christ  at  Cefalu  represented  their  tradition,  unbroken  from  the  earliest  times, 
and  the  Christs  at  Monreale  and  in  the  Cappella  Reale  at  Palermo  follow 
exactly  the  same  tradition,  quite  unlike  the  ordinary  tradition.  See  Christ. 


THINGS   SICILIAN  129 

S.  Calogero.  There  are  several  S.  Calogeros  in  Sicily  and  Lipari,  the 
two  most  important  being  the  Monte  S.  Calogero  above  Sciacca  and  the 
Monte  S.  ^Calogero  _  above  Termini.  Both  these  places  were  called  Thermse 
by  the  ancients.  It  is  not  quite  certain  at  which  of  them  Agathocies  was  born. 
S.  Calogero  (see  above)  became  the  patron  saint  of  hot  medicinal  springs.  You 
can  look  for  such  baths  with  certainty  where  you  find  his  name.  On  the 
Monte  S.^  Calogero,  near  Sciacca,  there  is  an  extraordinary  cave  with  vapour 
baths  which  have  an  instantaneous  effect  on  the  patient,  unknown  elsewhere. 
The  ancient  ^name  of  this  Monte  S.  Calogero  was  Cromium.  (See  Sciacca.) 
The  Termini  Monte  S.  Calogero,  just  over  4,000  feet  high,  commands  a 
splendid  view. 


THE  VALLEY  BETWEEN  CASTROGIOVANNI  AND  CALASCIBETTA 

Caltabelotta,  Four  and  a  half  hours  by  mail-vettura  from  Sciacca.  A 
name  of  Saracen  origin.  Near  the  ruins  of  the  ancient  Triocala,  famous  for 
its  siege  in  the  Slave  War  of  102  B.C.  Its  name  signifies  *'  Place  of  Oaks," 
Between  the  old  and  the  new  cities  is  a  great  cave  with  a  church  dedicated 
to  S.  Pellegrino,  and  5  kil.  from  it  is  the  church  of  S.  Giorgio,  founded  by 
Roger  I.  as  a  thankoffering  for  his  victory  over  the  Saracens. 

Caltagirone.  The  terminus  of  a  railway  line  from  Catania,  with  mail- 
vetture  to  Mirabella  Imbaccare,  3  hours;  S.  Michele,  i|  hours;  Gigliotto, 
2£  hours  ;  Piazza-Armerina,  5|  hours.  See  the 

(1)  Castle,  Old. 

(2)  Cathedral  with  Renaissance  sculptures  and  treasury. 

(3)  Church  of  S.  Maria  de  Gesii,  Gagini's  (?)  Madonna  della  Catena. 

(4)  The  most  important  potteries  in  Sicily. 

Caltagirone  is  famous  for  its  superb  majolica  ware,  started  here  on  account 
of  the  great  deposits  of  argillaceous  clay.  The  armorial  tiles  in  the  Palermo 
Museum  were  made  here,  as  are  the  beautiful  figures  representing  the  old 
Sicilian  types,  old  specimens  of  which,  when  perfect,  are  valuable.  An  enor- 


130        SICILY  THE  NEW  WINTER   RESORT 

mous  quantity  of  pottery  is  made  here,  The  Saracens  defeated  the  Greeks 
here  in  831 ,  and  held  the  town  until  1060.  There  are  remains  of  an  aqueduct, 
an  ancient  subterranean  road  cut  in  the  rock,  mosaics,  etc.  The  town  is 
2,000  feet  above  the  sea  and  said  to  be  the  most  civilised  inland  town  in 
Sicily.  Beautifully  clean  and  quite  worth  going  to.  It  is  the  nearest  point  to 
Piazza  Armerina,  one  of  the  Albanian  settlements.  An  interesting  place  in 
rich  mountain  scenery.  Cagliostro  (q.v.)  was  brought  up  here. 
Caltagirone  pottery.  See  above. 


THE  PUBLIC  GARDENS,   CALTAGIRONE 

Caltanisetta.  The  least  civilised  of  the  great  inland  towns.  Its  popula 
tion  is  proverbial  for  its  brutality.  Stat.  on  the  Catania-Girgenti  line.  Mail- 
vettura  to  Xiboli,  i-hour ;  Capodarso,  2%  hours  ;  Piazza-Armerina,  8  hours ; 
Pietra  Perzia,  3  hours;  Bivio  -  Marcato  -  Bianco  ;  Barrafranca,  4^  hours- 
Mazzarino,  6|  hours  ;  Butera,  10  hours  ;  Terranova,  13  hours.  ' 

See — 

1 I )  Remains  of  a  castle  of  Pietra  Rossa. 

(2)  Cathedral — frescoes. 

(3)  Ch.  of  S.  Maria  ^degli  Angeli,  fourteenth-century  portal. 

(4)  Badia  of  S.  Spirito,  Norman  epoch,  in  the  district. 

(5)  Remains  of  an  ancient  city  on  Mount  Gibel-gahib,  with  Siculan  tombs 
and  Greco-Roman  necropolis. 

(6)  Pietraperzia,  30  kil.  from  Caltanisetta  (q.v.). 


THINGS  SICILIAN  131 

The  ancient  Nissa,  which  gave  the  town  its  Saracenic  name  of  Kalat-Nissa, 
was  near.  It  was  taken  in  1106  by  Roger  I.,  who  gave  it  to  his  son  Giordano. 
From  him,  who  had  no  heirs,  it  passed  from  his  daughter  Matilda,  mother  of 
Adelasia,  wife  of  Rinaldo  d' Aquila,  who  died  and  was  buried  at  Caltanisetta. 
It  is  a  great  sulphur  centre.  Near  the  city,  at  a  spot  called  Terrapilata,  there 
is  a  volcano  with  exhalations  of  hydrogen  gas,  a  sort  of  Macalubi.  Near  here 
is  found  the  scarlet  Anemone  fulgens^  the  Solomon's  Lily  of  Palestine. 


GENERAL  VIEW  OF  THE  ENVIRONS  OF  CALTABELOTTA 

Caltavuturo.  The  Saracenic  Kalat-butur.  Five  and  a  quarter  hours  by 
mail-vettura  from-  Cerda  on  the  Catania- Palermo  line.  Remains  of  a  fortress 
and  antique  habitations  on  the  highest  point.  Famous  for  its  green  and  yellow 
jaspers. 

Camastra.  Three  and  three-quarters  hours  by  mail-vettura  from  Canicattl 
(Girgenti-Licata  line).  Also  called  Ramulia,  Unimportant. 

Camarina.  An  ancient  city  of  Sicily.  Its  extensive  ruins  are  8  miles  from 
Vittoria  on  the  Syracuse-Licata  line.  Nearer  to  the  seaport  of  Scoglitti. 
An  outpost  of  Syracuse.  Founded  599  B.C.  It  was  destroyed  by  the  Syra- 
cusans  B.C.  552  for  aiming  at  independence,  but  rebuilt  by  Hippocrates, 
495  B.C.  Desolated  by  Gelon,  taking  its  inhabitants  to  Syracuse,  485. 
Founded  a  third  time  by  the  people  of  Gela,  B.C.  461.  Immortalised  by 
Pindar.  Made  an  alliance  with  Athens,  B.C.  427.  During  the  war  between 
Syracuse  and  Athens  it  remained  neutral.  After  the  destruction  of  Gela  in 
405  the  Camarinians  deserted  their  city.  It  then  became  Carthaginian,  but 
was  resettled  by  Timoleon  and  became  powerful.  It  suffered  severely  in  the 
wars  of  Agathocles,  and  was  sacked  by  the  Mamertines.  In  the  first  Punic 
War  it  joined  the  Romans ;  and  here,  B.C.  255,  almost  the  entire  Roman 
fleet  was  destroyed  in  a  hurricane.  The  coins  of  Camarina  are  numerous. 


132        SICILY  THE   NEW  WINTER   RESORT 

The  most  interesting  are  the  didrachms  with  horned  head  of  the  river-god 
Hipparis  on  one  side  and  a  galloping  four-horse  chariot  on  the  other,  and  that 
of  the  nymph  Camarina  seated  on  a  swan,  while  the  wind  inflates  her  veil, 
and  the  fish  leap  round.  Some  of  these  didrachms  are  signed  by  Eucenetus, 
others  by  Exacestidas. 

Under  the  Romans  it  was  insignificant.  Even  in  Strabo's  time  there  were 
only  ruins. 

Camicus.  A  city  of  Sicily,  built  by  Daedalus,  the  flying  man,  for  Cocalus, 
a  Sican  king.  The  celebrated  Minos,  King  of  Crete,  who  had  pursued 
Daedalus  to  Sicily,  was  treacherously  put  to  death  here  by  the  daughters  of 
Cocalus.  Sophocles  wrote  a  tragedy  on  the  Camicii.  There  is  a  hill  called 
Camicus  near  Girgenti.  But  Freeman  believes  that  Caltabelotta  was  this 
great  Sican  stronghold.  Giannotta  identifies  it  either  with  Cammarata  or 
Siculiana.  Pausanias  calls  Cocalus  King  of  Inycus.  See  Dadalus. 

Cammarata.  See  Camicus,  above.  The  name  is  of  Saracenic  origin.  It 
has  an  unused  sulphur  spring,  and  round  Monte  Rosso  agate,  jasper,  etc. 
It  has  a  stat.  on  the  Girgenti-Palermo  line,  with  mail-vetture  to  Camma 
rata  itself,  i£  hours;  S. -Giovanni-Gemini,  2  hours. 

Campion.  In  many  parts  of  Sicily,  as  round  Syracuse,  a  dwarf  pink 
campion  makes  the  grass  a  sheet  of  pink.  It  is  the  size  of  our  daisy. 

Campieri.  Country  guards.  Used  by  landowners  to  protect  them  from 
robbers.  The  term  is  also  applied  to  the  cantonieri  in  charge  of  the  great 
provincial  roads. 

Campobello  di  Licata.  On  the  line  between  Licata  and  Girgenti.  The 
town  is  i-hour  from  the  Campobello- Ravenusa  Stat. 

Campobello  di  Mazzara.  A  stat.  on  the  Palermo-Trapani  line.  A  rich  but 
malarious  district.  The  ancient  Saracen  castle  of  Beribaida  is  here.  Eight 
kil.  from  Kusa  (the  Selinuntine  quarries,  q.v.). 

Campofelice.  A  stat.  on  the  Palermo-Messina  line.  With  a  mail-vettura 
to  Collesano  (q.v.),  2\  hours  ;  Isnello,  4^  hours. 

Campo  Santo.  A  cemetery.  Sicilian  cemeteries  are  as  ambitious  as  those 
of  the  great  Italian  cities.  Their  special  feature  is  the  mortuary  chapel, 
Gothic  or  classical  in  style,  with  an  open  vault  below  for  the  family  tombs. 
The  bodies  are  sometimes  kept  on  view  in  the  chapels  in  glass  coffins.  Two 
thousand  pounds  has  been  paid  for  a  chapel.  They  are  lofty,  and  at  Messina, 
Palazzolo,  Modica,  etc.,  give  the  effect  of  a  walled  medieval  city.  Another 
feature  is  the  tailoring  in  stone  in  the  Genoese  style.  Billycock  hats,  scarf- 
pins,  buttonholes,  etc.,  show  the  characteristics  of  the  wearer.  It  makes  the 
humbler  parts  of  the  cemeteries  a  lumber-room  of  exploded  fashions.  Yet 
more  appalling  are  the  enlarged  photographs  sunk  in  panels  in  the  head 
stones.  But  there  are  reliefs  in  the  shape  of  avenues  of  solemn  cypresses, 
and  a  forest  fire  of  wild  flowers  which  sweeps  over  everything  left  alone  for 
a  year. 

Candied  fruit.  Sicily  has  a  delicious  kind  of  candied  fruit.  Best  at 
Guli's,  Corso,  Palermo. 

Candytuft  One  of  the  many  flowers  called  by  Sicilians  Fiord  di  miele. 
Its  white  clover-shaped  blossoms  are  very  fine  at  Taormina. 

Canicatti.  On  the  line  from  Licata  and  Catania  to  Girgenti.  Mail-vettura 
to  Delia,  ij  hours;  Sommatino,  3  hours;  Trabia,  4  hours;  Riesi,  6  hours; 
Serra  Alongi,  2  hours  20  minutes  ;  Camastra,  3!  hours  ;  ^Palma  Montechiaro, 
5J  hours;  Tenaro,  2j  hours.  Twelve  kil.  from  Naro  (q.v.).  Important  as 
a  railway  junction. 


THINGS   SICILIAN  133 

Canicattini  or  Bagni-Canicattini.  A  town  between  Syracuse  and  Palaz- 
zolo,  close  to  the  Spampmato,  the  gorge  of  the  Anapo,  along  which  the 
Athenians  made  their  first  attempt  to  escape.  The  road  between  Canicattini 
and  Syracuse  runs  through  the  most  beautiful  olive  gardens  in  the  island,  full 
of  narcissus  and  purple  anemones  in  spring,  Mail-vettura  from  Syracuse, 
4!  hours. 

Canterbury  Bells.   A  stunted  variety  is  a  common  wild  flower  in  Sicily. 

Capaci.  Stat.  on  the  Palermo-Trapani  line,  next  to  Carini ;  founded 
sixteenth  century.  Has  a  baronial  palace,  marble  quarries,  enormous  fossil 
bones.  Produces  good  manna. 

Cap  Corvo,  Battle  of.  Victory  of  Ottavio  d'Aragona,  Palermitan  admiral, 
over  the  Turks  in  1613. 

Capello  dl  Venere.  Maidenhair-fern,  which  grows  everywhere  in  Sicily, 
even  in  the  streets  of  Palermo  on  the  water-towers. 

Caper-plant.  Common  in  Sicily.  Very  fine  in  the  Latomias  of  Syracuse. 
Handsome  white  and  purple  flowers  (Capparis  spinosa).  Also  chiefly  culti 
vated  in  Sicily. 

Capitals.  The  top  part  of  a  column.  In  Sicily  nearly  always  Doric,  con 
sisting  of  an  echinus  or  plain  cushion  of  stone  supporting  an  abacus  or  slab. 
There  are  a  few  Ionic  capitals,  as  in  church  of  S.  Giovanni  at  Syracuse.  Their 
characteristic  is  a  scroll-like  spiral,  often  compared  to  a  ram's  horn.  The 
Corinthian  capital,  though  Syracuse  was  a  colony  of  Corinth,  is  very  rare 
except  in  later  buildings.  Its  characteristics  are  rich  foliations  taken  from  an 
acanthus  leaf.  Of  far  greater  importance  are  the  capitals  of  the  Norman 
period,  which  are  often  extremely  richly  carved.  "Monreale  has  two  hundred 
columns  in  its  cloister,  with  a  separate  legend  carved  on  the  capital  of  each. 
The  deep  cushion-shaped  Byzantine- Saracenic  capitals  adopted  by  the  Norman 
kings  for  their  glorious  churches  gave  great  opportunity  for  carving.  The 
early  Renaissance  architects  of  Sicily  had  a  fancy  for  double  arches,  the  shafts 
of  the  upper  rising  from  inverted  capitals. 

Capo  d' Orlando.  Stat.  on  Palermo-Messina  line.  The  ancient  Sikel  town 
of  Agathyrnum  was  on  Capo  d'Orlando. 

Capuana,  Luigi.  A  well-known  critic,  poet,  and  dramatist ;  editor  of 
La  Cenerentola.  Born  at  Mineo,  2yth  May,  1839  ;  author  of  Garibaldi, 
Vanitas  vanUatum^  11  Teatro  Italiano  Cotemporaneo,  Profili  di  donne,  Parali- 
pomeni  al  Lucifero  di  Mario  Raphardi,  Giacinta,  Storia  Fosca,  Homo,  Cera 
unavolta^  II  Regno  dellefate^  Spiritismo^  Parodie,  Ribrezzo^  II  Piccolo  Archivio^ 
Studi  sulla  letter atur a  contemporanea,  Per  VArte^  Semiritusi,  Fumando^  Le 
Paesane,  Fanciulli  Allegri,  II  Drago. 
|  Capote  (Spanish).  *  Cappotto  (Sicilian).  A  cloak. 

1  Cappa  (Italian).   A  cloak.    All  terms  used  in  Sicily  for  the  hooded  dark 
blue  cloaks  (q.v.),  which  are  such  a  feature. 

Cappella  Ardente.  The  laying  out  of  a  coffin  surrounded  by  tall  burning 
tapers.  Sometimes  in  a  chapel,  as  the  name  betokens,  more  often  in  front  of 
the  altar. 

Cappella  Reale.  See  Palermo.  The  most  beautiful  ecclesiastical  building 
in  Europe. 

Cappuccini  Monasteries.  Were  extremely  popular  in  Sicily,  on  account 
of  their  mummies.  The  best  collection  of  Cappuccini  mummies  in  the  world 
is  at  Palermo  (q.v.).  It  is  of  great  extent,  with  hundreds  of  well-preserved 
mummies  in  its  well-lighted,  well-aired  vaults.  The  idea  in  these  Cappuccini 


I34        SICILY  THfi   NEW  WINTER   RESORT 

burial-places  was  to  inter  the  properly  mummified  corpse  for  a  time  in  sacred 
earth  brought  from  Palestine,  to  ensure  salvation.  It  was  then  taken  out  to 
make  room  for  others,  and  arranged  in  the  fantastic  fashion  familiar  to  those 
who  have  seen  the  Barberini  Chapel  at  Rome  or  the  far  finer  Cappuccini 
vaults  at  Palermo.  There  are  many  Cappuccini  monks  in  Sicily  still,  with 
rough,  brown,  hooded  gowns,  rope  girdles,  and  sandals  occasionally  replaced 
by  old  tennis-shoes.  Capuchins  are  a  branch  of  the  Franciscan  order. 

Carabinieri.  The  chief  of  the  three  kinds  of  police  in  Italy,  the  other  two 
being  the  Guardia  di  Questura  and  the  Polizia.  The  carabinien  are  the  finest 
men  in  the  kingdom,  chosen  for  their  strength  and  activity  and  courage,  the 
type  of  the  Romans  who  conquered  the  world,  as  may  be  seen  by  comparing  their 
strong  chins  and  set  faces  with  those  of  the  friezes  in  the  Lateran.  They  go 
about  in  pairs  dressed  something  like  the  French  gendarmes  with  long  blue 
cloaks  and  cocked  hats,  to  which  red  and  blue  plumes  are  added  on  Sundays, 
when  the  carabiniere  puts  on  his  gala  silver-laced,  silver-epauletted,  swallow- 
tailed  coat.  In  towns  they  are  armed  with  swords  and  revolvers,  m  the 
country  with  repeating  rifles  and  sword-bayonets  as  well  as  revolvers. 
Some  of  them  are  mounted.  They  always  go  about  in  pairs.  All  the  real 
work  falls  to  them.  It  is  they  who  patrol  lonely  districts,  hunt  brigands,  and 
arrest  criminals.  The  Cantoniere  or  municipal  guard  performs  the  peaceful 
avocations  of  a  policeman,  such  as  directing  carriage  traffic  and  answering 
questions.  The  Polizia,  who  are,  I  think,  confined  to  continental  Italy,  take 
notes  and  make  reports.  The  carabinieri  are  very  good  to  foreigners. 

Caratone.  The  English  Caratoon.  A  monster  cask,  anything  above  the 
size  of  a  puncheon.  The  Baglio  Ingham  at  Marsala  has  them  as  large  as 
small  rooms. 

Carcinus.    Father  of  Agathocles  (q.v.). 

Carini.  A  stat.  on  the  Palermo-Trapani  line.  It  has  a  beautiful  fifteenth  - 
and  sixteenth-century  castle— the  Castello  della  Grua— built  by  the  Chiara- 
monti,  and  medieval  gates  and  walls.  Carini  was  a_  Sicanian  town,  the 
ancient  Hyccara,  where  Lai's  was  born,  the  courtesan  painted  by  Apelles,  one 
of  the  most  beautiful  women  of  her  time.  She  was  captured  at  the  sack 
of  Hyccara  by  Nicias,  415  B.C.  (according  to  Gianotta),  his  solitary  achieve 
ment  in  Sicily.  Carini  was  again  sacked  by  the  Saracens  under  Ibrahim 
in  900  A.D.  Paolo  Gambino,  the  poet,  was  born  here.  Not  to  be  confused 
with  Acqua-Carini,  a  little  watering-place  popular  with  Palermitans,  near  it. 

(1)  Castello  della  Grua,  fifteenth  and  sixteenth  centuries.     Built  by  the 

Chiaramonti.     Medieval  gates  and  walls. 

(2)  Christian  catacombs  near  the  village  of  Graziavecchia. 

(3)  Antique  tombs  at  Piano  della  Foresta. 

Carlentini.  By  mail-vettura  from  Lentini  stat.,  Catania  -  Syracuse  line, 
3^  hours.  Built  by  the  Viceroy  Giovanni  Vega,  1551,  because  the  malaria  was 
so  bad  at  Lentini.  Named  in  honour  of  Charles  V.  There  are  the  remains 
of  an  ancient  fortress  on  the  hills  above  Lentini. 

Carlino.   A  Neapolitan  coin  used  in  Bourbon  times. 

Carlo  Quinto.  The  Emperor  of  Germany  ruled  Sicily,  as  heir  of  Ferdinand 
the  Catholic,  from  1516  to  1554.  He  took  great  interest  in  Sicily,  which  he 
visited,  but  unfortunately  his  activity  chiefly  took  the  shape  of  building  moles 
and  fortresses  out  of  the  priceless  monuments  of  antiquity.  At  Syracuse  he 
pulled  down  the  amphitheatre  to  build  the  fortress  which  has  lately  been 
removed  for  an  avenue  of  tenement  houses,  jerry-built.  At  Girgenti  he  used 


THINGS   SICILIAN  I3S 

the  Temple  of  Jupiter  for  building  the  mole  of  Porto  Empedocle.     He  is  the 
Thomas  Cromwell  of  Sicily.     Almost  any  act  of  vandalism  upon  the 
monuments  may  be  traced  to  Charles  V. 
S.  Carlo  is  the  present  terminus  of  the  Corleone  line. 


VIEW  OF  THE  CASTELLO  AGRISTIA  ABOVE  S.   CARLO 

Carob,  or  Caruba  (Ceratonia  siliqud}.  One  of  the  most  beautiful  of  trees. 
Its  glorious  dark  foliage  makes  an  almost  perfect  hive  in  shape,  and  in  spring 
its  pretty  round  leaves  are  pink  and  brown  when  they  come  out.  It  has  a 
double  value.  Its  beans,  the  locust-beans  of  commerce,  said  to  have  been  the 
locusts  that  John  the  Baptist  ate— though,  since  Kimberley  was  saved  from 
starvation  by  a  flight  of  locusts  in  the  South  African  War,  that  roundabout 
explanation  seems  no  longer  necessary — are  a  most  valuable  fodder,  and  in 
time  of  drought  the  stock  thrive  on  its  leaves.  The  south  of  Sicily  from 
Cassibile  to  Modica  is  thickly  planted  with  carobs.  There  is  a  noble  carob 
growing  out  of  the  ruins  of  the  Olympeium  at  Girgenti. 


136        SICILY   THE   NEW  WINTER   RESORT 

Carretto.  The 'two-wheeled  cart  of  Sicily,  which  fits  exactly  into  the  ancient 
chariot-ruts.  Though  only  about  five  feet  by  four,  I  have  seen  one  with 
thirteen  people  in  it,  and  another  with  a  hundred  chairs  piled  on  it  drawn  by 
one  donkey.  For  the  elaborated  ironwork  and  painting  on  these  carts,  see 
Palermo,  Carts,  the  name  by  which  foreigners  know  them. 

Carro  is  generally  a  mere  trolley  on  truck- wheels  a  couple  of  yards  long,  half 
a  yard  wide,  half  a  yard  high,  also  drawn  by  one  ass.  Used  for  heavy  weights. 

Carthaginians.  The  Carthaginians,  who  for  250  years  contested  the 
possession  of  Sicily,  founded  hardly  any  towns  except  Drepanum  and  Lily- 
boeum,  the  modern  Trapani  and  Marsala.  The  Motya  near  Marsala  (S.  Pan- 
taleo),  Panormus  (Palermo),  Solous  (Solunto),  and  Modica,  the  Motya  near 
Pachynum  of  Pausanias,  were  founded  by  the  Phoenicians ;  and  other  cities, 
like  Eryx,  by  the  earlier  races.  At  one  period  they  were  masters  of  every 
Greek  town  in  the  island  except  Syracuse.  Like  the  Romans,  they  left  cities 
long  subject  to  them,  like  Acragas  (Girgenti),  Greek  in  all  but  government. 
The  principal  dates  in  the  Carthaginian  contest  for  Sicily  were  :  480  B.C.,  the 
day  of  Himera,  the  armies  of  Syracuse  and  Acragas  under  Gelo  annihilated 
the  gigantic  host  of  Hamilcar,  the  father  of  Gisco ;  409  B.C.,  Hannibal,  the 
son  of  Gisco,  revenged  his  grandfather  by  the  destruction  of  Selinus  and 
Himera;  in  406  B.C.,  the  expedition  was  begun  in  which  were  destroyed 
Acragas  and  all  the  Greek  cities  in  the  island  except  Syracuse,  where  the 
Carthaginian  army  was  destroyed  by  fever  and  compelled  to  make  terms  ; 
397  B.C.,  Dionysius  captured  Motya,  the  Carthaginian  headquarters,  by 
storm  ;  339  B.C.,  Timoleon  routed  their  army  at  the  Crimesus  ;  310-307  B.C., 
Agathocles  besieged  Carthage;  264-241,  the  first  Punic  War;  247-244  B.C., 
Hamilcar,  the  father  of  Hannibal,  held  Ercta,  the  town  on  Monte  Pelle- 
grino,  against  the  Romans  in  Panormus;  241  B.C.,  the  Romans  destroyed 
their  fleet  in  the  yEgatian  Islands,  which  finished  the  war.  They  had  no  real 
power  in  Sicily  after  this.  Beyond  coins  copied  from  the  Greek  and  curious 
vitreous  beads,  a  few  architectural  remains  at  Motya,  Marsala,  Eryx,  Palermo 
(Via  Candelai),  and  Solunto  (gold  jewellery)  and  the  necropolis  at  Birgi, 
there  are  hardly  any  Phoenician  or  Carthaginian  remains  in  Sicily,  though  rich 
results  may  be  expected  from  the  ruins  of  Motya,  on  the  island  of  S.  Pantaleo, 
which  belongs  to  Mr.  J.  J.  S.  Whitaker,  who  will  excavate  when  the 
Government  secure  him  in  possession  of  the  objects  discovered  and  from 
interference  with  the  work. 

Casa  dei  Viaggiatori.  A  house  built  in  the  ancient  Greek  style.  See 
Syracuse. 

Casks.  For  the  various  kinds  of  casks  in  use  in  Sicilian  wine-trade  see 
Marsala  and  Car  at  one,  Bottaci,  Botti  grandi  Botti  usuali,  mezzi  botti, 
quartoroK,  off  am,  trentini.  The  trentino,  containing  5!  gallons,  is  the  funny 
lean  cask  which  one  sees  used  by  water-carriers  slung  on  mules  and  bringing 
in  the  farmer's  new  wine  to  the  bagli  at  Marsala.  It  is  so  called  because 
it  holds  thirty  qiiarlucci.  There  are  also  ventini  and  quarantini,  but  not 
so  much  used.  The  trentino  is  the  cask  of  the  country. 

Casina,  or  Villino.  The  Sicilian  term  corresponding  to  our  word  villa, 
meaning  a  suburban  house.  In  Sicily  villa  means  a  garden,  which  often  has 
no  house. 

Casmenae.  A  Sikel  town,  colonised  by  Syracuse  in  644 ;  now  Spacca- 
forno.  Giannotta  thinks  it  was  near  Comiso.  Rosolini  and  S.  Croce  also 
claim  to  be  the  site.  They  all  of  them  have  ruins  which  would  do  for  Cas- 
menze.  When  the  Gamori  were  expelled  from  Syracuse  in  486  they  took  refuge 
here,  but  they  were  restored  by  Gelo  a  year  later. 


THINGS   SICILIAN  137 

Casr  Janni.    The  Saracen  name  for  Castrogiovanni  (q.v.). 

Casr.  An  Arabic  corruption  of  Castrum,  meaning  a  castle.  The  Royal 
Palace  of  Palermo  was  called  the  Casr  in  Arabic  times,  and  the  Corso 
of  Palermo  ^was  therefore  formerly  known  as  the  Cassaro,  as  the  main  street 
of  Marsala  is  to  this  day.  It  enters  into  many  Saracenic-Sicilian  names. 

Cassibile.  A  stat.  on  the  Syracuse-Licata  line.  The  river  Cassibile  is  the 
Cacyparis  of  the  ancients,  on  whose  banks  Demosthenes  and  6,000 
Athenians  surrendered.  There  is  also  a  medieval  castle  here,  and  on  Monte 
Cassibile  a  fine  prehistoric  necropolis. 


THE  RECONSTRUCTION   OF  A  GREEK  HOUSE — THE  CASA  DEI  VIAGGIATORI 
AT  THE  CASTLE  OF  EURYALUS,   SYRACUSE 


Castellaccio  is  the  name  of  the  castle  of  Monreale  which  crowns  the  hill 
above  the  cathedral. 

Castellaccio,  Monte.  See  Cerda.  Famous  for  its  "Pelasgic"  necropolis, 
with  a  megalithic  wall  on  the  north-east. 

Castellammare  del  Golfo.  The  ancient  port  of  Segesta,  and  still  the 
nearest  point  for  visiting  Segesta,  though  the  Alcamo-Calatafimi  Stat.  is  more 
convenient.  The  direct  line  from  Palermo  to  Trapani  will  proceed  from  here. 
The  baths  of  Segesta  are  passed  on  the  road  j  they  are  valuable  for  skin 
diseases.  There  is  a  Saracenic  castle  here  and  a  fortress  on  a  rock  washed  by 
the  sea,  which  contains  a  vast  baronial  palace. 

Castellammare.  See  Palermo.  The  harbour-fortress  dismantled  by  the 
Garibaldians. 


138        SICILY  THE   NEW  WINTER  RESORT 

Castelbuono.  Founded  by  a  count  of  Geraci  in  1269,  but  there  has  been 
a  prince  of  that  name  since  1095.  Here,  since  1454,  is  preserved  the  head  of  its 
patron,  S.  Anna,  the  mother  of  the  Virgin  Mary.  Two  and  a  half  hours  from 
its  stat.  near  Cefalu  on  the  Palermo-Messina  line.  Has  interesting  remains 
of  an  antique  feudal  castle.  In  the  mountains  above  is  the  ancient  monastery 
of  S.  Maria  del  Parto,  where  the  body  of  S.  William  is  preserved.  Mail- 
vetture  from  the  stat.  to  Geraci-Siculo,  y|  hours;  Bivio-Geraci,  8£  hours; 
Gangi,  9i  hours ;  Petralia-Soprana,  9j  hours ;  Petralia-Sottana,  I o  hours. 


CASTELBUONO  I    THE  CASTLE 


Casteltermini.  A  great  sulphur  centre.  Niccolo  Cacciatore,  the  astrono 
mer,  was  born  here.  One  and  a  half  hours  by  mail-vettura  from  Acquaviva- 
Platani  Stat. 

Castelvetrano.  One  of  the  chief  towns  of  Sicily.  A  stat.  on  Palermo- 
Trapani  line.  The  place  from  which  Selinunte  is  visited.  Formerly  called 
Castello  Entellino.  Probably  gets  its  name  from  * '  a  post  of  veterans  "  from 
the  Roman  city,  whose  remains  still  exist  in  the  neighbourhood.  It  has  a 
hotel,  the  Bixio,  called  after  the  famous  Garibaldian.  Possible  for  foreigners, 
who  can  procure  coupons  for  hotel  expenses  from  Mr.  H.  von  Pernull,  Corso, 
Palermo,  Cook's  correspondent  in  Sicily.  It  is  a  rich  city,  50,000  inhabitants, 
the  centre  of  a  most  fertile  district.  The  traveller  should  visit — 

(1)  The  Selinuntine  aqueduct  at  Bigini. 

(2)  The  picturesque  convents. 

(3)  The  churches  of  S.  Domenico,  with  stucco  reliefs  of  Antonino  Ferraro. 

S.  Giovanni  Battista,  containing  a  Gagini. 
Chiesa  Maggiore,  sixteenth  century. 

(4)  The  ancient  Gothic  palace. 

(5)  The  Selinuntine  Museum. 

(6)  The  remarkable  new  theatre,  in  the  antique  style. 

There  is  a  splendid  medieval  castle  in  the  neighbourhood.  Selinunte  is 
reached  by  carriage  (6  miles).  See  Selimmte. 


THINGS   SICILIAN  139 

Castiglione.  A  stat.  on  the  Circum-^Etnean  railway.  This  ancient  city 
on  the  slopes  of  Etna  presents  one  of  the  finest  views  in  Europe.  There  are 
two  medieval  castles  on  the  edges  of  precipices.  As  fine  a  coup  &&il  as 
Durham. 

Castor  and  Pollux  (Castore  e  Polluce).  Very  popular  gods  in  Sicily, 
where  they  were  doubtless  introduced  by  the  exiled  Messenians  from  the 
Peloponnesus  under  their  Greek  names,  for  they  called  the  city  founded  to 
receive  them,  after  Tyndarus,  the  father  of  Castor  and  Pollux  and  Helen  of 
Troy,  though  their  mother,  Leda,  is  also  said  to  have  borne  them  to  Zeus. 

Castor-oil  plant.  Grows  finely  in  Sicilian  gardens.  It  has  run  wild  near 
Syracuse. 

CastrogiovannL     See  below,  page  3 1 5. 


CAST'ELBUONO  *.    THE  TORRENT 


Castronuovo.  Stat.  on  Girgenti-Roccapalumba  line.  The  town,  5  kils. 
from  the  stat.,  has  many  ruins  of  castles  and  other  edifices.  It  was  rebuilt 
on  two  high  rocks  by  Roger.  There  are  remains  of  very  ancient  habit 
ations  round  it,  including  a  "Pelasgian"  wall.  A  fine  yellow  marble  is 
found  here.  The  city  stands  on  Monte  Cassaro.  Here,  August  igth,  1302, 
was  made  the  treaty  between  the  Aragonese  and  Angevins,  which  ended  the 
•war  of  the  Sicilian  Vespers. 

Castroreale-Novara-Furnari.  A  stat.  of  the  Messina- Paler  mo  line. 
Mail-vettura  to  Furnari  (town),  40  minutes  ;  S.  Biagio,  3^  hours  ;  Bascio, 
5|  hours ;  Montalbano-Elicona,  7  hours ;  Mazzara-Sant-Andrea,  I  hour ; 
Novara-di-Sicilia,  3^  hours.  The  town  of  Castroreale  is  connected  by  a  fine 
road,  ii  kils.  long,  with  the  sea  at  Barcellona.  Very  interesting  to  the 
geologist,  from  the  shells,  madrepores,  and  fish  petrified  in  its  rocks.  It 
stands  in  the  Neptunian  Hills.  Its  origin  is  essentially  medieval,  its  walls 
and  castle  having  been  built  by  Frederick  II.  of  Aragon,  who  gave  it  its 
charter  in  1324.  It  stands  on  the  territory  of  the  ancient  Criziaa  or  Cristina, 


140        SICILY  THE   NEW   WINTER   RESORT 

and  was  capital  of  a  very  extensive  district  which  includes  places  so  far 
distant  as  Taormina,  Savoca,  Francavilla,  and  Barcellona.  In  the  church  of 
S.  Marina  is  an  ancient  triptych  of  the  Magi ;  in  SS.  Annunziata  is  a  Virgin 
sitting,  by  Gagini. 

Castroreale-  Bagni,  or  Termini  Castroreale.  Has  a  bathing  establish 
ment  with  hot  sulphur  springs,  over  32  centig.,  in  repute  since  ancient  times. 
There  is  also  an  iron  spring  in  favour  with  the  ansemic,  bottled  as  Acqua 
di  Castroreale. 

Castrum-Johannis.     See  Castrogiovanni. 

Casuarina,  or  she-oak.  An  Australian  tree  with  weeping  foliage,  grown 
in  the  Sicilian  public  gardens. 

Catacombs.  Sicily  abounds  in  catacombs.  Those  of  S.  Giovanni,  etc., 
at  Syracuse  (q.v. )  are  among  the  best  in  the  world,  superior  to  any  at  Rome 
in  all  points  except  that  they  have  fewer  emblems,  frescoes,  and  inscriptions. 
They  are  of  immense  extent  in  a  straight  line,  and  have  other  streets 
branching  off  them.  In  places  there  is  a  second  and  a  third  street  of  tombs 
underneath  them.  There  are  other  extensive  catacombs  at  Syracuse.  At 
Marsala  there  is  an  underground  city  of  great  size,  but  partly  constructed  for 
habitation  as  well  as  for  burial  purposes,  because  the  city  was  peculiarly  open 
to  descents  of  the  Saracens.  At  Syracuse  also  people  used  to  live  in  the 
catacombs.  At  Girgenti  there  is  a  catacomb  extending  from  the  city  to  the 
temples,  but  this  may  have  been  a  military  work.  At  Palermo  there  are 
many  catacombs,  but  nearly  all  closed  by  the  authorities,  except  that  contain 
ing  the  Cappuccini  mummies  outside  the  city.  See  Syracuse,  S.  Giovanni, 
and  under  various  cities.  See  also  the  famous  galleries  of  tombs  at  Palazzolo 
and  in  the  Val  d'Ispica. 

Catafalque.  (Ital.  catafaho,  a  scaffold).  A  temporary  canopy  placed 
over  the  coffin  of  a  distinguished  person,  and  over  the  sepolcri  or  Gardens  of 
Gethsemane  which  they  prepare  in  Sicilian  churches  on  Holy  Thursday. 

S.  Cataldo.  Stat.  S.  Caterina  Xirbi-Girgenti  line.  The  town  3  kil.  from 
the  stat.  Founded  1600. 

Catania.     See  below,  page  325.    • 

••Catania,  Plain  of.  Largest  plain  in  the  island.  Very  rich  but  very 
malarious.  Hardly  a  house  on  it.  The  labourers  live  in  the  hill-cities  above 
it,  and  ride  to  and  from  their  work  on  mules. 

Caterer-cooks.  Well-off  people  in  Sicily  often  make  a  contract  with 
their  cook.  One  form  of  the  contract  is  to  pay  him  so  much  per  head  per 
course.  It  is  so  hard  to  keep  a  check  on  one's  servants  and  stores. 

Catenanuova-Centuripe.  Stat.  on  Catania- Paler  mo  line.  Catenanuova 
is  a  village  founded  in  1650  by  the  family  of  the  present  prince.  Mail-vettura 
to  Centuripe,  3  hours  20  minutes ;  Regalbuto,  3  hours  ;  Agira,  3  hours  ; 
Nissoria,  4j  hours  ;  Leonforte,  5J  hours.  See  Centuripe. 

S.  Caterina-Xirbi.  Important  railway  junction  between  Palermo, 
Catania,  and  Girgenti.  Mail-coach  to  S.  Caterina-Villarmosa,  2  hours, 
which  gives  it  its  name. 

Cathedrals.  Sicily  has  always  been  extremely  well-off  for  cardinals, 
archbishops,  and  bishops,  and  has  a  few  notable  cathedrals,  such  as  those  of 
Palermo  and  Monreale,  only  a  few  miles  apart,  Cefalu,  Messina,  and  Syra 
cuse,  all  of  them  containing  noble  antiquities.  Catania  is  less  interesting. 
There  are  also  cathedrals  at  Girgenti,  Mazzara,  etc.,  and  the  Royal  Chapel  at 
Palermo,  which  is  more  beautiful  than  any  of  them. 


THINGS   SICILIAN 


141 

See  Palermo 


Cattolica,  Prince,  one  of  the  most  important  Sicilian  nobles, 
and  Bagheria. 

Cattolica- Eraclea.  Nine  and  a  half  hours  by  coach  from  Girgenti  (five 
miles  from  the  ruins  of  Eraclea-Minoa  and  the  Sicilian  city  of  Mecara,  q.v.). 
Built  in  1642  by  Prince  Cattolica. 


PRINCIPAL  DOOR  OF  THE  CATHEDRAL  AT  MESSINA 

Catulus,  C.  Lucatius.  The  Roman  Consul  who  ended  the  first  Punic 
War  by  routing  the  Carthaginian  fleet  at  the  Battle  of  the  ./Egatian  Islands, 
B.C.  241. 

Cava  cTIspica.  See  under  Ispica,  the  most  famous  valley  of  troglodyte 
dwellings  and  tombs  in  Sicily.  It  stretches  most  of  the  way  from  Modica  to 
Spaccaforno. 

Cavallari,  Professor.  An  eminent  Italian  antiquary  who  discovered  the 
temple  with  the  propylaea  at  Selinunte  and  restored  the  temple  of  Castor  and , 
Pollux  at  Girgenti. 


i42        SICILY  THE   NEW  WINTER   RESORT 

Cavea.    The  auditorium  of  a  Roman  theatre. 

Caverns.  Sicily  is  a  mass  of  caverns.  It  is  nearly  all  rocky  and  nearly  all 
hollow  underground.  It  is  consequently  full  of  cave-sepulchres,  catacombs, 
and  subterranean  chambers. 

Cave-dwellers.  The  poor  often  live  in  the  tombs  and  other  caves,  especi 
ally  at  Syracuse  (q.v.). 

Cefala-Diana.  Stat.  on  the  Corleone  railway  with  Arab  baths.  Named 
from  Niccolo  Diana,  who  bought  it  in  1620. 

Cefalu.  The  ancient  Cephalcedium.  A  city  on  the  north  coast,  40  miles 
from  Palermo.  Its  cathedral  and  mosaics  are  among  the  most  famous  in 
Sicily,  and  its  prehistoric  house  is  unequalled.  See  page  332. 

Cefalu.    Sicilian  form  of  Italian  Cefalo,  a  kind  of  fish— mullet  or  gurnet. 

Celandine.  The  lesser  celandine,  the  first  conspicuous  flower  of  the  Eng 
lish  spring,  is  common  in  Sicily,  where  its  shield-shaped  leaves  are  very  con 
fusing  when  you  are  hunting  for  wild  cyclamens.  They  so  often  grow 
together. 

Cell,  Professor,  director  of  the  Museum  at  Girgenti,  well  known  as  an 
antiquary  in  Sicily. 

Cella.  The  central  or  walled-in  part  of  an  antique  temple.  Called  by  the 
Greeks  Naos.  The  church  of  S.  Pancrazio  of  Taormina,  and  church  of  S. 
Biagio  at  Girgenti  were  each  the  cella  of  an  ancient  temple.  See  Syracuse, 
cathedral.  Girgenti,  Temple  of  Concordia. 

Centigrade.  To  turn  Cent,  to  Fahr.  double  the  Cent,  number ;  subtract 
one-tenth  of  itself,  and  add  32.  To  change  Fahr.  to  Cent.,  subtract  32  ; 
increase  the  remainder  by  one-ninth  of  itself,  and  take  the  half.  Nine  degrees 
Fahr.  equal  5  degrees  Cent. 

Celsus.  Born  at  Centuripa,  in  Sicily;  the  most  celebrated  Roman  physician ; 
flourished  about  50  A.D.,  and  wrote  on  rhetoric,  history,  philosophy,  the  art 
of  war  and  agriculture,  as  well  as  medicine.  His  great  De  Medicina  still 
survives  and  gives  us  the  teaching  of  the  Alexandrian  School  of  Medicine. 
(Chambers. ) 

Centuripe.  The  ancient  Centuripa,  called  until  recently  Centorbi.  Three 
hours  twenty  minutes  by  mail-vettura  from  the  Catena-NuOva  Stat. ,  Catania- 
Palermo  line ;  the  first  purely  Sikel  town  which  lasted  to  Roman  times. 
One  of  the  largest  and  richest  Roman  towns  in  Sicily. 

Centuripa  was  plundered  by  Verres ;  destroyed  by  the  Emperor  Frederick  II. 
in  1242  :  restored  by  Francesco  Moncada,  Count  of  Adern6.  According  to 
Murray,  it  has  the  remains  of  an  ancient  bath  with  five  large  chambers  north 
of  the  town ;  the  Chiesa  Matrice  has  broken  Roman  columns ;  S.  M. 
Maddalena  has  fragments  of  a  Roman  cistern,  mosaic  pavement,  etc.;  there 
are  remains  of  a  small  Roman  temple  in  the  Palazzo  di  Corrado  ;  the  Dogana, 
a  Roman  vaulted  building  ;  and  tombs,  in  which  have  been  found  many  terra 
cottas,  bronzes,  and  coins. 

There  is  an  ancient  tower  called  the  Corradino,  probably  in  memory  of 
Corrado  Capizzi,  who  maintained  himself  here  a  long  time  against  the 
Angevins.  Freeman  considers  its  situation  as  fine  as  that  of  Castrogiovanni. 
Each  street  stands  on  a  lofty  ridge  which  join  in  the  centre  of  the  town. 
There  are  two  tall  peaks.  You  can  see  the  valley  of  the  Simeto,  and  the 
whole  mass  of  Etna,  and  the  ancient  cities  of  Agira,  Troina,  etc.  ' '  Remains 
of  walls  and  buildings  of  respectable  antiquity  lie  thick  on  the  hillsides,  and 
in  some  places  reach  to  the  hill-tops  of  Centuripa,  witnessing  to  a  former 


THINGS   SICILIAN  143 

extent  of  the  city,  within  which  it  has  greatly  shrunk  up,  and  to  a  measure  of 
architectural  grandeur  to  which  the  present  town  can  certainly  lay  no  claim. 
The  masonry  of  Imperial  times,  with  its  heavy  wide-jointed  bricks,  is  there 
in  abundance  ;  fragments  of  stately  columns  lie  in  the  front  of  the  head 
church ;  there  is  much  to  remind  us  of  the  Centuripa,  whose  wrongs  were  set 
forth  by  Cicero,  little  or  nothing  to  remind  us  of  the  city  which  became  the 
ally  of  Nikias  and  Lamachos.  It  is  disappointing,  amid  such  a  mass  of  later 
fragments,  to  find  nothing  which  we  are  tempted  to  refer  to  the  days  even  of 
the  Hellenised  Sikel"  (Freeman,  History  of  Sicily}. 

The  beautiful  bronze  Roman  coins  of  Centuripa  have  the  head  of  Proser 
pine  on  one  side,  and  a  leopard  or  a  plough  with  a  bird  sitting  on  it  on  the 
other.  The  people  of  Centuripa  were  allowed  the  unusual  privilege  under  the 
Romans  of  holding  land  in  any  part  of  Sicily  :  which  gave  them  great  wealth. 
Nearly  all  Lentini  belonged  to  them. 

Cerami.  Founded  by  the  Greeks  before  the  Saracen  dominion.  Mail- 
vettura  4  hours  from  Nicosia,  which  itself  is  6  hours'  drive  from  Leonforte 
Stat,  Catania- Palermo  line. 

Cerami,  Battle  of,  in  which  Roger  the  Great  Count  defeated  the  Saracens 
in  1064.  "  In  the  field  of  Ceramio,  fifty  thousand  horse  and  foot  were  over 
thrown  by  one  hundred  and  thirty-six  Christian  soldiers,  without  reckoning 
St.  George,  who  fought  on  horseback  in  the  foremost  ranks."  The  captive 
banners,  with  four  camels,  were  reserved  for  the  successor  of  St.  Peter  ;  and 
had  these  barbaric  spoils  been  exposed,  not  in  the  Vatican,  but  in  the  Capitol, 
they  might  have  revived  the  memory  of  the  Punic  triumphs"  (Gibbon's 
Decline  and  Fall  of  the  Roman  Empire,  chap.  Ivi.}. 

Ceretanum.  See  Giarratana.  It  has  very  important  remains  of  temples, 
sepulchres,  a  bath,  etc. 

Cerda.  Stat.,  Palermo-Catania  line.  Mail-vettura  to  Cerda  (town), 
li  hours  ;  La  Petra,  3f  hours;  Caltavuturo,  5J  hours  ;  Donaleggi,  8£  hours  ; 
Castellana,  9^  hours;  Petralia-Sottana,  lo£  hours;  Petralia-Soprana, 
nj  hours  ;  Gangi,  14  hours.  Forty  kil.  from  Polizzi  (q.v.).  Monte  Castel- 
laccio  with  its  "Pelasgic"  acropolis  and  megalithic  wall  is  only  3  kil. 
from  Cerda. 

Ceremonies.  There  are  many  interesting  ceremonies  in  Sicily,  such  as  the 
splendid  festas  and  processions  of  S.  Rosalia  at  Palermo;  S.  Agata  at 
Catania,  the  Good  Friday  procession  of  the  Pieta  at  Palermo  ;  the  Good 
Friday  procession  rather  similar  at  Randazzo  ;  the  Easter  Sunday  miracle  play 
at  Aderno  (preceded  by  a  procession  of  the  Pace) ;  the  procession  of  the 
Corpus  Domini  with  stendardi  or  Venetian  masts  at  Marsala.  See  under 
Gethsemane,  Gardens,  for  the  Gardens  of  Gethsemane  known  as  sepolcri, 
in  which,  especially  at  Palermo  on  Holy  Thursday,  the  Christs  are  taken  off 
the  crucifixes  and  laid  on  the  floor  in  a  garden  of  coloured  sand  and  pot-plants. 
See  also  under  Palermo.  There  are  carnivals  at  Syracuse,  Palermo,  etc. 
Funeral  processions  (at  funeral  services)  are  very  fine  on  account  of  the 
picturesque  dresses  of  the  Burial  Guilds.  The  Palm-Sunday  procession  is 
good  at  the  Royal  Chapel  at  Palermo.  See  under  Palm -Sunday.  The 
rending  of  the  Lenten  Veil  at  midday  on  Easter  Saturday  is  interesting,  The 
high  altar  is  kept  veiled  all  through  Lent  (q.v.).  On  Saturday  at  noon  at 
Palermo  the  archbishop  cuts  a  cord  and  lets  the  great  veil,  a  hundred  feet 
high,  come  down  with  a  rush,  while  the  bells  ring  out  and  the  people  cheer 
and  throw  up  their  hats.  The  Santo  Sudario,  or  Shroud  of  our  Lord,  is 
shown  on  the  Wednesday  in  Holy  Week  at  S.  Giuseppe.  The  poor  make  a 
great  feature  of  S,.  £jjjseppe's  Day,  March 


144        SICILY  THE   NEW  WINTER   RESORT 

Ceres  (Cerere— the  Greek  Demeter),  the  corn-goddess  and  her  daughter 
Proserpine,  are  the  two  most  popular  gods  of  Sicily.  They  were  probably 
Greek  deities  and  not  native  like  the  Dii  Palici,  though  Cicero  in  his  Verres 
says  that  the  Sicilians  believe  that  these  goddesses  were  born  in  these 
districts,  i.e.  in  the  fields  of  Enna,  and  that  corn  was  first  discovered  in  this 
land.  See  Proserpine.  The  people  of  Enna  could  only  be  converted  to 
Christianity  by  the  identification  of  Ceres  with  the  Virgin  Mary.  More  than 
one  antique  statue  of  Ceres  nursing  the  girl-child  still  exists  at  Castrogiovanni 
as  the  Virgin  carrying  the  Child  Jesus.  No  one  who  has  seen  these  statues 
of  Ceres  can  have  any  doubt  that  the  millions  of  representations  of  the  divine 
mother  carrying  the  Infant  Christ  are  an  adaptation  of  the  stereotyped  Ceres 
carrying  the  infant  Proserpine.  Her  temple  at  Enna  was  one  of  the  most 
famous  temples  of  the  antique  world.  She  had  also  important  temples  at 
Syracuse  and  Girgenti.  See  Proserpine  and  Enna. 

Cetrach.  The  cetrach  fern  or  scaly  spleenwort,  common  in  many  parts  of 
these  islands,  is  plentiful  in  Sicily.  Easily  recognised  by  its  notched,  fleshy 
leaves,  like  the  tail  of  a  crocodile. 

Chaereas  and  Callirrhoe,  the  Loves  of.  A  Greek  novel  which  claims  to 
have  been  written  by  Chariton  of  Aphrodisias,  secretary  of  Athenagoras, 
the  rival  of  Hermocrates  at  Syracuse,  whose  speech  is  given  in  Thucydides. 
Callirrhoe  was  the  daughter  of  Hermocrates,  sister-in-law  of  Dionysius  I., 
and  the  story  supposed  really  to  have  been  written  at  Alexandria  is  of  unique 
interest  as  giving  the  first  version  of  the  plot  used  in  Romeo  and  Juliet. 

Chalcidian  Colonies  in  Sicily— founded  by  Chalcis  in  Eubcea — Naxos  and 
Xancle  (afterwards  Messana). 

Chapels,  Mortuary.    See.Campo  Santo. 

Charcoal  is  the  principal  fuel  of  Sicily,  where  the  cooking  is  mostly  done 
in  tiled  stoves  with  little  holes  filled  with  the  red-hot  embers,  kept  glowing  by 
a  fan  of  wild  palm  leaves. 

Chariot-ruts.  The  Greeks  made  their  roads  by  levelling  the  surface  of  the 
rock.  In  the  course  of  ages  the  chariots  made  ruts  nearly  a  foot  deep,  which 
acted  like  tram-lines,  and  are  much  appreciated  by  the  carretti  of  to-day. 
There  are  numbers  of  them  round  Syracuse.  See  Greek  roads, 

Charity.  Organised  by  foreigners  at  Palermo  and  Taormina.  The  Sicilians 
always  give  to  beggars,  but  they  have  a  poorhouse  in  many  places  called  the 
Albergo  dei  Poveri.  See  Beggars  and  S.  Giuseppe. 

Charles  of  Anjou.  In  1266,  Charles  of  Anjou,  the  infamously  wicked 
brother  of  St.  Louis,  to  whom  the  Pope  had  coolly  presented  Manfred's 
kingdom  of  Sicily,  defeated  and  killed  Manfred  at  Benevento.  In  1282,  after 
sixteen  years  of  French  oppression,  the  Sicilians  rose  in  the  celebrated  rebel 
lion  of  the  Sicilian  Vespers.  Peter  of  Aragon  was  brought  forward  as  having 
married  Constance,  daughter  of  Manfred,  and  eventually  the  Aragonese  dis 
placed  the  Angevins.  Among  his  other  ill  deeds  Charles  went  to  Trapani 
when  the  heart  of  St.  Louis  was  being  brought  direct  to  Sicily  and  wrecked 
all  the  Crusaders'  ships  he  could  in  order  to  steal  their  treasure, 

Charles  III.,  King  of  Spain  1759-1788,  at  eighteen  conquered  the  Two 
Sicilies  from  the  Emperor.  He  devastated  ancient  buildings  for  fortresses  like 
the  Emperor  Charles  V.  See  Carlo  Quinto. 

Charms.   See  Amulets. 

Charondas.  A  lawgiver  of  Catana,  before  494  B.C.  See  under  Catania. 
His  code,  the  t(  laws  of  Charondas3"  was  accepted  in  the  Ionian  cities  of  Sicily. 


THINGS    SICILIAN  145 

Charybdis.  The  celebrated  whirlpool  in  the  Strait  of  Messina  (q.v.). 
According  to  Homer,  Charybdis  was  only  an  arrow's-shot  from  Scylla,  so 
that  from  getting  out  of  Scylla  you  went  into  Charybdis.  Homer  was  unaware 
that  Charybdis  was  a  rip  or  whirlpool  a  good  way  from  the  shore,  and  called 
it  "  the  other  cliff,  lying  lower,  hard  by  the  first3'  (Scylla).  "Thou  couldst 
send  an  arrow  across.  And  thereon  is  a  great  fig  tree  growing,  in  fullest  leaf, 
and  beneath  it  mighty  Charybdis  sucks  down  black  water,  for  thrice  a  day 
she  spouts  it  forth,  and  thrice  a  day  she  sucks  it  down  in  terrible  wise.  Never 
mayst  thou  be  there  when  she  sucks  the  water,  for  none  might  save  thee  then 
from  thy  bane,  not  even  the  Earth-shaker  !  But  take  heed  and  swiftly  drawing 
nigh  to  Scylla's  rock  drive  the  ship  past,  since  of  a  truth  it  is  far  better  to 
mourn  six  of  thy  company  in  the  ship  than  all  in  the  selfsame  hour  "  (Lang's 
translation  of  the  Odyssey}. 

Cheese.  Sicily  has  been  famous  since  the  earliest  time  for  its  cheeses. 
Many  kinds  are  made,  the  most  noticeable  being  a  goat's-milk  cheese,  some 
thing  like  Port  du  Salut,  made  at  Syracuse,  mostly  in  tombs,  and  a  goat's-milk 
or  cream  cheese  as  white  as  Devonshire  cream  sold  in  delightful  little  pottles 
of  green  rushes.  Freeman,  vol.  ii.  p.  399,  says  :  "  Even  Athens,  through  the 
mouth  of^  her  comic  poets,  could  acknowledge  the  skill  of  her  Sicilian  enemy 
in  providing  some  special  forms  of  good  cheer.  Hermippos,  in  mock  heroics, 
calls  on  the  Muses,  who  have  their  dwelling  on  Olympos,  to  celebrate,  among 
the  choicest  things  of  every  corner  of  the  globe,  the  cheese  and  the  swine  of 
Syracuse.  Philemon,  in  a  later  day,  sang  also  of  the  cheese  of  Sicily,  along 
with  its  varied  garments,  and  with  its  doves — those,  perhaps,  of  Eryx.  In  an 
intermediate  age  of  Attic  comedy,  it  was  a  Sicilian  cheese  for  the  purloining 
of  which  the  thievish  dog  was  arraigned  before  the  Aristophanic  tribunal. 
Sicily  itself— the  triangle  having  become  a  square— appears  in  the  same  play 
as  the  mortar  in  which  its  own  cheese  and  other  dainties  were  to  be  brayed 
together."  There  is  much  reference  to  cheese  in  Theocritus. 

Chemists'  shops.  The  Farmacia  is  a  great  institution  in  Sicily,  In 
country  towns  it  is  a  kind  of  club  for  the  priests  and  other  well-off  people. 
Only  the  largest  towns  have  chemists  up  to  our  ideas,  and  foreign  patent 
medicines  are  difficult  to  procure  elsewhere. 

Chersonesus,  the  Golden.  The  Sicilian  Golden  Chersonese  is  the  long 
sickle-shaped  promontory  of  Milazzo  between  Messina  and  Tyndaris. 

Chestnuts.  There  are  chestnut  forests  in  the  mountains,  especially  on 
Etna. 

Chests.  The  magnificent  old  wooden  chests  one  sees  in  Sicily  were  some 
times  used  for  flour,  as  in  the  Castello  di  Maniace ;  but  more  often  used  by 
the  poor  as  wardrobes — a  sort  of  wedding-chests.  The  prizes  for  curio-hunters 
are  the  superb  ivory-covered  chests  carved  by  Saracen  workmen  in  Norman 
times  and  the  tortoise-shell  veneer  chests  of  baroque  times,  neither  of  them 
large. 

Cniarampnte  family.  The  greatest  family  in  medieval  Sicily  were  the 
Chiaramonti.  In  the  fourteenth  century  they  almost  succeeded  in  grasping 
the  crown  of  Sicily.  For  this  Andrea  Chiaramonte,  the  last  of  the  race,  was 
beheaded  by  Martin  of  Aragon  in  front  of  his  principal  palace,  which  stands 
on  the  Piazza  Marina  at  Palermo  (q.v.),  which  contains  the  roof  that  rivals 
the  Bayeux  tapestry.  The  name  is  always  turning  up  in  Sicily.  In  his 
valuable  guide  to  Girgenti,  the  advocate  Picone  says  that  the  Chiaramonti  all 
sprang  from  Marchisia  Prefoglio,  an  heiress  of  Girgenti,  who  founded  the 
monastery  of  S.  Spirito  in  that  city  in  1290, 


146        SICILY  THE   NEW  WINTER   RESORT 

Chlaramonte  Buildings.  Besides  the  Chiaramonte  Palace  on  the  Piazza 
Marina  at  Palermo  (see  Palermo,  Dogana),  the  family  built  the  church  of 
S.  Antonio  Abate,  the  church  of  S.  Antonio  in  the  Via  Roma,  the  church 
of  S.  Agostino,  the  church  of  S.  Francesco  dei  Chiodari,  and  the  Torre  del 
Diavolo  at  Palermo,  the  Castello  La  Grua  at  Carini,  and  many  famous 
castles  in  the  country,  as  at  Chiaramonte  itself;  Misilmeri,  Siculiana, 
Gibellina,  Favara,  the  seminary  at  Girgenti,  a  church  at  S.  Stefano 
Quisquina.  The  public  garden  known  as  the  Villa  Giulia  at  Palermo,  occupies 
the  site  of  the  villa  of  the  Chiaramonte  Palace. 

Chiaramonte  Gulfi.  In  the  neighbourhood  of  the  ancient  Gulfi,  Has  a 
fine  feudal  castle  of  the  Chiaramonti,  and  takes  its  name  from  instead  of 
giving  its  name  to  the  family.  Reached  by  mail-vettura,  3  hours  from 
Ragusa  Superiore  on  Syracuse- Licata  line. 

Chiaristella.  Has  caves  where  some  of  the  prehistoric  objects  in  Palermo, 
given  by  the  Principe  di  Mir  to,  were  found. 

Chiesa  Matrice,  or  Maggiore.  The  proper  name  for  the  principal 
church  in  a  Sicilian  town  where  there  is  ~  no  cathedral,  but  Duomo  is 
constantly  used. 

Chimneys.  The  houses  in  Sicily  are  flat-roofed  like  Eastern  houses. 
Chimneys  are  a  modern  innovation.  There  are  none  in  old-fashioned  towns. 

Chiusa  Sclafani.  Mail-vettura,  5  hours  20  minutes  from  Corleone  Stat. 
on  the  Palermo-Corleone  line,  and  10  hours  from  Lercara  on  the  Girgenti- 
Roccapalumba  line.  Founded  in  1320  by  Matteo  Sclafani,  Count  of  Adern6 
and  Lord  of  Chiusa,  whence  its  name.  He  was  the  rival  of  the  Chiaramonti 
in  designs  upon  the  crown.  See  at  Palermo,  Sclafani  Palace. 

Cholera.  Sicily  has  been  scourged  by  cholera  from  time  to  time,  but  not 
recently,  owing  to  the  great  improvements  in  sanitation  and  water. 

Churchyards  in  Sicily,  Do  not  have  graves,  but  gardens  surrounded 
with  balustrades  and  decorated  with  figures  of  saints. 

Church  of  England — at  Palermo  is  in  the  Via  Stabile ;  at  Taormina,  at 
S.  Caterina ;  at  Messina  in  the  Via  Secondo  del  Grand  Priorato ;  there  are 
seamen's  rests  at  Palermo  and  Messina. 

Christ,  Mosaics  of.  The  three  vast  mosaic  Christs  at  Cefalu  (q.v.), 
Monreale  (q.v.),  and  the  Cappella  Reale  at  Palermo  (q.v.),  are  among  the 
chief  objects  in  art,  not  only  in  Sicily.  They  represent  a  middle-aged 
ascetic  with  a  dark  beard  thin  on  the  chin,  an  aquiline  nose,  and  a  face  very 
wide  between  its  strong  prominent  ears.  The  face  has  infinite  tenderness, 
but  is  the  face  of  a  man  of  boundless  energy,  the  founder  of  a  religion,  not 
the  meek  type  of  the  Christ  on  the  Ring  of  Tiberius.  It  represents  the 
tradition  preserved  from  apostolic  times  by  the  Calogeri,  the  mosaic-working 
hermits  of  Mount  Athos,  who  actually  constructed  the  mosaics  of  Cefalu.  It 
may  therefore  be  taken  to  be  the  real  Christ.  The  same  type  occurs  in  a 
mosaic  at  the  west  end  of  St.  Mark's,  Venice. 

Christian,  John.  The  first  Englishman,  a  Manxman,  buried  in  Sicily  (at 
the  Woodhouse  Mausoleum,  at  Marsala,  in  1793). 

Chroniclers.  Few  English  writers,  except  Prof.  Freeman  and  Mr.  Marion 
Crawford,  have  drawn  sufficiently  on  the  monkish  chroniclers,  such  as  the 
Chronicon  Siculum^  which  recapitulates  the  events  of  the  forty-seven  years 
during  which  the  Saracens  completed  the  conquest,  beginning  with  the  state 
ment  that  they  came  to  Sicily  in  the  middle  of  July,  827, 

"  Chronicon  Siculum."    See  preceding  par. 


THINGS   SICILIAN  147 

Chryselephantine.  Derived  from  two  Greek  words  meaning  gold  and 
ivory.  The  doors  of  the  temple,  which  is  now  the  cathedral  at  Syracuse 
(q.v.),  were  chryselephantine.  See  Cicero's  Verres.  The  most  famous 
chryselephantine  work  of  antiquity  was  the  statue  of  Athena  in  the  Parthenon 
at  Athens.  The  flesh  was  ivory,  the  clothes  were  gold. 

Ciacchia  di  Capaci.  From  caves  near  here  prehistoric  objects  were  found, 
which  are  in  the  Palermo  Museum. 

Cicero.  One  of  the  best  ancient  authorities  for  Sicily  is  Cicero,  especially 
in  his  oration  against  Verres,  his  De  Deorum  Natura,  and  his  Tusculan 
Disputations.  He  was  quaestor  at  Lilybseum,  B.C.  75,  and  went  to  Sicily  to 
collect  materials  for  the  indictment  of  Verres,  B.C.  70.  See  Syracuse,  Messina, 
Enna,  Segesta,  Verres,  etc.,  and  the  finding  of  the  Tomb  of  Archimedes. 

Ciminna.  By  mail-vettura,  3  hours  from  Baucina  Stat.  on  Palermo- 
Corleone  line.  Only  the  ruins  of  a  castle  at  its  highest  point. 
•  Cinisi-Terrasini.  A  stat.  on  the  Palermo-Trapani  line.  Both  towns  are 
2  kil.  from  the  stat,  and  are  unimportant.  The  former  lives  by  manna 
and  the  latter  by  fish.  Terrasini  is  Terrse  Sinus,  it  being  on  the  Gulf  of 
Castellammare. 

Cipollino.  The  marble  used  so  extensively  for  the  panels  below  the 
mosaics  in  the  Cappella  Reale,  Palermo,  Monreale,  etc.  It  is  white,  but 
veined  like  the  wild  onion,  from  which  it  derives  its  name.  It  is  used  mostly 
in  panels  about  six  feet  by  three,  surrounded  with  ribbons  of  mosaic. 

Circum-^tnean  Railway.  See  page  593.  To  go  by  this  line,  which 
runs  round  the  back  of  Etna  from  Catania  to  Giarre-Riposto,  is  like  taking  a 
drive,  at  first  between  the  most  glorious  wild  flowers,  and  afterwards  round 
the  shoulders  of  the  great  mountain.  One  passes  Aderno,  Paterno,  Bronte, 
Randazzo,  Maletto  (for  Maniace),  Castiglione,  etc.  (q.v.).  It  is  a  light 
railway,  and  more  like  a  steam  tramway.  See  also  Catania.  The  place  to 
stay  at  is  Randazzo  (Albergo  d'ltalia). 

Cistercian  Order,  The.  Was  founded  by  an  Englishman  named  Stephen 
Harding  at  Citeaux  in  Burgundy.  They  were  reformed  Benedictines,  and 
were  much  the  most  popular  order  in  England,  where  most  abbey  ruins  are 
Cistercian.  In  Sicily  their  influence  was  principally  at  Palermo,  on  account  of 
the  English' archbishop  Offamilia,  who  built  the  cathedral  and  the  Church  of 
the  Vespers,  which  is  itself  Cistercian. 

Cisterns,  bottle-shaped.  There  are  an  enormous  number  of  antique 
bottle-shaped  cisterns,  varying  from  six  to  twenty  feet  deep,  at  Girgenti,  and 
a  good  many  at  Cefalu  and  elsewhere.  They  can  best  be  understood  by 
seeing  those  which  have  been  cut  in  sections  by  the  railway  line  from  Girgenti 
to  Porto  Empedocle.  In  Roman  times  they  were  often  used  for  tombs.  The 
fine  catacomb  called  the  Grotta  di  Fragapane,  at  Girgenti,  was  developed  out 
of  one  of  them. 

Cistus.  The  beautiful  white  and  pink  cistus,  which  looks  something  like 
a  wild  rose,  is  not  so  common  in  Sicily  as  at  Capri,  but  it  grows  on  the 
mountain  at  Savoca,  etc. 

Cities.  All  Sicilians  live  in  cities,  and  they  call  anything  larger  than  a 
village  a  city.  Except  the  great  seaports  they  are  generally  on  the  tops  of 
hills,  partly  to  escape  malaria,  partly  to  escape  brigands  and  corsairs.  The 
poorest  people  ride  down  from  the  cities  to  their  work  on  mules  or  asses. 
The  animals  board  themselves  while  their  masters  work,  and  get  nothing  else 
to  eat. 


148        SICILY   THE   NEW  WINTER   RESORT 

Citric  acid.  Manufactured  in  large  quantities  from  lemons  in  Sicily — as 
the  smells  tell  you. 

Citron.     Like  other  citrous  fruits,  is  largely  grown  in  Sicily. 

City,  subterranean.     See  Marsala. 

Ciullo  d'Alcamo.  The  first  writer  to  use  the  Italian  language.  Born  at 
Palermo  towards 'the  close  cf  the  twelfth  century.  His  real  name  was 
Vincenzo.  In  Sicilian  "  Vinciuilo."  Only  one  canzone  proceeding  from  him 
is  believed  to  have  been  written  in  the  reign  of  the  Emperor  Frederick  II. 
Ginguene  doubts  if  it  ought  to  be  called  the  first  Italian  document,  it  is  so 
far  from  the  ordinary  language  and  so  near  the  Sicilian  ;  but  he  is  generally 
accepted.  His  poems  were  published  first  by  Allacci,  and  reprinted  by 
Crescimbeni  in  his  history,  Istoria  della  Volgar  Poesia.  See  Tiraboschi. 

Cleon.  A  Cilician  slave  of  Agrigentum  who  revolted  at  the  same  time  as 
Eunus.  At  the  head  of  an  army  of  5,000  armed  slaves  he  marched  to  join 
Eunus,  and  magnanimously  consented  to  serve  as  his  lieutenant.  At  the  end 
of  the  war,  when  Enna  was  on  the  eve  of  capture,  Cleon  sallied  out,  sword 
in  hand,  and  was  killed.  See  Eunus  and  Slave  War. 

Cloaks.  The  cappa  or  capote  (q.v.)  of  Sicily  is  a  great  institution.  It  is 
the  foreign  artist's  standby.  The  men  all  over  Sicily  wear  much  the  same 
cappa,  mostly  of  dark  blue  cloth,  reaching  below  the  knee,  with  a  hood  which 
they  use  freely  in  cold  or  wet.  In  most  places  it  is  a  rather  rough  cloth,  but 
sometimes,  as  at  Modica,  a  faced  cloth,  and  sometimes  black  instead  of  blue. 
At  Aderno,  where  people  wore  the  old  Greek  costume  till  1 794,  the  cloaks  are 
silver-buttoned  and  braided.  The  women  also  wear  cloaks  instead  of  shawls 
at  Modica,  where  they  are  made  of  dark-blue  faced  cloth,  and  at  Randazzo, 
where  at  festas  they  wear  cloaks  of  white  cloth.  The  women's  cloaks  are 
short,  only  coming  down  to  the  thighs.  A  woman  would  say  that  they  were 
half-length  at  Randazzo,  three-quarter  length  at  Modica. 

Cloisters.  In  a  country  so  full  of  churches  and  convents  there  are 
necessarily  innumerable  cloisters.  But  as  earthquakes  also  are  innumerable, 
only  a  certain  number  of  them  are  earlier  than  the  seventeenth  century.  The 
Arabo-Norman  cloister  at  Monreale  is  the  finest  in  Europe,  but  it  has  no  near 
rivals.  The  best  Norman  and  Gothic  cloisters  are  those  at  the  Eremiti  ;  S. 
Domenico,  the  Quaranta  Martiri,  the  Magione,  and  S.  Maria  di  Gesii  at 
Palermo ;  the  cathedral  at  Cefalii ;  S.  Maria  di  Gesu  at  Modica ;  and 
S.  Francesco  at  Messina.  There  are  some  beautiful  Renaissance  cloisters, 
such  as  S.  Caterina  and  S.  Domenico  at  Taormina,  and  the  two  cloisters  in 
the  museum  at  Palermo,  and  the  cloister  at  Randazzo,  which  is  a  post-office. 

Clubs.  All  the  great  Sicilian  cities  have  their  clubs,  and  some  have  Alpine 
clubs.  See  Palermo,  etc.  But  they  are  little  used  by  strangers. 

Cluverius.  Philip  Cluver,  the  prince  of  geographers,  was  born  at  Dantzig, 
1580.  He  published  his  "Universal  Geography"  in  1624,  and  his  Italia 
Antiqua  in  1624.  He  is  a  much  quoted  authority  on  Sicilian  topography. 
His  Sicilia  Antiqua  was  published  separately  at  Leyden,  1723. 

Coaches.  Sicily  has  an  elaborate  system  of  mail-vetture,  though  most  of 
them  would  hardly  be  called  coaches,  even  where  they  are  drawn  by  four 
or  five  mules  or  horses.  They  are  very  rough,  and  the  insides  are  unbearably 
stuffy,  and  many  of  them  are  hardly  bigger  than  cabs.  But  they  carry  the 
mail,  and  are  the  only  means  of  reaching  cities  like  Nicosia  unless  you 
charter  a  carriage. 

Coal.  Practically  only  used  by  foreigners  and  the  hotels  which  cater  for 
them.  Where  coal  is  spoken  of  as  being  produced  in  Sicily  by  foreigners' 
books  it  is  generally  a  mistranslation  for  charcoal. 


THINGS   SICILIAN  149 

Cocalus.  King  of  Camicus  (q.v.)  is  about  the  only  Sicanian  king  whose 
name  has  come  down  to  us. 

Cocchiere.    Coachman.     The  term  you  use  in  addressing  a  cabman. 

Coffee-pots.  Moorish.  In  Palermo  the  ordinary  coffee-pot  in  use  is  the 
copper  or  brass  one  of  a  pure  Moorish  shape,  which  is  thrust  into  the  ashes  to 
warm  it. 

Cognac.  Excellent  cognac  is  made  at  the  Baglio  Ingham  and  on  the 
Hon.  A.  N.  Hood's  Bronte  estate.  The  best  machinery  is  used,  and  the  best 
French  experts  are  employed.  Sicilian  cognac  is  rapidly  gaining  favour, 
being  notoriously  of  pure  grape  spirit. 

Corns.    Goethe  wrote  of  the  coins  of  Sicily  : — 

"What  a  satisfaction,  even  cursorily,  to  glance  at  the  fact  that  the  old 
world  was  sown  thickly  with  cities  ;  the  very  meanest  of  which  has  bequeathed 
to  us  in  its  precious  coins,  if  not  a  complete  series,  yet  at  least  some  epochs, 
of  its  history  of  art.  Out  of  these  cabinets  there  smiles  upon  us  an  eternal 
spring  of  the  blossoms  and  flowers  of  art — of  busy  life,  ennobled  with  high 
tastes,  and  of  much  more  besides.  Out  of  these  form-endowed  pieces  of 
metal  the  glory  of  the  Sicilian  cities,  now  obscured,  still  shines  forth  fresh 
before  us." 

The  coins  of  ancient  Sicily  have  never  been  equalled.  By  the  consensus  of 
all  experts  the  finest  coins  in  the  world  are  the  great  decadrachms  struck  by 
the  Syracusans  after  their  conquest  of  the  Athenians,  413  B.C.,  from  the  dies 
engraved  by  Euaenetus  and  Cimon.  They  bear  in  their  exergue,  a  kind  of 
predella  under  the  main  design,  representatons  of  arms  borne  by  the  Athenian 
hoplites,  showing  that  they  are  trophy  coins.  In  Sicily  they  are  called  the 
medallions,  i  medaglioni.  They  bear  on  one  side  a  glorious  high-relief  head  of 
Arethusa,  as  beautiful  as  anything  which  has  come  down  to  us  in  the  whole 
history  of  Greek  sculpture.  Eusenetus  and  Cimon  were  the  Phidias  and 
Praxiteles  of  Dorian  Greece.  On  the  other  side  they  show  a  galloping  four- 
horse  chariot.  It  is  a  curious  feature  of  the  great  Sicilian  coins  that  they  bear 
the  name  of  the  engraver.  We  can  be  even  more  certain  of  the  masterpieces 
of  Euoenetus  and  Cimon,  Eumenes,  Sosion,  and  Euclidas  than  of  the  works 
of  the  great  Attic  and  Rhodian  sculptors.  These  coins  are  mostly  of  silver. 
There  were  a  few  very  beautiful  small  coins  of  gold  and  of  the  compound 
half-gold,  half-silver,  pale  yellow  in  colour,  which  was  called  electrum.  There 
are  quantities  of  copper  coins,  some  of  them  quite  beautiful,  though  the  rust 
affects  their  outlines.  See  the  Coins  of  Syracuse,  Girgenti,  Agira,  Catania, 
and  other  principal  towns.  A  good  specimen  of  the  decadrachm  of  Eusenetus 
when  you  can  get  one  is  worth  ;£6o  in  Sicily.  The  Golden  Age  of  Sicilian 
coins  was  about  the  end  of  the  fifth  century  B.C.  But  there  were  revivals 
under  both  Agathocles  and  Hiero  II.  The  first  fine  coins  date  from  the 
reign  of  the  tyrant  Gelo,  whose  wife,  Damarete,  received  a  ransom  or  present 
from  the  conquered  Carthaginians,  which  was  coined  into  the  fine  pieces 
known  as  Damareteia ;  the  beautiful  archaic  head  is  supposed  to  be  a  Victory. 
See  Syracuse.  The  Phoenicians  showed  their  good  taste  by  imitating  the 
most  beautiful  of  the  Greek  coins.  The  Roman  coins  are,  as  a  rule,  quite 
inferior,  and  many  of  them  are  very  common ;  but  there  are  a  few  of  singular 
beauty,  including  a  Cupid  copied  by  Correggio  in  his  Danae  exactly,  and  the 
famous  Trinacria  copied  by  the  sculptor  Marabitti  a  hundred  years  ago,  when 
he  was  ordered  by  Maria  Carolina  to  find  a  coat-of-arms  for  Sicily,  from  a 
coin  of  Julius  Caesar,  which  was  in  its  turn  copied  from  a  drachma  of 
Agathocles  of  much  inferior  beauty. 

Coins  are  easy  to  collect  ia,Sicily.   They  are  always  being  dug  up  by  people 


ISO        SICILY  THE   NEW  WINTER   RESORT 

who  have  no  right  to  them  and  sell  them  for  their  value  in  silver.  Sometimes 
the  collector  escapes  the  middle  man  and  secures  immense  bargains.  Where 
a  long  price  is  asked  it  is  best  to  consult  the  director  of  a  museum,  a  courtesy 
never  refused  in  Sicily.  But  you  can  often  buy  coins  for  less  than  they  would 
cost  if  they  were  imitations.  See  under  Exergue,  Obversey  Reverse. 

Coinage.  The  present  coinage  of  Sicily  is,  of  course,  the  same  as  that  of 
Italy.  For  sums  over  two  francs  one  uses  Banca  d5 Italia  or  Banca  di  Sicilia 
notes.  Five-franc  pieces  of  any  country  are  current.  Lower  denominations 
are  refused.  No  franc  is  good  which  is  anterior  to  1863,  and  there  are  very 
few  good  Victor  Emmanuel  silver  coins  in  circulation  except  those  dated  1863 
and  1867.  Coins  bearing  the  present  King's  head  are  apt  to  be  false.  There 
are  lots  of  spurious  ones  about  which  the  foreigner  can  hardly  distinguish 
from  the  real.  The  20  centimes  nickel  pieces  are  constantly  bad,  but  they  are 
so  hard  to  distinguish  that  it  is  best  to  refuse  them  altogether. 

French  and  English  coins  are  sometimes  accepted.  In  the  remote  parts  the 
common  people  still  reckon  in  the  terms  of  the  Bourbon  coinage — onze,  tari, 
and  gram.  A  grano  is  worth  2  centesimi,  a  tari  42  centesimi,  an  onza  is 
12 '75  francs,  though  they  are  no  longer  current.  In  other  parts  sums  to  value 
of  a  franc  or  two  are  reckoned  in  soldi,  e*g,  28  soldi  or  I  franc  40  c. 

Colazione.  The  Sicilian  breakfast,  which  we  consider  lunch,  eaten  between 
11.30  and  12.30.  It  generally  consists  of  soup,  an  entree  of  macaroni, 
polenta,  or  what  not,  meat,  cheese,  and  fruit,  with  wine. 

Collesano.  Above  Cerda.  Two  and  a  half  hours  by  mail-vettura  from 
Campo-Felice.  Porphyry,  quartz,  jasper,  and  agate  found  here.  It  has  a 
sulphur  spring  and  a  church  tower  belonging  to  an  ancient  castle  of  1060. 
Near  Collesano  are  the  highest  peaks  of  the  Madonian  Mountains.  Monte 
S.  Salvatore,  6,255  feet;  Pizzo-Antenna,  6,470  feet.  Excursions  can  be 
made  to  the  Monte  Nebrodi  or  Caronian  Mountains. 

Above  Collesano  are  some  very  interesting  buildings,  which  Dr.  Orsi 
considers  to  be  Byzantine,  but  Comm.  Luigi  Mauceri  considers  to  be  pre 
historic  buildings  of  the  same  epoch  as  those  of  Cefalu. 


THINGS   SICILIAN  151 

Colli.  At  caves  here  prehistoric  objects  were  found,  now  in  the  Palermo 
Museum. 

Colonne,  Guido  delle,  and  Colonne,  Otto  delle,  were  two  fourteenth- 
century  Sicilian  poets  born  at  Messina;  among  the  earliest  writers  in  the 
vernacular. 

Column  and  Ball.  A  favourite  form  of  gambling  in  cheap  Sicilian 
gambling-houses. 

Columbara.   An  island  at  the  mouth  of  the  harbour  of  Trapani. 

Columns.  Sicily  is  full  of  antique  columns.  Some  are  left  in  sitit  in  the 
ruins  of  classical  buildings ;  others  carried  off  to  adorn  churches  or  private 
buildings.  The  Greek  columns  are  mostly  fluted.  Those  of  the  Olympeium 
at  Girgenti  are  so  vast  that  a  man  can  stand  in  one  of  the  grooves.  In  one 
Sicilian  temple  the  grooving  was  only  half  done  when  the  Carthaginians 
destroyed  the  city.  The  Greek  columns  are  mostly  made  of  the  local  stone, 
which  turns  a  beautiful  gold  colour.  The  Roman  are  of  granite  as  in  the 
cathedral  of  Messina,  or  precious  marble  as  in  the  Cappella  Reale  at  Palermo. 

Comacine.  The  name  applied  to  the  bands  of  Lombard  workmen  who, 
originating  at  Como,  wandered  all  over  Europe.  A  characteristic  feature 
in  their  work  was  the  introduction  of  lions  as  the  basis  of  door-columns,  as  in 
the  cathedral  of  Messina  or  S.  Maria  dei  Miracoli  at  Syracuse. 

Comiso.  A  stat.  on  the  Syracuse-Licata  line.  Some  people  place  the 
ancient  Casmenoe  here,  which  was  founded  by  the  Gamori  of  Camerina  when 
they  were  driven  out  by  the  Cyllyrii  or  plebeians.  See  Casmense.  Here  was 
the  fountain  of  Diana,  which  would  not  mix  with  wine  in  the  hands  of  women 
who  were  not  chaste. 

Comitini-Zolfare.   Stat. ,  Girgenti-Roccapalumba  line. 

Conca  d'  Oro.  The  plain  on  which  Palermo  stands.  Said  to  be  called  the 
Golden  Shell  on  account  of  the  vast  number  of  orange  and  lemon  trees,  which 
make  it  golden  with  their  fruit.  It  is  rather  the  shape  of  an  inverted  shell,  jn 
the  best-known  part,  that  which  lies  between  Monreale  and  the  opposite 
mountains.  It  is  the  most  fertile  region  in  Sicily,  covered  with  orchards  of 
oranges,  lemons,  nespoli,  almonds,  plums,  peaches,  olives,  and  other  trees. 

There  is  a  regular  system  of  irrigation.  The  Conca  d'  Oro  may  be  said  to 
extend  almost  from  Cerda  to  Carini,  and  is  fertile  right  to  the  edge  of  the  sea. 
It  is  full  of  queer  Eastern-looking  farmhouses,  and  is  in  every  respect  the 
Garden  of  Sicily.  The  best  views  of  it  are  from  Parco  and  from  the  garden 
of  the  Benedictine  Convent  at  the  back  of  the  cloister  of  Monreale. 

Concordia.  The  name  of  a  temple  at  Girgenti  (q.v.),  the  most  perfect  in 
the  island. 

Confraternities.  See  Burial  Guilds. 

Conrad  IV.,  King  of  the  Romans.  Second  son  of  the  Emperor  Frederick  II., 
King  of  Sicily  from  1250  to  1254.  But  the  Crown  was  usurped  by  Manfred, 
a  natural  son  of  Frederick  II.  Conrad  was  buried  in  the  cathedral  at 
Messina,  which  was  partly  destroyed  by  the  fire  which  broke  out  during  his 
obsequies.  See  Messina. 

Conradin.  A  son  of  Conrad.  King  of  Sicily  from  1264  to  1268,  though 
Charles  of  Anjou  was  crowned  King  of  Sicily  in  1266.  He  led  an  army  into 
Italy,  and  after  some  initial  victories  was  utterly  defeated  in  August  at  Taglia- 
cozzo,  1268 ;  tried,  condemned  and  executed  in  the  market-place  of  Naples, 
He  was  buried  in  the  Carmine  at  Naples,  where  (1847)  Maximilian  of 
Bavaria  erected  the  Thorwaldsen  monument  to  him.  He  has  figured  largely 
in  romance.  He  died  at  sixteen. 


152        SICILY  THE   NEW  WINTER   RESORT 

Constance,  daughter  of  Roger,  King  of  Sicily.  Married  the  Emperor 
Henry  VI. ,  who  succeeded  to  the  crown  of  Sicily  in  her  right.  By  him  she 
was  the  mother  of  the  great  Emperor  Frederick  II.  These  two  and  Henry's 
father,  Barbarossa,  are  Dante's  "  three  blasts  of  Suabia"  (Paradise,  iii.  118). 

Constitution,  the  Sicilian.   See  Bentinck. 

Contessa-Entellina.  Six  hours  by  mail-vettura  from  Corleone  Stat, 
Palermo-Corleone  line.  Founded  1450  by  an  Albanian  colony  flying  from 
the  Turks,  under  the  shadow  of  the  ancient  castle  on  the  hill  of  Calata-Mauro, 
which  has  caves  of  alabaster  and  gesso.  Eight  kil.  from  Contessa  are  the 
ruins  of  ancient  Entella  (q.v.),  which  cover  a  circuit  of  four  miles. 

Convents.  Sicily  abounds  in  convents,  mostly  used  by  the  Government  for 
barracks,  post  offices,  etc.  See  Badia^  which  is  what  we  call  a  convent  (for 
nuns  as  distinct  from  monks). 

Convolvulus.  The  convolvuli  are  found  everywhere  in  Sicily.  One  with 
small  blossoms  mottled  with  very  bright  blue,  is  particularly  noticeable  and 
beautiful. 

Conzatori.   Cask  repairers  in  the  Marsala  Baglj. 

Cooking.  Sicilian  cooking  is  seldom  bad.  They  cannot  always  get  good 
cuts  of  meat,  but  they  do  their  best  with  it  even  in  quite  humble  places.  Oil 
is  not  used  except  for  certain  dishes,  such  as  salads^  artichokes,  etc.  The 
Sicilians  might  be  called  a  nation  of  cooks. 

Cooking-baskets.   See  Basket -stoves. 

Cookshops.  A  noticeable  feature  is  the  prevalence  of  cookshops  over 
restaurants.  The  Sicilian  is  not  addicted  to  restaurants ;  but  fuel  being  a 
difficulty,  he  likes  to  buy  his  food  cooked.  Palermo  abounds  in  picturesque 
people's  cookshops,  treasure-troves  to  the  artist  with  their  long,  beautifully 
clean  stoves  covered  with  rich  old  tiles  and  dotted  like  a  cribbage-board  with 
little  holes  to  contain  charcoal  embers.  Then  there  is  a  fine  array  of  glittering 
brass  and  copper  cooking  vessels,  often  some  good  old  plates,  and  sometimes 
an  old  brass  lamp  of  fine  design,  though  flares  are  taking  their  place. 
These  cookshops  are  generally  mere  cupboards  open  to  the  busy  thoroughfare, 
without  glass.  Their  owners  never  seem  to  go  to  bed  or  go  out.  They  seem 
to  stand  and  cook  and  smile  and  give  small  change,  from  one  end  of  the  year 
to  the  other.  Lent  may  do  something  for  them.' 

Cook's  Touring  Agency.  Cook's  correspondent  in  Palermo,  who  sells 
every  description  ofrailway  and  steamship  ticket,  is  Mr.  Hans  von  Pernull,  who 
has  an  office  at  93,  Corso  Vittorio  Emmanuele.  Excursions  are  formed  with 
special  trains  to  Segesta,  Selinunte,  Cefalu,  Piana  dei  Greci,  etc. ;  and  a  hotel 
f  in  connection  with  the  office  has  been  planned  at  Castrogiovanni,  the  ancient 
Enna.  Mr.  Von  Pernull  talks  several  languages,  and  gives  every  description 
of  information. 

Coppersmiths.  There  is  a  great  deal  of  beaten  copper-work  in  Sicily, 
often  of  fine  medieval  forms.  See  Palermo  under  Coffee-pots  and  Copper-workers* 
street. 

Coral  of  Trapani.  A  great  deal  of  coral  is  found  off  Sicily ;  the  principal 
coral  ports  are  Trapani  and  Messina.  The  coral  in  the  caves  at  Syracuse  is 
unimportant.  The  coral  of  Trapani  is  largely  used  in  making  monstrances 
and  church  embroideries.  There  are  some  coral  exhibits  in  the  museum  at 
Messina  and  Palermo.  All  sorts  of  charms,  such  as  hands  and  phalli  made  of 
coral,  fill  jewellers'  shops ;  but  their  specialty  is  the  antique  cameo  carved 
of  coral  into  the  head  of  our  Lord  or  some  mythological  scene. 


THINGS   SICILIAN  153 

Coral-tree  (Erythrma).  A  subtropical  tree  with  large  scarlet  flowers  rather 
resembling  coral.  A  favourite  in  Sicilian  gardens. 

Corinthian  Capitals.   See  Capitals. 

Corinth  was  the  mother-city  of  Syracuse,  and  their  intercourse  was  always 
most  intimate.  They  sent  each  other  help.  Without  Corinth  Syracuse  might 
have  succumbed  to  Athens,  and  later  Corinth  sent  Timoleon  with  ten  ships  to 
rescue  Syracuse  from  the  tyranny  of  Dionysius  II.  Her  influence  was  much 
felt  thereby,  for  Timoleon  revolutionised  Sicily.  It  is  a  mystery  to  me  why 
Greek  histories  say  so  little  of  Corinth,  which  had  a  career  of  unbroken 
prosperity  till  the  Romans,  under  Mummius,  sacked  it. 

Corleone.  A  stat.  on  the  Palermo-S.  Carlo  line.  Until  recently  the 
terminus.  From  Corleone  Stat.  there  is  a  mail-vettura  to  Palazzo  Adriano, 
6^  hours ;  Campo-Fiorito,  3  hours ;  Bisacquino,  4!  hours ;  Chiusa-Sclafani, 
5  hours  ;  Burgio,  9  hours  ;  Villafranca-Siciliana,  9  hours  10  minutes  ;  Lucca- 
Sicula,  9  hours  40  minutes ;  Sambuca-Zabut,  8J  hours ;  Sella-Misilbesi, 
10} hours;  Menfi,  13  hours;  Sciacca,  :6J  hours;  Contessa,  6  hours;  Corleone 
post  office,  J-hour  ;  Centa  Vernaro,  4!  hours ;  Prizzi,  3^  hours. 

Corleone  is  the  Arabic  Korlioun.  The  Emperor  Frederick  II.  ceded  it  to 
a  colony  of  Lombards.  Its  inhabitants  were  the  most  determined  enemies  of 
the  house  of  Anjou.  In  1536,  says  Fazello,  the  earth  opened  and  ruined  the 
city  to  its  foundation.  The  Moorish  type  is  thought  to  be  very  strong  in  the 
inhabitants  of  this  district,  who  have  a  bad  name  for  highway  robberies. 

Corpus  Domini,  Procession  of.  One  of  the  great  Catholic  processions  of 
the  year.  It  can  be  well  seen  at  Marsala. 

Corsairs'  towers.  Medieval  towers  for  the  protection  of  the  coast  against 
corsairs  may  be  seen  between  Palermo  and  Termini. 

Corsari.  Between  Palermo  and  Bagheria,  a  stat.  on  the  Corleone  line. 
Called  also  Acqua-Corsari.  Named  from  a  corsairs'  tower. 

Corso.  Nearly  every  town  in  Sicily  has  a  Corso  for  its  main  street,  named 
after  Victor  Emmanuel  II.,  King  Humbert,  or  the  present  king.  It  has  a 
proper  name  added  to  it  in  writing,  but  is  spoken  of  as  the  Corso. 

Cortes,  Descendants  of.  The  family  of  the  Duke  of  Montelone.  The 
family  name  is  Pignatelli-Cortes .  It  has  immense  possessions  in  the  south  of 
Sicily. 

Cossins,  R.  B.,  the  English  Vice-Consul  at  Marsala,  when  Garibaldi  began 
the  revolution  there  which  drove  out  the  Bourbons. 

Cortili,  or  Courtyards.  Almost  every  house  of  any  pretensions  in  Sicily  is 
built  round  a  cortile.  Some  of  them,  like  that  of  the  Palazzo  Aiutamicristo, 
at  Palermo,  are  very  old  and  very  beautiful,  comparable  to  that  of  the 
Bargello  at  Florence ;  but  there  are  very  few  Gothic  courtyards.  They 
usually  date  from  the  sixteenth  century  onwards.  As  the  owner  generally 
does  not  use  the  ground  floor,  all  manner  of  queer  trades  go  on  in  them.  At 
Syracuse  and  Marsala  quite  humble  palazzetti  are  built  round  courtyards. 
See  under  Palermo,  Syracuse,  Marsala. 

Costermongers.  Sicily  abounds  in  costermongers  with  donkeys,  though 
one  does  not  at  first  regard  them  in  that  light  Their  cries  are  most  extra 
ordinary,  and  they  begin  at  daylight.  I  have  compared  them  elsewhere  to 
jodelling,  they  are  loud  and  long,  and  not  unmusical.  The  Sicilian  coster- 
monger  generally  sells  only  one  thing — all  fennel,  or  all  artichokes,  or  all 


154        SICILY  THE   NEW   WINTER   RESORT 

broccoli,  and  he  quite  as  often  piles  his  wares  on  his  donkey  or  his  head,  as  he 
piles  them  on  a  cart.  He  may  be  a  baker,  or  a  draper,  or  a  bootmaker,  or  a 
knife-seller,  or  a  jar-seller,  or  a  water-seller.  But  perhaps  these  trades  are 
rather  peddling.  His  physique  is  not  so  good  as  the  British  coster's. 

Cosyra.  A  Phoenician  colony  in  the  island  of  Pantelleria,  which  has  all 
kinds  of  prehistoric  remains. 

Costumes.   See  chapter  on  Costumes. 

Cotillons.  The  cotillon  is  very  fashionable  at  Palermo  balls.  As  much  as 
£300  has  been  spent  on  presents  in  my  personal  experience. 

Cottabos.  The  Greek  game  of  throwing  a  compact  jet  of  wine  at  a  mark 
is  said  by  Freeman  to  be  of  Sikel  invention.  It  was  also  popular  among  the 
Etruscans. 

Cottages.  There  are  few  in  Sicily,  the  people  mostly  living  in  cities, 
either  under  the  palaces  of  their  betters  or  in  tenements.  A  few  may  be 
seen  on  the  outskirts  of  cities,  generally  either  two-storied  with  some  sort  of  a 
balcony,  or  utter  hovels  with  nothing  but  a  door.  The  cottage  was  not  suit 
able  to  this  malaria-  and  robber-scourged  country. 

Cotton  was  grown  in  large  quantities  and  of  a  'good  quality  during  the 
American  War  in  the  southern  districts  of  Sicily.  Since  then  its  output  is  all 
absorbed  by  the  Italian  mills,  but  English  cotton-spinners  might  with  advan 
tage  grow  cotton  for  themselves  in  Sicily  again.  There  is  a  numerous  and 
superb  peasantry,  accustomed  to  very  low  wages,  and  all  of  them  gardeners 
by  instinct.  Sicily  is  so  near  England  and  so  near  water-carriage  in  its 
cotton  districts  that  Manchester  would  find  it  one  of  its  easiest  sources  of 
supply. 

Courtship.  The  peculiarity  of  Sicilian  courtships  is  that  no  introduction  is 
necessary  if  the  parties  are  not  acquainted.  But  for  a  man  to  make  any  kind 
of  advances  to  a  girl  unless  he  intends  to  propose  to  her  is  a  deadly  insult.  If 
she  accepts  his  attentions  he  sends  a  go-between  to  her  family  to  arrange  the 
terms.  If  they  refuse  it  is  quite  regular  for  him  to  kidnap  the  girl  and  marry 
her  with  her  connivance.  In  the  country  towns  he  lingers  under  her  window 
at  night,  perhaps  serenading.  She  opens  her  lattice  wider  every  night  and 
drops  him  a  flower,  or  some  other  gage  to  show  that  he  may  demand  her 
hand.  Breaches  of  courtship  are  avenged  in  the  most  violent  manner.  They 
are  much  more  serious  than  a  breach  of  promise  in  England. 

Cow-harness.  Both  milch  cows  and  the  draught  oxen  wear  huge  wooden 
Gladstone  collars,  a  bell  being  attached  to  the  former,  and  harness,  generally 
of  rope,  to  the  latter. 

Cranesbill,  The  cranesbill  or  wild  geranium  family  are  as  common  in 
Sicily  as  they  are  in  England.  The  rose-coloured  geraniums  planted  along 
the  railway  lines  have  formidable  cranesbills  for  the  seed-pods  which  gave  the 
family  its  name. 

Cratera.  A  Greek  bowl  for  mixing  wine  in.  A  very  fine  specimen  from 
the  Temple  of  Bacchus  at  Syracuse  now  acts  as  the  font  in  the  cathedral. 
There  is  another  in  the  cathedral  at  Naples. 

Cratere  is  the  Italian  for  the  crater  of  a  volcano. 

Crescenzio,  Antonio.  A  Sicilian  painter  of  the  first  half  of  the  sixteenth 
century.  The  splendid  fresco  of  the  "Triumph  of  Death"  in  the  Sclafani 
Palace  at  Palermo  and  the  S.  Cecilia  in  the  cathedral  at  Palermo  are  no 
longer  attributed  to  him. 


THINGS    SICILIAN  155 

Crimesus,  at  the  Battle  of.  Timoleon,  with  11,000  Syracusans  and 
mercenaries,  routed  70,000  Carthaginians,  B.C.  339.  It  is,  according  to 
Freeman,  the  southern  Crimesus,  the  right  branch  of  the  Selimmte  Hypsas, 
now  known  as  the  Belice.  His  men  were  terrified  by  meeting  mules  laden 
with  the  selinon  plant,  because  the  monuments  of  the  dead  were  crowned  with 
celery.  A  proverb  spoke  of  one  who  was  sick  unto  death  as  one  who  would 
soon  need  his  celery.  But  Timoleon  reminded  his  men  that  selinon  was  used 
to  crown  the  victors  at  the  Isthmian  games  of  their  mother-city  Corinth.  This 
turned  the  omen  to  a  very  good  one.  At  the  same  time  the  soothsayers 
pointed  out  two  eagles  in  the  sky,  one  screaming  defiance  and  the  other 
carrying  a  struggling  serpent.  The  Carthaginian  army,  though  not  so 
numerous  as  some  of  their  hosts,  contained  10,000  of  the  sacred  band  of 
Carthage.  Timoleon  won  the  victory  by  attacking  the  Carthaginians  when 
only  part  of  them  had  crossed  the  river  and  before  they  had  time  to  re-forrn. 
Even  then  he  only  gained  the  victory  by  a  fierce  hailstorm,  which  beat  in  the 
faces  of  the  Carthaginians  and  blinded  them,  and  made  the  ground  too  slippery 
for  their  tactics.  Both  Plutarch  and  Diodorus  give  picturesque  accounts  of  the 
battle. 

Crispi,  Francesco.  Late  premier  of  Italy.  Born  at  Ribera  in  Sicily, 
October  4th,  1819.  Called  to  the  bar  in  Palermo ;  joined  the  unsuccessful 
revolutionary  movement  of  1848 ;  organised  the  successful  revolution  of 
1859-60,  re-entering  Sicily  with  Garibaldi.  Premier  1887-90,  and  Premier 
1894-96.  A  great  Triple  Alliance  man.  He  was  deputy  for  Palermo  in  the 
Italian  Parliament,  and  it  was  his  knowledge  of  Sicily  and  the  revolutionary 
societies  which  averted  the  threatened  revolution  in  Sicily  in  1896.  (Chambers. ) 

Croce,  Cape  S.  One  of  the  principal  capes  of  Sicily.  Between  Syracuse 
and  Augusta ;  a  conspicuous  object  to  ships  passing  up  the  Strait  of  Messina. 
Visible  from  both  Taormina  and  Syracuse. 

Crocus.  The  pretty  mauve  crocus  which  shows  hardly  any  leaves  is 
common  in  Sicily.  It  is  the  Crocus  sativa,  or  saffron  crocus.  Saffron  is 
much  used  in  food  in  Sicily,  and  from  its  dried  stigmas  is  made  the  dye 
so  popular  with  the  ancients  and  now  the  commonest  colour  for  the  head- 
kerchiefs  of  the  women. 

Cruelty  to  Animals,  the  Society  for  the  Prevention  of.  See  under 
Palermo,  which  has  the  most  successful  society  in  Italy. 

Crupi,  Sig-.  Giovanni  Of  Taormina.  One  of  the  best  landscape  photo 
graphers  in  Europe. 

Crusaders.  The  two  Sicilian  towns  most  identified  with  the  Crusades  are 
Messina  and  Trapani.  Richard  I.  spent  six  months  at  Messina  in  1189.  He 
stormed  the  city  and  was  drastic.  Edward  I.  was  twice  at  Trapani.  It  was 
to  Trapani  that  the  heart  of  S.  Louis  was  brought  back  by  the  Crusaders. 
Odo,  Bishop  of  Bayeux,  brother  of  William  the  Conqueror,  died  at  Palermo 
on  his  way  to  the  Crusades. 

Curios.  Sicily  is  the  paradise  of  the  curio-collector.  It  abounds  in  cheap 
and  genuine  curios.  The  principal  specialties  are  coins,  especially  Greek, 
terra-cotta  figurines  and  vases,  antique  jewellery  and  bronzes,  ^old  lace^  em 
broideries  ;  ivory,  pearl,  and  tortoise-shell  work ;  corals,  majolica,  old  silver, 
smalti,  fans,  hammered  ironwork,  brass,  etc.  See  chapter  on  Curios, 
Antickita^  Bargaining,  etc. 

Curio-shops.  Roughly  speaking  of  three  orders  :  the  expensive  professional 
curio-shop,  the  humbler  professional  curio-shop,  and  the  general  dealer,  where 
you  get  the  greatest  bargains.  See  under  Palermo,  Taormina,  etc. 


iS6 


SICILY   THE   NEW    WINTER   RESORT 


Custard  Apple.    The  custard  apple  grows  and  fruits  in  Sicilian  gardens. 

Custode.  Simply  means  a  watchman  or  caretaker.  But  the  term  is  gener 
ally  applied  to  the  uniformed  caretakers  who  have  charge  of  the  national  and 
public  monuments,  who  are  often  very  good  guides  to  the  objects  in  their 
charge. 

Cuttlefish,  or  Calamaio.  A  favourite  delicacy  in  Sicily.  It  gets  its  name 
from  calamus^  a  pen,  because  it  contains  all  the  materials  for  writing  within 
itself—the  pen,  the  ink,  and  the  eraser.  Fishermen  are  very  fond  of  pulling 
out  the  pen  to  show  you. 

Cyclopean  buildings.  The  term  Cyclopean  is  applied  to  any  polygonal 
building  ;  but  there  are  two  well-marked  varieties  in  Sicily  :  the  work  of  the 
Sikelians  where  the  stones  are  not,  as  a  rule,  enormous ;  and  the  Megalithic 
remains  at  Eryx,  Cefalu,  Collesano,  Pantalica,  and  above  Termini  (q.v.).  The 
Sikelian  masonry  may  be  seen  at  Naxos  and  on  the  road  up  to  Taormina  just 
outside  the  Messina  Gate. 

Cyclops.  The  best-known  country  of  the  Cyclops  lies  between  Etna  and 
the  rocks  of  the  Cyclops  opposite  Acireale  and  Aci-Castello.  Virgil  and  Homer 
have  written  much  about  them.  Mr.  Butler  identifies  them  with  the  Lxstry- 
gonians,  and  says  that  the  Cyclops  had  two  eyes,  their  names  merely  signify 
ing  round-faced,  moon-faced.  He  says  that  they  were  the  conquered  remnant 


ACI-CASTELLO:  THE  ROCKS  OF  CYCLOPS 


of  the  old  Sican  inhabitants  of  Mount  Eryx ;  that  they  owed  their  repute  for 
gigantic  stature  to  the  huge  size  of  the  stones  with  which  their  walls  were  built, 
which  belong  to  the  true  Megalithic  age  when  it  was  cheaper  to  carry  than  to  cut. 
People  think  that  "the  men  who  built  with  such  large  stones  must  have  been 
large  men,  whereas  in  reality  they  were  only  economical  men."  The  Ninth 
Odyssey  is  taken  up  with  Ulysses'  adventure  with  the  Cyclops.  The  rocks 
of  the  Cyclops  are  said  to  be  the  stones  hurled  at  him  by  Polyphemus, 
though  this  is  not  the  Homeric  legend,  but  the  Virgilian.  Homer  made  his 
Cyclops  giant  shepherds  living  in  the  south-western  corner  of  Sicily,  while 
Virgil  made  them  smiths  forging  the  thunderbolts  of  ZeuS  in  Etna. 

Cyclamen,  the  wild,  is  found  on  the  mountain-sides  round  Taormina,  etc, 

Cyane.   See  Anapo  and  Cyane  under  Syracuse. 


THINGS   SICILIAN  157 

Cyllyrii.  According  to  Freeman,  they  were  a  sort  of  " villains"  on  the 
lands  of  the  Syracusan  Gamori.  It  was  their  revolt  which  drove  the  Gamori 
to  Casmense,  486  B.C. 

Cyperus.  A  plant  of  the  Cyperaceee  order,  common  in  fountains  in  Sicily 
and  liable  to  be  confused  with  the  papyrus.  Pots  of  it  are  much  sold  in 
London  streets. 

Cypress.  In  Sicily  an  avenue  of  cypresses  betokens  a  religious  house. 
Cemeteries  are  planted  with  them  something  like  our  mazes  with  tombs 
between. 

Cypris.   An  epithet  of  Venus  (Aphrodite). 


Daedalus.  The  inventor  of  flying-machines.  Was  an  Athenian  of  the 
royal  race  of  the  Erecthidse.  He  was  a  famous  sculptor,  but  having  mur 
dered  his  pupil  Calos,  his  sister's  son,  for  excelling  him  in  skill,  he  fled  to 
Crete  and  resided  with  Minos  at  Cnossus  (pace  Mr.  A.  J.  Evans).  After  a 
while  he  quarrelled  with  Minos  as  well  and  fled  to  Sicily,  where  he  took 
refuge  with  Cocalus,  the  Sicanian  king  of  the  mysterious  Camicus.  Minos 
pursued  him,  but  the  daughters  of  Cocalus  had  fallen  in  love  with  Dsedalus 
and  treacherously  put  Minos  to  death.  Pausanias  says,  "  The  works  of 
Dsedalus  are  somewhat  uncouth  to  the  eye,  but  there  is  a  touch  of  the  divine 
in  them  for  all  that."  He  gives  a  list  of  them,  and  says  that  his  fame  has 
spread  all  over  Sicily  and  a  great  part  of  Italy.  Among  other  places  it 
spread  to  Eryx,  where  he  and  the  Devil  (Dsedalo  and  Diavolo)  share  the 
credit  of  a  medieval  arch  on  the  site  of  the  Temple  of  Venus,  for  which, 
Diodorus  says,  Dsedalus  levelled  the  rugged  top  of  the  mountain.  As  an 
artist  he  may  be  compared  to  St.  Luke. 

Daisies  of  Sicily.  Sicily  has  a  splendid  wild  daisy,  sometimes  lemon- 
coloured,  sometimes  white  with  a  yellow  heart,  which  grows  waist-deep  at 
Syracuse  and  Selinunte.  The  goats  eat  its  foliage.  Our  common  daisy, 
ox-eye,  and  fever-few  are  also  common  in  Sicily. 

Damarete.     See  under  Syracuse,  Coins,  p.  508. 

Damas.  A  rich  Syracusan  was  the  patron  to  whom  Agathocles  owed  his 
rise.  At  his  death  his  widow  married  the  future  king. 

Damophilus.  A  wealthy  slave-owner  of  Enna.  The  cruelties  of  his  wife, 
Megallis,  led  to  the  Slave  War.  Their  slaves,  many  of  them  Sicilians  as  well 
born  as  themselves,  had  been  made  to  work  in  the  fields  in  heavy  fetters  in 
all  weathers.  The  slaves  chained  Megallis's  hands  and  feet  with  the  fetters 
she  had  been  accustomed  to  put  upon  them  and  carried  her  off  to  the  theatre, 
where,  when  she  had  been  tortured  by  inches  to  the  verge  of  death,  she  was 
thrown  over  the  precipice.  As  Damophilus  had  been  more  merciful,  two  of 
his  slaves  sprang  upon  him  and  killed  him  outright.  A  daughter  who  had 
been  accustomed  to  shield  the  slaves  was  preserved  uninjured  by  their 
gratitude. 

Damocles,  For  the  legend  of  the  Sword  of  Damocles  told  by  Cicero  see 
under  Syracuse,  Damocles. 

Dante  hates  the  house  of  Anjou  in  his  numerous  references  to  Sicily  ;  but 
he  is  only  less  inimical  to  Henry  VI.  and  Frederick  II.,  though  his  feelings 
to  the  house  change  at  the  time  of  Manfred  and  Conradin.  The  following 
are  the  principal  references  to  Sicily  in  the  Divine  Comedy : — 


158        SICILY  THE   NEW   WINTER   RESORT 

In  the  Inferno  to — 

Frederick  //.,  whom  he  places  among  the  heretics  (Canto  x.  1 18). 

Dionysius  (q.v.),  whom  he  places  among  the  "  violent  against  their  neigh 
bours  "  (Canto  xii.  107-109). 

Pier  dells  Vigne  (q.v.),  whom  he  places  among  the  "  violent  against  them 
selves  "  (Canto  xiii.  38  et  seq. ). 

The  Origin  of  the  Sicilian  Vespers  (Canto  xix.  98-99). 

Frederick  II. 's  method  of  punishing  traitors  (Canto  xxiii.  64-67).^ 

The  Bull  of  Phalaris  (Canto  xxvii.  7-13). 

In  the  PurgafoHo  to — 

Manfred,  whom  he  places  among  the  excommunicate  (Canto  iii.  to  end). 

Constance  (Canto  iii.  142-145). 

Peter  TIL  of  Aragon  and  Charles  I.  of  Anjou,  whom  he  places  amongst  the 
negligent  rulers  (Canto  vii.  115-120). 

In  the  Paradiso  to — 

Constance  (Canto  iii.  1 8). 

"La  bella  Trinacria^  che  caliga  tra  Pachino  e  Peloro,  sopra  il  golfo  che 
receve  da  Euro  maggior  briga  "  (Canto  viii.  67  et  seq. ). 

("  And  fair  Trinacria  which  darkeneth  between  Pachynus  and  Pelorus,  o'er 
the  gulf  tormented  most  by  Eurus.") 

Palermo  (Sicilian  Vespers)  (Canto  viii.  75). 

Robert  of  Sicily  (Canto  viii.  76). 

Charles  of  Anjoit,  brother  of  St.  Louis,  who  conquered  Sicily  from  Manfred, 
son  of  Frederick  II. ,  and  became  Charles  I.  (Canto  ix.  1-6). 

Sicily  ("the  Isle  of  Fire  where  Anchises  ended  his  long  life")  (Canto 
xix.  130). 

Frederick  I  I.  (Canto  xix.  130-132*). 

William  of  Sicily,  Charles  77. ,  and  Frederick  II.  (Canto  xx.  6 1-66). 

Date-Palm.  There  are  quantities  in  Sicily,  but  their  fruit  seldom  comes  to 
perfection. 

Datura.  Called  by  Australians  the  trumpet  flower.  Its  proper  name  is  the 
thorn-apple.  The  Datura  strawonia,  a  native  of  Asia,  is  very  common  in 
Sicily.  It  has  large,  white,  fragrant,  trumpet-shaped  flowers.  Chambers 
says  that  the  daturas  are  in  general  narcotic  and  productive  of  wild  excitement 
or  delirium,  and  that  the  Thugs  of  India  use  the  plant  to  stupefy  their 
victims.  Their  scent  is  considered  very  unhealthy. 

Dazio  Consume  is  one  of  the  great  institutions  of  Sicily,  being  the  octroi 
or  tax  levied  by  municipalities  of  12,000  inhabitants  and  upwards  on  most 
articles  which  are  brought  into  the  city,  especially  food.  It  employs  an 
enormous  staff  of  officials  in  grey  uniforms. 

Decadrachm.  A  ten-drachma  piece.  For  the  superb  ancient  Greek  coins 
of  this  denomination,  see  under  Coins  and  Syracuse. 

Decameron,  the,  of  Boccaccio  has,  at  any  rate,  two  famous  stories  with 
scenes  laid  in  Sicily — that  about  Restituta  and  young  John  of  Procida,  and 
King  Frederick,  the  scene  of  which  is  laid  at  La  Cuba  at  Palermo  (q.v.) — 
and  that  of  Isabella  and  the  Pot  of  Basil,  which  is  laid  at  Messina. 

Demeter.   See  Ceres. 

Dennis,  George.  The  writer  of  Murray's  Guide  to  Sicily.  His  informa 
tion,  which  he  had  largely  from  Salvatore  Politi,  the  husband  of  Mme.  Politi, 
is  the  basis  of  most  modern  books  on  Sicily. 


THINGS   SICILIAN  159 

Dentists.  Street-dentists  are  common  in  Sicily:-  one  of  the  kodaker's 
"properties." 

De  Ruyter.  The  great  Dutch  Admiral  De  Ruyter  was  mortally  wounded 
and  defeated  in  an  action  with  the  French  Admiral  Duquesne  off  Augusta 
(q.v.),  and  died  at  Syracuse,  1676. 

Dialect.  Sicilian  itself  is  a  dialect,  differing  from  Italian  in  the  corruption 
and  clipping  of  words  as  well  as  the  inclusion  of  Arabic,  Spanish,  Greek,  etc., 
words.  It  is  quite  unintelligible  to  Italians  who  have  not  learnt  it.  Words 
end  in  u  instead  of  o.  (See  resume  in  preface.)  There  are  also  further 
dialects  such  as  the  Lombard  dialect,  spoken  at  Randazzo;  the  Albanian 
patois,  spoken  at  Piana  dei  Greci  and  the  other  Albanian  colonies;  and  a 
corrupt  French  dialect,  spoken  at  Sperlinga,  where  the  Angevin  party  were 
allowed  to  take  refuge  during  the  massacre  of  the  Sicilian  Vespers. 

Diana  (Artemis),  as  the  patron  goddess  of  the  Dorian  race,  is  of  great  im 
portance.  Ancient  remains,  whether  they  have  any  connection  with  her 
or  not,  are  apt  to  be  called  Tempio  di  Diana,  Bagno  di  Diana ;  and  there  are 
many  temples  which  must  have  belonged  to  her.  That  the  glorious  temple 
of  Segesta  was  dedicated  to  her  we  know,  from  the  chequered  history  of  the 
splendid  brazen  image  of  her  carried  off  by  the  Carthaginians,  restored  by  the 
younger  African  us,  and  carried  off  again  by  Verres  amid  the  lamentations 
of  the  inhabitants,  which  inspired  the  well-known  passage  in  _Cicero.  See 
under  Segesta.  It  is  thought  that  the  very  ancient  temple  ascribed  to  her  at 
Syracuse  was  really  the  Temple  of  Apollo,  and  that  the  so-called  temple 
of  Minerva  embodied  in  the  cathedral  was  really  the  Temple  of  Diana.  ^The 
transfefence  is  quite  likely  to  have  been  made  in  Roman  times.  _  Cicero 
distinctly  tells  us  that  it  was  Minerva's  in  his  time.  Arethusa's  Fountain  is  so 
near  the  cathedral  that  in  ancient  days  when  there  was  a  triumphal  approach 
from  the  port  to  the  temple  it  may  well  have  stood  at  the  foot  of  the  steps. 
Arethusa  being  a  nymph  of  Diana,  it  would  be  natural  to  name  the  fountain 
after  her.  See  under  Syracuse,  Cefalu,  Segesta. 

Diana,  Niccolo,  purchased,  in  1620,  the  city  now  known  as  Cefala  Diana. 
Such  names  are  common  in  Sicily.  A  man  with  the  surname  Apollo  keeps  a 
music-shop  in  Syracuse. 

Dicseopolis.  Dicceopolis  (city  of  justice),  a  name  imposed  upon  Segesta  by 
Agathocles  when  he  expelled  the  Elymian  inhabitants  from  their  home 
of  many  centuries.  As  Freeman  trenchantly  remarks:  "Such  changes  have 
been  made  after  him  by  not  a  few  princes  who  found  the  memories  of  history 
too  strong  for  them." 

Dictionaries.  There  are  dictionaries  of  the  Sicilian  dialect  and  Italian, 
compiled  by  G.  Biundi  (Palermo,  1857)  and  V.  Mortillaro  (new  ed., 
Palermo,  1879).  (Chambers.) 

Didrachma.   A  two-drachma  piece.     See  Drachma. 

Diodes.  A  lawgiver  of  Syracuse  (q.v.).  It  was  on  his  proposal  that 
Nicias  and  Demosthenes  were  put  to  death.  Called  by  Diodorus  the  most 
eminent  of  the  demagogues  at  Syracuse.  In  412,  when  Hermocrates  was 
driven  out,  he  introduced  the  famous  code  known  as  the  Laws  of  Diodes, 
which  were  generally  accepted  through  the  island  till  the  Romans  introduced 
their  law.  Banished  408  B.C.  Said  to  have  killed  himself  when  he  suddenly 
remembered  that  he  had  broken  one  of  his  own  laws  by  coming  armed  into 
the  assembly. 


160        SICILY   THE   NEW   WINTER   RESORT 

Diodorus  Siculus.  The  Greek  Froissart,  a  native  of  Agyrium  (Agira),  who 
wrote  in  the  time  of  Augustus.  He  mentions  Caesar's  invasion  of  Britain  and 
death.  The  most  valuable  portions  of  his  work  historically  are  those  in 
which  he  embodies  the  work  of  Philistus  and  others  of  his  predecessors.  He 
is  a  very  interesting  writer.  In  translations  he  is  more  readable  than  even 
Thucydides.  The  most  interesting  part  of  his  history  is,  of  course,  that  which 
deals  with  the  history  of  the  Greeks  in  Sicily  and  Greece  proper ;  but  his 
history  is  a  history  of  the  world,  and  there  is  a  great  deal  of  mythology  and 
travel-information  in  it. 

Dion.   See  under  Syracuse. 

Dionysius  I.    See  under  Syracuse. 

Dlonysius  II.    See  under  Syracuse. 

Dionysus.    See  Bacchus. 

Diversi  Generi  is  the  Sicilian  for  a  general  shop.  Its  stores  consist  of 
wine,  food,  forage,  pottery,  and  charcoal,  etc. ,  and  samples  such  as  a  potato, 
a  stick  of  charcoal,  a  broken  bottle  with  a  little  oil  in  it,  are  hung  on  a  string 
across  the  front. 

Doctors.  There  are  generally  no  English  doctors  in  Sicily  ;  but  at  Palermo 
there  is  a  German  named  Berlin,  who  speaks  English  ;  and  Syracuse  has  a 
doctor  named  Mauceri  who  is  known  throughout  the  province  for  his  ability. 

Dogs.  It  has  been  said  that  no  one  keeps  the  law  or  large  dogs  in  Sicily. 
The  dogs  as  a  rule  are  small  and  humble,  but  in  places  where  evil-doers  are 
numerous,  like  the  neighbourhood  of  Girgenti  or  Bronte,  large  and  fierce  dogs 
are  kept.  And  even  they  regard  your  calling  out  to  the  owner  to  some,  degree 
as  an  indication  of  bona  fides. 

Dolls  in  armour.  At  Palermo  for  the  Easter  Fair  they  sell  dolls  in  capital 
armour  made  out  of  food-tins  to  represent  the  historical  personages  they  paint 
on  their  carts,  such  as  King  Roger  or  Saladin. 

Donax.  The  Donax  reed  plays  a  great  part  in  Sicily.  It  is  grown  as  a 
hedge  and  for  flower-sticks,  etc.  But  its  place  has  rather  been  taken  by  the 
bamboo,  even  for  making  the  reed-flutes  used  by  the  goatherds.  It  is  a  very 
graceful  plant  with  classical  associations. 

Donkeys  are  used  for  everything  in  Sicily.     See  Asinello. 

Doors  and  doorways.  Doors  play  a  great  part  in  Sicily.  Many  dwellings 
consist  of  nothing  but  three  walls,  a  roof,  and  a  door.  Windows  are  a  luxury, 
unknown  to  hundreds  of  thousands  who  live  in  bassi  (q.v. ),  Doors  are  always 
kept  open  during  the  daytime.  The  doorways  are,  some  of  them,  very  hand 
some.  In  Taormina,  Messina,  Randazzo,  etc.,  there  are  many  fifteenth- 
century  Gothic  doorways,  and  well-built  archways  of  a  later  date  are  too 
numerous  to  notice.  Most  buildings  in  Sicily  have  some  pretence  to  architec 
ture. 

Door-tiles,  armorial.  The  noble  and  religious  bodies  placed  at  the  right 
top  corner  of  the  principal  entrance  a  majolica  tile  with  their  armorial  bear 
ings  or  devices,  for  the  same  purpose  as  we  have  street  numbers.  These 
"mattoni"  are  much  sought  by  collectors.  The  best  collections  are  those  of 
the  Palermo  Museum  and  Mr.  Joshua  Whitaker. 

Dorian  race.  With  the  exception  of  Catane  (Catania),  Zancle  (Messina), 
Naxos,  and  Leontini  (Lentini),  nearly  all  the  Sicilian  cities  were  founded  by 
the  Dorian  Greeks,  who,  though  they  are  never  treated  with  sufficient  import 
ance  in  Greek  histories,  were  at  least  as  important  as  the  Ionian  Greeks,  of 
whom  the  Athenians  were  the  chief.  Sparta  is  proverbial  for  fighting ;  Corinth 


THINGS   SICILIAN 


161 


and  Syracuse  were  the  greatest  of  Greek  commercial  cities.  The  Dorians 
built  fine  temples,  as  we  know,  from  Girgenti,  Segesta,  etc.  They  carved  fine 
metopes.  Those  of  Selinunte  come  next  to  those  of  Athens  and  Olympia. 
They  made  the  finest  coins  that  have  ever  been  made  in  the  world  ;  they  made 
the  finest  fortresses  of  their  time,  as  witness  the  Castle  of  Euryalus ;  and  noble 
theatres.  The  only  Greek  mathematician  who  is  still  an  authority  was  the 
Syracusan  Archimedes.  In  literature  they  were  less  prominent,  though  the 
pastoral  poet  Theocritus  was  the  greatest  of  the  later  Greek  poets.  It  is  because 
their  historians  and  general  writers  had  not  the  graces  of  their  Athenian 
rivals  that  nearly  all  our  knowledge  of  Greek  life  in  England  relates  to  the 
Athenian.  But  Freeman  has  recorded  his  opinion,  that  at  least  as  much 
material  has  survived  about  the  Dorian  Greeks  as  about  the  lonians,  and  all 
scholars  wait  eagerly  for  some  great  scholar  and  writer  to  arise  to  give  us  a 
picture  of  the  Dorian  Greeks  as  complete  as  the  picture  of  the  Ionian  Greeks 
which  we  enjoy^ already.  Politically  the  Dorian  Greeks  may  be  regarded  as 
much  the  more  important.  In  ordinary  Greek  histories  Sparta  plays  as  great 
a  part  historically  as  Athens,  and  we  must  add  to  this  the  prowess  of  Syracuse 
in  beating  back  the  Carthaginians  for  two  centuries  and  a  half. 

Doric  style.   See  under  Capitals  and  Columns. 

Dorieus,  the  king's  son  of  Sparta.  A  Heraclid  who  set  out  to  conquer 
the  Heraclid  heritage  of  Eryx.  He  was  the  eldest  son  of  King  Anaxandrides 
by  his  first  wife,  but  born  after  the  child  of  the  second,  and  was  unable  therefore 
to  inherit  the  throne  of  Sparta.  He  wasted  his  strength  in  the  feud  between 
Sybaris  and  Croton,  and  was  destroyed  with  most  of  his  men  in  a  battle  at 
Eryx  against  the  Egestans  and  Carthaginians.  This  was  in  510  B.C. 

Drachma.  An  ancient  Greek  coin  corresponding  roughly  to  the  modern 
Greek  drachma,  or  the  franc.  Sums  were  generally  reckoned  in  drachm®. 
See  Coins. 

Drepanum.    See  Trapani. 

Dress,  native,  of  men  and  women.   See  chapter  on  Costumes. 

Drug-jars.  Much  sought  by  collectors  in  Sicily,  both  to  obtain  jars  of 
Sicilian  manufacture,  and  because,  in  the  sixteenth  and  seventeenth  century, 
many  were  manufactured  in  the  great  majolica  centres  of  Italy  for  Sicilian 
hospitals,  notably  the  unique  set  of  drug-jars  made  at  Urbino  for  Messina. 
See  under  Messina  Museum.  Baron  Chiaranionte  Bordinaro  has  a  very  fine 
collection. 


THE  FAMOUS  URBINO  DRUG-JARS,  FORMERLY  IN  THE  HOSPITAL, 
NOW   IN  THE  MUSEUM   OF  MESSINA 


162        SICILY  THE   NEW  WINTER   RESORT 

Drug  stores.     See  Chemists.    Farmacia  is  the  Sicilian  term. 

Dryden,  John,  Jun.,  son  of  the  poet,  author  of  the  comedy  entitled 
The  Husband  His  Own  Cuckold,  1696,  visited  Sicily  in  November,  1700, 
and  wrote  an  account  of  his  voyage  before  he  died  at  Rome  in  1701.  It  was 
not  published  till  seventy  years  afterwards,  When  it  was  brought  out  uniform 
with  Brydone,  to  stultify  the  latter's  advertisement.  "Had  there  been  any 
book  in  our  language  on  the  subject  of  the  following  letters,  they  never  should 
have  seen  the  light.  Young  Dryden  was  an  observant  and  entertaining  writer, 
and  visiting  Sicily  so  soon  after  that  supreme  earthquake  of  1693,  had  its 
ravages  fresh  before  him. 

Ducetius.  A  Sikelian  king.  He  attempted  to  form  a  Sikel  confederacy 
against  the  growing  power  of  Syracuse,  starting  in  459  by  founding 
Mensenum,  now  Mineo,  on  the  hill  above  the  Lake  of  the  Palici,  the  special 
gods  of  his  people.  Six  years  later  he  founded  a  new  capital  nearer  the  lake, 
and  called  it  Palica.  Then  he  commenced  attacking  Greek  cities  at  ^tna. 
The  next  he  took  was  Motyon,  a  town  belonging  to  Acragas,  undoubtedly  the 
modern  Modica.  Syracuse  and  Acragas  united  against  the  common  peril  and 
defeated  Ducetius.  They  broke  up  his  power,  and  he  rode  into  Syracuse  in 
the  early  morning  and  threw  himself  as  a  suppliant  on  the  altar  of  the  gods  of 
the  Agora.  The  Syracusans  spared  him,  but  exiled  him  to  their  mother-city, 
Corinth.  In  time  he  returned  to  Sicily  and  founded  the  city  of  Calacte,  and 
established  a  new  league  of  Greeks  as  well  as  Sikels,  prominent  among  them 
Archonides,  the  Sikel  king  of  Herbita.  He  died  of  a  disease  B.C.  444,  and 
with  him  the  Sikels  lost  their  last  chance  of  maintaining  themselves  as  rivals 
to  the  Greeks  and  Carthaginians. 

Duenna.  Even  poor  girls  are  carefully  chaperoned  in  Sicily.  At  balls,  for 
instance,  a  girl  is  taken  back  to  her  chaperone  the  moment  the  dance  is  over. 

Dumas.  I  never  feel  quite  sure  if  Dumas  actually  visited  Sicily,  but  he 
wrote  a  book  about  his  journey  to  Sicily  in  the  "Journeys  with  Dumas" 
series,  entitled  The  Speronara.  My  suspicions  were  aroused  by  noticing  that 
it  is  largely  drawn  from  Lettres  sur  la  Sidle  et  sur  File  de  Maltke,  by  M.  Le 
Comte  de  Borch  de  Plusieurs  Acadamies  A.M.,  le  C.  de  TV.,  Icrites  in  /777, 
who  acknowledges  having  taken  his  materials  from  Brydone's  Tour  through 
Sicily  and  Malta.  The  Speronara  is  a  kind  of  sailing-boat. 

Duomo.  Properly  signifies  a  cathedral,  but  the  Sicilians  apply  it  to  the 
principal  church  of  a  town  whether  it  is  a  cathedral  or  not,  just  as  they  call 
anything  larger  than  a  village  a  city. 


Eagles.  The  large  birds  seen  over  Pellegrino  and  elsewhere  are  generally 
griffon  vultures,  not  eagles. 

Earthenware,  ancient  and  modern.  Sicily  is  a  paradise  to  the  lover  of 
earthenware.  Beautiful  specimens  have  been  made  in  all  ages.  The 
museums  of  Syracuse  and  Palermo  have  magnificent  specimens  of  Sicanian 
and  Sikelian  earthenware  vases,  and  of  importations  from  Etruria  and 
Athens,  as  well  as  the  ancient  Greek  pottery  of  the' island.  Earthenware  was 
used  for  many  purposes.  Splendid  sarcophagi,  for  instance,  of  the  fifth 
century  B.C.,  have  been  discovered  at  Capo  Soprano,  near  the  ancient  Gela, 
etc.  Earthenware  lids  were  used  sometimes  for  the  coffin-shaped  graves  cut 
in  the  surface  of  the  rock.  The  Sicilian  Greeks  made  vases  of  exquisite 
shape,  though  they  did  not  rival  the  Athenians  in  their  decoration.  Some  of 


THINGS   SICILIAN  163 

their  little  toilet-boxes  are  wonderfully  beautiful.  Sicily  is  very  rich  in  terra 
cotta  figurines  of  the  fifth  century  before  Christ.  They  have  not  the 
Parisian  grace  of  the  figurines  of  Tanagra  and  Myrina,  but  the  faces  are 
nearly  all  beautiful  and  nearly  all  female.  They  have  the  conventionalised 
hair  and  smile  noticeable  on  the  coloured  statues  of  the  fifth  and  sixth 
centuries  B.C.,  exhumed  at  Athens  in  the  eighties.  Enormous  quantities  of 
them  have  been  found  near  the  last-discovered  temple  at  Selinunte.  Coming 
to  the  ^Middle  Ages,  there  are  beautiful  Arabic  water-jars  decorated  with 
inscriptions,  still  to  be  picked  up  at  Palermo,  where  they  are  occasionally 
found.  There  are  many  in  the  Palermo  Museum.  The  earthenware  used  by 
the  poor  people  is  almost  always  of  old  Greek  or  Saracen  shapes,  just  as 
the  pottery  of  the  Roman  period  is  Greek  in  character.  At  Palermo, 
Saracenic  influences  and  Phoenician  influences  are  naturally  prominent.  At 
Caltagirone,  Catania,  and  Syracuse  the  shapes  are  purely  Greek.  At  Messina 
and  Taormina  they  are  rather  nondescript,  but  show  Greek  influence.  A 
charming  collection  may  be  made  of  Sicilian  pottery,  both  of  the  glazed  and 
unglazed  vessels  used  by  the  poor,  and  also  of  the  collector's  prizes,  the 
majolica  of  the  seventeenth  century;  the  fast-disappearing  armorial  tiles, 
the  earthenware  figures  representing  the  various  types  of  Sicily  which  have 
made  Caitagirone  famous,  and  drug-jars.  A  splendid  collection  could  also 
be  made  of  the  majolica  wine-jugs  of  the  last  few  centuries. 

Earthenware  lamps.  I  have  left  these  to  a  separate  heading,  because 
their  name  is  legion,  Round  one  temple  in  Selinunte  37,000  of  them  have 
been  exhumed.  They  are  mostly  small,  flat  vessels  with  a  little  hole  in  the 
top,  plain  or  ornamented.  In  ancient  times  all  of  them  had  a  sort  of  spout 
with  a  hole  in  it  to  contain  the  wick.  The  modern  Sicilian  has  invented  an 
ingenious  variant  of  them — glazed  figures  of  men  and  women  caricatured, 
such  as  a  man  blowing  a  trombone  or  a  woman  with  the  Grecian  bend. 
Somewhere  or  other  about  their  persons  they  have  holes  for  the  wicks.  There 
are  also  very  comical  cats. 

Earthquakes.  Sicily  has  always  been  scourged  by  earthquakes.  I  have 
often  been  in  slight  ones.  Only  in  1902  one  did  much  damage,  ruining  the- 
Gothic  monastery  adjoining  S.  Gregorio  at  Messina,  and  devastating  with 
its  accompanying  floods  the  whole  district  round  Syracuse  and  Modica. 
The  greatest  of  all  earthquakes  was  in  1693,  which  destroyed  all  the 
cities  in  the  south  of  Sicily.  Some  of  them,  like  Noto  Antica,  have  never 
been  rebuilt.  A  chapter  on  the  great  earthquake  of  1693,  translated  from  a 
pamphlet  of  the  time,  will  be  found  in  Mr.  Sladen's  forthcoming  work  on  the 
Cities  of  Sicily. 

Easter  customs  and  sweets.  They  make  much  of  Easter  in  Sicily.  On 
the  Wednesday  before  Easter  they  show  the  Santo  Sudario  (Holy  Shroud)  of 
our  Lord  at  S.  Giuseppe.  At  Palermo,  on  the  Thursday,  they  have  the 
Sepolcri  or  Gardens  of  Gethsemane  (q.v.)  in  their  churches.  On  the  Friday 
they  have  the  procession  of  the  Pieta  (q.v.);  on  the  Saturday  they  have  the 
Rending  of  the  Veil  (q.v.) ;  on  the  Sunday  they  have  various  celebrations,  such 
as  the  miracle  play  and  the  Procession  of  the  Pace  at  Adern6 ;  and  on  the 
Monday  and  the  following  days  at  Palermo,  they  have  the  Easter  Fair,  and 
balls  and  races,  and  so  on.  The  favourite  sweets  for  Easter  are  Paschal  lambs 
done  in  almond  paste,  the  expensive  ones  with  elaborate  scenery,  the  Three 
Magi,  and  so  on,  and  the  cheapest  with  a  tinsel  flag  like  the  Crusaders'  lamb. 
They  vary  in  price  from  a  halfpenny  to  several  pounds.  Another  favourite 
design  for  sugar,  and  soap,  is  the  Pieta.  There  are  elaborate  Easter  eggs 
developing  into  Easter  birds'  nests  and  various  rich  cakes. 


164        SICILY  THE   NEW  WINTER   RESORT 

Eating-shops.  Cookshops  (q.'v.)  play  a  much  more  important  part  in 
Sicily  than  restaurants. 

Ecnomus.  The  ancient  name  for  the  hill  above  Licata.  It  was  an  outpost 
of  Acragas. 

Edmund  of  England,  son  of  Henry  III.,  accepted  the  kingdom  of  Sicily 
1254.  Two  hundred  ounces  of  gold  yearly  and  the  support  of  three  hundred 
knights  were  to  be  promised  ;  the  expenses  of  the  war  were  to  be  paid  and  an 
army  sent  at  once  to  claim  the  kingdom.  (Bright.) 

Edward  I.  of  England  visited  Sicily  twice  on  his  crusades,  going  on  both 
occasions  to  Trapani.  The  first  time  he  sailed  from  Tunis,  where  he  found 
St.  Louis  dead.  He,  or  another,  brought  the  heart  of  St.  Louis  to  rest  in 
Sicily,  where  it  still  rests  in  the  glorious  cathedral  of  Monreale,  while  the 
unworthy  brother  of  the  saint,  Charles  of  Anjou,  whom  the  Pope  had^made 
King  of  Sicily,  took  the  opportunity  of  wrecking  all  the  Crusaders'  ships  he 
could  to  steal  their  valuables.  The  second  time  Edward  came  to  Trapani 
was  when  he  was  homing  from  his  victory  at  Acre,  to  begin  the  forty  years  of 
kingship  which  have  given  our  empire  its  unity  and  all  the  world  its  constitu 
tions.  There  is  much  traffic  between  Trapani  and  Africa  still. 

Egesta.   See  Segesta. 

Egypt.  Egypt  had  an  ancient  connection  with  Sicily.  King  Agathocles 
married  the  stepdaughter  of  Ptolemy.  The  papyrus  groves  of  the  Anapo  are 
said  to  have  been  planted  from  Egypt.  Small  majolica  mummies  are  some 
times  found  in  the  tombs  at  Girgenti,  but  I  cannot  remember  any  mention  of 
a  temple  to  an  Egyptian  god  except  at  Taormina. 

El  Edrisi.  One  of  the  most  eminent  Arab  geographers.  A  man  _  of 
princely  birth.  Born  at  Ceuta.  After  studying  at  Cordova  and  travelling 
he  settled  at  the  court  of  Roger  I.  of  Sicily,  and  made  him  his  famous  silver 
map  of  the  world  and  a  celestial  sphere.  Roger  invited  him  to  write  a 
description  of  the  earth  founded  upon  direct  observation.  For  this  purpose 
travellers  were  sent  on  journeys  of  exploration  to  many  parts  and  were 
directed  to  assist  him  by  sending  him  their  itineraries,  their  measurements  of 
longitudes  and  latitudes,  their  observations  and  adventures.  El  Edrisi's 
description  of  the  world,  the  Nuzhat  el  Mushtak,  was  not  completed  till  1154. 
It  is  the  best  of  medieval  geographies.  A  Latin  version  of  the  portion 
referring  to  Sicily  was  published  by  Rosario  Gregorio  in  1790.  El  Edrisi 
died  1180. 

Elymians,  the.  One  of  the  three  earliest  races  that  we  find  in  Sicily. 
They  and  the  Romans  believed  that  they  were  of  Trojan  origin.  They 
founded  Eryx  and  Egesta,  possibly  also  Entella  and  Halicyse.  Elymus  is 
said  to  have  been  the  illegitimate  son  of  Anchises.  See  under  above- 
mentioned  towns. 

Emirs.  A  term  applied  by  the  Saracens  to  their  generals  as  well  as  their 
monarchs.  Roger  took  the  name  for  his  admiral,  George  of  Antioch,  whose 
successes  were  the  origin  of  the  title  Admiral  (q.v.). 

Empedocle,  Porto.  The  harbour  of  Girgenti  owes  its  prosperity  to  the 
mole  built  by  the  Emperor  Charles  V.  See  under  Girgenti. 

Empedocles,  of  Acragas,  Flourished  B.C.  444.  He  assisted  in  driving 
out  Thrasydseus,  the  son  of  Theron,  and  refused  the  tyranny  himself.  He 
was  a  great  orator  and  accredited  with  miraculous  powers  over  malaria, 
obnoxious  winds,  storms,  etc.  He  freed  Selinus  from  malaria  by  filling  up  its 
harbour  and  Acragas  by  cleaving  the  citadel  from  the  Rupe  Atenea.  For  an 


THINGS   SICILIAN  -  165 

account  of  his  philosophy  see  Smith's  Greek  and  Roman  Biography  and  Myth 
ology.  He  is  said  to  have  died  in  the  crater  of  Etna,  which  threw  up  one  of  his 
brazen  shoes.  Like  Archimedes,  he  was  an  engineer  as  well  as  a  philosopher. 
Empire  furniture.  Many  palaces  in  Palermo  have  the  original  Empire 
furniture  made  for  them  when  Ferdinand  and  Maria  Caroline  transferred  their 
court  from  Naples  to  Sicily.  See  Villa  Florio,  Royal  Palace,  PaL  Scalea, 
Pal.  di  Gregorio,  etc.,  under  Palermo. 


THE  HARBOUR  OF  PORTQ  EMPEDOCLE 

Embroideries.  There  are  splendid  embroideries  in  Sicily  to  be  seen  in 
churches  and  museums,  and  certain  kinds  can  still  be  purchased.  The  old 
Arabic  silk  embroideries  can  hardly  be  obtained  even  by  the  museums.  A 
few  rich  men  like  the  Conte  Mazzarino  have  exquisite  medieval  silk  em 
broideries.  Of  the  period  following  there  are  magnificent  specimens  in  the 
Palermo  Museum.  Some  of  the  church  robes  and  altar-fronts  at  Cefalu, 
Monreale,  the  Cappella  Reale,  Palermo,  and  the  cathedral  at  Palermo  are 
among  the  finest  of  their  period.  Curious  and  purely  Sicilian  are  the  coral 
embroideries.  Pearls  were  also  used  in  some  of  the  Palermo  embroideries. 
Embroideries  that  have  formed  part  of  ecclesiastical  vestments  may  be  bought 
in  many  curio-shops.  They  are  quite  a  thing  to  look  out  for. 

Enamels,  which  the  Sicilians  call  smalti^  are  among  the  most  interesting 
curios  to  collect  in  Sicily,  where  you  are  constantly  able  to  buy  charming 
little  pieces  of  the  seventeenth  century.  In  the  museums  you  see  splendid 
pieces  of  smalto,  especially  in  connection  with  church  articles.  Smalti  can  be 
bought  at  quite  moderate  prices,  but  beware  of  imitations. 

English  in  Sicily.  See  under  Joanna,  Edmund  of  England,  Edward  I., 
Richard  Cceur  de  Lion,  Nelson,  Bentinck,  Stuart,  Ingham,  Whitaker,  Wood- 
house,  Angell,  Harris,  Asphalt,  Anglican  Church,  Hamilton  (Lady),  Messina 
Faro,  Brown,  A.  P. 

English  occupation  of  Sicily.  From  1806-1815,  says  Freeman,  "Sicily, 
practically  a  separate  kingdom  under  British  protection,  enjoyed  a  measure  of 
wellbeing  such  as  it  had  not  had  for  some  ages,  and  in  1812  a  constitution 
was  established.  The  European  settlement  of  1815  brought  back  the  Bourbon 
to  his  continental  kingdom.  Ferdinand  I.  became  a  constitutional  king  over 
the  United  Kingdom  of  tlie  Two  Sicilies.  This  was  equivalent  to  the 
abolition  of  the  separate  constitution  of  the  island,  and  before  long  all  con 
stitutional  order  was  trodden  under  foot." 


i66        SICILY  THE   NEW  WINTER   RESORT 

-  Entablature.  Architectural  term.  In  Greek,  Roman,  and  the  revived 
classical  architecture,  the  horizontal  part  laid  on  the  top  of  the  columns  is 
called  the  entablature.  It  consists  of  three  parts,  the  lowest  of  which  is  the 
architrave  (q.v.),  or  epistyle,  the  centre  the  frieze,  and  the  upper  the  cornice. 
See  Bannister  Fletcher's  flistory  of  Architecture^  pp.  53-57,  where  it  is  very 
interestingly  explained. 

Engyium.  A  Sikel  town  which  received  a  settlement  from  the  Cretan 
followers  of  Minos.  It  had  a  temple  built  of  stone  brought  from  Agira. 
Engyium  and  Apollonia  had  a  tyrant  named  Leptines  expelled  by  Timoleon. 
It  took  a  leading  part  for  the  Carthaginians  in  the  second  Punic  War,  and 
had  a  splendid  temple  which  Cicero  ascribes  to  Mater  Magna  and  Plutarch 
and  Diodorus  to  the  Deae  Matres.  Scipio  Africanus  presented  many  beauti 
ful  trophies  to  it  which  were  carried  off  by  Verres.  Cicero  calls  it  * ( augustis- 
simum  et  religiosissimum  fanum."  (Sir  W.  Smith.)  It  is  the  modern  Gangi. 

Enna.  The  modern  Castrogiovanni.  Celebrated  for  its  great  temple  of 
Ceres,  one  of  the  three  chief  temples  of  the  ancient  world.  The  fields  of 
Enna  which  contain  the  sacred  lake  of  Pergusa  are  supposed  to  be  the  scene 
of  the  rape  of  Proserpine.  Freeman  considers  it  to  be  of  Sikel  origin,  and 
considers  there  must  have  been  local  gods  identifiable  with  Ceres,  Proserpine, 
and  Pluto,  which  is  doubly  curious  in  view  of  the  later  absorption  of  Ceres 
and  Proserpine  into  the  Madonna  and  the  Child  Jesus.  (See  Castrogiovanni.} 
Enna,  which  Freeman  writes  "Henna,"  is  treated  most  interestingly  and 
exhaustively  in  that  gold-mine  for  information  about  ancient  Sicily,  Freeman's 
History  of  Sicily. 

Entella.  See  Contessa-Entellina.  A  city  of  Sicily.  Considered  by  the 
Sicilians  to  be  Elymian,  though  Freeman  pronounces  it  Sican.  The  ruins  of 
Entella,  which  are  four  miles  in  circumference,  have  been  much  neglected  by 
foreign  visitors  because  they  are  so  ungetatable,  being  8  kil.  from  Contessa- 
Entellina,  which  is  itself  6  hours  by  mail-vettura  from  the  Corleone  Stat.  of 
the  Corleone  Railway.  It  is  said  to  have  been  built  by  Acestes,  the  founder 
of  Segesta.  Called  also  Atella,  from  the  name  of  Acestes's  wife.  It  was 
surprised,  403  B.C.,  by  the  Campanian  mercenaries  of  Dionysius,  who 
massacred  its  inhabitants  and  allied  themselves  to  the  Carthaginians.  It  was 
taken  by  Dionysius  and  retaken  by  the  Carthaginians,  and,  finally,  freed  by 
Timoleon.  Entella  was  still  flourishing  in  the  time  of  Count  Roger ;  but 
under  the  Emperor  Frederick  II.  it  fell  in  ruins,  and  has  not  since  been  rebuilt. 
Cicero  mentions  it  as  suffering  severely  by  the  depredations  of  Verres.  It 
owed  its  destruction  in  the  thirteenth  century  to  its  having  become  a  Saracen 
stronghold.  Cicero  calls  the  Entellans  a  people  of  the  greatest  perseverance 
and  the  greatest  industry. 

Enzo.  Natural  son  of  Emperor  Frederick  II.  Captured  by  the  Bolognese 
at  Fossalto  (1247),  and  kept  in  prison  till  he  died  in  1272.  One  of  the  earliest 
poets  in  the  Italian  language.  The  Dizionario  Biografo  Universak  says : 
"  To  Enzo  then,  as  to  the  illustrious  Frederick  II.  and  to  the  not  less  illustrious 
Manfred,  Italy  should  be  grateful  for  the  first  beginnings  of  its  great  language, 
as  they  generously  welcomed  in  their  Sicilian  kingdom  the  troubadors  of 
Provence  and  others  who  sang  at  that  time  in  the  lingua  romanza  or  romanesca, 
poems  of  love." 

Epichannus.  The  chief  poet  of  the.  Dorians  ;  was  born  in  the  island  of 
Cos  about  B.C.  540,  and  taken  as  a  baby  to  Megara  in  Sicily.  When  Gelo 
destroyed  Megara,  484  B.C.,  Epicharmus  went  to  Syracuse  and  spent  the 
rest  of  his  life  at  the  court  of  Hiero  I.,  where  he  met  ^Esclrylus.  He  died 


THINGS   SICILIAN  Z67 

aged  ninety,  or  some  say  ninety-seven.  We  know  the  titles  of  thirty-five  of 
his  plays.  Their  style,  according  to  Sir  W.  Smith  (see  Dictionary  of  Greek 
and  Roman  Biography  and  Mythology^,  was  a  mixture  of  the  broad  buffoonery 
of  _the  old  comedy  of  Megara  and  the  sententious  wisdom  of  the  Pythagorean 
philosophy.  His  language  was  remarkably  elegant.  It  was.celebrated  for  his 
choice  of  epithets.  His  plays  abound  with  moral  maxims  and  speculative 
digressions.  Both  Cicero  and  Plato  attest  the  high  estimate  in  which  he  was 
held  by  the  ancients. 

Epidemics.  Considering  the  heat  of  the  climate  and  the  crowdedness  of 
the  island,  Sicily  has  not  suffered  greatly  from  epidemics. 

Epipolae.   One  of  the  five  quarters  of  ancient  Syracuse  (q.v.). 

Eraclea-Minoa.    See  Heraclea-Minoa. 

Erbessus.  Called  by  Freeman  "Herbessos."  He  says  there  were  two— one 
m  the  west  (besides  the  well-known  Erbessus  in  the  east  of  Sicily),  the  modern 
town  of  Grotte,  founded  ^  by  the  Sikels,  many  centuries  before  Rome.  The 
Romans  drew  their  provisions  hence  during  the  siege  of  Girgenti,  B.C.  262. 
The  name  Erbessus  signifies  a  place  of  caves.  Grotte  is  a  stat.  on  the  line 
from  Girgenti  to  Roccapalumba. 

Erbita.   See  Herbita. 

Ercta.  A  fortress  on  Monte  Pellegrino,  held  by  Hamilcar  Barca  (q.v,) 
against  the  Romans  in  Palermo,  247-244  B.C. 

Eremiti  (hermits).  The  popular  name  of  the  church  of  S.  Giovanni  degli 
Eremiti  at  Palermo  (q.v.),  one  of  the  most  Saracenic  pieces  of  architecture 
in  the  island.  It  has,  in  reality,  nothing  to  do  with  hermits,  but  is  a  corrup 
tion  of  Hermes ;  there  having  been  a  temple  to  Hermes  on  the  site  of  the 
church  founded  by  Pope  Gregory  the  Great. 

Eruptions.   See  Etna. 

Erice,  Monte.   Mount  Eryx.     See  next  line. 

Eryx,  city  of.    See  under  Monte  S.  Giuliano,  page  394, 

Etna,  and  its  eruptions.  According  to  Baedeker,  the  worst  of  the  eighty 
eruptions  of  the  historical  period  were  those  of  B.C.  396,  126,  122  (?  121),  and 
A.D.  1169,  1329,  1537,  1669 ;  the  last  of  these  was  the  worst.  In  it  the'twin 
peaks  of  the  Montirossi,  450  feet  high,  which  look  like  fortifications,  were 
thrown  up.  In  1169,  15,000  Catanians  were  killed.  In  1329  a  new  crater 
opened  near  the  Valle  del  Bove.  In  1444  the  cone  fell  into  the  crater.  In  1537 
two  villages  and  many  people  perished.  From  1603  to  1620  it  was  almost 
continually  in  eruption.  In  1755  Etna  threw  up  the  famous  flood;  in  1776 
lava  eruptions  7  kil.  in  length  ;  in  1792  the  eruption  originated  at  Cisterna ; 
in  1811  the  eruption  threw  up  the  crateriform  mountain  of  S.  Simon;  in 
1838  there  was  a  very  peculiar  eruption  which  made  a  red  cupola  overhang  the 
mountain  at  night.  The  eruption  of  November  17th,  1843,  threatened  to  over 
whelm  the  city  of  Bronte.  In  1852,  the  most  famous  eruption  of  the  century 
threw  up  the  craters  of  the  Monti  Centenari  on  the  2Oth  of  August.  The  • 
lava  stream,  2  kil.  long,  did  not  stop  until  September.  In  1865  the  eruption 
lasted  for  more  than  six  months  ;  in  two  days  the  burning  stream  ran  14  kiL, 
with  a  frontage  for  6  kil.  of  2,000  yards  and  a  velocity  of  300  yards  an  hour. 
From  1869-1874  there  were  slighter  eruptions ;  and  in  1883,  1885,  and  1886 
less  severe  eruptions.  In  1885  the  eruption  almost  destroyed  Nicolosi  and 
formed  a  new  crater,  Monte  Gemellaro.  In  1879  a  new  crater  was  formed, 
#je  Monte  Uraberto-Margherita.  In  1801  trier e  was  an  important  eruption,  but 


i68        SICILY  THE   NEW  WINTER   RESORT 

it  flowed  over  a  previous  stream.  In  1892  a  new  crater,  near  Monte  Gemellaro, 
discharged  another  stream  at  a  velocity  of  over  500  feet  an  hour ;  in  1899  there 
was  an  explosion  in  the  central  crater.  In  1887  an  observatory  was  built  at 
a  height  of  9,000  feet  above  the  sea,  on  the  site  of  the  Casa  dei  Inglesi,  built 
by  some  English  officers  of  the  Messina  garrison  in  1811. 


ETNA  :    VALLE  DEL  BOVE 


The  ascent  of  Etna  is  usually  made  from  Nicolosi  or  Randazzo.  The 
ascent  from  Randazzo  is  only  5^  hours  with  mules,  but  the  Nicolosi  route  is 
more  used.  There  is  an  office  for  guides,  and  a  head  guide,  who  makes 
arrangements  at  Nicolosi.  The  landlord  of  the  Albergo  Italia  at  Randazzo, 
a  very  pleasant  man,  is  the  head  guide  there.  There  are,  of  course,  numerous 
points  of  interest  on  Etna  besides  the  main  peak,  which  is  10,742  feet  above 
the  sea.  It  has  lost  more  than  a  hundred  feet  in  recent  years.  There  is  an 
Alpine  Club  in  Catania.  The  asqent  can  be  made  at  all  times,  but  the  snow 
makes  the  ascent  more  fatiguing  in  winter,  and  at  certain  points  more  dangerous. 
The  best  time  for  ascent  is  at  the  full  moon  in  July,  but  August  and  September 
are  also  good. 

Etna  has  three  zones.  The  cultivated,  or  Piedimontana,  up  to  4,000  feet — 
called  by  the  Greeks  the  Campus  TEtnaeus — is  one  of  the  most  fertile  districts 
in  the  world,  with  a  very  even  climate.  The  second,  or  the  Boschiva,  ranges 
to  the  height  of  6,000  feet ;  this  is  the  forest  district.  The  third,  called  the 
Deserta-  or  the  Scoperta,  which  here  and  there  accumulates  snow,  has  hardly 
any  animal  life  and  few  plants  in  the  lower  regions — various  lichens  and  the 
Spine  Sante,  The  Saracens  called  the  mountain  Giabal  Huthamet,  which 
means  mountain  of  fire.  But  they  usually  spoke  of  it  as  Giabal  or  Gibel — the 
mountain.  The  Italians  took  this  for  a  proper  name  and  called  it  Monte 
Gibel — Mongibello.  The  natives  of  the  Etna  district  simply  call  it  Mon- 
tagna.  There  is  an  almost  inconceivable  richness  of  wild  flowers  on  the 
slopes  of  the  mountain  above  Catania. 


THINGS   SICILIAN  169 

Randazzo  is  the  typical  mountain  town,  and  no  one  has  seen  Sicily 
thoroughly  who  has  not  seen  a  medieval  mountain  town. 

The  most  characteristic  features  of  Etna  are  the  tremendous  lava  streams 
crossed  by  the  railway  and  the  provincial  road.  An  immense  time  elapses 
before  anything  will  grow  on  these  black  sierras  and  abysses.  Among  the 
first  are  the  gigantic  golden-flowered  spurges  {Euphorbia},  Between  Bronte 
and  Aderno,  a  distance  of  ten  miles,  Baedeker  enumerates  no  less  than  six 
lava  streams — those  of  1843,  1727,  1763,  1603,  1787,  and  1610.  There  is 
one  just  outside  Randazzo  easy  to  examine.  Among  the  special  wild  flowers 
of  Etna  are  a  great  variety  of  richly-coloured  irises  and  wild  peonies,  which 
are  found  in  the  forests.  Virgil,  J&neid^  iii.  571  et  seq^  describes  an  eruption 
of  Etna :  ' '  Near  it,  Etna  thunders  with  horrible  ruins,  and  sometimes  sends 
forth  to  the  skies  a  black  cloud,  ascending  in  a  pitchy  whirlwind  of  smoke 
and  glowing  embers,  throws  up  globes  of  flame,  and  kisses  the  stars :  some 
times  belching  flings  on  high  the  ribs  and  shattered  bowels  of  the  mountain, 
and  with  a  rumbling  noise  in  wreathy  heaps  convolves  in  air  molten  rocks, 
and  boils  up  from  the  lowest  bottom.  It  is  said  that  the  body  of  Enceladus, 
half-consumed  with  lightning,  is  pressed  down  with  this  pile,  and  that 
cumbrous  Etna,  laid  above  him,  is  therefore  still  spouting  forth  flames  from 
its  burst  furnaces  ;  and  that  as  often  as  he  shifts  his  weary  side,  all  Trinacria, 
with  a  deep  groan,  inly  trembles,  and  overspreads  the  heaven  with  smoke." 
(Old  Translation.} 


ETNA,  WITH  CATANIA  IN  THE  FOREGROUND 


Eunus.  The  leader  of  the  Sicilian  slaves  in  the  Slave  War  of  134  B.C. 
He  was  a  Syrian,  the  slave  of  Antigenes,  a,  rich  citizen  of  Enna.  By  his 
powers  as  a  juggler,  he  attained  great  influence  with  his  superstitious  fellow- 
slaves,  and  at  the  head  of  four  hundred,  chiefly  slaves  of  D.amophilus,  made 
himself  master  of  the  town.  While  yet  a  slave  he  had  prophesied  that  he 


170        SICILY  THE  NEW  WINTER  RESORT 

would  be  a  king.  'After  the  capture  of  Enna  he  assumed  the  crown  and  title 
of  King  Antiochus.  Cleon,  a  Cilician,  raised  another  successful,  revolt  in  the 
south  of  the  island,  and  at  the  head  of  S,ooo  armed  slaves  joined  Euntis  as  his 
lieutenant.  The  praetor  was  defeated.  C.  Fulvius  Flaccus,  consul  134  B.C., 
could  do  nothing,  and  though  L.  Calpurnius  Piso,  consul  of  the  next  year, 
took^  Messana,  he  found  Enna  too  strong  for  him.  In  the  following  year  P. 
Rupilius  captured  Tauromenium,  one  of  the  principal  strongholds  of  Eunus, 
and  then  advanced  upon  Enna.  Cleon  sallied  out  and  died  fighting,  but 
Eunus  was  captured,  and  died  eaten  by  vermin. 


MOUNT  ETNA3   NICOLOSI,   AND  MONTI  ROSSI 


Euphemius.  A  rich  Syracusan  whom,  to  accomplish  his  ruin,  the  Governor 
of  Syracuse,  under  the  Emperor  Michael  Balbus,  Photinus,  accused  of  trying 
to  carry  off  a  beautiful  nun.  Euphemius  gathered  his  followers  and  fought 
a  pitched  battle  with  the  governor,  in  which  he  won.  He  then  took  posses 
sion  of  Syracuse  and  declared  himself  emperor.  Being  driven  out  by  the 
Byzantine  troops  after  a  counter-insurrection,  he  fled  to  the  Mahometans 
in  Africa,  and  suggested  that  they  should  restore  him  as  sovereign  of  Sicily  on 
condition  of  his  paying  a  yearly  tribute.  The  Emir  Ased  led  an  army  into 
Sicily,  827  A.  D.  ,  and  landed  at  Mazzara,  but  more  with  a  view  to  Mahomed- 
ising  Sicily  than  with  a  view  to  helping  Euphemius,  who  was  killed  in 
829  while  trying  to  make  the  imperial  troops,  who  had  taken  refuge  at  Enna,. 
capitulate. 

Euphorbia.  A  genus  of  plants  widely  represented  in  Sicily,  from  glorified 
specimens  of  our  common  spurge  to  huge  cactus-looking  plants.  The  spurges, 
which  grow  wild  in  England,  ^in  Sicily  attain  the  height  of  several  feet,  and 
have  most  gorgeous  golden  blossoms,  especially  on  Etna. 

Euryaius,  Castle  pf,  The  finest  ancient  Greek  fortress,  See  under 
Syracuse. 


THINGS   SICILIAN  171 

Excavations.  Sicily  affords  a  most  interesting  field  for  excavations.  The 
Government  is  too  poor  to  excavate  much.  Of  recent  years  the  principal 
excavations  have  been  at  Selinunte,  where  the  splendid  new  Temple  of  Hecate, 
with^a  propylsea  and  enormous  quantities  of  lamps  and  remains  of  terra-cotta 
figurines  have  been  laid  bare,  and  at  Syracuse,  where  Professor  Orsi  has  quite 
lately  unearthed  the  Temple  of  Bacchus  behind  the  church  of  S.  Giovanni, 
and  an  adytum  near  the  Scala  Greca,  besides  numerous  tombs.  There 
are  some  splendid  areas  for  excavation  which  have  never  been  touched,  such 
as  the  Island  of  S.  Pantaleo,  the  site  of  the  Carthaginian  city  of  Motya, 
where  excavations  are  suspended  until  its  proprietor,  Mr.  Joseph  Whitaker, 
receives  certain  protective  rights.  Some  fine  ancient  cemeteries  have  also 
been  excavated  in  recent  years,  notably  the  Greek  necropolis  of  the  fifth 
century  B.C.,  near  Terranova,  the  ancient  Gela,  the  unique  Phoenician  necro 
polis  at  Birgi,  near  Marsala,  and  the  prehistoric  necropolis  of  Pantalica. 
There  is  a  great  deal  of  unlicensed  excavating  going  on  near  Marsala,  and  at 
Girgenti  licences  are  issued  to  prospectors,  who  have  to  submit  their  findings  to 
the  Museum — a  method  which  seems  to  answer  pretty  well.  Innumerable 
quantities  of  coins  and  small  objects  of  bronze  and  terra-cotta  are  exhumed 
annually  in  the  process  of  cultivation,  which  makes  Sicily  a  splendid  field  for 
the  collector. 

Excursions.  Sicily  is  not  a  good  country  for  excursions.  There  are 
hardly  any  excursions  at  present  which  you  can  do  in  a  day  by  rail,  owing  to 
the  difficulties  in  getting  sufficient  traffic  to  make  trains  pay.  The  natives 
travel  so  very  much  in  trains  which  leave  about  dawn  that  trains  for  sight 
seers  in  the  middle  of  the  day  would  depend  almost  entirely  on  foreign  sight 
seers,  who  are  not  sufficiently  numerous.  The  head  of  the  Sicilian  railways, 
however,  the  well-known  antiquary,  Comni.  Luigi  Mauceri,  is  exceedingly 
interested  in  the  matter,  and  maybe  trusted  to  do  all  he  can  in  this  direc 
tion.  The  same  thing  applies  to  steamers.  With  the  exception  of  the  trip 


ETNA  :  AT  THE  MOUTH  OF  THE 
GRAND  CRATER 


172        SICILY  THE   NEW  WINTER   RESORT 

from  Messina  to  the  mainland  there  is  not  a  single  return  sea-trip  in  Sicily 
giving  one  time  to  see  anything,  to  be  made  in  one  day.  But  if  a  few  days 
can  be  spared,  Malta,  the  Lipari  Islands,  Tunis,  sometimes  Tripoli,  and 
Pantelleria  can  be  visited.  But  steamers  are  not  cheap  in  Italy.  They  always 
run  them  up  to  train  prices.  The  mail-vetture  are  not  inviting,  and  certain 
districts  in  the  interior  have  a  brigandy  reputation,  though  it  is  proverbial  in 
Sicily  that  brigands  never  touch  foreigners  except  those  who  have  possessions 
in  the  island.  The  excursions  which  are  possible  in  Sicily  are  at  present  those 
which  can  be  done  by  carriage.  For  cyclists  the  hills  are  so  formidable,  and 
the  distances  are  so  considerable  and  carriages  so  slow  that  there  are  few 
places  which  can  be  visited  in  the  day  even  by  carriage.  The  only  way  to 
make  excursions  at  present  is  to  go  a  tour,  working  from  place  to  place. 
What  Sicily  wants  is  a  system  of  motor-cars.  With  their  aid  the  extremely 
interesting  cities  of  the  interior,  hitherto  almost  unvisited  by  foreigners,  could 
be  got  at  quite  easily.  The  distances  are  not  great  for  motors,  because  they 
can  go  up  the  interminable  hills  as  easily  as  they  can  go  along  the  flat.  And 
the  main  provincial  roads  of  Sicily  are  magnificent,  though  byroads  are  no 
better  than  the  beds  of  torrents.  From  Catania  it  would  be  easy  to  visit  in 
a  day  almost  any  town  on  Etna,  Centuripe,  and  Agira.  From  Castrogiovanni, 
where  Herr  Von  Pernull  thinks  of  opening  a  civilised  hotel,  a  motor  could 
take  people  to  cities  like  Nicosia,  and  so  on. 

Evil  Eye.  This  is  a  common  superstition  in  Sicily,  and  you  see  charms  for 
use  against  it  in  every  jeweller's  shop.  See  Amulets. 

Eyes,  Sicilian.  In  all  the  Greek  parts  of  Sicily  large  liquid  black  eyes  are 
usual,  but  in  other  parts,  especially  at  Palermo,  you  get  the  so-called  Sicilian 
eyes,  which  are  of  a  dark  grey,  which  looks  quite  blue  in  some  lights  and 
black  in  others,  very  beautiful  and  striking  eyes. 

Eyes  on  boats.   This  Chinese  superstition  is  usual  in  Sicily.   See  Barcas. 

Exergue.  f  *  On  a  coin  the  segment  of  the  circle  below  the  type  is  some 
times  cut  off  by  a  line  ;  this  segment  is  known  as  the  '  exergue  ' "  (Mr.  G.  F. 
Hill).  A  very  good  example  is  on  the  splendid  decadrachms  of  Syracuse 
(q.v.),  which  are  filled  with  representations  of  the  arms  worn  by  the  Athenian 
hoplite,  as  trophies. 

F 

Facchini.  The  facchini  are  a  feature  of  Sicily.  A  facchino  is  a  porter. 
There  are  guilds  of  them  who  do  the  portering  at  railway  stations  and  in  the 
streets.  The  term  is  also  used  for  the  boots  of  a  hotel.  The  latter  is  gener 
ally  a  decent  fellow.  The  former  is  a  licensed  robber  unless  you  know  what 
he  ought  to  'be  paid,  and  make  a  bargain  against  the  least  departure  from  his 
stereotyped  duties.  When  you  are  getting  in  or  out  of  a  train  you  pay  two 
pence  for  every  large  piece  of  baggage,  a  penny  for  every  hand  package.  But  it 
is  when  he  conveys  your  luggage  to  the  hotel,  or  is  carrying  it  from  a  row-boat 
up  to  the  steamer,  that  he  shows  his  talents  for  business.  Sometimes  the 
machinations  of  the  guild  make  one  set  of  porters  lift  your  luggage  from  the 
steamer  into  a  row-boat,  and  another  from  the  row-boat  to  the  shore  in  a 
harbour  where  every  inch  of  the  shore  is  deep-water  wharf. 

Factory  women.  In  Palermo  factories  for  lemon-packing,  etc.,  are 
beginning  to  break  down  the  semi-oriental  privacy  in  which  Sicilians  had 
kept  their  women. 

Fairs.  Sicily  is  rather  great  on  fairs.  They  take  a  childish  delight  in  peep- 
shows.  Every  market  like  that  of  the  Piazza  Nuova  of  Palermo  is  more  or 
less  of  a  fair  with  its  marionette  theatre  and  knights  in  tin  armour  and  stalls 


THINGS   SICILIAN     .  I73 

of  impossibly  cheap  and  worthless  knick-knacks.  But  the  great  fair  of  the 
year  is  the  Easter  Fair  opposite  the  Politeama,  in  Palermo.  That  lasts  three 
days,  and  besides  its  peepshows  where  women  let  young  anacondas  embrace 
them,  and  the  showman  wipes  the  stomach  of  the  crocodile  with  something 
like  a  tear,  and  waxworks  of  King  Bomba's  tortures  with  insects  and  pick 
pockets  galore,  there  is  solid  business  done  at  these  fairs.  Country  people  buy 
their  knives  and  their  copper  saucepans  and  coffee-pots,  the  last  two  invariably 
by  weight;  and  strangers  buy  the  dolls  in  tin  armour,  Roger  the  Great 
Count,  Saladin  and  the  rest  of  them,  and  the  majolica  lamps  made  in  the 
shape  of  grotesque  human  figures,  and  miniature  editions  of  the  painted 
Palermo  carts.  The  booths  in  which  the  business  of  the  fair  is  carried  on  must 
have  been  introduced  from  Japan,  for  they  are  of  the  Japanese  pattern,  and 
are  hung  at  night  with  Japanese  lanterns.  Indeed,  the  Sicilians  call  them 
Japanese  fairs.  The  water-seller  is  the  best  thing  about  these  fairs.  His  great 
Greek  jar  and  quaint  table  with  flashing  brass  and  glass  shows  up  splendidly 
when  the  table  has  the  old-fashioned  ship's  lanterns  fixed  on  to  its  sides  lit  up. 

Falcandus,  Hug;o.  A  twelfth-century  historian  born  in  Normandy.  He 
wrote  in  Latin  a  history  of  the  events  which  happened  in  Sicily,  1146-69, 
published  for  the  first^  time  by  Gervais  de  Tournay,  a  canon  of  Soissons 
(Paris,  I55°)>  aad  reprinted  in  various  collections  such  as  those  of  Muratori 
and  Burman.  Freeman  says:  c'One  of -those  few  medieval  writers  who  as 
historians  really  stand  alongside  of  Thucydides  and  Polybius,  of  Tacitus, 
Ammianus,  and  Procopius." 

Fans.  In  a  climate  like  Sicily's,  a  country  moreover  where  Spanish  influence 
has  been  strong,  the  fan  was  bound  to  play  a  leading  part.  Very  beautiful  old 
fans  can  therefore  be  picked  up  in  the  curio-shops. 

Farmhouses.  There  are  few  farmhouses  in  Sicily,  because  the  Sicilians,  for 
fear  of  robbers  and  malaria,  prefer  to  live  in  cities.  What  there  are,  are  poor 
one-storied  buildings  with  hardly  any  windows,  and  little  of  the  arabesque 
picturesqueness  of  the  farms  round  Naples. 

Faro.  The  Faro  of  Messina,  the  ancient  Pelorus,  is  the  site  of  the  light 
house  at  the  entrance  to  the  Strait  of  Messina,  one  of  the  three  capes  ordin 
arily  accepted  as  giving  the  island  its  name  of  Trinacria  (q.v.,  and  see  under 


THE   FARO  OF   MESSINA 


174        SICILY  THE   NEW  WINTER   RESORT 

Messina).  The  name  Faro  comes  from  the  ancient  lighthouse.  Diodorus 
says  that  the  spit  of  sand  which  connects  it  with  the  mainland  was  constructed 
by  the  giant  Orion.  His  fountain  stands  outside  the  cathedral.  The  cockles 
of  Pelorus  have  been  famous  since  classical  times. 

Fat.  The  Sicilians  like  their  women  to  be  embonpoint. 
-  Favara.  See  also  under  Palermo.  Favara  is  the  Arabic/aware^  (fewwar), 
a  spring  of  water.  It  is  about  five  miles  from  Girgenti.  .Murray  is  eloquent 
about  its  feudal  castle,  built  by  Frederick  Chiaramonte  in  the  fourteenth 
century,  which  stands  on  the  piazza,  and  is  a  fine  square  battlemented  pile 
with  Moresque  windows,  and  a  little  ruined  chapel  entered  by  a  beautiful  but 
quaint  pointed  doorway.  It  has  columns  of  porphyry  inlaid  with  mosaics,  and 
commands  a  fine  view  of  the  sea.  Mail-vettura  I  hour  20  minutes  from  Caldare 
Stat.  (Girgenti-Roccapalumba),  and  2  hours  from  Girgenti. 

Favarotta.   Stat,  Licata-Girgenti  line.     Unimportant. 

Favignana.   One  of  the  ^Egatian  Islands  (q.v.). 

Fazello  or  Fazelli,  Tommaso.  One  of  the  historians  of  Sicily ;  born  at 
Sacca  in  Sicily,  1498.  "Entered  the  Dominican  order ;  Professor  of  Philosophy 
at  Palermo,  where  he  died  1570.  He  wrote  De  Rebus  Siculis  Decades  Dues. 
His  history  is  highly  esteemed.  The  best  edition  is  that  published  at  Catania, 
1749-53- 

Feluccas.  The  ordinary  coasting-craft  of  the  Mediterranean.  Very  elegant 
half-decked  vessels  with  high  frigate  bows,  a  great  shoulder-of-mutton  sail  on 
a  mainmast  and  a  smaller  one  on  a  jigger. 

Fennel  (Finocchio).  The  favourite  vegetable  of  Sicily,  in  spite  of  its  strong 
aniseed  taste.  It  is  eaten  raw  or  stewed  like  celery,  and  is  considered  most 
wholesome.  Its  technical  name  is  the  sweet  F.  Cretan  fennel,  or  Italian 
fennel  (Fcsniculum  dulce) ;  it  is  to  be  distinguished  from  the  Fosniculum  vulgare, 
whose  leaves  we  boil  with  mackerel  and  salmon  (Chambers).  Its  popularity 
is  shown  by  two  Italian  proverbs:  "Voglio  la  mia  parte  fino  al  finocchio" 
(I  will  have  my  share  to  a  farthing),  and  "Esservi  come  il  finocchio  nelle 
salicce"  (to  stand  for  a  mere  cipher,  to  be  regarded  as  nobody).  .; 

Fennel,  "wild.  One  of  the  most  conspicuous  wild  flowers  of  Sicily,  with  its 
feathery,  pale-green  leaves  and  its  large  stalks  of  golden  flowers  several  feet 
high.  Chambers  calls  this  the  giant  fennel  (Ferula),  and  says  it  belongs  to  a 
different  genus  and  is  akin  to  asafcetida. 

Ferdinand  IV.  of  Naples  and  III.  of  Sicily,  and  from  1815  Ferdi 
nand  I.  of  the  Two  Sicilies  j  the  husband  of  Marie  Antoinette's  sister, 
Maria  Caroline,  and  thrown  much  into  contact  with  our  Nelson  ;  had  an  in 
ordinately  long  reign:  from  1759-1825.  He  sometimes  neglected  and  some 
times  oppressed  his  kingdom,  and  his  only  pleasures  were  those  of  the  table  and 
hunting.  His  numerous  portraits  and  coins  show  him  to  have  had  a  face  like 
a  pig.  From  1759  t°  1815 — the  year  of  the  Battle  of  Quebec  to  the  year  of  the 
Battle  of  Waterloo — he  was  Ferdinand  IV.,  and  for  the  last  three  years  of 
that  period,  under  the  moral  compulsion  of  the  English,  he  was  a  constitutional 
king.  (See  Bentinck. )  But  after  the  Battle  of  Waterloo,  having  been  formally 
restored  as  a  constitutional  king,  he  suspended  the  constitution  and  became 
very  tyrannical. 

Ferdinand  II.  (Re  Bomba)  reigned  from  1830  to  1839  over  the  Two 
Sicilies.  His  iniquities  were  thundered  over  Europe  by  Mr.  Gladstone,  but 
the  modern  Sicilian  would  like  to  go  back  to  the  days  of  King  Bomba. 


THINGS  SICILIAN  175 

Ferla.  Reached  by  mail-vettura  from  Vizzini  Stat.  in  6  hours  (Caltagirone 
line),  and  from  Syracuse  in  lof  hours.  There  are  chambers  and  sepulchres 
cut  into  the  rock  on  Monte  di  S.  Martino.  Ferla  is  near  the  remains  of  another 
ancient  place  destroyed  by  the  great  earthquake  of  1693. 

Ferrovia  (Stazione- Ferrovia),  the  Sicilian  for  railway  station.  Strada 
ferrata  is  the  more  usual  term  for  a  railway. 

Ferrovia  Sicula  Occidentale.  The  line  from  Palermo  to  Trapani,  serving 
also  Carini,  Alcamo,  Segesta,  Castelvetrano,  Selinunte,  Mazzara,  Marsala,  and 
Monte  S.  Giuliano  (Eryx).  It  is  a  private  line,  not  belonging  to  the  Strade 
Ferrate  della  Sicilia. 

Fevers.  Fever-districts  in  Sicily,  like  the  fever  seasons,  are  well  marked. 
With  a  little  care  the  traveller,  who  need  only  go  where  he  pleases,  can  avoid 
any  risk  of  fever.  July,  August,  and  September  are  the  worst  months,  and 
some  oHihe  worst  districts  are  the  Plain  of  Catania,  especially  round  the  Lake 
of  Leutini ;  the  marshy  land  round  the  Great  Harbour  at  Syracuse ;  the 
Campobello  di  Mazzara,  and  the  alluvial  lands  along  the  Paler  mo -Trapani  line 
and  the  Palermo-Girgenti  line.  There  is  no  doubt  but  that  the  people  who 
work  on  the  land  surfer  a  good  deal  from  malaria.  The  numerous  shops  for 
selling  dried  herbs  would  prove  that,  as  the  poor  make  their  own  febrifuges  of 
herbs. 

^  Ficarazzelli.  A  village  near  Palermo,  with  some  of  the  richest  orchards  in 
Sicily.  Stat.,  Palermo-Messina  line. 

Ficarazzi.  Stat.  on  the  Palermo- Messina  line  between  the  above  and 
Bagheria.  Jasper  and  marbles  are  found  here.  The  Villa  S.  Elia,  with  its 
superb  outside  staircase,  is  here. 

Fichi  d' India  (Prickly-pears),  so  called  because  they  were  introduced  into 
Europe  from  the  West  Indies.  Their  grey  cactus  foliage  forms  such  a  pre 
dominant  feature  in  the  landscape  of  Sicily,  that  it  is  almost  impossible  to 
picture  the  Sicily  of  the  Greeks  without  prickly-pears  or  aloes.  Its  fruit,  which 
ripens,  according  to  the  variety,  red,  white,  yellow,  or  purple,  is  excellent  and 
much  eaten.  It  has  a  texture  something  like  the  banana,  but  a  much  more 
delicate  flavour.  It  is  something  the  shape  of  horse-chestnut  fruit,  and,  like  it, 
covered  with  prickles.  They  rankle  and  cause  sores  if  they  are  allowed  to 
work  into  the  flesh.  Tiny  iron  tweezers,  costing  a  halfpenny  each,  are  sold 
in  the  shops  which  sell  prickly-pears. 

Ficus  Rubiginosa.  A  native  of  Queensland,  where  they  call  it  the  Morton 
Bay  Fig.  Like  the  banyan,  it  drops  down  roots  from  its  branches  which  grow 
into  tree-trunks.  There  is  one  in  the  Botanical  Gardens  at  Palermo  which 
measures  a  hundred  yards  round  and  has  little  avenues  between  its  numerous 
trunks. 

Ficuzza.  A  stat.  on  the  Palermo-Corleone  line ;  a  favourite  hunting-seat 
of  Ferdinand  I. 

Figs.  There  are  quantities  of  fig  trees  in  Sicily.  Dried  figs  are  a  great 
article  of  diet.  The  best  come  from  the  Lipari  Islands.  They  are  generally 
called  white  figs  to  distinguish  them  from  the  black  figs  (fichi  neri],  which  are 
roasted  with  almonds  stuck  in  them,  and  the  Turkey  figs,  which  are  called 
Fichi  di  Smyrna.  They  are  often  sold  in  large  cakes  impaled  on  reeds  or 
sticks.  Foreigners  consider  them  rough,  as  they  are,  compared  to  Turkey 
figs ;  but  they  are  very  valuable  in  diet  to  counteract  the  astringent  element 
in  the  Sicilian  wines. 

Figs,  Indian.   See  above,  Fichi  d' India,  and  Prickly-pears. 


176        SICILY  THE   NEW  WINTER   RESORT 

Figs,  wild.  The  wild  fig  is  very  fond  of  growing  in  ruins.  There  is  a  fine 
one  in  the  Treasury  of  the  Olympeium  at  Syracuse. 

S.  Filippo-Archi.  Stat.  next  Milazzo  on  Messina-Palermo  line.  Mail- 
coach  to  S.  Filippo  Mela,  I  hour  ;  S.  Lucia  Mela,  i\  hours. 

Fiore  di  Persko.  A  very  valuable  antique  marble,  only  known  in  Rome 
and  Palermo.  See  Cappella  Reale,  under  Palermo. 

Fire,  the  Isle  of.  Dante,  Paradise,  xfx.  131,  calls  Sicily  "  the  Isle  of  Fire'3 
(Le.  of  Etna),  "  where  Anchises  ended  his  long  life." 

Fires.  The  Sicilian  seldom  has  fires  or  fireplaces  in  his  house.  His  cook 
ing  is  done  over  a  handful  of  charcoal  in  a  tiled  stove.  As  a  consequence 
conflagrations  are  few.  I  have  never  seen  one.  There  are  hardly  any  chimneys 
in  Sicilian  towns. 

Fireplaces.   See  preceding  paragraph. 

Fish.  The  choice  of  fish  in  Sicily  is  very  small.  You  see  grey  mullet 
as  often  as  all  the  other  fish  put  together  ;  after  it  comes  the  red  mullet ;  you 
sometimes  see  gurnet,  a  kind  of  hake,  and  small  bony  bream  ;  the  big  pink 
bream  called  "  snapper"  by  Australians;  and  the  long-nosed,  green-fleshed 
garfish.  You  seldom  get  sardines  or  anchovies,  except  very  small  as  whitebait. 
There  is  also  a  transparent  kind  of  whitebait,  and  the  Sicilians  are  fond 
of  octopus  and  sea-urchins  and  other  molluscs.  There  are  a  few  oysters,  and 
the  cockles  of  Pelorus  (Messina).  To  make  up  for  the  dearth  of  ordinary  fish, 
there  are,  however,  two  splendid  monsters  which  are  p^uite  good  eating — 
the  tunny  and  the  swordfish.  The  tunny  fisheries  of  Sicily  (see  Tonnaro)  are 
among  the  most  important  fishing  industries  in  the  world.  Tunny  have  been 
caught  up  to  a  thousand  pounds  in  weight,  but  they  are  generally  more  about 
a  hundredweight.  They  are  gigantic  fish  of  the  mackerel  tribe,  and  their 
great  value  lies  in  the  fact  that  they  are  summer  fish,  and  that  their  close 
fibre  makes  them  keep  well.  Similar  in  the  appearance  of  its  flesh  and  even 
more  prized  in  the  north-east  corner  of  the  island  is  the  swordfish.  See 
under  Messina,  Pesce  spada. 

Fishing  in  Sicily.   Visitors  do  not  fish  much  in  Sicily. 

Fiumara.  A  river  which  overflows.  In  certain  parts  of  Sicily  rivers  which 
only  flow  intermittently  are  the  rule.  See  under  Messina,  Torrente.  There 
is  a  splendid  example  of  the  fiumara  at  Fiume  d'Agro,  near  Taorrnina. 

Fiumefreddo  Sicilia.  A  railway  stat.  and  a  river  close  to  Taormina. 
The  coldness  of  the  water  is  due  to  a  vitriolic  acid,  which  lowers  its  tempera 
ture  to  3!  degrees  cent.  There  are  some  remains  of  the  Flumen  frigidum 
of  the  Romans. 

Flag,  the  Yellow,  or  Wild  Iris,  grows  freely  along  the  banks  of  the 
Cyane,  Madiuni,  and  other  rivers. 

S.  Flavia.  A  stat.  a  few  miles  from  Palermo  on  the  Messina  line.  Here 
you  get  out  for  Solunto.  The  necropolis  of  Solunto  is  near  the  stat.  The 
ruins  of  the  Sicilian  Pompeii  are  on  Monte  Catalfano  above. 

Flax.  A  great  deal  of  flax  is  grown  in  Sicily.  Country  people  have  their 
patch  of  flax,  and  make  their  own  linen,  as  we  have  a  patch  of  potatoes. 
The  flax  with  its  pale  blue  and  crimson  blossoms  is  one  of  the  prettiest  wild 
flowers.  The  Americans  have  a  pretty  name  for  wild  flax — blue-eyed  grass. 

Fleas  in  the  winter  and  spring  are  not  very  troublesome.  The  worst  place 
for  fleas  and  bugs  we  ever  tried  in  Sicily  was  Patti,  the  Hotel  Nasone.  The 
Italian  for  flea  is  puke. 


THINGS   SICILIAN  177 

Florio,  Comm.  Ignazio,  the  chief  owner  of  the  Navigazione-Generale- 
Italiana  (Florio- Rubattino)  steamship  line,  the  Florio -Marsala  wines,  the 
Anglo-Sicilian  Sulphur  Company,  and  the  great  Tunny  Fisheries,  resides 
at  Palermo  in  the  Villa  Butera.  See  under  Palermo.  He  is  a  young  man, 
son  of  Senatore  Ignazio  Florio. 

_  Florio,  Senatore  Igriazio.  The  founder  of  the  great  industries  which  bear 
his  name  is  buried  in  the  Gesii  Cemetery,  in  Palermo.  There  is  a  public 
monument  to  him  in  Palermo.  He  was  one  of  the  most  remarkable  Italians 
of  modern  times,  an  immense  benefactor  both  to  Italian  commerce  and  to  the 
Sicilian  labour  market. 

Florio-Rubattino,  The,  is  the  principal  line  of  steamships  in  Italy,  now 
known  as  the  Navigazione-Generale-Italiana.  Its  vessels  not  only  do  the  bulk 
of  the  coasting  traffic,  but  go  to  North  and  South  America,  Egypt,  India, 
etc.  It  has  a  line  of  steamers  between  Naples  and  Palermo,  which  are  very 
fast  and  fitted  like  miniature  Atlantic  liners. 

What  is  wanted  is  a  line  of  large  fast  steamers  going  direct  from  Genoa  to 
Palermo  without  a  stop  of  any  kind.  They  would  secure  most  of  the  English 
and  German  traffic.  It  is  such  a  long  drag  down  to  Naples  by  sea  or  land,  and 
Palermo  is  almost  as  near  Genoa  as  Naples  is. 

Floridia.  A  small  town  near  Syracuse  (mail-vettura  in  I  hour).  Founded 
1640  by  Giacomo  Bonanno,  near  the  entrance  of  the  Cava  di  Spampinato, 
where  the  destruction  of  the  Athenians  was  thought  to  have  begun. 

Flowers.  Sicily  is  a  paradise  of  flowers.  Almost  any  flowers  belonging 
to  the  temperate  or  subtropical  zones  will  grow  here  if  they  have  plenty 
of  watering. 

Flowers,  wild.  The  wild  flowers  of  Sicily  are  a  proverb.  It  is  the 
land  of  Proserpine,  the  spring  goddess.  Among  those  which  I  have  person 
ally  noted  are  the  Acanthus,  Scarlet  Adonis,  Anemone,  Artichoke,  Wild 
Asphodel,  Wild  Asparagus,  Barba  di  Giove  (Beard  of  Jove),  Bluebell,  Borage, 


bill,  Cyclamen,  Daisy,  Datura,  Donax,  Fennel,  Fiore  Bianco,  Flax,  Friesias, 
Fumitory,  Garlic,  Genesta,  Geranium,  Germander,  Gladiolus,  Gorse,  Grape- 
hyacinth,  Henbane,  Iris,  Ivy,  Lily,  King's-spear  (Yellow  Asphodel),  Lord  and 
Lady,  Lupin,  Mallow,  Marguerite,  Marigold,  Corn-marigold,  Wild  Mignon 
ette,  Myosotis,  Myrtle,  Narcissus,  Nightshade,  Wild  Onion,  Orchid,  Pink 
Orchid,  Orpine,  Fooi's-parsley,  Peony,  Prickly-pear,  Penny-piece,  Pimpernel 
(red  and  blue),  Poppy,  Rosemary,  Rose,  a  sort  of  Crimson  Rambler  Rose, 
Flowering  Rush,  Sainfoin,  Snapdragon,  Spurge,  Wild  Stock,  Tare  (purple  and 
white),  Thistle,  Toadflax,  Trifoglio,  Peavetch,  Violet. 

Flower-stalls.  The  flower-stalls  of  Palermo  are  very  picturesque  with  their 
tall  plumes  of  dried  grasses  in  the  recesses  of  the  principal  streets.  In  the 
spring,  when  foreigners  are  there,  they  have  fine  shows  of  violets,  friesias, 
camellias,  roses,  mignonette,  etc. 

Flutes.  Architectural  term.  In  Sicily  the  temples,  being  mostly  Greek, 
generally  have  fluted  columns. 

Flutes.  Round  Syracuse  especially  one  can  always  hear  the  goatherds 
playing  on  their  reed  flutes  as  they  did  in  the  dayS  of  Theocritus.  They 
generally  play  Sicilian  music,  old  airs  which  you  cannot  buy  in  shops  but 
very  valse-like. 


xyS        SICILY   THE   NEW   WINTER   RESORT 

Forestieri.   The  terra  by  which  the  Sicilians  invariably  speak  of  foreigners. 

Folk-songs.  Sicily  is  celebrated  for  its  folk-songs.  Chambers  says  of  the 
Sicilian  dialect :  "It  has  furnished  a  rich  literary  material  to  the  popular 
imagination  for  six  hundred  years  down  to  our  own  clay,  and  yielded  a  harvest 
of  genuinely  popular  poetry  not  equalled  elsewhere  in  the  world.  Not  in 
their  number  alone  are  the  Sicilian  folk-songs  pre-eminent,  but  in  their 
intrinsic  poetic  excellence.  The  love-songs  especially  are  tender,  passionate, 
and  sincere,  and  many  have  a  penetrating  pathos  that  haunts  the  memory  of  a 
reader.  They  have  been  collected  by  S.  Salomone-Marino,  Dr.  Pitre  (q.v.), 
and  L.  Vigo,  whose  Raccolta  ampliss.  di  canti  popolari  SiciL  (1870-74)  alone 
contains  6,000  songs,  besides  a  good  bibliography  of  books  in  the  Sicilian 
dialect.  Dr.  Pitre's  great  BibHoteca  delle  Tradizioni  pop.  SiciUana  (19  vols., 
1870-90)  is  a  vast  encyclopaedia  of  folk-songs  and  ballads,  folk-tales,  legends, 
proverbs,  customs,  games,  jests,  riddles,  etc.,  with  grammatical  introductions 
and  glossaries.  Two  other  works  that  must  be  named  are  Laura  Gonzenbach's 
Sizilianische  Mdrchen  (2  vols.,  Leip.,  1877),  and  S.  Salomone-Marino's 
Storie  Populariin  Poesia  SiciUana  (Bolog,,  1877). 

Sismondi  sees  in  the  Sicilian  folk-song  Sicilian  words  wedded  to  Arabic 
airs  dating  from  the  Saracenising  court  of  William  I.  He  quotes  the  names 
of  Ciullo  d'Alcamo,  the  Emperor  Frederick  II. ,  his  Chancellor  Pietro  Delle 
Vigne,  Oddo  delle  Colonne,  and  Mazzeo  di  Ricco. 

Fortifications.  Sicily  is  not  very  well  off  for  modern  fortifications,  though 
there  are  a  few  round  Messina.  In  the  Castle  of  Euryalus,  near  Syracuse,  it 
possesses  the  finest  antique  Greek  fortress.  There  are  also  some  splendid 
Greek  fortifications  at  Selinunte,  and  noble  Spanish  bastions  at  Messina  and 
Palermo. 

Fortune-tellers.  The  professional  fortune-teller  with  blindfolded  eyes 
and  a  long  hollow  rod  may  be  found  in  the  popular  Piazza  di  S.  Domenico  at 
Palermo  and  elsewhere. 

Foro  does  not  mean  a  Roman  forum,  except  perhaps  at  Catania.  The 
Sicilians  remained  Greek  under  Roman  masters,  and  went  in  for  an  agora^ 
K.Qtz.forum.  It  means  a  marine  esplanade,  as  the  Foro  at  Syracuse  or  the 
Foro  Italico  at  Palermo. 

Fountains,  medieval,  etc.  In  Sicily  "fonte"  has  a  wide  range  of  mean 
ings.  It  may  mean  (i)  the  wall-fountain  or  the  tap  in  the  centre  of  the 
piazza  at  which  the  poor  women  fill  their  water -jars  ;  or  (2)  a  spring  like  the 
Fountain  of  Arethusa  and  the  Fountain  of  Cyane  at  Syracuse ;  (3)  a  lovely 
early  Renaissance  fountain  like  that  at  S.  Maria  di  Gesu  at  Palermo  and  the 
Orion  fountain  in  the  Piazza  del  Duomo  at  Messina  ;  or  (4)  a  heavily- 
decorated  baroque  basin  like  that  in  the  Piazza  Pretoria  at  Palermo  or  the 
Fountain  of  the  Four  Beasts  at  Taormina;  (5)  modern  waterworks  fountains 
like  that  in  front  of  the  Palace  at  Palermo.  Taken  as  a  whole,  Sicily  does 
not  excel  in  fountains.  One  should  notice  the  variety  to  be  seen  on  the  road 
to  Monreale  and  elsewhere  of  picturesque  plaster  erections  at  the  roadside,  fed, 
not  by  pipes,  but  by  mountain  streams  unenclosed  till  they  reach  these  fa9ades. 

Fountains,  the  Women's  Clubs.  The  taps  at  which  they  fill  the  water- 
jars  they  carry  on  their  heads  to  draw  the  water  for  domestic  purposes,  are 
certainly  the  women's  clubs.  The  women  often  have  to  wait  half  an  hour 
before  their  turn  comes,  if  there  is  only  a  single  jet. 

Fowl-keeping*.  The  poor  Sicilians  in  Palermo  as  much  as  anywhere  else 
keep  a  crate  of  live  fowls  in  their  houses,  which  is  put  outside  all  day  for  the 
hens  to  take  the  air  in  this  captive  form. 


THINGS   SICILIAN  179 

Francavilla  di  Sicilia  is  3  hours  by  mail-vettura  from  Giardini  Stat, 
Messina-Catania  line.  There  is  a  daily  coach  from  Taormina  in  the  season. 
Francavilla  commands  one  of  the  finest  views  of  Etna. 

Francis  I.  was  king  of  the  Two  Sicilies  1825-30.  He  was  son  of 
Ferdinand  I.  and  IV.  Professor  Pietro  Orsi  describes  him  as  venal,  cruel, 
and  cowardly  to  a  shameless  degree,  and  says  that  he  died  of  remorse  and 
fright  at  the  French  Revolution  of  1830. 

Francis  II.  of  the  Two  Sicilies.  Was  the  son  of  Ferdinand  II.  (*'  II  Re 
Bomba")  and  was  called  the  Little  Bomba  and  Franceschiello.  He  had  only 
reigned  a  year  when  Garibaldi  drove  him  out  of  his  kingdom.  Professor 
Orsi  calls  him  weak-minded,  ignorant,  and  bigoted. 

S.  Fratello-AcquedolcL  A  stat.  Palermo-Messina  line.  Mail-vettura 
to  the  town  of  S.  Fratello  takes  3  hours.  S.  Fratello  is  built  on  the  site 
of  the  ancient  Aluntium,  plundered  by  Verres.  S.  Fratello  is  probably  the 
ancient  Aluntium.  Near  S.  Fratello  is  the  Grotta  di  S.  Teodoro,  a  famous 
bone-cavern. 

Frederick  II.,  the  Emperor.  Often  pronounced  the  most  brilliant 
monarch  of  the  Middle  Ages.  Son  of  the  Emperor  Henry  VI.,  by 
Constance,  daughter  of  King  Roger.  Born  A.D.  1194.  He  became  King  of 
Sicily,  under  the  guardianship  of  his  mother,  at  four  years  old.  He  spent 
most  of  his  life  in  his  Italian  and  Sicilian  dominions,  and  died  at  Fiorentino 
in  Apulia  in  1250.  In  1229,  worried  into  it  at  length  by  the  Pope,  who 
viewed  with  much  apprehension  Frederick's  idea  of  reducing  the  Papacy  to 
the  level  of  a  patriarchate,  he  went  on  a  crusade,  and  without  striking  a  blow, 
obtained  from  the  Sultan  of  Egypt  a  ten  years5  truce,  and  the  surrender  of 
Jerusalem,  where  he  crowned  himself  with  his  own  hands.  His  Sicilian 
court  was  the  centre  of  all  the  learning  and  art  of  the  age,  and  he  himself 
was  one  of  the  fathers  of  the  Italian  language,  and  among  the  best  of  the 
early  Sicilian  poets.  See  Folk-songs  above.  He  is  often  spoken  of  as 
Frederick  of  Hohenstaufen. 

A  note  of  the  Temple  Classics  Dante  quotes  Villani  on  this  emperor. 
"  He  was  addicted  to  all  sensual  delights,  and  led  an  epicurean  life,  taking 
no  heed  of  any  other."  (Note  2,  page  260.) 

Frederick  II.  punished  those  guilty  of  treason  by  having  them  fastened 
in  cloaks  of  lead,  which  were  then  melted  over  a  fire. 

Frederick  II.  of  Aragon.  The  real  restorer  of  Sicilian  independence. 
His  brother  James  was,  in  1296,  reconciled  to  the  Church,  and  bound  himself 
to  restore  Sicily  to  Charles  of  Anjou.  But  Frederick  and  the  Sicilians 
disowned  the  agreement,  and  he  was  crowned  king  in  1296.  He  died 
1337- 

Frederick  III.  (The  Simple).    (1355-1377).     King  of  Sicily. 

Freeman,  Professor  E.  A.  The  greatest  authority  on  Sicily.  His  great 
history  of  Sicily,  which  unfortunately,  even  with  the  continuation  of  Mr.  A. 
J.  Evans,  who  has  made  such  splendid  discoveries  in  Crete,  only  takes  us 
down  to  the  death  of  Agathocles,  is  one  of  the  noblest  historical  monuments 
in  the  language,  marvellously  eloquent,  erudite,  and  interesting.  He  also 
wrote  an  admirable  smaller  history  of  Sicily,  which  carries  the  reader  down 
to  the  reign  of  Constantine  V.,  in  Mr.  Fisher  Unwin's  Story  of  the  Nations 
Series.  But  the -last  chapter  is  a  mere  outline  after  the  death  of  Augustus. 
In  the  third  series  of  his  historical  essays,  again,  there  are  two  dealing 
specially  with  Sicily— "Sicilian  Cycles,"  and  "The  Normans  at  Palermo," 
the  latter  of  uncommon  charm  and  value.  Mr.  Freeman,  who  was  a  scholar 


i8o        SICILY  THE  NEW  WINTER   RESORT 

and  Fellow  of  Trinity  College,  Oxford,  and  Regius  Professor  of  History, 
spent  much  of  his  later  years  in  Sicily.  He  was  born  in  1823,  and  died  in 
1892  of  smallpox  at  Alicante  in  Spain. 

French  dress  of  the  ladies.  Most  Sicilian  ladies  who  can  afford  it  get 
their  dresses  from  Paris. 

French  in  Sicily.  At  the  time  of  the  massacre  of  the  Sicilian  Vespers, 
the  French  took  refuge  at  Sperlinga  (q.v.).  Putting  the  Normans  out  of  the 
question,  the  first  connection  of  the  French  with  Sicily  was  when  the  Pope 
presented  the  kingdom  of  the  German  line  to  Charles  of  Anjou,  brother  of 
St.  Louis.  For  sixteen  years  he  had  more  or  less  possession  of  it,  and 
oppressed  it  mightily  till  the  people  rose  and  massacred  the  French  at  the 
Sicilian  Vespers.  He  disputed  his  crown  with  Conrad,  Manfred,  Conradin, 
Peter  of  Aragon,  James  the  Just,  and  Frederick  II.  With  this  exception  the 
French  have  never  held  Sicily.  When  the  rest  of  Italy  fell  to  them  in  1799, 
Nelson,  with  his  fleet,  and  Stuart,  with  his  two  thousand  English  at  Messina, 
successfully  kept  them  out  of  it. 

Frescoes — (i)  Roman,  There  are  in  the  Palermo  Museum  frescoes  in  the 
Pompeian  style  discovered  at  Solunto. 

(2)  Medieval.     Sicily  possesses   hardly  any  good  late  medieval   frescoes 
in  situ.    The  best  are  in  the  Sclafani  Palace  at  Palermo,  q.v.    (sc  The  Dance 
of  Death"),  and  S.  Maria  di  Gesii,  in  the  Cappe'lla  La  Grua,  q.v.     There 
are,  however,  in  the  Museum  at  Palermo  some  charming  frescoes  of  Tom- 
maso  di  Vigilia,  beautiful  enough  for  Lo  Spagna,  and  a  fair  number   of 
mutilated  Gothic  frescoes  as  in  the  Castle  of  Aderno.     To  make  up  for  this 
it  has  a  good  many  Byzantine  frescoes  in  most  interesting  positions,  the 
best  perhaps  in  the  subterranean  church  of  S.  Marcian  at  Syracuse.     Others 
are  in  S.  Giovanni  Boeo  at  Marsala  and  in  the  three  subterranean  chambers 
used  as  churches,  during  the  persecutions,  at  Modica  and  the  Val  d'Ispica,  etc. 

(3)  Baroque  and  modern.     The  late  Renaissance  and  more  recent  frescoes 
are  very  numerous  in  Sicily,  but  many  of  them  have  little  value,  though  some 
Sicilian,  artists,  like   the  Messinian  Paladino,  were  very  effective,  not  to 
mention  more  famous  names. 

(4)  Domestic.    It   has  been  rather  the  custom  to  fresco  the  walls  and 
ceilings  of  palaces  in  Sicily,  though  they  are  not  always  frescoed.     These  can 
hardly  be  called  art.     Good  examples  of  this  artisan  work  may  be  seen  in 
the  Palazzo  Monteleone  at  Palermo,  tenanted  by  the  Pension  Suisse. 

Frieze.  An  architectural  term.  The  middle  division  of  the  entablature 
(Bannister  Fletcher).  The  frieze  in  a  Doric  temple  consisted  of  triglyphs  and 
metopes,  the^triglyphs  being  the  three-grooved  projections  between  the  sculp 
tured  and  painted  metopes.  The  Sicilian  metopes  (q.v,)  are  famous.  Carved 
wooden  friezes  or  outdoor  wooden  decoration  may  be  seen  outside  a  club  in 
the  Corso  and  on  a  house  just  beyond  the  Porta  Nuova  at  Palermo,  both 
modern,  and  the  latter  pleasing. 

Friesias  are  very  favourite  flowers  in  Sicily.  Their  fragrant  white  blossoms 
tinged  with  purple  and  yellow  are  a  feature  of  every  flower-stall  in  spring. 

Fuga,  Fernando.  A  Roman  architect,  1699-1784.  Born  in  Florence. 
But  for  the  destructive  restoration  by  this  baroque  monster  of  bad  taste, 
the  cathedral  in  Palermo  would  have  been  almost  matchless.  As  it  is  its 
arabesque  exterior  almost  resists  the  disfigurement  of  the  dome  which  breaks 
through  its  roof  like  a  fester.  The  interior  is  hopelessly  modernised. 


THINGS    SICILIAN  181 

Funeral  services  in  Sicily  are  often  beautiful— up  to  a  point.  Fine  bands 
play  Chopin's  "  Funeral  March"  till  you  almost  weep  as  the  procession  in  the 
picturesque  dress  of  the  Burial  Guilds  (see  Confraternities)  pursues  its  stately 
march.  But  when  the  coffin  reaches  the  grave  the  Guild  hurry  away,  the 
actual  burial  being  of  the  most  hurried  and  informal  description.  The 
service  takes  place  with  fine  music,  often  with  costly  singing  and  a  blaze 
of  tall  candles  in  some  prominent  church  where  the  body  has  been  lying 
in  a  chapelk  ardente  before  the  procession  begins.  Sometimes  the  procession 
is  halted  for  a  speech  on  the  services  of  the  deceased. 

Furnari.  Reached  by  mail-vettura  in  40  minutes  from  the  Castroreale- 
Novara-Furnari  Stat.,  Palermo-Messina  line.  Unimportant. 

Furniture.  There  is  a  great  deal  of  fine  furniture  of  the  Empire  period 
still  in  the  palaces  for  which  it  was  made,  e.g.  in  Sig.  Florio's  villa  at 
Palermo  (q.v.).  There  is  also  a  certain  amount  of  much  older  and  quite 
beautiful  furniture  to  be  found  in  the  vestries  of  out-of-the-way  churches, 
sometimes  upholstered  with  fine  old  Spanish  leather. 


Gagini,  Antonio,  or  Antonello  (1478-1536).  The  most  famous  sculptor 
of  Sicily,  and  one  of  the  best  of  Italy,  putting  aside  Michael  Angelo.  His 
work  is  not  well  known  yet  in  England,  but  he  is  certain  to  be  the  subject 
of  much  discussion  before  long.  He  was  also  an  architect.  He  was  vejy 
versatile.  Some  of  his  Madonnas  have  much  archaic  simplicity  and  feeling, 
others  are  very  modern  for  his  date.  But  Gagini's  great  claim  is  the  high 
amount  of  real  beauty  which  he  imported  into  his  work.  He  excelled  most 
of  all  in  large  pieces,  where  low-  and  high-reliefs  of  beautiful  human  faces 
are  mingled  with  a  delightfully  free  and  graceful  conventional  ornament 
unexcelled  by  the  great  Florentines.  The  huge  tribune  behind  the  high 
altar  at  S.  Cita  in  Palermo  is  unsurpassed  in  beauty  by  any  work  of  Mino 
da  Fiesole,  or  Verrocchio,  or  Rossellino.  It  is  absolutely  charming.  Antonio 
Gagini  had  a  genius  for  charm,  like  the  Delia  Robbia  family.  He  is  some 
times  a  little  decadent.  Taking  both  sides  of  Antonio  Gagini's  work,  his 
sculptures  of  the  human  form  and  his  low -relief  arabesques  and  other  conven 
tional  ornamentations,  it  is  doubtful  if  any  of  the  great  fifteenth-century 
Florentines  excelled  him  when  at  his  best.  He  was  the  son  of  Domenico 
Gagini,  a  Lombard.  Vincenzo,  Giacomo,  and  Fazio  were  the  sons  of 
Antonio  Gagini ;  Nicol6,  Giuseppe,  and  Nubilio  were  his  nephews.  These 
carried  on  the  school  of  Gagini.  Among  the  works  of  the  Gagini  in  Sicily 
are  those  at  Alcamo,  S.  Oliva ;  Baida,  the  Convent ;  Burgio  (according  to 
Baedeker),  in  the  Franciscan  church  ;  Caltagirone,  S.  Maria  di  Gesu ;  Castel- 
vetrano,  S.  Giovanni  Battista ;  Castroreale,  SS.  Annunziata ;  Catania 
Cathedral ;  Catania,  S.  Maria  di  Gesu ;  Girgenti,  S.  Spirito  (school) ;  Gir- 

fenti,  39  Via  Garibaldi  (see  under  Girgenti,  Sicilian-Gothic) ;  *  Marsala, 
.  Giovanni  a  Boeo,  his  best  St.  John ;  Marsala,  Chiesa  Maggiore  ;  Mazzara 
Cathedral ;  Messina  Cathedral ;  Messina,  *S.  Agostino ;  Messina,  S.  Fran 
cesco  d'Assisi ;  Monte  S.  Giuliano,  Biblioteca Commune  ;  Monte  S.  Giuliano, 
S.  Giovanni  Battista ;  Nicosia,  **S.  Maria  Maggiore  (the  Cono,  36  feet  high 
high  with  sixty  figures) ;  *  Palermo,  window  in  the  Archbishop's  Palace ; 
Palermo,  Carmine ;  Palermo,  S.  Caterina ;  Palermo,  **S.  Cita ;  Palermo, 
S.  Domenico ;  Palermo  Cathedral  (the  benitier)  j  Palermo,  *La  Gancia ; 
Palermo,  *Museum,  etc. ;  Palermo,  Monte  di  Pieta;  Polizzi,  Chiesa  Maggiore  ; 


182        SICILY  THE   NEW  WINTER   RESORT 

Randazzo,  S.  Nicolo ;  Syracuse,  Archbishop's  Palace ;  Trapani,  SS.  Anmm- 
ziata ;  Trapani,  S,  Niccolo  (school) ;  Comiso,  S.  Francesco. 

There  are  two  sumptuous  books  on  the  work  of  the  Gagini,  7  Gagini  e 
la  Scultura  in  Sicilia  nel  Secolo  XV.  e  XVI.,  by  G.  di  Marzo,  in  two  large 


THE  CAPPA  DELLA  PIETA  IN   MESSINA  CATHEDRAL,   DESIGNED  AND  PARTLY  CARRIED 
OUT  BY  ANTONELLO  GAGINI 

volumes  (Palermo,  1883-4),  whose  illustrations  are  spoiled  because  the 
engraver  has  lost  the  likeness  and  character  ;  and  a  recent  work  sold  by 
Hoopli  at  Milan,  which  is  chiefly  devoted  to  the  Gagini  who  stayed  in  Lom- 
bardy,  but  has  a  chapter  on  the  Sicilian  Gagini. 


THINGS   SICILIAN  183 

Gallidoro,  the  Marchese  di,  a  noble  much  interested  in  things  English. 

Gallipoli.  Founded  by  the  Athenians  of  Naxos,  was  on  the  site  of  the 
modern  Mascali  (q.v.),  whose  wines  are  known  even  in  England. 

Gallo,  Capo,  a  prominent  landmark  on  the  north  coast  of  Sicily  between 
Palermo  and  Carini. 

Gambling;.  Sicilians  of  all  degrees  are  gamblers.  The  cheapest  form  is 
the  mora  of  immemoral  antiquity  (q.v.)  and  the  lotto ^  or  public  lottery.  The 
column  and  the  ball  is,  I  think,  a  specially  Sicilian  form.  Petits  chevaux 
obtain  a  little.  See  Lotto.  There  is  much  card-playing  in  the  open  air.  The 
workmen  use  their  dinner-hour  for  gambling. 

Games.    See  Batting  the  ball  through  the  ring,  Mora,  Cottabos,  etc. 

Gangi.  Reached  by  mail-vettura  from  Castelbuono,  9J  hours ;  Nicosia, 
3^  hours  ;  and  Cerda,  14  hours.  The  ancient  Engyum  (q.v.).  Remains  of 
feudal  castle.  Prince  Gangi  is  one  of  the  principal  nobles  of  Sicily. 

Gardens.  There  are  some  glorious  gardens  of  semi-tropical  vegetation  in 
Sicily,  notably  the  Botanical  Gardens  at  Palermo,  where  they  will  sell  speci 
mens  of  anything,  and  the  Parco  d'Orleans,  Villa  Tasca,  Villa  Sofia,  Villa 
Sperlinga,  Villa  Malfitano,  Villa  Giulia,  Giardino  Inglese,  Giardino  Garibaldi, 
Villa  Butera,  Villa  Serradifalco,  etc.,  at  Palermo,  the  gardens  of  the  villas 
at  Bagheria,  the  Villa  Politi  and  Villa  Landolina  at  Syracuse,  the  Villa 
Rocca  Guelfonia  at  Messina,  etc.,  the  gardens  of  S.  Caterina  and  S.  Do- 
menico  and  Mr.  Stopford's  garden  at  Taormina,  and  the  garden  of  the 
Convent  of  S.  Nicola  at  Girgenti.  Almost  anything  belonging  to  the  tem 
perate  or  subtropical  zone  will  grow  in  Sicily  if  well  watered.  Roof  and 
terrace  gardens,  in  which  the  flowers  are  grown  in  the  hollow  tops  of  brick 
walls,  are  managed  very  effectively  in  Sicily,  where  the  loggia  is  such  a 
feature.  There  are  a  few  fine  pergolas,  e.g.  at  S.  Domenico,  Taormina,  and 
S.  Nicola  at  Girgenti.  There  are  many  noble  palms  in  the  public  gardens 
besides  agaves,  aloes,  yuccas,  daturas,  euphorbias,  etc.,  and  the  bougainvillea 
grows  gloriously.  A  marked  feature  is  that  wild  flowers  are  nearly  always 
allowed  to  grow  where  they  please  in  the  most  formal  gardens,  even  the 
Botanical  Gardens  of  Palermo. 

Gardner  and  Jevons's  "Grk.  Antiquities."  See  Guhl  and  Koner,  p.  195. 

Garibaldi.  Landed  in  Sicily  with  his  Thousand — the  famous  Mille — at 
Marsala  on  the  nth  May,  1860,  by  the  connivance  of  two  British  men-of-war 
which  got  in  the  line  of  fire  of  the  Neapolitan  warships.  On  the  i$th  of  May 
he  won  the  Battle  of  Calatafimi  with  badly  armed  and  much  inferior  forces. 
On  the  27th  of  May  he  won  the  Battle  of  Gibilrossa  outside  Palermo  with  a 
bayonet  charge  and  entered  Palermo  in  triumph.  The  best-fought  battle  was 
the  long  summer  day's  fight  at  Milazzo  on  the  2Oth  July.  Victor  Emmanuel 
was  compelled  by  the  hostility  of  the  European  Powers,  except  England,  to 
write  to  him  begging  him  not  to  cross  the  Straits,  but  Cavour  sent  him  a  hint 
not  to  obey  the  letter.  There  is  a  statue  and  a  piazza,  if  not  a  public  garden, 
and  a  Corso  to  Garibaldi  in  almost  every  city  in  Sicily,  and  the  rooms  he 
occupied  in  the  Royal  Palace  are  one  of  the  sights  of  Palermo.  There  are 
also  inscriptions  on  the  Municipality  and  the  Palazzo  Villafranca. 

Garlic,  wild.  Common  in  Sicily.  A  beautiful  scentless  variety  with  pink 
flowers  is  found  at  Selinunte,  etc. 

Garofano.  The  rich  red  clove  of  this  name,  sometimes  with  a  hundred 
blossoms  on  one  plant,  is  quite  a  feature  in  the  Sicilian  spring.  Pots  of  it 
are  stuck  on  the  spikes,  left  for  the  purpose  on  the  balustrades  of  balconies, 
which  give  a  lovely  note  of  scarlet  in  the  street, 


184        SICILY  THE   NEW  WINTER   RESORT 

Garrisons.  The  Sicilian  garrisons  consist  nearly  always  of  North  Italian 
troops.  In  the  same  way  the  Sicilian  troops  are  sent  into  North  Italy.  This 
is  such  a  valuable  educational  influence  that  it  goes  far  towards  justifying  the 
expense  of  the  Italian  military  establishment.  The  Sicilian  who  has  done 
his  military  service  is  fifty  per  cent,  the  better  man.  Sicily  is  rather  heavily 
garrisoned.  In  1896  it  contained  60,000  soldiers.  See  Fortifications. 

Gates.  Gates  in  Sicily  are  always  named  from  the  place  they  lead  to,  e.g. 
the  Mazzara  Gate  of  Palermo  terminates  the  road  leading  to  Mazzara,  and 
the  Messina  Gate  at  Taormina  the  road  to  Messina. 

Gebbias.  Gebbias  are  the  large  plaster-lined  cisterns  you  see  in  every 
Sicilian  garden.  The  name  is  Arabic. 

Gela.  One  of  the  most  important  cities  of  ancient  Sicily,  after  Syracuse 
and  Acragas,  stood  on  the  site  of  Terranova,  its  necropolis  being  at  Cape 
Soprano.  It  was  founded  in  690  by  a  joint  colony  of  Cretans  and  Rhodians 
from  Lindii,  whence  its  first  name  of  Lindus.  It  was  altered  to  Gela  because 
it  stood  on  the  river  of  that  name.  Acragas  was  founded  by  the  Geloans 
in  599.  Cleander  was  tyrant  of  Gela  505-498,  and  his  brother,  Hippocrates, 
from  498-491.  On  his  death,  in  491,  Gelo  became  tyrant,  and  interfering  in 
485  to  restore  the  Gamori  to  Syracuse,  became  master  of  that  city,  after 
which  Gela  became  a  minor  city.  Half  the  inhabitants  of  Gela  migrated  to 
Syracuse.  In  406  B.C.,  after  the  destruction  of  Acragas  by  the  Carthaginians, 
its  inhabitants  were  received  into  Gela,  but  the  next  year  Gela  was  itself 
besieged  by  the  Carthaginians,  and  first  relieved  and  then  abandoned  by 
Dionysius.  Gela  was  destroyed.  It  became  tributary  to  Carthage,  but 
helped  Dion  and  was  recolonised  by  Timoleon.  There  are  considerable 
remains  of  the  ancient  city.  Its  best-known  coins  have  a  bull's  head  with 
a  human  face  on  one  side,  and  a  horseman  on  the  other.  Agathocles  won 
his  first  distinction  in  his  assault  on  Gela;  B.C.  311  Agathocles  massacred 
4,000  of  the  citizens.  After  his  defeat  at  Ecnomus  he  took  refuge  in  the 
city.  Phintias,  the  tyrant  of  Acragas,  removed  its  inhabitants  to  people  his 
new  city  of  Phintia.  It  was  also  sacked  by  the  Mamertines  later,  though  it 
must  have  been  restored  by  the  Romans,  for  Cicero  says  that  Verres  carried  off 
the  statues  restored  to  Gela  by  Scipio  after  his  capture  of  Carthage.  In 
Strabo's  time  it  was  uninhabited.  See  Smith's  Dictionary  of  Greek  and 
Roman  Geography.  It  is  said  that  Gela  was  first  founded  inland  on  the  site 
of  the  present  city  of  Piazza  Armerina. 

The  remains  of  ancient  Gela  at  Terranova  are — 

(1)  Site  of  the  ancient  Gela,  temple,  etc. 

(2)  At  Cape  Soprano,  the  ancient  necropolis.     Splendid  sarcophagi  lately 
found  there. 

(3)  Remains  of  a  temple  of  Apollo. 

(4)  Virgil's  Campi  Geloi  outside  (^Eneid,  iii.  701),  the  principal  plain  of 
Sicily  after  Catania. 

Gellias.  The  wealthiest  citizen  of  Acragas  at  the  time  of  its  capture  by  the 
Carthaginians,  Diodorus  tells  us  much  about  him.  "It  is  said  that  this 
Gellias  was  of  a  very  mean  presence,  but  of  admirable  parts  and  ingenuity. 
Being  once  sent  as  ambassador  to  the  Centuripes,  when  he  entered  the  assembly 
all  the  people  fell  a-laughing,  seeing  the  mean  aspect  of  the  man,  so  dis 
agreeable  to  his  great  fame  and  reputation  in  the  world.  Upon  which,  he 
made  this  sharp  retort — That  what  they  saw  in  him  was  not  to  be  wondered 
at,  because  the  Agrigentines  always  send  the  comeliest  and  handsomest  men  to 
the  noblest  cities,  but  to  those  that  were  mean  and  of  little  note,  such  as  him 
self.  Marvellous  stories  are  told  of  his  wealth. 


THINGS   SICILIAN  185 

'*  It  happened  once  that  five  hundred  Gelonian  horsemen  came  to  his  house 
in  the  winter-time,  whom  he  liberally  entertained,  and  furnished  every  one  of 
them  out  of  his  wardrobe  with  cloaks  and  coats.  Polyclitus  in  his  history 
declares  that  when  he  was  a  soldier  in  Agrigentum,  he  saw  a  wine-cellar  in 
his  house,  in  which  were  contained  three  hundred  hogsheads  ;  and  that  near 
to  these  was  placed  a  cistern  of  pure  white  tempered  mortar,  containing  a 
thousand  hogsheads,  out  of  which  the  liquor  ran  into  the  vessels."  When 
the  Carthaginians  had  taken  the  city,  "Then  it  is  said  Gellias,  who  was  so 
eminent  above  the  rest  of  his  countrymen  in  the  greatness  of  his  wealth,  and 
integrity  of  his  conversation,  ended  his  life  with  the  loss  of  his  country :  for 
he  and  some  others  fled  to  the  tenrple  of  Minerva,  hoping  the  Carthaginians 
would  not  commit  any  outrages  against  the  gods :  but  when  he  perceived  the 
cursed  impiety  of  the  men,  he  set  fire  to  the  temple,  and  together  with  the 
wealth  that  was  there,  (consecrated  to  the  gods),  burnt  himself;  by  one  act 
preventing  three  evils,  as  he  conceived  ;  the  impiety  of  the  enemy  against  the 
gods,  the  rapine  and  plunder  of  the  vast  treasure  that  was  there,  and  (that 
which  was  the  greatest)  the  abuse  of  his  own  body." 

Gelo,  or  Gelou.  Tyrant  of  Syracuse  and  Gela.  Achieved  his  power  as 
cavalry  leader  of  Hippocrates,  tyrant  of  Gela,  upon  whose  death  the  demo 
cracy  rose  against  his  two  young  sons.  Gelo  put  down  the  revolt,  but  assumed 
the  tyranny  himself.  This  was  in  491.  In  485  he  restored  the  Gamori 
refugees  to  Syracuse.  See  Casmense,  which  opened  its  gates  on  his  approach. 
No  doubt  the  union  of  Gelo  at  the  head  of  an  army  with  the  immensely 
wealthy  Gamori  aristocracy  was  too  powerful  to  be  opposed.  He  took  half 
the  population  of  Gela  with  him,  all  the  inhabitants  of  Camarina/  and  the 
citizens  of  Eubasa  and  Megara  Hyblsea.  The  poorer  classes  he  sold  into 
slavery.  The  Athenians  and  Spartans  sought  his  alliance  against  Persia. 
He  offered  to  send  200  triremes  and  28,000  men  if  they  gave  him  supreme 
command.  When  they  refused,  he  said  that  the  Greeks  had  lost  the  spring  out 
of  their  year.  But  he  was  preparing  to  aid  them  when  the  news  came  of  the 
great  Carthaginian  irivasion  of  Sicily.  Hamilcar  marched  from  Panormus  to 
Himera  with  300,000  men.  It  was  defended  by  Theron,  the  tyrant  of  Acragas, 
and  then  came  one  of  the  finest  episodes  in  Sicilian  history.  Gelo,  who  had 
married  Theron's  daughter,  Damarete,  marched  post  haste  across  the  island 
at  the  head  of  50,000  foot  and  5,000  cavalry,  and  utterly  destroyed  the 
Carthaginian  force  at  the  great  Battle  of  Himera,  fought,  as  Herodotus  tells  us, 
on  the  same  day  as  the  Battle  of  Salamis,  480  B.C.  Freeman  has  a  splendid 
account  of  the  battle  in  the  second  volume  of  his  history.  This  victory 
brought  Gelo  vast  wealth  and  a  popularity  and  power  that  nothing  could 
shake  at  Syracuse.  Years  afterwards  his  statue  was  the  only  tyrant's  ^  statue 
spared  by  Timoleon.  Out  of  the  ransom  money  paid  by  the  Carthaginians  to 
Damarete  were  coined  the  first  notable  coins  of  Sicily,  the  beautiful  deca- 
drachms  known  as  Damareteia,  considered  the  best  of  the  archaic  pieces,  with 
their  noble  head  of  Victory,  easily  to  be  recognised  by  its  string  of  pearls. 
He  only  lived  two  years  after  his  victory,  dying  of  dropsy  B.  c.  478  (Smith's 
Dictionary  of  Greek  and  Roman  Mythology  and  Biography]. 

Genesta.  The  yellow-flowered  genesta,  used  so  much  as  a  pot-plant  in 
English  rooms,  grows  wild  on  Sicilian  mountains,  and  is  also  used  for  hedges, 
which  grow  four  feet  high. 

Geraci  Siculo.  Remains  of  Count  Roger's  castle.  It  is  the  oldest 
marquisate  in  Sicily.  Reached  by  mail-vettura  in  7$  hours  from  the  Castel- 
buono  Stat,  Messina-Palermo  line. 


1 86        SICILY  THE   NEW  WINTER   RESORT 

Geranium-hedges.  Most  of  the  railway  lines  in  Sicily  are  bordered  on 
both  sides  with  tall  hedges  of  profusely  flowering  rose-geraniums,  mixed  with 
the  agave,  whose  swordfish  leaves  repel  trespassers. 

Germans  in  Sicily.  The  German  connection  with  Sicily  is  extensive  and 
of  very  long  standing.  The  Emperor  Henry  VI.  having  married  Constantia, 
the  heiress  of  Sicily,  he  and  his  son,  the  Emperor  Frederick  II. ,  spent  a  large 
part  of  their  reigns  in  Sicily,  and  they  were  followed  by  Conrad  IV. ,  Conradin, 
and  Manfred,  though  much  of  the  fourteen  years,  ending  in  1268,  was  taken 
up  in  wars  with  the  French  under  Charles  of  Anjou,  upon  whom  the  Pope 
had  bestowed  the  crown  in  1264.  After  the  death  of  Conradin,  in  1268,  the 
German  power  in  Sicily  was  broken.  But  in  Messina  especially  (q.v.)  there 
are  considerable  remains  of  the  German  dynasty,  and  in  Palermo  there  is 
a  church  of  the  Teutonic  knights,  La  Magione,  and  a  hunting-box  of  Frederick 
outside  the  Favara.  With  the  reign  of  the  Emperor  Charles  V.  a  fresh 
German  interest  came  in.  He  concerned  himself  much  with  the  development 
and  fortification  of  Sicily.  Goethe  (q.v.)  visited  Sicily  in  1789.  In  modern 
times  the  Germans  are,  with  the  English  and  the  Americans,  the  principal 
travellers  in  Sicily.  You  meet  quantities  of  them,  especially  at  Taormina, 
where  there  are  German  shops.  There  are  some  valuable  books  about  Sicily 
in  German,  such  as  Holm,  Gselfels,  etc. 

Gerlando,  S.  The  first  bishop  of  Girgenti.  He  was  appointed  by  the 
Normans  and  is  the  patron  saint.  There  is  a  silver  image  of  him  in  the 
cathedral. 

Gesso.    There  are  valuable  mines  of  gesso,  i.e.  gypsum,  in  Sicily. 

Gethsemane,  Gardens  of.  On  the  day  before  Good  Friday  they  have 
gardens  made  of  coloured  sands  and  pot-plants  in  the  churches.  The  Christ 
is  taken  down  from  the  principal  crucifix  and  laid  on  the  floor,  with  the  head 
supported  by  a  fine  linen  cushion,  and  the  vacant  cross  is  erected  just  beside 
Him.  Crowds  come  in  and  kneel  to  kiss  His  feet.  Called  also  sepolcri 
(q.v.).  Palermo  (q.v.)  is  one  of  the  best  places  in  Italy  to  observe  this 
ceremony.  The  rites  are  said  to  be  of  pagan  origin,  connected  with  the  death 
of  Adonis.  (J.  G.  Frazer.) 

Ghetto.  The  Jews'  quarter,  called  in  Sicily  the  Giudecca,  as  at  Trapani 
and  Syracuse. 

Giampilieri.  Stat.  on  Messina- Catania  line.  The  famous  Benedictine 
monastery  of  S.  Placida  is  2  miles  from  it  (q.v.). 

Giardini  (for  Taormina).  Stat.  Messina-Catania  line,  close  to  Naxos,  the 
oldest  Greek  city  in  Sicily  (q.v.).  It  has  mail-vetture  to  Taormina,  I  hour  ; 
Kaggi,  i\  hours  ;  Ponte  Graniti,  2  hours ;  Bivio-Spatolo,  2  hours  35  minutes  j 
Francavilla-Sicilia,  3  hours. 

Giardino  d*  Infanzia,  i.e.  a  kindergarten.  There  is  a  famous  kinder 
garten  at  Palermo,  the  Giardino  d'  Infanzia  da  Feltre  in  the  Palazzo  Mont- 
leone ;  and  an  interesting  little  kindergarten  in  the  main  street  near  the 
cathedral  at  Taormina. 

Giarre-Riposto.  Stat.  Messina-Catania  line,  and  on  the  Circum-^Etnean 
railway,  which  runs  from  here  to  Catania  round  the  back  of  Etna.  It  is 
7  kil.  from  the  famous  Castagno  dei  Cento  Cavalli — the  great  chestnut  tree  of 
Etna,  which  is  180  feet  round. 

Giarratana.  Four  hours  by  mail-vettura  from  the  Ragusa  Inferiore  Stat. 
on  the  Syracuse-Licata  line.  Giarratana  is  the  ancient  Ceretanum,  the  mys 
terious  ancient  Greek  town  of  which  even  Freeman  seems  to  know  nothing, 


THINGS    SICILIAN 


187 


which  ^lies  away  in  the  hills  between  Palazzolo  and  Modica,  and  has  remains 
of  ancient  temples,  elegant  baths,  mosaics  and  sepulchres  from  which  many 
terra-cottas  and  coins  have  been  taken. 

Gibellina.  Stat.  next  to  Alcamo  ;  Palermo-Trapani  line.  Mail-vettura  to 
Gibellina  town,  3!  hours  ;  Salaparuta,  4  hours  ;  Poggioreale,  4^  hours.  An 
ancient  town  with  a  medieval  fortress  of  the  Chiaramonti. 


SALAPARUTA,   SEEN   FROM   GIBELLINA 

Gibilmanna,  A  village  with  a  monastery  on  a  lovely  wooded  mountain 
overlooking  Cejalu  on  the  Palermo-Messina  line.  The  Bene  Economico 
of  Palermo  is  much  interested  in  the  establishment  of  a  summer  station  here 
with  a  good  hotel,  as  the  air  and  the  view  are 
""71  alike  splendid  and  it  is  so  handy  to  Palermo. 


GIBILMANNA  :    THE  NEW  SUMMER  RESORT 
A  COUNTRY  ROAD 


1 88        SICILY  THE   NEW  WINTER   RESORT 

Gibilrossa.  Above  Monte  Griffone  outside  Palermo,  where  Garibaldi 
bivouacked  before  he  marched  into  Palermo,  May  27th,  1860, 

Ginnasio.  See  Palestra.  Both  the  Romans  and  the  Greeks  were  immense 
enthusiasts  over  gymnastic  and  athletic  exercises.  There  are  fine  remains  of 
gymnasia  both  at  Syracuse  and  Tyndaris. 

Giolleria.  Sicily  is  a  happy  hunting-ground  for  the  collectors  of  ancient 
jewellery.  The  Consul,  Mr.  Churchill,  has  a  wonderful  collection.  Strangers, 
before  purchasing,  should  consult  Cook's  correspondent  in  Palermo,  Mr.  H. 
von  Pernull,  whose  office  is  in  the  Corso  near  the  Piazza  Marina.  The  old 
jewellery  closely  resembling  the  Italian,  with  a  delicate  tracery  set  with  rose- 
diamonds  or  old  paste,  is  very  beautiful,  and  some  of  the  seventeenth-century 
filigree  is  superb.  Enamels  (smalti)  are  a  special  feature.  These  beautiful 
little  pictures,  chiefly  of  religious  subjects  in  brilliant  colours,  make  these 
enamels  charming  effects  for  setting  in  other  jewellery. 


GIBILMANNA  I    IN   THE   WOODS 

Giordano,  Luca.  A  Neapolitan  painter  (1632-1705)  who  did  a  good  deal 
of  painting  in  Palermo  and  Messina. 

S.  Giovanni-Gemini.  Noted  for  the  Califerro  mineral  water ;  is  near  the 
Cammarata  Stat.  on  the  Girgenti- Palermo  line. 

Giovanni,  Vincenzo  di.  A  Palermitan  antiquary,  author  of  a  valuable 
book  entitled  La  Topografia  antic  a  di  Palermo  Dal  Secolo  X.  al  XV. 

Giove.  The  Greek  Zeus,  the  Latin  Jupiter.  Most  of  the  great  cities  had 
temples  to  him,  though  in  Sicily  he  was  not  part  of  the  life  of  the  people  as 


THINGS   SICILIAN  189 

Ceres,  Diana,  or  Venus.  Temples  to  Jupiter  Olympius,  Polias  (Atabirius) 
etc.,  still  exist  at  Syracuse,  Girgenti,  Selinunte,  etc.  The  temples  of  the 
Olympian  Jupiter  are  generally  enormously  large. 

Girgenti,  See  below,  page  337.  The  Greek  Acragas,  the  Roman  Agri- 
gentum,  in  its  heyday  second  only  to  Syracuse,  has  remains  more  or  less 
perfect  of  ten  Greek  temples,  fine  Greek  houses,  prehistoric  dwellings  and 
tombs,  Greek  tombs,  Roman  tombs,  catacombs,  a  Greek  bridge,  a  large 
Greek  necropolis,  a  museum  with  choice  Greek  vases,  etc.  ;  a  cathedral  with 
a  valuable  treasury  and  a  Gothic  tower ;  numerous  other  Gothic  buildings,  a 
secret  passage  from  the  town  to  the  temples,  and  marvellous  Greek  subter 
ranean  aqueducts. 

Giudecca,  or  Ghetto.  The  Jewish  quarter  of  a  town.  There  are  interest 
ing  buildings  in  the  Giudecca  of  Trapani  and  the  Giudecca  of  Syracuse. 

Giunone.  Lacina,  Lucinia,  etc.  The  Greek  Hera,  the  Latin  Juno.  Not 
a  very  popular  goddess  in  Sicily.  Temples  are  assigned  to  her  without  much 
authority  at  Girgenti  (one  of  the  first  Greek  temples  in  existence)  and  Seli 
nunte  :  and  Freeman  thinks  that  Hybla  Henea,  the  modern  Ragusa,  may 
have  been  called  from  its  temple  of  Hera. 
^  S.  Giuseppe.  The  slang  expression  for  the  complacent  husband  in  a  menage 

S.  Giuseppe.  _  A  licensed  beggar,  dressed  up  like  the  suisse  of  a  church, 
with  certain  privileges. 

Gladiolus,  the  wild.  Generally  of  a  beautiful  rose  colour,  is  a  great 
feature  in  Sicilian  cornfields, 

Goats  and  Goats'  Milk.  There  are  swarms  of  goats  in  Sicily,  which 
depends  almost  entirely  on  them  for  its  milk.  They  are  kept  penned  up  at 
night,  and  driven  out  on  to  uncultivated  land  during  the  daytime  with  a  herds 
man.  Where  this  is  not  possible,  they  are  tethered  on  any  bit  of  waste 
ground  and  fed  with  lemon-peel,  which  for  some  reason  they  prefer  to  orange- 
peel.  They  are  very  fond  of  the  leaves  of  the  prickly-pear,  whose  wicked 
spikes  present  no  terrors  to  their  leathery  palates.  Different  cities  have 
different  breeds.  The  large  white  goats  of  Girgenti  are  very  handsome. 
The  Palermo  goats  are  pretty  little  creatures  with  long  horns,  long  white  hair 
and  brown  faces.  Goats  are  extraordinarily  clever  and  agile..  With  one  rake 
of  their  horns  they  will  examine  a  whole  dust-heap.  The  kids  are  eaten  as 
much  as  lambs,  and  sheep  are  considered  as  uneatable  as  goats. 

Goddesses  were  far  more  popular  in  Sicily  than  gods,  especially  Ceres, 
Proserpine,  Diana,  and  Venus.  Indeed  the  worship  as  well  as  the  present 
ments  in  art  of  the  Virgin  Mary  may  be  traced  to  the  Ceres  worship  of  Sicily. 
(See  Ceres.) 

Gods.  Sicily  is  one  of  the  lands  of  the  gods,  both  on  account  of  its 
physical  conditions  and  because  many  of  the  legends  about  the  lives  of  the 
gods  on  earth  are  located  in  it.  It  is  extraordinarily  interesting  to  be  in  a 
country  of  the  manifestations  of  the  gods  of  Greece.  Though,  to  understand 
it  properly  one  should  have  been  in  some  Eastern  country,  like  Japan,  where 
gods  and  demigods  still  form  part  of  the  life  and  belief  of  the  people  and 
still  have  their  habitat  upon  earth. 

Goethe  in  Sicily.  Goethe's  progress  in  Sicily  justifies  the  remark  that  he 
was  a  Goth  with  a  modified  "o,"  He  went  over  the  Royal  Palace  at  Palermo 
without  a  remark  upon  its  Royal  Chapel,  the  most  beautiful  ecclesiastical 
building  in  Christendom,  and  he  drove  up  the  hill  of  Monreale  without  getting 
out  to  look  at  the  cathedral  and  cloister.  But  he  wrote  pages  and  pages  about 


190       SICILY  THE  NEW  WINTER  RESORT 

the  Villa  Palagonia  at  Bagheria,  the  bottomless  pit  of  Baroque.  He  was  in 
Sicily  from  April  2nd  to  May  I4th,  1 787.  He  visited  and  rode  through  Palermo, 
Alcamo,  Segesta,  Castelvetrano,  Sciacca,  Girgenti,  Caltanisetta,  Castro- 
giovanni,  Motta  S.  Anastasia,  Misterbianco,  Catania,  Taormina,  and 
Messina  (q.v.)  Kniep,  the  artist,  went  with  him.  His  remarks  upon  Sicily 
savour  much  more  of  the  man  of  science  than  the  man  of  culture.  A  transla 
tion  of  his  Diary  is  published  in  Goethe  s  Travel's  in  Italy^  vol.  i.  of  Bonn's 
Library,  by  Mr.  A  J.  Morrison  and  Mr.  C.  Nisbet.  In  Palermo  he  stayed 
at  the  palace  on  the  south  side  of  the  Corso,  a  little  above  the  Piazza  S.  Spirito, 
which  is  marked  with  a  tablet. 

Golf  in  Sicily.  Through  the  exertions  of  the  Bene  Economico,  golf-links 
will  shortly  be  opened  in  Palermo,  probably  in  the  Royal  Villa  at  the  Favorita, 
close  to  the  Hotel  Igiea. ' 

Good  Friday  in  Sicily.  The  main  feature  of  Good  Friday  is  the  procession 
of  the  Pieta,  the  Christ  taken  from  the  cross.  See  under  Ceremonies  and  Pieta. 

Gorse,  Grows  in  Sicily,  but  I  am  not  acquainted  with  any  large  stretches  of  it. 

Gorgias  of  Leontini.  One  of  the  most  famous  orators  of  antiquity.  He 
was  born  about  480  B.  c. ,  and  broke  the  rule  that  no  famous  man  ever  lives  to 
be  a  hundred  by  five,  or,  some  say,  nine  years.  He  went  on  the  celebrated 
mission  to  Athens^  B.  c.  427,  to  enlist  the  aid  of  Athens  for  the  Chalcidian 
cities  of  Sicily  in  their  war  against  Syracuse.  His  eloquence  was  disastrously 
effective.  As  this  was  after  the  death  of  Pericles,  Pericles  could  not  have 
been  his  pupil.  Some  works  attributed  to  him  survive,  also  a  dialogue  about 
him  attributed  to  Aristotle. 

Goridan,  Lago  di.  The  medieval  name  of  the  Lake  of  Pergusa  in  the  fields 
of  Enna.  Obviously  the  same  word  as  Gurrita,  the  shallow  pestiferous  lake 
on  Etna. 

Goths  in  Sicily.  Sicily  formed  part  of  the  empire  of  Theodoric,  and  was 
ruled  by  a  Gothic  count.  Theodoric  gave  Lilybzeum  to  the  Vandal  king 
Thrasamund  as  the  dowry  of  his  sister  Amalfuda,  but  it  was  part  of  the 
Gothic  possessions  again  when  Belisarius  conquered  Sicily,  535  A.D.  Cassio- 
dorus  won  Theodoric  the  loyalty  of  the  Sicilians,  and  Sicily  sent  corn  to  Gaul. 
In  549-550  Totila,  the  Gothic  king,  invaded  Sicily.  He  could  not  take 
any  of  the  chief. towns,  but  ravaged  the  island,  and  left  garrisons  in  four 
places.  In  551  the  Goths  were  finally  driven  out  of  the  island.  (Freeman.) 

Gothic  architecture.  Sicily  has  a  school  of  its  own  in  Gothic  architecture, 
of  which  the  nomenclature  is  rather  confusing.  Certain  parts  of  it  are 
distinctly  to  be  classed  as  Arabo-Norman,  and  the  fifteenth- century  portions 
can  only  be  called  Sicilian-Gothic,  but  there  is  a  transition  period  in  between 
which  is  not  so  easy  to  name.  Sicilian-Norman  has  been  suggested,  but 
Sicilian-Gothic  is  perhaps  the  best  all-round  name,  as,  with  rare  exceptions 
(mostly  traceable  to  the  English  archbishop  Offamilia),  its  arches  are  pointed 
throughout.  We  have  a  definite  date,  supported  by  proper  evidence,  for  the 
pointed  arches  of  the  Ponte  del  Ammiraglio  at  Palermo,  1113.  There  is  said 
to  be  very  much  older  Sicilian-Gothic  in  the  Castle  of  Maniace  at  Syracuse, 
but  I  cannot  speak  so  surely  of  the  evidence. 

It  is  said  that  the  only  building  in  Sicily,  or  at  any  rate  Palermo,  built  by 
Arabs  for  Arabs  is  the  lower  part  of  the  tower  of  the  Archbishop's  Palace. 
The  Arabo-Norman  portion  of  Sicilian-Gothic  is  nearly  all  to  be  found  in  or 
round  Palermo,  in  the  palaces  of  the  Zisa,  the  Cuba,  the  Cubola,  the  Favara 
and  Mimnerno,  and  the  central  part  of  the  Royal  Palace  which  contains  the 
Norman  room  ;  the  chapels  of  the  palace  (Cappella  Reale),  and  the  Zisa ;  the 


THINGS  SICILIAN  191 

churches  of  Monreale,  Cefalu,  the  Eremiti,  the  Martorana,  S.  Cataldo, 
S.  Giovanni  del  Lebbrosi,  S.  Christina  la  Vettere,  the  Incoronata,  the 
Maddalena,  with  the  Torre  del  Diavolo,  near  the  Gesu,  and  the  Bridge  of 
the  Admiral.  The  cathedral  is  rather  later,  though  it  is  in  the  Arabo-Norman 
style,  with  the  exception  of  its  domes.  Its  crypt,  however,  and  the  Church  of 
the  Vespers,  S.  Spirito,  though  early  in  date,  are  not  Arabo-Norman,  but 
English-Norman.  There  are  also  a  superb  church  of  the  period  which  I  have 
never  seen,  S.  Pietro  e  S.  Paolo  on  the  Fiume  d'Agro  near  Taormina,  the  church 
of  S.  Nicola  at  Girgenti,  the  church  at  Maniace,  the  Badiazza  outside  Messina." 

But  the  bulk  of  the  Sicilian-Gothic  now  preserved  belongs  to  the  fourteenth 
and  fifteenth  centuries,  and  the  former,  especially,  is  beautiful.  It  really 
differs  comparatively  little  from  North  Italian  architecture  of  the  same  period, 
as,  for  example,  at  Brescia,  and  Mid- Italian,  as  at  Siena.  Its  great  feature  is 
the  containing  arch,  containing  pairs  or  triplets  of  small  windows  divided  by 
shafts ;  but  the  Sicilians,  having  a  Norman  influence,  filled  in  the  heading 
between  the  small  windows  and  the  arch  containing  them  with  rich  tracery. 
Take,  for  example,  the  windows  in  the  Palace  of  the  Inquisition  or  the  Casa 
Normanna  at  Palermo.  Sometimes  the  Saracen  influence  is  strong  enough  to 
make  a  distinct  departure,  as  in  the  exquisite  arabesque  window  of  the  Palazzo 
Lanza  at  Syracuse.  To  this  period  belong  a  number  of  beautiful  buildings 
all  over  Sicily,  such  as  the  two  palaces  just  mentioned — the  Aiutamicristo 
Palace,  with  its  exquisite  cortile,  and  the  Sclafani  Palace  at  Palermo.  Most 
of  the  churches  which  have  porches  with  clustered  columns  and  rose  windows 
over  them  belong  to  this  period,  as  do  the  splendid  feudal  fortresses  erected  by 
the  Chiaramonti  and  their  rivals  in  the  country.  Syracuse  has  two  gems  in 
the  windows  of  the  Montalti  Palace  and  the  doorway  of  the  Castello  of 
Maniace.  To  these  should  be  added  the  doorway  of  S.  Giorgio  and  the 
windows  in  the  cathedral  tower  at  Girgenti,  the  celebrated  doorway  at 
Bivona,  a  doorway  at  Modica,  a  doorway  at  Catania,  and  much  in  the 
cathedral  of  Messina.  The  two  loveliest  buildings  of  the  style,  though  their 
date  may  not  quite  synchronise,  are  the  Badia  and  Palazzo  S.  Stefano  at 
Taormina,  the  former  almost  unsurpassed  for  pure  beauty.  There  is  another 
range  of  fourteenth-century  Gothic  even  more  like  the  North  Italian,  which 
survives  in  the  palaces  of  towns  like  Randazzo.  But  this  may  be  due  to 
Lombard  settlement.  By  far  the  most  numerous  Gothic  remains  in  Sicily  are 
those  of  the  fifteenth  century,  when  Gothic  was  melting  into  Renaissance. 
Sicily  is  full  of  charming  buildings  of  this  period,  one  of  the  most  constant 
characteristics  being  a  pointed  or  ogee  arch  contained  in  a  square  heading. 
Pointed  arches  with  a  dripstone  or  projecting  moulding  of  their  own  shape 
just  above  them  are  also  a  great  feature.  There  are  many  buildings  with  these 
doorways  to  be  found  in  the  Via  dei  Monasteri  at  Messina,  the  Corso  at 
Taormina,  and  various  parts  of  Palermo  and  Syracuse,  But  the  most 'beautiful 
specimens  of  late  Sicilian-Gothic  are  those  into  which  classical  features  have 
been  embodied,  like  the  airy  and  elegant  porch  of  S.  Maria  alia  Catena  at 
Palermo.  See  Gothic  under  Syracuse,  Palermo,  Taormina,  Girgenti,  Randazzo, 
Modica,  Ragusa,  Messina,  Catania,  Trapani,  Castrogiovanni,  Cefalu. 

The  beautiful  but  vitiated  Gothic  chapels  and  doorways  of  Modica  and 
Ragusa  are  dealt  with  under  these  towns. 

Gourds.  A  wild  gourd  grows  on  the  rock  of  Cefalu,  which  is  otherwise 
rather  unique  in  its  vegetation. 

Grammichele.  Stat.  before  Caltagirone  (Catania-Caltagirone  line).  Near 
the  ancient  Ocula  (Occhiaia).  Founded  by  the  Prince  of  Butera  after  the 
earthquake  of  1693. 


iQ2        SICILY   THE   NEW  WINTER   RESORT 

^  Granary  of  Europe.  Cato  called  Sicily  "  the  granary  and  nurse  of  the 
city  of  Rome."  Cicero  called  it  the  treasure  and  life  of  the  city,  and  its  wheat 
is  still  of  a  very  superior  quality,  noted  for  its  hardness.  But  it  imports 
a  good  deal  from  the  Black  Sea. 

Grano.  One  of  the  old  Bourbon  coins.  The  country  people  in  the  west  of 
Sicily  still  use  in  their  reckoning  onzi,  tari,  and  grani,  though  the  coins  no 
longer  pass.  A  grano  =  2  centesimi. 

Grape-Hyacinth.  A  flower  that  looks  like  a  raspberry  of  hyacinth  blue. 
Very  common  in  Sicily,  and  very  handsome.  Its  Latin  name  is  muscarum^ 
and  it  is  one  of  the  Liliacese. 

Gravina.  Gives  its  title  to  a  Sicilian  prince.  One  of  the  family  com 
manded  the  ill-fated  Spanish  fleet  at  the  Battle  of  Trafalgar,  and  the  sword 
of  this  gallant  officer  is  preserved  at  Palermo.  One  and  three-quarter  hours 
by  mail-vettura  from  Catania. 

Graziavecchia. 

Greek  architecture.  One  of  the  glories  of  Sicily  is  its  Greek  archi 
tecture.  It  has  the  remains  of  at  least  forty  temples,  two  fortresses,  several 
theatres,  many  necropoles  and  tombs,  subterranean  aqueducts,  Greek 
houses,  a  propylsea,  walls,  bridges,  odea,  etc.  See  under  Syracuse,  Girgenti, 
Selinunte,  Segesta,  Catania,  Messina,  Palazzolo,  Tyndaris,  Terranova, 
Naxos,  Camarina,  and  Doric. 

Greek  churches.  There  are  churches  where  the  modified  Greek  rite  is 
celebrated  for  the  benefit  of  the  Greek  settlements  in  Sicily,  dating  from  the 
fifteenth  century,  at  Palermo,  Messina,  Piana  dei  Greci,  etc.  See  Albanians 
in  Sicily. 

Greek  coins.  The  Greek  coins  of  Sicily  have  never  been  equalled.  See 
under  Coins,  and  coinage  of  the  various  Greek  cities. 

The  Greek  Colonisation  reached  its  highest  development  in  Sicily. 
Neither  Miletus  nor  Massilia  played  the  commanding  part  in  the  world's 
history  achieved  by  Syracuse.  Nor  must  it  be  forgotten  that  the  wars  between 
the  Greeks  and  the  Carthaginians  lasted  far  longer  and  involved  greater  blood 
shed  than  the  wars  of  the  Romans  with  the  Carthaginians.  Naxos,  the  earliest 
colony,  was  founded  by  Chalcis  in  Eubsea,  B.C.  735 ;  Syracuse,  the  second, 
by^Corinth,  B.  c.  734 ;  Tyndaris,  the  latest,  by  Dionysius  of  Syracuse,  B.  c.  396. 
With  the  exception  of  Naxos,  Catane,  Xancle  (Messana),  and  Leontini, 
and  to  some  extent  Himera  (founded  by  Eubseans,  chiefly  from  Chalcis), 
the  Greek  colonies  were  all  of  Dorian  foundation,  and  the  gradual 
crushing  of  the  few  Ionian  colonies  was  one  of  the  chief  reasons  which 
brought  about  the  invasion  of  Sicily  by  Athens,  the  head  of  the  Ionian 
cities.  The  chief  Dorian  Greek  colonies  in  Sicily  were  Syracuse  (Megara- 
Hybkea),  Acragas,  Selinus,  Gela,  Camarina,  Casmense,  Tyndaris,  Cefalii ; 
of  less  importance  were  Lipara,  Acrse,  Mtna.,  Cephalcedium,  Heraclea, 
Phintia.  Tauromenium  was  founded  by  the  survivors  of  Naxos  and  Sikels. 

Greek  curios.  Sicily,  especially  Girgenti,  is  an  excellent  place  to  buy 
Greek  curios.  They  may  also  be  bought  at  Palermo,  Taormina,  and  Catania, 
but  great  caution  must  be  used  with  regard  to  forgeries.  There  are  quantities 
of  genuine  Greek  objects  on  sale,  because  they  are  continually  being  dis 
covered  in  tilling  the  ground,  and  if  you  can  buy  them  from  the  people  who 
find  them,  you  get  them  very  cheap.  The  ordinary  Greek  curios  purchasable 
in  Sicily  are  heads  of  terra-cotta  figurines,  occasionally  whole  figures— all  fifth 
or  sixth  century  B.C.  ;  terra-cotta  vases  and  toilet-vessels  and  jewel-boxes ; 


THINGS   SICILIAN  193 

jewels,  engraved  stones  for  seals,  coins  ;  small  bronze  articles,  from  needles 
to  statuettes ;  weights,  arrowheads,  candelabra,  bronze  utensils,  and  a  little 
glass.  See  Terra-cottas,  Curio-buying,  Coins,  Bargaining. 

Greek  history.  Freeman  somewhere  remarks  that  the  materials  for  the 
Greek  history  of  Sicily  are  probably  as  extensive  as  those  for  Greece  Proper. 

Greek  houses.  See  under  Girgenti,  Selinunte,  Cefalu.  Professor  Salinas 
has  partly  excavated  a  very  large  Greek  house  at  Girgenti,  where  there  are 
extensive  remains  of  Greek  houses  unexcavated.  The  prehistoric  house  at 
Cefalu  may  be  Greek  of  the  Mycenian  period. 

Greek  inscriptions.  Most  of  them  are  in  the  museums  of  Palermo,  Syra 
cuse,  etc.  There  is  one  on  the  font  of  the  cathedral  of  Syracuse  ;  there  are 
one  or  two  in  churches  at  Messina.  I  cannot  recall  any  inscriptions  before 
the  Roman  conquest  of  Sicily  in  situ,  but  there  are  Greek  inscriptions  at 
Palazzolo  in  the  wonderful  tomb  chambers  of  the  Roman  period. 

Greek  metopes.  See  Palermo  Museum.  Only  a  few  lots  of  sculptured 
metopes  have  been  discovered  in  Sicily,  and  all  of  them  at  Selinunte.  The 
best  Selinunte  metopes  rank  after  those  of  the  Parthenon  and  Olympia. 

Greek  pottery.  See  under  Earthenware,  Curios,  etc.  Sicily  is  full  of 
ancient  Greek  pottery.  Pottery  remained  Greek  in  the  Roman  period. 

Greek  rites.  Hardly  anything  is  known  of  Greek  rites  in  Sicily  except 
incidentally  from  Diodorus  or  Theocritus,  etc.,  or  from  the  Sepolcri  and  other 
modern  rites.  Sicily  is  remarkably  poor  in  marble  reliefs  which  would  give 
us  information  on  the  subject.  What  a  prize,  for  instance,  it  would  have  been 
if  we  had  had  a  frieze  representing  the  rites  practised  by  Sicilians  when  they 
were  sacrificing  to  Apollo  Archagetas  before  a  journey  to  Old  Greece,  or  the 
rites  in  the  world-famous  temples  of  Enna  and  Eryx,  like  we  have  of  the 
Panathensea  on  the  Parthenon  at  Athens. 

f  Greek  roads  were  cut  in  the  solid  rock.  There  are  quantities  of  them  in 
Sicily,  easily  to  be  distinguished  by  the  deep  ruts  cut  by  the  chariot  wheels. 
A  good  example  is  in  the  street  of  tombs  at  Syracuse. 

Greek  customs  surviving.  An  example  is  the  throwing  back  of  the 
head  to  say  no,  the  ananuein  of  the  Greeks. 

Greek  temples.  See  above  under  Architecture,  and  at  the  various  cities 
mentioned  under  that  heading.  The  finest  standing  are  the  Concordia  and 
Juno  at  Girgenti,  the  Diana  at  Segesta,  and  the  Minerva  embodied  entire  in 
the  cathedral  of  Syracuse. 

Greek  terra-cotta  figurines.  See  above  under  Earthenware,  and  Greek 
Women.  See  also  the  works  on  Greek  terra-cotta  statuettes  by  Mr.  Marcus 
Huish  (Murray)  and  Miss  Hutton  (Seeley).  They  were  probably  votive,  and 
the  Sicilian  figures  belong  to  the  period  when  the  subjects  depicted  were 
chiefly  goddesses.  Other  subjects  are  sometimes  founds  such  as  masks  or 
animals.  The  great  places  for  finding  them  are  at  Selinunte  and  Girgenti, 
cities  destroyed  by  the  Carthaginians  in  409  and  406  B.C.  They  are  therefore 
anterior  to  these  dates.  A  few  beautiful  figures  of  the  Tanagra  period  have 
been  found  at  Solunto.  Proserpine  is  the  favourite  subject  of  all,  though 
there  are  ^  many  of  Diana  and  Venere.  They  were  made  in  moulds  in 
separate  pieces  and  then  cemented  together  with  clay.  The  makers  sometimes 
used  the  head  of  one  with  the  body  or  limbs  of  another.  The  moulds  are  still 
sometimes  found.  They  were  used  for  votive  offerings  at  the  temples,  and 
when  the  temples  got  too  full  the  priests  cleared  out  the  worst  ones.  They 
broke  them  and  threw  tten  in  the  temple  dustbin  because  they  had  been 


194        SICILY  THE   NEW  WINTER   RESORT 

sacred  and  must  not  be  used  for  other  purposes.  Sometimes  they  were  too 
"lazy  to  break  them.  The  heads  and  feet  being  solid  have  lasted  longer  than 
the  hollow  portions.  They  are  therefore  commoner. 

Greek  type,  the  ancient,  is  supposed  to  be  strongest  in  the  province  of 
Messina,  but  is  also  very  noticeable  at  Girgenti  and  Palazzolo. 

Greek  women.  The  Dorian  Greeks  allowed  their  women  far  more  liberty 
than  the  lonians,  and  much  more  influence.  Many  women  come  into  the 
story  of  Syracuse.  See  under  Syracuse,  Arete,  Aristomache,  Callirrhoe, 
Damarete,  Sophrosyne,  Philistis.  That  they  were  gloriously  beautiful  there 
can  be  no  doubt.  The  female  heads  on  the  Sicilian  coins  are  the  most  beauti 
ful  in  the  whole  of  art.  Unfortunately,  the  Syracusans  do  not  seem  to  have 
gone  in  much  for  the  terra-cotta  figurines,  and  there  have  been  no  finds  in 
Sicily  beyond  a  few  stray  figures  at  Solunto  of  figurines  of  the  Tanagra 
period.  The  Sicilian  specimens  belong  to  the  fifth  and  sixth  centuries  B.  c. , 
when  only  stereotyped  goddesses  were  represented,  all  of  them  very  good- 
looking.  Some  clay,  perhaps,  there  may  be  a  find  at  Syracuse  or  Girgenti  of 
the  figurines  of  the  middle  of  the  fourth  century,  which  would  be  photographs 
in  clay  of  the  elegant  and  luxurious  dames  of  Syracuse,  like  those  of  Tanagra, 
as  you  see  them  in  the  famous  idyll  of  Theocritus.  We  know  the  smart 
women  of  Tanagra  from  top  to  toe  :  their  coiffures,  their  parasols,  their  hats, 
their  fans,  are  quite  Parisian.  There  are  even  some  with  high-heeled  slippers, 
and  a  fortune  awaits  the  Parisian  modiste  who  first  copies  their  elegant  dust- 
cloaks. 

Greek  words.  A  few  Greek  words  have  never  dropped  out  of  the 
language,  e.g.  latomia.  The  language  of  ancient  Sicily  was  mostly  Greek 
even  in  Roman  times.  The  Sikelians  and  Sicanians  became  Grsecised,  and 
the  Romans  never  imposed  their  language.  Theocritus  and  the  other  writers 
of  the  best  period  wrote  in  Dorian  Greek,  the  language  of  most  of  the  great 
cities. 

Greeks  and  Phoenicians.  They  had  shrines  respected  by  each  other  as  we 
know  from  Diodorus's  account  of  the  storming  of  Motya.  The  Phoenicians 
imitated  the  Greek  coins  even  down  to  their  inscriptions,  and  Greek  was 
spoken  at  Palermo,  a  city  which  never  was  Greek,  though  held  for  a  brief 
while  by  Pyrrhus. 

Di  Gregorio,  the  Marchese.  A  distinguished  writer  on  scientific  sub 
jects.  Nelson  occupied  an  apartment  in  his  palace  when  in  Sicily.  See 
under  Palermo. 

Gregory  the  Great,  Pope,  was  the  son  of  a  Sicilian  heiress  named  Sylvia, 
and  owned  great  estates  in  Sicily,  six  of  which  he  used  for  founding 
monasteries,  including  the  famous  S.  Giovanni  degli  Eremiti  at  Palermo,  and 
the  great  monastery  of  S.  Martino  above  Monreale. 

Grey  Mullet.    See  Fish. 

Grilles.  The  iron  and  bronze  grilles  used  for  screening  the  nuns  from 
observation  in  their  churches  and  their  balconies,  generally  gilt,  are  frequently 
of  great  beauty,  e.g.  S.  Lucia  near  the  Duomo  in  Syracuse,  and  inside  the 
church  of  S.  Spirito  at  Girgenti. 

Grotte.  A  stat.  on  the  line  between  Canicattl  and  Girgenti,  the  ancient 
Erbessus  (q.v,). 

Gurrita,  Lake.  A  malarious  lake  near  the  monastery  of  Maniace  on  Mount 
Etna.  Cf.  Goredan  (Lago  di),  the  medieval  name  of  the  Lake  of  Pergusa. 
Does  the  name  signify  something  malarious  ? 


THINGS    SICILIAN 


195 


Guhl  and  Koner's  "  Life  of  the  Greeks  and  Romans."  One  of  the  best 
illustrated  popular  guides  (published  by  Chatto  and  Windus,  7s.  6V.)  for  the 
traveller  on  all  subjects,  from  temples  and  tombs  to  the  vases  and  little 
bronzes  he  buys  at  curio-shops.  Gardner  and  Jevons's  "Manual  of  Greek 
Antiquities"  (Griffin  and  Co.,  i$j.  net)  is  the  most  up-to-date  dictionary  of 
Greek  antiquities. 

Guardia  di  Questura.  See  above,  under  Carabinieri.  They  are  dressed 
almost  exactly  like  the  infantry. 

Guides.  Cabmen  and  custodes  of  the  various  monuments  are  the  best 
guides.  Boys  do  pretty  well.  There  are  no  proper  guides,  except  the  brothers 
Caltagirone  at  Girgenti,  and  Mr.  Von  Pernull  himself,  Cook's  correspondent 
in  Palermo,  who  takes  parties  to  Cefalu  and  Segesta,  and  lectures. 

Guide-books.     See  under  Preface. 

Guiscard,  Robert.  Robert  Guiscard  invaded  Sicily  in  person  in  the  year 
1061.  There  are  various  buildings  in  Palermo  connected  with  him,  such  as 
the  poor  little  church  of  S.  Maria  della  Vittoria,  which  enshrines  the  wooden 
door  he  burst  with  fire  in  storming  the  Calsa  which  gave  him  Palermo,  and  the 
church  of  S.  Salvatore  in  the  Vfa  Protonotaro  at  Palermo,  a  building  with 
beautiful  Gothic  features  of  a  later  day,  which  stands  on  the  site  of  a  church 
founded  by  Robert.  See  under  Robert. 

Gylippus,  the  deliverer  of  Syracuse  from  the  Athenian  invasion,  the  man 
who  stopped  the  building  of  the  blockading- wall,  and  eventually  captured 
Nicias  and  all  his  army,  was  a  Spartan.  He  was  the  son  of  Cleandridas,  and 
left  at  Sparta  when  his  father  was  exiled  to  Thurii,  B.C.  445.  He  tried  to  save 
the  Athenian  generals  when  the  Syracusan  assembly  sentenced  them  to  death. 
He  died  in  disgrace  for  stealing  the  public  treasures. 

H 

Haberdashery  peddler.  Haberdashery  shops  are  so  few  outside  ofjarge 
towns  that  the  haberdashery  peddler  is  a  constant  joy  to  the  kodaker.  Some 
times  he  carries  his  wares  on  his  head,  at  others  they  are  contained  in  a  huge 
chest  of  drawers,  sufficiently  multitudinous  and  ingenious  for  an  American 
millionairess  to  covet,  which  is  drawn  by  a  meek  little  Sardinian  ass  the  size 
of  a  goat.  And  sometimes  two  haberdashers  carry  their  wares  on  a  pole  slung 
between  them,  like  the  spies  bringing  back  the  monster  bunch  of  grapes  from 
Canaan  to  Joshua. 

Hadranum.  The  ancient  city  which  has  become  the  modern  Aderno  (q.v.). 
Chiefly  remembered  for  its  Temple  of  Hadranus,  guarded  by  a  thousand  dogs. 
Freeman  tells  us  that  the  dogs  of  Hadranus  * '  had  thoroughly  mastered  the 
human  or  divine  power  of  discerning  good  and  eviL  They  were  dogs  of  great 
size  and  beauty,  surpassing  the  breed  of  Molottis  itself.  But  they  knew  when 
to  use  their  strength  and  when  to  forbear.  By  day,  when  good  men,  whether 
strangers  or  men  of  the  land,  came  to  the  temple  and  the  grove,  the  mighty 
beasts  welcomed  them  with  whine  and  bound.  But  he  that  came  with  blood 
on  his  hands  was  seized  and  torn  in  pieces,  while  the  man  of  unclean  life  was 
not  indeed  torn  in  pieces,  but  driven  away  from  the  holy  place.  By  night,  as 
guardians  of  the  temple,  the  faithful  beasts  tore  in  pieces  any  who  came  to 
rob.  But  as  its  guides,  they  gently  led  thither  those  who  had  stumbled  and 
lost  their  way.  Nor  did  they  scorn  to  do  the  same  good  office  to  harmless 
dramkards,  having  first  dealt  out  to  them  the  warning  chastisement  of  leaping 
on  them  and  tearing  their  clothes  to  bring  them  to  their  senses." 


196        SICILY  THE  NEW  WINTER   RESORT 

Hadranus.  The  Sikel  fire-god  was,  of  course,  identified  by  the  Greeks 
with  Hephaestus,  and  the  Romans  with  Vulcan.  Freeman  sees  no  reason  for 
identifying  him  with  the  Semitic  Adrammelech. 

Hadrian  in  Sicily.  Hadrian,  who  visited  all  parts  of  his  dominions,  was  in 
Sicily  A.D.  126,  and  was  much  interested  in  the  study  of  Etna. 

Hairdressers.  Called  in  Sicily  Monsu.  See  Barbers.  A  lady  cannot 
get  her  hair  dressed  at  a  shop  in  Sicily,  servants ^  being  cheap.  The  shops 
are  poor  in  every  respect  except  shaving,  over  which  you  have  to  bargain  as 
you  do  over  curios,  or  pay  double. 

Halaesa.  A  Sikel  town,  now  known  as  Alesa.  Near  the  modern  Tusa 
(q.v.).  It  was  founded  by  Archonides, Prince  of  Herbita,  the  ally  of  Ducetius, 
according  to  Diodorus. 

Halicyae.  Near  the  modern  Salemi  (q.v.).  Freeman  discredits  the  Sicilian 
tradition  that  the  town  was  of  Elymian  origin. 

Hamilcar,  the  father  of  Gisco.  The  Carthaginian  general  defeated  with 
such  slaughter  by  Gelo  at  the  Battle  of  Himera.  He  was  the  son  of  Hanno. 
According  to  Herodotus  adapted  by  Freeman,  "Hamilcar  stands  apart  from 
the  fight,  like  Moses  or  Samuel.  All  day,  while  the  battle  goes  on,  he  throws 
burnt-offerings  into  the  fire.  At  last,  towards  evening,  news  comes  that  his 
army  is  defeated  ;  he  then  throws  himself  into  the  fire,  as  the  most  costly  gift 
of  all  For  this  he  was  honoured  as  a  hero  wherever  Carthage  had  power." 

His  grandson,  Hannibal,  the  son  of  Gisco,  made  the  vast  invasion  of  Sicily, 
which  swept  off  every  Greek  city  except  Syracuse,  to  avenge  this  defeat  and 
Hamilcar's  death.  He  took  three  thousand  men,  captured  in  the  fall  of 
Himera,  to  the  spot  where  his  grandfather  had  died,  and  insulted  and  tortured 
and  put  them  to  death  as  an  offering  to  his  ghost. 

Hamilcar,  the  father  of  Hannibal,  was  much  in  Sicily.  Surnamed  Barca 
or  Lightning,  from  his  energy  and  daring.  He  was  a  young  man  when 
appointed  to  command  the  Carthaginians  in  Sicily  in  B.C.  247,  the  eighteenth 
year  of  the  first  Punic  War.  He  threw  himself  into  Hercte  (Ercta),  a  fortress 
on  Monte  Pellegrino,  which  had  a  small,  safe  harbour,  and  there  maintained 
himself  for  three  years  against  the  Romans  in  Panormus  (Palermo),  raiding  in 
every  direction  from  this  stronghold  and  keeping  Panormus  in  perpetual 
danger.  In  244  he  abruptly  quitted  it  and  transported  himself  to  Eryx, 
which  he  seized  and  tried  to  transfer  its  inhabitants  to  his  fortress  of  Drepanum, 
the  modern  Trapani.  He  was  eventually  compelled  to  withdraw  from  Sicily 
by  the  destruction  of  a  fleet,  sent  with  men  and  treasure  to  reinforce  him,  in 
the  great  battle  of  the  ^Egatian  Islands,  241  B.C.,  which  terminated  the  first 
Punic  War  in  favour  of  the  Romans.  Before  he  died  he  swore  his  little  son 
Hannibal  to  eternal  enmity  against  the  Romans. 

Hamilton,  Sir  William  and  Lady.  Sir  William  Hamilton,  the  British 
Ambassador  at  Naples  in  the  time  of  Ferdinand  and  Maria  Caroline,  accom 
panied  the  Royal  Family  to  Sicily  in  the  last  days  of  1798,  and  stayed  there 
during  the  first  half  of  1799,  He  had  a  palace  near  the  Villa  Giulia  at 
Palermo,  probably  on  the  site  of  part  of  the  Baucina  Palace. 

Hammered  Iron.  Sicily  is  famous  for  its  hammered  iron.  See  especially 
the  balconies  of  Syracuse,  the  gates  of  the  cathedral  of  Syracuse,  and  the 
collection  in  the  museum  of  Palermo. 

Hannibal,  the  son  of  Gisco,  commanded  the  most  successful  of  all  the 
Carthaginian  invasions  of  Europe,  although  he  did  not  live  to  finish  the 
campaign.  In  it  every  Greek  city  in  Sicily  except  Syracuse  was  destroyed. 
See  under  Girgenti,  Selinunte,  Himera,  Gela,  etc. 


THINGS   SICILIAN  197 

Hannibal  the  Great,  son  of  Hamilcar,  was  never  in  Sicily.  But  there  is  a 
legend  that  Pelorus  (Messina)  was  named  after  his  pilot,  whom,  after  the 
manner  of  the  ancients  when  dissatisfied,  he  threw  into  the  sea.  Had  Hannibal 
possessed  Sicily  as  a  basis,  Freeman  sees  no  reason  to  doubt  that  he  would 
have  conquered  Rome.  It  was  so  handy,  so  safe,  so  full  of  munitions.  The 
most  wonderful  part  of  Hannibal's  exploits  is  that  he  had  to  march  all  the 
way  round  from  Spain  and  cross  the  Alps  before  he  could  begin. 

Hardrada,  Harold.  With  his  Norse  mercenaries,  called  by  the  Greeks 
Varangians,  took  a  great  part  in  George  Maniaces's  great  victory  over  the 
Saracens  near  the  Castello  di  Maniace,  on  Etna.  He  afterwards  invaded 
England,  and  was  defeated  and  killed  in  the  Battle  of  Stamford  Bridge,  fought 
a  short  time  before  the  Battle  of  Hastings. 

Hares  appear  on  ancient  coins  of  Girgenti  and  Messina.  Anaxilas  (q.v.) 
is  said  to  have  introduced  them  into  Sicily.  They  are  still  very  numerous 
round  Girgenti. 

Harness.  The  Sicilians  are  Oriental  in  their  ideas  of  harness.  On  festa 
days  their  horses  and  asses  have  a  horn  a  yard  high  surmounted  by  a  plume  of 
scarlet  feathers  and  another  great  plume  of  scarlet  and  green  feathers  on  their 
heads.  The  harness  is  mostly  scarlet,  ornamented  with  brass  and  little  pieces 
of  mirror.  The  pack-mules,  whose  harness  is  generally  of  webbing  decorated 
in  this  way,  look  as  if  they  were  part  of  a  circus.  On  ordinary  days  the  horses 
have  a  tuft  of  pheasants'  feathers.  Formerly  they  had  cruel  serrated  bits,  but 
these  are  going  out.  You  seldom  see  in  Sicily  the  great  brass-mounted  saddles 
decked  with  various  chaarms  and  saints  used  for  draught  animals  in  Naples. 
The  oxen  have  simple  yokes. 

Harris  and  Angell,  Messrs.  Two  English  architects,  who  in  the  year 
1823  discovered  the  splendid  metopes  of  Selmunte,  now  in  the  Palermo 
Museum. 

Hartstongue  Fern  grows  very  freely  in  Sicily,  especially  in  the  rlumerous 
antique  cisterns, 

Hasdrubal.  A  Carthaginian  general  who  besieged  Panormus  and  was 
defeated  by  L.  Caecilius  Metellus,  B.C.  251. 

Hawkers.  As  only  the  large  cities  have  many  shops,  Sicily  is  full  of 
hawkers  of  haberdashery,  boots,  cutlery,  pottery,  knick-knacks,  etc. 

Heads,  carrying  burdens  on.  The  Sicilians,  especially  the  women,  are 
accustomed  to  carry  burdens  on  their  heads.  See  Water-jars. 

Headkerchiefs.  Used  by  the  peasants  all  over  Sicily.  The  women  prefer 
saffron-dyed  kerchiefs,  the  men  red ;  but  they  use  them  less.  At  Taormina 
occasionally  you  see  one  of  the  valuable  old  headkerchiefs,  which  match  the 
splendid  shawls  so  fast  dying  out.  They  are  apt  to  have  a  white  ground, 

Hecate.  A  Titan  goddess,  who  accompanied  Proserpine  to  hell  and  became 
her  companion.  The  new  temple  of  Selmunte,  beyond  Madiuni,  is  ascribed 
to  her,  as  is  the  Adytum,  near  the  Scala  Greca  at  Syracuse,  recently  dis 
covered  by  Prof.  Orsi.  She  entered  much  into  witchcraft,  as  we  know  from 
the  Second  Idyll  of  Theocritus. 

Heius,  Caius.  A  rich  Messenian  who  was  robbed  by  Verres  of  the  Eros  of 
Praxiteles,  the  bronze  Hercules  by  Myron,  the  Canephorse  of  PolycleituSj  and 
priceless  tapestries  from  Pergamus.  See  under  Messina. 

Helorus.  A  river  of  Sicily,  Now  the  Tellaro.  There  is  also  an  ancient  city 
of  which  there  are  some  remains  of  the  fifth  century  B.C.  They  are  near  Noto, 
and  on  the  banks  of  the  former  is  the  column  of  stone  30  feet  high,  known 


198        SICILY  THE  NEW  WINTER   RESORT 

as  La  Pizzuta,  which  tradition  declares  to  "be  a  monument  raised  by  the 
victorious  Syracusans  to  commemorate  the  capture  of  the  armies  of  Demos 
thenes  and  Nicias.  It  stands  on  a  hill  over  the  sea.  The  Helorus  road  was 
that  finally  chosen  by  the  Athenians  for  their  flight. 


THE  RIVER  TELLARO   (HELORUS) 

Henry  VI.,  Emperor.  He  married  Constantia,  daughter,  and  heiress 
eventually,  of  King  Roger,  and  obtained  the  crown  of  Sicily.  With  the  great 
ransom  he  received  from  Richard  Coeur  de  Lion,  he  made  an  expedition  to 
Sicily  and  conquered  it  in  1194;  but  in  1197  he  died  at  Messina. 

Hera.   See  Giunone. 

Heradea  MInoa.  An  ancient  city,  whose  ruins  are  near  Montallegro  (q.v.) 
and  the  mouth  of  the  Platani,  and  the  Capo  Bianco,  on  the  site  of  the  Sicanian 
town  of  Mecara.  The  Cretans  captured  it,  and  gave  it  its  name  of  Minoa. 
It  was  called  Heraclea  by  a  colony  of  Lacaedemonians,  under  Euryleon,  who 
accompanied  Dorieus  in  his  expedition  against  Eryx.  It  was  generally  in  the 
power  of  the  Carthaginians.  The  exact  epoch  of  its  destruction  is  not  known. 
If  Zeuxis  was  born  'in  Sicily,  as  it  is  claimed,  this  was  his  birthplace,  for  he 
was  always  called  Zeuxis  of  Heraclea.  He  was  the  most  famous  painter  of 
antiquity.  See  under  Girgenti. 

,  Heraclidae.  The  name  given  to  all  Greek  descendants  of  Hercules  j  but 
especially  those  descendants  of  the  hero  who,  in  conjunction  with  the  Dorians, 
conquered  the  Peloponnese.  It  was  as  a  Heraclid  that  Dorieus,  the  king's  son 
of  Sparta,  considered  he  had  the  right  of  succession  to  Eryx,  which  resulted 
in  the  expedition  in  which  he  met  his  death. 

Heraea,  Hybla.   See  Hybla  Heraea.    The  modern  Ragusa. 

Heraei  Monies,  the,  of  antiquity,  lay  between  Tyndaris  and  Mount  Etna. 
They  are  a  branch  of  the  modern  Nebrodi, 

Herbita.  According  to  Freeman,  the  modern  Sperlinga.  It  was  a  purely  Sikel 
city,  the  capital  of  Archonides,  the  ally  of  Ducetius  (q.v.).  Sicilian  tradition 


THINGS   SICILIAN  199 

identifies  Herbita,  which  it  calls  Erbita,  and  Cicero  calls  Otterbita,  with  the 
neighbourhood  of  the  modern  Nicosia  at  the  springs  called  Salso  Orientale. 

Herbs.  Sicily  abounds  in  aromatic  and  medicinal  herbs  which  its  inhabi 
tants  use  for  cooking  and  febrifuges.  Among  others,  rosemary,  mint,  pepper 
mint,  thyme,  rue,  wormwood,  sage,  the  large  silvery  kind  of  wormwood  they 
call  vermouth,  juniper,  basil,  marshmallow,  etc.  Dandelions  are  also  much 
used  medicinally. 

Herb-shops.  Shops  for  the  sale  of  dried  herbs  are  common  in  Sicily. 
They  are  used  not  only  for  culinary  purposes,  but  for  home  doctoring  in  case 
of  fevers. 

Hercules  (Greek  Heracles,  Italian  Ercole).  The  Samson  of  the  classics ; 
the  most  celebrated  hero  of  antiquity ;  the  son  of  Zeus  and  Alcmena.  It  is 
only  necessary  to  mention  here  the  names  of  his  twelve  labours  which  furnish 
the  subjects  of  various  Sicilian  coins  and  his  personal  connection  with  Sicily. 
The  twelve  labours  were  the  fight  with  the  Nemean  lion,  a  frequent  coin- 
subject  ;  the  fight  with  the  Lernsean  Hydra,  the  catching  of  the  stag  of  Cery- 
neia,  the  catching  of  the  Erymanthian  boar,  the  cleaning  of  the  stables  of 
Augeas,  the  killing  of  the  Stymphalian  birds,  the  catching  of  the  Cretan  bull, 
the  bringing  of  the  mares  of  the  Thracian  Diomede  to  Eurystheus  at  Mycence, 
the  winning  of  the  girdle  of  the  Queen  of  the  Amazons,  the  capture  of  the 
oxen  of  Geryon,  the  winning  of  the  Golden  Apples  of  the  Hesperides,  and 
bringing  up  Cerberus  from  the  Lower  World  (Smith's  Dictionary  of  Greek  and 
Roman  Mythology  and  Biography].  The  reason  why  Hercules  comes  so  much 
into  Sicilian  legends  and  coins  is  that  he  became  identified  with  the  Phoenician 
Melkart.  Indeed,  Freeman  says  the  labours  were  Melkart's.  "The  Greek 
hero  Herakles  got  mixed  up  with  the  Phoenician  Melkart,  and  in  that  charac 
ter  he  was  sent  on  various  errands  in  the  West,  as  far  as  the  ocean.  Many 
stories  arose  about  him  in  Sicily,  about  his  driving  away  the  oxen  of  Geryones, 
about  their  crossing  the  strait,  and  how  the  hero  first  received  the  worship  of 
a  god  in  the  Sikel  town  of  Agyrium,  where  the  hoof-prints  of  his  oxen  were  to 
be  seen.  All  this  last  the  historian  Diodorus,  who  was  a  man  of  Agyrium, 
takes  care  to  tell  us  at  length.  But  above  all,  Herakles  wrestled  with  Eryx, 
the  eponymus  of  the  mountain  and  town  so-called,  and  overthrew  him.  He 
thus  gained  a  right  to  his  land,  but  he  left  it  to  him  on  a  kind  of  lease,  to  hold 
till  a  Herakleid  should  come  and  claim  it.  This  last  part,  at  least  of  the  story, 
was  clearly  made  up  in  the  interest  of  certain  Herakleids  who,  as  we  shall  see 
in  time,  did  come  to  claim  Eryx."  See  under  Dorieus.  There  were  famous 
temples  of  Hercules  at  Messina  and  Agira,  the  former  of  which  was  perfect 
until  it  was  taken  down  two  or  three  centuries  ago.  Also  at  Girgenti  (q.v.), 
where  the  Temple  of  Hercules,  of  which  there  are  enormous  remains,  contained 
the  masterpiece  of  Zeuxis;  and  at  Selinunte  (q.v.),  also  attributed  to  Apollo. 
The  older  metopes  in  the  Palermo  Museum  were  found  there. 

Hercules  and  the  Hind.  A  celebrated  bronze  of  considerable  size  in  the 
museum  at  Palermo,  representing  the  capture  of  the  Ceryneian  stag.  See 
above.  It  is  a  fountain  group  discovered  at  Pompeii  in  1805. 

Hercte.   See  Ercta. 

Hermocrates.  The  Pericles  of  Syracuse.  It  was  he  who  saved  the  city 
by  forcing  it  in  spite  of  the  pooh-poohing  of  Athenagoras,  the  Syracusan 
Gladstone,  to  arm  for  the  Athenian  invasion.  And  he  was  the  best  Syra- 
cusan  commander  in  the  war,  Syracuse,  with  the  ingratitude  typical  of 
Greek  republics,  exiled  him  shortly  afterwards.  He  then  distinguished  him 
self  greatly  in  the  Sparta- Athens- Persia  campaign  in  the  J£gean.  He  was 


200        SICILY  THE   NEW   WINTER   RESO'RT 

at  length  persuaded,  in  spite  of  his  unwillingness  to  act  against  his  native 
city,  to  return  to  Syracuse  at  the  head  of  an  armed  force  to  assist  the  party  m 
favour  of  his  restoration  ;  but  entering  the  city  in  advance  of  his  men,  he  was 
attacked  by  his  enemies  and  killed.  If  he  had  not  been  so  opposed  to  using 
violence,  he  might  easily  have  effected  his  object.  Dionysius,  who  married  his 
daughter,  was  wounded  and  left  for  dead  in  this  dmeute. 

Hexastyle.  A  word  seemingly  invented  by  Vitruvius  to  express  a  porch 
with  six  columns,  a  usual  feature  of  a  Doric  temple. 

Hibiscus.  A  plant  of  the  order  Malvacese.  Various  members  of  the  family 
are  valuable  for  their  fruit,  sap,  and  bark.  But  the  variety  common  in 
Sicilian  gardens  is  grown  for  its  brilliant  red  flowers. 

Hicetas,  a  tyrant  of  Syracuse,  a  contemporary  of  Dionysius  II.  and 
Timoleon,  with  whom  he  carried  on  a  three-cornered  contest  for  the  possession 
of  the  city.  He  protected,  but  afterwards  murdered,  Arete  and  Aristomache 
(q.v.).  Having  been  defeated  and  captured  by  Timoleon,  he  was  put  to 
death  with  his  son  at  once,  while  his  wife  and  daughters  were  carried  to 
Syracuse  and  barbarously  executed  to  avenge  Arete  and  Aristomache. 

Hiero  I."  Tyrant  of  Syracuse,  478-467  B.C.  Born  at  Gela.  For  the 
account  of  his  glorious  reign,  see  under  Syracuse,  p.  523. 

Hiero  II.   King  of  Syracuse,  270-215.     See  under  Syracuse,  p.  523. 

Hieronymus.    King  of  Syracuse,  son  of  Hiero  II.     See  under  Syracuse, 

P-  523- 

Hill,  G.  R,  in  his  The  Coins  of  Ancient  Sicily  (Constable,  2is.  net),  gives 
illustrations  of  all  the  most  famous  Sicilian  coins,  and  is  valuable,  not  only  as  a 
coin  book,  but  as  a  history  of  ancient  Sicily. 

Himera,  Battle  of.  At  this  battle,  which  took  place,  according  to  Hero 
dotus,  on  the  same  day  as  the  Battle  of  Salamis,  480  B.C.,  Gelo,  the  tyrant 
of  Syracuse,  defeated  an  immense  Carthaginian  army  commanded  by  Hamilcar 
(q.v.),  the  father  of  Cisco.  Himera  (q.v.)  is  the  modern  Termini.  See  also 
Gelo  and  Coins,  p.  508. 

Himera,  Town  of.  Himera  was  a  favourite  name  with  the  Sicilian 
Greeks,  who  applied  it  to  more  than  one  town,  as  well  as  ^two  rivers, 
which  run  into  the  sea  near  Licata  and  Termini  respectively.  The 
Himera  Meridionalis  of  the  ancients  is  the  Fiume  Salso ;  and  the  ancient 
Himera  Septentrionalis  is  the  Fiume  Grande.  Both  Termini  and  Sciacca 
formerly  bore  the  name  of  Himera.  Agathocles  is  generally  supposed  to 
have  been  born  at  the  former — a  most  historical  place — founded  by  Zancle 
about  648  B.C.  Here  Gelo  won  the  great  battle  (see  preceding  par.).  The 
city  was  utterly  destroyed  by  the  Carthaginians  under  Hannibal  (q.v.),  the 
son  of  Cisco,  B.C.  408,  rebuilt  nearer  the  sea  on  the  site  of  the  modern 
Termini,  and  called  Thermae  and  occasionally  Himera. 

Himilcon,  son  of  Hanno.  A  Carthaginian  general  who  was  associated 
with  Hannibal,  the  son  of  Cisco,  in  command  of  the  great  expedition. 
When  Hannibal  died  of  fever  at  Agrigentum  Himilcon  succeeded  him,  and  it 
was  he  who  conquered  Sicily.  He  made,  in  397,  an  unsuccessful  attempt 
to  relieve  Motya,  which  was  captured  by  Dionysius.  In'  396  he  returned 
to  Sicily,  and  had  a  most  victorious  campaign  till  his  army  was  desolated  by 
fever  while  besieging  Syracuse.  He  then  paid  three  hundred  talents  to  be 
allowed  to  take  the  Carthaginian  part  of  his  army  back  to  Africa,  abandoning 
the  allies  and  mercenaries  to  their  fate.  But  he  was  so  overwhelmed  with 
obloquy  at  Carthage  that  he  starved  himself  to  death.  (Sir  W.  Smith.) 


THINGS   SICILIAN  201 

.  Hipparinus.  A  leader  of  the  Gamori  at  Syracuse.  Having  squandered 
his  property,  he  supported  Dionysius  in  seizing  the  tyranny.  He  was  the 
father  of  Dion  and  Aristomache,  who  married  Dionysius  I.  Dion  had  a  son 
of  the  same  name,  who  threw  himself  from  the  roof  of  a  house  and  killed 
himself  when  his  father  tried  to  cure  him  of  his  luxurious  and  dissolute 
habits. 

Hipponia  is  the  ancient  city  on  the  site  of  the  modern  Bivona  (q.v.).  It 
was  built  by  Gelo,  tyrant  of  Syracuse,  as  a  trophy  of  his  victory  over  the 
Carthaginians  at  Himera. 

Hiram,  King  of  Tyre,  is  supposed  to  have  built  the  more  ancient  parts 
of  Solunto,  the  Sicilian  Pompeii.  As  most  of  Solomon's  trading  operations 
were  carried  on  through  Hiram's  fleet,  Sicily  may  well  have  been  represented 
in  the  Great  Temple  in  Jerusalem. 

Holm,  Adolf,  the  great  German  scholar,*  who  is  constantly  being  quoted 
by  Freeman.  His  Geschichte  Sicilians  im  Altertkum,  3  vols.,  and  his 
Geography  of  Ancient  Sicily  \mjs  both  been  translated  into  Italian,  but  not 
into  English. 

Holy  Thursday.  On  Holy  Thursday  Sicilians  make  Gardens  of  Geth- 
semane  or  Sepolcri  with  coloured  sands  and  pot-plants  in  their  churches. 
See  Ceremonies  and  Gethsemane,  Gardens  of. 

Holy  Week.   See  under  Ceremonies,  p   143. 

Homer.  Mr.  Butler,  in  his  ingenious  book,  The  Authoress  of  the  Odyssey, 
published  by  Longmans,  boldly  tries  to  prove  that  the  Odyssey  was  written  in 
Sicily  by  a  woman.  Be  this  as  it  may,  Sicily  comes  a  good  deal  into  the 
Twelfth  Odyssey,  where  there  is  a  small  island  Trinacia,  which  must  be 
connected  with  the  name  Trinacria,  though  there  is  also  a  Sikel  town 
Trinacia.  Homer's  Cyclops  are  not  ironworkers  in  Etna  like  Virgil,  but 
shepherds  in  the  south-west  of  the  island.  He  has  a  good  deal  to  say  about 
Scylla  (q.v.)  and  Charybdis  (q.v.).  He  mentions  Sikels  and  a  land  called 
Sicania.  (See  Freeman,  History  of  Sicily ,  vol.  i.  105-107  and  pages  462,  494.) 

Honey.  The  honey  of  Sicily  has  always  been  famous.  It  is  an  article  of 
export  to-day,  and  in  the  island  the  best  Sicilian  honey  is  still  called  Hybbean 
from  the  range  of  hills  where  it  is  produced.  They  have  a  honey  town, 
Melili  (q.v.),  which  has  curious  ceremonies. 

Horses.  Sicily  was  once  famous  for  its  horses.  The  Syracusans  had  the 
best  cavalry  of  all  the  Greeks.  A  few  years  ago  the  condition  of  horses  in 
Sicily  was  deplorable,  not  so  much  from  beating  as  from  starvation  and 
diseases.  The  very  poor  work  for  next  to  nothing  with  miserable  horses. 
Owing  to  the  efforts  of  the  Society  for  the  Prevention  of  Cruelty  to  Animals 
at  Palermo  this  evil  has  much  decreased.  Visitors  can  help  its  work  best  by 
refusing  to  take  any  horse  which  looks  underfed  or  unfit  to  work  from  its  sores. 
Sicilian  horses  are  not  good  as  a  rule.  They  are  very  slow.  Asses  and  mules 
do  more  of  the  work  of  the  country.  Good  riding  horses  can  only  be  pro 
cured  in  one  or  two  places.  But  the  horses  are  very  hardy,  and  if  allowed  to 
#§o  at  their  own  irritating  pace  they  do  an  immense  amount  of  work.  See 
Harness.  Subscriptions  to  the  Society  for  the  Prevention  of  Cruelty  to 
Animals  should  be  addressed  to  Ambroise  Pare  Brown,  Esq.,  Via  S.  Martinog, 
Palermo. 

Hotels.  For  hotels  the  traveller  should  consult  Baedeker,  who  takes  great 
pains  to  be  honest  and  up  to  date.  The  best-known  hotels  in  Sicily  are  the 
Hotel  Igiea,  Hotel  de  France,  and  Hotel  des  Palmes  at  Palermo,  the  Hotel 


202        SICILY  THE   NEW  WINTER   RESORT 

S.  Domenico  and  Hotel  Timeo  at  Taormina ;  and  the  Villa  Politi  at  Syra 
cuse.  Cook's  correspondent,  Mr.  H.  von  Pernull,  is  contemplating  an 
up-to-date  modern  hotel  at  Castrogiovanni,  the  ancient  Enna,  which,  with  a 
motor-car  service,  is  the  best  place  for  visiting  the  little-known  cities  of  the 
interior.  Other  extensively  patronised  hotels  by  those  who  frequent  Sicily^  for 
study,  etc.,  are  the  Hotel  Trinacria,  Pension  Panormus,  and  Pension  Suisse 
at  Palermo  ;  the  Casa  Politi  and  Hotel  Acradina  at  Syracuse ;  the  Hotel 
Victoria,  Hotel  Naumachia,  and  Hotel  Castellammare  at  Taormina  ;  the  Hotel 
des  Temples  and  Hotel  Belvedere  at  Girgenti ;  Hotel  Stella  d'  Italia  at 
Modica  ;  the  Hotel  d'  Italia  at  Randazzo  ;  the  Hotel  Bixio  at  Castelvetrano  ; 
and  certain  hotels  at  Messina,  Catania,  and  Trapani.  The  Hotel  Belvedere 
at  Messina,  little  known  to  foreigners,  has  much  to  recommend  it  for  those 
who  are  satisfied  with  a  native  inn.  At  Tyndaris  the  priests  of  the  Madonna 
del  Tindaro  have  a  good  hospiciurn  put  up  for  pilgrims,  where  they  take 
women  as  well  as  men  on  receiving  two  days'  notice,  addressed  to  the  Superior. 
See  under  Tyndaris.  The  cooking  in  Sicily  is  generally  fair  ;  the  Sicilians  are 
good  cooks.  See  hotels  under  various  cities. 

Humbert,  King1.  The  various  streets  named  Humbert  in  Sicily  are  called 
after  the  late  King  Humbert,  who  visited  the  island. 

Hybla,  A  goddess  of  the  nether  world  in  the  Sikel  religion  not  identified 
with  any  Greek  goddess,  but  in  Roman  times,  says  Freeman,  "  the  goddess  of 
Hybla  became  identified  with  the  Latin  Venus.  But  it  should  be  remembered 
that  the  Latin  Venus  was,  in  her  first  estate,  a  harmless  goddess  of  growth, 
falling  in  well  with  one  aspect  of  the  powers  of  the  nether  world.  Her  worship 
is,  of  course,  connected  with  Etna." 

Hybla.  The  ancient  city  whose  name  is  corrupted  into  the  modern  Avola 
(q.v.}. 

Hybla,  the  Galeatic  (or  Gereatic),  Freeman.  Still  Sikel  in  the  time  of 
Philistus.  It  is  represented  by  the  modern  Paterno  (q.v.).  Mentioned  by 
Pausanias,  who  says  that  there  are  two  Hyblas  in  Sicily,  Hybla  Gereatis  and 
Hybla  the  Greater,  which  was  entirely  desolate.  The  temple  was  at  the 
former,  and  Pausanias  says  that  its  inhabitants  were  the  most  devout  of  all  the 
barbarians  in  Sicily.  There  are  some  remains  of  the  ancient  city. 

Hybla  Heraea.  The  modern  Ragusa  (q.v.).  On  the  river  Hyrminos,  or 
Ragusa,  which  caused  the  disastrous  flood  of  1902.  It  is  not  near  the 
Hereaan  Mountains.  Freeman  suggests  that  there  may  have  been  a  great 
temple  of  Hera,  the  Greek  goddess  identified  with  Juno. 

Hybla  Minor,  or  Hybla  Gereatis,  identified  by  Sir  W.  Smith  with  Megara 
Hyblsea. 

Hybla  Major.  Freeman  puts  Hybla  the  Greater  close  to  Megara  Hyblsea. 
Sicilians  apply  the  name  to  Patern6  (q.v.),  the  Galeatic  Hybla  of  Freeman. 
It  has  coins  one  of  which  has  a  bee  for  its  type. 

Hyblaean  Hills.  The  table-mountain  which  is  such  a  prominent  landmark 
at  Syracuse.  In  them  or  their  offshoots  lie  the  gorge  of  the  Spampinato, 
along  which  the  Athenians  marched  in  their  unsuccessful  attempt  to  escape  at 
the  Pass  of  Palazzolo. 

Hyccara.  The  modern  Carini.  A  Sicanian  town.  The  only  one  known 
not  on  a  hill-top.  Later,  when  it  was  Greek,  it  was  captured  by  Nicias  in 
an  expedition  which  carried  off  the  celebrated  Lais,  4.15  B.C.  See  under 
Carini. 


THINGS   SICILIAN 


203 


Hygeia.  The  goddess  of  health.  One  of  the  two  patron  deities  of  ancient 
Messana  (Messina).  There  are  fonts  inscribed  to  her  both  in  the  cathedral  and 
La  Cattoiica. 

Hypaethral,  i.e.  open  to  the  sky.  It 
is  always  a  moot  point  whether  Greek 
temples  had  a  roof  or  not.  Vitruvius,  to 
whom  we  owe  the  term,  applies  it  to  the 
temple  of  the  Olympian  Zeus  at  Athens. 
The  subject  is  treated  at  great  length  in 
Russell  Sturgis's  Dictionary  of  Architec 
ture  (Macmillan). 

I 

laeta  (letas,  the  later  Yato,  Freeman). 
A  Sicanian  city  mentioned  by  Philistus 
as  a  strong  hill  fort,  and  famous  in  the 
wars  of  Pyrrhus  and  Roger.  The  Roman 
Silius  Italicus  calls  it  Celsus  letas.  Mr. 
G.  F.  Hill  mentions  an  Itetia  which  had 
coins.  It  was  not  very  far  from  Palermo 
(Panormus),  because  Pyrrhus,  to  whom 
it  capitulated,  used  it  as  his  base  in  attack 
ing  that  city,  and  the  Carthaginians  in 
the  first  Punic  War  had  to  evacuate  it  as 
soon  as  Panormus  fell.  Cicero  just  men 
tions  it  as  having  been  ruined  by  Verres. 
Fazello  says  there  was  a  medieval  fortress 
named  lato  on  a  mountain  15  miles  from 
Palermo  and  12  from  Entella  (Smith). 

Ilex,  or  Holm  Oak  (Quercus  ilex\  a 

tree  with  a  small  leaf  something  like  a  sloe.  Evergreen,  much  planted  in 
Italian  and  Sicilian  gardens.  There  are  constant  references  to  it  in  the 
classics,  in  Pliny,  Virgil,  Horace,  Marcian,  etc. 

Ineorpora,  Cav.  Giovanni.  The  best  photographer  in  Palermo.  See  under 
Palermo. 

Ingham  family.  The  great  wine  business  of  Ingham,  Whitaker  and  Co. 
was  founded  by  Mr.  Ingham  in  1804.  See  under  Marsala. 

Inghilfredi  di  Palermo.  A  Sicilian  of  the  fourteenth  century  ;  was  one  of 
the  earliest  Italian  poets  to  write  in  the  vernacular. 

Inquisition.  The  headquarters  of  the  Inquisition  in  Sicily  were  in  the 
Chiaramonte  Palace,  now  known  as  the  Dogana,  or  Palazzo  Tribunale  (q.v.). 
It  was  abolished  in  1782  by  the  Viceroy  Caracciolo  after  having  been  in 
existence  for  about  200  years.  See  under  Palermo. 

Immacolata.  The  festival  of  the  Immacolata  takes  place  on  December  8th. 
It  is  the  day  of  the  Immaculate  Conception  of  the  Virgin  Mary,  one  of  the 
great  festivals  of  Sicily.  The  seaside  shrine  of  the  Immacolata  at  Palermo  is 
very  picturesque. 

Imachara.  A  Sikel  town.  Freeman  discusses  the  origin  of  the  name, 
History  of  Sicily \  vol.  i.  494,  but  is  not  sure  whether  it  coincides  with  the 
modern  Troina  (q.v.),  where  there  are  considerable  Greek  remains. 


HOLY-WATER  STOUP,  INSCRIBED  WITH  THE 

NAME  OF  THE  GODDESS  HYGEIA  IN 

THE  CATHEDRAL  OF  MESSINA 


204        SICILY  THE   NEW  WINTER   RESORT 

Imera.  The  Italian  way  of  spelling  the  ancient  Himera  (q.v.).  _  But  there  is 
also  a  modern  village  of  Imera  on  the  banks  of  the  Himera  Meridionalis  (q.v. ). 

"  In  Sicily."  The  title  of  Mr.  Douglas  Sladen's  large  work  on  Sicily, 
published  by  Sands  and  Co.,  1901,  2  vols.,  quarto,  63^.  net. 

Intergugliemi.   A  well-known  photographer.     See  under  Palermo. 

Introductions.  Not  necessary,  but  often  very  useful.  It  does  almost  as 
well  to  consult  Cook's  correspondent,  Mr.  Von  Pernull,  at  Palermo. 

Inycum.  One  of  the  cities  of  the  Sicanian  king  Cocalus  of  Camicus  (q;v.). 
Its  exact  site,  beyond  that  it  was  in  Agrigentine  territory,  is  uncertain.  Sicilian 
tradition  places  it  near  Sciacca. 

Ionian  Sea.  Called  in  ancient  times  the  Sicilian  Sea  ;  is  the  widening  out 
southwards  of  the  Strait  of  Messina.  Sicilians  often  spell  it  with  a  J. 

Ionic  style.  See  under  Capitals  and  Columns.  Its  most  striking  feature 
is  the  horizontal  spiral  of  the  capital. 

Ionic  colonies.  The  principal  Ionic  colonies  were  Naxos,  Catane  (Catania), 
Leontini  (Lentini),  Zancle  (Messina),  and  Himera  (Termini). 

Iris.  A  great  variety  of  irises  grow  in  Sicily.  The  most  beautiful  of  them 
are  on  Etna,  for  example  between  Randazzo  and  Maniace.  The  little  blue 
Greek  iris,  which  comes  up  so  Quickly  after  rain,  is  found  all  over  Sicily,  and 
the  yellow  flag  on  the  banks  of  the  rivers.  The  great  purple  iris  is  com 
paratively  rare.  They  are  generally  smaller,  and  parti-coloured  or  white. 
At  the  Olympeium  outside  Syracuse  I  have  picked  the  beautiful  velvety  green 
iris  for  which  Corfu  is  famous. 

Ironwork.   See  Hammered  Iron. 

Irrigation.  There  is  a  great  deal  of  irrigation  in  Sicily,  which,  though  it 
has  a  very  small  rainfall,  has  an  immense  number  of  springs  and  wells.  The 
water  is  raised  by  methods  as  old  as  Archimedes,  and  stored  in  great  plaster 
gebbie,  or  cisterns,  which  are  often  many  feet  square  and  ten  or  fifteen  feet 
deep.  Thence  it  is  sometimes  carried  long  distances  in  open  inclined  plastered 
channels.  Anything  belonging  to  the  temperate  or  subtropical  zones  will 
grow  in  Sicily  with  irrigation. 

Isabella,  Keats'.  The  scene  of  this  poem,  founded  on  a  story  in  Boccaccio, 
is  laid  at  Messina. 

Isis.  The  worship  of  Isis  has  left  very  few  traces  in  Sicily.  I  do  not  know 
of  any  temple  in  existence. 

Isnello.  Reached  by  mail-vettura  from  Campofelice  on  the  Palermo- 
Messina  line  in  4^  hours.  It  is  in  the  Monti  Nebrodi,  and  founded  on  the 
antique  Castle  of  the  Ass.  Its  proper  name  is  Asinello.  It  is  mentioned  by 
historians  from  the  tenth  century.  It  has  a  very  early  acropolis. 

Isola  Lunga.  An  island  off  Trapani  and  Marsala,  in  the  lagoons  called  the 
Stagnone. 

Isola  delle  Feminine.  An  island  off  Monte  Pellegrino.  Has  a  square 
tower  where  Cottizona  was  executed  as  a  sorcerer  in  the  sixteenth  century. 
Really  the  Isola  di  Fimi. 

Ispica  Cava  d'  or  Val  <T.  The  most  famous  collection  of  prehistoric  tombs 
in  Sicily.  It  is  a  valley  with  rock  walls  stretching  most  of  the  way  from 
Modica  to  Spaccaforno,  full  of  the  dwellings  and  tombs  of  troglodytes,  includ 
ing  a  fortress.  At  the  Modica  end  there  are  two  chambers  cut  in  the  rock, 
whose  Byzantine  frescoes  show  that  they  must  have  been  used  as  churches 
during  the  Saracen  persecution.  One  was  quite  perfect  till  the  flood  of  1902. 


THINGS   SICILIAN 


205 


In  a  cavern  between  the  two,  used  by  the  farmer  for  his  animals,  are  some 
galleries  of  Roman  tombs  of  the  third  century  with  arches  and  cancelli,  like 
the  splendid  galleries  of  tombs  at  Palazzolo  (q.v.). 


GENERAL  VIEW  OF  THE  CAVA  D  ISPICA,  SHOWING  THE  CAVES  OF  THE  TROGLODYTES 

Isola  delle  Correnti.  The  most  southerly  point  of  Sicily  is  on  the  mainland 
opposite  the  Isola  delle  Correnti,  a  very  small  island.  (Freeman.)  '. 

Ivy.  The  ivy  in  Sicily  is  extremely  fine,  especially  the  golden  ivy,  so  called 
on  account  of  its  spikes  of  golden  flowers,  which  stand  up  like  horse-chestnut 
blossoms.  It  floods  whole  precipices  in  the  latomias,  and  its  mighty  stems 
help  one  to  understand  the  carved  ivywood  bowls  mentioned  by  Theocritus. 

J 

James  of  Aragon.  King  of  Sicily  from  1285-96.  Surnamed  the  Just. 
To  avert  invasion  of  his  Aragonese  dominions,  he  surrendered  Sicily  to 
Charles  of  Anjou,  but  his  brother  Frederick  successfully  resisted  the  transfer, 
and  became  Frederick  II.  of  Sicily. 

Japs  of  Europe.  The  country  Sicilians  much  resemble  the  country  Japanese 
in  real  primitiveness,  cheerful  acquiescence  in  poverty,  fatalism,  the  artistic 
feeling  that  permeates  the  lowest  of  them,  and  in  the  dilettante  kind  of  in- 
dustriousness  which  seems  like  idleness,  but  is  really  never-ceasing  work  done 
with  the  exercise  of  intelligence  and  individuality.  In  appearance  the  ragged 
Sicilian  and  the  ragged  Japanese  are  ridiculously  alike. 

Jars.   See  Earthenware. 

Jebel  Hamed.   The  Arabic  name  of  Monte  S.  Giuliano  (q.v.). 


206        SICILY  THE   NEW  WINTER   RESORT 

Jews.  There  are  not  a  great  many  Jews  in  Sicily,  though  Syracuse  and 
Trapani  have  their  Giudeccas.  The  Eastern  element  in  the  Sicilian  type  is 
Arabic  and  in  the  south  even  Berber,  but  not  Jewish.  You  can  pick  the 
Sicilian  Jew  out  at  Syracuse  with  great  ease.  This  is  due  to  the  Spanish 
expulsion  of  the  Jews ;  because  Sicily  had  Spanish  dynasties  for  nearly  six 
hundred  years  (1282-1860).  The  Jews  were  driven  out  of  Sicily  by  Ferdinand 
the  Catholic  in  1492,  in  spite  of  the  protest  of  the  Municipality  of  Palermo. 

Jilting  in  Sicily.  See  Courtships.  Jilting  is  hardly  possible  in  the  state 
of  Sicilian  feeling. 

Joanna  of  England,  daughter  of  King  Henry  II.,  married  King  William 
the  Good  of  Sicily. 

Jupiter.    See  Giove. 

Judas  Tree.  A  leguminous  tree  belonging  to  the  order  Ccesalpinese.  "  The 
common  Judas  tree  (C.  silquaslrum)  is  indigenous  in  the  South  of  Europe" 
(Chambers).  With  its  masses  of  peach-coloured  blossoms  it  is  a  very  striking- 
looking  object  in  Sicilian  gardens  in  the  spring.  Judas  is  said  to  have  hung 
himself  on  this  tree. 

K 

Kaggl  An  hour  and  a  quarter  from  Giardini  Stat.,  Messina-Catania  line. 
Unimportant. 

Kalat-al-Bellnt  (castle  of  cork  woods).     Saracenic  of  Caltabellota  (q.v.). 

Kalat-Bntur.   The  Saracenic  name  of  Caltavutura  (q.v.). 

Kids.  Kids  are  eaten  in  Sicily  more  than  lambs.  They  taste  nice,  but  are 
extremely  stringy. 

Kidnapping  goes  on  a  good  deal  in  Sicily ;  principally  with  marriageable 
girls,  heiresses  especially,  when  the  suitor  is  unacceptable  to  the  relations. 

Kindergartens  are  a  Sicilian  institution.    See  Giardino  d5  Infanzia. 

Kings  in  Sicily.  Until  1860,  first  Sicily  and  then  the  Two  Sicilies  had 
had  kings  for  more  than  eight  centuries,  beginning  with  Roger  II.  The 
Saracen  Emirs  were  almost  kings.  In  ancient  times  Sicily  only  had  three 
Greek  kings,  Agathocles,  Hiero  II.,  and  Hieronymus.  One  or  two  Sikels 
such  as  Ducetius  and  Archonides  are  spoken  of  as  kings,  and  one  Sican, 
Cocalus  the  king  of  Camicus. 

Knives.  Ancient  daggery-looking  knives  are  a  speciality  in  Sicily.  Knives 
with  blades  more  than  a  palm  long  being  forbidden  by  law,  they  are,  for  the 
most  part,  relegated  to  curio-shops.  The  knives  in  ordinary  use  by  the 
people,  with  their  scimitar-shaped  blades  and  boldly-curved  iron  or  brass  or 
horn  handles,  are  very  picturesque.  They  are  made  of  iron  but  take  a  good 
edge,  and  are  quite  a  thing  for  the  tourist  to  collect  at  stalls.  The  knives 
have  no  spring,  though  a  good  deal  of  stabbing  goes  on.  This  is  not  necessary, 
as  Sicilians  stab  upwards.  They  have  other  knives  tapering  into  very  long 
points  almost  the  shape  of  a  needle. 

Kodaks.  Almost  every  foreigner  takes  a  kodak  to  Sicily.  But  you  can 
only  get  kodak  supplies  at  Palermo,  Messina,  Catania,  and  Taormina,  At 
Syracuse  one  has  to  send  to  Malta  for  them  through  the  steamboat  office, 

Korlioun.   The  Arab  name  of  Corleone  (q.v.)  is  a  corruption. 

Kusa.  Eight  kil.  from  Campobello-di-Mazzara  Stat.  on  Palermo-Trapani 
line.  At  Kusa  are  the  Cave  Selinuntine — quarries  from  which  the  temples  at 
Selinunte  were  built. 


THINGS   SICILIAN  207 


Labour.  Labour  in  Sicily  is  abundant  and  badly  paid.  Many  of  the 
three  millions  and  a  half  of  the  population  are  labourers.  Some  of  them  are 
paid  as  low  as  half  a  franc  a  day  ;  and  between  a  franc  and  two  francs  a  day 
is  good  pay.  The  labourers  live  in  towns,  and  if  their  work  is  distant  have 
an  ass  or  mule  to  ride  to  it.  The  labour  in  the  sulphur  mines  is  in  some 
places  conducted  under  horrible  conditions.  The  evil-doers  are  recruited  from 
them.  The  peasants,  as  a  rule,  are  very  wholesome  people. 

Lsestrygonians.  A  race  always  supposed  to  be  fabulous,  mentioned  by 
Homer,  etc.  Butler  identifies  them  with  the  Cyclops  and  the  Sicans,  and 
says  that  the  modern  Italian  Lastricare,  which  means  to  pave  roads  with  stone, 
probably  comes  from  the  same  root.  He  translates  Laestrygonians,  workers 
in  stone,  and  identifies  their  city  Telepylus  with  Cefalu.  See  Butler,  The 
Authoress  of  the  Odyssey,  p.  124.  Freeman  says  that  the  Greek  settlers  of 
both  Italy  and  Sicily  found  homes  for  the  Lsestrygonians  and  Circe  and  other 
mythical  beings  each  in  their  separate  neighbourhood.  If  Butler's  translation 
is  sound,  Laestrygonian  is  an  excellent  name  for  the  builders  of  Cyclopsean 
walls  at  Cefalu,  etc. 

Lamachus.  An  Athenian  general.  Son  of  Xenophanes.  A  colleague  of 
Alcibiades  and  Nicias  in  commanding  the  expedition  to  Sicily.  Lamachus 
wished  to  attack  Syracuse  and  occupy  Megara  directly  they  landed,  which 
would  have  been  fatal  to  Syracuse.  He  was  killed  while  heading  a  victorious 
sally,  and  his  death  was  the  turning-point  in  the  campaign.  (Sir  W.  Smith.) 

Lamia,  the  purple-worker  of  Segesta,  is  mentioned  in  Cicero's  Indictment 
of  Verres,  Lamia  is  both  a  Greek  and  a  Roman  word.  Cicero  says  :  "There 
is  a  woman,  a  citizen  of  Segesta,  accepted  very  rich  and  nobly  born,  by  name 
Lamia.  She  having  her  house  full  of  spinning-jennies,  for  three  years  was 
making  him  robes  and  coverlets,  all  dyed  with  purple,"  It  would  be  interest 
ing  to  know  the  nationality  of  this  Lamia,  for  Segesta  was  more  Elymian, 
and  after  that  Mamertine,  than  Greek. 

Lamps.  Any  quantity  of  antique  lamps  are  found  in  Sicily,  mostly  terra 
cotta.  Cheap  earthenware  lamps,  antique  in  character,  with  the  pinched  spout 
for  holding  the  cotton  strands  which  form  the  wick,  are  still  largely  in  use  in 
a  land  where  so  much  olive  oil  is  made  and  where  petroleum  is  shockingly 
dear.  For  odd  shapes,  see  under  Earthenware. 

Land-snails.  Sicily  is  full  of  small  white  land-snails,  which  are  specially 
fond  of  the  great  horny  leaves  of  the  agave,  or  American  aloe. 

Language.  See  Dialect.  The  characteristics  of  the  Sicilian  language  are 
given  in  the  Preface. 

Chambers  gives  the  following  authorities  for  the  Sicilian  dialect :  Wentrup 
(Halle,  1880)  and  C.  Avolio  (Moto,  1882) ;  the  Sicilian-Italian  Dictionaries 
of  G.  Biundi  (Pal.,  1857)  and  V.  Mortiikro  (new  ed.  Pal,  1879).  See  also 
under  Folk-songs,  p.  178,  and  Poetry,  p.  259, 

Lascari.  Stat.  next  to  Cefalu  on  the  Messina-Palermo  line.  A  starting- 
point  for  the  summer  station  and  monastery  of  Gibilmanna. 

Latomia.  Literally  a  stone-quarry.  The  latomias  of  Syracuse  (q.v.)  were 
famous  as  prisons.  See  also  Quarries,  and  p.  524. 

Lattices  (Italian,  per  slant}.  Almost  every  window  in  Sicily  has  its  green 
lattices  outside,  generally  with  a  little  wicket,  or  hatch,  in  the  centre,  which 
can  be  opened  while  the  rest  is  kept  bolted.  They  play  a  prominent  part  in 
Sicilian  courtships. 


ao8        SICILY  THE   NEW  WINTER   RESORT 

Laurana,  Francesco.  Sculptor,  has  a  statue  in  Palermo  Cathedral  and  a 
beautiful  bust,  resembling  that  of  the  Louvre  in  the  Palermo  Museum,  and 
decorated  a  chapel  in  S.  Francesco  at  Palermo. 

Lava  is  used  everywhere  for  paving  the  roads  in  Sicily.  Very  few  towns 
have  side-walks.  It  is  not  much  used  for  building  except  in  ornamentation, 
because  it  is  so  hard  and  Sicily  is  full  of  splendid  building-stone. 

Lava  streams.  Etna  (q.v, )  is  naturally  covered  with  lava  streams.  They 
are  also  found  in  many  places  remote  from  existing  volcanoes,  such  as  Cape 
Schiso,  a  black  lava  spit  jutting  out  into  the  sea  near  the  ancient  Naxos 
below  Taormina ;  and  at  Syracuse,  near  the  Camp  of  Marcellus  below  the 
Castle  of  Euryalus. 

Lavatojo.  Public  washing-place.  Sicily,  like  Italy,  is  full  of  these, 
though  they  seldom  have  any  architectural  pretensions. 

Lawn-tennis  enjoys  considerable  popularity  in  Palermo.  Some  Sicilians 
play  very  well  indeed.  There  are  regular  tennis  days  in  the  gardens  of 
Mrs.  Joshua  Whitaker,  Signora  Florio,  etc.,  and  an  annual  tournament  at 
the  Sports  Club,  instituted  by  its  popular  and  energetic  president  Cav. 
Giuseppe  di  Scalea. 

Lemons.  Lemons  are  one  of  the  great  staples  of  Sicily.  The  Conca 
d  Oro  is  one  vast  lemon  grove.  Hardly  any  oranges  are  grown  except  for 
the  owner  s  requirements,  as  lemons  pay  better.  They  are  exported  in  boxes 
whole,  or  m  large  casks  cut  in  pieces.  At  certain  seasons  the  wharves  are 
almost  monopolised  with  them.  Besides  the  ordinary  lemon,  the  wild  lemon 
and  the  sweet  lemon  and  various  other  citrous  fruits,  such  as  the  shaddock 
the  citron,  and  the  pomelow,  are  grown  to  some  extent.  Both  goats  and 
cattle  are  largely  fed  with  lemon-peel. 

Lent,  how  it  is  kept  In  Palermo,  at  all  events,  a  great  change  has  come 
over  Sicily  in  the  keeping  of  Lent.  Formerly  no  opera  went  on  and  no 
entertainments  to  speak  of;  but  now,  as  Lent  is  the  season  in  which  the 
Falermitans  make  their  principal  harvest  off  foreigners,  they  have  dropped 
these  restrictions.  They  always  have  a  good  many  semi-festas.  The  principal 
way  in  which  they  keep  Lent  is  to  hang  a  bluish-grey  Lenten  veil  painted 
with  some  scene  from  the  Passion  in  faint  outline  before  the  altar,  and  to  rine 
the  bells  with  a  clapper  instead  of  a  bell-rope,  a  relic  of  the  days  of  the 
Sicilian  Vespers.  See  under  Bell-ringing.  * 

Lenten  Veil.  See  preceding  par.  and  under  Ceremonies.  It  is  cut  down 
on  the  Saturday  preceding  Easter  Sunday. 

Lentini,  the  andent  Leontini.  Mail-vettura  from  the  stat.  to  Carlentini, 
£  h2f  >.  1ttttim  ^)»  25  minutes ;  Francofonte,  3  hours.  A  station  on 
the  Catania-Syracuse  line.  The  L^strygonians  are  located  in  this  neighbour 
hood  by  some  ancient  authors.  Chiesi  says  that  though  they  were  largely 
imaginary  they  must  have  been  founded  on  the  Sicanians;  in  fact,  the  lost 
*™  ^itions  of  Lentini  say  that  on  the  site  of  the  Greco-Siinian  city 
of  Le onto i  was  the  Sicaman  city  Xuthia,  founded  by  Xuthus,  son  of  MoluL 
fot  king  of  the  Sicans^  The  Greeks,  led  by  Theocles,  settled  here  in  729  B.C 

l^^^T  f°YK  W£S  With  SyAacUSe-    Tt  was  a  ^  of  much  culture 
TVmSh  grated  orator  Gorgias,  who  was  only  surpassed  by 

Demosthenes  among  the  orators  of  antiquity.     Lentini  has  the  lamest  lake 
in  Sicily,  which  must  have  formed  itself  ?n  modern  times,  beca^l^  ifS 
mention  of  it  among  ancient  writers.    It  has  a  circumference  of  15  or  20  kii 
™S  ari  T6-red  withvluxurio*s  vegetation,  but  in  summer  it  is  ver^ 
malarious.     Lentini  was  in  the  region  of  the  sacred  lakes,  of  which  the  molt 


THINGS   SICILIAN  209 

celebrated  was  Palicus,  a  small  lake  with  sulphureous  exhalations,  which  lies 
near  Palagonia  on  the  line  from  Valsavoia  to  Caltagirone.  There  are  con 
siderable  remains  of  ancient  Leontini,  such  as  walls,  aqueducts,  etc.  ;  and  in 
the  neighbourhood  are  vast  caves,  remains  of  Xuthia,  and  of  the  fortress  of 
Bricinnia.  The  modern  Lentini  has  dwindled,  owing  to  malaria  having 
driven  its  inhabitants  in  the  sixteenth  century  to  Carlentini.  It  is,  however, 
the  best  place  for  visiting  the  prehistoric  tombs  and  rock-dwellings  of  Pantalica 
in  the  day  if  you  have  a  carriage  to  meet  you  at  the  station. 

Lentini,  Jacopo  da.  A  fourteenth-century  Sicilian  poet,  one  of  the  earliest 
writers  in  Italian  (Sicilian). 

Lentisk.  ^The  lentisk  is  an  aromatic  and  rather  glutinous  shrub  which 
grows  wild  in  the  latomias  of  Syracuse  and  elsewhere  in  Sicily.  Pistaeia 
lentiscus  is  its  Latin  name ;  it  yields  the  mastic  of  commerce,  and  looks 
rather  like  a  small  carob  tree.  Of  mastic,  Chambers  says :  "  It  oozes  from 
cuts  made  in  the  bark,  and  hardens  on  the  stem  in  small,  round,  tear-like 
lumps  of  a  light  straw  colour,  or,  if  not  collected  in  time,  it  falls  on  the 
ground  ;  in  the  latter  state  it  acquires  some  impurities,  and  is  consequently 
less  valuable.  The  chief  use  of  this  gum-resin  is  in  making  the  almost 
colourless  varnish  for  varnishing  prints,  maps,  drawings,  etc.  It  is  also  used 
by  dentists  for  stopping  hollow  teeth,  and  was  formerly  employed  in  medicine." 
(Chambers.) 

Leonforte.  Stat.  on  Palermo-Catania  line.  The  most  important  stat.  in 
Sicily  for  mail-vetture  to  the  various  cities  of  the  interior.  They  run  to 
Assarp  (town),  I  hour;  Leonforte  (town),  i£  hours;  Pontesalso,  4^  hours; 
Nicosia  (35  kil),  5f  hours ;  Mistretta,  3  hours  10  minutes  ;  Reitano,  4!  hours ; 
S.  Stefano-Camastra,  6£  hours.  From  Nicosia  mail-vetture  run  to  Sperlinga, 
1 1  hours;  Gangi,  3j  hours;  Cerami,  44  hours;  Troina,  6  hours;  Capizzi, 
4  hours.  In  the  Cappuccini  Church  are  a  Raphael  (school  of)  and  a  Pietro 
Novell!.  It  is  near  the  site  of  the  ancient  Tabas  or  Tavi. 

Leontini,  The  ancient  name  of  Lentini  (q.v.).  The  coins  of  Leontini 
were  very  beautiful.  One  of  the  most  familiar  types  is  the  lion's  head  with 
ravening  jaws  surrounded  by  four  corn  grains.  On  the  other  side  is  a  beautiful 
head  of  Apollo.  Another  has  the  head  of  the  Damareteion  coins  of  Syracuse 
surrounded  by  corn  grains  instead  of  dolphins,  the  other  side  of  the  coin 
having  the  four-horse  chariot  and  winged  Victory  above. 

Lepidus,  M.  ^milius.  The  triumvir  who  invaded  Sicily  36  B.C.  and  laid 
siege  to  Lilybaeum.  But  he  did  little  in  Sicily  till  after  the  death  of  Sextus 
Pompeius,  when  Plinius,  the  lieutenant  of  the  latter,  joined  forces  with  him 
to  sack  Messana,  the  Pompeian  stronghold.  For  a  moment  Lepidus  hoped  to 
become  master  of  Sicily,  but  the  soldiers  all  deserted  to  Octavian. 

Leptines.  A  Syracusan  admiral,  brother  of  Dionysius  I. ,  who  commanded 
the  fleet  at  the  siege  of  Motya.  He  won  an  important  victory  over  the 
Carthaginian  fleet  under  Himilco,  which  he  intercepted  on  its  way  to  Pan- 
ormus,  destroying  50  transports  and  5,000  troops.  But  the  greater  part  of  the 
force  escaped.  In  a  subsequent  battle  off  Catania  he  was  too  rash,  and  cut 
off"  from  his  fleet,  which  was  severely  defeated.  In  the  siege  of  Syracuse  which 
followed,  he  and  Pharacidas,  the  Lacoedemonian,  destroyed  the  naval  camp 
and  fleet  of  the  Carthaginians.  He  was  afterwards  exiled  for  his  leniency  to 
the  people  of  Thurii.  He  retired  to  that  city,  and  rose  to  great  power  among 
the  Italian  Greeks.  Dionysius  therefore  recalled  him  to  his  favour,  and  gave 
him  his  daughter  in  marriage.  He  was  killed,  383  B.C.,  in  the  battle  against 
the  Carthaginians  at  Cronium.  Another  Leptines  of  Syracuse  took  a  leading 


210        SICILY  THE   NEW   WINTER   RESORT 

part  against  Dionysius  II. ,  and  became  tyrant  of  Apollonia  and  Engyum.  He  was 
expelled  by  Timoleon  and  exiled  to  Corinth.  A  third  Leptines  of  Syracuse  was 
a  general  of  Agathocles  who  won  two  great  victories  against  the  Agrigentines. 
A  fourth  Leptines  of  Syracuse  was  father-in-law  of  Hiero  II.  (Smith], 

Lercara  ( Arcara  di  li  friddi ;  not  to  be  confused  with  Arcara  di  li  fusi. ) 
Stat  on  Girgenti- Palermo  line.  Unimportant  except  as  a  starting-point  for 
the  mail-vetture  to  Lercara  post  office,  2  hours  ;  Filaca,  5  hours ;  Stefano- 
Quisquina,  7|  hours  ;  Bivona,  9  hours  ;  Alessandria-della-Rocca,  io|  hours  ; 
Cianciano,  12  hours ;  Raffadali,  17^  hours ;  Vicari,  z\  hours  ;  Bivio-Prizzi, 
6  hours ;  Centa-Vernare,  6J  hours ;  Palazzo-Adriano,  8  hours ;  Chiusa- 
Sclafani,  loj  hours ;  Prizzi,  7  hours.  A  sulphur  district.  Its  full  name  is 
Lercara-Friddi. 

Letojanni.  Stat.  on  Messina- Catania  line  near  Taormina.  Called  also 
Gallidoro,  from  the  gold  mines  of  the  region.  There  are  the  remains  of  a 
magnificent  palace  of  the  baronial  epoch,  and  in  the  neighbourhood  rises 
Mongiuffi  Melia,  which  has  a  beautiful  valley  with  a  celebrated  waterfall. 

Letter-writers,  professional.  The  professional  letter-writer  is  a  feature 
of  Sicily.  He  is  generally  to  be  found  hanging  about  the  post  office,  and 
writes  letters  for  people  who  cannot  write  to  people  who  cannot  read. 

Levanzo.   One  of  the  /Egatian  islands  (q.v.). 

Libera.  A  Roman  goddess  identified  with  Persephone  (Proserpine),  the 
daughter  of  Demeter.  See  Proserpine. 

Libraries.  For  Public  Libraries  see  under  Biblioteca.  Libreria  means  a 
bookshop  (q.v.). 

Licata  ( "  La  Diletta  ").  An  imjxnrtant  seaport  on  the  south  coast  of  Sicily, 
the  site  of  the  ancient  Phintias,  while  the  hill  outside  the  town  is  the  ancient 
Ecnomus.  It  is  a  junction  for  the  lines  between  Syracuse  and  Canicatti.  Its 
name  is  a  corruption  of  the  Saracen  Alicata,  and  it  stands  at  the  mouth  of  the 
Fiume  Salso  or  Hirnera  Meridionalis.  It  has  also  been  claimed  for  the  site  of 
the  ancient  Gela.  There  was  originally  a  Phoenician  fortress  here.  In  256 
Regulus  won  a  great  victory  over  the  Carthaginians  here.  In  249  B.C.  the 
Carthaginians  destroyed  a  Roman  fleet  here.  In  1553  Licata  was  devastated 
by  a  Turkish  fleet.  In  the  Middle  Ages  the  town  was  guarded  by  the  castles 
of  Agnera  and  Mezzocasale  and  the  Tower  of  Gioetta,  which  was  developed 
into  a  fortress.  Licata  is  a  great  sulphur  port.  In  Norman  times  it  was 
called  Castello  di  Limpiados.  Ecnomus,  which  is  now  called  Monte  S.  Angelo, 
is  said  to  have  contained  the  Castello  di  Phalaride,  where  the  tyrant  Phalaris 
kept  his  famous  brazen  bull 

LIcodia-Eubea  is  I J  hours  from  the  Vizzini-Licodia  Stat.  It  has  ruins  of 
an  ancient  castle  and  the  remains  of  an  unknown  ancient  city  near  it  Fazello 
says  it  was  a  Saracenic  name,  but  Maurolycus  considers  it  Greek.  It  is  not  to 
be* confused  with  S.  Maria  di  Licodia  (q.v.). 

"  Life  of  the  Greeks  and  Romans,"  by  Guhl  and  Koner.  An  excellent 
popular  and  portable  dictionary  of  Greek  and  Roman  antiquities,  published  in 
English  by  Chatto  and  Windus  (75-,  6d.).  The  most  useful  book  of  the  kind 
the  sightseer  and  curio -collector  can  take  with  him. 

Lighting.  There  is  a  great  deal  of  electric  light.  In  Syracuse  especially 
acetylene  is  found  most  useful.  There  is  very  little  coal  gas.  Hotels,  except 
the  largest,  still  rely  mostly  on  candles  and  petroleum  lamps. 

Lily.  The  lily  tribe  are  chiefly  represented  in  Sicily  by  the  two  pink  and 
much  rarer  yellow  asphodels. 


THINGS    SICILIAN  211 

•  Lilyba,  the  Spring1  of.  This  spring,  which  has  always  been  considered 
sacred,  was  called  Lilyba  by  the  Carthaginians  and  the  Well  of  the  Sibyl  by 
the  Romans.  It  Is  now  consecrated  to  S.  John,  and  is  enclosed  in  a  sort  of 
crypt  in  the  church  of  S.  Giovanni  Boeo  outside  Marsala. 

Lilybaeum,  the  ancient  Carthaginian  city  upon  whose  site  Marsala  rises, 
was  built  by  the  Carthaginians  after  the  destruction  of  Motya  by  Dionysius 
397  B.C.  It  is 'called  the  Virgin  Fortress  because  it  was  never  captured.  The 
Carthaginians  ceded  it  to  the  Romans  as  part  of  the  general  surrender  of  Sicily. 
Dionysius  tried  to  capture  it  soon  after  its  foundation.  Pyrrhus  tried  to 
capture  it  in  276,  but  after  two  months'  siege  was  compelled  to  abandon  it  as 
hopeless.  The  Romans  tried  to  capture  it  in  250  B.  c. ,  but  were  totally  defeated 
by  Adherbal,  the  Carthaginian  commander,  in  249.  They  went  on  besieging 
it  for  ten  years.  Like  Drepanum,  it  was  still  holding  out  when  the  Battle  of 
the  ^Egatian  Islands  in  241  B.C.  compelled  the  Carthaginians  to  give  up  all 
Sicily.  In  218,  at  the  beginning  of  the  Second  Punic  War,  the  Carthaginians 
tried  to  surprise  it,  but  were  defeated  by  the  Praetor  Marcus  ^milius.  In 
204  B.C.  Scipio  sailed  from  Lilybseum  to  his  conquest  of  Africa,  as  did  the 
younger  Africanus  in  149,  for  the  expedition  which  destroyed  Carthage. 
Csesar  made  it  his  headquarters  for  his  African  campaign.  Cicero  was 
quaestor  of  Lilybaeum  in  75  B.C.  It  was  a  place  of  much  importance  under 
the  Goths  and  Vandals.  The  Saracens  when  they  conquered  Sicily  attached 
so  much  importance  to  it  that  they  called  it  Marsa  Allah— the  Port  of  God, 
the  origin  of  its  modern  name,  Marsala  (q.  v. ).  Of  ancient  Lilybseum  there  are 
considerable  remains,  including  an  important  portion  of  its  ancient  walls  near 
the  Porta  di  Trapani  and  the  best  Phoenician  necropolis  yet  discovered,  at 
Birgi.  For  the  underground  city,  see  under  Catacombs  and  under  Marsala. 

No  coins  of  Lilybseum  are  known  prior  to  the  Roman  period.  The  Roman 
coins  of  Lilybaeum  have  Lilyb,  Lilybit,  or  Lilubaiitan,  if  the  lettering  is 
Greek. 

Lilybaeum,  the  Cape  of,  one  of  the  three  capes  of  Sicily,  is  now  called 
Cape  Boeo  (q.v.). 

Lipari  Islands.  Called  by  the  ancients  the  Isles  of  yEolus.  Seven  rocky 
and  volcanic  islands  off  the  north-east  coast  of  Sicily,  the  connecting-link 
between  Etna  and  Vesuvius.  They  are  called  at  present  Lipari,  Vulcano 
Isola  Salina,  Filicuri,  Alicuri,  Stromboli,  and  Panaria,  etc.  Stromboli  is  one  of 
the  most  constantly  active  of  all  volcanoes,  but  it  is  none  the  less  inhabited.  The 
name  Lipara  was  known  to  the  Greeks.  The  islands  were  settled  by  a  colony  of 
Cnidians  and  Rhodians,  under  the  Heraclid  Pentathlus  in  578  B.C.,  after  they 
had  been  defeated  by  the  Carthaginians  and  the  Elymians  of  Segesta  in  their 
attempt  to  help  the  Greeks  of  Selinunte.  In  260  B.C.  the  Roman  Consul 
Cn,  Cornelius  Scipio  was  blockaded  in  the  port  of  Lipara  by  the  Carthaginians, 
and  captured  with  his  entire  fleet.  Nine  years  later  the  Romans  took  the 
islands  and  established  a  post  there.  Until  1609  the  islands  belonged  some 
times  to  Sicily,  sometimes  to  Naples;  but  from  that  time  onwards  they 
belonged  to  Sicily,  with  which  they  passed  to  the  kingdom  of  Italy  in  1861. 
Pausanias  says  of  the  colony  of  Pentathlus  :  "They  either  found  the  islands 
uninhabited  or  expelled  the  inhabitants.  Of  these  islands  they  inhabit 
Lipara,  where  they  founded  a  city ;  the  islands  of  Hiera,  Strongyle,  and 
Didymae  they  till,  passing  to  them  in  ships.  In  Strongyle  fire  may  be  seen 
rising  up  out  of  the  earth,  and  in  Hiera  fire  blazes  up  spontaneously  at  the 
highest  point  of  the  island,  and  there  are  baths  beside  the  sea,  which  are  well 
enough  if  you  let  yourself  gently  into  the  water ;  but  to  plunge  into  the  water 
is  painful  on  account  of  the  heat."  Hiera  is  now  called  Volcano  and  has  a 


212        SICILY  THE   NEW  WINTER   RESORT 

constantly  smoking  crater ;  and  Strongyle  is  now  Stromboli.  In  the  Middle  Ages 
Charles  Martel  was  believed  to  be  imprisoned  in  Stromboli.  The  vapour  baths 
described  by  Diodoras  Siculus  on  Lipara  may  still  be  visited.  Lipara  has  a 
good  many  remains  of  antiquities,  including  a  Greek  necropolis  and  ancient 
baths  partially  excavated  once,  but  according  to  Baedeker  filled  up  again  by 
Bishop  Todaro  so  that  visitors  might  not  be  attracted  to  the  island.  The 
dried  figs  of  the  Lipari  Islands  are  the  best  in  Italy.  They  owe  much  to 
a  British  capitalist,  who  has  presented  some  interesting  terra-cottas,  including 
figurines  of  an  unique  pattern,  to  the  Glasgow  Art  Gallery.  The  island  of 
Volcanello  adjoining  Vulcano  was  thrown  up  by  the  eruption  of- 183  B.C. 
There  was  another  great  submarine  eruption  in  126  B.C.  Geologically,  the 
Lipari  Islands  are  of  extreme  interest.  The  University  of  Oxford  contem 
plates  sending  a  small  commission  to  examine  them.  The  rarest  volcanic 
products  have  been  found  there.  There  is  a  daily  steamer  from  Milazzo  to 


THE  LIPA.RI  ISLANDS 

Lipari  and  Salina,  and  a  weekly  steamer  from  Messina  to  Lipari,  Salina, 
Panaria,  and  Stromboli. 

Liveries,  ancient.  Many  of  the  old  families  have  their  ancient  liveries 
carefully  preserved,  and  on  great  occasions,  like  a  coming-of-age  festivity,  put 
men  into  them. 

Livery-stables.   Only  in  the  largest  towns. 

Livolsi.  The  Sicilian  sculptor  of  the  seventeenth  century  who  modelled 
the  statue  of  Charles  V.  in  the  Piazza  Bologni  at  Palermo. 

Litra.  A  Sicilian  coin  worth  rather  more  than  the  ordinary  Greek  obol — 
based  in  value  on  the  litra  or  pound  of  bronze.  (G.  F.  Hill.) 

Litro.   An  ordinary  liquid  measure  about  the  size  of  an  English  imperial  qt. 

Lizards.  Sicily  swarms  with  lizards,  mostly  of  the  common  variety  found 
all  over  Italy.  They  are  running  about  on  every  sunny  wall. 

Lloyd,  W.  Watkiss,  the  author  of  The  History  of  Sicily  to  the  Athenian 
War,  with  Elucidations  of  the  Sicilian  Odes  of  Pindar  (John  Murray.  1872). 


THINGS   SICILIAN  213 

Locanda.   Humble  inns  in  Sicily  are  called  locande, 

Locust  tree.     See  Carob. 

Loggia.  An  arcade  with  open  sides,  not  so  much  used  in  Sicily  to  border 
streets  as  they  are  in  some  towns  of  Italy,  but  a  great  deal  used  in  upper 
stories  for  the  belvedere. 

Lombards  in  Sicily.  Sicily  has  various  Lombard  colonies  planted  by  the 
early  kings.  They  have  preserved  their  characteristics  to  a  surprising  degree, 
including  even  the  Lombard  dialect  in  some  places,  such  as  Aidone,  near  Piazza 
Armerina.  Other  Lombard  colonies  are  at  Randazzo,  Nicosia,  Corleone,  etc. 
The  architectural  influence  is  plainly  marked  at  Randazzo  and  Nicosia  in  the 
Palazzetti,  but  the  Lombard  architectural  influence  is  often  seen  in  Sicily, 

Lombardo,  the.  A  steamer  belonging  to  Rafiaelle  Rubattino,  a  Genoese. 
When  Garibaldi  was  wondering  how  he  should  transport  his  "  Thousand  "  to 
Sicily,  Rubattino  sent  him  word  that  two  steamers  belonging  to  him,  the 
Lombards  and  the  Piemonte^  would  be  left  imperfectly  guarded  at  a  certain  place, 
and  that  the  engineers  would  obey  instructions  without  question.  Garibaldi 
took  the  hint,  and  transported  his  " Thousand"  to  Marsala  (q.v.),  where  his 
landing  commenced  the  unification  of  Italy.  The  unlucky  Lombardo  _ran 
ashore  a  hundred  yards  outside  the  harbour  of  Marsala,  and  two  Neapolitan 
frigates  were  about  to  make  a  shambles  of  her  when  the  captain  of  a  British 
man-of-war  steamed  in  between  so  that  not  a  shot  could  touch  the  Lombardo 
without  hitting  her.  This  was  a  responsibility  for  which  the  Neapolitans  were 
not  prepared.  As  soon  as  every  man  was  safe  ashore,  H.M.S.  Argus  steamed 
away  and  the  Neapolitans  pounded  the  Lombardo  to  pieces.  Italy  owes  this 
to  the  English. 

Lombardo,  Pietro,  a  painter  of  the  Byzantine  period  in  Sicily  (Petrus 
Lampardus). 

Loquats  (Japanese  medlars).  Called  by  Italians  nespolL  A  Japanese  tree 
of  the  order  Rosacese  (Eriobotrya  japtmica].  It  is  an  evergreen  resembling 
a  small  horse-chestnut,  with  a  fine  yellow  fruit,  full  of  large  stones,  which 
tastes  something  like  an  apricot  (Chambers.) 

Lords  and  Ladies.  There  is  a  handsome  but  evil-smelling  variety  of  this 
wild  flower  in  Sicily.  It  is  an  arum. 

Lorenzo  da  Palermo.  The  fifteenth-century  artist  of  the  noble  unfinished 
frescoes  at  S.  Maria  di  Gesu  at  Palermo. 

S.  Lorenzo.  A  suburb  of  Palermo,  a  stat.  on  the  Palermo-Trapani  line. 
S.  Lorenzo  is  not  a  very  favourite  saint  in  Sicily. 

Loria,  Ruggiero  di.  The  great  Catalan  admiral  of  Frederick  II.  of  Aragon. 
See  Aci-Castello.  He  comes  into  the  story  of  Boccaccio,  the  scene  of  which  is 
laid  at  La  Cuba  in  Palermo.  It  was  his  interference  which  made  Frederick 
give  up  his  beautiful  slave  Restituta  to  the  young  John  of  Procida,  her  fiance 
before  she  was  captured,  who  had  fallen  into  his  power  while  attempting  to 
rescue  her.  They  had  been  sentenced'to  be  burnt,  but  Roger  di  Loria  reminded 
Frederick  that  it  was  the  boy's  uncle  John  of  Procida  who,  with  himself,  had 
been  chiefly  instrumental  in  giving  Frederick  the  crown  of  Sicily,  basely 
abandoned  by  James  of  Aragon  to  the  Angevins. 

Lorimer,  Miss  Norma,  author  of  By  the  Waters  of  Sicily^  (Hutchinson, 
105.  6d.  net),  a  story  with  a  great  deal  of  information  about  Sicilian  scenery 
and  customs  round  Syracuse,  Girgenti,  Castrogiovanni,  and  Palermo;  of 
Josiatis  Wife—*,  story  with  its  scene  largely  laid  at  Girgenti ;  and  On  Etna 
— a  story  dealing  with  Sicilian  brigands. 


2i4        SICILY   THE   NEW  WINTER   RESORT 

Lotteries  and  Lottery  Offices.  The  Sicilians  are,  if  possible,  fonder 
of  a  public  lottery  than  other  Italians.  There  are  offices  for  it  in  every 
town. 

Louis  Philippe.  The  Sicilian  Bourbons  offered  Louis  Philippe  a  home 
when  he  was  driven  out  of  France.  They  bought  the  Palais  d5 Orleans,  or 
Parco  d'Aumale,  at  Palermo  for  him  (q.v.,  p.  405). 

Love-letters  in  Sicily.   See  Letter-writers,  professional. 

Low  Latin  period.  The  materials  for  this  have  not  been  at  all  adequately 
explored,  being  mostly  in  monastic  writings.  There  are  many  tombs  of  the 
period  at  Selinunte.  It  may  be  taken  to  cover  the  later  days  of  the  Roman 
Empire,  the  Gothic  period,  and  the  Byzantine  period  up  to  the  Saracen 
invasion.  It  is  a  contusing  term  which  should  not  be  used  for  periods  better 
defined  in  other  ways. 

Lumia,  La.  One  of  the  most  valuable  historians  of  Sicily,  author  of 
Storie  Siciliane  (4  vols.,  Palermo,  1881-1883)  and  Studi  di  Storia  Siciliana 
(Palermo,  1870). 

Luna,  di.  One  of  the  two  great  families  whose  vendetta  formed  the  far- 
famed  Casi  di  Sciacca.  See  Sciacca. 

Lupines.  The  lupine  is  a  common  wild  flower  in  Sicily,  and  in  places 
is  very  fine.  Its  seeds  are  edible,  but  it  takes  some  time  getting  accustomed 
to  them.  The  Sicilians  grow  it  as  a  crop,  but  rather  despise  it. 

Lysimeleia.  The  marshy  ground  between  the  Great  Harbour  at  Syracuse 
and  Epipoke.  Army  after  army  of  besiegers  perished  of  fever  here.  See 
Syracuse. 

M 

Mabuse,  Jan.  The  glorious  fifteenth-century  cabinet  picture  in  the 
Museum  in  Palermo,  formerly  attributed  to  J.  Van  Eyck,  is  now  generally 
attributed  to  Jan  Mabuse,  born  at  Maubeuge  about  1470.  It  is  one  of  the 
most  beautiful  Flemish  pictures  in  existence. 

Macalda.  This  celebrated  heroine,  who  took  so  prominent  a  part  in  the 
Sicilian  Vespers,  was  sister  of  Matteo  II.,  Selvaggio  of  Scaletta  (q.v.). 

Macalubi  (Maccaluba).  Four  miles  from  Caldare ;  near  the  springs 
of  Majaruca,  famous  for  cures  of  cutaneous  diseases.  On  an  argillaceous  and 
calcareous  hill,  about  135  feet  high  and  860  feet  above  sea-level,  are  a 
number  of  little  cones  half  a  yard  or  a  yard  high.  Their  craters  are  filled 
with  mud,  and  hydrogen  gas  issues  from  the  cracks  with  a  hissing  noise.  The 
discharge  destroys  all  the  vegetation  of  the  neighbourhood.  There  are 
similar  phenomena  at  Salinella  in  the  Etna  region.  They  are  usually  spoken 
of  as  mud  volcanoes. 

Macarinus  (of  Ptolemy).   The  modern  Mazzarino  (q.v.). 

Maccaroni.  A  good  deal  of  maccaroni  is  made  in  Sicily,  Sicilian  wheat 
being  the  best  for  it.  The  shops  with  the  sticks  of  maccaroni  hanging 
doubled  like  fringe  on  light  wands,  or  broken  up  when  it  is  dried  in  baskets 
of  elegant  shape,  are  scrupulously  clean  and  quite  a  picturesque  feature  with 
their  golden  colour. 

Machanat.  Supposed  to  be  the  ancient  name  of  Palermo  in  Phoenician 
times.  Others  prefer  Machoshbim,  "the  camp  of  the  workers  in  colour." 
Others  Ziz,  a  name  which  is,  doubtless,  the  same  as  our  Zisa,  the  exquisite 
Saracenic  palace  still  existing  in  Palermo. 


THINGS   SICILIAN  215 

Maddalena.  The  peninsula  and  bay  of  Plemmyrium  (q.v.)  on  the  Great 
Harbour  of  Syracuse. 

Madonian  Hills.  One  of  the  principal  ranges  of  Sicily,  lying  back  from 
Cefalu.  The  lofty  peaks  of  Monte  S.'Salvatore  (6,255  feet)  and  Pizzo 
Antenna  (6,470  feet)  are  among  them. 


MADONIAN  MOUNTAINS  :  COSTA  DEL  DAINO 


Madpnrla,  The.   See  under  Ceres,  p.  144. 

Madiuni,  River.   Runs  through  Selinunte  (q.v.). 

Mafia  (Maffia).  There  is  a  good  account  of  this  society  in  Chambers's 
Encyclopedia.  It  "expresses  an  idea  rather  than  indicates  a  society  with 
regular  chiefs  and  councillors.  It  represents  the  survival  among  the  people  of 
a  preference  for  owing  the  securing  of  their  persons  and  property  rather  to 
their  own  strength  and  influence  than  to  those  of  the  law  and  its  officers. 
Therefore  a  distinction  is  drawn  between  the  high  and  the  low  Mafia,  the 
latter  embracing  the  great  mass  of  members,  who,  themselves  not  active  in 
the  matter,  are  afraid  to  set  themselves  against  the  Mafia,  and  are  content  to 
accept  the  protection  of  this  shadowy  league,  which,  in  them  inspires  more 
awe  than  do  the  courts  of  justice.  Indeed,  much  of  the  Mafia's  strength 
and  vitality  is  directly  due  to  this  looseness  of  organisation,  and  to  the  fact 
that  it  is  an  ingrained  mode  of  thought,  an  idea,  and  not  an  organised  society, 
that  the  government  has  to  root  out.  Direct  robbery  and  violence  are  resorted 
to  only  for  vengeance ;  for  practical  purposes  the  employment  of  isolation — 
in  fact,  the  system  of  boycotting  is  carried  to  the  extreme  point — is  sufficiently 
efficacious.  From  the  landholders  blackmail  is  levied  in  return  for  protection, 
and  they  must  employ  mafiosi  only  on  their  farms  ;  and  the  vendetta  follows 
those  who  denounce  or  in  any  way  injure  a  member  of  the  fraternity.  The 


216        SICILY   THE   NEW   WINTER   RESORT 

Mafia  controls  elections,  protects  its  members  against  officers  of  justice, 
assists  smugglers,  directs  strikes,  and  even  fixes  the  hire  of  workmen." 

See  my  chapter  on  Mafia  and  Omerta,  p.  22  et  sqq.,  written  by  Dr.^Pitre. 
A  good  account  of  the  Mafia  is  to  be  found  in  the  chapter  on  the  subject  in 
Sicily  (Methuen's  "  Little  Guide  "  Series)  by  F.  Hamilton  Jackson  (1904). 

Mafiosi.   Members  of  the  Mafia. 

Mago.  A  Carthaginian  admiral  associated  with  Himilco  in  the  war  against 
Dionysius,  396  B.C.  He  defeated  Leptines  in  the  great  sea-fight  off  Catana. 
Afterwards  appointed  to  the  chief  command  in  Sicily,  and  in  393  attacked 
Messana,  but  was  defeated  by  Dionysius  near  Abacsenum.  Next  year,  with 
80,000  men,  he  advanced  to  the  river  Chrysas,  but  Agyris,  tyrant  of  Agyrium, 
cut  off  his  supplies,  and  compelled  him  to  retreat.  He  was  defeated  and 
killed  in  a  subsequent  invasion. 

Mail-coaches.  Preferably  to  be  called  mail-vetture  because  they  are  often 
no  more  than  closed  flys,  hideously  dirty.  They  travel  very  slowly  in 
hilly  country,  hardly  more  than  four  miles  an  hour  in  some  places,  but 
there  is  a  fairly  complete  system  of  them  to  all  towns  of  any  size  ;  and 
the  magnificent  Strade  Provinciate  are,  I  suppose,  kept  up  for  thenL  See 
the  Elenco,  or  table  of  stations,  in  which  every  mail-vettura  service  is  laid 
down. 

Majolica,  Sicily  has  had  for  centuries  a  very  handsome  majolica  of  its 
own,  made  principally  at  Caltagirone  (q.v.).  See  also  Earthenware  and 
Palermo  Museum. 

Majone,  Admiral,  or  Majo  of  Ban,  Admiral  of  William  the  Bad,  King  of 
Sicily.  Amari  says  that  he  lived  like  an  Arabic  Emir.  Mr.  Marion  Craw 
ford  says  that  although  he  repressed  sedition  in  Sicily  with  wisdom  and  justice, 
he  was  cruel  in  his  Italian  campaigns.  He  captured  Brindisi  and  Bari.  He 
was  murdered  by  the  people  in  an  insurrection. 

Malaria.  Considering  its  situation,  Sicily  is  not  a  malarious  country, 
though  certain  districts  are  bad  in  the  summer  and  early  autumn.  The 
plain  of  Catania,  the  marshy  land  round  the  Great  Harbour  at  Syracuse,  the 
country  along  the  Palermo-Trapani  line,  from  the  Alcamo-Calatafimi  Stat.  to 
Mazzara,  and  the  country  along  the  river  Platani  between  Girgenti  and 
Palermo,  and  the  environs  of  Giardini  are  considered  the  worst  districts.  In 
other  words,  malaria  is  incidental  to  the  alluvial  lands,  and  is  largely 
concerned  with  mud.  The  natives  doctor  themselves  for  it  with  decoctions 
of  the  herbs  in  which  Sicily  abounds.  Doctors  use  immense  quantities  of 
quinine. 

Maletto.  Stat.  on  Circum-yEtnean  railway  with  a  feudal  castle  on  a  rock. 
Maniace  (q.v.),  Mr.  Hood's  seat  on  his  Bronte  estate,  is  about  half- an - 
hour's  drive.  It  stands  on  the  watershed  between  the  Simeto  and  the 
Alcantara,  and  the  little  Lake  of  Gurrita  is  in  its  territory. 

Malfitano.  Formerly  the  great  Mediterranean  seaports  were  accustomed  to 
have  their  factories  in  Palermo,  Messina,  etc.  In  Palermo  we  still  have  the 
churches  of  the  Venetians,  the  Genoese,  and  the  Catalans,  etc. ,  and  traces  of 
the  factory  of  the  men  of  Amalfi,  the  Malfitani,  who  manned  the  fleets  of 
Roger.  The  name  survives  in  Mr.  J.  J.  S.  Whitaker's  villa,  Malfitano,  built 
on  a  piece  of  land  belonging  to  the  factory.  See  under  Palermo. 

Malpasso.  A  town  destroyed  by  lava  in  the  eruption  of  1669.  The  modern 
town  of  Belpasso,  a  stat.  on  the  Circum-^Etnean  Ime,  was  built  close  to  its 
ruins.  See  under  Belpasso. 


THINGS   SICILIAN  217 

Malvagna.  A  town  on  Etna,  a  short  drive  from  Randazzo.  Famous  as 
containing  a  Byzantine  chapel,  the  only  perfect  building  in  Sicily  prior  to  the 
Normans,  erected  after  classical  times. 

Mamertines,  the,  i.e.  children  of  Mamers  or  Mars,  were  the  Campanian 
mercenaries  employed  in  the  Sicilian  wars.  One  company  of  them  seized 
Entella  in  the  time  of  Dionysius ;  another  seized,  and  was  able  to  retain, 
Messina,  It  was  their  appeal  to  Rome  for  help  which  brought  about  the 
Punic  Wars. 

Mancia.   A  pourboire^  a  tip.     See  Buonamano.  * 

Mandanice.    Stat.  on  the  Messina-Catania  line.     Has  aqueducts  (ancient). 

Manfred.  Natural  son  of  the  Emperor  Frederick  II.  Usurped  the  crown 
of  Sicily  in  1258.  His  mother  was  Bianca  Lancia.  Frederick,  who  had 
legitimised  him,  made  him  Prince  of  Tarento.  He  acted  as  a  regent  for 
Conrad  IV.,  but  after  his  death,  and  the  reported  death  of  Conradin,  was 
crowned  at  Palermo.  Pope  Urban  excommunicated  him,  and  bestowed  his 
dominions  on  Charles  of  Anjou  (q.v.).  He  was  treacherously  defeated  and 
slain  at  the  Battle  of  Benevento  (Chambers).  Manfred  was  an  author.  He 
was  one  of  the  first  poets  in  the  Italian  tongue.  Continued  his  father's 
Treatise  on  Falconry -,  and  wrote  two  epistles  on  his  death.  Dante  introduces 
him  in  the  Purgatorio.  Dante's  sympathy  with  the  Aragonese  dynasty  in 
Sicily  is  shown  by  his  allusions  to  Manfred's  daughter  Constance  (Purgatorio, 
iii.  112-117).  There  is  much  reference  to  Manfred,  whom  he  places  among 
the  excommunicated,  in  this  third  canto. 

Maniace,  Castello  di.  The  capital  of  the  Duchy  of  Bronte,  and  seat  of 
the  Hon.  A.  N.  Hood.  The  church  goes  back  to  the  time  of  Margaret,  mother 
of  William  the  Good,  A.D.  1174,  and  has  an  entire  nave  and  magnificently 
carved  west  door.  It  stands  near  the  site  of  the  town  of  Maniace,  founded  by 
George  Maniaces,  after  (aided  by  the  Norsemen  under  Harold  Hardrada)  he 
had  defeated  the  Saracens. 

Maniace,  Castle  of.    See  Syracuse. 

Maniaces,  George.  A  Byzantine  general  who  defeated  the  Saracens  in  the 
above  battle,  and  near  Syracuse. 

Manto.  The  black  shawl  worn  over  the  head  and  shoulders  by  women  in 
many  parts  of  Sicily,  a  custom  of  Spanish  origin. 

Marabitti.  An  eighteenth-century  Sicilian  sculptor.  Entrusted  by  Maria 
Carolina  with  the  designing  of  a  coat-of-arms  for  Sicily.  He  chose  the  three- 
legged  device  known  as  the  Trinacria  or  Triquetra  (q.v.). 

Marcellus,  Marcus  Claudius.  When  consul  for  the  third  time  214  B.C., 
he  extorted  the  permission  of  the  Senate  to  re-enlist  the  men  who  had  been 
defeated  and  disgraced  in  Hannibal's  victory  -of  Cannae,  and  led  them  against 
Syracuse,  which  he  captured  after  two  years'  siege,  and  gained  immortal 
fame  by  not  allowing  it  to  be  sacked.  He  was  killed  in  his  fifth  consulship, 
208  B.C.,  in  a  skirmish  with  his  old  enemy,  Hannibal,  on  the  hill  of  Petely. 

"The  fourth  yeare  following,  Claudius  Marcellus  tooke  Syracusa  after  along 
continuing  siege.  In  the  sacking  of  which  city,  the  famous  Mathematician 
Archimedes  was  slaine :  who  was  drawing  certaine  Astronomicall  figures  in 
dust,  not  dreaming  of  the  conquest  of  his  country.  Marcellus,  having  notice 
thereof,  took  his  death  wonderfull  heavily,  and  commanded  his  body  to  bee 
buried  :  not  onely  suffering  the  Conquered  City  to  remaine  in  safety,  as  Cicero 
writes,  but  also  left  it  so  furnished,  that  it  should  stand  for  a  monument  of 
victory,  humanity,  and  clemencie.  Moreover  as  he  speakes  upon  Verres  the 


218        SICILY  THE   NEW  WINTER   RESORT 

Praetors  (Much  like  our  Lord  chiefe  lustice  at  this  day)  arriyall  there ;  ^  in 
this  victory  of  Marcellus,  there  were  fewer  men,  then  gods  slaine.  But  Livy 
reports,  that  many  abominable  examples  of  wrath,  envy,  and  avarice  were 
then  and  there  shewed.3'— From  the  translation  of  J.  Sleidan's  De  Quatuor 
Summis  Imperils. 

S.  Marco  <T  Alunzio.  Stat.  on  Palermo-Messina  line,  so  called  from  the 
ancient  Haluntium,  which  it  is  not  very  near.  It  has  a  castle  founded  in 
1061. 

S.  Marco  Monte. 

Mare  Africano.   Washes  the  southern  shore  of  Sicily. 

Mare  Jonio,  or  lonio,  is  the  continuation  of  the  Strait  of  Messina  south 
ward. 

Mare  Tirreno.   The  sea  between  Sicily  and  Tuscany,  whence  its  name. 

S.  Margherita-Belici.  Reached  by  coach  in  5^  hours  from  Castelvetrano, 
a  stat.  on  the  Palermo-Trapani  line.  There  is  a  mail-vettura  from  S.  Mar 
gherita-Belici  to  Sella  Misilbesi  in  I  hour.  It  is  on  the  river  Belici. 

Maria-Carolina.  Queen  of  the  Two  Sicilies,  wife  of  Ferdinand  I.  and  IV., 
daughter  of  the  Empress  Maria-Theresa,  and  sister  of  Marie  Antoinette. 
Her  sister's  death  made  her  the  undying  enemy  of  the  French,  and  she  took 
an  active  part  in  organising  the  opposition  to  them  in  the  Mediterranean. 
She  was  a  woman  of  considerable  abilities,  and  had  much  to  do  with  Nelson 
and  Sir  William  and  Lady  Hamilton,  since  Ferdinand  allowed  her  to  govern 
his  kingdom  while  he  indulged  himself  in  hunting. 

S.  Maria-di-Licodia.  Not  to  be  confused  with  Licodia  Eubea.  A  stat. 
on  the  Circum-^tnean  railway,  supposed  to  be  the  site  of  the  city  of  /Etna. 
It  has  numerous  arches  of  an  aqueduct. 

Marianopoli.  Stat.  on  Girgenti-Palermo  line.  It  has  a  fine  church  with 
a  well-preserved  tower,  and  a  tunnel  6\  kil.  long. 

Marie.  Little  girls  bearing  the  name  of  Marie  are  dressed  in  white  for 
certain  church  ceremonies  in  Sicily,  as  they  are  in  Italy. 

Marineo,  Lucio.   An  historian  of  Spain,  born  at  Bidino  in  Sicily,  1460. 

Marionette  theatres  are  a  great  institution,  round  the  old  market  at 
Palermo,  and  in  the  Via  dei  Monasteri  at  Messina,  where  there  is  one  with 
almost  life-sized  figures,  etc. 

Marittimo.  One  of  the  ^Egatian  Islands  off  which  Nelson  cruised  for  some 
time,  and  dated  several  of  his  letters. 

Markets.  It  is  always  market-day  in  Sicily.  Market  is  a  question  of 
place,  not  of  day.  Sunday  is  often  quite  a  fair.  At  Palermo  there  are  very 
picturesque  markets  in  the  Piazza  Nuova  and  beside  the  church  of  S.  Antonio. 
At  Messina  the  fish-market,  though  new,  is  good  for  strange  monsters. 
Catania  has  a  wonderfully  picturesque  little  market  just  close  to  the  cathedral. 
See  under  the  various  towns. 

Marsala.    See  below,  page  353, 

S.  Martino,  della  Scala.  Above  Monreale.  One  of  the  six  monasteries 
founded  by  Gregory  the  Great,  with  paintings  by  Novelli,  and  wonderful  gardens. 
The  buildings  are  only  large,  not  ancient.  It  stands  in  the  valley  called  by 
the  ancients  Gemizia. 

Martorana.     See  under  Palermo. 

Marvuglia.  The  most  graceful  of  the  baroque  architects  of  Sicily,  who 
built  the  two  delightful  cloisters  of  the  Oratory  of  the  Filippini  now  used  as 


THINGS   SICILIAN  219 

the  Museum  at  Palermo,  and  the  beautiful  Pal.  Riso  in  the  Corso.  He  is 
buried  in  S.  Domenico  at  Palermo. 

Marzo,  G.  di.  A  well-known  Sicilian  writer  on  art  Author  of  /  Gagini 
e  la  Scultura  in  Sicilia  nei  secoli  XV.  e  XVL,  Palermo,  1883-4 ;  Delh  Belle 
Arti  in  Sicilia  dai  Normanni  sino  alia  fine  del  s&colo  XVL^  Palermo, 
1858-74 ;  La  Pittura  in  Palermo  nel  Risorgimento ,  Palermo,  1899,  etc- 

Mascali.  Stat.  on  Circum-^Etnean  line,  whose  wines,  lighter  than  most 
Sicilian  wines,  are  exported  a  good  deal  to  England,  etc.  Very  important 
district.  Gives  its  name  to  a  whole  class  of  light  wines. 

Mascalucia.  By  mail-vettura  from  Catania  in  2  hours,  A  favourite  Ville- 
giatura.  Mascalucia  should  be  Massalucia.  See  following  par. 

Massa.  Massa  was  the  medieval  word  for  immense  tracts  of  land  on 
which  the  agriculturists  lived  with  their  families.  The  Sicilian  word  for  a 
farm,  masseria,  is  derived  from  this. 

M  as tr angel o  was  the  leader  in  the  massacre  of  the  Sicilian  Vespers. 

Mattoni  Stagnati.  The  tiles  painted  with  inscriptions  and  coats-of-arms, 
or  figures  of  saints,  placed  at  the  top  right  corner  of  the  entrance  of  a  house, 
to  show  the  proprietorship.  As  they  are  much  collected  now,  hardly  any  are 
in  situ.  See  Armorial  Tiles. 

Mauceri,  Cav.  Dott.  Francesco.  Medical  Officer  of  the  Province  of  Syra 
cuse.  Is  employed  by  foreigners  at  Syracuse,  where  there  is  no  English  doctor. 

Mauceri,  Comm.  Luigi.  Vice-Director  of  Sicilian  railways,  is  one  of  the 
best-known  Sicilian  antiquaries.  Author  of  a  monograph  on  the  Pelasgian 
house  and  builder  of  the  Casa  dei  Viaggiatori,  a  house  in  the  old  Greek  style 
near  the  Castle  of  Euryalus  at  Syracuse. 

Mauceri,  Dr.  E.,  author  of  the  admirable  Guida  Archeologica  ed  Artistica 
di  Siracusa  and  of  Monografie  Siciliane^  7. — Stracusa,  1904. 

Maurolyco,  Francesco.  One  of  the  most  famous  natives  of  Messina.  A 
mathematician,  historian,  and  astrologer.  Most  esteemed  by  his  contem 
poraries  as  the  last,  for  he  foretold  Don  John  of  Austria's  immortal  victory 
over  the  Turks.  He  was  a  man  of  extraordinary  attainments,  much  quoted 
still  (£.  1494 ;  d.  1575).  He  brought  out  a  Euclid  (Euclydis  Phenomena,  1591). 
He  is  buried  in  S.  Giovanni  di  Malta  at  Messina.  His  tomb  has  one  of  the 
best  busts  in  Sicily.  Author  of  the  Compendia  dellt  Cose  di  Sicilia. 

Mazarin,  Cardinal,  said  to  have  been  born  in  the  Mazzarino  Palace  on  the 
Piazza  Garraffello  at  Palermo  (q.v.),  a  scion  of  a  noble  Sicilian  family. 

Mazzara.  A  stat.  on  the  Palermo-Trapani  line.  Called  Mazzara  del  Vallo 
to  distinguish  it  from  Mazzarra  S.  Andrea, 

Mazzara  Vase.  One  of  the  finest  pieces  of  Hispano-Moresco  lustre  in 
existence.  See  under  Palermo,  Museum. 

Mazzarino,  Conte.  One  of  the  chief  nobles  of  Sicily.  At  his  palace  in 
Palermo  are  some  magnificent  medieval  silk  hangings  (q.v.).  He  is  President 
of  the  *'  Bene  Economico"  (q.v.), 

Mazzarino.  Supposed  to  be  the  Macarinus  of  Ptolemy.  Six  and  three- 
quarter  hours  by  mail-vettura  from  Caitanisetta,  on  tlie  Catania- Girgenti,  and 
6J  hours  from  Terranova  on  the  Licata- Girgenti  Hne.  Remains  of  an  ancient 
castle  on  a  high  rock.  Large  and  conspicuous  baronial  palace. 

Mazzarra-S.  Andrea  is  an  hour  by  mail-vettura  from  the  Furnari  Stat. 
on  the  Palermo- Messina  line. 

Mecara.   A  Sicanian  city  on  whose  site  Eraclea  Minoa  was  built  (q.v.), 

Mediterranean  tides.  The  tide  in  the  Mediterranean  only  rises  and  falls 
a  foot  or  two. 


220        SICILY  THE   NEW  WINTER   RESORT 

Megalithic.     See  under  Pelasgic  and  Cyclopean. 

Megallls.  The  wife  of  Damophilus  of  Enna,  whose  cruelties  caused  the 
First  Slave  War.  See  Damophilus. 

Megara,  the  Bay  of.  The  stretch  of  sea  enclosed  between  Syracuse  and 
Augusta. 

Megara  Iblea.  Stat  on  Catania- Syracuse  line.  The  city  of  Megara 
Hyblsea  was  founded  on  the  deep  bay  formed  by  the  Xiphonian  promontory, 
734  B.C.,  or  726  B.C.  (Thucydides),  by  colonists  from  Megara  in  Greece  Proper. 
The  Sicilian  Megareans  in  turn  founded  Selinunte,  in  628.  But  a  little  more 
than  a  century  later,  Megara  came  to  an  end,  Gelo,  on  its  capitulation, 
removing  the  upper  classes  to  Syracuse  and  selling  the  lower  classes  into 
slavery.  The  only  other  thing  we  know  about  it  is  that  it  had  a  war  with  its 
Ionian  neighbour  at  Leontini  at  the  end  of  the  seventh  century  B.C.  Repre 
sented  by  a  single  badly-preserved  coin  (G.  F.  Hill).  Mr.  Hill  says  we  have 
charming  little  coins  in  the  drachms  and  half-drachms  of  Stiela,  the  repre 
sentative  of  the  once  important  city  of  Megara.  The  types  are  the  head  of  the 
young  river-god,  and  the  forepart  of  a  man-headed  bull.  See  under  Hybla. 

Meli,  Giovanni.  One  of  the  most  famous  poets  of  Sicily.  Baedeker  says 
that  his  Anacreontic  songs  in  the  national  dialect  were  universally  popular 
even  before  they  were  printed.  Born  at  Palermo,  1740.  He  published  his 
Fata  Galante  at  eighteen.  He  was  at  first  a  doctor  in  the  little  town  of  Cinisi, 
but  became  Professor  of  Chemistry  in  the  Palermo  University.  When  Ferdinand 
and  Maria  Caroline  came  to  Palermo  in  1798,  they  gave  him  a  pension  of  300 
ducats.  He  died  in  1813.  He  wrote  a  poetical  satire  in  twelve  cantos  called 
Don  Chisciotte.  He  left  behind  him  eight  volumes  of  sonnets,  satires,  canzoni 
capitoli,  gavote,  epistles,  elegies,  etc.  He  has  a  monument  in  S.  Domenico 
at  Palermo — the  Westminster  Abbey  of  Sicily. 

Melili.  Four  hours  by  mail-vettura  from  Syracuse,  and  from  Priolo  in  2  hours. 
The  town  of  the  Hyblsean  honey,  from  which  it  gets  its  name.  It  is  situated 
high  on  the  Hyblaean  hills  with  a  splendid  view  of  the  Gulf  of  Megara  and 
the  peninsula  of  Thapsus.  Its  fortress  was  damaged  by  the  earthquake  of 
1543  and  destroyed  by  the  earthquake  of  1693.  On  the  hills  behind  it  is  an 
antique  fortress  which  has  never  properly  been  examined,  said  to  be  quite  a 
little  Euryalus. 

Mense.  An  antique  city  near  the  present  Mineo.  It  was  founded  by 
Ducetius,  448  B.  c.  He  gave  it  its  own  laws,  and  it  was  popu 
lated  after  the  Sikelians  by  the  Greeks.  In  the  ninth  century 
it  fell  into  the  power  of  the  Saracens.  Here  the  Emperor 
Frederick  III.  celebrated  his  nuptials  with  Constance.  It  is 
a  stat.  on  the  Caltagirone  line. 

Menfi.  By  mail-vettura  from  Corleone,  13  hours,  and 
from  Sciacca  in  3  hours.  Is  called  also  Borgetto,  and  is 
near  the  ruins  of  Cocalus  the  Sicanian  king's  town  of 
Inycum  (q.v.).  It  is  on  the  Belici,  the  ancient  Hypsas. 

Merlate.  The  cloven  battlements  used  on  Sicilian  palaces, 
especially  in  the  fifteenth  century. 

Mesilimir.   The  Saracen  name  of  Misilmeri  (q.v.). 

Messina.     See  below.  — — __ 

Messina,  Antonello  da.  A  celebrated  painter  born  at.  U^LD  BYR TH'E^ 
Messina  about  1410.  See  under  Messina.  OSPEDALE  civico 

Messinese  School  of  Painting.    See  under  Messina,          MESSWA^USEUM 


MESSINA  :    S.    FRANCESCO   DEI   MBRCANTB   (THE   MIRACLE  OF   THE  ROSES) 


222        SICILY  THE   NEW   WINTER   RESORT 

Metopes  are  the  sunken  panels  in  the  frieze  of  a  Greek  temple.  The 
magnificent  metopes  found  at  Selinunte  (q.v.),  the  best  after  those  of  the 
Parthenon  and  Olympia,  are  now  in  the  Museum  at  Palermo  (q.v.). 

Metropolis  in  Greek  means  the  mother  city  of  a  colony.  Corinth  was  the 
mother  city  of  Syracuse. 

Metellus,  Lucius  Caecilius.  Proconsul,  defended  Panormus  against 
Hasdrubal,  whom  he  severely  defeated  under  the  walls,  251  B.C. 

Metellus,  Pnetor  of  Sicily  70  B.C.,  was  the  protector  of  Verres,  who 
attempted  to  prevent  Cicero  from  taking  copies  of  the  necessary  documents. 
When  he  failed,  he  declared  that  Cicero's  speaking  Greek  in  the  Senate  of 
Syracuse  was  beneath  the  dignity  of  a  Roman  magistrate. 

Mezzi-Botti.   Wine  casks  containing  46  or  47  imperial  gallons. 

Mezzojuso.  Four  kil.  from  its  railway  stat.  on  Palermo-Corleone  line. 
A  town  of  Arabic  origin,  but  occupied  in  1467  by  the  Albanian  colony 
founded  by  the  son  of  Scanderbeg.  See  under  Albanian. 

S.  Michele  di  Ganzaria.  Called  by  the  Saracens  Janzaria,  called  also 
Casale  dei  Greci  from  the  numerous  colonists  from  Epirus  who  came  to  it, 
and  whose  names  are  preserved  in  those  of  the  inhabitants  of  to-day.  One 
and  three-quarter  hours  by  mail-vettura  from  Caltagirone. 

Middleton,  Prof.  J.  Henry,  the  late,  wrote  the  articles  about  Sicilian 
architecture  in  the  Encyclopedia  Britannica, 

Migrating'  birds.  Sicily  is  one  of  the  main  tracks  of  birds  in  their 
migrations  north  and  south.  Immense  quantities  of  quails  are  killed  there 
on  passage.  For  the  habits  of  birds,  see  under  ./Egatian  Islands. 

Milan  butter.  All  the  good  hotels  in  Sicily  get  their  butter  from  Milan  in 
tins,  mostly  direct  by  parcels  post.  It  is  very  solid,  the  whey  having  all  been 
pressed  out  to  make  it  keep  better.  The  factories  are  examined  by  govern 
ment  officers.  It  is  one  of  the  finest  butters  in  the  world. 

Milazzo.  Stat.  on  Palermo- Messina  line  from  which  the  steamers  start 
for  Lipari.  The  ancient  Mylse.  Founded  by  the  men  of  Zancle,  726  B.C. 
Probably  a  border  fortress  rather  than  a  city  and  colony  (Freeman).  .  De 
pendent  on  its  mother  city  till  427  B.C.,  when  it  was  taken  by  the  Athenians. 
In  394  it  was  recaptured  by  the  Messanians.  In  270  B.C.  Hiero  II.  of 
Syracuse  won  a  great  battle  over  the  Mamertines  near  Mylae  on  the  river 
Longanus.  It  was  in  the  bay  of  Mylse  that  the  consul  Duilius  gained  the 
first  Roman  victory  over  the  Carthaginians  at  sea  by  the  use  of  the  bronze 
"  corvus,"  The  beaks  captured  from  the  Carthaginian  galleys  adorned  the 
rostral  column  still  preserved  in  the  Vatican.  Here  Augustus  defeated  Sextus 
Pompeius,  36  B.C.  The  Saracens  defeated  the  Christians  here  A.D.  866. 
Charles  V.  built  a  strong  castle  which  stood  several  sieges  in  the  war  of  the 
Spanish  Succession.  It  was  at  Milazzo  in  1860  that  Garibaldi  forced  the 
Bourbon  army  under  General  Bosco  to  surrender  on  July  2oth.  From  Milazzo 
there  is  a  daily  steamer  to  the  Lipari  Islands  (q.v.).  Tyndaris  (q.v.)  may 
also  be  visited  by  boat  from  Milazzo.  Its  long  sickle-shaped  promontory  was 
called  by  the  Greeks  the  Golden  Chersonese,  and  by  the  Romans  the  Island 
of  the  Sun. 

Milch  goats.  Almost  all  the  milk  in  Sicily  is  yielded  by  goats.  It  is  a 
common  practice  to  hire  the  milk  of  a  certain  goat  who,  when  brought  into 
the  street  by  her  herdsman,  soon  learns  to  walk  up  to  her  hirer's  room  of  her 
own  accord.  Sicilians  always  want  to  see  the  milking  done  before  them. 
See  Goats. 


THINGS   SICILIAN 


223 


Military  bands.  They  are  fairly  good,  but  never  play  any  tunes  you  can 
recognise. 

Militello  in  Val-di-Catania  (to  distinguish  it  from  Militello-Rosmarino). 
Said  to  be  the  honey  town — tellus  mellis,  or  soldier  town — tellus  militum,  from 
its  being  founded  by  the  soldiers  of  Marcellus.  In  the  church  of  S.  Maria 
La  Vetera  is  a  portal  with  rich  decorations  of  1506 ;  it  has  a  castle  thrown 
down  in  the  earthquake  of  1693. 

Militello-Rosmarino.  See  S.  Agata-di-Militello,  It  is  famous  for  its 
wild  oleanders  and  its  Roman  bridge. 


VIEW  OF   MILAZZO 

Mille  of  Garibaldi.  Garibaldi  invaded  Sicily  with  a  thousand  men,  the 
famous  **  Mille,"  who  gave  their  name  to  the  Corso  dei  Mille  at  Palermo,  etc. 

Mimnerno.  A  palace  built  by  Arabic  workmen  for  Roger,  a  sort  of  much- 
ruined  Zisa.  See  under  Palermo. 

Mineo.     See  under  Menae  above. 

Minerva  (identified  with  the  Greek  Pallas  Athene)  was  not  one  of  the 
most  worshipped  goddesses  in  Sicily.  But  the  magnificent  temple  of  the 
sixth  century  B.C.  which  is  built  into  the  cathedral  at  Syracuse  bears  her 
name,  though  it  may  have  been  changed  in  Roman  times  from  Diana.  And 
at  Girgenti  there  is  both  a  rock  of  Athene  and  the  tradition  of  a  temple  of 
Minerva  having  occupied  the  site  of  the  present  cathedral.  And  Temple  F. 
at  Selinunte,  near  Sig.  Florio's  baglio,  is  also  attributed  to  her,  but  there 
is  not  much  authority  in  either  case.  The  temple  (so  called)  of  Juno  at 
Girgenti  (q.v.)  is  the  most  likely  existing  temple  to  have  been  dedicated  to 
this  goddess. 

Misericordia.  Burial  Guilds  called  Cpnfraternita  (q.v. )  in  Sicily  wear  a 
hooded  dress  resembling  that  of  the  Misericordia  at  Florence. 


224        SICILY  THE   NEW  WINTER   RESORT 

Misilmen.  Stat.  on  Corleone  line.  Its  Saracen  name  was  Mesilimir. 
Here  the  Normans  gained  a  signal  victory  over  the  Saracens.  Before  that  it 
was  known  as  Villa  Longa.  The  feudal  castle  on  the  rock  above  was  built 
"by  Manfred  Chiaramonte  in  the  fourteenth  century.  It  gives  its  name  to  a 
whole  class  of  white  wines. 

Misterbianco.  Stat.  on  Circum-^Etnean  line.  It  means  the  white 
monastery,  and  stands  close  to  Monte  Cardillo,  the  most  southern  point  of 
Etna,  which  commands  a  beautiful  view  and  has  some  remains  of  ancient 
buildings  and  baths.  The  surrounding  district  known  as  Terreforti  gives  its 
name  to  a  class  of  wines  with  a  good  deal  of  alcohol  in  them  and  a  fine 
flavour. 

Mistretta.  Three  hours  and  ten  minutes  by  mail-vettura  from  Leonforte 
on  the  Palermo-Catania  line.  Ancient  name  Mytistratus,  perhaps  also 
Amestratus.  A  good-sized  town  mentioned  in  medieval  writers. 

M  oar  da.  Near  Parco.  Has  an  acropolis  from  which  some  of  the  pre 
historic  objects  in  the  Palermo  Museum  were  obtained. 

Modern  Sicilian  architecture  is  often  very  good.  There  is  a  marked 
tendency  to  revive,  with  the  good  mason's  work  always  procurable,  Sicilian- 
Gothic  or  Renaissance  styles.  At  the  same  time,  the  cheapness  of  stone- 
carving  produces  many  baroque  monstrosities.  The  building  is  generally 
excellent,  except  at  Syracuse,  where  there  is  a  tendency  to  build  the  walls  of 
stucco  and  small  stones,  which  caused  the  complete  disappearance  of  the 
domestic  buildings  of  ancient  Syracuse.  The  city  of  Noto  and  the  churches 
of  Modica  and  Ragusa  show  how  magnificently  the  modern  Sicilians  can 
build. 

Modica,    See  below,  p.  386. 

Mojo- Alcantara.  Stat.  on  Circum-^tnean  railway  close  to  Randazzo. 
Near  Malvagna  (q.v.),  which  has  the  only  perfect  Byzantine  chapel  in 
Sicily. 

Mola,  A  village  on  the  mountain  above  Taormina,  which  has  a  beautiful 
medieval  gateway  and  a  ruined  castle.  The  gate  is  dated  1578.  The  Chiesa 
Maggiore  has  a  remarkable  gate.  Mola  has  its  famous  niche  in  history. 
When  Dionysius  had  captured  Tauromenium  he  attempted  to  surprise  Mola, 
which  was  one  of  the  citadels  of  Tauromenium,  but  was  repulsed  and  very 
nearly  lost  his  life.  (Dennis. ) 

Molinello.  Three  kil.  from  Augusta  stat.  on  Catania- Syracuse  line.  It 
has  tombs  of  a  Sikel  village  and  Christian  catacombs. 

Money-changers.  Only  the  very  large  towns  in  Sicily,  and  Taormina, 
have  money-changers,  but  in  Palermo  their  little  dens  are  rather  a  feature. 

Mongibellisi.   The  modern  Sicilian  name  for  the  Castle  of  Euryalus  (q.v.). 

Mongibello.  The  Sicilian  name  for  Etna :  derived  from  mons,  and  gebel, 
both  of  which  mean  mountain.  This  means  not  mountain  of  mountains,  but 
mount  mountain. 

Monreale.     Near  Palermo.     See  page  391. 

Montalbano  EHcona.  Five  hours  by  mail-vettura  from  Furnari  Stat.  on 
the  Palermo-Messina  line.  Has  a  medieval  castle,  temp.  Frederick  II. 

Montallegro.  Reached  by  mail-vettura  from  Girgenti  in  7  hours  40 
minutes,  and  Sciacca  in  7  hours.  It  has  also  a  mail-vettura  to  Cattolica- 
Eraclea.  Also  called  Angio  because  it  belonged  to  the  Gioeni  Dukes  of 
Angi&.  The  inhabitants  were  so  molested  by  the  corsairs  when  they  lived  on 
the  hill  of  Cicaldo  near  the  sea  that  they  left  their  houses  there  and  built  a 


THINGS   SICILIAN 


225 


new  town  on  the  neighbouring  mountain,  which  has  also  been  abandoned  for 
want  of  water,  and  is  called  the  alabaster  town,  because  it  is  built  of  a  beauti 
ful  red-veined  alabaster.  It  has  a  little  lake  about  half  a  mile  round  impreg 
nated  with  soda.  Might  be  called  the  Sicilian  Les  Baux 


A  PIECE  OF  THE  COAST   UNDER   MONTALLEGRO 

Monte  Castellaccio.  The  mountain  with  the  abandoned  castle  above 
Monreale,  near  Palermo. 

Montedoro.  Two  hours  by  mail-vettura  from  the  Serradifalco  Stat  on 
the  Girgenti-S.  Caterina-Xirbi  line.  Unimportant. 

Monte  S.  Giuliano.   The  ancient  Eryx.     See  page  394. 

Monte  Maggiore.  A  stat.  on  the  Palermo-Catania  line.  Called  after  the 
magnificent  mountain  the  shape  of  the  lions  in  Trafalgar  Square,  which  can 
be  seen  for  about  half  the  journey  between  Girgenti  and  Palermo. 

Monte  Pellegrino,  which  Goethe  thought  the  most  beautiful  mountain 
in  the  world,  a  noble  crown-shaped  mass  of  stone  which  guards  the  Bay  of 
Palermo  on  the  north.  The  ancient  Carthaginian  city  of  Ercta,  which 
Hamilcar,  the  father  of  Hannibal,  held  against  the  Romans  three  years, 
247-244  B.C.,  stood  upon  its  top  and  had  two  little  harbours  at  its  base.  In 
a  cave  half-way  up,  in  1624,  when  the  plague  was  raging  in  the  city,  Arch 
bishop  Doria  discovered  the  body  of  S.  Rosalia,  the  hermit  niece  of  William 
the  Good.  Carried  in  procession  through  the  city,  it  stayed  the  plague.  A 
shrine  was  placed  over  the  spot  where  the  body  had  rested,  and  a  church 
fa£ade  was  built  in  front  of  the  cave.  There  is  a  coastguard  station  on  the 
top  which  commands  very  fine  views,  and  is  the  best  place  for  hearing  the 
mellow  bells  of  Palermo  at  Vespers.  The  mountain  can  be  climbed  in  an 
hour  or  two.  The  Falde  omnibus  terminus  is  at  its  foot,  and  the  royal  villa 
of  the  Favorita,  Prince  Belmonte's  villa  with  its  beautiful  gardens,  and  the 
Hotel  Igiea  lie  round  its  base.  It  is  a  limestone  rock  2,065  feet  high,  and  has 
quarries  of  a  beautiful  yellow  marble.  The  griffon  vulture  may  be  seen 
wheeling  round  its  heights,  and  quail  are  killed  here  in  great  numbers  when 
they  are  migrating. 


226        SICILY  THE   NEW  WINTER   RESORT 

Goethe's  description  (Bohn's  Library  Translation)  still  holds  good  : — 
"  The  nave  is  an  open  space,  which  on  the  right  is  bounded  by  the  native 
rock,  and  on  the  left  by  the  continuation  of  the  vestibule.  It  is  paved  with 
flat  stones  on  a  slight  inclination,  in  order  that  the  rain-water  may  run  oft". 
A  small  well  stands  nearly  in  the  centre.  The  cave  itself  has  been  transformed 
into  the  choir,  without,  however,  any  of  its  rough  natural  shape  being  altered. 
Descending  a  few  steps,  close  upon  them  stands  the  choristers'  desk  with  the 
choir  books,  and  on  each  side  are  the  seats  of  the  choristers.  The  whole  is 
lighted  by  the  daylight,  which  is  admitted  from  the  court  or  nave.  Deep 
within,  in  the  dark  recesses  of  the  cave,  stands  the  high  altar.  As  already 
stated,  no  change  has  been  made  in  the  cave ;  only,  as  the  rocks  drop 
incessantly  with  water,  it  was  necessary  to  keep  the  place  dry.  This  has 
been  effected  by  means  of  tin  tubes,  which  are  fastened  to  every  projection  of 
the  rock,  and  are  in  various  ways  connected  together.  As  they  are  broad 
above  and  come  to  a  narrow  edge  below,  and  are  painted  a  dull  green  colour, 
they  give  to  the  rock  an  appearance  of  being  overgrown  with  a  species  of. 
cactus.  The  water  is  conducted  into  a  clear  reservoir,  out  of  which  it  is  taken 
by  the  faithful  as  a  remedy  and  preventative  for  every  kind  of  ill.  .  .  . 
Through  the  openings  of  a  large  trellis-work  of  lattice  lamps  appeared  burning 
before  an  altar.  I  knelt  down  close  to  the  gratings  and  peeped  through. 
Further  in,  however,  another  lattice  of  brass- wire  was  drawn  across,  so  that 
one  looked  as  if  it  were  through  gauze  at  the  objects  within.  By  the  light  of 
some  dull  lamps  I  caught  sight  of  a  lovely  female  form.  She  lay  'seemingly 
in  a  state  of  ecstasy — the  eyes  half-closed,  the  head  leaning  carelessly  on  her 
right  hand,  which  was  adorned  with  many  rings.  I  could  not  sufficiently 
discern  her  face,  but  it  seemed  to  be  peculiarly  charming.  Her  robe  was 
made  of  gilded  metal,  which  imitated  excellently  a  texture  wrought  with  gold. 
The  head  and  hands  were  of  white  marble.  I  cannot  say  that  the  whole  was 
in  the  lofty  style,  still  it  was  executed  so  naturally  and  so  pleasingly  that  one 
almost  fancied  it  must  breathe  and  move.  A  little  angel  stands  near  her,  and 
with  a  bunch  of  lilies  in  his  hand  appears  to  be  fanning  her." 

The  zigzag  viaduct  which  climbs  the  mountain  on  arches,  to  enable  great 
ecclesiastical  processions  to  go  to  the  shrine,  is  extremely  fine.  I  doubt  if  it  is 
equalled  anywhere  It  is  made  so  that  wheeled  vehicles  cannot  use  it,  though 
it  is  a  fine  wide  road.  Some  distance  from  the  shrine  on  a  rock  overlooking 
the  sea  is  a  colossal  statue  of  the  saint,  and  a  ruined  chapel  which  has  the 
effect  of  a  Greek  temple.  I  could  find  no  traces  of  Ercta. 

Monterosso-Almp.  May  be  reached  by  mail-vettura  from  the  Vizzini 
Stat.  on  the  Caltagirone  line  in  3  hours,  from  Ragusa  Inferiore  Stat.  on 
the  Syracuse-Licata  line  in  6  hours,  and  from  Chiaramonte  (no  stat.)  in 
3  hours.  Is  the  Monte  Jahalmo  of  Norman  times.  It  has  the  remains  of  an 
antique  castle  under  that  at  present  occupied. 

Montesi  (Mountaineers).  In  Sicily  you  find  the  finest  types  in  the  moun 
tain  cities.  They  are  proud  to  other  Sicilians,  but  very  courteous  to  foreigners. 
They  are  tall  and  strong  and  very  picturesque  in  their  top-boots,  hooded 
cloaks,  and  shawled  heads. 

Monte  S.  Giuliano.   See  p.  394. 

Montevago  is  4  hours  50  minutes  by  mail-vettura  from  Castelvetrano  Stat. 
Unimportant. 

Montorsoli.  This  famous  Florentine  sculptor  executed  much  at  Messina, 
including  the  beautiful  fountain  of  Orion,  near  the  cathedral,  the  fountain  of 
Neptune  by  the  harbour,  and  the  Wolf  in  the  cloister  of  S.  Agostino ;  d.  1563. 


THINGS   SICILIAN  227 

Monuments  in  Sicily  as  in  Italy  have  stakes  in  front  of  them  declaring 
them  to  be  monumenti  naszonati,  or  monumenti  pubblici^  according  to  their 
importance.  M.N.  or  M.P.  Anything  maybe  declared  a  monument— the 
Latomia  dei  Cappuccini  at  Syracuse,  for  example.  There  is  an  office  for  the 
preservation  of  monuments  in  Palermo  behind  the  Martorana.  It  is  in  charge 
of  Prof.  Patricola. 

Moorish  honeycomb  ceilings.  There  are  very  few  examples  of  this  left 
in  Sicily,  and  they  were  all  executed  by  Saracen  workmen  for  the  Norman 
kings.  They  are  mostly  at  the  Royal  Palace,  the  Zisa  and  its  chapel,  and  the 
Cuba  at  Palermo,  and  at  Mimnerno.  By  far  the  best  example  is  the  ceiling 
of  the  Cappella  Reale  in  the  Royal  Palace  at  Palermo  (q.v.).  There  are  also 
some  good  pieces  in  the  Museum  at  Palermo. 

Mora.  Said  to  be  the  oldest  game  in  the  world,  which  is  still  national  and 
popular,  and  is  played  by  two  or  more  persons  throwing  out  the  fingers  and 
guessing  the  right  numbers  in  a  certain  way.  Called  "  Tocco  "  in  Sicilian. 

Mortillaro,  Vincenzo,  author  of  the  Sicilian  and  Italian  Dictionary  and 
many  works  on  the  history  and  legend  of  Sicily. 

Mosaics.  Sicily  has  the  finest  medieval  mosaics  in  the  world.  The 
mosaics  of  the  Royal  Chapel  and  the  Martorana  at  Palermo,  of  Monreale 
and  Cefalu,  are  earlier  and  better  than  the  mosaics  of  Venice.  The  Ravenna, 
Constantinople,  and  early  mosaics  of  Rome  must  be  considered  separately  as 
late  Empire  rather  than  Medieval.  To  these  must  be  added  now  the  mosaics 
at  Messina,  which  are  much  more  numerous  than  was  suspected.  The  entire 
east  end  of  the  cathedral  is  lined  with  them,  and  they  are  being  uncovered  as 
money  is  forthcoming.  Messina  has  a  medieval  mosaic  also  in  S.  Gregorio, 
and  another  in  the  convent  behind.  See  under  the  places  mentioned,  and 
Calogeri  and  Christ. 

Moschus.    A  bucolic  poet  born  in  the  third  century  B.C.  at  Syracuse  (q.v.). 

Mosques.  Though  there  are  said  to  be  no  buildings  in  Sicily  erected  as 
mosques,  the  church  of  the  Eremiti  at  Palermo  was  used  for  a  mosque,  and 
S.  Cataldo  and  a  portion  of  the  cathedral  are  mosque-like  in  their  architec 
ture.  More  than  one  street  in  Palermo  is  named  after  a  mosque,  but  it  is  said 
that  the  only  bit  of  architecture  undoubtedly  built  in  Arabic  times  is  the  lower 
part  of  the  great  tower  of  the  Archbishop's  Palace  at  Palermo. 

Motoring1  in  Sicily.     See  chapter  on  page  84. 

Motta  S.  Anatasia.  A  stat.  on  the  Palermo- Catania  line.  The  town  is 
|-hour  from  the  stat.  The  castle,  which  stands  on  a  curious  prismatic  rock 
famous  among  geologists,  was  the  prison  of  Bernardo  Cabrera,  **  the  proud 
Spanish  noble,  who,  at  the  commencement  of  the  fifteenth  century,  long  kept 
Sicily  in  a  state  of  ferment  by  his  pretensions  to  the  crown.  When  at  last 
he  fell  into  the  hands  of  his  enemies  he  was  placed  here  in  a  subterranean 
dungeon  which  had  formerly  been  the  cistern,  and  nearly  drowned  by  the 
order  of  the  Governor,  who  caused  water  to  be  turned  on  by  pipes  into  the 
old  reservoir.  The  Count  was  then  transferred  to  another  dungeon,  from 
which  he  bribed  the  gaoler  to  assist  him  in  escaping,  but  was  treacherously 
caught  in  a  net  half-way  between  the  window  and  the  ground,  and  suspended, 
almost  naked,  to  the  derision  of  his  foes."  (Murray.) 

Motye  (Motya),  the  island  of,  near  Marsala,  now  called  S.  Pantaleo,  the  pro 
perty  of  Mr.  J.  J.  S.  Whitaker.  One  of  the  finest  passages  in  Diodorus  Siculus 
(xiv.  viL),  the  Greek  Froissart,  is  that  -which  describes  the  storming  of  Motya 
in  397  B.C.  by  Dionysius  I.  of  Syracuse.  See  also  under  Archylus  of  Thurii. 
The  Carthaginiar)  gateway  of  the  city  and  a  paved  causeway  a  foot  or  two 


228        SICILY  THE   NEW   WINTER   RESORT 

under  the  sea,  still  used  by  carts  coming  to  and  from  the  mainland,  and  a  few 
other  Phoenician  ruins  remain.  It  has  never  been  excavated,  owing  to 
Mr.  Whitaker  not  having  yet  been  guaranteed  by  the  Government  the  posses 
sion  of  what  he  may  discover.  The  Carthaginian  necropolis  of  Birgi  on 
the  opposite  shore  has  yielded  most  valuable  results. 


THE  MOSAIC  OF  THE  MADONNA  BELLA  CIAMBRBTTA  IN  S.  GREGORIO  AT  MESSINA 

Motye,  near  Pachynum.  Pausanias  says,  v.  xxv.  2  :  "At  Pachynum,  the 
promontory  of  Sicily  which  faces  towards  Libya  and  the  south,  there  is  a  city, 
Motye,  inhabited  by  Libyans  and  Phoenicians.  With  these  barbarians  of 
Motye  the  Agrigentines  went  to  war,  and  having  taken  booty  and  spoil  from 
them,  they  dedicated  the  bronze  statues  at  Olympia,  representing  boys  stretch 
ing  out  their  right  hands  as  if  praying  to  the  god.  These  statues  stand  on  the 
wall  of  the  Altis.  I  guessed  that  they  were  works  of  Calamis,  and  the  tradition 
agreed  with  my  guess."  This  Motye  is  obviously  not  the  same  as  the  above, 
but  the  present  city  of  Modica,^See  Motyka  below. 


THINGS   SICILIAN  229 

Motyka,  or  Mutyka.  The  modern  Modica.  Cicero,  in  his  Verres,  iv.  43 
(Bohn),  says:  "Why  was  Theomnastus  the  Syracusan  sent  by  you  to  the 
district  of  Mutyca,  where  he  so  harassed  the  cultivators  that  for  their  second 
tenths  they  were  actually  forced  to  buy  wheat  because  they  had  none  of  their 
own  ? "  This  is  interesting  Irecause  Modica  is  still  the  principal  agricultural 
town  of  Sicily.  In.  Verges,  iv.  51,  he  mentions  that  in  three  years  under  Verres 
the  number  of  cultivators  went  down  from  188  to  101.  It  is  pretty  clear  from 
Pausanius  (see  preceding  par. )  that  Motye,  which  must  be  the  same  as  Motyka, 
was  founded,  like  the  other  Motye,  by  Phoenicians.  Motyuin,  the  fortress  of, 
in  the  Agrigentine  territory,  captured  by  Ducetius,  the  Sikel  king,  in  451  B.C., 
must  be  the  same  as  this  Motye  near  Pachynum.  The  country  round  Modica 
and  the  Val  d'  Ispica  is  full  of  Sikel  tombs  and  fortresses— just  the  place  for 
Ducetius  to  gather  a  Sikel  force. 

Mother-of-pearl,  or  nacre,  much  used  for  veneering  crucifixes,  etc.,  in  the 
baroque  period  in  Sicily.  It  is  generally  quaintly  but  rudely  chased. 

Mountains.  Sicily  is  all  mountains,  except  the  four  plains  of  Catania, 
Terranova  (the  Campi  Geloi),  the  Campo  Bello  of  Mazzara,  and  the  Conca 
d'  Oro  near  Palermo.  For  the  rest,  it  consists  only  of  strips  between  mountain 
and  mountain,  or  between  mountains  and  the  sea.  Etna  is  a  solitary  mountain. 
The  principal  ranges  are  the  Monti  Madonie,  Monti  Nebrodi,  and  the  Monti 
Peloritani  along  the  north  coast,  and  the  Hyblsean  Hills  near  Syracuse.  The 
other  mountains  are  not  considered  much  as  ranges,  because  they  never  stop. 
They  sometimes  are  named  as  mountains,  like  Monte  Maggiore,  and  some 
times  from  the  name  of  the  city  on  the  top  of  them,  like  Castrogiovanni. 

"  Much  Ado  About  Nothing."  The  scene  of  Shakespeare's  famous  play  is 
laid  at  Messina,  apparently  soon  after  the  Sicilian  Vespers,  as  Don  Peter  of 
Aragon  is  coming  to  Messina  after  an  action. 

Mucina.  A  kind  of  barrel  used  for  bringing  in  the  grapes  in  some  districts, 
fourteen  of  which  are  reckoned  a  cartload. 

Mulberries.   Chiefly  used  for  avenues. 

Mules  are  very  numerous.  Except  for  carriages  in  the  large  towns  they  are 
used  more  than  horses.  There  are  many  pack-trains  of  mules  in  the  mountain 
towns.  The  mule  is  a  poor  man's  beast.  He  rides  to  work  on  a  mule  or  an  ass. 

Murders  in  Sicily  are  not  rare.  But  foreigners  are  never  murdered,  murder 
being  reserved  for  vendettas  and  quarrels. 

Museums.  The  museums  of  Palermo  and  Syracuse  are  presided  over  by 
distinguished  antiquaries  and  contain  almost  unique  collections  of  early  Sicilian 
antiquities.  The  museum  of  Messina  has,  like  Palermo,  an  interesting 
collection  of  work  by  Sicilian  artists,  besides  its  incomparable  set  of  Urbino 
drug-jars.  ^  There  are  also  museums  at  Catania,  the  Municipal  and  the  Biscari ; 
at  Girgenti ;  at  Randazzo,  belonging  to  Cav.  Vagliasindi-Palizzi ;  at  Tyndaris, 
in  the  Castello  della  Scala  ;  at  Marsala,  belonging  to  Mr.  Joseph  Whitaker  ; 
Termini,  etc. 

Music  Palermo  has  the  largest  opera-house  in  the  world.  There  is  not 
much  music  in  the  towns  except  a  weekly  performance  by  a  band.  But  in 
some  parts  of  the  country;  every  goatherd  plays  on  his  reed  pipes — generally 
the  music  of  the  native  dances,  which  most  of  it  has  never  been  written  down. 
There  is  a  rich  harvest  awaiting  the  musician  who  writes  down  the  Sicilian 
folk-music  as  Pitre  and  others  have  written  down  the  folk-songs. 


230        SICILY  THE   NEW  WINTER   RESORT 

Mussomeli.   Reached  by  mail-vettura  from  Acquaviva-Platani  Stat.  in  3  hrs. 
(8  kil.)     Fine  medieval  castle  belonging  to  Prince  Scalea.   * 


MUSSOMELI  CASTELLO 


Mylae.   A  colony  of  Messana.    See  under  Milazzo. 

Mylne,  Robert,  F.R.S.,  executed  a  fine  map  of  Sicily,  published  by 
Lawrie  and  Whittle,  1747. 

Mystagx>gi.  Cicero,  in  his  Verres^  says  that  after  the  pnetorship  of  Verres, 
the  ciceroni,  whom  he  calls  the  Mystagogi,  spent  their  time  in  telling  people 
what  had  been  taken  away  (from  the  Temple  of  Minerva  at  Syracuse). 

Mytistratus.   An  antique  city,  identified  with  the  modern  Mistretta(q.v. ). 

N 

Naccari.   See  under  Noto. 
Nacre,    See  Mother-of-pearl. 

Naftia,  Lago  di.  So  called  from  the  naphtha  it  contains.  The  modern 
name  for  the  sacred  Lake  of  the  Palici  (q.v.). 

Narcissus.  Sicily  is  famous  for  its  wild  narcissi.  A  hundred -headed 
narcissus  was  the  bait  with  which  Pluto  lured  Proserpine  on  the  fields  of 
Enna.  See  chapter  on  Flowers. 

Naro.     Twenty  minutes  by  mail-vettura  from   Serra-Alongi,   which    is 
2  hours  and  20  minutes  from  Canicattl  on  the  Licata  to  Girgenti  line.     It 
is  12  kil.  from  Canicatti.    Ancient  town  church  and  fourteenth-century  castle. 
Many  classical  remains  and  catacombs.     A  Norman  baptistery  in  the  Chiesa 
Madre.     Is  mentioned  in  Tasso's  Gerusalemme  under  the  name  of  Naja — 
"  E  con  esso  innalzar  le  insegne  al  vento 
Delle  ruine  dell'  antica  Gela 
Dalle  piaggie  di  Naja  e  di  Agrigento.3'  (Canto  i.,  st.  69.) 


THINGS   SICILIAN  231 

Naos.  The  Greek  word  for  a  temple.  The  word  is  more  frequently  used 
now  in  the  sense  of  cella  (q.v.)— the  naos  proper. 

Naso.  A  stat.  on  the  Palermo-Messina  line,  2j  hours  from  the  town.  It 
is  still  surrounded  by  antique  walls,  and  is  mentioned  in  history  from  Norman 
times. 

Nasturtiums  flower  all  the  year  round  in  Sicily  if  they  are  watered. 

Naumachia.  Signifies  properly  a  theatre  flooded  for  naval  tournaments 
and  mimic  sea-fights.  The  subject  is  very  obscure.  A  Naumachia  existed  at 
Taormina  near  the  theatre ;  at  Palermo  out  at  the  Favara.  And  the  pool  in 
the  centre  of  the  amphitheatre  at  Syracuse  is  traditionally  called  the  Nau 
machia. 

Navel  of  Sicily.  Enna,  the  modern  Castrogiovanni,  is  called  by  Cicero 
umbilicus,  i.e.  the  navel  of  Sicily.  A  stone  near  the  site  of  the  Temple  of 
Proserpine  in  that  city  marks  the  exact  centre  of  the  island,  and  is  pointed 
out  as  the  umbilicus.  See  under  Castrogiovanni. 

_  Naxos.  The  oldest  Greek  settlement  in  Sicily.  Founded  by  the  Chal- 
cidians  of  Eubsea,  735  B.C.  Here  stood  the  temple  of  the  Apollo  Archagetas, 
at  which,  as  the  oldest  Greek  temple  in  the  island,  all  Sicilians  sacrificed 
before  going  to  Old  Greece.  Naxos  was  conquered  by  Hippocrates  of  Gela  at 
the  beginning  of  the  fifth  century  B.C.  In  476  Hiero  I.  of  Syracuse  deported 
its  inhabitants  to  repeople  Leontini.  But  it  had  recovered  its  independence 
sufficiently  to  take  the  part  of  the  Athenians  as  fellow-Ionians  with  vigour. 
Nicias  ^  wintered  there,  413-414.  It  was  destroyed  by  Dionysius  in  403. 
When  its  inhabitants  lifted  their  heads  again  they  removed  to  Tauromenium 
(Taormina).  ^  That  it  had  a  strong  Sikel  element  is  plain  from  its  ruins  and 
from  the  ancient  wall  of  Taormina  (q.v.).  Pausanias  says:  "Naxos  was 
founded  in  Sicily  by  the  Chalcidians  who  dwell  on  the  Euripus.  Not  a 
vestige  of  the  city  is  now  left,  and  that  its  name  has  survived  to  after  ages  is 
chiefly  due  to  Tisander,  son  of  Cleocritus.  For  Tisander  four  times  vanquished 
his  competitors  in  the  men's  boxing-match  at  Olympia,  and  he  won  many 
victories  at  Pytho."  This  is  quite  incorrect.  There  are  some  hundred  yards 
of  a  fine  polygonal  wall,  a  necropolis,  ef£.,  already  excavated.  It  is  about 
half  an  hour's  walk  from  the  Giardini-Taormina  Stat.,  and  can  easily  be 
found,  because  it  runs  parallel  with  the  river,  where  it  flows  into  the  sea. 

Nea.  The  antique  Noto.  See  also  Neetum.  Was  the  mother  city  of 
Ducetius,  the  Sikel  (q.v.).  It  was  conquered  by  Syracuse  in  the  time  of 
Hiero  II. 

Neapolis.   One  of  the  five  quarters  of  ancient  Syracuse  (q,v.). 

Necropolis.  The  Greek  for  a  cemetery.  Sicily  is  full  of  necropoles, 
Greek,  Roman,  Prehistoric,  Phoenician,  Byzantine,  Saracen,  etc.  They  have 
mostly  been  rifled,  except  at  Girgenti,  where  fresh  ones  are  constantly  being 
opened.  See  under  Syracuse. 

Neetum,  or  Netum.  The  antique  city  on  the  site  of  Noto  Antica,  Founded 
as  Nea  by  Ducetius,  448  B.C.  Under  the  Romans  the  Neetans  showed  them 
selves  independent,  and  were  the  only  people  to  resist  the  extortions  of 
Verres.  Mentioned  by  Ptolemy,  Diodorus,  Silius  Italicus,  and  Cicero.  By 
the  treaty  between  the  Romans  and  Hiero  II.  in  263  Neetum  was  left  part  of 
the  kingdom  of  Syracuse.  In  Cicero's  time  Neetum  was  a  '*  frederata."  In 
Pliny's  time  it  was  one  of  the  four  Civitates  Latinse  Conditionis. 

Nef.  The  French  for  the  Italian  navata.  Our  nave.  Much  used  by 
Sicilian  guides  in  describing  churches.  The  typical  medieval  church  in  Sicily 
consists  of  three  naves,  terminating  eastward  in  apses. 


232        SICILY  THE  NEW  WINTER  RESORT 

Nelson.  Nelson  first  visited  Sicily  July  20th-22nd,  1798,  when  he  watered 
his  fleet  at  Syracuse  before  the  Battle  of  the  Nile.  December  26th,  1798,^6 
arrived  at  Palermo  with  the  royal  family  of  the  Two  Sicilies,  who  were  flying 
from  the  French.  He  remained  there  till  May,  1799.  May  20th-28th  he 
was  cruising  off  Marittimo,  one  of  the  /Egatian  Islands,  to  intercept  the 
French  fleet.  May  2Qth  to  June  2ist,  and  August  8th  to  October  4th, 
1799;  and  October  22nd,  1799,  to  January,  1800 ;  February  jjrd-iSth, 
1800;  March  i6th  to  April  25th,  1800,  he  was  at  Palermo.  April  30th  to 
May  3rd,  1800,  at  Syracuse  ;  June  1st  to  June  loth,  1800,  at  Palermo.  He 
then  went  to  England  with  the  Hamiltons.  and  was  never  in  Sicily  again. 
While  at  Palermo  he  engaged  the  apartments  usually  tenanted  by  the  Spanish 
viceroys  on  their  first  arrival  in  Sicily,  part  of  the  piano  nobile^  of  the  vast 
palace  facing  the  Mole  belonging  to  the  Marchese  di  Gregorio.  But  he 
generally  stayed  with  the  Hamiltons  in  the  palace  they  rented  near  the 
Villa  Giulia,  using  his  own  apartments  as  the  headquarters  of  the  fleet. 
It  was  at  a  ball  at  Palermo  that  Ferdinand  invested  Nelson  with  the 
Duchy  of  Bronte.  In  the  Woodhouse  baglio  at  Marsala  (q.v.)  is  preserved 
an  autograph  letter  from  Nelson  ordering  wine  for  the  fleet.  See  also  Bronte 
and  Maniace. 

Neptune  (identified  with  Greek  Poseidon).  Does  not  appear  muchjn 
Sicily  except  at  Messina,  where  he  had  two  temples,  one  in  the  present  city 
still  standing  at  the  back  of  the  little  antique  church  of  S3.  Annunziata  dei 
Catalani.  The  other  out  at  the  Faro,  whose  gigantic  columns  now  are  in  the 
nave  of  the  cathedral.  One  of  the  Peloritan  Mountains  is  known  as  the 
Mons  Neptunius.  See  also  Fountain  of  Neptune  under  Messina.  He  was 
the  god  of  the  sea  and  thunder. 

Nespoli.  Japanese  medlars  or  loquats  (q.v.).  One  of  the  commonest  fruits 
in  Sicily. 

Newman,  Cardinal.  The  Rev.  John  Henry  Newman,  afterwards  Cardinal, 
visited  Sicily  twice — first  in  February,  1833,  and  afterwards  from  April  to  June, 
1833.  He  visited  Messina,  Catania,  Taormina,  Syracuse,  Castrogiovanni, 
Segesta,  Palermo,  etc.  It  was  between  Syracuse  and  Catania  that  he 
caught  the  fever  of  which  he  lay  ill  for  weeks  at  Castrogiovanni  and  almost 
died.  At  Palermo  he  stayed  at  Page's  Hotel  (q.v.).  He  dined  with  Mr. 
Ingham  in  the  old  part  of  the  Palazzo  Whitaker,  in  the  Via  Cavour,  Par- 
tenico  and  Alcamo  he  pronounced  masses  of  filth.  Calatafimi,  "  where  we 
slept,  I  dare  not  mention  facts. " 

Newspapers.  Sicily  has  a  few  quite  good  newspapers.  The  Giornale  di 
Sicilia^  in  Palermo,  is  much  better  than  most  of  the  Parisian  papers.  It  is  a 
paper  much  of  the  same  class  as  the  Tribuna  at  Rome  The  principal 
editions  are  published  in  the  evening  and  cost  a  halfpenny.  There  are  a  few 
illustrated  papers  in  Sicily,  such  as  Flirt  9  but  they  are  not  important.  The 
Ora  of  Palermo  is  also  a  good  paper ;  and  the  Corriere  di  Catania  has  good 
foreign  telegrams,  though  an  unambitious  little  paper.  After  Palermo, 
Messina  has  the  largest  papers. 

Nicias.  An  Athenian  general,  chief  commander  of  the  Athenian  expedi 
tion  against  Syracuse  which  ended  so  disastrously.  He  had  a  very  large 
fortune  from  the  silver  mines  of  Laurium,  in  which  he  employed  1,000  men. 
Put  in  command  of  the  Athenian  expedition  against  Syracuse  with  Alcibiades 
and  Lamachus,  he  was  not  new  to  Sicilian  warfare,  having  commanded  the 
expeditions  of  427-422  B.C.,  in  which  Hyccara  was  destroyed.  He  had 
succeeded  in  his  previous  military  enterprises.  He  was  the  evil  genius  of  the 


THINGS   SICILIAN 


233 


expedition.  But  for  him  Syracuse  would  have  been  seized  at  the  beginning, 
and  it  was  his  delay  which  caused  the  destruction  and  capture  of  the  two 
Athenian  armies.  The  Syracusans  executed  him. 

S.  Nicola.  St.  Nicholas  of  Ban,  the  national  saint  of  Russia,  the  saint 
of  children  (Santa  Klaus),  and  the  patron  saint  of  sailors,  is  a  very  favourite 
saint  in  Sicily.  S.  Nicola  da  Tolentino  also  has  a  few  churches  dedicated 
to  him. 

S.  Nicola.  The  town  of,  stat.  Palermo-Messina  line.  It  has  a  fifteenth- 
century  tower. 

Nicolosi.  Nine  miles  from  Catania,  is  the  favourite  place  for  commencing 
the  ascent  of  Etna.  The  Alpine  Club  of  Catania  has  an  office  here  which 
makes  arrangements  for  guides,  etc. ,  to  ascend  the  mountain. 


NICOLOSI  I   MONTI    ROSSI 


Nicosia.  Five  and  three-quarter  hours  by  mail-vettura  from  Leonforte. 
It  was  founded  near  the  ruins  of  the  ancient  Herbita  (q.v.).  Roger  the 
Norman  strengthened  it  with  a  great  fortress  and  adorned  it  with  a  cathedral 
of  which  there  are  some  ruins.  Its  inhabitants  are  of  Lombard  descent  and 
speak  a  Lombard  dialect.  At  the  foot  of  Monte  S.  Giovanni  rises  the 
famous  milky  stream  (Acqua-Lattea)  of  repute  for  cutaneous  diseases. 
Nicosia  is  always  considered  the  most  medieval  town  in  Sicily  and  contains 
a  great  deal  of  very  beautiful  architecture.  King  Roger's  castle  occupies  the 
highest  peak,  and  commands  a  fine  view  of  Etna.  See  Lombard  colonies. 
The  sights  of  Nicosia  are  : — 

Casa  Speciale  of  the  fifteenth  century. 

Castle,  medieval,  on  a  rock. 

Churches— S.  Benedetto,  fourteenth  century ;  S.  Calogero  (important 
picture) ;  Chiesa  del  Carmine  ;  Cathedral ;  church  of  S.  Maria  Maggiore 
(Gagini's  II  Cono,  36  feet  high,  60  Figures) ;  Church  of  the  Misericordia, 


234        SICILY  THE   NEW   WINTER   RESORT 

sixteenth  century  ;  S.  Michele  Arcangelo,  fourteenth  century ;  S.  Vincenzo 
Ferreri  (frescoes). 

Herbita,  ruins  of  ancient. 

Sperlinga  can  be  visited  from  Nicosia  (kil.  40)  (q.v.). 

Springs  of  Acqua-Lattea  at  Monte  S.  Giovanni. 

There  is  said  to  be  coal  in  the  district,  unworked. 

Nina  Siciliana,  or  Nina  di  Dante,  a  Sicilian  poetess  who  flourished  in  the 
thirteenth  and  fourteenth  centuries.  The  fame  of  her  beauty  and  her  poetry 
began  the  extraordinary  poetical  liaison  between  her  and  the  Tuscan  poet, 
Dante  da  Majano,  whom  she  never  saw.  She  was  the  earliest  poetess  in  the 
Italian  language — of  course,  in  the  Sicilian  dialect — and  some  of  her  poems 
have  been  preserved  in  Giunti. 

S.  Ninfa-Salemi.  Stat.,  Palermo-Trapani  line.  S.  Ninfa  is  an  un 
important  seventeenth-century  town.  Salemi  (q.v.)  is  supposed  to  be  the 
site  of  the  ancient  Halicyse  (q.v.). 

Ninfe.   Flytraps,  made  of  strips  of  paper  suspended  from  the  ceiling. 

Nizza-Sicilia.  Stat.,  Messina-Catania  line.  Formerly  known  as  S.  Ferdi- 
nando.  It  doubtless  gets  its  name  from  the  Fiume  di  Nisi,  the  river  of 
Dionysius,  which  gives  its  name  to  a  neighbouring  village.  It  was  in  the 
neighbouring  forest  that  the  Emperor  Henry  VI.  contracted  a  fever  of  which 
he  died  in  1197.  Valuable  mines  have  long  been  worked  in  the  neighbour 
hood  of  silver,  lead,  copper,  antimony,  iron  ;  and  Fazello  says  that  gold-dust 
has  been  found  in  the  river.  There  is  a  ruined  castle. 

Nobles.  Sicily  has  a  numerous  local  nobility,  who,  with  few  exceptions, 
live  on  the  proceeds  of  their  lands.  They  often  have  very  extensive  estates 
with  castles  on  them,  and  several  palaces  and  villas  in  and  round  Palermo. 
They  seldom  go  into  any  profession  except  the  Army,  or  the  Navy,  or  the 
Church.  They  have  several  orders — prince  (principe),  duke  (duca}^  marquis 
(marchese),  count  (conte\  and  baron  (barone}.  I  am  not  sure  if  viscount 
(visconte)  exists  ;  at  all  events,  it  is  not  common.  The  titles  are  mostly 
of  Spanish  creation.  The  principal  noble  in  the  island  is  the  Prince  of  Trabia 
and  Butera.  Other  leading  nobles  for  the  moment  are  the  Conte  di  Mazzarino, 
the  Principe  di  Scalea,  the  Duca  di  Monteleone,  etc.  There  is  no  House 
of  Lords  in  Italy. 

Normans  in  Sicily.  The  Norman  Conquest  of  Sicily  was  largely  due  to 
Robert  Guiscard's  natural  jealousy  of  his  brother  Roger,  who  was  young, 
handsome,  as  remarkable  for  courage  as  for  astuteness,  and  very  ambitious, 
though  he  was  open-handed.  Robert  diverted  his  energies  to  the  invasion 
of  Sicily.  He  began  with  a  boat-raid  across  the  Strait  at  the  head  of  sixty 
men.  In  1061  he  and  Robert  invaded  Sicily  together.  In  1064  he  won  the 
Battle  of  Ceramio  (q.v.).  In  the  same  year  he  and  his  bride,  Eremberga, 
stood  a  four  months'  siege  by  the  Saracens  in  the  Castle  of  Troina.  In  1071 
the  brothers  took  Palermo  ;  1078,  Taormina  ;  1085,  Syracuse  ;  1086,  Girgenti 
and  Castrogiovanni ;  1090,  Noto.  In  1 068  Roger  won  his  great  Battle 
of  Misilmeri ;  and  by  1090  he  had  conquered  the  island.  He  became  Count 
of  Sicily  in  1071,  Great  Count  in  1089,  and  in  1098  Legate  Apostolical  for 
Sicily.  He  died  in  1101.  His  son,  Simon,  was  the  second  Count, 
1101-1105.  Tne  tnird  Count,  Roger  II.,  in  1130,  was  crowned  King 
of  Sicily  and  Italy  at  Palermo,  and  lived  another  twenty-four  years.  His 
son,  William  I.  (the  Bad),  reigned  1154-1156;  his  grandson,  William  II. 
(the  Good),  1166-1189.  Roger's  illegitimate  son,  Tancred,  reigned  1189- 
1194,  and  Tancred's  son,  William  III.,  was  for  a  brief  period  king.  With 


THINGS   SICILIAN  235 

him  the  pure  Norman  line  died  out.  He  was  succeeded  by  the  Emperor 
Henry  VI.  of  Germany,  who  had  married  King  Roger's  daughter,  Constance. 
He  reigned  three  years,  and  was  succeeded  by  his  son,  the  Emperor 
Frederick  II.,  who  reigned  fifty-seven  years  and  made  Palermo  the  greatest 
city  in  Europe.  He  was  succeeded  by  his  son,  Conrad  IV.  (1250-1254),  and 
his  grandson,  Conradin  (1254-1268);  but  Manfred,  Frederick  XL's  natural 
son,  usurpjed  the  Crown  (1258-1266)  ;  and  Charles  of  Anjou  was  crowned 
King  of  Sicily,  1266  He  beheaded  Conradin  in  Naples  in  1268.  It  will  be 
observed  that  the  Norman  Conquest  of  Sicily  took  place  about  the  same  time 
as  the  Norman  Conquest  of  England.  The  Norman  kings  were  great 
patrons  of  the  arts.  El  Edrisi,  the  great  Arabic  geographer  (q.v.),  flourished 
at  their  court,  and  the  famous  Sicilian  song-writers  date  from  the  Norman- 
Suabian  period.  But  architecture  was  their  hobby,  and  they  made  use 
of  the  decorative  talents  of  their  Saracen  and  Byzantine  subjects  to  decorate 
their  buildings  with  the  wonderful  marble  work  and  mosaics  which  have  made 
Sicily  famous.  Ivory-carving  also  and  metal-working  flourished  under  them. 
There  are  some  glorious  specimens  in  church  treasuries. 

Norman  architecture  in  Sicily.  Generally  called  Arabo-Norman  because, 
with  a  very  few  exceptions,  their  work  shows  Saracen  influences  so  strongly. 
Owing  to  this  pointed  arches  in  Sicily  are  much  earlier  than  those  of  Northern 
Europe.  The  date  of  the  Bridge  of  the  Admiral  at  Palermo,  which  has  very 
pointed  arches,  is  known  to  be  1113,  and  there  may  be  earlier.  The  character 
istics  of  the  early  Arabo-Norman  work  are  stilted  arches  in  churches,  and 
small  pointed  windows  sunk  in  panels  pointed  like  themselves.  The  churches 
are  generally  of  a  basilica  form,  divided  into  a  nave  with  aisles,  or,  as  Sicilians 
say,  three  naves,  terminating  eastward  in  apses.  Many  of  them  have  the 
Arabic  feature  of  a  square  space  in  the  centre  of  the  nave,  two-thirds  up, 
surrounded  by  four  arches  supporting  a  little  cupola  which  gives  most  of  the 
light,  e.g.  at  the  Cappella  Reale  and  the  Martorana  at  Palermo,  etc. 

The  English-Norman  style  is  to  be  found  in  the  crypt  of  the  cathedral  and  the 
Church  of  the  Vespers,  both  the  work  of  the  English  archbishop  Offamilia  (q.v. ). 
Other  magnificent  examples  of  early  Arabo-Norman  work  are  to  be  found  in 
the  cathedral  of  Monreale  and  the  four  Royal  Palaces  of  the  period — the 
Zisa,  the  Cuba,  the  Favara,  and  Mimnerno ;  and  in  the  Norman  room  of  the 
Royal  Palace  at  Palermo.  One  of  the  best  examples  is  the  vaulted  hall  under 
the  Zisa  with  a  fountain  running  down  the  centre,  walls  panelled  with  marble 
below  and  adorned  with  mosaics  above,  and  a  roof  of  Moorish  honeycomb 
work  (q.v.}.  This  style  of  roof  and  the  use  of  mosaics  were  special  character 
istics  of  the  work  of  the  Norman  kings.  The  influence  of  the  Northern 
Normans  and  English  is  shown  most  in  doorways,  like  that  of  S.  Giorgio 
at  Girgenti,  in  capitals  like  those  of  the  cloister  of  Monreale,  and  windows 
like  the  glorious  example  in  the  Chiaramonte  Palace  at  Palermo.  Later 
Arabo-Norman  work  resembles  the  North  Italian  architecture  we  find  at 
Siena  or  Brescia,  groups  of  two  or  three  windows  with  pointed  arches  divided 
by  shafts  being  enclosed  within  a  containing  arch.  The  richest  and  most 
beautiful  example  of  this  is  in  the  Palazzo  Montalto  at  Syracuse  (q.v.).  But  the 
hand  of  the  Arabic  workman  often  imparts  to  this  style  a  grace  and  lightness 
not  found  in  Northern  Italy.-  The  numerous  castles  and  palaces  erected  by 
the  Chiaramonti,  like  the  Chiaramonte  Palace  in  Palermo,  the  Casa  Normanna 
in  Palermo.,  etc.,  belong  to  this  period.  To  the  fourteenth  century  also  belong 
the  doorways  with  slender  clustered  columns  with  elegant  rose-windows  above 
them,  like  S.  Francesco  and  S.  Agostino  at  Palermo,  and  S.  Giovanni  at 
Syracuse.  It  is  through  this  style  that  the  Arabo-Norman  melts  into  the  later 
Sicilian-Gothic. 


236        SICILY  THE   NEW   WINTER   RESORT 

Norman  room.  The  Royal  Palace  at  Palermo  contains  a  perfect  Norman 
room  of  the  twelfth  century  splendidly  adorned  with  marbles  and  mosaics. 
This  is  almost  the  only  perfect  example  in  existence  of  a  domestic  chamber  in 
a  building  neither  religious  nor  military. 

North's  Plutarch.  The  Plutarch  translated  into  noble  old  English  by  Sir 
Thomas  North  (the  translation  used  by  Shakespeare)  is  now  to  be  obtained  in 
the  Temple  Classics.  The  Lives  of  Dion,  Timoleon,  Nicias,  Marcellus,  and 
Alcibiades  throw  much  light  on  ancient  Sicily.  The  English  is  singularly 
charming. 

Noto  Stat.,  Syracuse-Licata  line,  a  short  drive  from  the  town.  This  is 
the  new  Noto.  Noto  Antica  on  the  site  of  the  ancient  Neetum  (q.v.)  is 
12  kil.  above  it,  and  is  called  "the  medieval  Pompeii,"  having  been  deserted 
since  its  destruction  by  the  great  earthquake  of  1693.  ^  contains  some 
Roman  remains  and  the  Torre  Maestra,  built  by  Peter,  brother  of  King 
Alfonso,  in  the  fourteenth  century.  The  lower  franchise  of  Latium  was 
granted  to  Neetum  by  the  Romans.  Modern  Noto  is  one  of  the  handsomest 
cities  in  Sicily.  Its  buildings,  including  the  cathedral,  all  built  since  the 
earthquake,  are  very  fine.  It  is  a  good  example  of  the  excellent  modern 
classical  work  that  you  so  often  find  in  Sicily.  It  has  a  mail-vettura  to 
Palazzolo  Acreide  in  4  hours,  and  to  Pachino  (q.v.)  in  3!  hours.  In  the 
neighbourhood  of  Noto  are — 

La  Pizzuta,  4  miles  south  of  Noto  on  the  River  Helorus,  a  triumphal 
monument  of  the  Syracusans  (q.v.). 

Favorita,  remains  of  a  sepulchral  chamber  near  the  Villa  Favorita. 

Naccari,  remains  of  an  ancient  city  near  the  Lake  of  Vendicari. 

Novara  di  Sicilia.  Three  and  a  half  hours  by  mail-vettura  from  the 
Castroreale-Novara-Furnari  Stat.  on  the  Palermo-Messina  line.  The  ancient 
Nose.  Mentioned  in  Pliny  as  one  of  the  communities  in  the  interior 
of  Sicily.  Mines  of  porphyry,  etc.  It  was  peopled  by  the  Lombards  who 
followed  Count  Roger. 

Novels.  The  Sicilians  read  a  great  number  of  French  and  English  novels. 
They  are  great  novel  readers,  and  pick  up  enough  English  to  read  our  novels 
because  they  are  cheaper  than  others.  Mr.  Marion  Crawford's  Corleone, 
Mr.  Justin  Huntly  McCarthy's  The  Proud  Prince,  Miss  Norma  Lorimer's 
On  Etna,  Joszatfs  Wife  and  By  the  Waters  of  Sicily,  Mr.  Douglas  Sladen's 
The  Admiral,  and  Miss  Selma  Lagerlof's  The  Miracles  of  Anti-Christ,  all 
deal  with  Sicily.  One  Sicilian  novelist,  Verga  (q.v.),  is  beginning  to  have  a 
European  fame. 

Novels,  ancient  Greek.  There  are  several  in  existence :  Theagems  and 
Charklea>  Daphnis  and  Chloe,  Clitopho  and  Leucippe,  and  Chareas  and 
Callirrhoe.  The  last  (q.v.),  by  Chariton  of  Aphrodisias,  is  a  novel  of 
ancient  Syracuse,  and  the  original  of  the  story  of  Romeo  and  Juliet. 

Novell!,  Pietro.  A  native  of  Monreale  (1603-47).  Baedeker  says:  "  Sur- 
named  *  Monrealese,'  a  master  of  considerable  originality,  and  a  follower  of 
the  Neapolitan  school,  to  which  he  owes  his  vigorous  colouring  and  his 
strongly  individualised  heads.  Besides  his  works  at  Palermo,  there  is  an 
interesting  work  by  this  master  on  the  staircase  at  Monreale.  Several  of  his 
monkish  figures  are  among  the  finest  works  produced  by  the  Italian  naturalists." 
He  is  a  sort  of  Sicilian  Guercino.  His  work  can  be  best  studied  in  the  large 
Novelli  room  in  the  Museum  at  Palermo.  Other  examples  are  to  be  found  at 
Alcamo,  S.  Oliva ;  Leonforte,  Cappuccini ;  Monreale,  in  the  Tabulario  behind 
the  cathedral  ;  Palermo,  S.  Chiara ;  Palermo,  Carmine ;  Palermo,  Casa 


THINGS    SICILIAN  237 

Professa  ;  Palermo,  cathedral ;  Palermo,  S.  Maria  del  Cancelliere  ;  Palermo, 
S.  Francesco  d'  Assisi  ;  Palermo,  S.  Domenico ;  Palermo,  S.  Giuseppe  ; 
Palermo,  S.  Matteo  ;  Palermo,  S.  Rosario  di  S.  Domenico  ;  Palermo,  S.  Maria 
del  Oliveto  ;  Palermo,  Olivella  ;  Palermo,  Chiesa  di  Valverde  ;  Piana  dei 
Greci,  S.  Demetri ;  Piana  dei  Greci,  Cappuccini ;  Piana  dei  Greci,  S. 
Antonio  ;  Ragusa,  Cappuccini  ;  S.  Martino  above  Monreale  ;  Trapani, 
Collegio. 

Nymphaeum.  The  Sicilians  apply  the  name  to  almost  anything  connected 
with  water.  The  Nymphseum  at  Syracuse  (q.v.)  was  a  cave  with  a  fountain. 
Andrews,  in  his  Latin- English  Lexicon,  defines  it  as  a  fountain  sacred  to  the 
nymphs. 


Obituary  notices.  It  is  the  custom  with  Sicilians,  especially  the  poorer 
ones  when  they  lose  a  relative,  to  stretch  a  band  of  crape  across  the  front  door 
with  the  inscription,  "Per  mio  padre,"  "Per  mia  moglia."  But  the  upper 
classes  do  it  too,  without  the  inscription.  I  noticed  in  1903  one  of  these  bands 
of  crape  on  the  gate  of  Comm.  Florio,  the  wealthiest  man  in  the  island. 

Obol.  An  ancient  Greek  coin — the  sixth  part  of  a  drachma,  made  of 
silver.  Mr.  G.  F.  Hill  says  that  the  0&?/ weighed  11.25  grains  troy  of  silver  ; 
and  the  litra  (q.v.),  which  was  purely  a  Sicilian  coin,  representing  a  pound 
of  bronze,  weighed  13.5  grains  troy  of  silver.  Some  of  the  so-called  obols  of 
Sicily  are  very  beautiful  little  coins.  They  are  tiny  coins  about  the  size  of  the 
silver  twopennies  of  Maundy  money. 

Obligate.  To  advance  money  on  a  crop.  "  Messrs.  Ingham,  Whitaker, 
and  Co.  '  obligate 3  the  farmers  in  advance  for  their  grapes,  and  they  send 
their  brokers  round  at  intervals  during  the  winter  and  spring  to  make  sure 
that  the  vines  are  being  properly  pruned  and  cultivated  "  (Siaden's  In  Sicily, 
vol.  ii.,  p.  349). 

Obverse  in  a  coin  means  literally  the  side  which  goes  against  the  lower  or 
anvil  die.  In  practice  it  is  generally  used  for  the  head  side,  because  the  later 
coins  had  to  have  their  high-relief  heads  on  the  obverse. 

Octopus.  A  small  kind  of  octopus,  the  calamaio^  is  much  esteemed  for 
food  in  Sicily.  It  is  often  cut  up  in  strips,  and  looks  almost  like  maccaroni. 
It  is  extremely  nice,  but  rather  tough.  Pounded  up  like  soft-shell  crab  it 
would  be  very  good. 

Octroi,  or  municipal  taxes,  are  chiefly  on  produce.  There  is  no  octroi  in 
towns  of  less  than  12,000  inhabitants.  It  is  not  paid  by  those  who  live  outside 
the  city  bounds.  It  is  only  paid  on  goods  which  pass  within  the  city  bounds. 

Ocula  (Occhiala).  An  antique  city  which  stood  near  the  modern  Gram- 
michele  (q.v.). 

Odo,  Bishop  of  Bayeux,  brother  of  William  the  Conqueror,  died  at 
Palermo  on  his  way  to  the  Crusades,  and  was  buried  in  the  crypt  of  the 
cathedral. 

Odyssey.  The  late  Samuel  Butler  wrote  an  extremely  learned  and  in 
genious  book  called  The  Authoress  of  the  Odyssey  to  prove  that  the  Odyssey 
was  written  in  Sicily  by  a  woman.  The  principal  proof  for  the  latter  contention 
which  he  advanced  was  that  nothing  was  described  correctly — except  women's 
things,  The  other  part  of  his  contention  is  possibly  correct  He  reasons  it 
out  convincingly.  (Published  by  Longmans.)  There  is  much  about  Sicily 
in  the  Twelfth  Odyssey,  into  which  the  Cyclops  and  Scylia  and  Charybdis 
come.  See  Cyclops,  Scylk,  Trapani,  etc. 


238        SICILY   THE   NEW   WINTER   RESORT 

Offamilia,  Gualterio,  or  Offamiglio,  was  Archbishop  of  Palermo  in  the 
latter  half  of  the  twelfth  century  in  the  reign  of  William  the  Good.  He 
built  the  cathedral  and  the  Church  of  the  Vespers  and  the  curious  little  church 
named  S.  Cristina  La  Vetera  in  a  lane  behind  the  ruined  chapel  of  the  In- 
coronata.  When  it  is  stripped  of  its  plaster,  this  will  prove  an  architectural 
gem.  The  Sicilian  name  is  corrupted  from  the  English  Walter  of  the 
Mill. 

Oil.  Naturally  much  olive  oil  is  made  in  Sicily,  and  a  good  deal  is  exported 
from  Messina.  An  oil  of  recognised  repute  is  that  made  by  the  Hon.  A.  N. 
Hood  on  the  Bronte  estate.  A  great  deal  of  kerosene  is  now  imported  into 
Sicily,  where  it  is  inordinately  dear.  Prior  to  this  coarse  olive  oil  was  much 
used  in  lamps  of  old  Greek  shapes. 

Oldest  things  in  Sicily  of  human  handiwork  are  the  various  tombs  and 
dwellings  of  the  troglodytes,  Sicanian  or  Sikelian,  and  certain  so-called 
Pelasgic  or  Cyclopean  walls  at  Cefalu,  Collesano,  Eryx,  and  that  discovered 
by  Comm.  Mauceri  above  Termini  (q.v. ).  But  by  far  the  most  important 
example  is  the  ancient  Greek  house  (q.v.),  generally  called  the  Temple  of 
Diana,  on  the  Castle  Rock  at  Cefalii  (q.v.),  which  goes  back  certainly  to 
Homeric  times,  and  has  most  of  its  ground  floor  and  part  of  its  upper  floor 
standing.  The  oldest  temple  seems  to  be  the  Temple  of  Diana  at  Syracuse 
(q.v.). 

Oleanders.  Both  wild  and  cultivated  grow  in  Sicily.  The  wild  oleander 
is  a  much  smaller  plant.  It  is  plentiful  round  Taormina  in  the  river  valleys. 
But  the  great  place  for  it  is  the  Fiumara  Rosmarino,  near  S.  Agata-di-Militello 
Stat.  on  the  Palermo-Messina  line. 

Oleaster.  The  wild  olive,  which  is  a  thorny  shrub  looking  almost  like  a 
myrtle,  is  found  in  various  parts  of  Sicily.  It  is  very  useful,  both  for  graft 
ing  with  the  cultivated  olive,  which  is  not  so  hardy,  and  for  violent  fevers, 
in  which  a  strong  decoction  of  it  is  administered  internally.  The  wild  olive 
was  used  for  crowning  the  victors  at  Olympia.  Jevons  and  Gardner  in 
their  manual  of  Greek  Antiquities  say  (p.  274):  "At  the  conclusion  of 
the  contest,  the  name  of  each  winner,  and  that  city  which  claimed  him  as  a 
citizen,  was  recited  with  loud  voice  by  a  herald  ;  and  the  Hellanodicse  placed 
on  his  head  the  crown  of  wild  olive,  which  was  the  greatest  object  of  ambi 
tion  of  every  Greek  youth. "  And  Pausanias  says  :  ' '  When  Zeus  was  born, 
Rhea  committed  the  safe-keeping  of  the  child  to  the  Idsean  Dactyls  or  Curetes, 
as  they  are  also  called  ;  that  the  Dactyls  came  from  Ida  in  Crete,  and  their 
names  were  Hercules,  Pseonseus,  Epimedes,  lasius,  and  Idas ;  and  that  in 
sport  Hercules,  as  the  eldest,  set  his  brethren  to  run  a  race,  and  crowned  the 
victor  with  a  branch  of  wild  olive,  of  which  they  had  such  an  abundance  that 
they  slept  on  heaps  of  its  fresh  green  leaves.  They  say  that  the  wild  olive 
was  brought  to  Greece  by  Hercules  from  the  land  of  the  Hyperboreans." 
In  the  great  temple  of  Hercules  at  Girgenti  there  is  a  wild  olive  springing 
from  the  fallen  masonry. 

Olive.  The  ancients  regarded  the  olive  tree  as  equal  or  superior  to  the  vine. 
It  was  with  the  olive  that  Minerva  won  the  day  against  Poseidon,  when  they 
were  contesting  who  should  be  the  patron  of  Athens,  and  Columella,  the  most 
learned  of  Roman  writers  on  agriculture,  in  his  De  Re  Rmtica,  calls  the  olive 
"prima  omnium  arborum."  Garlands  of  olive  were  used  to  crown  victors. 
Archbishop  Potter,  who  wrote  a  valuable  book  on  Greek  antiquities  called 
Archaologia  Graca,  which  went  through  many  editions  in  the  eighteenth 
century,  makes  it  out  a  kind  of  Victoria  Cross.  "  Nay,  when  Miltiades  only 


THINGS   SICILIAN  239 

desired  a  Crown i  of  Olive,  one  Sochares  stood  up  in  the  Midst  of  the  Assembly 
and  reply  d ,  #^»  M*«  *fa//  «w?tt*r  alone,  Miltiadcs,  thou  shall  triumph  so 
reacted"  (voMfnT^  S°  agreeable  to  the  P°Pulace>  th*t  his  Suit  was 
The  olive  was  as  much  honoured  and  cultivated  in  Sicily  as  in  Greece 
Proper.  It  was  an  insult  to  Aristceus,  its  protecting  deity  at  Syracuse,  which 
was  the  last  straw  m  causing  the  outburst  against  Verres,  Olives  of  immense 
age,  growing  spirally,  like  shells,  are  to  be  found  round  Syracuse.  Olive- 
growing  is  one  of  the  principal  industries  of  the  island.  There  is  a  tradition 
that  some  of  the  old  olives  were  planted  by  the  Saracens. 

Oliver!.  A  stat.  on  the  Palermo-Messina  line,  the  nearest  to  the  ancient 
Greek  city  of  Tyndaris,  from  which  it  is  3  miles  (q.v.). 

Olympeium  (Italian,  Olimpeo).  A  temple  of  Zeus  or  Jupiter  Olympius. 
There  are  a  good  many  in  Sicily,  notably  at  Syracuse,  Girgend,  Selinunte, 
etc.  1  he  temples  of  the  Olympian  Zeus  were  noticeably  unlucky.  That  at 
Syracuse,  in  the  outpost  of  Polichna,  bore  the  brunt  of  many  invasions  ; 
those  of  Girgenti  and  Selinunte  were  barely  finished  before  they  were  de 
stroyed  for  ever  by  the  Carthaginians.  That  of  Athens  lingered  on  uncom 
pleted  for  ooo  years. 

Omnibus.  A  few  of  the  largest  cities  in  Sicily  have  omnibuses  runnin^ 
in  the  streets,  and  the  principal  hotels  have  them.  But  the  real  Sicilian 
omnibus  is  the  dirty,  paintless,  antique,  uncomfortable  sort  of  a  closed  fly, 
which  climbs  at  about  four  miles  an  hour  from  railway  stations  to  remote 
citylettes  on  the  tops  of  mountains. 

Onion,  the  wild,  looking  like  a  little  blunt  American  aloe,  is  found  on  all 
waste  land  m  Sicily.  It  has  given  its  name  to  a  beautiful  veined  marble  known 
as  cipollmo,  which  looks  like  a  section  of  the  onion  (q.v.). 

Onze.  Sicilian  for  the  Italian  oncie  (literally,  ounces).  A  Bourbon  coin 
in  which  people  still  reckon  in  the  remoter  parts:  though  the  coin  is  no  longer 
current.  It  was  worth  about  ten  shillings. 

Operas  and  Opera-houses.  The  opera-house  in  Palermo  (q  v.)  is  the 
largest  in  the  world  by  one  yard.  There  is  an  opera  season.  The  opera  has 
lately  been  continued  in  Lent,  that  being  the  season  for  foreigners  and  making 
money.  A  good  deal  of  opera  is  given  at  most  Sicilian  theatres.  The  fine 
opera-house  at  Catania  enjoys  the  lustre  of  the  name  of  the  immortal  youth 
of  music,  Bellini,  who  was  born  at  Catania  and  died  before  he  was  thirty-three. 

Oranges.  Sicily  is  a  fine  orange  country  ;  one  of  the  few  orange  forests  in 
the  world  is  on  the  Duchy  of  Bronte.  Few  oranges,  however,  are  grown  except 
for  the  owners'  needs  and  the  local  market,  lemons  being  a  more  paying  crop. 
The  poor  people  make  an  industry  of  drying  orange-peel  in  long  strips.  You 
often  see  the  side  of  a  house  covered  with  orange-peel. 

Orchestra,  The  pit  of  a  Greek  theatre,  which  was  really  used  for  the  Chorus 
to  dance  in,  and  from  which  they  mounted  the  stage  to  take  part  in  the  action. 
To  use  Liddell  and  Scott's  concise  definition,  "  the  orchestra  had  the  stage  on 
its  diameter,  and  on  its  circumference  the  spectators'  seats.  The  thymele 
stood  in  it,  an  altar-shaped  platform,  on  the  steps  of  which  stood  the  leader  of 
the  Chorus." 

Orchids.  The  orchids  which  are  so  fine  and  so  abundant  at  Capri  are  found 
^n  Sicily  also,  buj;  they  are  not  so  fine  or  so  frequent. 


24o        SICILY  THE   NEW   WINTER   RESORT 

Oreto,  the.  The  river  of  Sicily  on  which  Palermo  stands.  It  has  high, 
rather  picturesque  banks  ;  it  is- useless  except  for  irrigation. 

Oria.    See  Loria,  Ruggiero  di. 

Orlando,  Capo  d'.  Naso-Capo-d'  Orlando  is  a  stat.  on  the  Palermo- 
Messina  line.  There  are  ruins  of  a  castle  on  the  cape,  and  the  Sikel  town  of 
Agathyrnum  stood  upon  it.  Founded  by  Agathyrnus,  whose  figure  appears  on 
a  coin  of  Tyndaris. 

Orpine.  A  plant  belonging  to  the  Sedum  or  Stonecrop  family  (the  Sedmn 
telephitim}.  The  brilliant  crimson  flower  which  grows  on  rocks  and  walls  in 
the  warmer  parts  of  England.  A  dwarf  variety  is  very  common  in  Sicily. 

Orsi,  Cav.  Paolo.  Prof.  Orsi  is  the  director  of  the  Syracuse  Museum, 
and  one  of  the  most  learned  antiquarians  in  Italy.  Author  of  many  valuable 
monographs.  He  has  made  the  study  of  the  prehistoric  races  in  Sicily  a 
speciality. 

Orsi,  Prof.  Pietro.  Professor  of  History  in  the  R.  Liceo  Foscarini  at 
Venice.  Author  of  Modern  Italy,  in  Mr.  Fisher  Unwin's  Story  of  the  Nations 
Series,  the  easiest  book  in  English  to  consult  about  the  history  of  modern 
Sicily. 

Ortigia.  The  ancient  Ortygia,  one  of  the  five  quarters  of  ancient  Syracuse, 
is  an  island  between  the  Great  Harbour  and  the  sea.  The  modern  city  of 
Syracuse  is  almost  confined  to  the  island.  See  under  Syracuse,  Ortygia. 

Ottavi.  Octaves,  casks  containing  about  eleven  gallons,  used  in  the  Sicilian 
wine  trade. 

Ovid  spent  a  year  in  Sicily  about  25  A.D.,  and  mentions  it  a  good  deal.  He 
has  left  us  a  description  much  too  flowery  for  nowadays  of  the  sacred  lake  of 
Pergusa.  See  under  Castrogiovanni. 

Oxen  are  used  for  ploughing,  and  for  almost  all  heavy  haulage  in  Sicily. 
In  Messina,  which  is  very  hilly,"  they  are  used  even  for  carretti. 


A  CARETTO   DRAWN    BY   OXEN 


THINGS   SICILIAN  241 

P 

Pachino.  Twenty-four  kil.  by  mail-vettura  from  Koto  Stat,  Syracuse- 
Licata  line.  Founded  m  1438-  The  Porto  d'  Ulisse,  the  ancient  Hebrus 
(q.v.),  and  Cape  Passaro  or  Pachynus  can  be  visited  from  it.  The  ancient 
Pachynus  (q.v,). 

Pachynus,  Cape.  One  of  the  three  capes  which  made  Sicily  Trinacria. 
According  to  Cicero  there  was  a  Portus  Pachyni  and  a  Portus  Odyssey  in  its 
neighbourhood,  the  former  now  called  Porto  Palo.  Freeman  supposes  the 
ancients  to  have  called  the  whole  southern  peninsula  Pachynus,  and  the 
actual  cape  to  have  been  the  lofty  island  of  Passaro,  not  the  more  southerly 
but  insignificant  point  opposite  the  Isola  delle  Correnti. 

Pack-mules  are  common  in  the  mountainous  parts.  They  are  very  gay 
with  scarlet  harness,  often  of  webbing. 

Paese.  Literally  country,  but,  like  terra,  constantly  used  in  Sicily  of  a 
small  town  as  we  use  our  word  glace. 

Painted  carts,  Sicilian.  See  p.  410,  Palermo,  Palermo  Carts.  All  over 
bialy,  but  most  m  Palermo,  you  meet  yellow  two-wheeled  carts,  painted  with 
scenes  from  the  Bible  or  Sicilian  history  or  Dante,  or  Tasso,  or  Ariosto. 
Occasionally  also  single  figures  of  saints  or  ballet-girls  or  conventional 
designs.  They  are  often  carved  underneath  and  have  elaborate  hammered 
ironwork. 


.  Sicily.    In  the  Palermo  Museum  there  are  a  good  many  paint 

ings  by  Sicilian  artists  of  the  Byzantine  period,  much  in  advance  of  the  Italian 
paintings  of  the  period.  But  painting  did  not  flourish  under  the  Spanish 
dynasties,  though  Tommaso  di  Vigilia,  in  the  fifteenth  century,  had  much  of 
Lo  Spagna's  charm  ;  and  Antonello  da  Messina,  who  had  studied  in  Flanders 
under  the  Van  Eycks,  introduced  oil-painting  into  Italy  during  the  course  of 
his  long  life  which  covered  nearly  the  whole  of  the  fifteenth  century.  Another 
good  medieval  painter  was  Riccardo  Qiiartararo,  who  painted  the  S.  Cecilia  in 
the  Palermo  Cathedral,  formerly,  like  the  superb  fresco  of  the  Dance  of 
Death,  attributed  to  Antonio  Crescenzio,  whom  Baedeker  places  in  the  first 
half  of  the  sixteenth  century.  The  great  Sicilian  painter  is  the  realist 
Pietro  Novelli  (q.v.),  a  Monrealese  (1603-47).  At  Messina  (q.v.)  were  pro 
duced  quite  a  number  of  painters  of  merit  whose  names  are  little  known. 
See  Messinese  School  of  Painting. 

^  Palaces.  Sicily  abounds  in  palaces,  many  of  them  of  enormous  size.  The 
Sicilians  are  good  masons,  and  all  Sicily  is  a  quarry.  They  are  of  all  dates 
from  the  twelfth  century.  The  earliest—  the  Zisa,  the  Cuba,  the  Favara,  and 
Mimnerno,  and  part  of  the  Royal  Palace  at  Palermo,  were  built  by  Saracen 
workmen  for  the  Norman  kings.  With  the  exception  of  the  Pietratagliata 
Palace  at  Palermo,  there  are  not  many  palaces  after  that  anterior  to  the  fourteenth 
century,  when  the  Chiaramonti  built  the  noble  palace  on  the  Piazza  Marina, 
now  called  the  Dogana,  and  some  unknown  person  built  the  Casa  Normanna 
behind  S.  Matteo,  with  its  range  of  profosely  decorated  windows,  and  Matteo 
Sclafani  built  his  vast  palace  opposite  the  Royal  Palace,  all  at  Palermo  ;  and 
a  Montalto  and  a  Bellomo  built  their  magnificent  palaces  at  Syracuse.  The 
great  characteristics  of  the  fourteenth-century  palaces  are  their  richly  decorated 
windows  clustered  in  twos  and  threes  in  a  containing  arch,  just  as  the  leading 
characteristics  of  the  twelfth-century  palaces  are  their  narrow  windows  con 
tained  in  sunken  Saracenic  panels.  At  Randazzo  and  other  Lombard  towns 
there  are  fourteenth-century  palazzetti  with  plain  windows  in  a  containing 
arch,  hardly  decorated  beyond  the  slender  shafts  which  divide  them.  This 


S.  CHIARA  (SCHOOL  OF  <ANTONELLO),  MESSINA  MUSEUM 


THE  HOLY  FAMILY,   BY  AN  UNKNOWN  ARTIST,  IN  THE  MESSINA  MUSEUM 


244        SICILY  THE   NEW  WINTER   RESORT 

style  influenced  the  ordinary  fifteenth-century  palace,  of  which  the  examples 
are  much  more  numerous.  The  doorways  are  simple,  pointed  arches  with 
projecting  hood-mouldings  or  square  labels  over  them.  Except  the  twelfth- 
century  palaces,  nearly  all  have  a  cortile  in  the  centre.  All  the  above,  which 
may  be  grouped  as  Gothic  palaces,  are  of  a  moderate  size,  and,  as  a  rule,  have 
no  openings  on  the  ground  floor  except  the  great  entrance.  The  windows  are 
high  enough  up  to  be  out  of  danger  from  street  riots.  In  Taormina  there  are 
a  couple  of  palaces  of  the  fifteenth  century  as  ornate  as  if  they  had  been  built 
a  hundred  years  earlier.  They  have  a  black-and-white  decoration,  and  ex 
quisite  windows.  One  of  them,  the  Badia,  is  the  most  beautiful  Gothic  build 
ing  in  Sicily.  A  characteristic  frequently  destroyed  is  a  fine  processional  stairway 
and  terrace  occupying  two  or  three  sides  of  the  cortile.  Taormina  has  examples 
in  the  Palazzo  Corvaja  and  the  Casa  Floresta  (q.v.),  Syracuse  (q.v.),  in  the 
House  of  the  Clock,  the  Palazzo  Daniele,  and  the  Opera  Pia  Gargallo.  Castro- 
giovanni  has  one  in  a  palace  near  S.  Chiara,  and  there  is  a  curious  variety  of 
them  in  the  palazzetti  of  Marsala. 

In  the  sixteenth  century  palaces  became  much  larger,,  and  the  staircases 
were  rather  in  the  style  of  our  English  double  staircases.  All  large  towns  in 
Sicily  have  examples  of  this  epoch.  The  Royal  Palace  at  Palermo  may  be 
taken  as  a  specimen,  and  subsequent  palaces  have  followed  the  sixteenth- 
century  manner,  growing  larger  and  larger,  like  the  Palazzo  Cattolica  occupied 
by  Wedekind's  Bank  at  Palermo.  To-day  the  nobles  build  villas  in  preference 
to  palaces,  though  the  name  should  not  really  be  applied  to  the  house,  it 
belongs  to  the  garden.  Mr.  J.  J.  S.  Whitaker's  villa — Malfitano — is  about 
the  finest  example.  Mr.  Joshua  Whitaker's  splendid  mansion  is  a  copy  of  a 
Venetian  palace. 

Palaestra,  or  Gymnasium  (Ginnasio).  Both  the  Greeks  and  the  Romans 
were  extravagantly  fond  of  them,  and  took  their  other  training,  in  rhetoric, 
etc. ,  in  the  same  buildings.  The  Greek  who  had  money  spent  his  whole  day 
about  the  Paloestra,  exercising  himself  or  watching  famous  athletes.  There 
are  two  considerable  Pal^estne  remaining  in  Sicily,  that  dating  from  Roman 
times  at  Tyndaris,  which  Freeman  considers  the  best  Roman  building  in  the 
island,  and  the  better-known  example  which  was  probably  the  Timolonteum 
built  round  the  tomb  of  Timoleon  at  Syracuse,  called  by  guides  the  Palestra 
or  Ginnasio,  and  by  the  natives  the  Bagno  di  Diana  (q.v.).  This  gives  you 
some  idea  of  the  way  in  which  such  buildings  were  laid  out,  with  their  running 
and  wrestling  grounds,  their  colonnades,  their  lecture  theatres,  etc. 

Palagonia.  Reached  by  mail-vettura  in  2  hours  from  Scordia  Stat.  on  the 
Valsavoia-Caltagirone  line.  Founded  above  the  remains  of  the  ancient  Palica 
(q.  v. ).  Once  belonged  to  the  great  admiral  Roger  di  Loria.  It  gave  his  title  to 
the  prince  whose  vulgar  monsters  at  his  Bagheria  villa  are  described  by  Goethe. 
He  could  never  have  heard  of  the  Palici,  or  he  would  certainly  have  tried  to 
reproduce  its  nether- world  deities  with  some  phantasmagoria  at  this  villa. 

Palamita.   An  ancient  city  which  stood  near  the  modern  Partenico. 

Palazzetti  (literally  little  palaces).  The  fortified  houses  of  the  gentry  and 
lesser  nobles  in  the  Middle  Ages.  Marsala  has  splendid  examples.  So  has  Ran- 
dazzo,  and  there  are  a  few  at  Syracuse,  etc.  On  the  ground  floor  there  was  no 
opening  but  the  main  entrance,  and  they  were  built  round  a  courtyard  which 
contains  a  well  and  a  washing-place,  and  in  Marsala,  at  any  rate,  an  outside 
staircase  and  terrace  going  round  the  court. 

Palazzo-Adriano.  Reached  by  mail-vettura  in  6\  hours  from  Corleone, 
Palermo-Corleone  line ;  and  in  8  hours  from  Lercara  (Girgenti-Palermo 


THINGS   SICILIAN  245 

line).  One  of  the  fifteenth-century  Albanian  settlements,  like  Piana  del 
Greci. 

Palazzolo-Acreide.    See  below,  page  398. 

Palermo.     See  below,  page  401. 

Pales,  the  goddess  of  the  shepherds,  was  much  honoured  at  Rome,  where 
her  festival  was  celebrated  on  the  anniversary  of  the  foundation  of  the  city. 
Freeman  (vol.  ii  p.  527)  discusses  her  connection  with  the  Palici.  Sig. 


PANORAMA  OP  PALAGON1A 

Rosario  Salvo,  quoted  by  Chiesi,  suggests  that  *' Palermo"  is  probably 
derived  from  Pales  (p.  588,  La  SiciUa  Illustrata\  "  Why  should  not  the  Italic 
Pales  have  been  able  to  give  her  name  to  Palermo,  when  that  city  belonged  to 
the  Italic-Siculans  (z'.e,  Sikels)  ?  It  is  said  that  no  name  adapts  itself  better 
than  the  Greek  Panormus,  which  meant  the  All-Haven  ;  but  the  city  was  not 
an  all-haven."  There  were  two  havens:  because  Palermo  thrust  itself  into  the 
sea  like  a  tongue,  washed  by  the  water  on  both  sides. 

Palica.  The  city  founded  near  the  Lake  of  the  Palici  by  Ducetius  in 
453  B.C.  Destroyed  shortly  after  his  death.  The  modern  town  of  Palagonia 
is  said  to  preserve  its  name.  Reached  from  Mineo  Stat  on  the  Catania- 
Caltagirone  line. 

Palici.  The  Dii  Palici  were  a  pair  of  indigenous  Sicilian  deities  whom  some 
have  attempted  to  identify  with  Castor  and  Pollux.  They  could  give  an 
asylum  to  fugitive  slaves,  and  important  oaths  were  taken  beside  their 
bituminous  springs  to  be  made  specially  binding.  Doubtless  it  was  for  this 
reason  that  Ducetius,  who  tried  to  form  an  anti-Greek  Sikel  league,  established 
his  capital  first  at  Mense,  the  modern  Mineo r  and  second  at  Palica,  both  over 
looking  the  lake.  Freeman  (History  of  Sicily,  vol.  i.)  discusses  the  Palici  at 
great  length.  There  was  a  superb  temple  here  dedicated  to  the  Dii  Palici, 
who  were  declared  to  be  the  sons  of  Zeus  and  Etna  (or  Thalia).  Virgil  speaks 
of  the  "pinguis  &t  placabilis  ara  Palici"  The  Greeks  said  that  Zeus,  having 
made  the  nymph  with  child,  made  the  earth  open  to  conceal  her  from  the 
wrath  of  Hera,  and  when  the  time  came  for  her  to  be  delivered,  the  children 
came  up  through  the  earth.  The  natural  phenomena  here  are  very  remark 
able.  A  little  lake  five  hundred  yards  round  contains  the  spring  from  which  a 


246        SICILY  THE  NEW  WINTER   RESORT 

rich  and  nauseous  black  oil  comes  up,  which  Fazello  says  is  very  deadly  to 
animals.  These  exhalations  in  the  neighbouring  territory  of  Favorotto  produce 
a  mirage  called  the  Fata  Morgana.  The  evil  atmosphere  of  the  lake  must  be 
exaggerated,  for  the  Sicilian  railways  have  lately  established  a  ferryboat  over 
them  so  that  the  phenomena  may  be  observed. 


THE  LAKE  OF  THE  PALICI,  THE  OLDEST  SANCTUARY  IN  EUROPE 

Palici,  Lake  of.    See  preceding  paragraph. 

Palma-Monteehiaro,  reached  by  mail-vettura  from  Canicatti  in  5  hours, 
is  on  the  seashore  near  Licata  and  the  fortress  of  Montechiaro.  It  _can  be 
reached  by  sea  from  Porto  Empedocle  or  Licata.  The  women  of  this  place 
have  a  special  dress. 

Palms.  •  The  palms  in  Sicily  are,  with  those  of  Bordighera,  the  _best  in 
Europe.  The  latter  excel  them  in  age,  having  been  planted  by  the  corsairs  from 
Africa  early  in  the  Middle  Ages.  But  the  Sicilian  palms  excel  in  the  number 
of  rare  varieties  and  the  skill  and  ease  with  which  they  are  grown.  See  • 
especially  the  Botanical  Gardens,  the  Giardino  Garibaldi,  the  Parco  d'  Aumale, 
and  the  villas  of  Count  Tasca,  Mr.  Robert  Whitaker  (Villa  Sofia),  and  his 
brothers,  Mr.  J.  J.  S.  Whitaker  has  some  specially  rare  varieties. 

Palm  brooms  and  fans  for  blowing  the  charcoal  fires  are  made  from  the 
dwarf  indigenous  wild  palm,  and  are  universally  used. 

Palm  Sunday  is  a  great  day  in  Sicily.  They  break  through  Lent  and 
have  interesting  ceremonies  in  the  churches,  especially  in  the  Royal  Chapel  in 
Palermo.  Crosses  plaited  with  wild  palm  and  often  decorated  with  daisies  are 
sold  for  a  soldo  or  two  each  outside  the  churches. 

Palmetto,  or  Palmito.  The  dwarf  wild  palm,  which  grows  in  many  parts 
of  Sicily.  Far  the  largest  I  have  seen  is  about  seven  feet  high,  growing  from 
an  inaccessible  crag  beside  the  ancient  Greek  kilns  at  Plemmyrium,  opposite 
Syracuse  (q.v. ).  The  wild  palm  was  used  as  an  emblem  of  victory  among  the 
ancient  Greeks.  Pausanias  says:  "At  Isthmus  the  pine  and  at  Nemea  the 
celery  were  adopted  as  symbols  of  the  sufferings  of  Palsemon  and  Archemorus. 
But  in  most  of  the  games  the  crown  is  of  palm,  and  everywhere  a  palm  is 
placed  in  the  victor's  right  hand.  The  origin  of  the  custom  was  this :  They 
relate  that  Theseus,  returning  from  Crete,  celebrated  games  in  Delos  in  honour 
of  Apollo,  and  crowned  the  victors  with  the  palm.  They  say  that  this  was  the 
beginning  of  the  custom.  The  palm  tree  at  Delos  is  mentioned  by  Homer  in 


THINGS   SICILIAN  247 

the  supplication  which  Ulysses  addresses  to  the  daughter  of  Alcinous."  The 
wild  palm  appears  between  two  greaves  on  a  coin  of  Camerina.  The  palm 
tree  which  appears  on  the  Phoenician  coins  of  Motya  before  its  destruction  by 
Dionysius  is  of  course  African. 

As  the  emblem  of  triumph  and  victory  the  palm  was  invariably  employed  by 
the  early  Christian  as  a  sign  of  martyrdom. 

S.  Panagia.  Near  the  cape  of  that  name  is  the  last  stat.  before  Syracuse, 
on  the  Catania  line.  There  is  a  famous  Tonnara  here,  and  a  peculiar  Latomia, 
and  many  foundations  of  large  Greek  buildings.  This  wild  and  interesting 
plateau  and  gorge  above  the  sea  is  well  worth  driving  to  from  Syracuse.  It 
is  not  the  Pantagias  mentioned  in  Virgil's  Itinerary,  &}ieidi  iii.,  which  is  north 
of  Megara. 

Panormus.  The  Greek  name  for  Palermo  (the  All- Harbour),  though  it 
never  was  a  Greek  city,  having  been  founded  by  the  Phoenicians,  and  held 
by  them  or  the  Carthaginians,  except  for  a  brief  time,  under  Pyrrhus.  For 
history,  coins,  etc.,  see  under  Palermo. 

Panormitan.  This  word,  inscribed  on  the  marble  Trinacria on  the  Fountain 
of  the  Genius  of  Palermo  in  the  Villa  Giulia  at  Palermo,  is  taken  from  a 
Roman  coin  of  the  city  of  the  Christian  era.  Compare  the  Lilybaiitan  of  the 
coins  of  Lilybseum,  also  a  Carthaginian  city.  These  Greek  inscriptions  belong 
to  the  coins  of  the  Roman  period.  See  p.  441. 

Pantagias.  A  river  mentioned  by  Virgil,  s&neid,  iii.,  and  Ovid,  who 
place  it  north  of  Megara  Iblea  and  south  of  the  Simethus,  now  called  the 
Porcari  (Smith).  Virgil  says:  "I  am  borne  beyond  the  mouth  of  the  Pan 
tagias,  fringed  with  living  rock,  the  Bay  of  Megara,  and  low-lying  Thapsus." 
The  place  would  not  be  worth  mentioning  except  that  Pliny,  placing  it  nearer 
Syracuse,  gives  the  idea  that  it  is  the  same  as  S.  Panagia.  It  plays  a  part  in 
the  legend  of  Ceres  and  Proserpine.  It  filled  all  Sicily  with  the  noise  of  its 
falling.  The  noise  vexed  Ceres  when  hunting  for  her  daughter,  and  the  river 
stopped. 

Pantaleo,  S.,  the  Island  of.  Now  belonging  to  J.  J.  S.  Whitaker,  Esq. 
Contains  the  ancient  city  of  Motya,  the  oldest  Carthaginian  or  Phoenician 
settlement  in  Sicily  (q.v.). 

Pantalica.  The  most  famous  city  of  the  dead  in  Sicily,  a  wild  gorge  full 
of  tombs  and  troglodytes'  dwellings,  to  which  Prof.  Orsi  has  given  much 
attention.  To  do  it  in  the  day  the  best  plan  is  to  have  a  carriage  meet 
you  at  Lentini  Stat.  Prof.  Orsi  recommends  staying  the  night  at  Sortino 
(6  hours  40  minutes  by  mail-vettura  from  Syracuse).  It  may  also  be  ap 
proached  from  Augusta.  Freeman  says  of  the  eastern  Herbessus,  **  the  older 
Sicilian  antiquaries  place  it  at  Pantalica,  the  famous  city  of  the  dead,  where 
the  Sikel  himself  was  hardly  the  first  to  honeycomb  the  hillsides  with  the  last 
resting-places  of  his  fathers," 

There  are  several  thousand  tomb  chambers,  says  Baedeker,  "cut  in  the 
cliffs  of  the  Anapo  valley  ;  one  of  the  caves  appears  to  have  been  adapted  as 
a  Byzantine  chapel,  and  there  are  other  traces  of  human  habitation  as  late  as 
the  fourteenth  century."  There  is  also  a  megalithic  house  at  Pantalica. 

Pantelleria.  An  island  used  as  a  penal  settlement,  which  lies  between 
Sicily  and  Africa.  Its  ancient  Phoenician  name,  Kossoura,  is  preserved  in  its 
chief  town,  Cossura,  and  it  possesses  an  extint  volcano.  Said  to  be  better 
for  Phoenician  remains  than  any  place  in  Sicily.  It  has  some  low,  round 
prehistoric  towers.  The  steamer  from  Marsala  to  Tunis  reaches  Pantelleria 
in  7  hours.  The  large  riding-asses  used  in  Sicily  are  from  Pantelleria. 


248        SICILY  THE   NEW  WINTER  RESORT 

S.  Paolo.  Stat  Syracuse-Licata  line.  It  is  on  the  river  Assinaro,  where 
Nicias  was  defeated. 

Papyrus.  The  only  place  where  the  papyrus  now  grows  wild  is  said  to  be 
on  the  banks  of  the  river  Anapo,  really  the  Cyane  (q.v.).  It  is  planted  in 
the  Fountain  of  Arethusa  and  most  other  public  fountains  in  Sicily.  Said  to 
have  been  introduced  by  Texena,  wife  of  Agathocles,  who  was  the  daughter  of 
one  of  the  Ptolemies,  from  Egypt.  Others  say  that  it  was  introduced  by  the 
Arabs. 


THE  CITY   OF  THE  CAVE-DWELLERS   AT   PANTALICA     4 

Parcels  Post,  Sicily,  like  Italy,  has  a  very  convenient  parcels  post,  by 
which  parcels  up  to  1 1  pounds  can  be  sent  to  England  for  about  2s.  It  takes 
about  a  week. 

Parco.  Two  hours  by  mail-vettura  from  Palermo.  Situated  on  the  south 
of  Monte  Pizzuta.  Part  of  the  vast  royal  park  enclosed  in  a  wall  by  Roger  in 
1149,  Frederick  of  Aragon  founded  there,  in  1328,  the  abbey  church  and  a 
convent,  dedicated^  to  S.  Maria  dj  Alto  Fonte.  On  the  altar  at  the  right  of  the 
church  is  a  bas-relief  representing  the  Virgin.  Parco  enjoys  one  of  the  finest 
views  in  Sicily. 

Parsley,  wild.  There  has  been  much  argument  as  to  the  question  of 
whether  the  selinon  from  which  Selinunte  takes  its  name  is  wild  parsley  or 
wild  celery.  Liddell  and  Scott  maintain  that  the  leaves  with  which  the 
victory  at  the  Isthmian  and  Nemean  games  were  crowned  was  wild  parsley, 
and  this  is  the  local  view,  but  Freeman  says  wild  celery. 

Partanna.  Reached  by  mail-vettura  from  Castelvetrano  Stat.  in  ij  hours  ; 
Palermo-Trapani  line.  According  to  some,  Partanna  is  Parte-di-Enna ; 
according  to  others,  including  Maurolyco,  Spartanna,  a  colony  being  imagined 
in  each  case. 


THINGS   SICILIAN 


249 


Partenico.  Stat.  on  Palermo-Trapani  line.  Mail-vettura  to  Sancipirello, 
2|  hours  ;  Campo  Reale,  4  hours.  A  wine  centre.  Near  the  antique  Palamita 
(q.v. ).  A  Norman  town. 

Paschal  lambs.  In  Palermo  for  a  few  days  before  Easter  Paschal  lambs 
in  almond  paste  and  sugar  are  sold  in  the  streets,  etc.  (See  Eastern  Customs.) 

Passeggiata.  The  Sicilians,  like  other  Italians,  are  devoted  to  the  pas- 
seggiata,  or  drive  at  sunset.  In  Palermo  the  winter  passeggiata  is  by  the 
Giardino  Inglese,  the  summer  along  the  Foro  Italico  by  the  sea.  Anyone 
who  can  keep  the  most  rattletrap  carriage  and  shabbiest  horse  goes  in  for  this 
slow  and  mournful  procession.  It  is  the  last  straw  of  respectability. 

Passaro,  Cape.  The  ancient  Pachynus  (q.v.).  One  of  the  three  capes 
of  Sicily. 


VIEW   OF   THE  RIVER  ANAPO   BELOW  I'ANTALICA 


Passozingaro.  Stat.  on  Circum-zEtnean  railway.  Called  from  the  gypsies, 
who  gave  this  place  the  worst  repute  in  Sicily  for  brigandage. 

Passports.  They  are  good  things  to  have,  but  the  only  use  I  have  ever 
put  them  to  is  for  proving  my  identity  for  registered  letters. 

Pasticceria.  A  pastrycook's  shop.  Sicilians  make  very  good  pastry, 
specialities  being  tartlets  with  fresh  strawberries,  and  the  Sicilian,  cakes  which 
are  full  of  a  sort  of  cream  and  covered  with  sugar  and  candied  fruit. 

Paterno.  Stat.  on  Circum-^Etnean  railway.  Freeman  thinks  Paterno 
the  ancient  Hybla  Minore  or  the  Galeatic  Hybla  (q.v.),  a  Sikelian  city. 
Things  to  see  are  the  feudal  castle  of  Count  Roger  on  the  site  of  the  Acro 
polis  (1,000  feet  above  the  sea) ;  church  of  S.  Francesco  d'Assisi,  fourteenth 
century  ;  remains  of  a  Roman  bridge  across  the  Simeto ;  numerous  tombs  at 
Casteluzzo  ;  remains  of  a  mosaic  pavement  at  Lo  Spedali ;  remains  of  baths 
3  miles  north  at  Bella  Cortina ;  Grotto  del  Fracasso — an  extraordinary  phe 
nomenon,  a  roar  produced  by  the  passage  of  the  waters  coming  from  the 
melted  snows  of  Etna ;  and  the  Acqua  Grassa  which  comes  from  the  district 


250        SICILY   THE   NEW   WINTER   RESORT 

of  Salinella,  a  sparkling  mineral  water  much  drunk  in  Catania.  Gianotta 
identifies  Paterno  with  Hybla  Maggiore  (q.v.).  This  must  be  a  mistake, 
because  Pausanias,  V.  xxiiii.  6,  says :  '  *  Hybla  the  Greater  is  entirely  desolate  ; 
but  Hyblsea  Gereatis  is  a  Catanian  village  and  contains  a  sanctuary  of  the 
goddess  Hybteea  which  is  Venerated  by  the  Sicilians."  It  was  from  this 
Hybla,  I  believe,  that  the  image  was  brought  to  Olympia  ;  for  Philistus,  son 
of  Archomenides,  says  that  these  Hyblseans  were  interpreters  of  portents  and 
dreams,  and  were  the  most  devout  of  all  the  barbarians  in  Sicily.  See  Hybla. 

Patricola,  Prof.,  an  antiquary  in  charge  of  the  department  for  the  preser 
vation  of  monuments  at  Palermo. 

Patriarchal  institutions.  Sicily  was  a  country  of  patriarchal  institutions 
before  the  reforms  of  the  last  century,  and  they  are  on  the  whole  best  suited 
for  the  country. 

Patti.  \  On   opposite  sides  of  the  Patti  Stat.  on  the  Palermo - 

Patti-Marina.  )  Messina  line.  From  the  stat.  a  good  road  leads  to  Tyn- 
daris  (q.v.) ;  about  an  hour's  drive.  Visitors  should  go  straight  to  Tyndaris, 
where  accommodation  for  either  sex  may  be  obtained  by  writing  two  days  in 
advance  to  the  Superior,  Madonna  del  Tindaro.  There  is  nothing  to  take 
visitors  to  Patti.  The  inn  is  extortionate  and  swarming  with  bugs  and  fleas,  and 
the  town  dirty  and  malarious  and  suggestive  of  typhoid.  The  cathedral  where 
Roger's  mother,  Adelasia,  is  buried  is  hopelessly  modernised,  and  the  tomb 
belongs  to  some  centuries  later.  From  Patti  there  is  a  mail-vettura  to 
S.  Piero  Patti,  3  hpurs. 

Paul,  St,  was  in  Syracuse  for  three  days,  and  it  is  claimed  that  he 
preached  in  the  underground  church  of  St.  Marcian  (q.v.),  under  Syracuse 
(Acts  xxviii.  12).  "And  landing  at  Syracuse,  we  tarried  there  three  days." 

Peacock.  The  sign  of  immortality  in  Christian  catacombs.  In  pagan 
catacombs  it  denoted  an  empress. 

Pear,  wild.    A  handsome  beehive-shaped  shrub  common  in  Sicily. 

Pear,  prickly-  (Opuntia  vulgaris}.     See  under  Fichi  d*  India. 

Peasants.  See  Chapter  IV.  In  many  parts  they  have  a  handsome  national 
dress  which  they  wear  at  festas,  especially  round  Modica,  Piana  dei  Greci, 
Aderno,  and  Randazzo.  They  are  very  badly  paid — from  half  a  franc  to  two 
francs  a  day. 

.  Peasants'  pottery.  All  of  old  Greek  or  Saracenic  shapes.  See  Earthen 
ware. 

Pediment.  An  architectural  term.  The  low  triangular  gable,  corre 
sponding  with  the  roof-slopes  at  the  top  of  the  front  and  rear  of  a  classical 
building.  The  triangular  sunk  part  or  tympanum  is  often  elaborately 
sculptured  in  high  relief.  (Russel  Sturgis.) 

Pedlars.  See  Hawkers  and  Costers.  A  great  institution  in  Sicily,  where 
there  are  few  shops  outside  of  the  great  towns. 

Pelasgians.  The  term  Pelasgian  has  a  very  disputed  meaning.  They 
have  even  been  identified  with  the  Philistines.  Classical  writers  allude  to 
them  as  a  kind  of  aborigines.  It  is  not  certain  if  they  were  of  Greek  origin 
or  not.  As  their  name  is  often  attached  to  Cyclopean  architecture,  it  is 
probable  that  they  were  an  earlier  race.  The  Etruscans  are  very  likely  the 
same  race,  and  may  be  looked  upon  as  the  survivors  of  a  race  once  widely 
spread  over  Europe,  driven  back  and  exterminated.  Pausanias  regards  them 
as  the  inhabitants  of  Arcadia,  and  says  that  there  were  many  of  them  living 
below  the  foot  of  the  Acropolis  who  built  most  of  the  walls.  The  term 


THINGS   SICILIAN  251 

Tyrrheni  is  used  identically  with  that  of  Pelasgi.  According  to  Niebuhr,  the 
Pelasgians  were  the  original  population  not  only  of  Greece  but  also  of  Italy, 
and  once,  perhaps,  the  most  widely  spread  people  in  Europe.  See  next 
par. 

Pelasgic  buildings  and  walls.  The  finest  "Pelasgic"  house  in 
existence  is  on  the  castle  hill  of  Cefalu  (q  v. ).  There  is  another  at  Pantalica, 
another  behind  Termini,  the  subject  of  an  excellent  monograph  by  Comm.  L. 
Mauceri.  There  are  also  Pelasgic  remains  by  the  seashore  at  Cefalu,  behind 
Collesano,  at  Eryx,  etc.  See  under  these  various  headings. 

Pelorus,  or  Peloris.  One  of  the  three  capes  of  Sicily.  Now  called  the 
Faro  (q.v.),  and  see  under  Messina.  It  is  the  nearest  point  to  the  Italian  main 
land,  and  is  said  to  have  received  its  name  from  the  pilot  of  Hannibal,  who 
was  suspected  of  treachery  and  put  to  death.  But  the  name  is  much  older 
than  Hannibal's  time.  There  was  a  great  temple  of  Neptune  here  whose 
columns  are  preserved  in  the  cathedral  of  Messina.  The  eels  and  cockles  of 
Pelorus  were  famous. 

Peloritan  Mountains.  The  most  eastern  of  the  ranges  on  the  north  coast 
of  Sicily.  They  may  be  reckoned  to  extend  as  far  as  Taormina. 

Pensioning1.  The  Sicilians  have  odd  methods  of  pensioning.  The  most 
profitable  to  the  pensioned  is  a  license  as  a  church  beggar.  One  of  the  great 
Marsala  wine  firms  finds  that  a  popular  form  of  pensioning  is  to  allow  the 
men  who  are  past  other  work  to  come  and  pick  oakum  to  earn  their  wages. 

Pentarga.  A  town  destroyed  by  the  great  earthquake  of  1693,  on  whose 
ruins  was  founded  the  modern  Sortino  (q.v.). 

Pepper  trees.  The  pepper  tree,  whose  pale  green  leaves  and  pink  berries 
are  such  a  handsome  feature  in  Sicilian  cities,  has  nothing  to  do  with  the 
edible  pepper  which  grows  on  a  vine. 

According  to  the  £.  B. ,  its  proper  name  is  Schinus  Mulli^  and  gets  its  name 
from  its  fruit,  which  has  a  hot  aromatic  flavour  from  the  abundance  of  resin  it 
contains.  When  the  leaves  are  thrown  upon  the  surface  of  the  water  the 
resinous  fluid  escapes  with  such  force  as  violently  to  agitate  them.  The 
Piazza  di  Fonderia  at  Palermo  is  full  of  them. 

Pepoli,  Count,  the  proprietor  of  the  castle  at  Eryx  (q.v.). 

Per  mia  moglia.     See  under  Obituary  notices. 

Pergola.  A  horizontal  trellis  supported  by  columns  of  stone  or  posts  of 
wood  covered  with  vines,  and  less  often  with  laurels,  etc. 

Pergusa.  The  holy  Lake  of  Pergusa  is  situated  in  a  little  plain  below 
Castrogiovanni,  the  ancient  Enna.  It  was  one  of  the  most  sacred  spots  in 
ancient  Sicily.  The  Lake  of  Pergusa  is  described  by  Diodorus  as  surrounded 
by  groves  and  masses  of  flowers.  They  were  so  fragrant  that  dogs  in  hunting 
lost  the  scent ;  and  Cicero  in  his  Verres  speaks  of  the  lake  and  numerous 
groves  and  a  wealth  of  flowers  at  all  times  of  the  year.  It  is  a  volcanic  lake, 
sometimes  full  of  splendid  eels  and  crowded  with  water  fowl,  but  with  its 
malariousness  much  increased  by  its  flax-steeping  industry.  It  is  no  longer 
surrounded  by  the  flowery  groves  of  which  Ovid  romanced.  It  was  from  a 
cavern  near  this  lake  that  Pluto  issued  in  his  chariot  drawn  by  black  horses,  and 
arresting  her  attention  with  a  hundred  -headed  narcissus,  carried  off  Proserpine. 
The  district  has  not  a  good  name  with  the  police.  It  has  been  said  that  the 
holy  Lake  of  Pergusa  and  the  other  holy  Lake  of  Palici  are  the  oldest  landmarks 
of  the  history  of  religion  in  Europe.  These  are  the  sacred  places  of  the 
worshippers  of  the  elemental  gods.  It  is  now  called  Pergo.  It  is  about 
4  kil.  round.  Called  in  the  Middle  Ages  Lago  di  Goridan  (q.v.). 


252        SICILY  THE   NEW  WINTER   RESORT 

Peripteral.  An  architectural  term  signifying  ' '  surrounded  by  a  single 
range  of  columns."  Nearly  all  the  Sicilian  temples  are  peripteral.  It  is  a 
Vitruvian  term.  (Sturgis.) 

Peristyle.  Sturgis  defines  this  as  "a  range  or  ranges  of  roof-supporting 
columns  enveloping  the  exterior  of  a  building,  as  of  a  peripteral  temple ;  or 
surrounding  an  internal  court  of  a  building,  as  in  the  peristylium  of  a  Greek 
or  Roman  house  ;  or  forming  a  covered  ambulatory  or  open  screen  around  any 
large  open  space,  partly  or  wholly  enclosing  it.  Also,  by  extension,  the  space 
so  enclosed.  See  Columnar  Architecture. 

Peribaida  (Beribaida).  An  ancient  Saracen  fortress  near  Campobello  di 
Mazzara. 


ENVIRONS  OF  PETRALIA  SOTTANA  IN  THE  MADONIAN    MOUNTAINS 

Peraull's  Sicilian  Tours.  Excursion  office  is  at  93,  Corso  Vittorio  Em- 
manuele,  Palermo  (q.v.). 

Perollo.  One  of  the  two  great  families  whose  vendetta  formed  the  far-famed 
Casi  di  Sciacca.  See  Sciacca. 

Perseus  and  Medusa.  The  subject  of  the  fine  antique  metope  from  the 
temple  C  (Hercules  or  Apollo)  at  Selinunte.  See  under  Museum,  Palermo. 

Persephone.    See  Proserpine. 

Persiani.  The  green  wooden  jalousies  or  lattices  attached  outside  nearly 
all  Sicilian  windows. 

Petalism.  The  Syracusan  form  of  ostracism,  so  called  from  the  names 
being  written  on  olive  leaves  instead  of  oyster  shells.  It  lasted  for  five  years 
instead  of  ten,  and  was  therefore  used  more  recklessly.  (Freeman.) 

Peter  I.  of  Aragxm,  The  first  Aragonese  king  of  Sicily,  which  he  took  as 
husband  of  Manfred's  daughter  Constance,  1282-1285. 

PetraHa  Soprana.  Reached  by  mail-vettura  from  Castelbuono  Stat. 
(Palermo -Messina  line)  9!  hours,  and  from  Cerda  (Girgenti-Palermo)  in 
II  j  hours.  Has  an  ancient  fortress,  mostly  in  ruins,  dominating  the  whole 


THINGS   SICILIAN 


253 


city,  called  from  its  rock,  the  Petra,  which  gave  its  name  to  the  classical  city. 
Petralia  is  said  to  be  derived  from  Petra  del  Olio,  from  the  medicinal  oil  float 
ing  on  its  famous  spring.  Soprana  means  the  same  as  Superiore.  It  is  an 
older  town  than  Petralia  Sottana.  The  ancient  Petra  had  a  coin  figured  in 
Mr.  G.  F.  Hill's  book. 

Petralia  Sottana.  Ten  hours  from  Castelbuono  Stat.  and  io|  hours  from 
Cerda  Stat. ;  has  mail-vettnre  of  its  own  to  Bompietro,  2  hours ;  Locati, 
3  hours ;  and  Alimena,  4j  hours.  The  name  simply  signifies  lower.  Near 
Petralia  Sottana  is  Polizzi  la  Generosa  (q.v.).  The  scenery  round  these  two 
cities  is  very  striking. 


ENVIRONS  OP  PETRALIA  SOTTANA,   MADONIAN   MOUNTAINS 

Phaedra  and  HIppolytus.  The  subject  of  the  splendid  sarcophagus  pre 
served  in  the  cathedral  at  Girgenti  (q.v.). 

Phalaris.  The  famous  tyrant  of  Acragas,  known  equally  well  on  account  of 
his  forged  letters  and  his  brazen  bull.  The  former  formed  the  subject  of  the 
famous  Boyle  and  Bentley  controversy,  and  are  discussed  at  length  in  Free 
man's  History  of  Sicily.  His  brazen  bull,  in  which  he  is  said  to  have  roasted  his 
victims  alivCj  was  doubtless  taken  from  the  Moloch  worship  of  the  surround 
ing  Phoenicians.  He  is  said  to  have  kept  it  on  the  hill  of  Ecnomus  outside 
the  modern  Licata.  There  is  a  beautiful  little  building  called  the  Cappella  di 
Phalaride,  or  Temple  of  the  Sun,  in  the  garden  of  the  Convent  of  S.  Nicola 
at  Girgenti  (q.v.). 

Pharos.  Greek  for  a  lighthouse.  Gives  its  name  to  the  Faro,  a  peninsula 
with  a  lighthouse  at  Messina  (q.v.). 

Philemon.  A  comic  poet  born  about  360,  died  262  B,c,  of  excessive 
laughter.  Some  make  him  a  native  of  Soli  in  Cilicia,  and  some  of  Syracuse, 
He  is  compared  to  Menander,  but  considered  inferior. 


254        SICILY   THE   NEW   WINTER   RESORT 

Philistis.  Daughter  of  Leptines,  Queen  of  Hiero  II.  See  under 
Syracuse. 

Philistus.  Son  of  Archimenides.  A  Syracusan,  the  early  patron  as  well  as 
the  historian  of  Dionysius  I. ,  whose  excesses,  Pausanias  says,  he  concealed. 
Freeman  considers  him  to  have  inspired  the  best  portions  of  Diodorus.  He 
died  356,  and  was  born  about  435.  (Sir  W.  Smith.) 

Philoxenus.  A  poet  of  Syracuse,  born  at  Cythera,  but  lived  at  the  court 
of  Dionysius  I. ,  who  shut  him  up  in  the  Latomia  del  Filosofo,  corrupted  from 
his  name,  for  criticising  his  verses.  He  was  one  of  the  most  distinguished 
dithyrambic  poets  of  Greece.  See  under  Syracuse. 

Philosophus,  the  meaning1  of.  This  term,  generally  translated  philosopher, 
means  properly  a  man  who  loves  a  handicraft  or  art.  Pythagoras  first  gave 
it  its  modern  meaning  of  "a  lover  of  wisdom,"  applied  in  a  wide  sense 
previously  expressed  by  sophos.  It  was  used  in  a  wider  sense  for  men 
of  science  or  liberal  education,  and  it  is  in  this  sense  that  it  was  applied  to 
Empedocles  and  Archimedes. 

Phintias.  A  town  founded  by  Phintias,  the  tyrant  of  Acragas,  for  the 
remnant  of  the  inhabitants  of  Gela  in  280  B.C.,  which  had  been  destroyed  by 
the  Mamertines.  It  was  never  as  important  as  Gela.  In  the  First  Punic  War 
the  Carthaginians  destroyed  the  Roman  fleet  lying  in  its  harbour,  249  B.C. 
The  modern  Licata  (q.v.)  is  founded  on  its  site. 

Phintias.  Phintias  was  the  tyrant  or  king  of  Acragas.  He  was  defeated 
by  Hicetas  of  Syracuse  in  a  battle  near  the  Henean  Hybla  (Ragusa),  but  was 
supported  by  the  Carthaginians,  and  founded  a  large  empire  in  which 
Agyrium  was  at  one  time  included.  When  Gela  was  destroyed  by  the 
Mamertines  he  built  his  new  town  of  Phintias  for  them,  which  was  the  last 
Greek  city  founded  in  Sicily. 

Phocians.  Pausanias,  V.  xxv.  6,  says  that  the  Greek  population  of  Sicily 
"consists  of  Dorians  and  lonians,  with  a  small  proportion  of  people  of  the 
Phocian  and  Attic  stocks." 

Phoenicians.  No  one  knows  when  the  Phoenicians  came  to  Sicily.  They 
founded  flourishing  settlements  at  Motya,  Panormus,  and  Solous  (Solunto). 
Also  it  seems  the  other  Motya  (Motyka),  the  modern  Modica,  and  certainly 
the  flourishing  town  of  Cossoura  in  the  island  of  Pantellaria.  Gradually 
their  possessions  in  Sicily  were  taken  over  by  the  Carthaginians.  The  one 
Phoenician  name  of  importance  we  have  in  Sicily  is  that  of  Hiram,  the  King 
of  Tyre,  who  was  King  Solomon's  admiral.  There  are  a  few  traces  of  their 
buildings — a  fine  piece  of  polygonal  wall  in  the  Via  Candelai  at  Palermo, 
parts  of  the  wall  at  Eryx,  and  well-paved  roads  and  fragments  of  houses 
at  Solunto.  Lately  a  splendid  Phoenician  necropolis  has  been  opened  up 
at  Birgi,  opposite  the  island  of  Motya.  There  are  two  curious  Phoenician 
coffins  in  the  Museum  at  Palermo,,  and  a  great  many  Small  objects — from 
glass  beads  to  fine  gold  jewellery — have  been  dug  up  in  various  parts  of  the 
island,  a  famous  find,  oddly  enough,  having  been  made  at  Randazzo,  where 
the  objects  are  kept  in  a  private  museum.  There  are  a  good  many  Siculo- 
Phcenician  coins,  but  the  Carthaginian  and  Phoenician  antiquities  have  not  yet 
been  very  fully  distinguished.  The  Phoenician  trading  with  Sicily  went 
on  for  centuries. 

Phrygians.  The  Elymians  of  Eryx,  Segesta,  etc.,  are  often  referred  to 
as  Phrygians,  which  would  be  in  favour  of  the  theory  that  they  were  Trojans. 
Pausanias  says:  "The  Phrygians  came  from  the  river  Scamander  and  the 
district  of  the  Troad." 


THINGS   SICILIAN  255 

PhrygiHus.  A  coin-engraver  of  Syracuse.  His  coins  are  distinguished  by 
the  extraordinary  spiritedness  of  their  four-horse  chariots,  and  the  heads  are 
quite  beautiful. 

Piana  dei  Greci.  The  best-known  of  the  Albanian  settlements  made 
in  Sicily  in  the  fifteenth  century,  which  still  maintain  to  some  extent  their 
religion,  their  language,  and  their  costumes.  It  is  24  kil.  from  Palermo,  and 
is  reached  by  a  mail-vettura,  which  takes  about  4  hours.  In  the  official 
Orario  it  is  called  Piana  Greci.  The  charge  is  two  francs.  It  is  on  the  east 
side  of  Monte  Pizzuta.  Founded  by  Greeks  from  Albania,  conquered  by  the 
Turks  under  Amurath  II.,  1488.  Formerly  called  Casale  Merco.  The  in 
habitants  wear  their  rich  and  singular  costume  with  best  effect  at  a  wedding, 
and  by  giving  a  short  notice,  a  wedding  can  always  be  arranged  by  the  priests 
on  the  stranger  paying  a  few  pounds  for  the  bride's  dowry.  There  are  frescoes 
by  Pietro  Novelli  in  the  church  of  S.  Demetrio,  the  Chiesa  dei  Cappuccini, 
and  the  Chiesa  di  S.  Antonio.  See  under  Albanians. 


PIANA   DEI   GRECI — ALBANIAN   COSTUMES 

Piano  della  Foresta.  Near  Carini  (q.v.).  Antique  sepulchres  cut  in  the 
rock. 

Piazza- Armerina.  Reached  by  mail-vettura  from  Caltanisetta  in  8  hours 
(Girgenti-Catania  line) ;  from  Caltagirone  (Valsavoia-Caltagirone  line),  in 
5f  hours ;  from  the  Assaro-Valguarnera  Stat.  (Palermo-Catania  line),  in 
6  hours;  from  Raddusa  Stat.  (Palermo-Catania  line),  in  6  hours.  It  can 
also  be  reached  in  12  hours  from  Barrafranca  (q.v.).  Like  Piana  dei  Greci 
(see  above),  it  contains  one  of  the  fifteenth-century  Greek  colonies.  It  stands 
by  the  sources  of  the  Gela  River,  and  is  thought  by  some  to  have  been  the 
original  city  of  Gela  before  it  was  moved  to  the  seashore.  Others  think  it 
was  founded  by  the  Boeotians.  In  ancient  times  it  was  called  Plutia,  or 
Pluzia,  or  Plugia,  so  called  from  the  Greek  Ploutus,  on  account  of  the 
richness  of  its  territory.  It  is  nicknamed  to-day  *'  Opulentissima."  It  is 
a  large  town,  with  no  less  than  five  lines  of  mail-vetture  converging  on 


256        SICILY  THE   NEW   WINTER   RESORT 

it.  For  richly  cultivated  mountain  scenery  it  is  said  to  have  no  superior  in 
Sicily.  It  was  enlarged  first  by  Roger  the  Great  Count,  then  by  William  the 
Good,  and  then  by  Martin  of  Aragon.  Murray  gives  a  very  interesting 
account  of  it.  Most  writers  have  missed  this  beautifully  situated  and 
important  town.  "  The  original  town,  which  stood  three  miles  west,  was 
one  of  the  settlements  of  the  Lombard  followers  of  Count  Roger,  and  was 
utterly  destroyed  by  William  the  Bad  for  the  part  it  took  in  the  rebellion  of 
Bonello.  That  sovereign  constructed  the  present  town  from  its  ruins.  Piazza 
is  celebrated  as  the  seat  of  a  parliament  held  in  1296,  to  discuss  the  question 
of  the  submission  of  Sicily  to  Charles  of  Anjou,  in  which  it  was  resolved  to 
maintain  the  independence  of  the  island.  Piazza,  corrupted  in  the  Sicilian 
dialect  into  '  Chiazza,3  is  irregularly  built  on  the  crests  and  slopes  of  an 
eminence  (1,564  feet),  which  rises  from  the  bosom  of  luxuriant  and  varied 
foliage.  One  of  these  crests  is  surmounted  by  the  cathedral,  a  seventeenth- 
century  building,  with  remains  of  early  work  in  the  lower  stages  of  its  tower, 
which  is  known  by  the  name  of  *  Lanterna  Greca.'  A  few  remains  of 
Siculo-Norman  or  Sicilian-Gothic  architecture  are  to  be  met  in  the  gateways 
of  private  houses ;  also  in  the  churches  of  S.  Giovanni  de'  Roti  and  San 
Carmelo,  which  latter  stands  on  the  height  opposite  the  town  to  the  east. 
The  Castello,  which  crowns  the  height  to  the  south  of  the  cathedral,  has  a 
small  square  tower  at  each  angle,  enclosed  by  an  outer  line  of  battlemented 
wall.  The  keep  has  a  pointed  door  and  windows.  Piazza  is  quitted  by  an 
avenue  of  elms,  beneath  slopes  covered  with  magnificent  stone-pines.  The 
environs  are  luxuriantly  wooded  and  abundantly  watered,  the  hills  cultivated 
to  their  summits,  and  the  hollows  filled  with  groves  of  walnut,  chestnut,  and 
hazel,  relieved  by  groups  of  forest  trees.  In  less  than  an  hour  the  path 
divides:  east  to  (2  hours)  Aidone."  Aidone  (q.v.)  can  be  reached  in  2  hours. 
When  the  religious  houses  were  suppressed,  Piazza-Armerina  had  fifteen 
monasteries  and  convents,  and  quarter  of  a  century  ago  there  were  twenty. 

Piazzi,  Giuseppe.  Born  in  the  Valtellina  in  1746.  Appointed  Professor 
of  Mathematics  at  Palermo  in  1780.  Established  the  Observatory  there  1789. 
Made  a  catalogue  of  the  stars,  published  in  1803,  and  enlarged  in  1814.  He 
discovered  Ceres,  and  died  1826  at  Naples.  His  monument  is  in  S.  Domenico 
at  Palermo. 

Piccola  moneta.  Small  change.  Said  by  the  dictionaries  to  be  a  cor 
ruption  of  Spicciola  moneta  (scatter-money). 

Piedimonte.  Stat.  on  the  Circum-JEtnean  railway,  with  an  old  castle.  In 
the  neighbouring  hermitage  there  is  a  miraculous  image  of  the  Madonna. 

Pier  delle  Vigne.     See  Pietro  delle  Vigne  and  Folk-songs. 

Pieta.  The  procession  on  Good  Friday  in  which  the  body  of  our  Lord  is 
taken  down  from  His  crucifix  and  carried  on  a  bier  round  the  city — mag 
nificent  at  Palermo. 

Pietraperzia.  By  mail-vettura  from  Caltanisetta,  on  the  Girgenti- Catania 
line,  in  3  hours.  It  is  20  kil.  from  Caltanisetta.  On  the  ancient  Himera 
Meridionalis.  The  important  Castello  Barresi  (fifteenth  and  sixteenth 
century).  Chapel  and  courtyard.  Is  one  of  the  most  imposing  castles  in 
Sicily,  There  are  also  some  classical  ruins  about  which  nothing  is  known. 

Piety  and  irreverence.  Sicily  is  a  strange  mixture  of  the  two.  The 
Sicilians  are  devout  to  the  extent  of  superstition,  but  treat  their  churches  and 
religious  affairs  with  a  familiarity  astonishing  to  Protestants. 


THINGS   SICILIAN  257 

Pletro  delle  Vigne.  Chancellor  of  Frederick  II.,  and  one  of  the  earliest 
writers  in  the  Sicilian  language.  See  Folk-songs.  Dante  (Inferno,  Canto 
xiii.  38)  places  him  among  the  violent  against  themselves.  The  Temple 
Classics  edition  has  the  following  note  : — 

"  The  speaker  is  Pier  delle  Vigne  (ca.  1190-1249)  minister  of  the  Emperor 
Frederick  II.  and  Chancellor  of  the  two  Sicilies.  In  the  latter  capacity  he 
rearranged  all  the  laws  of  the  kingdom.  Till  the  year  1247  he  enjoyed  the 
utmost  confidence  of  his  master.  But  suddenly  he  fell  into  disgrace  (the 
reason  usually  given  being  that  he  plotted  with  Pope  Innocent  IV.  against 
Frederick) ;  he  was  blinded  and  imprisoned,  and  eventually  committed 
suicide.  Pier's  Latin  letters  are  of  great  interest,  and  his  Italian  letters 
neither  better  nor  worse  than  the  rest  of  the  poetry  of  the  Sicilian  school." 

Pigs.  Sicily  has  a  peculiar  breed  of  lean,  black  pigs,  something  like  our 
New  Forest  pigs,  with  legs  and  hair  almost  as  long  as  goats.  They  were 
sacrificed  to  Asculapius,  and  apparently  sacred  to  Proserpine  and  Ceres,  who 
are  repeatedly  shown  carrying  them  in  the  Greek  terra-cotta  statuettes  found 
at  Psestum  and  Girgenti.  According  to  Pausanias,  they  were  used  for 
purification. 

Pimpernels.  Sicily  has  a  bright  blue  pimpernel,  often  found  growing 
beside  the  ordinary  red  pimpernel. 

Pinarius,  Lucius.  The  Roman  commander  who  saved  Enna  for  the 
Romans  during  the  siege  of  Syracuse  by  massacring  the  inhabitants  on 
the  eve  of  their  revolt 

Pindar.  Was  born  at  Cynoscephalse  near  Thebes,  522  B.C.  He  was 
employed  by  Hieron  of  Syracuse  and  Theron  of  Agrigentum  to  write  odes 
about  then-  triumphs.  He  called  Etna  "the  forehead  of  fertile  Sicily.*'  He 
was  at  the  court  of  Hiero  for  four  years  (473-469  B.C.).  He  recited  some  of 
his  odes  on  Hiero  in  the  great  theatre  at  Syracuse. 

Pines.  The  stone-pine  (Pinus  pinw}  is  one  of  the  most  beautiful  trees  of 
the  south,  with  its  tall  stem  and  umbrella  head.  They  form  a  conspicuous 
object  in  landscapes,  being  generally  planted  on  skylines.  They  form  no 
exception  to  the  rule  that  the  Sicilians  grow  hardly  any  trees  except  fruit 
trees.  For  the  seeds  and  their  cones,  which  are  kept  for  four  years  to  ripen 
in  their  cones  to  prevent  their  turning  acid,  are  much  prized  for  food, 
especially  for  inserting  into  rolled  beef  and  boar's  flesh.  The  stone-pines  of 
Monreale  and  of  the  garden  of  S.  Nicola  at  Girgenti,  and  the  single  tree  by 
the  Cappuccini  at  Syracuse,  have  done  duty  in  numberless  pictures. 

Pindemonte,  Ippolito,  a  poet  of  Verona,  wrote  a  well-known  poem  on 
the  gruesome  subject  of  the  mummies  of  the  Cappuccini  at  Palermo,  where  the 
Via  Pindemonte  is  called  after  him. 

Paraino.  Has  a  mail-vettura  to  S.  Angelo  di  Brolo  or  Briolo  (q.v.) ;  stat. 
Palermo-Messina  line.  Got  its  name  from  Pimgmoa,  a  Cyclops,  servant  of 
Vulcan.  The  fortress,  now  a  prison,  is  of  the  Saracen  period,  and  it  has  a 
baronial  palace,  mostly  in  ruins. 

Pirata  Siculus,  The  Sicilian  pirate — a  name  applied  by  Lucan  in  his 
Pharsalia  to  Sextus  Pompeius, 

Piscina.  A  reservoir  or  fishpond  in  the  times  of  the  Romans,  There  are 
some  very  interesting  examples  in  Sicily,  especially  the  superb  vaulted  and 
aisled  cisterns  in  the  rise  above  the  town,  at  Taormina,  which  may  be  com 
pared  to  the  famous  cisterns  at  Constantinople  and  outside  Napfes.  The 
Piscina  at  Syracuse,  under  the  church  of  S,  Nicola  by  tii€  Greek  tbeatre,  was 


258        SICILY  THE   NEW  WINTER   RESORT 

built  in  Roman  times,  though  its  architecture  is  in  the  Greek  trabeate  style. 
At  Girgenti  the  Piscina  was  the  latomia,  now  dry,  beneath  the  Temple  of 
Castor  and  Pollux,  which  would  make  quite  a  lake. 

Pitre,  Dr.  Luigi,  born  at  Palermo  1842,  a  doctor  by  profession.  One  of 
the  most  eminent  Sicilian  antiquaries.  He  resides  in  Palermo,  and  his 
collection  of  the  Sicilian  folk-songs  is  known  all  over  Europe  among 
students.  He  is  also  a  great  authority  on  festas.  He  has  written  innumerable 
valuable  books  on  Sicilian  folk-lore  and  folk-songs.  The  chapter  on  the  Mafia 
in  this  book  is  derived  entirely  from  his  writings. 

Pizzicheria.  Literally,  pork-butcher's  shop ;  practically  provision-shop, 
something  like  our  cheesemongers'  shops. 

Pizzuta,  La.  A  column  of  masonry  about  30  feet  high,  and  several  feet 
thick  j  about  four  miles  from  Noto.  The  popular  tradition  makes  it  a  trophy 
erected  by  the  Syracusans  to  commemorate  their  capture  of  the  army  of 
Nicias.  It  stands  near  the  ruins  of  the  ancient  Helorus,  and  is  called  the 
Colonna  Pizzuta  or  the  Torre  Pizzuta.  Its  only  inscription  is  a  modern  one 
recording  its  restoration.  It  is  well  worth  a  visit,  it  is  so  finely  placed  on  a 
hill  above  the  sea,  and  approached  by  rather  charming  lanes. 


LA  PIZZUTA,  ALLEGED  TO  BE  THE  MONUMENT  ERECTED  BY  THE  SYRACUSANS 
TO  COMMEMORATE  THE  CAPTURE  OF  NICIAS  AND  HIS  ARMY 

Plato  in  Sicily.  Freeman  says  that  the  letters  attributed  to  him  dealing 
with  Syracusan  affairs  in  Dionysius's  time  are  probably  by  someone  of  his 
school,  but  may  well  give  us  his  views.  He  visited  Sicily  three  times.  The 
elder  Dionysius,  whom  he  first  visited,  is  said  to  have  been  so  angry  with  his 
outspokenness  that  he  sold  him  as  a  slave  to  some  ^Eginetans  in  389  B.C. 


THINGS  SICILIAN 


259 


Dionysius  II.  persuaded  him  to  come  to  Syracuse  again  to  act  as  a  kind 
of  spiritual  adviser  and  suggest  constitutional  changes.  Freeman  says : 
"  Dionysius  listened  to  the  philosopher  awhile  with  pleasure ;  geometry 
became  fashionable  at  his  court ;  he  talked  of  making  reforms  and  even  giving 
up  the  tyranny.  But  Philistus  and  his  party  urged  him  the  other  way. 
Dionysius  II.  kept  Plato  for  a  while  at  Syracuse,  and  even,  through  Dion, 
persuaded  him  to  visit  it  a  second  time  ;  but  while  Plato  was  visiting  the 
tyrant,  the  latter  seized  Dion's  property  and  divided  it  among  his  friends,  and 
Plato  was  glad  to  get  away.  He  had  no  knowledge  of  affairs  ;  he  was  only 
a  dreamer  about  politics."  When  Dionysius  came  back  after  his  exile,  346 
B.C.,  Freeman  says,  "all  this  time  Plato  was  dreaming  dreams  and  writing 
letters  and  sketching  another  constitution  for  Syracuse,  in  which  Dionysius  and 
Hipparinus  and  the  young  son  of  Dion  should  all  be  constitutional  kings  at 
once." 

Plemmyrium.  The  promontory  opposite  Syracuse  on  the  Great  Harbour 
(q.v.).  Interesting  for  its  ancient  Greek  pottery  furnaces  and  splendid  pre 
historic  tombs,  and  the  part  it  played  in  the  campaign  of  the  Athenians. 

Ploughing.  The  wooden  Virgilian  plough  drawn  by  oxen  is  still  almost  the 
only  plough  used  in  Sicily,  where  the  ground  is  too  stony  for  the  ordinary 
plough  in  most  places.  If  you  watch  them  ploughing  round  Syracuse  you  will 
see  that  nothing  has  changed  since  the  days  of  Virgil's  Georgies. 

Pluzia,  or  Plutia.     See  Piazza  Armerina. 

Plutarch.  Plutarch's  Lives  of  Nicias,  Dion,  Marcellus,  and  Timoleon,  etc., 
give  one  of  the  best  pictures  of  ancient  Sicily. 

Pluto,  or  Hades,  the  god  of  the  lower  world,  called  the  infernal  Zeus.  Like 
Jupiter  and  Neptune,  he  was  the  son  of  Chronos  (Saturn)  and  Rhea.  Also  the 
god  of  wealth,  on  account  of  metals  being  found  in  the  earth.  He  was  re 
garded  as  a  beneficent  deity.  His  emblems  were  the  cypress,  boxwood, 
narcissus,  and  maidenhair.  Black  rams  and  ewes  and  bulls  were  sacrificed  to 
him,  the  latter  annually,  at  the  Fountain  of  Cyane  near  Syracuse.  See  also 
Ceres  and  Proserpine. 

Poetry.  Italian  as  a  literary  language  is  generally  considered  to  have 
originated  in  the  songs  written  in  Sicily  by  the  Emperor  Frederick  II.  and  his 
court.  Besides  Frederick  himself  and  his  illegitimate  sons,  Manfred  and 
Enzio,  there  were  his  Chancellor,  Pietro  delle  Vigne ;  Ciullo  d'Alcamo ; 
Mazzeo  di  Ricco,  Guido  and  Otto  delle  Colonne,  etc.  Upon  this  question 
Cav.  Scandurra  has  written  me  the  following:— 

"  We  must  go  back  to  the  tenth  century  when  the  *  trouveres'  of  the  North, 
and  the  '  troubadours  *  of  the  South  of  France  brought  into  Italy  the  love-song 
and  the  narrative  poetry  in  the  languages  of  *Oc'  and  *Oil.5  Then  our 
peninsula  sang  of  love,  religion,  and  fatherland  in  a  dialect  which  varied  in 
every  region  (for  we  had  not  yet  a  literary  language  of  our  own),  a  dialectical 
literature  interweaving  and  blending  so  with  the  Provencal  and  French 
literature. 

"In  Sicily,  at  the  court  of  Frederick  II.,  the  ardent  promoter  of  scientific 
and  literary  scholarship,  while  the  '  Fresh  Rose J  ( '  Rosa  Fresca J)  of  Ciullo 
d'Alcamo  bloomed  into  the  sweetest  fragrance,  a  lyrical  poetry  sprouted  out 
and  flourished  into  life  reflecting  the  erotic  Provencal  poetry,  written  in  a 
language  that,  according  to  Dante  and  other  modern  scholars,  is  almost 
literary  and  whose  formation  is  difficult  to  determine. 

"Since  artistic  poetry  had  its  cradle  in  Sicily,  it  seems  more  than  likely  that 
the  first  attempts  at  poetical  composition  should  be  written  in  the  Sicilian 


a6o        SICILY  THE   NEW  WINTER   RESORT 

dialect ;  but,  on  the  contrary,  the  language  in  which  the  people  of  that  country 
couched  their  rhymes,  presents  no  striking  difference  from  the  posterior  Italian 
language ;  and  as  the  basis  of  this  posterior  language  is  the  Tuscan  dialect,  it 
is  almost  inexplicable  the  fact  of  finding  it  in  an  epoch  when  Central  Italy  had 
not  yet  awakened  to  artistic  life. 

"  Many  remarkable  scholars  have  tried  to  settle  the  question,  putting  forth 
the  theory  that  the  Sicilian  poems  were  originally  written  in  the  dialect  of  the 
country,  and  subsequently  translated  by  the  Tuscan  copyists  and  handed  down 
to  posterity  in  the  vulgar  idiom.  But  this  affirmation  has  been  opposed  by  the 
greatest  number.  What  appears  more  akin  to  truth,  is  the  supposition  of  a 
language  existing  at  the  court  of  Frederick  II.  different  from  that  used  by  the 
people,  but  presenting  much  affinity  to  the  Italian  we  speak  nowadays.  In 
such  a  case  the  Sicilian  school's  merit  is  to  have  established  the  metrical  form, 
and  to  have  first  used  the  vulgar  language  with  a  literary  intent. 

"All  this  proves  that  the  Sicilian  dialect  did  not  especially  and  directly  con 
tribute  in^  the  formation  of  the  Italian  idiom.  Manzoni,  Bonghi,  Morandi, 
Ascoli,  D'Ancona  have,  after  an  accurate  examination  of  the  Italian  language, 
demonstrated  with  profundity  of  criticism  that  its  words,  phrases,  inflexions, 
diction^  and  pronunciation  are  all  Tuscan ;  nevertheless,  there  is  no  doubt  that 
all  Italian  dialects,  and  the  Sicilian  with  them,  have*  a  common  groundwork 
with  the  language,  deriving  all  of  them  from  the  same  main  trunk." 

Politi  Family.  The  Villa  Politi  is  a  hotel  outside  the  city  of  Syracuse  be 
longing  to  Madame  Politi,  widow  of  the  famous  guide  Savaltore  Politi,  from 
whom  Mr.  George  Dennis  got  all  the  local  information  in  writing  his  guide  (q.v.). 
It  is  situated  on  the  Latomia  dei  Cappuccini  and  has  one  of  the  loveliest  gardens 
in  Italy.  Madame  Politi  also  owns  the  Casa  Politi  in  the  city.  See  under 
Syracuse.  Another  Politi,  Vincenzo,  wrote  the  admirable  guide  called  Antichi 
Monumenti  Siracusani^  illustrated  with  many  beautiful  engravings  by  himself 
(Published  1856. )  Raffaelle  Politi,  another  of  the  family,  was  one  of  the 
most  celebrated  artists  of^his  time,  who  occupied  important  government  posts, 
and  wrote  the  guide  to  Girgenti  which  is  now  so  valuable  and  unprocurable. 

Polizzi  la  Generosa.  Reached  by  mail  -  vettura  in  3^  hours  from 
Dpnaleggi,  which  is  8^  hours  by  rnail-vettura  from  Cerda^Stat.  on  the 
Girgenti- Palermo  line.  It  is  40  kii.  from  Cerda.  It  has  remains  of  a  fortress 
of  Count  Roger.  In  the  Chiesa  Maggiore  is  the  area  of  S.  Gandolfo  by 
Domenico  Gagini.  In  the  church  of  S.  Maria  degli  Angeli,  a  fine  fifteenth- 
century  Flemish  picture.  It  is  on  the  great  coach-road  from  Palermo,  20  kil. 
from  Caltavuturo,  and  8  kil.  from  Petralia-Sottana.  Cardinal  Rampolla  was 
born  here,  1843. 

Polygonal  masonry.  The  Phoenicians,  the  prehistoric  race  called  Lses- 
trygonians,  Pelasgians,  and  possibly  the  Sicans,  built  with  megalithic  polygonal 
stones.  The  Sikelians  built  with  smaller  potygonal  stones.  There  are  fine 
Sikelian  walls  on  the  road  down  to  the  station  from  Taormina,  and  at  Naxos 
half  an  hour  from  the  Taormina-Giardini  Stat.  ' 
Polyphemus,  the  Cyclops,  is  generally  located  in  Sicily.  Acis,  the  other 
lover  of  Galatea,  the  nymph  beloved  by  Polyphemus,  has  given  his  name  to 
not  less  than  four  towns  near  Catania,  of  which  Acireale  and  Aci-Castello  are 
the  principal.  The  rocks  of  the  Cyclops  in  the  sea  opposite  these  places  are 
said  to  have  been  thrown  by  Polyphemus  at  Ulysses.  Virgil  describes  Poly 
phemus  in  Sicily  at  great  length,  .&n.,  iii.  641-681 : 

"For  such  and  so  vast  as  Polyphemus  pens  in  his  hollow  cave  the  fleecy 
flocks,  and  drams  their  dugs,  a  hundred  other  direful  Cyclops  commonly 
haunt  these  winding  shores  and  roam  on  the  lofty  mountains.  .  ,  Scarcely 


THINGS    SICILIAN  261 

had  he  spoken,  when  on  the  summit  of  the  mountain  we  observe  the  shepherd, 
Polyphemus  himself,  stalking  with  his  enormous  bulk  among  his  flocks,  and 
seeking  the  shore,  his  usual  haunt :  a  horrible  monster,  misshapen,  vast, 
of  sight  deprived.  The  trunk  of  a  pine  guides  his  hand  and  firms  his  steps  ; 
his  fleecy  sheep  accompany  him  ;  this  is  his  sole  delight,  and  the  solace  of  his 
distress;  from  his  neck  his  whistle  hangs.  After  this  he  touches  the  deep 
floods,  and  arrives  at  the  sea,  he  therewith  washes  away  the  trickling  gore 
from  his  quenched  orb,  gnashing  his  teeth  with  a  groan ;  and  now  he  stalks 
through  the  midst  of  the  sea,  while  the  waves  have  not  yet  wetted  his 
gigantic  sides." 

Pompeius,  Sextiis,  occupied  first  Mylse  and  Tyndaris,  then  Messana,  then 
Syracuse,  the  provincial  capital,  and  then  the  whole  island,  43  B.C.  For 
seven  years  Sicily  became  the  seat  of  a  separate  power  at  war  with  the  rest  of 
the  Roman  dominion.  In  39  B.C.  peace  was  made,  by  which  Sextus  was 
to  keep  his  three  islands  and  receive  the  province  of  Achaia  ;  but  a  year 
later  war  began  between  Octavian  and  Sextus.  In  the  battles  of  Cumss 
and  Messana  Sextus  gained  important  victories.  Octavian  persuaded  the 
other  triumvirs  to  join  him,  and  his  admiral,  Agrippa,  won  a  sea-fight  off 
Mylse.  Octavian  landed  at  Tauromemum,  but  Sextus  again  defeated  him 
by  land  and  sea.  Finally  Agrippa  won  a  decisive  victory  off  Naulochus, 
between  Mylse  and  Messana,  and  the  next  year  Sextus  was  killed  in  Asia. 

Ponte-Graniti.  Reached  by  mail-vettura  from  Giardini  in  2  hours. 
(Messina-Catania  line.) 

Poor.  See  Chapter  IV.  They  are  very  poor  and  very  ragged,  and  live 
in  anything,  from  a  disused  tomb  to  a  basso  underneath  better-off  people's 
houses.  Begging  is  being  put  down  with  a  strong  hand.  See  Bassi,  Tomb- 
dwellers,  etc. 

Poppies  flower  almost  in  the  beginning  of  the  year.  They  are  bright- 
coloured,  but  not  very  large  or  a  feature, 

Porcupines.  The  porcupine  is  one  of  the  largest  wild  animals  in  Sicily. 
Mr.  Ambroise  Pare  Brown  seat  two  quite  three  feet  long  from  Ragusa  to 
Palermo  last  year. 

Porphyry,  i.e.  the  crimson  or  purple  stone.  The  Norman  kings  made 
great  use  of  porphyry.  They  were  buried  in  enormous  sarcophagi  and  used 
it  to  wonderful  advantage  in  decorating  their  superb  churches.  Porphyry 
is  found  in  Sicily,  but  I  cannot  say  if  the  glorious  white-flowered  crimson 
porphyry  in  the  Cappella  Reale  at  Palermo  was  found  in  the  island. 

Portazza,  the  popular  name  for  Cefalu  among  the  inhabitants,  means 
"wide  gate."  Mr.  Butler  seized  with  glee  the  opportunity  of  identifying 
it  with  Telepylus,  the  wide -gated  city  of  the  Lsestrygonians.  See  The 
Authoress  of  the  Odyssey^  p.  185. 

Porto  Empedocle,   See  under  Girgenti. 

Porto  Palo.  Freeman  says  :  "  The  real  Pachynos  (Pachynus)  seems  to  lie 
on  the  east  coast  of  Sicily  by  the  modern  Porto  Palo,  one  of  the  little  harbours 
near  Cape  Passaro  which  played  such  an  important  part  during  the  Punic 
Wars." 

Portns  Odysseae  is  placed  by  Freeman  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Cape 
Pachynus. 

Post  offices.  The  post  office  in  a  Sicilian  town  is  a  sort  of  club-  People 
go  there  when  they  have  nothing  better  to  do  and  register  something.  There 
fore  everything  takes  an  interminable  time.  If  your  letters  are  going  to^be 
sent  to  a  postc  r^tante^  have  them  addressed  with  initials  and  not  a  Christian 


262        SICILY  THE   NEW  WINTER   RESORT 

name,  Italians  never  recognise  the  difference  between  a  Christian  and  surname, 
and  would  give  Douglas  Sladen's  letters  to  any  Douglas,  and  any  Douglas's 
letters  to  Douglas  Sladen.  This  is  because  the  Christian  name  in  Sicily  is 
sometimes  placed  before,  and  sometimes  after,  the  surname. 

^  Post,  Parcels.  This  is  a  great  convenience  for  sending  home  curios.  Five 
kilos,  eleven  pounds,  can  be  sent  for  about  two  shillings ;  and  I  have  never 
lost  a  parcel ;  but  in  packing  you  must  allow  for  the  fact  that  the  Sicilian 
method  of  placing  a  parcel  on  board  a  steamer  is  the  throw-and-catch  that 
London  bricklayers  use  in  unloading  bricks  from  a  cart. 


THE  COAST  BETWEEN  THE  RIVER  BEL1CE  AND  PORTO  PALO 

Pottery.  Sicily  has  an  elegant  peasants'  pottery  and  quantities  of  antique 
pottery  for  the  collector.  See  Earthenware. 

Pozzallo.  A  stat.  on  the  Siracusa-Licata  line.  It  was  the  fortified  seaport 
of  the  Counts  of  Modica.  It  is  the  principal  fishing  port  of  South  Sicily. 

Praxiteles.  One  of  the  most  famous  sculptors  of  antiquity.  Lived  in  the 
fourth  century  B.C.  Fie  comes  into  Sicily  because  his  famous  Eros  was  stolen 
"by  Verres  from  Cains  Heius,  the  wealthy  Messanian  whose  house  is  described 
by  Cicero.  Chambers  says :  "  Feminine  beauty  and  Bacchic  pleasures  were 
his  favourite  subjects ;  and  in  his  treatment  of  these  he  displayed  unrivalled 
sweetness,  grace,  and  naturalness.  His  gods  and  goddesses  were  not  very 
divine,  but  they  were  ideal  figures  of  the  fairest  earthly  loveliness."  Praxiteles 
made  the  famous  image  of  Demeter  (Ceres)  with  Persephone  (Proserpine)  in 
her  arms,  which  furnished  the  usual  type  of  the  Madonna  holding  the  infant 
Christ.  See  Ceres ,  p.  144. 


THINGS   SICILIAN  263 

Prefect.  Modern  Sicily  is  divided  into  prefectures  or  provinces,  whose 
headquarters  are  at  Palermo,  Messina,  Catania,  Syracuse,  Girgenti,  Caltani- 
setta,  and  Trapani. 

Prefettura.   The  offices  of  the  Prefect  (q.v.). 

Prehistoric  buildings.  See  under  Pelasgic,  Oldest  things  in  Sicily, 
p.  238,  etc. 

Prickly-pears.   See  Pears,  prickly,  and  Fichi  d'India. 

Priests.  Sicily  is  full  of  priests  with  dusty  beaver  hats  and  rusty  black 
robes,  and  blue  half-shaven  faces.  Their  ignorance  is  generally  appalling. 
They  can  seldom  even  explain  the  symbolism  of  the  monuments  of  their  own 
churches.  Learning  among  them  seems  to  be  in  the  hands  of  the  Jesuits. 
Most  of  the  principal  librarians  are  Jesuit  abbes, 

Priests'  schools.  Some  Sicilian  towns,  like  Syracuse,  are  full  of  them. 
They  wear  robes  something  like  the  priests,  and  broad-brimmed  beaver  hats 
of  black,  or  scarlet,  or  purple. 

.     Printing.   The  first  printing-press  was  established  at  Messina  by  Aiding 
in  1473. 

Priolo.  A  stat.  on  the  Catania- Syracuse  line,  with  a  mail-vettura  to 
Melilli  (q.v.)  in  i|  hours.  The  coach  leaves  Priolo  at  9.45  a.m.  and 
2.15  p.m.,  returning  from  Melilli  at  8  a.m.  and  11.45  a-1*1-  Priolo  is  I  kil. 
from  the  stat. ^ and  Melilli  9  kil.  The  fare  is  a  franc  each  way.  From  Priolo 
Thapsus  with  its  Sikelian  tombs  and  a  tunny  fishery  may  be  visited,  also  the 
Torre  di  Marcello,  a  Roman  building,  probably  a  tomb  and  not,  as  it  claims, 
the  trophy  of  Marcellus  to  commemorate  the  capture  of  Syracuse.  In  the 
town  is  a  Byzantine  chapel  of  S.  Foca,  but  there  is  not  much  to  see  in  it.  It 
is  an  easy  drive  from  Syracuse. 

Prizzi.  By  mail-vettura  from  Lercara  7  hours  (Bivio-Prizzi,  6  hours),  and 
from  Corleone  Stat.  in  $1  hours.  The  castle  of  S.  Giorgio,  restored  once 
but  now  in  ruins,  dates  from  William  I.  It  is  near  Palazzo- Adriano. 

Procida,  Giovanni  da,  Lord  of  Procida.  The  chief  conspirator  in  the 
revolution  of  the  Sicilian  Vespers,  which  expelled  the  Angevins.  Giovanni 
the  Younger,  his  nephew,  was  the  hero  of  the  story  of  Boccaccio  whose  scene 
was  laid  in  Palermo.  See  p.  407. 

Proserpine.  The  Latin  goddess  identified  with  the  Greek  Persepbone  and 
Core.  Called  also  Libera.  The  worship  of  Ceres  and-  her  daughter 
Proserpine  was  the  principal  cult  of  classical  Sicily.  Its  headquarters  was  at 
Enna  (q.v.).  It  was  in  the  fields  of  Enna  by  the  Lake  of  Pergusa  that  Pluto 
carried  off  Proserpine.  An  enormous  number  of  the  terra-cotta  figurines  found 
in  Sicily  represent  this  goddess  often  carrying  a  pig,  the  symbol  of  fruitfulness. 
She  is  said  to  have  disappeared  beneath  the  earth  at  the  fountain  of  Cyane, 
near  Syracuse.  Most  beautiful  and  poetical  legends  are  intertwined  with  her 
name.  Cicero  in  his  Verres  says:  "For  they  believe  that  these  goddesses 
were  born  in  these  districts,  and  that  corn  was  first  discovered  in  this  land, 
and  that  Libera  was  carried  off,  the  same  goddess  whom  they  call  Proserpine, 
from  a  grove  in  the  territory  of  Enna,  a  place  which,  because  it  is  situated  in 
the  centre  of  the  island,  is  called  the  navel  of  Sicily.  And  when  Ceres 
wished  to  seek  her  and  trace  her  out,  she  is  said  to  have  lit  her  torches  at 
those  flames  which  burst  out  at  the  summit  of  ./Etna,  and  carrying  these 
torches  before  her,  to  have  wandered  over  the  whole  earth."  Besides  Core, 
or  the  maiden,  the  Arcadians  call  Proserpine  the  Saviour,  which  is  interesting 
in  view  of  the  fact  that  the  statue  of  the  Madonna  carrying  the  infant  Saviour 
is  proved  by  the  classical  statues  existing  at  Castrogiovanni  to  be  taken  direct 


264       SICILY  THE  NEW  WINTER  RESORT 

from  the  statue  of  Ceres  carrying  the  girl-child  Proserpine.  Pausanias 
mentions  this  in  his  account  of  Megalopolis  in  Arcadia,  the  other  famous  seat 
of  Ceres  and  Proserpine.  They  were  worshipped  there  as  the  Great  God 
desses.  Pausanias  also  tells  us  that  the  Arcadians  called  Ceres  the  Mistress, 
which  exactly  corresponds  to  Madonna.  After  the  rape  of  Proserpine  Ceres 
hid,  and  all  the  fruits  of  the  earth  were  wasting  away  and  the  race  of  man  was 
perishing  still  more  of  hunger,  when  Pan,  roving  over  Arcadia,  found  her  and 
persuaded  her  to  come  forth.  Homer  says  that  the  groves  of  Proserpine  are 
of  black  poplars  and  willows.  At  Athens  there  was  a  statue  of  Ceres  and 
Proserpine  by  Praxiteles.  One  cannot  help  wondering  if  the  immortal  beauty 
of  a  mother  carrying  her  child  by  Praxiteles  was  the  original  of  the  Ceres  and 
Proserpine  statues,  and  therefore  of  the  Madonna  statues. 

Protestant  cemeteries.  Until  well  on  in  the  last  century  Protestants  were 
.denied  burial  in  the  Campo  Santo,  and  were  buried  in  places  like  the  Latpmia 
dei  Cappuccini  at  Syracuse,  the  Villa  Landolina  at  Syracuse,  and  the  private 
mausoleum  of  Messrs.  Woodhouse  at  Marsala.  The  Campo  Santo  of  the 
Vespers  at  Palermo  seems  to  have  been  one  of  the  first  places  where  a  more 
liberal  feeling  prevailed. 

Pseudo-Peripteral,  in  classical  architecture,  signifies  having  a  portico  in 
front,  or  porticoes  in  front  and  rear,  but  with  the  columns  on  the  sides  engaged 
in  the  walls  instead  of  standing  free,  as,  in  the  case  of  Greek  temples,  that  of 
Olympian  Zeus  at  Girgenti,  or,  in  the  cases  of  Roman  temples,  that  of  Fortuna 
Virilis  at  Rome,  or  of  the  Maison  Carrel  at  Nimes.  (Russel  Sturgis.) 

Punic  Wars.  The  First  Punic  War,  264  B.C.  to  241  B.C.,  was  mostly 
fought  and  finally  decided  in  Sicily,  being  terminated  by  the  great  naval 
victory  of  Catulus  off  the  yEgatian  Islands.  The  Romans  also  won  the 
sea-fights  of  Mylae,  260  B.C.,  and  Ecnomus,  256  B.C.  See  also  under  Ercta 
and  Eryx.  The  Second  Punic  War,  which  began  in  219  B.C.  and  ended 
in  202  B.  C.  with  the  Battle  of  Zama,  does  not  touch  Sicily  so  much,  except 
that  the  fact  of  Hannibal's  not  having  Sicily,  which  had  been  given  up  to  the 
Romans  in  the  First  Punic  War,  prevented  him  from  conquering  the  world. 
The  capture  of  Syracuse,  however,  by  Marcellus  in  212  B.C.  arose  ^out  of 
the  Syracusan  king  Hieronymus  joining  the  Carthaginians,  and  Scipio  pre 
pared  his  expedition  at  Syracuse  and  embarked  from  Lilybseum.  The  Third 
Punic  War  does  not  concern  Sicily,  beyond  the  fact  that  it  was  made  the  base 
for  the  invasion  of  Carthage. 

Pyrrhus,  the  King  of  Epirus.  After  Alexander,  considered  the  greatest 
general  of  the  Greeks.  He  married  Lanassa,  the  daughter  of  Agathocles, 
who  had  dominions  on  the  east  side  of  the  Adriatic,  and  gave  his  daughter  the 
conquered  island  of  Corcyra  as  a  dowry.  In  279,  when  the  Syracusans  were 
hard  pressed  by  the  Carthaginians,  they  called  upon  Pyrrhus  for  aid.  He  was 
in  Italy  at  the  time,  helping  the  Tarentines  against  the  Romans.  He  stayed 
two  years  in  Sicily,,  and  took  every  city  in  the  island  except  Lilybseum,  held 
by  the  Carthaginians,  and  Messana,  held  by  the  Mamertines.  Agrigentum 
was  freed  from  the  Carthaginian  by  the  mere  terror  of  his  name,  and  he 
fulfilled  the  destiny  of  the  Heraclids,  where  Dorieus,  the  king's  son  of  Sparta, 
failed,  by  heading  the  storming  party  that  captured  Eryx.  Next  he  took 
Ercta  and  Panormus.  He  was  thus  the  one  Greek  master  of  Palermo.  In 
276  B.C.  the  reaction  came,  and  he  was  glad  to  be  called  back  to  Italy,  whence 
he  departed  for  good,  a  year  later,  after  his  defeat  at  the  Battle  of  Beneventum. 

Pythagoras.  The  celebrated  philosopher.  Born  at  Samos  582  B.C.  ; 
settled  at  Croton  in  Italy  in  530  B.C.  ;  and  died  at  Metapontum  500  B.C.  In 


THINGS   SICILIAN  265 

the  life  of  Pythagoras  by  lamblichos  he  appears  as  the  destroyer  of  the  tyranny 
of  Phalaris,  with  whom  his  name  was  freely  connected.  Freeman  says  no 
trustworthy  witness  carries  him  to  Sicily.  Those  who  take  him  to  Tauro- 
menium  at  once  consign  themselves  to  the  same  fate  as  the  forgers  of  the  letters 
of  Phalaris,  and  it  is  hardly  easier  to  believe  that  Pythagoras  in  person  com 
manded  the  army  of  Acragas  in  a  war  with  Syracuse,  and  that,  so  far  as  any 
thing  can  be  made  out  of  the  story,  he  perished  by  a  strict  observance  of  one 
of  his  own  most  mysterious  precepts.  He  lost  the  battle  and  his  life  by 
refusing  to  march  across  a  bean  field.  Epicharmus  the  comedian  is  said  to 
have  been  his  pupil. 


Quack  dentists  are  a  great  institution  in  Sicily.  They  may  always  be 
seen  in  popular  gathering-places  like  the  Piazza  S.  Domenico  at  Palermo, 
with  some  device  to  draw  the  attention  of  passers-by,  like  the  female  fortune 
teller,  who  sits  with  her  eyes  blindfolded  and  her  hands  bound  behind  her  to 
show  that  there  is  no  trickery  about  it. 

Quails.  When  the  quails  migrate  north  or  south  (see  ^Egatian  Islands) 
enormous  quantities  of  them  are  trapped  and  shot  in  Sicily.  Messina  is  the 
great  port  for  sending  quails  to  England.  The  system  of  snaring  them  is 
most  elaborate. 

Quartararo,  Riccardo.  A  Sicilian  painter  with  one  picture  in  the  Palermo 
Museum,  signed  Riccardo  Quartararo,  1494,  which  has  established  the  author 
ship  of  several  other  pictures,  including  the  famous  S.  Cecilia  in  the  cathedral, 
formerly  attributed  to  Crescenzio.  He  was  a  kind  of  Sicilian  Gozzoli,  with  a 
curious  pre-Raphaelite  charm. 

Quarantini  equals  40  quartucci,  one  of  the  old  Bourbon  measures  still  used 
in  country  parts  for  wine.  About  7i  gallons. 

Quarries  of  Selinunte,  See  Kusa.  Are  plainly  discernible,  They  are 
situated  in  the  Campobello  di  Mazzara. 

Quarries  of  Syracuse.  The  quarries  of  Syracuse  (see  under  Syracuse  and 
Latomia]  have  been  famous  in  all  ages  because  the  Athenian  prisoners  were 
confined  in  them.  Latomia  is  derived  from  two  words  signifying  stone  and 
to  cut,  and  is  still  in  use  for  the  smallest  quarry.  Xenophanes  of  Colophon 
.(born  570  B.C.)  mentions  that  he  found  impressions  of  fishes  and  probably  of 
seaweeds  in  the  younger  Tertiary  strata  of  these  quarries,  which  is  perhaps 
the  first  mention  of  them. 

QuartorolL   A  Sicilian  measure,  equals  the  quarter  cask  of  23  gallons. 

Qnartuccio.    A  Sicilian  measure,  corresponding  to  our  reputed  quart. 

Quattro  Aprile.  A  favourite  name  for  streets  in  Sicily,  like  Vend  Settembre 
in  Italy :  so  called  because  on  the  4th  of  April,  1860,  the  tolling  of  the  bell 
of  the  Church  of  the  Gancia  at  Palermo  sounded  the  signal  for  revolution ; 
but  the  insurgents  were  vanquished,  and  some  of  them  had  marvellous 
escapes.  See  under  Palermo,  La  Gancia. 


Rafoato.   An  Arab  suburb  of  Salemi  (q.v.). 

Racalmuto.  Of  Saracen  origin.  Stat.  on  Ucata-Girgenti  line.  Has  a 
splendid  fourteenth -century  castle  visible  from  the  railway,  founded  by 
Frederick  Chiaramonte,  Its  Saracen  name  was  Rahalmot  (village  of  death). 


266        SICILY  THE   NEW  WINTER   RESORT 

Racking.  A  process  in  the  wine-industry  at  Marsala  (q.v.)  for  clearing 
the  wines. 

Raddusa.  Stat.  on  Palermo-Catania  line.  It  has  mail-vetture  to  Rad- 
dusa  (town),  2  hours;  Aidone,  4!  hours  (q.v.);  Piazza  Armerina,  6  hours 
(q.v.).  ^ 

Radishes.  Sicily  has  a  gigantic  radish  rivalling  the  famous  daikon  of 
Japan. 

Ragusa.    The  ancient  Hybla  Hersea.     See  below,  page  457. 

Railways.  The  Sicilian  railways  are  necessarily  slow  because  only  omni 
bus  trains  pay.  The  trains  have  sometimes,  as  in  the  portion  between  Modica 
and  Ragusa,  to  climb  tremendous  gradients.  A  noticeable  feature  is  the 
honesty  of  the  employees.  One  never  hears  of  robberies  in  Sicilian  railways 
like  those  which  are  the  reproach  of  Italy.  The  worst  feature  about  them 
is  that  the  facchini  or  porters  have  a  guild  so  powerful  as  to  hamper  the 
directorate  in  the  carrying  out  of  its  wishes  for  the  protection  of  travellers.  You 
never  hear  of  an  accident,  and  the  lines  run  so  smoothly  that  railway  journey 
ing  in  Sicily  is  like  taking  a  drive.  The  scenery  is  generally  superb,  and 
railway  journeys  are  one  of  the  best  ways  of  seeing  the  out-of-the-way  parts. 
The  two  beautiful  handbooks  of  Sicilian  scenery  issued  by  the  Sicilian  rail 
ways,  known  as  the  Elenco  and  the  Reclame,  have  done  much  to  familiarise 
travellers  with  the  island.  The  two  lines  which  do  not  belong  to  the  Sicilian 
railways,  viz.  the  Circum-/£tnean  line  and  the  Paler  mo -Trapani  line,  are 
woefully  behind  them  in  comfort  and  enterprise. 

Raineri,  the  Sicilian,  was  one  of  the  earliest  Italian  poets  to  write  in  the 
vernacular  (fourteenth  century). 

Rampolla  del  Tindaro,  Mariano.  A  Sicilian  born  at  Polizzi,  i;th  August, 
1843.  Secretary  of  State  to  the  late  Pope.  Educated  in  the  Seminario 
Vaticano  and  Collegio  Capranica.  His  first  important  appointment  was 
accompanying  Cardinal  Simeoni,  nuncio  to  Spain  in  1875.  Might  have  been 
elected  Pope  but  for  the  veto  of  the  Emperor  of  Austria.  Like  Cardinal 
Wolsey,  the  son  of  a  butcher,  who  left  him  considerable  means. 

Randazzo.  One  of  the  two  most  medieval  towns  in  Sicily ;  the  loftiest 
town  of  any  importance  on  Etna.  See  below,  page  462. 

Realmonte.  A  town  2  hours  by  mail-vettura  from  Porto  Empedocle  on 
the  Girgenti  line.  Realmonte  is  Monreale  reversed,  just  as  Montechiaro  in* 
the  same  district  is  Chiaramonte  reversed. 

Reaumur  thermometer.  (Dr.  Reaumur,  after  whom  it  is  named,  died  in 
I757-)  To  reduce  R.  to  Fahr.  multiply  by  2j  and  add  32.  To  reduce  R.  to 
Centrigrade  increase  the  number  by  one  quarter  itself.  Nine  degrees  Fahr. 
equal  4  degrees  Reaumur.  In  Sicily  if  the  thermometer  is  not  Centigrade, 
it  is  far  more  likely  to  be  Reaumur  than  Fahrenheit. 

Rearing1.  See  under  Marsala.  The  process  by  which  the  Marsala  wines 
are  reinforced  with  the  natural  grape  spirit. 

Reber's  Library.  Palermo  has  one  of  the  best  booksellers'  shops  in  Italy — 
Reber's  Library,  where  the  leading  books  in  English,  French,  and  German,  as 
well  as  Italian,  are  generally  to  be  found  in  stock.  Signor  Reber  has  pub 
lished  in  his  catalogue  a  useful  bibliography  of  works  on  Sicily,  and  generally 
has  a  copy  of  each.  He  is  also  agent  for  Alinari's  photographs  and  similar 
lines,  and  has  the  best  postcards  in  Palermo.  He  speaks  English,  French, 
and  German  fluently,  and  himself  compiled  in  French  and  Italian  a  guide 
book  to  Palermo  which  is  the  best  local  guide  I  know  of  anywhere. 


THINGS   SICILIAN  267 

Receptions  are  a  favourite  form  of  entertainment  in  Sicily.  They  are  held 
in  the  evening,  and  are  extremely  dull,  because  the  sexes  keep  severely  apart 
at  the  opposite  ends  of  a  great  salon.  But  they  *are  rather  interesting  for  a 
foreigner  to  go  to  for  a  short  time,  because  the  palaces  are  sometimes  magnifi 
cent,  and  usually  retain  the  Empire  furniture  with  which  they  were  re 
decorated  when  the  Court  came  to  Sicily  in  the  days  of  Maria  Carolina. 

Recipient.  Part  of  the  machinery  used  in  the  manufacture  of  cognac  at 
Marsala. 

Reeds.  The  donax  (the  Arundo  donax\  the  largest  of  European  grasses,  is 
equally  prominent  in  Sicilian  landscape  and  Sicilian  economy.  It  is  much 
grown  for  hedges  as  well  as  in  brakes  for  commercial  purposes,  six  to  twelve 
feet  high,  and  has  thick,  woody  stalks,  very  much  like  bamboo.  The  Sicilian 
goatherds  cut  their  own  pipes  out  of  the  donax,  just  as  Pan  did  before  them. 
The  word  donax  is  from  the  Greek  doneo,  I  shake,  and  means  literally  a  reed 
shaken  by  the  wind.  Theocritus  uses  it  for  the  goatherd's  pipe.  The  word 
donax  was  in  use  for  this  plant  as  far  back  as  Pliny's  time. 

Regalbuto  (Arab.  Rahal-Buth\  built  on  the  ruins  of  the  ancient  Sikel 
town  of  Ameselum. 

Reggio.  The  ancient  Rhegium.  The  Italian  end  of  the  Strait  of  Messina. 
There  is  a  steam  ferry  across. 

The  Reggio-Messina  route  from  Naples  to  Sicily  being  employed  by  those 
who  dread  the  sea,  in  spite  of  its  great  distance,  trains  de  luxe  on  stated  days 
run  right  through  from  Rome  to  Palermo,  the  train  being  transported  on  a 
special  ferryboat. 

Regie  Poste.   The  Italian  for  post  or  post  office. 

Registered  Letters,  Sicilians  register  everything.  The  entire  time  of  the 
post  office  officials  is  taken  up  with  registering  letters  and  packets.  When  a 
Sicilian  has  nothing  else  to  do,  he  goes  to  the  post  office  and  registers  some 
thing. 

Reitano.  Reached  by  mail-vettura  from  Leonforte  in  4i  hours.  The  re 
mains  of  the  ancient  Amestratus  are  near  Reitano.  Amestratus  has  perhaps 
given  its  name  to  Mistretta.  Reitano  is  only  3  kil.  from  Mistretta. 

*St.  Remy,  Jean  tie,  Justiciar  of  the  Val  de  Mazzara,  was  the  French 
commander  whose  excesses  are  said  to  have  caused  the  Sicilian  Vespers.  A 
house  with  a  single  column  on  the  angle  close  to  the  Piazza  S.  Croce  dei 
Vespri  is  pointed  out  as  his  palace  at  Palermo  (q.v.). 

Renaissance  in  Sicily.  In  architecture  the  Renaissance  here  began  most 
interestingly.  The  blending  of  the  classical  style  with  the  fifteenth-century 
Gothic  produced  some  conspicuously  elegant  results,  such  as  the  porch  of 
S.  Maria  alia  Catena  at  Palermo  and  the  interior  of  SS.  Annunziata.  But  it 
was  scon  weighed  down  by  the  baroque  style,  overloaded  in  every  sense  of  the 
word.  There  is  much  elegant  Renaissance  woodwork  to  be  bought  in  Sicily 
quite  cheap,  and  its  Renaissance  jewellery  is  now  sought  eagerly  by  collectors. 
Church  embroideries  form  another  direction  in  which  good  work  can  be  looked 
for.  There  are  some  exquisitely  beautiful  Renaissance  buildings  in  Sicily,  such 
as  the  fa9ade  of  the  church  of  S.  Lucia  near  the  cathedral  in  Syracuse.  In 
one  department  the  Sicilian  Renaissance  is  almost  unequalled — that  of  the 
magnificent  flamboyant  hammered  ironwork  which  gave  Syracuse  her  balconies 
and  the  chapel  screens  in  her  cathedral. 

Renaissance-Gothic.  See  above  paragraph  and  Architecture.  The  term 
might  really  be  applied  to  most  of  the  fifteenth-century  architecture,  but  it  is 
more  convenient  to  reserve  it  for  examples  where  classical  features  are  rntrodtteed. 


268  •     SICILY  THE   NEW   WINTER   RESORT 

Restaurants  are  not  a  Sicilian  idea.  There  are,  of  course,  a  few  restau 
rants  in  the  chief  towns,  but  the  Sicilian  when  he  takes  his  meals  out,  which 
he  only  does  under  compulsion,  takes  them  at  a  hotel.  The  hotels  are  the 
restaurants.  Cafes  are  what  he  needs.  Among  the  lower  orders  the  place  of 
the  restaurant  is  taken  by  a  cookshop.  The  Sicilian  is  forced  to  be  eco 
nomical,  and  the  idea  of  going  to  a  place  where  he  has  to  gobble  everything 
up  or  leave  it  shocks  his  economical  soul.  The  cookshop,  on  the  other  hand, 
which  charges  very  reasonably  for  cooking,  saves  him  the  expense  of  a  fire  and 
cooking  apparatus  and  the  various  furnishings,  such  as  salt,  a  most  important 
item ;  and  in  the  poorer  quarters  there  are  many  perambulating  cooking  stalls. 
This  side  of  poor  Sicilian  life  is  extremely  interesting  to  the  observer  and  a 
treasure-trove  to  the  kodaker. 

Restitute.,  the  heroine  of  a  story  of  Boccaccio,  of  which  the  scene  is  laid  in 
the  Cuba  Palace  at  Palermo.  See  Loria. 

Resuttana.  A  suburb  of  Palermo  near  the  Favorita. 

Resuttano.  Seven  kil  from  Alimena  (q.v.).  It  is  not  important,  but  it  is 
mentioned  because  it  gives  the  prince  of  this  name  his  title,  and  in  most  guide 
books  is  confounded  with  the  suburb  of  Palermo,  or  ignored  altogether.  It  is 
on  the  great  coach-road  from  Palermo  to  the  cities  of  the  interior,  Nicosia,  etc. 

Rete  Sicula.  See  Railways,  Sicilian.  This  is  the  popular  name,  the  formal 
name  is  *'  Strade  Ferrate  della  Sicilia." 

Reverse.  The  reverse  of  a  coin  is  literally  the  upper  side,  that  away  from 
the  anvil,  when  the  coin  is  struck.  In  practice  it  is  used  for  the  side  which 
does  not  bear  the  head.  See  Obverse. 

Revolutions.  Sicily  has  always  been  great  on  revolutions.  The  slave  wars 
of  Roman  history  were  in  Sicily.  The  Saracens  were  invited  as  the  result  of  a 
revolution.  Ancient  Syracuse  had  a  number  of  them,  and  ever  since  that 
Easter  Tuesday  in  1282  when  the  Sicilian  Vespers  took  'place  they  have  been 
in  progress,  the  principal  being  that  of  Giuseppe  d'Alesi  in  1647,  Squarcialupo 
in  Palermo,  the  revolt  of  the  Messenians  against  Spain  in  1672,  the  revolt 
against  the  Bourbons  after  Ferdinand  I.  and  IV.  had  taken  away  the  constitu 
tion  in  1820,  the  revolt  of  1836  and  the  revolt  of  1848.  .They  were  uniformly 
unsuccessful.  Even  in  1860,  a  month  or  so  before  the  arrival  of  Garibaldi,  there 
was  an  abortive  revolt  which  caused  the  martyrdoms  commemorated  in  Palermo. 
But  finally,  with  the  aid  of  the  "Thousand"  who  landed  with  Garibaldi  at 
Marsala,  Sicily  revolted  successfully  against  the  Bourbons  in  May,  1860. 

Revolutionists  of  1848  and  1860,  the.  Their  names  are  commemorated 
all  over  Palermo.  Among  them  were  Ruggiero  Settimo,  Emerico  Amari, 
Francesco  Crispi,  and  others  who  rose  to  the  highest  positions  in  the  state 
afterwards — Crispi  becoming  Prime  Minister,  and  Ruggiero  Settimo  President 
of  the  Senate. 

Rhegium  is  not  in  Sicily,  but  on  the  opposite  coast  of  Italy.  The  modern 
Reggio  is  built  on  its  site.  It  must  be  mentioned  on  account  of  Anaxilas 
the  tyrant  (see  p.  359),  a  man  whose  family  came  from  Messene  in  Greece 
Proper.  It  was  he  who  introduced  the  Messenian  exiles  into  the  Sicilian 
town  of  Zancle,  which  became  Messana.  Rhegium  enters  constantly  into  the 
history  of  Syracuse. 

Ribera.  By  mail-vettura  1 1  hours  from  Girgenti  and  3^  hours  from  Sciacca. 
Unimportant ;  has  two  old  castles  of  the  time  of  the  civil  war  between  the 
Luna  and  Perollo.  The  best  rice  in  Sicily  is  grown  here, 

Richard  Coeur  de  Lion,  King  of  England.     See  under  Messina. 


THINGS   SICILIAN  269 

Riccio,  Mariano  (b.  1510),  Antonello  flourished  1576,  Messinese  painters 
of  the  school  of  Polidoro  di  Caravaggio.  Mariano's  works  are  often  sold  as 
his  master's. 

Ricco,  Mazzeo  di.    See  under  Folk-songs. 

Riso,  Francesco.  The  leader  of  the  revolution  on  the  4th  of  April,  1860. 
See  above,  Quattro  Aprile.  He  was  mortally  wounded.  Most  of  his  com 
panions  were  taken,  and  the  Convent  of  the  Gancia  from  which  the  bell  was 
rung  for  a  signal  was  sacked.  Two  of  the  insurgents,  Philip  Patti  and  Gaspar 
Bivona,  escaped  by  hiding  in  a  hole  under  the  church.  Five  days  later  they 
escaped  by  the  hole  called  the  Buca  della  Salvezza,  now  closed  with  a  marble 
inscription. 

Rivers.  Sicily  has  no  navigable  rivers.  The  Simethus  near  Catania  is  the 
best  apology  for  one.  Hardly  any  but  it  and  the  Anapp  has  even  a  row-boat 
on  it.  In  dry  weather  they  are  mere  brooks  trickling  in  the  middle  of  wide 
sandy  and  stony  beds.  In  wet  weather  they  are  fierce  and  dangerous  torrents. 
At  Messina  they  are  used  for  roads,  the  streets  down  from  the  mountain 
being  called  Torrenti,  e.g.  the  Torrente  Boccetta.  The  little  river  at  Modica 
caused  enormous  destruction  in  1902,  flooding  as  high  as  the  first  floors  of  the 
houses,  carrying  away  the  railway  bridge  and  killing  a  hundred  people ;  while 
the  Anapo,  a  mere  brook,  turned  the  whole  country  round  Syracuse  into  a  lake. 
The  best-known  rivers  of  antiquity,  the  Himera  Meridionalis  and  Himera 
Septentrionalis,  which  flowed  south  and  north  in  the  centre  of  the  island,  are 
now  called  the  Fiume  Salso  and  the  Fiume  Grande.  It  is  of  no  use  enumerat 
ing  the  rivers,  for  in  Sicily  they  imply  only  three  things— irrigation,  floods,  and 
malaria,  unless  we  count  them  as  roads. 

Roads,  provincial,  etc.  There  are  two  or  three  classes  of  high  roads  in 
Sicily,  the  best  of  which  are  the  Strade  Provrnciale,  used  on  the  ^  great  coach 
routes.  They  are  often  extremely  good,  but  the  byroads  in  Sicily  are  no 
better  than  the  beds  of  torrents,  which  are  occasionally  used  for  watercourses. 
It  is  interesting  to  remember  that  the  Athenians,  in  their  great  retreat,  had 
one  idea— to  march  up  the  bed  of  a  river  to  join  their  Sikel  allies  in  the  in 
terior.  They  tried  the  bed  of  the  Anapo  first,  and  both  Demosthenes  and 
Nicias  were  captured  when  they  were  trying  to  strike  up  river-beds. 

Roadside  chapels,  crosses,  shrines,  fountains,  etc.  Crosses  are  few, 
though  there  is  a  fine  one  near  the  Gesu,  and  the  chapels  are  so  infrequent  that 
their  presence  may  be  considered  accidental.  Shrines,  on  the  other  hand,  are 
extremely  numerous,  but  vary  in  value  according  to  the  district.  They  are 
good  round  Marsala,  and  there  is  a  beautiful  and  ancient  one  on  the  way  to 
S.  Maria  di  Gesu  at  Modica,  and  a  very  quaint  one  at  Ragusa  on  the  Scaia 
between  the  two  cities.  Their  general  form  is  that  of  the  Greek  ^Edicula 
tombs  familiar  to  all  who  have  studied  the  art  of  Athens.  Roadside  fountains 
are  only  found  where  there  is  a  hill  above  the  road  and  a  mountain  spring 
running  down  it.  It  is  provided  with  a  plaster  ^facade  and  a  basin.  But 
fountains  are,  of  course,  numerous  in  and  just  outside  towns. 

Roba.  The  ordinary  Sicilian  word  to  express  the  whole  of  a  passenger's 
luggage,  large  and  srnalL 

Robbers.  There  is  very  little  robbery  from  the  person  in  towns,  but  certain 
districts,  such  as  that  above  Corleone,  have  a  bad  name  for  footpads,  who  are 
not  to  be  confounded  with  brigands,  the  procedure  of  the  former  being  to 
strip  the  victim  and  let  him  go,  while  the  brigand  seizes  his  victim  for  ransom. 

Robbia,  Delia.  There  are  a  few  fine  Delia  Robbias  in  Sicily,  notably  that 
in  S.  Maria  della  Scala  at  Messina,  the  SS.  Annunzkta  at  Trapani,  and  in  the 


270        SICILY   THE   NEW  WINTER    RESORT 

Palermo  Museum.     But  these  exquisitely  glazed  pottery  reliefs,  which  are  so 
numerous  in  Tuscany,  are  very  scarce  in  Sicily. 

Robert,  King.  The  so-called  King  Robert  of  Sicily  that  poets  and 
romancers  have  written  about,  from  Longfellow  to  Mr.  Justin  Huntly  McCarthy, 
never  reigned  in  Sicily  at  all.  He  was  the  son  of  Charles  of  Anjou,  and  only 
possessed  the  kingdom  on  the  mainland.  He  invaded  Sicily  and  tried  in  vain  to 
capture  the  Castle  of  Termini,  etc.  He  is  the  King  Robert  of  Sicily  in  the 
Tales  of  the  Wayside  Inn.  He,  of  course,  never  was  "within  Palermo's 
wall." 

"  Days  came  and  went ;  and  now  returned  again 

To  Sicily  the  old  Saturnian  reign  ; 

Under  the  Angel's  governance  benign 

The  happy  island  danced  with  corn  and  wine, 

And  deep  within  the  mountain's  burning  breast 

Enceladus,  the  giant,  was  at  rest. 

Meanwhile  King  Robert  yielded  to  his  fate, 

Sullen  and  silent  and  disconsolate. 

Dressed  in  the  motley  garb  that  Jesters  wear. 

With  looks  bewildered  and  a  vacant  stare. 

Homeward  the  Angel  journeyed,  and  again 
The  land  was  made  resplendent  with  his  train, 
Flashing  along  the  towns  of  Italy 
Unto  Salerno,  and  from  there  by  sea, 
And  when  once  more  within  Palermo's  wall, 
And,  seated  on  the  throne  in  his  great  hall, 
He  heard  the  Angelus  from,  convent  towers, 
As  if  trie  better  world  conversed  with  ours, 
He  beckoned  to  King  Robert  to  draw  nigher. 

Tales  of  a  Wayside  Inn :  LONGFELLOW. 

Robert  Guiscard.  A  famous  Norman  prince,  who  began  life  as  one  of  the 
twelve  sons  of  a  knight  named  Tancred  of  Hauteville  and  became  one  of  the 
most  powerful  monarchs  of  his  time. 

Born  near  Coutance  in  Normandy,  A.D.  1015.  He  concerns  us  chiefly  as 
having  hit  upon  Sicily  as  a  field  for  the  ambitions  of  his  younger  brother 
Roger,  in  whom  he  saw  a  rival.  Together  they  invaded  Sicily  in  1061,  and 
ten  years  afterwards  by  the  capture  of  Palermo  became  practical  masters 
of  the  island,  which  at  first  they  divided  as  they  divided  the  city.  In  the  last 
years  of  his  life  he  was  occupied  with  trying  to  restore  Michael  VII.  as 
emperor  at  Constantinople.  In  this  he  won  his  famous  victory  of  Durazzo, 
loSi.  He  was  on  the  eve  of  marching  to  Constantinople  when  he  was  recalled 
to  fight  the  Western  emperor,  Henry  IV.,  who  had  invaded  Italy  and  was 
besieging  the  Pope  in  S.  Angelo.  Henry  fled  before  him.  This  was  in  1084. 
In  1085  he  was  on  his  way  again  to  Constantinople,  when  he  died  suddenly  at 
Cephallonia.  He  styled  himself  Duke  of  Apulia  and  Calabria,  though  he  was 
more  powerful  than  any  king  except  his  former  liege,  William  the  Conqueror 
of  England.  If  Robert  had  not  gone  to  Italy  he  would  doubtless  have  played 
a  leading  part  in  the  conquest  of  England.  He  succeeded  to  the  chief  com 
mand  of  the  Normans  in  Italy  in  1057. 

Rocca.  The  suburb  of  Palermo  at  the  foot  of  the  hill  of  Monreale,  where 
the  curious  electric  motor  is  attached  to  the  tramcar.  Artists  will  find  some 
very  paintable  old  plaster-work  on  the  Monreale  road  just  above  it. 

Roccalumera-Mandanici.  Stat.,  Messina-Catania  line.  Known  for  some 
remains  of  aqueducts  and  its  alum  mines,  which  give  it  its  name. 

Roccapalumba.  One  of  the  principal  junctions  of  Sicily  between  Palermo, 
Catania,  and  Girgenti. 


THINGS   SICILIAN 


271 


Roger  the  Catalan.  Otherwise  known  as  Ruggiero  di  Loria.  The  admiral 
who  took  such  a  conspicuous  part  in  the  wars  of  Sicily,  especially  in  the 
expulsion  of  the  Angevins.  He  is  the  deus  ex  machina  in  the  story  of  Boccaccio 
about  Giovanni  di  Procida  and  Restituta,  whose  scene  is  laid  at  Palermo. 
See  under  Loria. 

Roger  I.,  the  Great  Count.  Twelfth  and  youngest  son  of  Tancred  d' 
Hauteville,  a  knight  of  Normandy.  Born  A.D.  1031.  In  1058  he  joined  his 
brother,  Robert  Guiscard,  in  Italy,  travelling  down  to  him  as  a  pilgrim.  His 
singular  beauty  of  person,  combined  with  wonderful  abilities  and  burning 
courage,  soon  filled  Robert  with  misgivings,  and  he  diverted  his  energies  to 
driving  the  Saracens  out  of  Sicily.  In  1061  they  invaded  the  island  together 
after  Roger  had  made  a  successful  raid  across  the  Strait  to  Messina.  In  1064, 
with  136  knights  (and  their  followers),  he  defeated  50,000  Saracens,  horse  and 
foot,  at  the  Battle  of  Ceramio,  famous  for  the  sarcasm  of  Gibbon  about 
St.  George's  part  in  the  battle.  See  Ceramio.  In  1071  the  brothers  entered 
Palermo,  and  Roger  became  Count  of  Sicily.  In  1089  he  took  the  title, 
singular  in  history  which  has  so  many  Grand  Dukes,  of  the  Grand  Count. 
But  the  other  translation  of  his  name,  the  Great  Count,  has  become  current. 
By  1090  he  had  all  Sicily  subdued.  In  1098  the  Pope  gave  him  the  title  for 
himself  and  his  successors  of  Legate  Apostolical  for  Sicily;  and  in  nor  he 
died,  leaving  his  title  to  his  son,  Count  Simon. 

Roger  II.  Called  Roger  the  King  to  distinguish  him  from  the  Great  Count, 
though  for  the  first  half  of  his  long  reign  of  forty-nine  years  he  remained 
Count ;  was  the  son  of  the  above,  and  succeeded  his  brother  Simon  in  1105. 
He  took  the  title  of  king  in  1130,  and  crowned  himself  in  the  ruined  chapel 
of  the  Incoronata.  Innocent  II.  wisely  confirmed  his  title  in  1139.  He  was 
a  liberal  patron  of  the  arts.  We  owe  the  glorious  Royal  Chapel  at  Palermo, 
the  gem  of  ecclesiastical  architecture,  to  him,  and  the  cathedral  at  Cefalu. 
The  great  geographical  work  of  El  Edrisi  was  compiled  under  his  patronage. 
His  power  outside  Sicily  was  immense.  He  founded  a  great  Italian  dominion. 
To  the  Apulian  Duchy  he  added,  in  1136,  the  Norman  principality  of  Capua, 
and  in  1138  Naples,  the  last  dependency  of  the  Eastern  Empire  in  Italy,  to 
which  he  added,  in  1 140,  the  Abruzzi.  He  captured  Corfu  and  carried  off  the 
silk-workers  of  the  Peloponnesus  to  inaugurate  the  silk  industry  in  Sicily. 
In  Africa  he  renewed  the  work  of  Agathocles.  He  was  a  very  liberal-minded 
prince  :  the  protector  of  the  Greeks  and  Saracens  in  his  dominions. 

Rojalfabar.  See  under  Favara,  near  Girgenti,  near  which  its  ruins  lie,  and 
which  inherited  its  name. 

Ropewalks.  In  Sicily  any  long  bare  space  such  as  the  ancient  walls  of 
Palermo,  or  the  caves  in  the  Latomia  del  Paradise  and  the  foreshore  of  the 
Marble  Harbour  at  Syracuse,  are  apt  to  be  used  by  the  rope-spinners,  so  dear 
to  the  kodaker  and  the  artist. 

Romans  in  Sicily,  The  intrusion  of  the  Romans  into  Sicily  led  to  the 
First  Punic  War,  and  the  Marnertines  of  Messina  were  the  cause  of  it,  for 
being  hard  pressed  by  Hiero  II.  in  264  they  appealed  for  help  to  the  Romans. 
The  First  Punic  War  was  mostly  fought  round  Sicily  (see  Carthaginians),  and 
the  withdrawal  of  the  Carthaginians,  241  B.C.,  after  the  crushing  defeat  of  the 
^Egatian  Islands,  left  the  Romans  practically  in  possession  of  Sicily  with  the 
exception  of  the  dominions  of  their  ally,  Hiero  II.  of  Syracuse,  The  transfer 
of  his  son  Hieronymus  to  the  side  of  Carthage  brought  about  the  conquest 
of  Syracuse,  212  B.C.,  and  the  absorption  of  Sicily  into  the  Roman  dominions, 
of  which  it  continued  part  till  the  days  of  the  Lower  Empire,  when  various 


272        SICILY  THE   NEW  WINTER   RESORT 

barbarians  seized  it.  For  seven  years,  from  43-36  B.C.,  Sicily  was  practically 
an  independent  power  held  by  Sextus  Pompeius  in  virtue  of  his  splendid 
fleet  against  the  rest  of  the  Roman  world.  Considering  the  time  that  they  held 
it,  the  Romans  left  surprising  little  mark  on  Sicily :  excepting  Centuripe  and 
Agira  there  are  hardly  any  definitely  Roman  towns,  and  even  at  Syracuse,  their 
provincial  capital,  there  are  only  the  amphitheatre  and  a  few  modifications  of 
Greek  buildings  like  the  Palaestra  to  show,  though  Catania,  which  receives 
little  attention  from  travellers  and  guide-book  writers,  has  a  good  many 
Roman  remains,  and  Taormina  (q.v.),  besides  its  Romanised  Greek  theatre, 
has  a  two-storied  Roman  house,  the  Zecca,  superb  Roman  reservoirs,  the 
Stagnone,  and  various  Roman  tombs  and  minor  remains.  Freeman  considers 
the  best  piece  of  Roman  architecture  in  the  island  to  be  the  Gymnasium  of 
that  little  visited  but  highly  interesting  and  exquisitely  situated  Greek  city, 
Tyndaris,  half-way  between  Palermo  and  Messina.  Solunto,  the  Sicilian 
Pompeii,  is  one  of  the  most  Roman  places  in  the  island ;  its  ruins  are  much 
more  Roman  than  Phoenician.  Palermo  has  a  most  interesting  subterranean 
passage  from  the  Royal  Palace  to  the  neighbourhood  of  the  cathedral.  On  the 
whole,  it  might  be  said  that  the  footsteps  of  the  Romans  in  Sicily  have  not  yet 
been  fully  investigated,  the  great  Freeman,  in  his  magnificent  history,  having 
been  wholly  occupied  with  the  earlier  races.  The  fewness  of  the  aqueducts 
and  mosaic  pavements  is  very  significant. 

The  Romans  never  imposed  their  language  on  Sicily.  To  the  last  the 
inscriptions  on  the  coins  and  most  other  inscriptions  were  Greek.  There  are 
a  great  number  of  Sicilian-Roman  coins,  but  the  world  seems  to  disregard  them 
and  talk  only  about  the  Greek.  We  are  in  no  danger  of  forgetting  the  Roman 
connection  with  Sicily,  because  Cicero's  Verres  is  exclusively  concerned  with 
it ;  and  Cicero  wrote  with  the  fulness  and  picturesqueness  of  a  modern  war 
correspondent.  See  also  Marcellus,  Syracuse,  siege  of,  Lilybseum,  Scipio, 
Cicero,  Virgil,  Verres,  Ovid,  Augustus,  Sextus  Pompeius,  Lepidus,  Punic 
Wars,  etc. 

Roman  architecture.   See  under  above  par. 

Romeo  and  Juliet.  The  original  of  the  story  of  Romeo  and  Juliet  is  to  be 
found  in  the  Greek  novel  about  ancient  Syracuse  entitled  The  Loves  of  Chareas 
and  Callirrhoe^  which  is  said  to  have  been  written  by  Chariton  of  Aphrodisias 
about  400  B.C. 

Rometta-Marea.  A  stat  on  the  Palermo-Messina  line.  Rometta  (the 
town)  is  15  kil.  (2^  hours  by  mail-vettura)  from  the  stat.  Rometta  (Rametta) 
was  the  last  place  captured  by  the  Saracens,  A.D,  965,  Although  we  do  not 
know  its  name  there  was  an  antique  town  on  its  site,  for  many  remains  of 
buildings,  vases,  corns,  lamps,  etc.,  have  been  found  there. 

Rosalia,  S.  The  patron  saint  of  Palermo.  She  was  a  niece  of  William 
the  Good  and  daughter  of  Duke  Sinibald,  and  became  a  hermit  in  a  cave  on 
Monte  Pellegrino.  Archbishop  Doria,  in  1624,  wishing  to  stay  a  plague  that 
was  raging  in  Palermo,  determined  to  try  the  effect  of  her  bones  conveniently 
discovered.  They  stopped  the  plague.  A  church  facade  was  built  up  in  front 
of  her  cave  and  a  shrine  of  solid  silver  weighing  more  than  half  a  ton  was 
erected  over  her  bones  in  the  cathedral  (q.v.).  See  Monte  Pellegrino.  The 
festa  of  S.  Rosalia,  Iith-I5th  of  July,  is  one  of  the  most  typical  and  pictur 
esque  in  all  Italy.  It  is  accompanied  by  races,  regattas,  illuminations,  etc.  ; 
and  her  car  is  as  tall  as  the  highest  houses.  The  annual  festival  of  the  saint 
on  Monte  Pellegrino  takes  place  on  the  night  of  September  3rd. 


THINGS   SICILIAN  273 

Roses.  The  roses  of  Sicily  are  glorious.  If  properly  watered,  they  bloom 
all  the  year  round.  In  the  Villa  Malfitano  at  Palermo  there  is  a  wall  of  roses, 
and  in  the  Parco  d'Aumale  an  avenue  of  espaliered  roses.  I  have  seen  a 
Gloire  de  Dijon  rose  shooting  up  over  the  top  of  a  tall  lemon  tree,  over  which 
it  was  twined.  The  little  crimson-blossomed  China  roses  are  used  for  hedges 
in  gardens.  At  Syracuse,  near  the  Camp  of  Marcellus,  you  find  a  very  hand 
some  crimson  double  wild  rose ;  but  wild  roses  are  not  a  feature  generally. 

Rosemary.  This  grows  wild  and  to  a  great  size  in  Sicily.  The  rosemary 
hedge  at  the  Villa  I^ndolina,  and  the  gigantic  old  rosemary  bushes  in  the 
monastery  garden  of  the  Cappuccini  at  Syracuse  are  remarkable. 

Rosolini.  A  stat.  on  the  Syracuse-Licata  line.  Claims  to  be  the  site  of  the 
ancient  Casmenae.  A  primitive  Christian  basilica  is  annexed  to  the  prince's  house. 

Rotolo.  One  of  the  old  Bourbon  weights,  more  used  in  calculations  than 
the  kilogram  in  remote  parts  of  Sicily. 

Rudeness.  Foreign  ladies  have  to  beware  of  occasional  rudeness  from 
respectably  dressed  loafers  in  Palermo  and  perhaps  one  or  two  other  places, 
because  their  own  women  are  so  carefully  protected  if  they  have  any  position. 
And  loafers  are  very  difficult  to  shake  off.  But  in  most  parts  of  Sicily,  where 
the  primitive  idea  of  vendetta  and  courtship  prevail,  men  let  women  severely 
alone,  unless  they  are  candidates  for  their  hands— the  consequences  are  too 
serious.  In  some  places  like  Cefalu  and  Girgenti  the  rudeness  is  the  rudeness 
of  savages,  not  loafers. 

Rudini,  Marchese  di,  the  late  Premier  of  Italy,  is  a  Sicilian  noble. 

Ruggerone  da  Palermo,  a  fourteenth-century  Sicilian  poet,  one  of  the 
earliest  writers. 

Ruggiero  Settimo.     See  Settimo  and  Revolutionists. 

Rue.  One  of  the  common  medicinal  herbs  of  Sicily.  It  is  a  handsome 
shrub  for  its  shape,  its  dark  glossy  leaves,  and  its  pale  lemon-coloured  flowers. 

Rupilius,  P.  The  Roman  consul  who  put  down  the  First  Slave  War 
in  Sicily.  His  command  was  prolonged  two  years  with  a  consulship. 


Sabatier,  a  celebrated  French  archaeologist,  who  wrote  with  loving 
erudition  on  the  artistic  remains  of  old  Sicily  circa  1860. 

Saffron.  See  Crocus  saliva.  Is  indigenous  to  Sicily,  and  the  favourite 
dye,  as  well  as  much  used  in  food. 

Sage,  flowering.  In  Sicily,  as  at  Athens,  one  of  the  most  conspicuous 
flowers  is  the  sage  bush  (Salvia}^  which  has  large  clusters  of  pale  golden 
blossoms  resembling  in  general  effect  the  calceolaria. 

Saints  of  Sicily.  They  are  in  the  main,  of  course,  the  same  as  those  of  Italy. 
I  shall  only  define  some  of  the  leading  saints  born  or  resident  in  Sicily,  such 
as  S.  Lucia,  born  and  martyred  at  Syracuse ;  S.  Agata,  martyred  at  Catania ; 
S.  Marziano,  martyred  at  Syracuse  ;  S.  Philip  the  Apostle  who  died  at  Agira  ; 
S.  Rosalia,  whose  importance  is  almost  entirely  local ;  S.  Pancrazio,  who  was 
the  proto-martyr  of  Sicily.  Saints  held  in  special  reverence  in  Sicily  or  coupled 
with  special  attributes  are  the  Madonna  delk  Lettera  at  Messina,  recalling  the 
tradition  that  the  Madonna  wrote  a  letter  to  the  inhabitants  of  Messina ; 
St.  George,  the  patron  saint  of  Modica  and  Ragrasa ;  St.  Thomas  a  Becket, 
the  patron  saint  of  Marsala,  S.  Calpgero's  name  occurs  often,  but  it  simpiy 
signifies  that  a  hermit  has  been  associated  with  the  place. 


274        SICILY  THE   NEW  WINTER   RESORT 

Saints'  Days.  The  days  of  the  most  important  saints,  like  S.  Rosalia  and 
S.  Agata,  at  Palermo  and  Catania  are  kept  with  most  elaborate  ceremonies 
lasting  some  days.  See  under  Ceremonies  and  Processions,  and  under  tk-e 
various  towns. 

Salads  in  Sicily  are  the  accompaniment  of  poultry.  Dandelion  leaves  are 
used  a  good  deal. 

Salame.   A  pork  sausage. 

Sale  e  Tabaochi.  Salt  and  tobacco  are  sold  by  the  Government,  so  the 
shops  bear  the  Government  shield.  They  always  sell  stamps,  and  Italians, 
if  they  are  not  going  to  register  a  parcel  or  book-packet,  always  get  it  weighed 
and  stamped  at  a  tobacco  shop,  which  saves  much  time.  See  below,  Salt. 

Salemi.  One  hour  twenty  minutes  by  mail-vettura  from  the  S.  Ninfa. 
Salemi  Stat.  on  the  Palermo-Trapani  line.  Site  of  the  Sikel  town  of  Halicyae. 
Ruins  of  an  Arabo- Byzantine  castle  and  a  suburb  with  Arab  name  of  Rabato. 
The  terra- cotta  vases  of  Salemi  are  well  known  and  highly  esteemed.  Salemi 
is  a  pure  Arabic  name.  Salem  means  delights. 

Salinas,  Prof.  Antonino.  Born  at  Palermo,  1841,  took  part  in  the  campaign 
for  Italian  independence.  Studied  in  Germany  and  Greece.  Became  Professor 
of  Archaeology  in  the  University  of  Palermo,  is  now  the  director  of  the  Museum 
at  Palermo,  one  of  the  most  learned  antiquaries  who  have  written  upon  Sicily. 
He  has  a  European  reputation.  He  has  made  many  important  discoveries,  and 
is  noted  for  his  fine  taste  in  excavating  and  museum  arrangement.  The 
Palermo  Museum,  with  its  antique  marbles  arranged  round  subtropical  gardens 
in  Marvuglia's  beautiful  cloisters,  and  its  Pompeian  furniture  in  the  rooms 
where  they  have  Greek  exhibits,  is  the  most  attractive  of  any  museum  I  know, 
and  the  monuments  he  has  excavated  are  models  of  how  such  work  should  be 
done.  It  is  to  him  that  we  owe  the  fine  Greek  house  at  Girgenti  and  some  of 
the  Selinuntine  metopes.  He  has  also  been  a  munificent  donor  to  the  museum. 
He  speaks  English  perfectly.  He  has  written  some  valuable  monographs. 

Salita.  A  climbing  street,  such  as  the  Salita  S.  Antonio  behind  the  Corso 
at  Palermo,  which  contains  the  celebrated  Casa  Normanna,  and  the  cross-streets 
at  Taormina. 

Sallee  Rovers,  or  Barbary  Corsairs,  ravaged  the  coasts  of  Sicily  till  almost 
within  living  memory.  See  Corsairs. 

Salsamentaria  (literally,  a  sausage-shop)  is  what  we  should  call  a  provision- 
shop. 

Salomone-Marino,  S.  A  collector  of  the  Sicilian  folk-songs,  and  customs, 
and  history.  Author  of  Leggende  popolari  Sicilians  in  poesia;  Spigolature 
storiche  siciliane  dal  secolo  XIV.  al  secolo  XIX.,  etc. 

Salt.  Not  a  Government  monopoly  anywhere  in  Sicily,  though  it  is  in 
Italy.  The  town  of  Trapani  does  a  large  trade  in  salt  with  Norway. 

Salt-pans.  On  the  flat  coast  between  Marsala  and  Trapani  and  round  the 
peninsula  of  Thapsus  are  salt-pans.  Salt  is  collected  into  conical  mounds, 
which,  until  they  are  thatched,  look  like  the  tents  of  an  army.  The  best 
opportunity  of  seeing  them  is  on  the  boat  excursion  from  Marsala  to  Motya. 

Samians.  Messana  was  partly  peopled  with  people  from  Samos.  Some 
early  Messana  coins  bear  the  same  emblems  of  a  lion-head  full-facing,  and  a 
calf  s-head  in  profile  (G.  F.  Hill).  The  Samians  were  lonians. 

Samphire  (Crithmum  maritimum}.  A  plant  plentiful  in  Sicily  which 
grows  on  cliffs  near  the  sea.  Formerly  much  used  for  pickles  and  salads. 
Shakespeare  mentions  the  samphire-gatherer  in  King  Lear. 


THINGS   SICILIAN 


275 


Sambuca  Zabut  A  town  on  the  ruins  of  the  Saracen  Rahal  Zabuth,  famous 
for  its  pottery  ;  9^  hours  by  mail-vettura  from  Corleone  Stat. 

Sandron's  Library.  After  Reber's  this  is  the  principal  bookshop  of 
Palermo,  a  branch,  I  believe,  of  the  celebrated  Milanese  house. 

Sandys,  George.  A  traveller  who  published  in  1627  "A  Relation  of  a 
journey  begun  An.  Dora,  1610;  Foure  Bookes;  Containing  a  description  of  the 
Turkish  Empire,  of  ./Egypt,  of  the  Holy  Land,  of  the  Remote  Parts  of  Italy 
and  Hands  adioyning."  It  contains  some  most  interesting  matter  about  Sicily. 


V; ;  /i/  r  /"'•',  '/" "" ',  "''''fvAVv? 


THE  ENVIRONS  OF   SAMBDCA  ZABDT 


Sainfoin.  In  spring  the  hills  in  the  interior  of  Sicily  are  a  blaze  or  crimson 
with  the  flowers  of  the  sainfoin  (Qnobrychis  sativa}.  Its  name,  according  to 
Chambers,  is  derived  from  sanumfenum,  wholesome  hay,  not  sanctum  fenum^ 
holy  hay,  as  used  to  be  thought. 

Saracens  in  Sicily.  The  Saracens  plundered  Sicily  more  than  t>nce  in  the 
seventh  century  A.D.  Their  conquest  of  Sicily  began  827,  and  by  965  the 
last  city,  Rometta,  had  fallen.  In  the  thirty  years  between  1060  and  1090, 
the  Normans  drove  them  out  again.  Very  few  buildings  dating  from  the 
period  of  Saracen  rule  have  been  discovered  in  Sicily,  or  at  any  rate  registered 
in  guide-books.  In  Palermo  the  lower  part  of  the  tower  of  the  Archbishop's 
Palace  is  said  to  be  the  only  piece.  But  the  Norman  kings  showed  them  much 
favour,  and  it  was  for  them  and  their  successors  that  Saracenic  workmen 
enriched  Sicily  with  its  lovely  Arabo- Norman  architecture.  The  Saracenic 
water  -  towers  covered  with  maidenhair ;  the  Saracenic  domes  of  churches, 
like  the  Eremiti,  S.  Cataldo,  and  the  Martorana ;  the  Saracenic  chasing  on 
the  exterior  of  the  cathedral ;  the  great  Saracenic  palaces  like  the  Zisa,  the 
Cuba,  and  the  Favara  ;  the  Saracenic  brass  coffee-pots,  and  water-jars  of 
unbaked  clay  all  combine  to  give  Palermo  an  Oriental  touch.  The  small 
Saracenic  cities  of  the  south-west  are  practically  unknown  to  travellers. 
They  may  very  likely  yield  good  discoveries  in  the  matter  of  Saracenic 
architecture.  The  Saracenic  type  is  very  marked  in  some  parts. 


276        SICILY  THE   NEW  WINTER   RESORT 

Saracenic  architecture.     See  above  par. 

Sarcophagus  is  defined  by  Chambers  as  **  any  stone  receptacle  for  a  dead 
body."  The  name  originated  in  the  property  assigned  to  a  stone  found  at 
Assos  in  the  Troad,  used  in  early  times  for  consuming  the  whole  body  with  the 
exception  of  the  teeth  within  forty  days,  which  is  better  than  cremation  !  The 
carved  stone  sarcophagi  of  Sicily  are  mostly  of  Roman  date.  There  are  some 
beautiful  terra-cotta  Greek  sarcophagi  in  the  Museum  at  Syracuse  (q.v.)  of  the 
fifth  century  B.  c. 

Savoca,  called  The  Two-Faced.  A  small  mountain  town  near.  Taormina 
with  a  couple  of  Gothic  churches  and  a  few  palazzetti  in  the  Lombard  style. 
Its  view  over  the  Fiumara  towards  Etna  is  one  of  the  wildest  and  finest  in 
Sicily.  It  has  a  ruined  castle  of  great  extent,  and  the  cistus  grows  here 
better  than  anywhere  else  in  Sicily.  It  can  be  reached  by  carriage  from 
Taormina  or  by  walking  a  few  miles  from  the  S.  Alessio  Stat.  on  the 
Messina-Catania  line.  Apart  from  its  Gothic  remains  and  its  glorious  scenery 
it  is  worth  a  visit  as  a  primitive  little  mountain  town,  and  the  noble  Norman 
abbey  of  S.  Pietro  and  S.  Paolo  at  Fiume  d'Agro  can  be  done  in  the  same 
drive. 

Saxo,  Tommaso  di.  A  fourteenth-century  Sicilian  poet,  one  of  the  earliest 
writers  in  Italian. 

Scalambri,  Cape,  on  the  south  coast  of  Sicily,  is  a  little  south-east  of  the 
ruins  of  ancient  Camerina. 

Scalea,  Prince.  A  well-known  antiquary  of  Palermo,  now  a  Senator  in  the 
Italian  Parliament.  His  eldest  son  is  a  Deputy. 

Scaletta  (Scaletta  Zanclea).  A  stat.  on  the  Messina- Catania  line.  Has  a 
picturesque  castle.  The  celebrated  heroine  Macalda,  who  took  so  prominent 
a  part  in  the  Sicilian  Vespers,  was  the  sister  of  Matteo  II.  She  married  for 
her  second  husband  Alaimo  Lentini,  and  died  a  prisoner  of  the  Aragonese. 

Scalia,  Alfonso.  One  of  Garibaldi's  lieutenants,  who  afterwards  became  a 
lieutenant-general  in  the  Italian  army  and  commanded  the  troops  in  Palermo. 
He  occupied  the  house  belonging  to  his  son-in-law,  Mr.  J.  J.  S.  Whitaker, 
which  is  now  the  museum  containing  the  unique  collection  of  North  African 
birds  formed  by  Mr.  Whitaker,  said  to  be  the  finest  in  existence. 

Scenery.  See  Chap.  V.,  p.  40.  It  can  be  summed  up  thus:  "You  are 
never  out  of  sight  of  mountains,  and,  except  in  almond-blossom  time,  the 
prevailing  note  of  the  foliage  is  greyish,  from  the  number  of  olives,  agaves, 
prickly-pears,  and  artichokes. 

Schools.  Sicily  must  have  good  schools  for  the  poor,  because  all  the 
children  can  speak  Italian,  and  are  intelligent.  It  has  many  kindergartens, 
called  gicurdini  d*  infanzia^  and  many  priests'  schools  who  dress  like  young 
priests.  Palermo,  Messina,  and  Catania  have  all  their  universities  attended 
by  numerous  students.  The  queerest  thing  about  a  Sicilian  school  is  that  they 
have  their  strikes  (scioperz). 

Schoolboys.  Sicilian  schoolboys  make  excellent  guides.  If  they  have 
time,  they  will  show  a  visitor  anything,  and  if  of  at  all  a  superior  class,  invari 
ably  refuse  any  kind  of  present,  even  chocolates.  They  can  generally  point 
out  any  monument  in  the  neighbourhood,  and  are  nice  little  chaps,  very 
bright  and  polite. 

Sciacca.    See  below,  p.  469. 


THINGS   SICILIAN  277 

Scicli.  A  stat.  on  the  Syracuse -Licata  line.  Ancient  Sicola.  Founded  in 
1350.  Has  the  remains  of  two  castles — Castelluccio  and  Maggiore.  Tombs, 
vases,  lamps,  etc. ,  are  found  here.  Carob  trees  are  very  fine  in  all  this  district. 

Scina  Domenico,  1763-1837.  An  eminent  scientist  and  mathematician. 
He  wrote  some  important  books  on  Sicily. 

Scioperio,  a  strike.     It  means  literally  laziness  or  loss  of  time. 

Scipio.  "Both  the  Scipios  who  took  the  surname  Africanus  were  connected 
with  Sicily.  The  elder,  who  captured  Carthage  after  the  Battle  of  Zama, 
prepared  his  expedition  for  many  months  at  Syracuse,  and  there  stamped  out 
with  characteristic  resoluteness  the  disaffection  of  the  small  people  who  were 
jealous  of  him  and  wrote  to  complain  about  him  at  Rome.  He  set  sail  from 
Lilybseum.  From  Lilybseum  also  the  younger  Africanus  sailed  to  the  de 
struction  of  Carthage  in  149  B.C.,  and  when  he  came  back  in  146  restored  to 
various  Sicilian  cities  the  trophies  carried  off  from  them  by  the  Carthaginians. 
To  Agrigentum,  for  instance,  he  gave  back  the  reputed  brazen  bull  of  Phalaris, 
and  to  Segesta  the  great  brazen  image  of  Diana  which  occasioned  such  lamen 
tations  when  it  was  carried  off  again  by  Verres. 

Scissors.  The  native  scissors  in  Sicily  are  very  picturesque.  The  long 
sharp-pointed  blades  when  closed  resemble  a  dagger.  The  scissors  ornamented 
with  fine  metalwork,  Madonnas,  birds,  etc.,  come  from  Brescia  or  Germany. 

Sclafani,  70  kil.  from  Palermo  on  the  coach-road,  and  two  more  by  mule- 
path.  Founded  by  the  Greeks  or  Saracens,  and  taken  by  Roger  I.  Its 
powerful  counts  were  created  by  Frederick  II.  in  1330.  The  place  is  worth 
mentioning  because  Matteo  Sclafani,  Count  of  Adern6  in  the  fourteenth 
century,  who  built  the  splendid  Sclafani  Palace  in  Palermo  (q.v.),  was  one  of 
the  native  aspirants  to  the  crown  of  Sicily.  Not  to  be  confused  with  Chiusa 
Sclafani  (q.v.). 

Sclafani,  Matteo.     See  preceding  par. 

Scoglitti.  A  small  seaport  on  the  south  of  Sicily  about  10  hours  from 
Syracuse,  and  2^  hours  from  Terranova.  The  port  of  Vittoria,  and  is  the 
nearest  point  to  the  ruins  of  Camerina  (q.v.).  Mail-vettnra  from  Vittoria 
Stat.  on  the  Syracuse-Licata  line,  leaving  at  8.25  a.m.  and  arriving  at  10.55. 
The  return  journey  leaves  Scoglitti  at  4  p.m.  and  arrives  at  6.30.  Distance 
12  kils.  Fare  50  cent,  each  way. 

Scordia — which  gave  his  title  to  a  prince  illustrious  in  Sicilian  history— a 
stat,  on  the  Caltagirone  line.  Was  built  by  the  prince  in  1698.  It  has  a 
mail-vettura  to  Palagonia  (q.v.)  2  hours  ;  Ramacca  (unimportant)  4  hours. 

Sculpture.  For  Sicily's  share  in  sculpture,  see  under  the  Selinuntine 
metopes,  Gagini,  and  Serpotta.  Antonio  Gagini  was  equal  to  almost  any 
Italian  sculptor,  except  Michael  Angelo.  The  Florentine  Montorspli  did  a 
good  deal  of  work  in  Sicily,  especially  in  Messina.  Syracuse  contains  a  few 
gems  of  ancient  sculpture  such  as  the  Landolina  Venus.  See  also  under 
Terra-cotta  figurines. 

Scylla.  A  lofty  rock  on  the  Italian  side  of  the  Straits  of  Messina,  sur 
mounted  by  a  beautiful  old  city.  The  ancients  peopled  it  with  a  monster,  and 
imagined  it  so  close  to  the  whirlpool  of  Charybdis,  that  if  you  got  out  of 
Scylla  you  got  into  Charybdis,  The  best  description  of  it  is  in  Odyssey >  xiL 
{Lang's  translation) :  "  The  rock  is  smooth,  and  sheer,  as  it  were  polished. 
And  in  the  midst  of  the  cliff  is  a  dim  cave  turned  to  Erebus,  towards  the  place 
of  darkness,  whereby  ye  shall  steer  your  hollow  ship,  noble  Odysseus.  Not 
with  an  arrow  from  a  bow  might  a  man  in  his  strength  reach  from  his  hollow 
ship  into  that  deep  cave.  And  therein  dwelleth  Scylla,  yelping  terribly.  Her 


278        SICILY  THE   NEW  WINTER  RESORT 

voice,  indeed,  is  no  greater  than  the  voice  of  a  new-born  whelp,  but  a  dreadful 
monster  is  she,  nor  would  any  look  on  her  gladly,  not  if  it  were  a  god  that 
met  her.  Verily  she  hath  twelve  feet  all  dangling  down,  and  six  necks  ex 
ceeding  long,  and  on  each  a  hideous  head,  and  therein  three  rows  of  teeth  set 
thick  and  close,  full  of  black  death.  Up  to  her  middle  is  she  sunk  far  down 
in  the  hollow  cave,  but  forth  she  holds  her  heads  from  the  dreadful  gulf, 
and  there  she  fishes,  swooping  round  the  rock,  for  dolphins  or  sea-dogs,  or 
whatso  greater  beast  she  may  anywhere  take,  whereof  the  deep-voiced 
Amphitrite  feeds  countless  flocks.  Thereby  no  sailors  boast  that  they  have 
fared  scatheless  ever  with  their  ship,  for  with  each  head  she  carries  off  a  man, 
whom  she  hath  snatched  from  out  the  dark-prowed  ship.  But  that  other  cliff, 
Odysseus,  thou  shalt  note,  hard  by  the  first.  Thou  couldst  send  an  arrow  across." 

Sea-urchins.  The  sea-urchin  (Echinus}  is  a  favourite  delicacy  in  Sicily. 
It  has  a  spiny  shell  shaped  something  like  an  acorn  cup,  and  when  out  of  it  is 
a  disgusting-looking  reddish-yellow  object.  Called  in  Italian  Eckino. 

Seals,  use  of.  From  the  number  of  engraved  gems  and  crystals  found,  it 
is  clear  that  the  ancient  Sicilians  used  seals  a  great  deal.  We  know  from 
Cicero  that  they  sealed  their  letters  with  clay  instead  of  wax.  Even  the 
ancients  must  have  used  them  extensively,  though  they  had  no  sealing-wax, 
from  the  number  of  engraved  gems  and  crystals  which  are  found.  As 
registered  letters  and  parcel-post  packages  can  only  be  sent  when  they  are 
bespattered  by  numerous  seals,  there  are  many  seal-engravers'  shops.  Initials 
of  two  letters  are  always  kept  in  stock  cut  in  brass ;  handle  and  all  for  a  franc. 
But  it  is  safer  to  have  your  crest  cut,  which  costs  three  francs,  as  anyone  can 
buy  your  initials  as  easily  as  you  can.  In  Italy  it  is  advisable  to  seal  luggage 
whenever  you  leave  it  in  the  cloakroom  for  any  length  of  time.  In  Sicily  it  is 
not  so  necessary. 

Segesta,  the  ancient  Egesta.  See  below,  p.  472.  Famous  for  its  very 
perfect  Greek  temple,  theatre,  etc. 

"Segesta,  Selinunte,  and  the  West  of  Sicily."  Title  of  Mr.  Sladen's 
book  published  by  Sands  and  Co.,  1903,  price  10/6  net. 

Selinunte.  The  Sicilian  Babylon,  the  ancient  Selinus.  See  below,  p.  479. 
Has  more  Greek  ruins  than  any  place  in  Sicily. 

Selinuntinae,  Aquae.    The  modern  Sciacca  (q.v.). 

Selinuntine  metopes.  The  most  famous  of  all  Dorian  works  of  this  nature, 
the  best  after  those  of  the  Parthenon  and  Olympia,  are  in  the  Palermo  Museum. 

Sepolcri.  See  Ceremonies,  etc.  The  Gardens  of  Gethsemane  made  with 
coloured  sand  and  pot-plants  in  the  churches  on  Holy  Thursday  to  receive  the 
body  of  Christ  taken  down  from  the  crucifix. 

Serenading.  In  Sicily  a  man  may  pay  his  addresses  to  a  girl,  to  whose 
family  he  is  a  stranger,  by  such  distant  methods  as  hanging  about  under  her 
window  with  or  without  music.  If  she  signifies  her  acceptance  of  his 
addresses,  he  goes,  or  sends  a  go-between,  to  her  family  to  ask  for  her  hand  and 
show  his  ability  to  support  her.  See  under  Courtship. 

Serpotta,  Giacomo.  Born  1656 ;  died  1732.  An  early  eighteenth-century 
sculptor,  who  worked  in  fine  hard  stucco,  which  has  remained  undamaged. 
In  spite  of  his  faults  of  taste  he  did  many  exquisite  figures  of  women  and  boys. 
The  beauty  of  their  faces  is  quite  remarkable.  There  is  a  Serpotta  room  in 
the  Palermo  Museum  with  some  very  beautiful  specimens  of  his  work,  but 
several  of  the  churches  in  Palermo  are  regular  museums  of  Serpotta,  such  as 
*S.  Agostino,  the  Oratorio  of  S.  Caterina  all'  Glivella,  **the  Oratorio  del 
Rosario  di  S.  Cita,  the  Oratorio  del  Rosario  di  S.  Domenico,  the  Oratorio 


THINGS   SICILIAN 


279 


di  S.  Lorenzo,  S.  Matteo,  S.  Francesco  d'Assisi,  and  the  Ospedale  del  Sacer- 
doti.  Besides  Palermo  there  are  Serpottas  at  Alcamo,  S.  Chiara ;  Alcamo 
Badia  Nuova  ;  Girgenti,  S.  Spirito  ;  Mazzara,  S.  Venera  (school).  * 

_  Serra-Alongi.  Reached  by  mail-vettura  from  Canicatti  Stat.  (the  Licata- 
Girgenti  line)  in  2  hours  20  minutes.  The  highly  interesting  town  of  Naro 
(q.v.)  is  only  10  minutes  by  mail-vettura  from  Serra-Alongi. 


COAST  BETWEEN  SELINUNTE  AND  PORTO  PALO 


Serradifalco.  A  stat.  on  the  Girgenti-Catania  line.  Has  a  mail-vettura 
to  Montedoro,  2  hours.  The  baronial  palace  of  Tommaso  Moncada,  the  first 
count,  created  1493,  is  fine.  Domenico  Lo  Faso  e  Pietra  Santa,  the  late  Duke 
of  Serradifalco,  who  died  in  1863,  was  one  of  the  most  eminent  of  Sicilian 
antiquaries.  Author  of  Antichita  delta.  Sicilia  zsposte  ed  illustrate,  5  vols, 
folio  (Palermo,  1834-1842),  which  fetches  500  francs. 


28o        SICILY  THE   NEW  WINTER   RESORT 

Servants,  Sicilian.  Are  very  like  Japanese.  They  are  cheerful,  willing, 
industrious  Sancho  Panzas,  who  will  potter  along  in  their  own  way,  one  man 
doing  the  entire  work  of  a  house,  but  would  drive  a  conventional  housekeeper 
mad,  their  motto  being  ' '  to  muddle  through. "  Men  servants  are  used  to  an 
extent  undreamed  of  in  England,  because  wherever  there  are  men  in  the 
household  women  servants  find  some  mischief  for  Satan  to  do  if  their  hands 
are  idle  five  minutes,  the  sex  question  being  so  predominant. 

Sextus  Pompeius.     See  under  Pompeius. 

Sferracavallo.  A  stat.  on  the  Palermo-Trapani  line.  Called  from  its 
sharp  stones  "unshoe-a-horse." 

Shawls,  Paisley.  Two  kinds  of  shawls  are  ordinary  in  unspoilt  Sicily — 
the  black  shawl,  called  a  manto,  in  which  women  cover  their  heads  as  well  as 
their  shoulders,  much  used  for  going  to  church,  even  in  Palermo,  and  almost 
universal  in  some  towns  like  Monte  S.  Giuliano.  The  other  kind  resembles 
the  Paisley  and  Cashmere  shawls  in  its  intricate  spiral  patterns  and  multitude 
of  colours,  the  best  being  on  a  white  ground.  Genuine  examples  are  quite 
valuable,  and  are  becoming  increasingly  rare,  because  they  are  being 
bought  up  by  collectors.  Printed  shawls  of  the  same  pattern  take  their 
place.  Small  shawls  of  the  same  kind  were  used  for  headkerchiefs,  but  nowa 
days  any  cheap  saffron-dyed  headkerchief  serves. 

Sheep.  There  are  a  good  many  sheep  in  Sicily,  though  the  Sicilian  would 
as  soon  think  of  eating  goat  as  sheep,  and  regards  lamb  as  much  the  same 
as  kid.  A  little  sheep's-milk  butter  is  used,  looking  and  tasting  rather  like 
Devonshire  cream;  and  there  are,  I  believe,  sheep's-milk  cheeses.  In  the 
south  they  weave  the  wool  with  the  grease  still  in  it  into  the  admirable 
Sicilian  frieze. 

Shoeblacks.  The  shoeblack  is  quite  a  feature  of  the  Palermo  streets, 
and  he  generally  knows  his  English  name.  The  picturesque  feature  is  the 
scarlet  paste  with  which  he  cleans  brown  boots. 

Shops.  Sicily  is  not  great  in  shops.  In  Palermo  the  Via  Macqueda  and 
Corso  and  certain  streets  in  Messina  and  Catania  have  a  few  European  shops 
with  proper  counters  and  windows  and  doors.  Messina  has  surprisingly  good 
shops  for  the  size  of  the  town,  but  elsewhere  the  native  Sicilian  shop  reigns, 
which  is  only  a  basso,  not  greatly  differing  from  the  Japanese  shop,  in  which 
the  floor  is  the  counter,  relieved  by  irregular  shelves.  Apart  from  curiosities 
and  books  and  photographs  there  are  not  many  things  to  tempt  the  foreigner 
in  Sicilian  shops,  though  ladies  are  eloquent  about  the  cheapness  and  good 
taste  of  Sicilian  hats  and  parasols,  and  most  large  towns  have  bootmakers 
who  can  imitate  a  thing  admirably  at  very  low  prices.  Foreigners  who  don't 
go  to  Sicily  to  buy  clothes  should  be  delighted  at  the  tenacity  with  which  the 
interesting  characteristic  native  shop  maintains  its  ground.  Take  for  example 
the  drapers  of  Palermo  in  their  quarter  between  the  Fonderia  and  the  Corso. 
In  their  open-fronted  little  bassi  shops  can  be  bought  the  fine  black  manto 
shawls,  the"  gorgeous  native  dyed  headkerchiefs,  charming  printed  cottons, 
and  the  birettas  worn  by  the  peasants.  Bootmakers  are  very  numerous 
because,  as  the  Sicilians  say,  they  wear  cheap  boots  and  many.  The  same 
applies  to  hatters.  Jewellers  are  numerous  and  interesting,  because  Sicilian 
Monts  de  Piete  allow  a  fixed  rate  of  advance  on  all  jewellery  of  a  certain 
fineness.  The  peasants  consequently  possess  an  immense  quantity  of  gold 
jewellery.  The  shops  where  they  sell  cooked  provisions,  corresponding  to  our 
cheesemongers,  are  excellent  and  beautifully  clean.  See  also  Cafe's  and 
Restaurants.  Hairdressers  are  very  numerous,  and  quite  bad.  The  pastry 
cooks  are  excellent.  Sicilian  cakes  are  famous ;  but  none  of  these  are  so 


THINGS   SICILIAN  281 

typical  as  the  greengrocers,  who  turn  their  shops  into  veritable  parterres  with 
gorgeous-coloured  vegetables  and  fruits.  They  are  more  picturesque  than  any 
in  Italy.  Their  rivals  are  the  mule  and  donkey  harness  shops,  with  their 
gorgeous  plumes  and  saddles,  embroidered  girths,  and  brazen-studded  leathers. 
But  they  are  mostly  in  one  quarter.  In  most  Sicilian  towns  like  Palermo 
each  trade,  except  food  and  drink  purveyors,  has  its  own  quarter.  In 
Palermo,  for  instance,  there  is  the  street  of  coppersmiths,  the  street  of  silver- 
workers,  the  street  of  turners,  a  pottery  street,  a  street  where  they  make 
wooden  boxes,  and  so  on.  Very  quaint  shops  are  those  to  be  found  near 
popular  churches,  where  they  sell  wax  legs  and  arms  and  other  offerings  of  the 
faithful,  such  as  silver  hearts,  rosaries,  images  of  the  saints  ;  as  are  the  generi 
diversi  (general  dealers)  shops  in  the  humbler  quarters,  where  they  indicate 
the  nature  of  their  stock  by  hanging  samples  on  a  string  across  the  doorway, 
such  as  a  piece  of  charcoal,  a  bottle  of  oil,  a  potato,  some  dried  tomatoes,  or 
a  piece  of  bread.  See  also  under  Curio-shops,  etc. 

Shooting1.  Ridiculously  poor  people  have  guns  and  shoot  in  Sicily.  They 
are  supposed  to  have  a  licence  costing  twelve  francs.  Except  in  gardens,  they 
can  shoot  in  most  places,  and  the  supply  of  birds  never  runs  short  because 
Sicily  is  on  the  great  migration  route.  At  certain  times  of  the  year  there 
are  swarms  of  quail.  Hares  are  numerous  round  Girgenti.  But  Sicily  is 
not  a  sportsman's  country. 

Showerbath  fountains.  When  the  Court  was  at  Palermo  horseplay  and 
buffooneries  of  all  sorts  were  highly  popular  with  the  nobles.  A  favourite 
device  was  to  have  a  number  of  hidden  fountain  jets  which  could  be  started 
on  the  passer-by  with  springs  worked  at  a  distance.  These  still  exist  in  the 
Serradifalco  garden. 

Shrines  are  innumerable  in  Sicily.  They  are  let  into  the  wall  of  almost 
every  street.  They  occupy  niches  in  the  gates,  they  rise  by  the  roadside :  all 
with  their  lamps  or  rows  of  sockets  for  tapers.  In  festa  times  their  number 
is  greatly  increased.  In  streets  they  are  generally  paintings ;  by  country 
roads  they  are  plaster  sedicula,  gables  with  square  panels  sunk  in  them  like 
the  tombs  of  Athens.  Good  examples  may  be  found  against  S.  Domenico  at 
Palermo,  and  on  the  Scala  between  the  two  towns  at  Ragusa, 

Shroud  of  Our  Lord.  The  burial  shroud  of  Our  Lord  (sudario  santo]  with 
the  impress  of  His  body  on  it,  is  shown  at  S.  Giuseppe  in  Palermo,  as  it  is 
in  Turin  and  elsewhere.  It  is  not  convincing,  because  the  impression  is  not 
the  shape  it  would  be  if  taken  from  a  body.  There  is  a  simple  explanation 
for  it:  the  early  Christians  liked  to  paint  the  image  of  our  Lord  on  the 
shrouds  in  which  they  buried  their  dead,  which  is  the  explanation  now 
generally  given. 

Sicanians.  One  of  the  three  races  which  we  find  in  Sicily  in  the  earliest 
historic  times.  Little  is  really  known  of  them,  though  their  pottery  is  said 
to  be  distinguishable  from  that  of  the  Sikelians.  The  idea  is  gaining  ground 
that  they  may  be  identical  with  the  Pelasgians  and  Lsestrygonians,  and  that 
the  Etruscans  may  be  another  branch  of  the  same  aboriginal  people.  If  so 
the  megalithic  work  at  Cefalu,  etc.,  would  belong  to  them.  The  presumption 
seems  strong  in  favour  of  their  being  an  Italo-Hellenk  race  before  the  Italian 
and  Greek  types  differentiated. 

Sicily.  The  name  is  obviously  derived  from  Siculus — Sikulos,  the  Latin 
and  Greek  for  the  chkf  of  the  three  races  which  we  find  in  Sicily  in  the 
earliest  historic  times.  The  name  Sikelia  occurs  in  Herodotus,  Pindar,  etc. 
But  Thucydides  uses  Sicania.  Strabo  calls  the  Ionian  Sea,  which  runs  up  to 
the  Strait  of  Messina,  the  Sea  of  Sicily,  and  so  does  Theocritus, 


282        SICILY  THE   NEW  WINTER   RESORT 

Sicily,  geographical  and  other  statistics.  The  largest,  most  fertile, 
and  most  populous  island  in  the  Mediterranean.  Area,  9,828  square  miles; 
population,  3,285,472.  The  north  side  of  the  island  is  200  miles  long;  the 
east,  135  ;  the  west,  175.  Cape  Passaro  is  only  56  miles  from  Malta,  Cape 
Boeo,  near  Marsala,  80  miles  from  the  African  coast,  and  the  Faro  of  Messina 
2  miles  from  the  Calabrian  coast  of  Italy.  Etna  is,  according  to  Baedeker, 
10,742  feet  high,  and  the  next  highest  mountain  is  the  Pizzo  D' Antenna  in 
the  Madonian  Mountains  on  the  north  coast.  The  largest  lake,  that  of 
Lentini,  is  only  4^  square  miles.  The  four  principal  rivers  are  the  Simeto 
(Simethus),  Salso  (Himera  Meridionalis),  the  Platani  (Halycus),  the  Belice 
(Hypsas).  The  climate  is  very  equable.  According  to  Chambers,  the  mean 
temperature  in  the  years  1871-86  ranged  from  45  degrees  Fah.  in  winter  to 
79  in  summer  ;  during  the  same  period  the  extremes  recorded  were  25  degrees 
(Caltanisetta)  and  118  degrees  (Palermo),  but  only  for  brief  periods  does  the 
dry  parching  sirocco  (q.v.),  chiefly  in  the  spring  and  early  autumn,  drive  the 
thermometer  up  to  over  100  degrees. 

Sicilian  cakes.   Famous  all  over  Sicily.     See  under  Pasticceria. 

Sicilian  Vespers.  On  Easter  Monday,  1282,  took  place  the  massacre 
known  as  the  Sicilian  Vespers,  which  began  the  revolution  that  expelled  the 
Angevin  dynasty,  in  consequence  of  the  oppressions  of  the  justiciar  St.  Remy 
(q.v.),  whose  palace  is  still  shown.  The  vesper  bell  of  S.  Spirito,  now  known 
as  the  Church  of  the  Vespers,  gave  the  signal  to  the  crowd  assembled  at  the 
fair  in  the  vicinity.  With  one  accord  every  Sicilian  set  upon  the  nearest 
Frenchman.  The  only  survivors  were  the  little  force  to  which  Sperlinga 
opened  her  gates  (q.v.).  According  to  tradition,  most  of  the  French  were 
buried  in  the  Piazza  S.  Croce  dei  Vespri  at  Palermo  (q.v.).  Dantes  Paradiso 
viii.,  67-76,  alludes  to  the  Sicilian  Vespers.  See  note  on  Canto  ix.  in 
Temple  Classics,  Dante.  " .  .  .  and  fair  Trinacria  which  darkeneth  between 
Pachynus  and  Pelorus,  o'er  the  gulf  tormented  most  Eurus,-(not  for  Typheus, 
but  for  sulphur  that  ariseth  there)  I  would  yet  have  looked  to  have  its  kings 
sprung  through  me  from  Charles  and  Rudolf,  had  not  ill  lordship,  which  doth 
ever  cut  the  heart  of  subject  peoples,  moved  Palermo  to  shriek  out  Die  1 
die!" 

Sicilian.  The  name  of  an  old-fashioned  dance.  Something  like  a  polka 
with  figures. 

Sicilianp.  According  to  Webster  a  musical  term  :  a  composition  in  |  or  f 
performed  in  a  slow  and  graceful  manner. 

Sicola.    The  ancient  name  of  the  town  of  Scicli  (q.v.). 

Sikel,  or  Sikelian.  By  common  assent  this  is  considered  the  latest  of  the 
three  races  whom  we  find  in  Sicily  in  the  earliest  historical  times.  It  is  also 
agreed  that  they  were  of  Italian  origin.  Everything  is  in  favour  of  the  first 
theory,  especially  the  fact  that  the  Sicanians  and  Elymians,  the  other  two 
races,  are  found  where  they  naturally  would  be  left  by  the  incursions  of  a 
stronger  race — in  the  mountain  fortresses  of  the  extreme  west  and  other 
impregnable  places.  The  Sikels  come  freely.  We  have  also  documentary 
evidence  as  far  back  as  Pausanias,  who  says,  "Sicily  is  inhabited  by  the 
following  races :  Sicanians,  Sikels,  and  Phrygians,  of  whom  the  first  two 
crossed  into  it  from  Italy.  The  Sikels  took  more  or  less  part  in  the  history 
of  the  island  far  into  historic  times.  Ducetius,  in  the  middle  of  the  fifth 
century  B.  c. ,  endeavoured  to  form  a  league  of  Sikel  towns  to  protect  the  race 
from  the  overwhelming  power  of  Syracuse.  But  eventually  the  Syracusans, 
in  league  with  the  Acragantines,  crushed  him.  They  spared  his  life  and 


THINGS   SICILIAN  283 

exiled  him  to  Corinth.,  but  he  returned  and  entered  into  a  fresh  alliance  with 
Archonides  I. ,  Prince  of  Herbita,  who  joined  with  him  in  founding  Calacte 
(q.v.).  Archonides  II.  of  Herbita,  403  B.C.,  founded  the  city  of  Halsesa. 
The  Sikels  did  not  forget  what  they  had  suffered  from  Syracuse,  and  at 
the  commencement  of  the  Athenian  invasion  joined  the  Athenians.  If  Alci- 
biades — a  born  ambassador  as  well  as  a  daring  commander— had  not  been 
deprived  of  his  command  by  the  infatuated  democracy  of  Athens,  Syracuse 
would  have  been  in  a  hopeless  case.  With  their  own  force  the  Athenians 
could  have  stormed  the  city  in  the  beginning,  and  with  the  Sikels  at  their 
back,  they  could  permanently  have  destroyed  the  Dorian  power  in  Sicily. 
But  as  the  war  went  on,  the  Sikels,  who  supplied  the  Athenians  with  cavalry, 
seemed  to  have  recognised  that,  with  Nicias  commanding  the  Athenians, 
it  could  only  have  one  ending,  so  they  listened  to  Gylippus  and  joined  his 
standard.  A  little  later  we  find  Agyris,  a  Sikel  king,  the  most  powerful 
tyrant  of  the  island  after  Dionysius  I. ,  in  the  league  against  Carthage.  When 
Dionysius  deported  the  inhabitants  of  Naxos,  the  oldest  Greek  city  in  the 
island,  he  replaced  them  with  Sikels,  it  being  part  of  his  policy  to  work 
in  with  them.  The  walls  they  built  at  Naxos  and  at  Taormina  when  the 
inhabitants  transferred  their  city  to  a  safer  position  on  the  hill  still  survive, 
and  show  us  their  style  of  building,  with  small  well-dressed  polygonal  stones. 
The  Sikels  possessed  considerable  culture,  as  evinced  by  the  numerous 
examples  of  their  pottery  in  the  museums.  We  also  get  considerable  glimpses 
of  their  mythology,  for  Hadranus  (q.v.)  and  Hybla  (q.v.]  were  certainly  Sikel 
gods,  even  if  the  Dii  Palici  (q.v.)  were  inherited  from  an  older  race.  It 
is  customary  to  attribute  to  the  Sikelians  the  magnificent  cave  sepulchres  with 
which  many  parts  of  Sicily  are  crowded :  perfect  beehives  inside,  with  low 
entrances  about  two  feet  square  finished  off  with  great  beauty.  But  these, 
I  believe  myself,  to  have  been  the  work,  or  at  any  rate  the  invention,  of  the 
Sicanians,  though  perhaps  the  Sikelians  adopted  the  idea,  for  these  cave 
sepulchres  are  obviously  the  work  of  cave-dwellers,  and  are  often  found  in 
conjunction  with  cave-dwellings.  The  Sikels  were  found  in  Italy  too.  There 
are  Sikel  tombs  in  the  Forum  at  Rome  like  those  in  the  Palermo  Museum. 

Sikeliot    A  Sicilian  Greek,  just  as  an  Italiot  is  an  Italian  Greek. 

Siculae  Dapes.  Sicilian  luxury  (literally,  Sicilian  banquets).  Horace  uses 
the  phrase  in  allusion  to  the  Sword  of  Damocles  (q.v.). 

Siculus  Pirata.    Sextus  Pompeius,  so  called  by  Lucan  in  his  Pharsalia. 

Sicilian.  It  is  not  clear  at  what  epoch  the  meaning  of  this  changed  from 
Sikelian  to  Sicilian  in  our  sense. 

Siculiana.  Reached  by  mail-vettura  from  Girgenti,  $J  hours.  One  of  the 
numerous  places  which  claim  to  be  on  the  site  of  the  Sicanian  city  of  Camicus. 
Restored  1310  by  Frederick  Chiaramonte,  who  built  the  medieval  fortress. 

Sieges.  Sicily  is  a  land  of  strong  fortresses,  and  has  had  many  famous 
sieges.  The  siege  of  Syracuse  by  the  Athenians,  415-413  B.C.  ended  in  the 
capture  of  the  invaders.  The  siege  of  Motya  by  Dionysius  in  397  B.C.  is 
famous  as  the  first  in  which  the  artillery  of  the  ancients  was  used.  Eryx  was 
besieged  in  vain  by  Dorieus,  the  king's  son,  of  Sparta.  Lilybseum,  the  virgin 
fortress,  defied  first  Pyrhhus,  276  B.C.,  and  the  Romans  who  besieged  it  for 
ten  years  in  vain,  250-241  B.C.  Hamilcar  Barea  defended  himself  in  Ercta, 
on  Monte  Pellegrino.  against  the  Romans  for  three  years.  Syracuse  was 
taken  by  the  Romans  under  Marcellus  after  a  siege  of  two  years,  214-212  B.C., 
in  which  Archimedes  showed  marvellous  mechanical  resources,  unexcelled  till 
modern  times  and  the  invention  of  gunpowder.  During  the  Saracen  conquest 


284        SICILY  THE   NEW  WINTER   RESORT 

many  towns  maintained  themselves  for  years.  Roger,  the  Great  Count,  and 
his  girl  wife  and  a  handful  of  knights  held  out  for  months  in  the  fortress 
of  Troina.  Palermo  has  suffered  some  notable  sieges,  such  as  that  in  which 
it  was  captured  by  Beiisarius  from  the  Goths,  and  by  Robert  and  Roger  from 
the  Saracens. 

Siesta,  the,  or  rest  in  the  middle  of  the  day  after  the  noontide  colazwne,  is 
very  general  in  Sicily.  The  churches  in  the  poorer  quarters  begin  foeir  siesta 
at  eight  a.m.,  and  sometimes  never  open  again.  That  popular  institution,  the 
post  office,  always  has  a  two  or  three  hours'  siesta  in  out-of-the-way  places. 

Silk  hangings.  Palermo  was  famous  for  its  medieval  silk  hangings,  the 
Norman  kings  having  deported  the  silk-workers  from  Greece.  They  are 
hardly  to  be  bought  now,  though  Mr.  Robert  Whitaker,  the  Conte  Mazzarino, 
and  the  Palermo  Museum  have  specimens. 

Silius  Italicus.  A  Roman  poet  who  lived  from  A.D.  25-101.  In  his  epic 
poem,  The  Punica,  of  17  books  and  14,000  lines,  he  mentions  a  good  many 
places  in  Sicily. 

Silver,  old  Sicilian.  One  of  the  great  objects  sought  by  collectors  in 
Sicily.  Mr.  H.  von  Pernull,  Cook's  correspondent  in  the  Corso,  near  the 
Piazza  Marina,  is  an  authority  to  consult.  There  is  a  great  deal  of  it  about, 
both  in  the  form  of  plate  and  filigree  and  small  jewels  for  carrying  relics. 

Silver  map  of  the  world,  the,  was  prepared  by  the  Arab  geographer, 
El  Edrisi  (q.v.),  for  King  Roger. 

Simethus.   The  antique  name  of  the  river  Simeto  (q.  v. ). 

Simeto.  The  Simethus  of  antiquity,  which  gives  its  name  to  a  little  town, 
is  one  of  the  principal  rivers  of  Sicily.  It  rises  on  Etna  near  the  Castle  of 
Maniace  ;  and  as  the  valley  expands  near  Paternfc,  it  is  of  superb  beauty.  It 
flows  into  the  sea  between  Bicocca  and  Lentini,  though  its  short  course  after 
receiving  the  waters  of  the  Gurnalunga  is  called  the  Giarretta.  The  necropolis 
of  the  ancient  town  of  Simethus  has  been  discovered. 

Simomdes  of  Ceos.  One  of  the  most  celebrated  lyric  poets  of  Greece ; 
born  556  B.C.  Pausanias  tells  us  (I.  ii.  3)  that  he  went  with  ^Eschylus  to  the 
court  of  Hiero  I.  He  is  said  to  have  reconciled  Hiero  I.  and  Theron  of 
Acragas.  He  died  at  Syracuse  467  B.C.,  and  his  poems  contain  references  to 
Sicily. 

Sirocco.  A  sailor's  corruption  of  Scilocco,  the  south-east  wind ;  a  wind 
much  dreaded  in  Sicily.  Originally  the  term  was  confined  to  a  wind  blowing 
from  one  particular  quarter,  but  now  it  is  applied  loosely  to  all  hot  winds, 
damp  or  dry ;  and  they  suffer  from  both  in  Sicily,  the  dry  being  accompanied 
with  whirlwinds  of  dust  generally  finishing  in  a  storm,  like  the  hot  winds  of 
Australia.  These  dry  hot  winds  are  very  violent,  they  frequently  blow  the 
windows  in.  The  Sicilians  dread  the  soft,  damp,  oppressive  sirocco  much  more. 
If  a  servant  is  slack  over  his  work  he  puts  it  down  to  the  sirocco. 

Slave  wars.  The  First  Slave  War  took  place  134  B.C.  to  131  B.C.,  breaking 
out  over  the  oppression  of  their  slaves  by  Damophilus  and  Megallis  of  Enna. 
See  under  Eunus,  Cleon,  Damophilus.  The  Second  Slave  War  was  from 
102  B.  c.  to  99  B.  c. ,  while  the  Romans  were  engaged  in  crushing  the  Cimbri 
and  Teutones.  There  was  a  so-called  slave  war  in  the  time  of  Sextus 
Pompeius.  The  third  great  Slave  War  was  A.r>.  260-268,  in  the  reign  of 
Gallienus. 

Smalti.  Sicily  is  a  great  place  for  baying  little  old  enamels,  which  they 
call  smaltL  They  are  mostly  from  religious  subjects,  and  some  of  them  are 
centuries  old. 


THINGS   SICILIAN  285 

Smith,  Sir  W.  In  studying  ancient  Sicily  one  can  hardly  move  without 
consulting  the  works  of  Sir  William  Smith,  especially  his  valuable  Dictionary 
of  Greek  and  Roman  Mythology  and  Biography  and  his  Dictionary  of  Greek  and 
Roman  Geography.  His  Dictionary  of  Greek  and  Roman  Antiquities  is  also 
invaluable,  but  it  suffers  more  from  the  competition  of  recent  and  highly  illus 
trated  rivals.  They  are  all  published  by  Mr.  Murray. 

Snakes,  Sicily  has  a  good  many  snakes,  though  there  are  not  many  varieties. 
They  are  none  of  them  very  venomous,  but  one  large  black  harmless  snake 
looks  very  revolting.  Tourists  hardly  ever  see  them  because  they  are  hiber 
nating  during  the  tourist  season. 

Snapdragon  (Antirrhinum)  grows  wild  in  Sicily,  particularly  in  the  walls 
of  buildings,  though  it  is  also  found  in  rocks.  The  commonest  wild  variety 
has  beautiful  flesh-coloured  flowers,  though  you  also  see  red  ones,  The  wild 
antirrhinum,  known  as  toadflax  in  England,  is  much  commoner  in  Sicily  than 
the  snapdragon. 

Societies,  Secret.  The  Sicilians  are  very  fond  of  secret  societies ;  the 
power  and  extent  of  the  celebrated  Mafia  is  enormous.  In  the  year  1896 
there  was  considerable  danger  of  a  revolution  in  Sicily.  The  large  garrison 
of  ^  60,000  men  had  less  to  do  with  its  avoidance  than  the  fact  that  the  Prime 
Minister,  Crispi,  had,  in  his  own  revolutionary  days,  worked  against  the 
Bourbons  with  the  secret  societies,  and  was  much  more  familiar  with  them 
than  the  not  very  capable  men  who  were  at  the  head  of  the  disaffection  of  1896. 

Solera  System,  the,  pursued  at  Marsala  has  for  its  chief  feature  the  filling 
up  of  a  cask  of  old  wine  with  the  next  oldest  wine  when  any  is  drawn  off. 

Solfatara.  According  to  Chambers,  the  Italian  name  for  such  volcanoes  as 
having  ceased  to  be  violently  active,  emit  from  crevices  gases,  steam,  and 
chemical  vapours,  chiefly  of  sulphurous  origin.  They  are  numerous  in  Sicily 
in  the  volcanic  districts. 

Solanto,  the  modern  town  near  the  ruins  of  ancient  Solous,  which  are 
called  Solunto.  It  has  a  castle  belonging  to  Prince  Gangi,  and  is  reached 
from  S.  Flavia  Stat.  They  are  a  little  over  two  miles  apart. 

Solunto,  the  Sicilian  Pompeii.    The  ancient  Solous.    See  below,  page  488. 

Sophron  of  Syracuse,  the  son  of  Agathocles  and  Damnasyllis,  was  the 
inventor  of  the  compositions  known  as  "Mimes,"  one  of  the  principal  varieties 
of  Dorian  comedy.  According  to  Sir  W.  Smith,  flourished  probably  460-420  B.C. 
He  wrote  in  the  old  Doric  with  Sicilian  peculiarities. 

Soprano,  Cape.  Near  Terranova,  the  ancient  Gela.  The  Greek  necropolis 
here,  of  the  fifth  century  B.C.,  is  one  of  the  most  interesting  and  fruitful  which 
has  been  discovered.  It  was  here  that  the  magnificent  terra-cotta  sarcophagi 
of  this  period,  now  in  the  Syracuse  Museum,  were  discovered  in  recent  years. 
By  carriage  from  the  Terranova  Stat.  on  the  Syracuse-Licata  line. 

Sortino.  A  little  town  on  the  Hybkean  hills,  the  nearest  inhabited  point 
to  the  prehistoric  city  of  the  dead  at  Pantalica.  It  was  founded  on  the  ruins 
of  the  ancient  Pentarga,  destroyed  by  the  great  earthquake  in  1693,  of  which 
the  only  remains  are  one  tower  and  some  ruins.  In  the  neighbourhood  are 
many  caves  cut  in  the  rock.  The  territory  was  called  Xuthius  (q.v.).  There 
is  a  mail-vettura  from  Syracuse,  touching  at  Priolo,  Melilli,  and  proceeding  to 
Ferla  and  Cassaro.  It  leaves  Syracuse  at  3.30  and  takes  about  six  hours. 
The  fare  is  two  francs  fifteen  centimes  each  way,  with  aa  extra  fifty  centimes 
for  the  coachman. 


286        SICILY   THE   NEW   WINTER   RESORT 

Spaccaforno.  A  city  with  a  stat.  on  the  Syracuse- Licata  line.  Eastern 
entrance  of  the  Val  D'Ispica  (Ispicse  Furnus  is  the  derivation  of  the  name). 
The  present  town  was  built  after  the  great  earthquake  in  1693,  but  there  are 
remains  of  the  ancient  fortress  and  the  baronial  palace  of  the  earlier  town. 

Spadafora-S.  Martino.  Reached  from  Venetico-Spadafora  Stat.  on  the 
Palermo- Messina  line.  It  was  founded  by  the  Prince  of  Maletto  and 
Venetico  in  1737. 

Spaniards  in  Sicily.  Sicily  was  under  Spanish  dynasties  from  Peter  of 
Aragon,  1282,  to  the  fall  of  the  Bourbons  in  1860.  The  nobles  are  mostly 
of  Spanish  creation/  See  below,  under  Spanish. 

Spanish  balconies  of  Sicily  (especially  Syracuse)  are  famous  for  their 
glorious  Renaissance  ironwork.  See  Hammered  Iron,  Balconies,  etc. 


VALLEY  OF  THE  ANAPO,   BETWEEN  SOLARINO  AND  SORTING 


Spanish  building's.   The  Spanish  element  is  a  conspicuous  feature  in  Sicily. 

Spanish  Baroque,  Coats-of-Arms.  Sicily  (especially  Syracuse)  is  re 
markable  for  the  beautiful  Spanish  coats-of-arms,  generally  in  white  marble, 
affixed  to  its  buildings,  e.g.  the  Convent  of  S.  Lucia  or  the  Castle  of  Maniace 
at  Syracuse.  An  interesting  and  beautiful  book  might  be  written  on  the  subject. 

Spanish  tiles.  The  so-called  Spanish  tiles  are  a  great  feature  of  Sicily. 
They  are  mostly  blue  and  orange  or  green  and  orange  on  a  white  ground,  and 
have  such  large  patterns  that  many  tiles  go  to  form  a  single  pattern.  The 
roof  of  the  Porta  Nuova,  and  various  domes  in  Palermo,  are  covered  with 
them,  and  they  form  a  brilliant  and  charming  feature,  used  in  this  way. 
The  design  on  the  Porta  Nuova  is  a  huge  eagle.  At  Castrogiovanni  tile- 
pictures  are  a  chief  feature  of  church  floors ;  one  church  has  a  picture  of 
St.  Michael  and  the  Devil,  and  another  a  picture  of  one  of  the  first  steamers 
on  its  floor.  They  are  much  used  in  palaces  for  the  floors  of  state  apartments. 
In  the  old  market  near  S.  Antonio  at  Palermo,  there  are  two  butchers'  shops 


THINGS   SICILIAN 


287 


with  some  ^  tile-pictures.  But  the  best  is  a  much-ruined  sixteenth- century 
sacred  subject,  quite  Botticelli-like,  in  the  cortile  of  the  Palazzo  Arezzo 
between  the  Via  Roma  and  the  Piazza  Nuova  at  Palermo. 

Spanish  viceroys.  Sicily  had  a  long  succession  of  Spanish  viceroys,  whose 
portraits  hang  round  the  first  room  you  enter  when  you  go  into  the  Royal 
Palace  at  Palermo.  It  was  customary  for  them  on  landing  to  go  and  stay  at 
the  Palazzo  di  Gregorio  on  ^  the  Mole,  until  they  had  sufficiently  recovered 
from  the  voyage  to  make  an  imposing  state  entry. 

Speciale,  Niccolo.  A  fourteenth-century  Sicilian  historian,  born  at  Noto  ; 
wrote  a  history,  in  eight  books,  of  the  period  1282-1337,  from  the  Sicilian 
Vespers  to  the  death  of  Frederick  of  Aragon. 

Sperlinga  (Sperlenga,  or  Sperlunga).  One  and  a  half  hours  by  mail- 
vettura  from  Nicosia,  which  is  5!  hours  from  Leonforte,  a  station  on  the 
Palermo -Catania  line.  Sperlinga  covered  itself  with  undying  glory  by  protect 
ing  the  French  refugees  at  the  time  of  the  massacre  of  the  Sicilian  Vespers, 
commemorated  in  the  line  "Quod  Siculis  placuit,  sola  Sperlinga  negavit," 
which,  put  in  Sicilian,  is  "Sol  negossi  Sperlinga  al  sican  guiro."  Has  a 
castle  dating  from  1 132.  Freeman  identifies  it  with  the  ancient  Herbita  (q.v.). 


THE  ANCIENT  CITY  OF  SPERLINGA 


Sperlinga.   The  villa  of  Joshua  Whitaker,  Esq.     See  under  Palermo. 

Spinning1.  Sicilian  women  spin,  and  weave,  and  card  for  themselves 
except  in  the  large  towns.  An  immense  amount  of  linen  and  frieze  is 
home-spun  and  home-woven.  Even  in  Taormina,  the  housewife  with  a 
distaff  is  one  of  the  commonest  sights. 

Sport.  Beyond  lawn-tennis,  card-playing,  and  lotteries,  and  a  little  racing, 
the  native  Sicilian  has  not  much  sport,  though  nearly  everybody  has  a  gun  and 
murders  quail  when  they  are  migrating.  But  golf  is  being  introduced,  and  in 
Palermo  Mrs.  Joshua  Whitaker,  Signora  Florio,  and  others,  have  frequent 
tennis  days,  and  some  Sicilians  play  tennis  very  well.  There  is  an  annual 
tennis-tournament  in  the  Sports  Club  at  Palermo. 


288        SICILY  THE   NEW  WINTER   RESORT 

Spurges.  Sicily  is  a  land  of  gorgeous  spurges  (Euphorbia}.  ^All  contain 
a  resinous  milky  juice  which  in  most  is  very  active.  The  varieties  which 
grow  a  couple  of  feet  high  in  England,  grow  as  much  as  ten  feet  high ^on  the 
mountains  iti  Sicily,  with  woody  stems  as  thick  as  a  man's  arm.  The  Sicilians 
always  call  out  that  the  juice  is  dangerous  to  the  eyes  when  they  see  you  pick  it. 
The  flowers  are  mostly  of  a  bright  golden  colour.  A  very  golden  variety, 
handsomely  marked  with  red,  is  one  of  the  first  flowers  that  springs  from  lava 
streams  on  Etna  when  the  soil  begins  to  form  on  them.  It  is  so  bright  that 
yon  can  see  it  at  a  great  distance  towering  out  of  the  jet-like  lava.  See 
under  Euphorbia. 

Squid,  or  Octopus.  Called  in  Sicily  the  calamaw^  from  the  inky  juice  they 
squirt,  etc.  Is  a  favourite  article  of  food.  See  Octopus. 


TROGLODYTE  DWELLINGS  AT  SPEELINGA 


Stagnpne.  An  antique  reservoir.  The  Roman  Stagnoni  at  Taormina 
with  their  vaulted  aisles  are  among  the  finest  Roman  buildings  in  the 

island. 

Staircases.  There  are  some  very  fine  staircases  in  Sicily.  The  proces 
sional  staircases  rising  from  a  cortile  to  the  piano  nobih  on  the  first  floor 
are  gradually  disappearing,  but  there  are  still  some  noble  examples  at 
Taormiaa,  Syracuse,  and  Castrogiovanni  See  Outside  staircases  under  these 
headings.  There  are  beautiful  double  stairway  approaches  to  palaces  at  the 
Palazzo  S.  Elia  outside  Bagheria,  and  the  Monte  di  Pieta  at  Messina.  The 
stairways  mounting  from  the  street  to  the  three  great  churches  of  Modica  are 
extremely  fine  and  lofty.  Fine,  broad  marble  staircases  are  often  an  interior 
feature  of  palaces,  as,  for  example,  at  the  Royal  Palace,  the  Trabia  Palace, 
and  especially  at  Mr.  Joshua  Whitaker's  new  palace  in  the  Via  Cavour  at 
Palermo, 


THINGS   SICILIAN 


289 


Stalls,  like  hawkers,  are  a  great  feature  of  Sicily.  There  are  second 
hand  bookstalls,  newspaper  and  postcard  stalls,  knife  and  knick-knack  stalls, 
on  the  ledges  formed  by  the  outsides  of  the  churches;  flower-stalls  are 
distinguished  by  tall  plumes  of  dried  grasses,  and  some  of  the  basket-stalls 
are  very  ornamental.  These  may  be  found  at  any  time  and  place,  and  there 
are  extraordinarily  cheap  rubbish,  and  haberdashery,  and  tinkery,  and  turnery 
stalls  at  the  markets  and  fairs.  The  most  picturesque  stalls  of  all  are  those 
outside  the  doors  of  popular  churches  where  they  sell  rosaries,  and  images  of 
saints,  and  wax-counterfeits  of  diseased  limbs  for  the  grateful  faithful  to  offer. 

Stamps.  Sicily  no  longer  has  separate  stamps,  as  she  did  under  Bourbon 
kings.  Remember,  if  you  do  not  wish  to  waste  your  time,  to  buy  your  stamps 
at  the  tobacconist,  not  the  post  office. 


ENVIRONS  OF  SPERLINGA 

Stanley,  Dean,  went  to  Sicily,  and  there  is  a  capital  story  of  him  going  out 
with  his  nightshirt  over  his  clothes,  because  it  was  the  only  extra  wrap  he  had. 

Steamers  (of  the  Florio-Rubattino-yNavigazione  Generale  Italiana  line) 
between  Naples  and  Palermo  are  superior  to  any  steamers  between  England 
and  France.  They  are  like  little  Atlantic  liners,  with  their  elaborately 
decorated  music-rooms,  etc.  The  steamers  that  come  down  from  Genoa  and 
go  round  the  island  are  much  more  homely ;  but,  if  anything,  I  prefer  them, 
though  they  are  extremely  slow.  There  is  more  room,  and  the  servants  are 
more  attentive.  The  food  is  about  the  same  as  hotel  food.  There  are 
also  steamers  now  coming  direct  from  America  to  Sicily,  or,  at  any  rate, 
Naples,  and  the  large  German  steamers  occasionally  touch  Sicily,  besides  the 
"millionaire's  yachting  trips"  on  the  great  Hamburg- American  liners. 
Steamers  run  from  Palermo  to  Naples,  Marseilles,  Genoa,  Tunis,  and  round 
the  island,  and  occasionally  to  America  for  emigrants.  Steamers  from 
Messina  go  also  to  India,  Egypt,  Athens,  the  Greek  Islands,  Constantinople, 
and  the  Black  Sea,  and  from  Syracuse  to  Malta  and  Tripoli. 


29o        SICILY  THE   NEW  WINTER   RESORT 

S.  Stefano-Quisquina.  Seven  and  a  quarter  hours  from  Lercara  Stat 
(Girgenti- Palermo  line),  and  12  hours  from  Girgenti.  On  the  cliff  of  the 
Monte  Quisquina,  founded  in  the  thirteenth  century.  Its  principal  church 
was  built  by  Frederick  Chiaramonte  in  the  fourteenth  century.  The  place 
belonged  originally  to  Duke  Sinibald,  the  father  of  S.  Rosalia. 

S.  Stefano  di  Camastra  di  Mistretta.     A  stat.  on  the  Palermo-Messina 
line.     Was  founded  by  a  migration  of  inhabitants  from  the  ancient  Mistretta. 
Stendardi.   The  Venetian  masts  used  in  the  procession  of  Corpus  Domini. 
See  under  Marsala. 

Stesichorus.  The  greatest  of  all  Doric  lyric  poets.  Born  at  Himera 
(Termini)  630  B.C.;  died  at  Catania  556.  Dealt  mostly  with  epic  subjects, 
and  was  struck  blind  for  slandering  Helen.  Only  thirty  short_  fragments^  of 
his  poems  remain.  In  Catania  most  things  are  named  after  Stesichorus  which 
are  not  called  after  Bellini,  including  the  main  street. 

Stiela.  A  name  of  a  city  which  occupied  the  site  of  Megara  Iblea.  For 
Mr.  G.  F.  Hill's  remarks  on  its  charming  little  coins,  see  under  Megara  Iblea. 
Stylobate.  An  architectural  term.  Sturgis  defines  it  as  "  In  Greek 
architecture  that  part  of  the  stereobate  upon  which  the  peristyle  stands  ;  by 
extension,  any  continuous  base,  plinth,  or  pedestal  upon  which  a  row  of 
columns  are  set" 

Stocks.  The  stocks  of  Sicily  are  superb.  The  bushes  grow  very  large, 
and  the  flowers,  mostly  of  a  rich  crimson  colour,  are  as  big  as  crown- pieces, 
and  their  delicious  scent  will  suffuse  a  whole  garden.  The  wild  stocks  are 
also  very  ine  in  Sicily,  though  their  flowers  are  not  so  large.  They  grow, 
like  their  kimsfolc,  tfee  wallflowers,  in  oU  walls.  There  was  a  magnificent  one- 
growing  out  of  a  church  facade  at  Syracuse,  and  the  ancient  walls  of  Girgenti 
glow  with  them.  A  dwarf  puce-coloured  variety  grows  along  the  railway  line 
in  the  interior. 

Stooecrop  (S#bun)>  is  naturally  abundant  in  Sicily,  where  there  is  hardly  a 
yard  wxthovt  a  stone.     See  also  under  Orpine. 
Street  stuiaes.   See  under  Shrines. 

Story-tellers  are  a  great  feature  in  Sicily.  I  do  not  refer  to  a  national  habit 
of  lying,  but  to  the  professional  story-teller,  who,  either  from  memory  or  a 
penny  book,  may  be  seen  regaling  large  circles  of  workpeople  unable  to  read, 
at  Catania  and  elsewhere, 

Stoves.  Sicily  is  picturesque  in  the  matter  of  stoves.  The  ordinary 
cooking-stove  is  a  tiled  sarcophagus  with  a  number  of  birds'  nests  sunk  in  the 
top,  which  are  filled  with  charcoal  embers  as  required  and  blown  up  with  a 
palm-leaf  fen.  Not  content  with  this,  the  Sicilian  has  stoves  which  fit  into 
baskets  for  peripatetic  cooks.  Scaldini  are  not  very  frequent.  You  can  keep 
the  fingers  warm  in  Sicily  without  them. 

Stromboli  Oae  of  the  Lipari  Islands  (q.v.J,  which  has  a  continually 
active  t«t  unmalick>us  volcano.  It  is  always  in  eruption,  but  has  a  good 
jitnafoec  of  inhabitants,  who  in  case  of  a  serious  eruption  would  be  literally 
between  tbe  deril  and  the  deep  sea,  for  the  island  consists  of  nothing  but  the 
^ofcaiKj,  which  Mes  pcetty  close  to  the  track  of  steamers  between  Messina  and 
Naples.  Its  classical  name  was  Strongyle.  For  steamers  to  it,  see  under 
Lipari  Islands. 

Stucco  plays  a  great  part  in  Sicily,  not  so  much  in  the  houses  as  in  garden 
walls,  tibotigh  at  Syracuse  you  can  see  houses  being  built  of  it  like  those  of  the 
aacieat  city  which  have  goae  back  to  the  elements,  and  left  nothing  but  the 


THINGS   SICILIAN 


291 


foundations  cut  in.  the  .rock  and  a  harvest  of  little  boulders  which  must  have 
been  used, then,  as  they  are  now,  for  loose-built  walls,  made  even  with  stucco. 
The  most  interesting  Sicilian  stucco  is  the  hard  kind,  which  doubtless  caused 
enamels  and  cement  to  be  designated  by  the  same  word — stnalto.  It  was 
used  on  all  the  temples  to  give  the  stone  a  white,  marble-like  surface,  which 
was  picked  out  with  brilliant  colours ;  both  at  Girgenti  and  Selinunte  this 
coloured  cement  may  be  seen  on  still-standing  portions  of  temples,  and  in  the 
Palermo  Museum  there  are  some  most  interesting  specimens  of  it. 

Students.  Sicily  has  three  universities  and  a  number  of  seminaries  and 
schools  for  youths.  In  large  numbers  they  can  be  objectionable  young 
bounders,  but  singly,  or  in  two  and  threes,  when  appealed  to  by  strangers, 
they  are  generally  extremely  polite  and  obliging.  They  are  fond  of  acting  as 
ciceroni.  A  peculiarity  of  the  Palermo  student  is  that  he  knows  how  to 
organise  a  strike.  See  Scioperi 


STROliBOLI,   THE  VOLCANO   IN   THE  LIPARI   ISLANDS 

Suabia,  the  three  blasts  of,  the  name  given  by  Dante  (Paradise,  Canto 
iii.  1 8)  to  the  Emperors  Frederick  Barbarossa,  Henry  VI.,  and  Frederick  II. 

Suisse.  There  are  two  kinds  of  Suisse  prevalent  in  Sicily — the  cathedral 
Suisse  and  the  Pension  Suisse.  The  Pension  Suisse  is  a  name  that  implies 
cheapness  in  a  boarding-house.  The  cathedral  Suisse  is  a  person  in  gorgeous 
rose-coloured  silk  robes  who  acts  as  maceman  in  ecclesiastical  processions. 

Sulphur.  As  Sicily  is  so  volcanic,  sulphur  is  naturally  a  leading  export 
The  principal  sulphur  ports  are  at  Catania,  Porto  Empedocle  (Girgenti),  and 
Licata.  The  railway  in  the  interior  between  Catania,  Palermo,  and  Girgenti, 
lies  mostly  in  the  sulphur-mining  country.  The  stations  are  piled  up  with  the 
pale-yellow  or  iron-grey  ingots.  The  conditions  under  which  the  mines  are 
worked  are  said  to  take  one  back  to  the  barbarous  ages.  The  sulphur  miners 
are  the  worst  of  the  population.  Hie  criminal  class  is  principally  recruited 


292       SICILY  THE  NEW  WINTER   RESORT 

from  them.  The  Anglo- Sicilian  Sulphur  Company,  in  which  Sig.  Florio  is 
interested,  has  immense  operations. 

One  of  the  best  accounts  of  sulphur-mining  in  Sicily  is  given  by  Mr.  James 
Baker  in  the  Leisure  Hour  of  August,  1903,  from  which  the  following  descrip 
tion  of  a  mine  near  S.  Cataldo  is  taken  : — 

K  The  mines  we  were  bound  for  employed  some  600  workpeople ;  the  depth 
below  the  surface  was  some  500  to  600  feet  through  the  formation  of  sulphur 
and  chalk. 

"  On  our  arrival  the  fumes  of  the  burning  sulphur  were  terrible ;  the  air  was 
filled  with  it  unless  we  got  to  windward  of  the  furnaces ;  and  the  nearly  nude 
figures  of  the  men  swarming  about  the  pit's  mouth  gave  a  vivid  realisation  of 
the  old  idea  of  Hades. 

**  There  was  no  cage  wherewith  to  descend  into  the  lower  regions,  but  a  flat 
board  on  which  we  stood,  and  slowly,  very  slowly,  we  sank  down  into  the 
darkness,  a  scent  of  sulphur  pervading  the  shaft ;  but  we  soon  left  the  thick 
fumes  of  the  furnaces  above  us,  and  seemed  to  sink  into  purer  air. 

tt  At  last  we  halted  and  stepped  out  into  a  great  vault,  from  whence  led 
narrow,  dark,  grooved  passages.  From  these  issued  gleams  of  light,  thin 
smoke,  dull  booms  of  explosions,  and  low  groans  as  of  men  in  agony. 

"  It  was  curiously  weird,  but  we  went  on  through  a  low  tunnel  and  came  out 
into  a  vaulted  chamber,  where  were  groups  of  nude  figures  lit  by  nickering 
candles  and  little  lamp.  They  were  round  a  line  of  little  trucks  filled  with 
the  ore,  one  piece  I  picked  off  a  truck  being  almost  pure  rock  sulphur  of  a 
light  gold  hue. 

**  A  little  furtter  we  penetrated  into  this  strange  scene,  the  scent  and  sounds 
and  sights  of  which  were  as  the  Inferno,  save  no  flames  issued  around  us,  and 
tip  little  passages  in  the  rock  above  us  we  saw  men  boring  and  blasting.  And 
now  we  knew  wtieosce  came  the  sad  groans,  for  as  they  bored  and  drove  home 
the  borers,  they  groaned  as  though  in  agony  of  spirit. 

**  The  Httk  boys  also  who  bear  the  sulphur  to  the  trucks  as  they  creep  along 
groa%  and  this  gives  the  strange  effect  of  misery  and  anguish  that  so  adds  to 
the  effect  of  the  scene. 

*  A  kw  lias  been  passed  to  prevent  boys  of  tender  years  working  in  these 
mines,  b®t  the  people  evade  the  law,  and  this  custom  of  making  these  sad 
moaning  noises  adds  to  the  idea  of  the  terror  of  the  work. 

**  The  faces  of  the  men  as  we  saw  them  there,  lit  up  by  the  dim  glimmer, 
seemed  full  of  sadness,  but  intelligent.  One  man  had  a  red  handkerchief 
bound  turban  fashion  round  his  head,  another  wore  a  brilliant  red  cap,  others 
grey  Piirygian  caps  above  their  brown,  nude,  lithe  bodies. 

*  The  heat  was  tremendous,  save  where  an  air-shaft  brought  down  rushes  of 
cool  air.     The  men  carry  plaids  to  wrap  round  them  when  they  ascend  to  the 
surface. 

**  A  frequent  coaghing  gave  one  an  idea  of  chest  complaint,  but  that  we  were 
told  was  tfce  sulphur,  and  that  these  mines  were  not  so  unhealthy  as  coal 


"Tfoe  wofk  is  dome  in  eight-hour  shifts,  six  days  a  week,  and  the  men  earn 
about  three  francs  a  day,  and  the  boys  about  one-fourth  (say,  zs.  &£  and  &/. ) 

*  It  was  a  relief  to  rise  once  again  to  the  surface  of  the  earth,  and  we  gave 
op  too  close  an  inspection  of  the  furnaces ;  we  had  inhaled  enough  sulphur 
already,  and  oar  clothes  were  covered  with  sulphurous  spots  and  the  silver  in 
oar  pockets  had  turned  Hack, 

*  We  got  a  photograph  of  the  men  before  leaving,  but  they  hastily  clad  them 
selves,  one  or  two  only  reaaaiaing  in  their  semi-nude  working  attire.'* 


THINGS   SICILIAN 


293 


Superstitions.  Sicilians  are  very  superstitious.  The  use  of  amulets,  such 
as  coral  hands  with  an  outstretched  finger,  and  phalli,  against  the  evil  eye,  is 
attested  by  their  prevalence  in  jewellers7  shops. 

Suter.  A  Saracen  name  preserved  in  the  name  of  the  city  Sntera.  Suter  is 
in  its  turn  a  corruption  of  the  Greek  soter,  a  saviour,  because  the  city  had  a 
castle  so  impregnable  as  to  be  the  saviour  of  its  citizens.  On  the  mountain 
may  be  seen  the  ruins  of  the  castle.  See  below,  Sutera. 


SUTERA 
MONTE  S.  PAOLINO 


Sutera.  Stat.  on  the  Girgenti-Roccapalumba  line.  See  above.  It  has  a 
pilgrimage  chapel  of  S.  Paolino.  The  situation  of  the  town  is  wonderfully 
picturesque  with  its  truncated  cone.  The  castle,  according  to  Murray,  was 
the  prison  of  Philip,  Prince  of  Taranto,  son  of  Charles  the  Lame,  who  was 
captured  at  the  Battle  of  Falconaria  and  detained  here  till  1302. 

Sweets.  Sicilians  are  very  fond  of  sweets,  including  candied  fruits  and  the 
Sicilian  cakes  mentioned  above  (q.  v. ). 

Swordfish  (Pesce  spada}.  Harpooning  this  handsome  fish,  whose  flesh  is 
esteemed  as  much  as  tunny,  is  one  of  the  most  picturesque  features  of  the 
Strait  of  Messina  (q.v.). 

Syracuse.  The  greatest  city  of  ancient  Greece*  In  its  heyday  the  largest 
in  the  world.  It  has  never  been  destroyed,  though  it  now  only  occupies  one 
of  its  five  ancient  quarters,  and  has  only  20,000  or  30,000  inhabitants.  See 
below,  p.  490.  Owing  to  its  excellent  daily  steam  service  with  Malta,  Syracuse 
is  now  a  favourite  stopping-place  with  Anglo-Indians  anxious  to  break  the 
climatic  shock  on  their  way  to  and  from  England. 

Sylvia.  A  Syracusan  heiress,  mother  of  Pope  Gregory  the  Great  He 
founded  six  monasteries  on  the  estates  she  left  him,  among  them  S.  Giovanni 
degli  Eremiti  at  Palermo  and  the  great  monastery  of  S.  Martino  above 
Monreale. 


294        SICILY  THE   NEW  WINTER   RESORT 

T 

Taglia.  Our  English  word  "tally."  Much  used  still  in  out-of-the-way 
parts  of  Sicily,  At  Marsala,  for  instance,  the  dealings  between  the  baglj  and 
the  farmers  are  mostly  done  by  tallies.  The  sticks  are  sawn  irregularly 
down  the  middle,  and  the  numbers  are  then  filed  on  it  in  Roman  figures — the 
tens  being  crossed,  the  fives  not  crossed,  and  the  units  vertical, 

Tamarisks,  with  their  graceful  light-green,  plumy  foliage  and  pinkish 
blossoms,  grow  wild  along  Sicilian  rivers. 

Tanagra  figurines.  Very  few  Tanagra  figurines  are  dug  up  in  Sicily :  the 
terra-cotta  figurines  are  nearly  always  of  native  construction  and  belonging  to 
an  earlier  century  than  those  of  Tanagra. 


BETWEEN  SCYLLA   AND  CHARYBDIS.      HARPOONING  SWORDPISH    IN  THE 
STRAIT  OF   MESSINA 

Tattered,  Roger,  the  Great  Count,  was  the  son  of  a  Norman  knight  called 
Tancred  of  Hauteville.  Tancred's  grandson,  Roger  the  King,  conferred  the 
name  on  his  illegitimate  son,  who  was  King  of  Sicily  from  1189-1194. 

Taormina,  The  ancient  Tauromenium.  A  historical  town,  whose  beauty 
of  architecture  and  position  has  made  it  a  proverb  all  over  Europe.  See 
below,  page  544. 

Tapestry.  There  is  a  fair  amount  of  tapestry  not  earlier  than  the  sixteenth 
century  in  Sicily.  Earlier  than  that  it  is  very  rare.  See  also  Silk  Hangings. 

TapsOj  Thapsus.  The  Greek  Thapsos*  A  peninsula  near  Syracuse, 
famous  for  its  tunny  fishery  and  its  prehistoric  sepulchres.  The  Athenians 
used  both  sides  of  it  as  harbours.  See  under  Syracuse. 

Tares.  The  Sicilian  tares  are  bright  blue  and  white,  and  among  the  most 
striking  of  the  wild  flowers. 

Targia,  Barone.  One  of  the  principal  inhabitants  of  Syracuse.  See 
under  Syracuse. 

Tari  The  name  of  certain  coins  under  the  Bourbons,  still  used  in  reckon 
ings  in  out-of-the-way  parts  of  Sicily,  though  the  coins  are  no  longer  prevalent. 

A  tari  =  42  centesimi.     See  Coinage. 


THINGS   SICILIAN  295 

Tarsia.  There  is  a  good  deal  of  fine  tarsia  work  in  Sicily.  Sturgis  defines 
tarsia  as  "the  Italian  inlaying  of  wood,  usually  light  upon  dark,  common  in 
the  fifteenth  century." 

Tauromenium.  The  antique  city  which  is  now  Taormina  (q.v.),  page  545. 
Founded  396  B.C.  It  was  founded  by  Sikels,  with  the  aid  of  the  Carthaginian 
Himilcon,  against  Dionysius.  Dionysius  suffered  one  of  his  few  defeats  there 
394  B.  c. ,  but  took  it  392  B.  c.  Timoleon  landed  here  344  B.  c.  Andromachus, 
the  father  of  the  historian  Timaeus,  tyrant  of  Tauromenium,  was  the  only 
tyrant  not  deposed  by  Timoleon.  It  was  taken  by  Agathocles.  Tyndarion, 
tyrant  of  Tauromenium,  invited  Pyrrhus  to  land  there  278  B.C.  Under  their 
treaty  with  Hiero  II.  the  Romans  became  possessors  of  Tauromenium. 
Augustus  landed  at  Taormina  in  his  campaign  which  crushed  Sextus  Pompeius. 
It^  resisted  the  Saracens  till  902.  Mr.  G.  F.  Hill  says  that  the  little  gold  coins 
with  the  head  of  Athena  and  her  owl,  or  the  head  of  Apollo  and  his  lyre, 
may  belong  here  and  not  to  Panormus.  The  head  of  Apoilo  Archagetas  on 
the  obverse,  and  the  taurus  or  bull  on  the  reverse,  are  natural  types  to 
Taormina.  The  name  of  the  people  stands  in  the  Doric  genitive  Tauro- 
menitan.  This  head  of  Apollo  Taormina  received,  like  her  inhabitants,  from 
Naxos,  the  oldest  Greek  settlement  in  Sicily,  which  was  destroyed  by 
Dionysius  in  403  (q.v.).  Another  favourite  design  on  Taormina  coins,  as  on 
those  of  Naxos,  is  a  bunch  of  grapes  with  a  lion  and  a  tripod. 

Tavola  is  applied  to  a  plank  across  a  stream  as  well  as* a  table. 

Telegraph.  In  sending  a  telegram  in  Sicily  be  sure  to  spend  the  extra 
soldo  and  take  a  receipt,  or  it  may  not  be  sent  at  all.  By  paying  a  triple  rate 
a  telegram  may  be  sent  "urgente,"  *.<?.  taking  precedence  of  all  other  telegrams, 
but  it  is  not  worth  it.  The  tariff  is  a  franc  for  fifteen  words  or  less,  and  a 
soldo  for  every  extra  word  to  anywhere  in  the  kingdom  of  Italy.  To  England 
telegrams  are  between  threepence  and  fburpence  a  word. 

Telepyliis.  According  to  Samuel  Butler  in  his  The  Authoress  of  tk& 
Odyssey^  Telepylus,  the  city  of  the  Lrestrygonians,  is  Cefalu  {q.v.,  page  335, 
and  under  Portazza). 

Telamo-n.  An  architectural  term  corresponding  to  the  female  caryatis  or 
caryatid.  Sturgis  says:  "A  male  statue  serving  to  support  an  entablature, 
impost,  corbel,  or  the  like,  and  forming  an  important  part  of  an  architectural 
design."  There  is  a  fine  specimen  lying  on  the  ground  at  the  temple  of  the 
Olympian  Jove  at  Girgenti,  of  which  there  is  a  plaster  cast  in  the  Palermo 
Museum  (q.v.). 

Temenos.  Literally  a  piece  of  land  cut  off,  used  at  first  for  the  sport  of 
kings,  afterwards  for  the  sport  of  the  gods  (Sir  W.  Smith).  The  use  of  the 
word  in  Sicily,  where  it  is  applied  to  the  hill  of  the  temples  at  Girgenti,  etc., 
supports  Sturgis's  definition:  u  In  Greek  antiquity  a  piece  of  groartd  specially 
reserved  and  enclosed,  as  for  sacred  purposes,  correspoodiiag  nearly  to  the 
Latin  ttmplum  in  its  original  signification. w 

Temenites.  The  quarter  of  Syracuse  containing  the  temenos  of  Apollo, 
See  tinder  Syracuse,  page  540. 

Temples.  There  are  about  forty  ancient  temples  in  Sicily,  most  of  them 
ruined.  The  best  of  them  are  the  splendidly  situated  temple  of  Diana  at 
Segesta,  the  temples  of  Omcordia  and  Juno  at  Girgemti,  and  the  glorious 
temple  of  Minerva  embodied  in  the  cathedra!  at  Syracuse.  The  following 
list  is  not  cojsafjlete,  b*it  will  serve  as  a  basis :  (i)  Messina,  temple  of  Nep 
tune,  built  into  the  back  of  SS.  Annunziata  dei  Catalami;  (2)  Taormina, 


296        SICILY  THE  NEW  WINTER  RESORT 

temple  of  Apollo,  of  which  the  cella  forms  the  church  of  S.  Pancrazio ;  (3) 
Taormina,  stylobate  of  a  small  temple  above  the  theatre  ;  (4)  Aderno,  remains 
of  the  temple  of  Hadranus  (the  temple  of  the  Thousand  Dogs) ;  (5)  Syracuse, 
temple  of  Minerva  embodied  in  the  cathedral ;  (6)  Syracuse,  temple  of  Diana 
in  the  Via  Diana ;  (7)  Syracuse,  Olympeium,  near  the  Anapo ;  (8)  Syracuse, 
temple  of  Apollo,  nothing  left  but  foundations,  above  the  Greek  theatre ;  (9) 
Syracuse,  T.  of  Bacchus,  recently  excavated  near  the  catacombs  of  S.  Giovan 
ni;  (10)  the  Adytum  (q.v.),  Syracuse,  near  the  Scala  Greca;  (ii)  Syracuse,  T.  of 
Ceres  and  Proserpine,  near  the  Campo  Santo  (but  this  is  probably  part  of  the 
fortifications  of  Dionysius);  (12)  Terranova  (the  ancient  Gela),  a  temple  which 
Baedeker  says  is  identified  erroneously  with  the  famous  temple  of  Apollo ;  (13) 
remains  of  ancient  temples  at  Giarratana,  the  ancient  Ceretanum ;  (14) 
Girgenti,  temple  of  Juno  ;  (15)  Girgenti,  temple  of  Concordia  ;  (16)  Girgenti, 
temple  of  Hercules;  (17)  Girgenti,  temple  of  the  Olympian  Jove;  (18) 
Girgenti,  temple  »of  Castor  and  Pollux,  the  exquisite  fragment  whose  three 
columns  figure  in  so  many  pictures  ;  (19)  Girgenti,  temple  of  Vulcan,  a  little 
beyond  Castor  and  Pollux ;  (20)  Girgenti,  temple  of  JEsculapius  in  the  field 
below  the  other  temples  ;  (21)  Girgenti,  the  Temple  of  the  Sun,  called  also  the 
Oratory  of  Phalaris,  a  beautiful  little  building  nearly  perfect ;  (22)  Girgenti, 
the  temple  of  Ceres  on  the  Rupe  Atenea,  whose  entire  cella  forms  the  church 
of  S,  Biagio  ;  (23)  Girgenti,  the  temple  of  Jupiter  Polias  under  the  church  of 
S.  Maria  dei  Greci.  Of  the  temple  of  Minerva  on  the  site  of  the  cathedral 
there  are  no  remains  visible  ;  (24)  Selinunte,  temple  G.  (Olympian  Jove  or 
Apollo) ;  (25)  Selimrnte,  temple  F.  (Minerva) ;  (26)  Selinunte,  temple  E. 
(Juno),  all  three  of  them  near  Sig.  Hone's  baglio ;  (27)  Selinunte — 
Acropolis,  temple  C.  (Hercules) ;  (28)  Selinunte— Acropolis,  temple  B.,  still 
coloured ;  (29)  Selinunte — Acropolis,  temple  A. ;  (30)  Selinunte — Acropolis, 
temple  D.  ;  (31)  Selinunte — on  the  further  hill  the  temple  of  Hecate,  which 
has  a  propylsea,  the  only  one  in  Sicily ;  (32)  Segesta,  the  temple  of  Diana ; 

(33)  the  temple  of  Venus  at  Eryx  (Monte  S.  Giuliano),  hardly  anything  left ; 

(34)  the  tempje  of  Ceres  at  Enna  (Castrogiovanni),  nothing  left  but  the  noble 
rock  foundations ;  of  the  temple  of  Proserpine  nothing  is  known  except  the 
s^e  5  (35)  the  beautiful  temple-like  building  at  Solunto  is  said  not  to  be  a 
temple ;  (36)  ruins  of  Greek'temple  at  Buonfornello,  near  Termini,  the  ancient 
Himera  ;  (37)  the  temple  of  Diana  on  the  castle  rock  at  Cefalu  is  not  a  temple 
bet  a  superb  prehistoric  house  ;  (38)  there  are  some  slight  remains  of  a  temple 
below  the  convent  of  the  Madonna  del  Tindaro  at  Tyndaris  ;  (39)  remains  of 
a  small  Roman  temple  at  Centuripe  ;  (40)  ta  these  may  be  added  the  Tempio 
Ferale  or  Heroum,  at  Palazzolo,  a  sort  of  rock  shrine  with  a  number  of 
niches  and  inscriptions. 

S.  Teresa  di  Riva.  Stat.  on  Messina-Catania  line.  The  stat  for  Savoca 
(q.v.),  and  the  magnificent  Norman  minster  of  S.  Pietro  e  S.  Paolo  on  the 
banks  of  the  Fiume  d'Agro  (kil.  7). 

Tenfrfm.  The  ancient  Himera,  stat  oil  Palermo-Messina  and  Palermo- 
Catania  liiaes,  one  of  the  most  important  in  Sicily.  See  below,  page  563. 

Terra,  the  earth,  or  land,  soil.  Also  much  used  in  Sicily,  like  patse,  to 
Baeaa  a  town, 

Terra-cotta  pkys  a  great  part  in  Sicily,  being  the  principal  material  for 
antique  vases  and  lamps  as  well  as  the  terra-cotta  figurines  described  above  under 
earthenware  {q.v.).  The  Greeks  used  it  for  sarcophagi  and  grave-lids  (lastra). 

Terranova.  An  important  city  on  the  Syracuse-Licata  line,  the  ancient 
Gela.  See  page  184. 


THINGS   SICILIAN  297 

Tetradrachms.  A  coin  worth  four  drachma,  one  of  the  most  ordinary 
denominations  in  ancient  Sicily.  They  were  made  of  silver.  See  under 
Coins,  Syracuse,  etc. 

Teutonic  Knights,  like  the  Templars  and  Hospitallers  and  Knights  of 
Alcantara,  were  one  of  the  great  medieval  military  religious  orders  of  knight 
hood.  Founded  in  1191  by  Duke  Frederick  of  Suabia  for  nursing;  seven 
years  later  it  was  converted  into  a  military  order  with  a  grand  master,  etc. 
It  was  established  at  Acre,  at  first  under  the  title  of  the  Hospital  St.  Mary 
of  the  Germans  in  Jerusalem.  Its  interest  to  the  world  is  that  the  kingdom 
of  Prussia  and  the  new  empire  of  Germany  were  in  a  way  evolved  out  of  it. 
It  was  they  who  conquered  the  heathen  Prussians  whose  name  the  modern 
kingdom  has  taken.  When  Duke  Frederick's  brother  the  Emperor  Henry  VI. 
l^ecame  monarch  of  Sicily,  he  gave  the  Teutonic  knights  the  church  now 
known  as  the  Magione  at  Palmero,  where  their  effigies  may  be  seen  carved  on 
slabs  like  the  Templars  in  London.  Wherever  the  name  Magione,  i.e.  man 
sion,  occurs,  it  signifies  an  establishment  of  the  Teutonic  knights.  See 
Magione  under  Palermo. 

Thapsus.  See  Tapso  above  and  under  Syracuse.  A  peninsula  almost  in 
a  line  with  Priolo,  between  Syracuse  and  Megara  Iblea. 

Theatres,  Greek  and  Graeco-Roman.  There  are  a  fair  number  of  Greek 
and  Graeco-Roman  theatres  in  Sicily,  (i)  The  finest  Greek  theatre  is  at 
Syracuse.  (2)  There  is  also  a  noble  Roman  amphitheatre  at  Syracuse. 
(3)  At  Catania  there  is  a  Greek  theatre  mostly  still  covered,  but  parts  of 
which  you  can  visit  underground.  (4)  There  are  the  remains  of  a  Roman 
amphitheatre  at  Catania.  (5)  The  great  Grseco- Roman  theatre  at  Taormina 
is  one  of  the  finest  of  its  time.  (6)  There  is  a  small  Greek  theatre  at  Taormina 
on  the  Corso  Umberto,  opposite  the  entrance  of  the  Palazzo  Corvaja. 
(7)  There  are  the  remains  of  an  odeon  at  Catania,  (8)  There  is  a  beautiful 
Greek  theatre  more  perfect  in  respect  of  its  stage  than  any  other  Greek  theatre 
in  Sicily,  at  Palazzolo  Acreide,  near  Syracuse.  (9)  There  are  also  the  remains 
of  a  pretty  little  odeon,  tolerably  perfect,  at  Palazzolo.  (10)  There  is  a  large 
Greek  theatre  at  Tyndaris.  (i  i)  The  best  theatre  in  the  island  after  Syracuse, 
as  regards  the  auditorium,  is  that  of  Segesta,  (12)  There  are  slight  remains 
of  an  amphitheatre  at  Girgenti.  (13)  The  amphitheatre  at  Enna  (Castro- 
giovanni)  is  close  to  the  Temple  of  Ceres — the  remains  are  much  overgrown. 

Theatres,  Modern.  Most  of  the  large  Sicilian  towns  are  well  off  for 
theatres.  Palermo  has  several,  one  of  which,  the  Teatro  Massimo,  is  the 
largest  opera-house  in  the  world,  and  another,  the  Politeama,  gives  an  excellent 
idea  of  a  Grseco-Pompeian  coloured  building.  The  best  theatre  at  Catania  is 
the  fine  Teatro  Bellini.  Messina  has  a  beautiful  theatre  opposite  the  Municipio. 
Taormina  has  a  theatre  converted  out  of  the  chapel  of  the  Badk  Nuova. 
Castelvetrano  has  quite  a  noble  building  recently  erected  in  the  ancient  Greek 
style,  including  the  awning  instead  of  the  root  There  is  a  remarkable  number 
of  opera  performances. 

Theocritus  of  Syracuse.  One  of  the  greatest  poets  of  antiquity.  Wrote 
bucolic  eclogues  in  Dorian  Greek,  He  was  bom  at  Syracuse  about  315,  went 
to  Alexandria  about  284,  and  returned  to  Syracuse  about  270  at  the  court  of 
Hiero  II.  See  under  Syracuse. 

Theodosans.  A  monk  of  Syracuse,  whose  letters  to  the  Archdeacon  Leo 
about  the  capture  of  Syracuse  by  the  Saracens  gives  us  oer  principal  know 
ledge  of  the  subject.  (See  Marion  Crawford's  Rulers  of  tke  SM£tkt  voL  ii, 
who  quotes  his  account) 


298        SICILY  THE   NEW  WINTER   RESORT 

Thermae  (Himerince).  The  baths  of  ancient  Himera,  which  after  its 
destruction  by  the  Carthaginians  became  the  main  city,  which  has  developed 
into  the  modern  Termini. 

Thermae  Segestanae.  On  the  way  between  Segesta  and  Castellammare, 
the  ancient  port  of  Segesta.  There  are  considerable  remains  of  them. 

Thermae  Selinuntinae.  The  modern  Sciacca,  round  which  there  are  a 
great  number  of  remains  of  classical  buildings.  See  under  Sciacca.  The 
baths  are  still  used  and  held  in  the  highest  repute,  therapeutically. 

Theron.  There  were  two  Therons.  The  best-known  was  tyrant  of  Acragas, 
488-472  B.C.  He  joined  his  forces  with  those  of  Gelo  of  Syracuse  to  march 
to  the  relief  of  Himera,  where  they  won  a  glorious  victory  over  the 
Carthaginians  on  the  day  of  Salamis.  The  tomb  of  Theron  now  shown  at 
Girgenti  is  Roman,  belonging  to  a  much  later  date,  because  we  know  that 
his  tomb  was  destroyed  when  the  Carthaginians  captured  Girgenti,  406  B.C. 
The  Carthaginians  were  about  to  destroy  it  to  avenge  Himera,  when  a  thunder 
bolt  fell  and  shook  it  down,  as  we  learn  from  Diodorus. 

Theron,  the  son  of  Miltiades,  was  tyrant  of  Selinus.  He  seized  the  tyranny 
by  the  aid  of  300  slaves  granted  to  him  to  go  out  and  bury  the  dead  after  a 
battle.  This  was  after  the  affair  of  Pentathlus,  579  B.C. 

Thistles  in  Sicily.  There  is  a  beautiful  silver  thistle  found  round  Syra 
cuse,  etc.  Goethe  mentions  an  estate  quite  overrun  with  large  thistles. 
While  seriously  "  meditating  an  agricultural  campaign  against  them,  we  saw 
two  Sicilian  noblemen  standing  before  a  patch  of  these  thistles,  and  with 
their  pocket-knives  cutting  off  the  tops  of  the  tall  shoots.  Then  holding 
their  prickly  booty  by  the  tips  of  their  fingers,  they  peeled  off  the  rind,  and 
devoured  the  inner  part  with  great  satisfaction.  In  this  way  they  occupied 
themselves  a  considerable  time,  while  we  were  refreshing  ourselves  with  wine 
(this  time  it  was  unmixed)  and  bread.  The  vetturino  prepared  for  us  some 
of  this  marrow  of  thistle  stalks,  and  assured  us  that  it  was  a  wholesome, 
cooling  food  ;  it  suited  our  taste,  however,  as  little  as  the  raw  cabbage  at 
Segeste."  One  wonders  if  they  were  prickly-pears,  which  give  "figs  of 
thistles,"  to  use  the  biblical  phrase. 

Thscyclides.  One  of  the  most  famous  historians  of  antiquity.  An 
Athenian  who  devoted  a  large  part  of  his  history  of  the  Peloponnesian  War 
to  the  Athenian  expedition  to  Sicily.  He  was  born  about  471  B.C.,  and  was 
a  relative  of  Miltiades  and  Cimon.  He  has  always  been  regarded  as  the 
most  accurate  of  ancient  historians,  and  his  Greek  as  a  model  of  correct 
composition.  The  title  of  his  book  was  Concerning  the  Peloponnesian-  War. 
Thursday,  Holy,  in  Sicily.  See  under  Sepolcri,  and  Gethsemane,  Gardens 
o£ 

Tiles,  armorial  {mattoni  stagnati}.  See  under  ArmorkL 
Timspns.  One  of  the  best  historians  of  Sicily.  He  was  the  son  of  the 
tyrant  Andromachus  of  Tauromenium,  and  was  bom  about  352  B.C.  In  310, 
before  proceeding  to  Africa,  Agathocles  banished  him  with  other  opposition 
leaders  from  Sicily.  "  Timseus  seems  to  have  taken  his  exile  quite  cheerfully ; 
fee  went  to  Athens  and  lived  there  more  than  fifty  years,  dying  at  the  age  of 
ninety-six.  He  spent  most  of  that  time  in  writing  his  huge  history  of  Sicily 
from  the  earliest  times  to  264  B.C.  The  thirty -eighth  volume  is  mentioned, 
but  there  were  probably  many  more,  though  all  except  a  few  fragments 
perished.  He  wrote  also  other  voluminous  works.  Polybius,  according 
to  Sir  William  Smith,  maintains  that  Timseus  was  totally  deficient  in  the 
first  qualities  of  an  historian,  as  he  possessed  no  practical  knowledge  of 


THINGS   SICILIAN  299 

war  or  politics,  and  never  attempted  to  obtain  by  travelling  a  personal 
acquaintance  with  the  places  and  countries  he  described  ;  that  he  had  so  little 
power  of  observation,  and  that  he  was  unable  to  give  a  correct  account  even 
of  what  he  had  seen.  But  now  the  opinion  prevails  that  the  loss  of  his 
history  is  irreparable,  because  he  narrated  myths  and  legends  exactly  as  they 
were  current,  instead  of  attempting  to  rationalize  them."  (In  Sicily.} 

Timoleon.  A  Corinthian.  Despatched  by  his  city  with  a  forlorn  hope  of 
ten  triremes  to  assist  the  Syracusans  against  the  tyrannies  of  Dionysius  II. , 
344  B.C.  He  freed  the  whole  of  Sicily  from  its  tyrants  and  won  important 
victories  against  the  Carthaginians,  He  became  blind,  and  lay  down  his 
office,  but  to  the  day  of  his  death,  in  336  B.C.,  he  continued  the  idol  of  the 
Syracusans.  See  under  Syracuse. 

Tini.  Large  tubs,  in  which  the  grapes  are  brought  on  the  carts  to  the 
baglj  at  Marsala  and  at  Campobello.  Each  tub  has  enough  grapes  to  make 
a  pipe  of  fresh  mosto  (pipe  =  93  gallons). 

Tisander.  Son  of  Cleocritus,  the  famous  boxer.  Mentioned  by  Pausanias, 
who  says  (VI.  xiii.  8):  "  Naxus  was  founded  in  Sicily  by  the  Chalcidians 
who  dwell  on  the  Euripus.  Not  a  vestige  of  the  city  is  now  left,  and  that  its 
name  has  survived  to  after  ages  is  chiefly  due  to  Tisander,  son  of  Cleocritus. 
For  Tisander  four  times  vanquished  his  competitors  in  the  men's  boxing- 
match  at  Olympia,  and  he  won  as  many  victories  at  Pytho."  Seventeen 
intervening  centuries  have  redressed  this  anomaly.  The  great  Sikelian  wall 
at  Naxos  has  been  re-exhumed,  while  Tisander  lies  buried  in  Pausanias. 

Tisias,  of  Syracuse,  was  one  of  the  first  teachers  of  rhetoric. 

Toledo,  the  former  name  of  the  Corso  (Vittorio  Emrnanuele)  at  Palermo. 
So  called,  like  the  Toledo,  now  the  Via  Roma  at  Naples,  after  the  Viceroy, 
Don  Pedro  of  Toledo,  in  the  middle  of  the  sixteenth  century. 

Tombs.  Sicily  has  alitiost  as  many  tombs  as  houses,  but  apart  from  the 
modern  Camp  Santi  with  t&eir  tall  monuments  and  mortuary  chapels,  they 
are  not  conspicuous.  Ttiey  go  back  to  the  very  earliest  times.  There  are 
vast  prehistoric  cemeteries  with  splendid  tombs  cut  in  the  living  rock  at 
Pantalica,  the  Val  d'  Ispica,  Monte  Cassibile,  Palazzolo,  etc.  Tombs  cut 
into  a  regular  beehive  inside  with  beautifully  cut  doorways  about  two  feet 
square,  are  generally  attributed  to  the  Sikels,  though  they  seem  to  belong 
in  reality  to  an  earlier  troglodyte  race.  In  some  places,  cave  -  dwellings 
are  mixed  up  with  tombs.  The  Greeks  seem  to  have  preferred  tombs  cut 
in  the  surface  of  the  rock  the  shape  of  a  coffin,  often  a  number  of  them 
massed  together  into  a  sort  of  honeycomb  divided  by  thin  partitions  of 
rock.  These  were  covered  with  stone  or  terra-ootta  slabs*  Tfeey  also  used 
sarcophagi  of  terra-cotta  and  more  preGaons  materials*  There  are  Greek  terra 
cotta  sarcopliagi  of  tfee  fifth  century  B.C.  <rake  perfect,  showing  tfeeir  wonder 
ful  command  of  this  material.  During  me  Roman  period  caves  and  cata 
combs  were  greatly  favoured,  the  bodies  being  disposed  in  honeycombs  on 
the  floor  in  the  Greek  style,  or  similar  receptacles  cut  in  tiers  on  a  catacomb 
wall,  or  in  arcosali  (q.v.),  and  smaller  niches  cut  round  caves.  Their  sarco 
phagi  have  generally  been  found  on  rock  daises,  but  in  the  centre  of  cave 
sepulchres.  The  lower  Empire  tombs  are  rather  on  the  principle  of  the 
Celtic  cromlech,  loose  altar  tombs  made  of  slabs.  The  Saracen  tombs  are 
coffin -shaped  receptacles  cut  in  the  rock,  but  opening  on  the  short  side  instead 
of  tfee  long.  Of  the  Norman  tombs  we  possess  only  those  of  royal  personages, 
nobles*  aad  prelates,  who  all  inclined  to  the  sarcophagus,  the  few  n<m-rojal 
toaabs  we  possess  beisg  mostly  in  ancient  sarcophagi  used  agaia.  The  kings 


300        SICILY  THE  NEW  WINTER  RESORT 

are  buried  in  superb  porphyry  sarcophagi  under  marble  canopies  representing 
the  pavilions  they  used  in  the  field.  There  are  a  few  Gothic  tombs,  mostly  of 
prelates,  but  a  good  many  very  elegant  Renaissance  tombs,  while  of  massive 
baroquetries  there  is  no  end.  Gagini  executed  a  few  exquisite  tombs,  such  as 
that  with  the  sculpture  of  S.  Jerome  in  S.  Cita  at  Palermo.  The  walls  of 
Girgenti  are  simply  honeycombed  with  ancient  tombs,  and  there  is  quite  a 


TOMB  O'F  ARCHBISHOP  BELLORADO  (1513)  IN  THE  CATHEDRAL  OF  MESSINA 


catacomb  leading  out  of  the  cistern  turned  into  a  tomb,  called  the  Grotta  ot 
Fragapane.  Syracuse  (q.v.)  has  the  finest  catacombs  in  the  world,  and  there 
are  very  extensive  catacombs  at  Palermo,  Marsala,  Girgenti,  etc.  At  Palaz- 
zolo,.  and  in  the  Val  d3  Ispica,  there  are  magnificent  tomb  chambers  of  the 
third  century  A.D.,  with  noble  architectural  features,  arches,  cancelle, 
etc.,  cut  out  of  the  living  rock.  Two  or  three  of  the  cave  sepulchres  of 
Syracuse  have  decorations  of  the  Corinthian  order  carved  round  their 


THINGS   SICILIAN 


301 


entrances.  The  tomb  of  Theron  at  Girgenti  and  several  tombs  along  the 
Messina  road  outside  Taormina,  are  tombs  of  the  ordinary  Roman  monu 
mental  character,  lofty,  square  buildings  of  brick  or  stone.  (See  under  Syra 
cuse  and  other  towns,  Catacombs,  Cemeteries,  Tombs,  Cave-sepulchres,  Pre 
historic  tombs,  etc.) 

Tomb-dwellers.  The  dwellings  of  prehistoric  troglodytes  are  found  at 
Pantalica,  the  Cava  d'  Ispica,  Palazzolo,  Girgenti,  etc.  The  custom  of  living 
in  tombs  has  always  obtained  in  Sicily.  The  troglodytes  very  likely  lived  in 


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TOMB  OF  ARCHBISHOP  GU1DOTTO  DB  TABIATIS  IN  THE  CATHEDRAL  OF 
MESSINA,   BY  GREGORIO  Dl  GEEGORIO  (1303) 

the  tombs  before  they  used  them.  At  Marsala  and  Syracuse,  and  the  Val 
d*  Ispica,  we  know  that  the  Christians  lived  in  the  catacombs  on  the  tombs 
during  the  persecutions.  And  the  tombs  outside  Syracuse  are  numbers  of 
them  inhabited  to  this  day. 

Tordbio  Genovese.  A  very  old-fashioned  but  highly  effective  wooden 
press  used  for  wine-making  in  Sicily. 

Torrenti.  Sicily,  from  the  mountainous  nature  of  its  interior,  is  a  land  of 
torrents.  In  dry  weather  they  are  like  so  many  bad  roads,  and  are  often  used 
as  such,  especially  at  Messina,  where  half  the  streets  are  called  Torrenti, 


302        SICILY  THE   NEW   WINTER   RESORT 

Torrente  Boccetta,  etc.  In  wet  weather  they  become  dangerous  floods.  See 
under  Rivers  and  Messina. 

Tortoiseshell.  In  the  eighteenth  and  nineteenth  centuries  articles  covered 
with  tortoiseshell  veneer,  such  as  caskets,  cabinets,  crucifixes,  and  picture 
frames,  were  in  great  vogue,  and  good  specimens  are  now  much  sought  by 
collectors.  There  is  a  whole  chapel  panelled  with  tortoiseshell  in  the  Palermo 
Museum. 

Totila,  a  king  of  the  Goths  who  invaded  Sicily  in  A.D.  549-550.  He  could 
not  take  any  of  the  chief  towns,  but  ravaged  the  islands,  and  left  garrisons  in 
four  places  which  are  not  named.  (Freeman.) 

Trabia.  A  town  in  Sicily  on  the  Palermo-Messina  line.  Has  a  castle, 
founded  in  1633.  It  has  a  tonnara,  and  lives  by  selling  fish. 

Trabia- Butera,  the  Prince  of.  The  chief  noble  in  Sicily.  He  is  a 
member  of  the  Italian  Parliament,  and  an  accomplished  man  with  a  very 
fine  library  collected  by  himself  in  which  English  books  figure  largely.  The 
Trabia-Butera  Palace  at  Palermo  is  one  of  the  finest.  It  is  on  the  Marina, 
and  the  Hotel  Trinacria  is  situated  in  one  part  of  it.  See  under  Palermo, 
Trabia  Palace. 

Trajanopolis,  According  to  Ulpkn,  was  the  ancient  city  on  the  site  of 
Troina.  Cluverius  thinks  that  Imacara  occupied  the  same  site  earlier.  See 
under  Troina  below. 

Tramways  are  creeping  into  Sicily,  which  has  adopted  the  word.  All 
the  trams  in  Palermo  are  electric  now,  and  Messina  has  steam  tramways  to 
the  Faro  and  Barcellona  like  the  secondary  railways  of  North  Italy  ;  but  only 
about  three  or  four  towns  have  them. 

TrapanL  The  ancient  Dreparmm.  A  large  and  flourishing  seaport  in  the 
north-west  corner  of  Sicily.  Eryx  (Monte  S.  Giuliano}  is  visited  from  here. 
Trapani  has  important  saltworks  and  makes  much  Marsala  wine.  It  is  the 
terminus  of  the  Palermo-Trapani  line.  It  has  steamers  going  to  Africa  as 
well  as  round  Sicily,  and  it  is  the  scene  of  much  in  Homer  and  Virgil.  See 
below,  page  568. 

Trattoria,  A  public-house.  Restaurants  not  being  a  Sicilian  idea,  food  is 
almost  a  more  important  part  in  its  business  than  drink. 

Travel  in  Sicily.   See  chapter  on  this  subject,  p.  13. 

TrentinL  Small  barrels  containing  thirty  quartueci  (5J  imperial  gallons) 
used  by  the  fanners  for  bringing  their  wine  into  the  baglj  of  Marsala. 

TrifogEo.  Called  also  the  Sicilian  weed.  It  is  a  trefoil  with  a  musk-like 
flower  (Oxalu}.  Allied  to  our  wood-sorreL  Introduced  into  Sicily  from 
America.  Most  lemon  groves  are  carpeted  with  it,  and  some  landowners 
have  tried  in  vain  to  exterminate  it.  as  animals  are  not  very  fond  of  it  for 
pasture.  But  a  reaction  has  set  in  in  its  favour  in  America,  where  its  strong 
chemical  qualities  (cf.  Oxalic  Acid)  are  now  considered  to  make  it  a  valuable 
manure  for  citrous  trees. 

Triaacia  (not  to  be  confused  with  Trinacria).  Freeman  mentions  a  town 
Trimkia,  or  Tymkia,  on  the  site  of  the  modern  Aidone  (q.v.),  destroyed  by 
Syracuse. 

Trinacria.  The  ancient  name  of  Sicily.  According  to  some  really  derived 
from  the  three  capes  of  the  three-cornered  island,  viz.  Cape  Lilyteeum  on  the 
west,  Cape  Pelorus  on  the  north-east,  and  Cape  Pachynus  on  the  south-east 
Freeman,  however,  gives  a  different  account :  "When,  therefore,  they  began 
to  find  sites  for  ail  the  stories  in  the  Odyssey,  the  little  island  of  Thrinakie 


THINGS   SICILIAN  303 

spoken  of  there  was  ruled  to  be  Sicily,  and  its  name  was  improved  into 
Trinakria,  to  give  in  Greek  the  meaning  of  three  promontories.  After 
all,  Sicily  is  really  not  far  from  being  a  triangle,  and  it  is  its  triangular  shape 
which  makes  it  so  compact."  Homer  places  Thrinakie  near  Scylla  and 
Chary bdis.  "That,  in  his  conception  of  it,  it  was  clearly  a  small  island, 
inhabited  only  by  the  daughters  and  the  cattle  of  Helios,  is  perfectly  clear. 
But,  being  near  Skylla  and  Charybdis,  it  must  be  Sicily  or  some  part  of 
Sicily"  (Freeman).  Thucydides,  at  the  beginning  of  Book  VI.,  says,  "The 
island  was  at  that  time  called  Sicania,  having  previously  been  called  Trin 
acria."  Strabo,  at  the  beginning  of  Book  VL,  chapter  ii.,  says,  "Sicily 
is  triangular  in  form,  and  on  this  account  was  at  first  called  Trinacria,  but 
afterwards  the  name  was  softened,  and  it  was  changed  into  Thrinacria." 
Virgil  and  Ovid  constantly  use  the  word  Trinacria. 

Trinacria  (2).  The  Trinacria,  Triquetra,  or  Triskeles,  the  well-known 
arms  of  Sicily,  was  defined  thus  by  Prof.  Salinas,  Director  of  the  Palermo 
Museum,  for  In  Sidly.  "The  Trinacria,  or  Triquetra,  has  represented 
Sicily  officially  since  the  beginning  of  the  nineteenth  century.  Up  to  that 
time  Sicily  was  represented,  heraldically,  by  the  arms  of  Sicily-Aragon, 
the  pali  of  Aragon_  quartered  in  the  Cross  of  St.  Andrew  with  the  Swabian 
Eagle.  In  the  ancient  coins  of  Panormus  of  the  Roman  period  one  finds  the 
Trinacria  with  the  Greek  legend  Panormitan.  Marabitti,  in  the  well-known 
'Trinacria'  of  the  Villa  Giulia,  copied  the  design  from  these  coins.  The 
arms  of  the  city  of  Palermo  were  never  the  Trinacria,  but  the  gold  eagle  on  a 
red  field,  or  a  figure  holding  a  snake."  Mr.  G.  F.  Hill  has  pointed  out  that 
the  Trinacria  was  definitely  used  for  the  arms  of  Sicily  by  the  officers  of 
Julius  Caesar  himself.  His  partisan,  Aulus  Allienus,  issued  in  48  B.C.  a 
denarius  with  the  head  of  Venus  on  the  obverse  as  the  ancestor  of  lulus,  the 
founder  of  the  Julian  race,  and  on  the  reverse  the  youthful  figure  of  Trinacrus, 
the  son  of  Neptune,  invented  to  account  for  the  name  Trinacria,  "standing 
with  his  right  foot  on  a  prow,  his  left  arm  wrapped  in  his  mantle,  and  the 
triskeles  as  the  symbol  of  Sicily  in  his  hand."  It  had  been  used  on  a  denarius 
of  the  year  before.  The  triskeles  had  been  used  as  far  back  as  317  B.a  Mr. 
Hill  says  it  may  have  been  used  as  an  emblem  of  Syracusan  domination,  over 
the  whole  island  or  may  have  been  the  private  signet  of  Agathocles.  It  also 
occurs  on  the  gold  coin  of  Agathocles'  first  period,  imitating  the  Philippus  of 
Macedon.  The  head  of  the  Gorgon  is  added  in  a  later  coin  of  Agathocles — 
a  drachma  which  has  the  whole  reverse  given  up  to  the  triskeles,  At  that 
time  Mr.  Hill  thinks  it  cannot  have  typified  the  three-cornered  island.  There 
is  an  interesting  note  on  it  in  Freeman  s  Sicily,  voL  i.,  pp.  470-471. 

Triquetra.   See  above. 

Triocala.  An  ancient  city  whose  ruins  are  near  tfee  modern  Caltabelotta 
(cj.v.).  Famous  for  its  siege  in  the  Second  Slave  War.  Between  the  ancient 
city  and  the  modern  is  a  great  cave  and  a  church  dedkated  to  S.  Pelkgrino ; 
5  kil  away  is  the  dmrch  of  S.  Giorgio  di  Triocak,  founded  by  Roger  the 
Great  Count  in  memory  of  the  victory  gained  there  over  the  Saracens. 

Triskeles.    See  above,  Trinacria. 

Trogilas.  A  little  harbour  on  the  open-sea  side  of  Epipols^  used  by  the 
Athenians.  See  Syracuse. 

Troiua,  Reached  by  mail-vettnra  from  Leonforte  Stat.  on  the  Palernao- 
Cataaia  Hue  in  6  boms.  Highest  city  in  Sicily  (3,650  feet).  Church  of  the 
Asstmta  was  fetmdied  i>y  Roger  1078,  on  nuns  of  ancient  fortress  where  he  had 
been  besieged  by  S&EsceBS.  Sifee  of  the  ancient  Trajanapoiis,  and  probably 


304        SICILY  THE   NEW  WINTER   RESORT 

of  the  Sikelian  town  of  Imachara.  Often  mentioned  by  Cicero.  See  the 
Fountain  of  Arapina,  the  remains  of  the  ancient  Pantheon,  and  the  Cave 
of  the  Winds.  The  mountain  on  the  east  is  called  Moana,  and  the  mountain 
on  the  west  Cuculo.  Troina  claims  to  go  back  to  Greek  times.  Murray  says, 
p.  339  :  *'  Troina  was  one  of  the  first  places  that  fell  into  the  power  of  Count 
Roger  de  Hauteville  on  his  first  expedition  to  Sicily  in  1063.  In  the  following 
year  he  and  his  bride  Eremberga  were  besieged  four  months  in  the  citadel  by 
the  revolted  Sarcens  who  held  the  town,  and  here  they  had  to  undergo  such 
hardships  that  during  an  unusually  severe  winter  they  had  but  one  cloak  between 
them.  After  he  had  regained  possession  of  the  place  Roger  left  his  young 
countess  in  command  during  his  absence  in  Calabria,  when  she  used  to  make 
the  round  of  the  walls  every  night  to  see  that  the  sentinels  were  on  the  alert. 
Here,  in  1078,  he  built  a  church,  still  retaining  some  traces  of  Norman 
architecture,  and  established  the  first  Catholic  see  in  the  island,  which,  how 
ever,  was  in  1087  transferred  to  Messina." 

Tryphon.  The  title  adopted  by  the  slave  Salvius  when  he  was  elected  king 
in  the  Second  Slave  War.  He  worked  on  the  superstitious  by  his  reputation 
as  a  soothsayer.  He  established  his  capital  and  court  at  Triocala,  See 
above. 

Tunny.  The  tunny  fishery  is  one  of  the  most  important  industries  of 
Sicily.  At  every  point  where  the  tunny  shoals  pass  there  is  a  tonnara  or 
fishing  establishment.  The  fish  are  driven  into  corrals  of  strong  net.  They 
have  been  caught  up  to  a  thousand  pounds  in  weight.  Packed  in  tins  like 
salmon  (but  with  oil),  they  form  an  article  of  commerce.  Their  great  value  as 
an  article  of  food  consists  in  the  fact  that  their  close  red  flesh  does  not  go  bad 
in  the  hot  weather  with  the  rapidity  of  other  fish ;  and  the  shoals  arrive 
at  the  beginning  of  summer.  The  principal  tunny  fishery  is  in  the  ^Egatian 
Islands,  which  belong  to  Sig.  Florio.  But  there  are  many  tonnare  (Baedeker 
says  there  are  twenty-seven)  round  the  coast.  The  vaso  of  a  tonnara  is  a  huge 
cube  with  rectangular  sections,  in  which  the  upper  corners  consist  of  great 
ropes  of  hemp  or  cocoanut  fibre  or  sparto  kept  floating  with  corks  and  secured 
by  means  of  moorings  in  every  direction  to  preserve  the  rectangular  form. 
From  these  cords  descend  vertically  to  the  bottom  of  the  net,  forming  the 
walls  of  the  vaso.  In  the  face  towards  the  land  is  left  an  aperture  which 
varies  from  forty  to  seventy  yards,  This  ibrms  the  mouth  of  the  tonnara. 
The  entire  vaso  is  divided  into  a  number  of  chambers  by  means  of  vertical 
nets  perpendicular  to  the  grand  axis  of  the  vaso.  In  each  of  these  divisional 
walls  there  is  a  door  which  is  closed  by  drawing  it  up,  and  opened  by  letting 
it  fall  to  the  bottom.  These  doors  have  the  object  of  allowing  the  tunny 
to  pass  from  one  chamber  to  another  until  they  find  their  way  into  the  chamber 
of  death  (camera  della  morte}.  This  is  the  largest  of  all.  It  is  formed  of 
a  network  alley,  which  begins  with  a  large  mesh  and  ends  with  a  net 
of  stout  hemp  with  a  very  close  mesh. 

It  is  not  easy  to  give  a  sketch  to  show  at  a  glance  the  operations  which 
precede  the  mattenw.  There  is  the  drawing  up  of  the  net,  which  is  done  by 
a  large  barge  in  which  the  sailors  haul  it  up  with  a  chantey,  producing 
a  movement  ending  in  the  entire  exposure  of  the  camera.  When  the  tunny 
are  shut  int©  the  camera  della  morte,  the  mattanza  commences.  Only  an 
eye-witness  can  describe  a  mattanza.  A  writer  in  La  Sidlia  Industrials 
C&mmeraak  e  Agricala  describes  it  as  follows  :  **  This,  then,  was  a  mattanza. 
One  heard  various  cries  and  a  great  clapping  of  hands.  This  was  the  signal 
that  the  mattaaza  was  going  to  begin,  because  the  tunny  were  entangled 
in  the  first  chamber.  They  were  like  sheep.  When  the  first  entered  the 


THINGS   SICILIAN  305 

enclosure,  all  the  rest  followed.  Then  commenced  doleful  notes,  for  the 
poor  fish  understand  that  the  barrier  is  down  and  there  is  no  escape. 
The  Charon  from  the  centre  of  the  barge  gives  the  signal  for  hauling  in.' 
This  is  a  long  operation,  heavy  and  difficult.  A  hundred  hands  stretched 
out,  and  a  hundred  bodies  bent  over  the  fatal  meshes.  A  hundred  hands 
and  a  hundred  bodies  with  a  successive  movement  backward  hauled  in ;  the 
chantey  began.  At  every  movement  the  barge  drew  in  a  few  inches.  '  But 
this  perpetual  movement— never  interrupted,  accompanied  by  the  measured 
cadences  strange  and  characteristic  of  the  chantey— continually  brought  the 
barge  nearer.  Charon,  if  not  satisfied  with  the  exertions  of  his  devils, 
sprinkled  them  with  salt  water,  and  they,  as  if  touched  with  a  scourge, 
redoubled  their  energies.  The  song  became  metrical ;  the  clapping  grew 
restrained ;  and  there  was  a  sort  of  excited  and  continuous  rowing.  The 
bottom  of  the  net  was  raised ;  the  shoal  of  tunnies  breathed  heavily  and 
became  a  confused  mass.  Their  muzzles  protruded  from  the  foaming  water  ; 
the  backs  and  tails  began  to  show.  A  swordfish  which  seemed  mad  twisted 
frantically  in  the  restricted  space.  He  was  the  first  landed  into  Charon's 
barge.  There  were  the  fish,  out  of  water,  shut  in,  imprisoned,  suffocated  in 
the  camera  delta  morte.  The  moment  for  butchery  had  arrived.  The  chantey 
stopped.  Every  eye  was  turned  on  the  fatal  space  ;  everybody  was  bent  and 
eager.  The  space  was  so  restricted  that  it  seemed  insufficient  for  all.  The 
supreme  moment  had  arrived.  The  harpoons  descended ;  the  vigorous  arms 
of  the  harpooners  drew  them  up.  One,  two,  five — twenty  tons  at  one  haul 
fell  into  the  hold  of  the  barge.  The  powerful  blows  of  the  tails  made  a  cloud 
of  bloody  water,  which^went  all  over  the  faces  and  persons  of  the  nearest 
spectators.  They,  surprised  by  the  improvised  shower-bath,  retreated.  There 
was  wave  after  wave  of  spray.  The  circle  widened,  and  those  who  stood 
behind,  pushed  by  the  front  row,  gripped  on  to  the  shoulders  and  arms  of  their 
neighbours,  so  as  not  to  be  flung  over  on  the  other  side.  The  spectacle  was 
imposing  ;  the  scene  was  indescribable,  I  tried  to  count  the  fish  as  they  were 
hauled  up.  I  counted  a  hundred,  a  hundred  and  fifty,  and  then  lost  count. 
They  poured  over  the  sides  without  stopping,  with  an  increasing  pandemonium 
of  cries,  and  band-dappings,  and  exclamations,  which  made  a  loud  and  in 
distinguishable  ciioras.  The  bodies— weighing  from  250  to  500  Ibs.— were 
drawn  up  by  strong  arms  with  fierce  grapplings.  They  were  horribly 
gashed,  and  the  blood  poured  out  in  torrents.  The  bottom  of  the  barge  was 
covered  with  a  huge  confused  mass  of  tunnies,  and  a  sailor,  armed  with  a  very 
sharp  lance,  was  giving  them  the  coup  de  grace.  In  dodging  the  blows 
of  the  tails  to  which  the  fishermen  were  exposed,  each  one  took  his  fish 
in  the  flank,  but  never  full  on,  and  they  made  the  most  comical  movements, 
which  elicited  roars  of  laughter  from  the  spectators.  This  deviltry  lasted  for 
a  good  half-hour,  and  was  followed  by  a  quieter  process,  bat  not  less  interest 
ing.  _  There  were  no  more  fish  in  the  net.  A  sailor  near  me,  who  was 
dripping  with  blood  and  sweat,  informed  me  that  eight  or  nine  htindred  had 
been  taken.  After  the  mattanza  came  &e  stabeccw,  meaning  the  operations 
which  serve  to  prepare  the  tunny  for  commerce.  It  was  one  of  the  finest 
spectacles*  possible, 

Tnsa.  A  town  with  a  stat  on  the  Palermo-Messina  line  near  the  site  of 
the  ancient  Halsesa  (q.v. ),  a  Sikel  city  founded  by  Archonides  (q.v.j,  King  of 
Herbita,    There  are  extensive  ruins  of  Halsesa. 
Tydie,   One  of  the  five  quarters  of  ancient  Syracuse  (q.v.)» 
Tyapansm.    Aa  architectural  term  for  the  sunken  panel  in  a  pediment 
In  temples  it  was  generally  triangular,  and  often,  as  in  the  case  of  the 
X 


306        SICILY  THE   NEW  WINTER   RESORT 

Parthenon,  richly  adorned  with  sculpture.  The  term  is  also  used  for  a  device 
much  employed  in  Sicilian  architecture,  especially  modern— the  filling  up  of 
an  arch-head  so  as  to  admit  of  a  square  window  or  door  being  used. 

Tyndarion.  Tyrant  of  Tauromenium  in  the  first  half  of  the  third  century 
B.c.  It  was  he  who  invited  Pyrrhus,  the  King  of  Epirus,  to  Sicily,  who 
landed  at  Taormina,  278  B.C. 

Tyndaris.  The  great  treasure-trove  to  intelligent  visitors  to  Sicily,  because 
it  has  splendid  Greek  and  Roman  ruins  which  hardly  any  stranger  sees,  ^  It 
was  founded  395  B.C.  by  Dionysius  I.  of  Syracuse  for  the  remnant  of  the  exiles 
from  Messene  in  the  Peloponnesus.  See  below,  p.  571* 

Types.  The  types  in  Sicily  often  betray  the  origin  of  the  people  in  the 
district.  In  certain  districts,  for  instance,  especially  in  mountain  towns,  the 
ancient  Greek  type  is  very  strong.  In  certain  others,  in  the  west  of  Sicily,  the 
Arabic  type  is  strong.  Round  Modica  you  can  see  a  Berber  element.  The 
type  of  the  province  of  Messina  is  considered  the  most  beautiful.  There  are 
several  settlements  of  Albanian  and  Epirot  Greeks  who  came  to  Sicily  in  the 
fifteenth  century  to  escape  the  Turks,  They  keep  not  only  their  type,  but 
their  costume,  their  customs,  and  their  language.  The  dialect  is  as  unchang 
ing  as  the  type.  The  French  element  has  survived  at  Sperlinga  since  the 
massacre  of  the  Sicilian  Vespers  in  1282 ;  and  Lombard  in  several  places 
since  the  time  of  King  Roger.  See  Chap.  IV. 

Typhoid  is  sometimes  rather  troublesome  in  Sicily  in  the  summer,  and  you 
do  not  wonder  at  it  when  you  see  the  sanitary  condition  of  places  like  Patti. 
But  you  hear  nothing  of  it  in  the  winter  and  spring. 

Tyrada.   Perhaps  identical  with  Trinacia  (q.v.),  the  modern  Aidone. 

U 

Umberto  Primo,  after  whom  most  Sicilian  towns  have  named  a  street,  is 
the  late  King  of  Italy. 

Umbilicus  Sicilian  (Enna,  or  Castrogiovanni).  Cicero  (Verr^ll,  v.  48) 
says :  "  Qui  locus,  quod  in  media  est  insula  situs,  umbilicus  Sicilise  nomin- 
atur."  A  stone  at  Castrogiovanni  near  the  site  of  the  Temple  of  Proserpine 
marking  the  exact  centre  of  the  island,  is  called  the  umbilicus,  but  it  is  riot 
really  the  centre. 

Uniforms.  Sicily  is  a  land  of  uniforms.  Not  only  the  soldiers,  but  the 
custom-house  officers,  police,  custodes,  scavengers,  etc.,  have  uniforms,  and 
doul>tless  consider  themselves  part  of  the  civil  service.  ^  A  hat  with  a  glazed 
peak  and  a  coloured  band  round  it  is  still  more  widely  distributed. 

Universities.  There  are  three  universities  in  Sicily— those  of  Palermo, 
whose  date  of  foundation  is  uncertain,  though  its  charter  is  known  to  have 
been  confirmed  by  Philip  V.,  1637  ;  that  of  Messina,  mentioned  in  a  decree  of 
King  Alfonso  in  1596;  and  that  of  Catania,  which  has  been  on  its  present  site 
since  1684,  and  claims  to  go  back  to  Greek  and  Roman  times. 

Urbino  drag-jars.  See  under  Messina,  which  has  an  entire  set,  made  in 
Jfoe  sixteenth  century  for  its  hospital,  now  preserved  in  the  museum. 

Ustica.  A  volcanic  island  four  hours  distant  from  Palermo,  with  steamer 
cotnmunicatioii  twice  a  week.  Used  as  a  penal  settlement,  freeman  says : 
"Some  writers  add  to  the  Aiolian  group  the  solitary  volcanic  island,  far  to 
the  west,  Ustica  or  Oste6des,  the  Isle  of  Bones,  so  called,  men  said,  from  a 
frightful  tale  of  a  body  of  rebellious  mercenaries  whom  Carthaginian  policy 
left  there  to  perish.  The  name  Ustica  is  old  enough  to  be  mentioned  in  Pliny 
ajad  Ptolemy. 


THINGS   SICILIAN  307 

V 

Val.  Arabic  Vali,  a  province.  Sicily  was  formerly  divided  into  three — the 
Val  di  Mazzara,  comprising  all  the  island  west  of  a  line  drawn  from  Cefalu 
to  Licata ;  the  Valdemone,  the  eastern  part  north  of  Catania ;  the  Val  di 
Noto,  the  eastern  part  south  of  Catania. 

Val  d*  Ispica.  See  under  Ispica,  p.  204.  A  valley  of  troglodyte  dwell 
ings  and  tombs,  stretching  most  of  the  way  from  Modica  to  Spaccaforno. 

Valguarnera.  The  name  of  a  famous  old  Sicilian  family  whose  beautiful 
villa  at  Bagheria  is  the  show  place  there.  The  town  from  which  they  took 
their  name  has  a  stat  on  the  Palermo- Catania  line.  The  town  is  3  hours 
from  the  Assaro-Valguarnera  Stat. 

Valledolmo,  or  Valle  d*  Olmo.  Stat.  on  the  Palermo-Catania  line,  10  kil. 
from  the  town,  which  was  formerly  a  Norman  fortress  called  Castello  Nor- 
manno.  It  gets  its  name  from  the  great  elm  tree  near  the  church  where  II 
Cutelli  is  buried. 

Vallelunga.  A  stat.  on  the  Palermo-Catania  line.  Called  also  Pratameno, 
and  mentioned  in  history  as  far  back  as  Frederick  II. 

Valsavoia.  A  junction  where  the  Caltagirone  line  leaves  the  main  line 
from  Catania  to  Syracuse.  The  stat.  for  the  Lake  of  Lentini  (q.v.). 

Vandals  in  Sicily.  Syracuse  was  sacked  by  a  body  of  Vandals,  who  had 
been  settled  by  the  Emperor  Probus  (A.D.  276-282)  on  the  Euxine,  and  seized 
some  ships  to  make  their  way  to  their  home  on  the  borders  of  Northern 
Germany  and  Northern  Gaul.  Gaiseric,  King  of  the  Vandals,  who  had 
established  a  Teutonic  kingdom  in  North  Africa  in  439  and  made  Carthage 
his  capital,  restored  it  to  something  like  its  old  position.  He  invaded  and 
plundered  Sicily  many  times.  Theodoric  gave  Lilybseum  as  the  dowry  to  his 
daughter  when  she  married  the  Vandal  king  Thrasimund.  In  533  Belisarius 
made  Sicily  his  base  for  his  expedition  against  the  Vandals, 

Vandyck  in  Sicily.  There  are  a  good  many  Vandycks  in  Sicily  in  various 
private  collections,  and  not  a  few  churches  in  Palermo  have  pictures  by  him  on 
religious  subjects,  notably  S.  Catarina,  which  has  a  beautiful  work,  and  the 
Oratorio  del  Rosario,  next  to  S.  Domenico,  which  has  the  famous  altar-piece, 
painted  by  Vandyck  at  twenty-five,  representing  the  Virgin  with  S.  Domenic, 
etc.  Murray  says :  "The  incongruous  incident  of  the  boy  holding  his  nose 
and  running  away  from  a  skull,  which  startled  him  as  he  was  picking  flowers, 
illustrates  the  fate  of  the  artist  himself,  who  was  driven  from  Sicily  by  the 
plague,  and  obliged  to  finish  his  picture  at  Genoa.  There  is  a  Vandyck  in 
the  Viilafranca  Palace. 

Van  Eyck.  The  iamous  Van  Eyck  in  the  Palermo  Museum,  one  of  the  finest 
of  medieval  cabinet  pictures,  is  now  generally  attributed  to  Jan  Mabose.  If 
he  was,  as  alleged,  the  master  of  Antonello  da  Messina,  and  taught  him  the 
use  of  oil-painting,  which  Antonello  introduced  into  Italy  and  Sicily,  he  is 
the  father  of  Sicilian  painting. 

Vegetable  hawkers  are  a  great  feature  in  Sicily,  especially  the  sellers  of 
artichokes,  fennel,  broad  beans,  and  broccoli.  The  artichoke  hawkers  fre 
quently  sell  them  cooked.  They  have  wonderful  cries,  broccoli  sellers  in 
particular.  Sicily  is  the  land  of  musical  costermongers. 

Vegetable  shops  of  Sicily.  The  most  picturesque  in  Italy.  They  make 
wonderful  parterres  of  the  brilliant-hoed  vegetables  and  fruit,  sloping  up  from 
the  floor  in  front  to  the  ceiling  at  the  back. 

Vegetation.  The  vegetation  of  Sicily  has  always  been  famous.  The 
ancients  were  duly  acquainted  with  its  extreme  floweriness  and  well- 


308        SICILY   THE   NEW   WINTER   RESORT 

woodedness.  The  latter  is  not  so  conspicuous  now.  The  pine  woods  mentioned 
by  Theocritus  have  practically  vanished,  and  the  forests  are  relegated  to  the 
higher  mountains,  the  Sicilian  wishing  to  give  all  his  ground  to  fruit  trees,  or 
sown  crops,  or  pasture.  But,  on  the  other  hand,  a  new  element  has  crept  into 
the  scenery  with  the  grey  American  aloe  and  the  grey  prickly- pears  of  the  West 
Indies.  These,  with  the  grey  olive  and  bluish -grey  artichoke  and  silvery 
vermouth,  give  a  charming  grisaille  effect  to  the  landscape,  which  is  most 
un-European.  The  luxuriance  of  the  wild  flowers  is  marvellous  ;  and  finally, 
as  there  is  no  tide  there  is  no  waste  shore.  The  richness  of  the  vegetation 
goes  right  down  to  the  sea.  See  Chap.  V. 

Velasquez,  the  Sicilian.  The  name  Velasquez  in  a  Sicilian  gallery  generally 
means  Giuseppe  Velasquez  of  Monreale  (1646-92),  who  painted  so  many 
of  the  pictures  in  the  Royal  Palace  at  Palermo,  but  there  is  a  real  Velasquez 
in  the  Palermo  Museum. 

Vendetta.  The  vendetta  is  a  thoroughly  Sicilian  institution.  It  does  not, 
of  course,  flourish  in  its  original  luxuriance,  It  has  rather  taken  the  shape 
of  a  single  murder  over  a  dispute  or  jilting  a  woman  or  stealing  a  mistress. 
Murders  are  very  numerous,  and  murderers  get  off  very  lightly.  Foreigners 
hardly  ever  suffer. 

Venera,  S.,  is  not  Venus,  though  the  populace  always  confuses  them. 
Things  which  belong  to  Venus,  like  the  Latomia  at  Syracuse,  get  attached  to 
S.  Venera. 

Venere.    The  Italian  name  for  Venus  (q.v.). 

Venetico.  Venetico-Spadafora  is  a  stat.  on  the  Paler  mo- Messina  line,  the 
stat.  for  Spadafora  (q.v.). 

Vend  Settembre.  The  numerous  streets  of  this  name  in  Sicily  are  called 
after  the  soth  September,  1870,  the  day  on  which  the  Italians  entered  Rome. 

Ventini.  Small  barrels  used  by  the  farmers  to  bring  in  new  wine  to  Marsala. 
They  contain  twenty  quartucci  (3f  imperial  gallons).  See  Quartucci. 

Venus,  The  Roman  goddess  of  love  and  beauty  identified  with  the  Greek 
Aphrodite  and  the  Phoenician  Ashtaroth,  or  Astarte.  The  latter  having  been 
a  popular  goddess  in  Sicily,  the  worship  of  Venus  was  firmly  impressed  on  the 
Sicilians,  and  one  of  her  principal  temples  in  the  ancient  world,  which  gave  her 
her  title  of  Erycina  Ridens,  was  situated  upon  Mount  Eryx,  near  Trapani, 
now  Monte  S.  Giuliano  (q.v.).  See  Aphrodite.  Though  no  other  important 
temples  of  Venus  have  been  recorded,  we  come  across  her  name  constantly  in 
the  peasants'  names  of  things,  showing  how  deeply  impressed  she  was  upon 
ancient  Sicily.  See  below,  Venus  Anadyomene. 

Venus  Anadyomene,  or  Landolina  Venus.  So  called  from  having  been 
discovered  in  the  Villa  Landolina,  is  one  of  the  most  beautiful  of  the  antique 
statues  of  the  goddess.  Its  back  is  considered  the  best  of  all.  It  is  preserved 
in  the  Syracuse  Museum. 

Verga,  Giovanni*  A  Sicilian  novelist.  Bora  in  Catania,  1840.  Chambers 
says :  *c  Of  his  numerous  novels  and  tales,  some  of  which  illustrate  the  humours 
aiid  passions  of  country  life  (as  La  Vita  dei  Campi^  1880,  and  Nowelle  -Ritsticane, 
1883,  from  which  comes  the  story  of  Mascagni's  opera,  Cavalleria  Ru$ticana\ 
the  first  to  be  translated  was  The  House  by  the  Medlar  Tree  (New  York,  1890). 

Vermouth,  The  silvery,  velvety  foliage  of  the  vermouth  bush  marks  a 
species  of  wormwood,  closely  resembling  the  English  Smtfhern  Wood  or 
Lad's  Love  (Artemisia  abrotatw}.  The  common  English  wormwood  (Arte 
misia  a&stnthia},  from  which  absinthe  is  made,  is  likewise  found  in  Sicily. 


THINGS   SICILIAN  309 

Verres.  A  prcetor  of  Sicily,  whose  extortions  have  l>ecome  proverbial, 
owing  to  the  magnificent  oration  of  Cicero  which  secured  his  conviction. 
Cicero's  rerres  is  one  of  our  great  storehouses  of  information.  Verres 
became  prcetor  in  73  B.C.,  and  stayed  in  the  island  for  three  years.  To 
use  the  words  of  Freeman,  he  cared  nothing  for  the  privileges  of  the  town  or 
the  rights  of  particular  men  ;  he  plundered  everywhere ;  he  practised  every 
kind  of  extortion  in  collecting  the  tithe  and  buying  the  public  corn  which  was 
needed  to  be  sent  to  Rome.  He  committed  every  kind  of  excess ;  he  im 
prisoned  and  slew  men  wrongfully.  "  There  is  reason  to  think  that  the  extor 
tions  of  Verres  really  tended  to  the  lasting  impoverishment  of  the  island.  But 
the  most  striking  thing  at  the  time  was  his  plunder  of  the  choicest  and  most 
sacred  works  of  art  He  professed  to  be  a  man  of  taste,  and  in  that  character 
he  robbed  cities,  temples,  and  private  men.  And  ail  this  while  he  neglected 
the  common  defence  of  the  province,  and  let  pirates  sail  freely  into  Sicilian 
havens."  Cicero  secured  his  condemnation,  but  he  escaped  the  consequences 
by  voluntary  exile  to  Massilia.  He  was  finally  put  to  death  by  Mark  Antony 
in  his  proscription.  See  under  Syracuse,  Segesta,  Messina,  Tyndaris, 
Termini,  etc. 

Vespers,  Sicilian,  the  Massacre  of.  The  massacre  of  the  French  on 
Easter  Monday,  A.D.  1282.  See  under  Sicilian  Vespers. 

Vetches.  The  Sicilian  vetches  are  as  beautiful  as  they  are  numerous.  You 
find  them  like  crimson  velvet,  white,  lemon-coloured,  puce  and  white,  pink  and 
white,  pink  and  puce,  red  and  puce.  They  are  as  variegated  as  sweet  peas ; 
but  they  do  not  grow  large  though  they  cover  so  much  ground. 

Viceroys,  Spanish.  Sicily  was  governed  by  Spanish  Viceroys  from  the 
fifteenth  century  to  the  year  1734.  Their  portraits  are  preserved  in  the  Royal 
Palace  in  the  first  room.  See  Spanish  Viceroys. 

Victor  Emmanuel  II.  became  King  of  Sicily  in  1861.  ^  All  the  Victor 
Emmanuel  streets  are  named  after  him.  The  rooms  fee  occupied  in  the  Royal 
Palace  at  Palermo  are  kept  exactly  as  he  left  them. 

Victor  Emmanuel  III.  The  present  king.  As  Prince  of  Naples  he 
visited  Palermo  two  or  three  times.  As  is  well  known,  the  king^  is  an 
expert  antiquary,  taking  a  particular  interest  in  ancient  coins,  in  which  his 
island  kingdom  excels  all  countries,  ancient  and  modern.  ^Pictures  of  the 
king  and  queen,  as  well  as  that  of  the  Madonna,  are  found  in  almost  every 
poor  Sicilian  house. 

VigiEa,  Tommaso  di.  A  charming  fifteenth-century  Sicilian  artist.  Died 
in  1497.  There  are  some  delightful  frescoes  by  him  in  the  Palermo  Museum 
with  much  of  the  charm  of  Lo  Spagna's.  Besides  the  frescoes  in  the  Museum 
there  are  paintings  by  him  in  the  Carmine  and  SS.  Anmraziata  at  Palermo. 

VigiBns,  Pope,  537  A.D.  to  555  A.D.  Appointed  by  the  influence  of 
Belisarios ;  is  chiefly  concerned  with  Sicily  as  having  driven  BeKsarius  into 
sending  the  expedition  commanded  by  Liberius  and  afterwards  by  Artaban  for 
the  relief  of  Italy  and  Sicily.  He  died  at  Syracuse  A.t>.  555.  He  purchased 
his  Papacy  by  paying  two  hundred  pounds  of  gold.  (Gibbon. ) 

Vigo,  L.  An  author  whose  R&ccoUa  amplissima  di  fawti  popolari  Siciliani 
(1870-74)  alone  contains  six  thousand  songs,  with  besides  a  good  bibliography 
of  books  in  the  Sicilian  dialect  (Chambers.) 

Villa.  In  Sicily  villa  means  garden,  It  may  or  may  not  have  a  house  on 
it,  The  Sicilian  word  corresponding  to  oar  vilk  is  casina  or  wllin@« 

Vilialraraca,  Prince  of.  A  well-known  Sicilian  reformer.  His  principality 
is  now  held  by  the  Principe  d'  Uccria.  Garibaldi  on  entering  Palermo  went 
to  the  huge  Villafranca  Palace  on  the  Piazza  Bologni,  facing  the  post  office. 


310        SICILY  THE   NEW  WINTER   RESORT 

Villafranca-Sicula.  Nine  hours  by  mail-vettura  from  Corleone  Stat. 
Founded  in  the  fifteenth  century.  Rich  in  marbles  and  agates.  Unimportant. 

Villages.  There  are  hardly  any  villages  in  Sicily  except  on  the  outskirts  of 
great  towns — squalid  suburbs  full  of  washing  and  filth.  The  country  Sicilian 
lives  in  cities  on  the  mountain-tops  for  good  air  and  security,  and  rides  down 
to  his  work  on  an  ass  or  a  mule. 

Villareale.   A  Sicilian  sculptor. 

Vincenzo  da  Pavia,  or  Vincenzo  il  Romano,  a  sixteenth-century  Palermo 
painter.  His  real  name  was  Ainemolo  (q.v.). 

Vines.  There  are  immense  quantities  in  Sicily.  In  recent  years  the 
Government  has  been  laying  out  Viticole  nurseries  for  the  introduction  of 
American  vines  which  are  unaffected  by  the  phylloxera.  Other  grapes  can 
be  grafted  on  to  the  American  stock. 

Vineyards.  In  Sicilian  vineyards  the  gooseberry-bush  way  of  growing 
vines  is  popular.  See  under  Wines. 

Virgil.  The  Third  /Eneid,  lines  684  adjinem,  is  devoted  to  an  itinerary  of 
the  Sicilian  coast  from  Messina  round  the  south  and  up  the  west  to  Drepanum 
(Trapani). 

"On  the  other  hand,  the  commands  of  Helenus  warn  them  not  to  continue 
their  course  between  Scylla  and  Charybdis,  a  path  which  borders  on  death  on 
either  hand  ;  our  resolution  therefore  is  to  sail  backward.  And,  lo,  the  north 
wind,  commissioned  from  the  narrow  seat  of  Pelorus,  comes  to  our  aid.  I  am 
wafted  beyond  the  month  of  Pantagia,  fringed  with  living  rock,  the  bay  of 
Megara,  and  low-lying  Tapsos,  These  Achsemenides,  the  associate  of  accursed 
Ulysses,  pointed  out  to  us,  as  backward  he  cruised  along  the  coasts  that  were 
the  scene  of  his  former  wanderings.  Before  the  Sicilian  bay  outstretched  lies 
an  island  opposite  to  rough  Pieramyrium ;  the  ancients  called  its  name  Ortygia. 
It  is  said  that  Alpheus,  a  river  of  Elis,  hath  hither  worked  a  secret  channel 
under  the  sea,  which  river,  disemboguing  by  thy  mouth,  O  Arethusa,  is  now 
blended  with  the  Sicilian  waves.  We  venerate  the  great  divinities  of  the 
place,  as  commanded,  and  thence  I  pass  the  too  luxuriant  soil  of  the  overflowing 
Helonis.  Hence  we  skim  along  the  high  cliffs  and  prominent  rocks  of 
Pachynns,  and  at  a  distance  appears  the  Lake  Camarina,  by  fate  forbidden 
to  be  ever  removed  ;  the  Geloian  plains  also  appear,  and  huge  Gela,  called  by 
tlie  name  of  the  river.  Next  towering  Acragas  shows  from  far  its  stately 
walls,  once  the  breeder  of  generous  steeds.  And  thee,  Selinus,  fruitful  in 
palms,  I  leave,  by  means  of  the  given  winds ;  and  I  trace  my  way  through 
the  shadows  of  Lilybseum,  rendered  dangerous  by  many  latent  rocks.  Hence 
tfee  port  and  unjoyous  coast  of  Drepanum  receive  me.  Here,  alas  !  after 
being  tossed  by  so  many  storms  at  sea,  I  lose  my  sire  Anchises,  my  solace  in 
every  care  and  suffering.  Here  thou,  best  of  fathers,  who  in  vain,  alas !  I 
saved  from  so  great  dangers,  here  thou  forsakest  me  spent  with  toils.  Neither 
prophetic  Helenus,  when  he  gave  me  many  dreadful  intimations,  nor  execrable 
Celieno,  predicted  this  mournful  stroke.  This  was  my  finishing  disaster,  this 
the  termination  of  my  long  tedious  voyage.  Parting  hence,  a  god  directed 
me  to  your  coasts.  Thus  father  ^Eneas,  while  all  sat  attentive,  he,  the  only 
speaker,  recounted  the  destiny  allotted  to  him  by  the  gods,  and  gave  a  history 
of  his  voyage.  He  ceased  at  length,  and,  having  here  finished  his  relation, 
retired  to  rest." 

Nearly  the  whole  of  the  Fifth  ^Eneid  is  devoted  to  Drepanum  and  Mount 
Eryx,  apropos  of  the  funeral  games  of  Anchises.  See  under  Trapani  and 
Eryx,  Cyclops,  Etna,  etc. 


THINGS   SICILIAN  311 

Virgin.  The  virgin  plays  a  great  part  in  Sicily,  which,  like  other  Greek 
countries,  had  a  preference  for  virgin  patrons.  The  patron  of  the  Dorian 
race  was  Diana.  But  the  Madonna  is  chiefly  identified  with  Ceres. 

Visiting-cards.  A  good  supply  of  these  is  necessary.  When  anyone  too 
well  off  to  take  a  tip  does  you  a  service,  the  courtesy  which  he  most  appreciates 
is  your  visiting-card.  You  cannot  get  cards  well  printed  in  Sicily.  The 
Sicilians  used  visiting-cards  or  their  paper  equivalents,  often  with  an  illustra 
tion,  in  the  eighteenth  century. 

Vittoria,  A  leading  city  in  the  south  of  Sicily  with  a  stat.  on  the 
Syracuse-Licata  line,  with  mail-vettura  to  Biscari  in  I  hour  50  minutes.  It 
is  8  miles  from  the  ruins  of  Camarina  (q.v.).  Though  only  founded  in  the 
seventeenth  century,  it  is  recognised  as  a  town  of  the  second  class  in  Sicily. 

Vizzini.  One  hour  by  mail-vettura  from  the  Vizzini-Lkodia  Stat.  on  the 
Caltagirone  line.  From  Vizzini  -  Licodia  Stat.  there  are  uiail-vetture  to 
Licodia-Eubea,  i|  hours  ;  Buccheri,  3!  hours  ;  Feria,  4  hours ;  Monterosso- 
Almo,  3  hours.  Vizzini  is  perhaps  the  ancient  Bidis.  There  are  a  Gagini 
and  some  good  pictures  in  its  churches.  Very  beautiful  agates  are  found  in 
the  river  which  encircles  it. 

Vomitories.  The  vomitories  are  the  entrances  into  the  auditorium  of  a 
Greek  or  Roman  theatre.  They  come  up  from  below  and  divide  the  cavea 
into  several  blocks. 

W 

"  Walls.  Sicily  is  a  land  of  ancient  walls.  They  go  back  to  the  earliest 
ages,  (i)  The  so-called  Cyclopean  walls,  built  of  immense  polygonal  stones 
by  Sicanians,  Lsestrygonians,  Peiasgians,  and  Phoenicians,  or  what  not 
Examples  of  these  megalithic  walls  are  to  be  found  at  Cefalu,  Eryx,  Palermo, 
Via  Candelai,  etc,  (2)  Sikeliaa  walls,  also  built  of  polygonal  stones,  but 
smaller  and  well  finished.  Splendid  examples  at  Naxos,  half  an  hour  from 
Giardiai  Stat,  and  at  Taormina  below  the  road  outside  the  Messina  Gate. 
(3)  Greek.  Built  with  fine  squared  masonry  without  any  mortar;  fine 
examples  at  Syracuse,  the  Castle  of  Euryalus  and  Walls  of  Dionysius  and 
Temple  of  Ceres.  The  stones  of  the  temple  cellse  are  as  a  rule  small,  but 
beautifully  even,  and  were  largely  imitated  by  fifteenth -century  masons,  as 
anyone  can  see  by  comparing  the  church  of  S.  Pancrazio  and  the  Pal.  Corvaja 
at  Taormina,  Extensive  Greek  city  walls  are  to  be  found  at  Selinunte  and 
Tyndaris.  (4)  Eryx  (Monte  S.  Giuliano)  is  singularly  interesting  as  still 
being  surrounded  by  its  Phoenician  wall,  which  was  only  retopped  by  Roman 
and  medieval  fortifiers.  (5)  The  ordinary  Roman  wall  of  small  bricks 
strengthened  with  courses  of  tile  is  not  common  in  Sicily,  though  there  are  a 
fair  number  of  Roman  stone  walls,  as  in  the  amphitheatres  at  Syracuse  and 
the  Ginnasb  at  Tyndaris.  (6)  Medieval.  There  are  quantities  of  medieval 
walls  in  Sicily.  The  Arab  masons  of  the  Nonjaaes  built  splendidly  like  the 
naasons  of  antiquity.  The  medieval  walls  of  Sicily  are  poor  masonry  as  a 
rule,  their  age  being  chiefly  recognisable  by  the  arches  of  their  gates.  As 
all  Sicilians  can  build,  and  the  island  is  a  mass  of  building-stone,  walls  were 
pel  up  in  a  great  hurry  in  iBomeufcs  of  great  danger.  Taormina  has 
picturesque  medieval  walls  with  bearatifal  pointed  gateways.  (7)  Spanish 
period.  The  best  walls  in  Sicily  were  built  by  the  Spaniards,  who  were 
mighty  fortiiefs.  The  portions  of  tfee  walls  at  Palermo  between  the  Teatro 
Massioao  and  the  Royal  Palace  are  an  example  of  the  treiaendoias  bastions  of 
the  Spaniards.  But  evea  they  are  nothing  to  the  walls  of  the  Rocca  Geellcmia 


3i2        SICILY  THE  NEW  WINTER   RESORT 

at  Messina,  which  look  in  places  about  a  hundred  feet  high.  (8)  The  house 
walls  of  the  Greek  and  the  modern  walls  appear  to  have  been  built  in  the 
same  way.  A  wall  is  built  very  rapidly  of  small  unhewn  stones  without  any 
mortar,  which  is  then  stuccoed.  This  would  account  for  the  total  disappear 
ance  of  the  dwelling-houses  at  Achradina,  at 'Syracuse,  where  there  has  been 
no  subsequent  building  to  conceal  the  ruins.  In  the  course  of  ages  the  stucco 
dissolved  and  blew  away,  and  the  stones  fell  on  the  ground,  where  they  lie  by 
the  ton  a  few  inches  apart. 

Walter  of  the  Mill.  The  English  Archbishop  of  Palermo  in  the  twelfth 
century.  See  under  Offamilia. 

Washerwomen.  It  is  always  washing-day  in  Sicily.  If  you  have  no  soap 
and  only  one  or  two  sets  of  garments  and  plenty  of  running  water  in  the 
ditches,  not  to  say  aqueducts,  this  is  the  simplest  way.  Wherever  there  is 
any  water  handy  you  see  rows  of  Sicilian  women  washing.  They  carry  the 
linen  to  and  from  their  houses  in  great  bundles  on  their  heads,  and  generally 
dry  their  clothes  on  the  prickly-pears.  At  Madame  Politi's  they  use  the 
rosemary  and  lavender  hedges. 

Water.  The  water  in  Sicily,  except  at  Palermo,  the  Villa  Politi,  Syracuse, 
and  a  few  other  places,  is  not  safe  to  drink,  though  Messina  will  have  a 
splendid  supply  open  about  May.  Everybody  uses  syphons,  or  if  they  mis 
trust  them  also  as  being  made  from  the  local  water,  the  celebrated  Nocera 
water  or  foreign  mineral  waters,  though  there  are  excellent  mineral  waters  in 
Sicily  if  they  were  sufficiently  known.  In  a  few  years'  time  all  Europe  may 
be  drinking  them.  Almost  the  whole  of  Sicily  is  a  spa. 

Some  cities  still  use  the  ancient  Roman  aqueducts.  Sicily  is  full  of  springs— 
fenruginotts,  sulphureous,  acid,  etc.  There  must  be  thousands  of  mineral 
springs.  The  water  in  Sicily  flows  in  springs,  not  rivers.  There  are  a  good 
many  bathing  establishments  with  medicinal  springs  highly  valuable  for 
cutaneous  and  rheumatic  diseases.  Some  of  them,  like  the  baths  at  Sciacca, 
the  baths  of  ancient  Selinus,  and  at  Termini,  the  baths  of  ancient  Himera, 
etc.,  have  been  in  use  since  the  times  of  the  ancient  Greeks  continuously. 
See  Rivers,  Baths,  etc. 

Water-carriers.  The  acquajwU  (q.v.)  is  a  great  institution  in  Sicily. 
In  Palermo  (q.v.)  he  takes  about  a  beautiful  table  with  brass  fittings  and  a 
water-jar  of  old  Greek  shape.  In  Syracuse  he  has  funny  little  barrels  on  a 
low  truck _  drawn  by  a  minute  Sardinian  ass.  At  Girgenti  and  Palazzolo 
the  water  is  carried  in  panniers  on  asses  in  huge  vases  of  the  old  Greek  shape. 
These  people  sell  water,  bnt  the  poor  send  their  women  to  draw  water  at  the 
public  fountains,  which  make  one  of  the  most  picturesque  features  in  Sicily. 
At  Taormina  women  carry  jars  holding  several  gallons  of  water  on  their  heads. 
At  Caktafimi  they  carry  them  on  the  shoulder.  In  some  places  they  carry 
them  on  the  hip. 

Water-towers.  The  Saracenic  water-towers  of  Palermo  are  wonderfully 
pictEresqtie,  They  are  collections  of  pipes  in  a  sort  of  stone  obelisk  which 
tafces  beauHfol  shapes  and  colours  with  antiquity  and  is  covered  with  maiden 
hair.  See  under  Palermo  and  under  Saracens. 

Welgfifcs  and  Measures.  In  out-of-the-way  parts,  from  the  Castle  of 
Maamce  to  the  wine  baglj  of  Marsala,  the  natives  persist  in  using  the  old 
Boarboa  weights  and  measures,  though  those  of  the  decimal  system  are  kept 
at  large  establishments  for  the  enjoyment  of  the  Government  Inspector.  The 
qimrtaccio  takes  the  place  of  the  litre,  and  even  money  is  often  reckoned  in 
oaze  and  tari. 


THINGS   SICILIAN  313 

Wells,  Sicily  is  naturally  full  of  wells  to  supply  the  great  gebbic,  or 
plastered  stone  tanks,  used  in  irrigation.  At  certain  places,  like  Girgenti  and 
Cefalii,  you  see  an  immense  number  of  bottle-shaped  cisterns  for  collecting 
rain-water.  They  have  wells  in  the  cities,  too,  which  cause  typhoid,  as  the 
Sicilians  are  not  very  careful  about  such  matters.  They  still  use  the  methods 
invented  by  Archimedes  for  filling  their  gebbie. 

Wheels  hung  with  bells  are  still  used  in  the  service  of  many  Sicilian 
churches,  notably  the  cathedral  at  Syracuse.  An  easily  examined  one  hangs 
in  S.  Giovanni  dei  Lebbrosi  just  outside  Palermo,  and  at  S.  Maria  di  Gesii, 
the  Campo  Santo  of  the  nobles. 

Whitakers  of  Sicily.  The  principal  foreign  family  in  the  island ;  con 
nected  with  it  for  a  century.  The  great  wine  business  of  Ingham,  Whitaker 
and  Co.,  Marsala  and  Palermo,  belongs  to  them.  Three  of  the  brothers 
reside  in  Palermo.  Commendatore  Joshua  Whitaker,  head  of  the  firm,  Vice- 
President  of  the  Bene  Economico  (q.v.),  is  owner  of  the  fine  Venetian  palace 
in  the  Via  Cavour.  Commendatore  J.  J.  S.  Whitaker,  F.Z.S.,  chief  supporter 
of  the  Palermo  Society  for  the  Prevention  of  Cruelty  to  Animals,  the  well- 
known  ornithologist,  author  of  The  Birds  of  Tunisia  (Porter,  1905),  lives  at 
Malfitano  (pp.  276  and  434)  and  owns  Motya  (p.  237).  Commendatore  R. 
Whitaker  lives  at  Villa  Sofia  (q.v.). 

White  surplices,  or  robes  resembling  them,  are  used  in  most  religious  and 
funeral  processions  by  the  laymen  who  take  part  in  them. 

Wild  flowers.    See  Chapter  V.  and  under  Vegetation. 

William  I.  of  Sicily  (the  Bad).  Son  of  King  Roger,  reigned  from  1 154- 
ii  66.  His  reign  was  marked  by  domestic  rebellions  and  loss  of  Roger's 
African  conquests.  He  built  the  Zisa, 

William  II.  (the  Good),  Ms  son,  reigned  from  1165  to  1189.  '  He  made 
conquests  in  the  East  and  was  a  great  builder.  The  Cuba  and  tks  Cathedral 
of  Monreale  were  built  by  him,  an4  it  was  his  English  archbishop,  Offa- 
milia,  who  built  the  Cathedral  and  Church  of  the  Vespers.  William  married 
Joanna,  daughter  of  Henry  II.  of  England. 

William  III.,  son  of  King  Roger's  illegitimate  son  King  Tancred,  only 
reigned  a  short  time  before  the  Emperor  Henry  VI.  dethroned,  captured, 
blinded,  and  mutilated  him.  Dante  puts  him  in  Paradise  (Canto  xx.  61) — 

("And  him  thou  seest  on  the  down-sloping  arch  was  William,  whom  that 
land  deplorest  which  weepeth  for  that  Charles  and  Frederick  live"  (Dent's 
Temple  Classics,  trans.). 

William  II.,  the  German  Emperor.  Visited  Sicily  in  1896  in  his  yacht, 
the  Hoksnzollern^  but  only  attended  a  performance  of  one  of  his  musical  com 
positions  in  the  Politeama  and  paid  a  visit  to  Mal&taaa  He  paid  a  lengthy 
visit  to  Sicily  in  1904. 

Winds.  The  most  noticeable  are  the  worst — the  rough  and  bitter  east  wind 
called  Levante  (q.v.);  the  fierce  north-west  wind,  called  Maestrale  (q.v.); 
aad  the  oppressive  south-east  wind  known  as  Sirocco  (q.v.). 

Wines.  There  is  an  immense  quantity  of  wines  produced  in  Sicily, 
besides  the  famous  Marsala  wine  of  commerce.  Some  of  them,  such  as  the 
white  Mascali  wines,  and  the  red  Terreforti  wines  (q.v.),  are  exported  a  good 
deal  Many  of  them  are  very  agreeable.  The  Vin  ®rdm&ire  included  in 
pensions  and  hotels  is  generally  drinkable  to  people  sufScieatiy  unlastidioas 
to  go  to  hotels  where  they  give  peaskm.  Wine  is,  of  course,  cheap. 

Wine-maklag.     See  tawler  Marsala. 


314        SICILY  THE   NEW  WINTER   RESORT 

Wine-jars  and  jugs.  As  in  the  times  of  the  Greeks  and  Romans,  the  poor 
use  common  earthenware  wine-jars  of  old  Greek  shapes.  The  wine-jugs  of 
Sicily  are  perfectly  charming,  and  old  ones  are  much  sought  by  collectors. 
They  are  almost  the  shape  of  a  coffee-pot  and  made  of  a  blue-and-white 
majolica  of  beautiful  forms  and  colours  and  patterns.  Some  of  them  are 
centuries  old. 

Wine-shops.  The  bush  is  used  in  Sicily  as  elsewhere  for  the  sign  of  a  wine 
shop,  notably  at  Castrogiovanni.  At  Modica  they  use  the  red  flag.  Sicilian 
wine-shops  nearly  always  sell  bread  and  other  kinds  of  food  patronised  by  the 
poor.  At  Palermo  and  elsewhere  they  whiten  the  ends  of  the  barrels  and 
then  paint  saints  on  them.  Wine-shops  often  sell  forage.  You  hardly  ever 
see  any  over-drinking  or  rowdiness  going  on. 

Wolves  are  still  found  in  the  Madonian  Mountains  and  other  sufficiently 
wild  places,  the  only  formidable  wild  animals  of  Sicily. 

Women.  Most  of  the  carrying  in  Sicily  is  done  by  women,  who  carry 
everything  on  their  heads. 

Wood-carving.  There  is  some  fairly  good  wood-carving  in  Sicily,  but  it  is 
mostly  effective  rather  than  fine,  as,  for  example,  the  carvings  in  the  church 
of  S.  Domenico  at  Taormina.  But  the  room  devoted  to  this  in  the  Museum 
at  Palermo  is  not  very  encouraging.  The  choir-stalls  of  the  cathedral  at 
Catania  are  among  the  best  examples  in  the  island. 

Wormwood.  The  wormwood  (Artemisia  absinthia]  grows  freely  in  Sicily. 
See  Vermouth. 


Xiphonia.    Augusta  stands  on  the  site  of  the  ancient  Xiphonia,    There  are 
no  vestiges  left. 

Xuthia,   Founded  by  Xuthus,  son  of  Jiolus.    Remains  of  it  are  found  near 
the  ancient  Lentini. 


Yuccas.  The  palm-like  yucca  grows  most  luxuriantly  in  Sicily.  There  are 
splendid  specimens  in  Palermo  in  the  Orto  Botanico  and  gardens  of  the 
Messrs.  Whitaker,  Sig.  Florio,  and  Count  Tasca.  Several  of  them  grow 
from  one  stem. 


Zabbara,  the  Agave.  In  certain  parts  of  Sicily,  as  in  Mexico,  they  make 
a  strong  cord  of  it,  which  they  use  for  seating  chairs,  etc. 

Zambuca.     See  Sambuca. 

Zasele,  The  original  name  of  Messana,  the  modern  Messina,  founded 
732  B.C.  See  under  Messina.  So  called  from  the  sickle  shape  of  the  harbour, 
Zancle  meaning  a  sickle. 

Zapylon.   A  corruption  of  Hexapylon.     See  under  Syracuse. 

Zeuxis  of  Heraclea.  The  greatest  painter  of  antiquity.  The  Sicilians 
claim  Heraclea- Minoa  to  be  the  city  of  his  birth,  but  most  scholars  think  he 
was  born  at  the  Italian  Heraclea.  His  masterpiece,  the  Alcmena,  was  painted 
for  the  Temple  of  Hercules  at  Girgenti. 


THINGS   OF  CASTROGIOVANNI  315 

Zisa.   An  exquisite  Saracenic  palace  at  Palermo,  erected  by  William  the 
Bad.     See  under  Palermo. 

Ziyadet  Allah,  the  Aghlabite,  Prince  of  Kalrawan,  was  invited  by  Euphe- 

nnus  of  Syracuse,  who  aspired  to  the  empire,  to  invade  Sicily.     The  Saracen 
invasion  of  827   A. a,  which  resulted  in  the  conquest   of  Sicily,  was  the 

consequence.  *  } 

A  stat.  on  the 


ZAKCLE,  THE  •  SICKLE-SHAPED  HARBOUR  OF   MESSINA 


THINGS  OF  CASTROGIOVANNI 

CASTROGIOVANNI  should  be  visited  as  late  as  possible,  being  one  of  the 
highest  towns  in  Sicily,  3,270  feet  above  the  sea.  It  is  two  miles  from  the 
stat.  on  the  Paiermo-Girgenti  and  Catania-  Girgenti  lines.  The  coach  service 
from  the  stat.  and  the  hotel  used  to  be  equally  bad,  but  Mr.  Von  Pernull 
Cook  s  correspondent  in  Palermo,  has  an  idea  of  opening  a  hotel  here  with  a 
motor  servxce  to  the  railway  station,  meaning  to  make  it  a  summer  station— 
a  thing  much  needed  in  Sicily. 

Castrogiovanni  Is  the  ancient  Enna,  a  Sikel  or  Sican  town  founded  in  pre 
historic  times,  which  was  seized  by  the  Syracusans  in  403  B.C. 

It  joined  the  league  under  Acragas  against  Agathoeles.  It  'was  captured  by 
?e  <£irthagmians  «a  the  First  Punic  War,  258  B.C.,  and  then  by  treachery  by 
the  Romans.  In  214  B.C.  L.  Pinarius,  the  Roman  commander  at  Enna, 
learning  that  they  meant  to  revolt  and  betray  the  garrison  to  Carthage, 
assembled  the  inhabitants  together  In  the  theatre  and  massacred  them.  In 
134  B.C.  Enna  once  more  became  famous  as  the  headquarters  of  the  revellers 
m  the  First  Slave  War,  and  remained  in  their  hands  for  two  years.  In  837  A.D. 


3i6        SICILY  THE   NEW  WINTER   RESORT 

the  Saracens,  aided  by  Euphemius,  the  Syracusan  who  invited  them  to  invade 
Sicily,  tried  to  take  Enna  unsuccessfully.  But  twenty-two  years  afterwards, 
in  859,  it  was  betrayed  to  their  commander,  Abbas-ibn-Fah'dl.  In  1080  the 
Normans  took  it.  Frederick  II.  of  Aragon,  King  of  Sicily,  was  much  here  in 
his  wars  against  the  Angevins.  He  built  the  great  keep  called  the  Rocca  in 
1300.  Goethe  was  here  in  1787 ;  and  Newman  for  six  weeks,  during  which  he 
almost  died  of  fever,  in  1833.  The  name  Castrogiovanni  is  a  corruption  of 
the  Saracen  Casr-Janni,  the  fortress  of  Enna,  and  must  therefore  have  become 
attached  to  it  in  Saracen  times,  though  the  exact  date  is  not  known.  As  the 
rock  is  of  immense  height  and  only  accessible  in  a  few  places  and  extremely 
well  supplied  with  water,  it  was  one  of  the  strongest  natural  fortresses  imagin 
able  before  modern  artillery.  But  until  Saracen  times  it  does  not  seem  to  have 
stood  any  great  sieges. 

When  the  Saracens  landed  in  Sicily,  the  imperial  troops  took  refuge  in 
Castrum  Johannis.  Roger  only  took  the  city  by  the  treachery  of 'its  governor, 
Hamud.  The  site  of  it  and  its  sister  city,  Calascibetta,  is  the  finest  imagin 
able.  They  tower  up  from  the  fields  of  Enna  and  the  sacred  Lake  of  Pergusa, 
and  are  surrounded  by  a  sea  of  wild  hills  dominated  by  Etna,  aad  sheeted 
with  almond-blossom  in  spring. 

Amphitheatre,  Stood  in  front  of  the  castle  of  Manfred  ;  part  of  the  en 
closure  remains,  surrounded  by  a  red  wall.  Here  in  214  B.C.  the  Prefect 
L.  Pinarius  slaughtered  nearly  ail  the  citizens,  having  learnt  their  intention  to 
betray  his  small  Roman  force  to  the  Carthaginians. 

Anmraciatiae  of  the  Virgin  Mary  said  to  have  taken  place  in  the  church 
of  S.  Spirito  (<J.Y.)- 

Appstks,  tiie  twelve.  The  cave  where  they  used  to  meet.  Also  in 
S.  Spirito  (q.v.). 

Calascibetta  is  the  twin  town  on  the  opposite  hill.  A  favourite  summer 
residence  of  Peter  II.  of  Aragon,  who  died  there  in  1342. 

Carthaginians,  the.    Enna  was  captured  by  them  in  the  First  Punic  War, 

259B.C. 

Cathedral.  Properly  only  the  Chiesa  Matrice.  Dates  mostly  from  the 
fourteenth  and  fifteenth  centuries.  The  exterior  of  the  apse  is  Sicilian-Gothic. 
It  has  a  richly  carved  ceiling,  but  not  interesting.  The  best  thing  is  the  marble 
pulpit,  standing  on  a  pedestal  with  six  sculptured  faces  which  support  six  rather 
fine  angels  who  form  the  brackets  on  which  the  pulpit  stands.  The  carving 
and  inlaying  of  the  marble  pulpit  are  good.  The  sacristy  has  good  carved  oak 
cupboards  of  1735, 

Ceres  (with  whom  is  identified  the  Greek  Demeter),  the  Goddess  of  .Corn, 
mother  of  Proserpine,  had  the  chief  seat  of  her  worship  of  Enna.  There  was 
a  famous  image  of  her  in  brass  which  Verres  carried  off.  Pilgrims  came  from 
all  parts  of  the  ancient  world  to  the  shrine  of  Ceres  at  Enna. 

Ceres,  Temple  of.  There  are  no  remains  on  the  site,  which  is  admitted  to 
be  the  great  white  rock  with  the  level  top  across  a  little  ravine  from  King 
Manfred's  castle.  Bat  there  are  stefjs  cut  to  the  top  of  the  rock,  which  is 
levelled  for  the  founcbiioes.  Two  columns  are  preserved  in  the  church  of 
S.  Biagio,  which  embodies  some  of  the  building  of  the  tribunal  used  by  Cicero 
in  the  process  agaksst  Verres. 

Ceres.,  linages  of.  There  is  in  the  museum  an  ancient  Roman  image  of 
Ceres  holding  Proserpine,  which  until  recent  years  was  used  for  Our  Lady  and 
the  Infant  Christ,  and  furnished  the  model  for  the  pose  of  the  Madonna  most 
im  tsse  b  Italy  to  this  day — said  to  have  been  invented  by  Praxiteles. 


THINGS   OF   CASTROGIOVANNI  317 

Churches  (thirty-six  in  number) — 

The  Anima  Santa.    Next  to  S.  Tommaso. 

S.  Benedetto.    In  the  main  street  going  up  to  Manfred'^  castle. 

S.  Biagio.  Contains  two  columns  of  the  Temple  of  Ceres.  The  Prospetto 
of  the  sacristy  is  formed  of  the  antique  apophyge,  well  preserved,  and  the 
tribunal  in  which  Cicero  collected  the  charges  against  Vcrres  and  promised  the 
Sicilians,  especially  the  men  of  Enna,  that  he  would  do  his  best  for  them. 

S,  Chiara.  In  the  same  street.  Franciscan  nuns'  church,  with  light,  lofty 
Renaissance  front.  Large  tile  pictures  on  the  floor  of  a  mosque  struck  by 
lightning,  and  one  of  the  first  steamers.  Fine  crucifix,  second  chapel  on  the 
left.  Handsome  grills  to  the  nuns7  galleries. 

S.  Giovanni*   In  a  by-street.     Rich  Sicilian-Gothic  tower. 

S.  Maria  del  Popolo.  Half-way  down  the  hill  beyond  Frederick  IL's  castle. 
The  people's  church  ;  has  a  great  fair  on  September  I3th  and  I4th.  Rock 
tombs  abound  on  the  mountain  slopes  round  it.  It  has  a  picturesque  court 
yard  and  a  Roman  arcade  built  to  cover  a  sacred  spot  where  a  fresco  of  the 
Crucifixion  was  discovered  in  the  Middle  Ages ;  but  it  is  medieval,  not  antique. 
Quantities  of  wax  arms  and  legs  and  other  offerings.  Church  well  worth  a 
visit.  Washing  pools  just  below. 

S.  Michele.  Quaint  little  oval  church  with  fine  old  Spanish  arabesqued  tiles 
on  the  floor.  In  the  centre  S.  Michael  threatening  the  devil  with  a  staff. 
Rather  a  pretty  interior. 

6*.  Spirito.  This  church  has  an  inscription  :  "  R.  hie  domus  dei  est  et  porta 
coeli  A.D.  1817.  ^Edificata  est  domus  domini  supra  verticem  montium  et 
venient  ad  earn  omnes  gentes.-  1817."  The  date  does  not  prevent  the  hermit 
who  shows  you  over  the  church  pointing  out  the  spot  where  Our  Lady 
received  the  Annunciation  and  the  stove  at  which  she  was  cooking,  and  the 
nine  green  tiles  on  which  she  was  standing.  You  are  also  shown  the  crown 
of  thorns.  None  of  them  have  any  pretence  to  antiquity.  At  the  back  of 
the  church  is  a  vault  in  the  rock  where  he  shows  you  the  niches  in  which  the 
twelve  apostles  sat ',  though  it  is  doubtful  if  the  vault  goes  back  to  Roman 
times.  It  is  a  dear  little  church  with  a  queer  little  avenue  and  campanile  ; 
terribly  poverty-stricken,  but  well  worth  a  visit  in  spite  of  its  absurd  pretensions. 

S.  Tommaso^  next  to  the  Anima  Santa ;  has  a  fine  Gothic  tower  and  elegant 
loggia. 

Cicero  at  Enna.  For  his  tribunal,  see  under  Churches,  S.  Biagio.  See 
also  under  Umbilicus.  He  called  it  the  navel  of  Sicily.  In  his  Mures, 
Bonn's  translation,  he  says' : — • 

"It  is  an  old  opinion,  O  judges,  which  can  be  proved  from  the  most 
ancient  records  and  monuments  of  the  Greeks,  that  the  whole  island  of 
Sicily  was  consecrated  to  Ceres  and  Libera.  Not  only  did  all  other  nations 
think  so,  but  the  Sicilians  themselves  were  so  convinced  of  it  that  it  appeared 
a  deeply  rooted  and  innate  belief  in  their  minds.  For  they  believe  that  these 
goddesses  were  born  in  these  districts,  and  that  corn  was  first  discovered  in 
this  land,  and  that  Libera  was  carried  off,  the  same  goddess  whom  they  call 
Proserpine,  from  a  grove  in  the  territory  of  Enna,  a  place  which,  because  it 
is  situated  in  the  centre  of  the  island,  is  called  the  navel  of  Sicily.  ^  And 
when  Ceres  wished  to  see  her  and  trace  her  out,  she  is  said  to  have  lit  her 
torches  at  those  flames  which  burst  out  at  the  summit  of  /Et#a,  and  carrying 
these  torches  before  her,  to  have  wandered  over  the  whole  earth.  But  Enna, 
where  those  things  I  am  speaking  of  are  said  to  have  been  done,  is  in  a  high 
and  lofty  situation,  on  the  top  of  which  is  a  large  level  plain  and  springs  of 


3i8        SICILY  THE   NEW   WINTER   RESORT 

water  which  are  never  dry.  And  the  whole  of  the  plain  is  cut  off  and 
separated,  so  as  to  be  difficult  of  approach.  Around  it  are  many  lakes  and 
groves,  and  beautiful  flowers  at  every  season  of  the  year,  so  that  the  place 
itself  seems  to  testify  to  that  abduction  of  the  virgin  which  we  have  heard  of 
from  our  boyhood.  Near  it  is  a  cave  turned  towards  the  north,  of  unfathom 
able  depth,  where  they  say  that  Father  Pluto  suddenly  rose  out  of  the  earth 
in  his  chariot  and  carried  off  the  virgin  from  that  spot,  and  that  on  a  sudden, 
at  no  great  distance  from  Syracuse,  he  went  down  beneath  the  earth,  and 
that  immediately  a  lake1  sprang  up  in  that  place ;  and  there  to  this  day  the 
Syracusans  celebrate  anniversary  festivals  with  a  most  numerous  assemblage 
of  both  sexes.  .  .  . 

"  For  thoughts  of  that  temple,  of  that  place,  of  that  holy  religion  come 
into  my  mind.  Everything  seemed  present  before  my  eyes,  the  day  on 
which,  when  I  had  arrived  at  Enna,  the  priests  of  Ceres  came  to  meet  me 
with  garlands  of  vervain  and  with  fillets ;  the  concourse  of  citizens,  among 
whom,  while  I  was  addressing  them,  there  was  such  weeping  and  groaning 
that  the  most  bitter  grief  seemed  to  have  taken  possession  of  the  whole. 
They  did  not  complain  of  the  absolute  way  in  which  the  tenths  were  -levied, 
nor  of  the  plunder  of  property,  nor  of  the  iniquity  of  tribunals,  nor  of  that 
man's  unhallowed  lusts,  nor  of  his  violence,  nor  of  the  insults  by  which  they 
had  been  oppressed  and  overwhelmed.  It  was  the  divinity  of  Ceres,  the 
antiquity  of  their  sacred  observances,  the  holy  veneration  due  to  their 
temple,  which  they  wished  should  have  atonement  made  to  them  by  the 
punishment  of  that  most  atrocious  and  audacious  man.  They  said  that  they 
could  endure  anything  else ;  that  to  everything  else  they  were  indifferent. 
This  indignation  of  theirs  was  so  great  that  you  might  suppose  that  Verres, 
like  another  king  of  hell,  had  come  to  Enna,  and  had  carried  off,  not 
Proserpine,  but  Ceres  herself.  And,  in  truth,  that  city  does  not  appear  to 
be  a  city,  but  a  shrine  of  Ceres.  The  people  of  Enna  think  that  Ceres 
dwells  among  tbern,  so  that  they  appear  to  me  not  to  be  citizens  of  that  city, 
but  to  be  all  priests,  to  be  all  ministers  and  officers  of  Ceres." 

Coins.  The  coins  of  Enna  are  not  important.  Most,  if  not  all,  have 
a  female  figure  bearing  a  torch,  as  might  have  been  expected. 

Crown  of  thorns.    Said  to  be  kept  at  S.  Spirito.     See  under  Churches. 

Damophilus.  A  wealthy  slave-owner  at  Enna.  The  cruelties  of  him  and 
his  wife  brought  about  the  First  Slave  War  (q.v.). 

Bemeter.     See  Ceres. 

Diodorus  Siculus.     See  below,  Fields  of  Enna. 

Krma.  Called  by  Freeman,  Henna,  The  ancient  city  of  Sikel  origin, 
whose  site  is  occupied  by  the  modern  Castrogiovanni.  It  and  its  great 
Temple  of  Ceres  come  into  Cicero,  Diodorus,  Virgil,  Ovid,  etc.  The  date  of 
its  origin  is  unknown.  Of  classical  Enna  we  have  nothing  but  the  sites  of 
the  Temples  of  Ceres  and  Proserpine,  and  the  theatre,  a  couple  of  columns 
of  the  Temple  of  Ceres,  and  some  of  the  tribunal  of  Cicero  (q.v. )  in  S.  Biagio, 
and  a  few  Roman  remains  near  the  church  of  S.  Maria  del  Popolo.  See 
tmder  Cicero,  and  History. 

Enna,  tbe  Fields  of.  The  plain  round  the  Lake  of  Pergusa,  where  Pluto 
is  said  to  have  carried  off  Proserpine.  See  under  Pergusa.  Both  Ovid  and 
Qaudian  make  Plutarch  carry  off  Proserpine  here.  The  exact  spot  assigned 
by  local  tradition  as  the  scene  of  the  event  was  a  small  lake  surrounded  by 
lofty  and  precipitous  hills  about  five  miles  from  Enna,  the  meadows  on  the 
banks  of  which  abounded  in  flowers,  while  a  cavern  or  grotto  hard  by  was 
1  The  Fountain  of  Cyane. 


THINGS   OF   CASTROGIOVANNI  319 

shown  as  that  from  which  the  infernal  king  suddenly  emerged.  This  lake  is 
called  Fergus  by  Ovid  and  Claudian,  but  it  is  remarkable  that  neither  Cicero 
nor  Diodorus  speaks  of  any  lake  in  particular  as  the  scene  of  the  occurrence. 
The  former,  however,  says  that  around  Etna  were  *'  lakes,  and  numerous 
groves,  and  a  wealth  of  flowers  at  all  times  of  the  year."  Diodorus,  on  the 
contrary,  describes  the  spot  from  which  Proserpine  was  carried  off  as  a 
meadow  abounding  in  flowers,  especially  odoriferous  ones,  to  such  a  degree 
that  it  was  impossible  for  hounds  to  follow  their  prey  by  the  scent  across 
this  tract.  He  speaks  of  it  as  enclosed  on  all  sides  by  steep  cliffs, 
and  having  groves  and  marshes  in  the  neighbourhood,  but  makes  no 
mention  of  a  lake.  The  cavern,  however,  is  alluded  to  by  him  as  well 
as  by  Cicero,  and  would  seem  to  point  to  a  definite  locality.  At  the 
present  day  there  still  remain  the  small  lake  in  a  basin-shaped  hollow 
surrounded  by  great  hills,  and  a  cavern  near  it  is  still  pointed  out  as  that 
described  by  Cicero  and  Diodorus.  But  the  flowers  have  in  great  measure 
disappeared,  as  well  as  the  groves  and  woods  which  formerly  surrounded  the 
spot,  and  the  scene  is  described  by  modern  travellers  as  bare  and  desolate 
(Smith's  Dictionary  of  Greek  and  Roman  Geography}. 

"  In  the  first  place,  I  would  advise  them  never  to  venture  abroad  in  the 
Fields,  but  in  the  Company  of  a  Parent,  a  Guardian,  or  some  other  sober, 
discreet  Person.  I  have  before  shewn  how  apt  they  are  to  trip  in  a  flow'ry 
Meadow,  and  shall  further  observe  to  them  that  Proserpine  was  out  a  Maying, 
when  she  met  with  that  fatal  Adventure,  to  which  Milton  alludes,  when  he 
mentions  *  ...  that  fair  Field 

Of  Enna,  where  Proserpine  gathering  Flow'rs, 

Herself,  a  fairer  Flow'r,  by  gloomy  Dis 

Was  gatber'd,'" 

(Addison,  in  the  Spectator,  on  the  dangers  to  the  Fair  Sex  of  Maying.) 

Etna,  view  of.  There  is  a  splendid  view  of  Etna  from  the  site  of  the 
Temple  of  Ceres. 

Eumis.  A  slave  of  Antigenes  of  Enna,  who  headed  the  revolt  known  as 
the  First  Slave  War.  He  raised  6,000  men.  He  was  a  prophet  and  a 
juggler,  which  gave  him  great  influence,  so  that  Cleon,  a  Cilician,  who  had 
raised  an  army  in  the  south,  and  was  a  good  general,  willingly  became  his 
lieutenant.  He  took  the  title  of  King  Antiochus,  but  he  had  the  sense  to 
take  the  counsel  of  a  wise  Greek  slave  named  Achaus,  and  he  left  the 
fighting  to  Cleon,  who  defeated  several  Roman  armies.  They  kept  up  the 
war  from  134-131  B.C.,  but  Cleon  was  killed  in  a  sally  from  Tauromenium  in 
132,  and  Eunus,  who  escaped  from  the  city  when  it  was  betrayed,  was 
captured  and  died  of  disease  in  prison. 

Eupfcemins  of  Syracuse,  "the  Emperor'*  (see  under  Syracuse),  was 
killed  in  an  assault  on  Eaaa. 

Frederick  II.  of  Aragou,  Kmg  of  Sicily.  Built  tbe  great  keep  called 
the  Rocca  or  Torre  di  Federigo  in  1300.  He  was  often  feere  ie  his  war 
against  the  Angevins. 

Fticoiare  <Mfa  Vergine,  The  store  at  wkicfe  fee  Virgin  Mary  was 
cooking  when  sfee  received  ike  Annmodatk^i.  Preserved  at  S-  Spirito.  It  is 
in  tfae  style  of  ttie  early  nineteentli  century  A.D. 

Goet&e.  Was  at  Castrogiovaiiiii  on  Smuiay,  Afsrii  29th,  1787.  He  made 
apparently  BO  attempt  to  trace  any  ©f  tlie  ancient  sites.  He  only  talks  about 
the  geology  and  the  vegetation,  and,  above  all,  of  the  accommodation. 
**  Hie  ancient  Enna  received  as  most  inhospitably — a  room  with  a  paved 
floor,  with  shutters  aad  no  window,  so  that  we  must  either  sit  in  darkness  or 


320        SICILY   THE   NEW  WINTER   RESORT 

be  again  exposed  to  the  beating  rain,  from  which  we  had  thought  to  escape 
by  putting  up  here.  Some  relics  of  our  travelling  provisions  were  greedily 
devoured,  and  the  night  passed  most  miserably.  We  made  a  solemn  vow 
never  again  to  direct  our  course  towards  never  so  mythological  a  name.'* 

Gothic  architecture.  Castrogiovanni  is  rather  rich  in  Gothic  remains, 
notably  the  apse  of  the  cathedral,  the  castles  of  Frederick  II.  and  Manfred  ; 
the  lovely  old  palace  with  a  high-walled  courtyard  and  a  processional  stair 
case  leading  up  to  its  piano  nobile^  on  the  main  street  almost  opposite 
S.  Chiara. ;  a  palace  near  the  Piazza  Lincoln  ;  the  church  of  S.  Giovanni ; 
and  the  church  of  S.  Tommaso.  S.  Tommaso  and  the  Anima  Santa  make  a 
lovely  artist's  bit,  as  does  the  old  palace  near  S.  Chiara. 

Greek  Settlement,  the  first,  was  probably  under  Gelo,  tyrant  of  Syracuse. 
It  fell  into  the  powrer  of  Syracuse  397  B.C. 

Henna.    See  Enna. 

Hotels.  Up  to  this  Castrogiovanni  has  had  the  worst  hotel  of  any  place 
visited  by  strangers  in  Sicily  except  Patti.  But  Mr.  H.  von  Pernull,  Cook's 
correspondent  in  Sicily,  has  examined  a  fine  palace  with  a  view  of  turning  it 
into  a  first-class  hotel  with  a  motor  service  from  the  railway  station.  The 
building  is  interesting ;  it  was  an  old  palace  which  had  been  a  convent. 

Kore  (Core).  The  Maiden,  or  the  Child,  A  favourite  Greek  name  for 
Proserpine,  who  was  also  called  the  Mistress  and  the  Saviour. 

Libera.   A  name  for  Proserpine  (q.v.). 

Madonian  Hills.  A  range  on  the  north  coast  of  Sicily,  containing  the 
highest  peaks  after  Etna,  visible  from  Castrogiovanni. 

Malaria.    Only  at  Pergusa  (q.v.). 

Manfred's  Castle,  King.  The  medieval  castle  with  an  area  of  about 
30,000  square  yards,  close  to  the  Rocca  di  Cerere.  It  is  much  older  than 
Manfred's  time,  but  it  was  refortified  by  him.  It  has  a  ring  of  medieval 
towers  and  is  now  the  town  prison.  It  has  a  splendid  site  and  is  strikingly 
picturesque.  An  artist's  bit 


THE  CASTLE  OF   KING  MANFRED 


THINGS   OF   CASTROGIOVANNI  321 

S.  Marco,  the  Convent  of.  A  convent  with  a  picturesque  Renaissance 
facade  where  rooms  are  let  to  strangers.  An  artist's  bit. 

Megallis,  the  wife  of  Damophilus.  See  General  Index.  Their  cruelties 
caused  the  outbreak  of  the  First  Slave  War. 

Minorite  Friars,  the  Monastery  of.  The  site  of  the  Temple  of  Proserpine 
is  in  the  grounds  of  the  Minorite  Friars,  who  will  not  allow  ladies  to  see  it, 
It  is  otherwise  of  no  importance.  Gentlemen  should  not  waste  time  in  seeing 
the  convent, 

Montesi.  The  people  here  and  in  other  mountain  towns  call  themselves 
MontesL  The  men  are  among  the  finest  in  Sicily.  See  General  Index. 

Monte  Salvo.  In  the  garden  of  the  Minorite  Friars  (q,  v. ).  Hie  site  of  the 
principal  temple  of  Proserpine  is  here  in  a  vineyard.  There  are  no  traces 
except  the  levelling  of  the  top. 

Museum.  Castrogiovanni  has  an  interesting  museum,  in  which  besides  the 
great  silver  front  which  belongs  to  the  high  altar  of  the  cathedral,  they  show 
you  a  statue  of  Ceres  holding  the  child  Proserpine  in  her  arms,  belonging  to 
the  Roman  era,  which  was  used  for  centuries  as  the  Madonna  and  the  Child 
Jesus,  in  spite  of  the  child  being  a  girl.  It  is  not  the  only  statue  of  the  two 
goddesses  used  in  Castrogiovanni  in  this  way.  And  it  is  of  enormous  interest 
as  being  clearly  the  source  from  which  the  favourite  Italian  type  of  the 
Madonna  holding  the  Child  Jesus  was  taken.  When  we  remember  the  fact 
that  Proserpine  was  called  the  Saviour  by  the  continental  Greeks  and  that  she 
had  a  resurrection,  this  extraordinary  historical  fact  is  emphasised.  The 
masculine  form  Soter  was  often  used  as  the  feminine  noun.  It  contains 
some  other  classical  remains. 

Navel,  Castrogiovanni  the  navel  of  Sicily.  See  Umbilicus. 
Newman,  Cardinal  In  1833,  John  Henry  Newman,  afterwards  Cardinal, 
spent  six  weeks  at  Castrogiovanni  ax*d  almost  died  there.  He  was  attended 
only  by  his  faithfol  Neapolitan  servant,  GenBaro.  The  story  of  his  illness 
there  is  told  at  considerable  length  in  the  letters  and  correspondence  edited  by 
his  sister,  Mrs.  Mozley  (Longmans,  I $93.)  He  rode  there  from  Catania  on  a 
mule. 

Perhaps  the  most  striking  episode  in  his  whole  stay  there  was  while  he  was 
recovering  from  the  fever,  when  he  put  his  head  under  the  clothes  to  escape 
the  church  bells,  and  the  people  regarded  the  heretic,  who  afterwards  became 
a  cardinal  of  their  own  church,  as  a  devil  tormented  by  the  sounds  of  Chris 
tian  worship.  (Sladen's  In  Sicily.} 

Normans  at  CastrogiovannL  Roger  the  Great  Count  took  Castro 
giovanni  in  1087,  by  the  treachery  or  conversion  of  Hamud,  the  governor. 
He  allowed  himself  to  be  led  into  an  ambush.  His  men  were  spared  and  he 
was  given  an  estate  in  Calabria.  (Marion  Crawford.) 

Ovid  at  CastrogiovannL  Ovid,  who  was  in  Sicily  lor  a  year  25  B.C.,  has 
left  us  a  description  of  the  Lake  of  Pergusa.  See  below. 

OmbeBeo  di  Skilta.  Cicero  {  Vents,  548)  says:  "  Qui  locos,  quod  in  media 
est  insula  situs,  umbilicus  Sicilise  nominator."  The  real  centre  of  Sicily  is  the 
Monte  Arsenale,  2,645  feet>  Dear  Castrogiovanni.  A  stone  at  Castrogiovanni 
near  the  site  of  the  Temple  of  Proserpine,  supposed  to  mark  the  exact  centre 
of  the  island,  is  called  the  umbilicus. 

Pack-mules.  As  the  coach-road  from  the  stat  to  the  city  is  very  winding, 
much  of  the  carriage  up  to  it  is  done  on  pack-mules,  which  come  up  the 
ancient  road,  almost  concealed  in  the  rocks,  dating  back  to  Greek  if  not 
Sikelian  times.  Their  harness  is  gorgeous  with  crimson  and  brass. 


322        SICILY  THE  NEW  WINTER   RESORT 

Palaces.  Castrogiovanni  has  a  number  of  palaces,  but  seemingly  only  one 
Gothic  one  of  any  importance.  See  Gothic. 

Pergusa.  The  sacred  lake  in  the  fields  of  Enna,  on  whose  banks  Pluto 
carried  off  Proserpine.  Its  banks  are  now  quite  bare,  and  being  employed  for 
flax-steeping,  very  malarious.  But  the  lake  is  full  of  fish  and  at  certain  seasons 
of  waterfowl.  Ovid  in  his  Metamorphoses  (Bohn's  trans. ),  Book  V. ,  385  et  sqq. , 
says :  **Not  far  from  the  walls  of  Henna  there  is  a  lake  of  deep  water,  Pergus 
by  name  ;  Cayster  does  not  hear  more  songs  of  swans,  in  his  running  streams, 
than  that.  A  wood  skirts  the  lake,  surrounding  it  on  every  side,  and  with  its 
foliage,  as  though  with  an  awning,  keeps  out  the  rays  of  the  sun.  The  boughs 
produce  a  coolness,  the  moist  ground  flowers  of  Tyrian  hue.  There  the  spring 
is  perpetual.  In  this  grove,  while  Proserpina  is  amusing  herself,  and  is  pluck 
ing  either  violets  or  white  lilies,  and  while,  with  child-like  eagerness,  she  is 
filling  her  baskets  and  her  bosom,  and  is  striving  to  outdo  her  companions  of 
the  same  age  in  gathering,  almost  at  the  same  instant  she  is  beheld,  beloved, 
and  seized  by  Pluto ;  in  such  great  haste  is  love." 

Piazzas.  The  principal  square  of  the  town  is  the  Piazza  Lincoln.  As 
Sicily  was  freed  by  Garibaldi  at  the  time  that  the  American  War  commenced, 
the  Sicilians  are  fond  of  naming  things  after  Lincoln, 

Pinarins,  L.  The  Roman  general  who,  in  214  B.C.  ,  hearing  that  the  citizens 
intended  to  betray  the  city  to  Carthage,  lured  them  into  the  theatre  and 
massacred  them. 

Pluto  and  Prosperine.  Pluto  is  said  to  have  issued  from  a  cavern  in  the 
earth  near  the  Lake  of  Pergusa  and  to  have  engaged  the  attention  of  Proser 
pine  with  a  hundred-headed  narcissus.  See  Fields  of  Enna  and  Fountain 
of  Cyane,  under  Syracuse. 

Proserpine,  Temple.  On  Monte  Salvo  (q.v.) ;  no  remains  except  the 
levelled  site. 

Rocca,  La.  The  great  octagonal  tower  built  in  130x3  by  ^  Frederick 
of  Aragon,  who  was  much  here  during  his  war  with  the  Angevins.  Kept 
locked  to  prevent  robbers  from  lying  in  wait  in  it 

Rocca  di  Cerere.  An  isolated  white  rock  at  the  end  of  the  city  beyond  the 
castle  of  Manfred.  On  it  stood  the  far-famed  Temple  of  Ceres.  The 
cutting  of  the  rock  to  receive  the  te'mple  is  distinctly  visible,  though  there  are 
no  architectural  remains.  Probably  the  Christians  took  care  to  remove  every 
stone  of  the  Temples  of  Ceres  and  Proserpine  to  eradicate  their  worship.  This 
great  white  hewn  rock  standing  out  against  a  background  of  lordly  mountains 
is,  however,  one  of  the  most  splendid  and  romantic  objects  in  Sicily. 

Romans  at  Enna.  Enna  was  captured  by  the  Romans  by  treachery  in  the 
First  Punic  War.  .  See  under  History.  It  was  of  much  importance  under 
them,  and  played  a  conspicuous  part  in  the  Slave  Wars.  There  are  a  few 
Roman  remains  in  the  church  of  S.  Biagio  and  an  arcade,  etc.,  near  the 
church  of  S.  Maria  del  Popolo. 

Saracens.  Enna,  then  known  as  Castrum  Johannis,  defied  the  Saracens  for 
thirty  years,  Euphemius  of  Syracuse,  who  had  invited  them  over,  was  killed 
beneath  the  walk.  In  837  the  Saracens  made  a  vain  attempt  to  storm  it. 
In  859  it  was  betrayed  into  the  hands  of  Abbas-Ibn-Fahdl.  It  remained 
in  their  possession  till  1087.  When  the  Saracens  landed  in  Sicily  the  imperial 
troops  took  refuge  in  Castrum  Johannis. 

Stcanians.  Sicilian  authorities  consider  Enna  to  have  been  a  Sicanian 
town,  but  Freeman  disagrees.  As  the  Sikelians  displaced  the  Sicanians,  it  is 
quite  likely  that  both  were  correct. 


THINGS  OF   CASTROGIOVANNI 


323 


Sicilian-Gothic  architecture.    See  under  Gothic. 

Sikels  .and  Sikel  gods.  Freeman  considers  Enna  to  have  been  a  Sikel 
town,  and  imagines  Ceres  and  Proserpine  to  have  had  Sikel  prototypes.  But 
he  says  that  their  Sikel  character  has  been  quite  lost  in  the  process.  The 
Sikels  maintained  their  independence  till  403,  when  the  city  was  betrayed 
to  Dionysius  I. 

Slave  Wars,  Enna  was  the  focus  of  two  slave  wars— that  under  Eunns, 
134-131  B.C.,  and  that  of  102-99.  See  General  Index. 

Sulphur.  ^Castrogiovanni  is  the  centre  of  a  sulphur  country.  The 
sulphur  workings  make  the  mountains  round  look  pink, 

Syracuse.   Enna  became  an  outpost  of  Syracuse  from  403  B,  c. 


THE  ROCCA   DI   CERERE,   ON   WHICH  THE  TEMPLE  OF  CERES   STOOD 

Theatre,  site  of.    In  front  of  the  castle  was  an  amphitheatre,  of  which 

part  of  the  area  surrounded  by  a  low  wall  remains.  In  this  enclosed  area — 
to-day  foil  of  briars  and  nettles — the  Prefect  L,  Pinarius  massacred  the 
citizens,  214  B.C.  The  most  natural  site  for  the  theatre  was  at  the  other  end 
of  the  town  under  Monte  Salvo,  overlooking  the  holy  Lake  of  Pergusa. 

Tiled  pictures  in  churches.  Enormous  pictures  on  the  floors  of  the 
churches  made  up  of  numerous  tiles  are  a  feature  of  Castrogiovanni.  At 
S.  Chiara  there  is  a  tiled  picture  of  a  mosque  struck  by  lightning  and  an 
old-fashioned  steamer.  At  S.  Michele  (q.v.)  there  is  a  tiled  picture  of  S. 
Michael  and  the  Devil. 

Torre  Pisano,  the,  is  a  tower  of  the  castle  of  Manfred  on  the  site  of  the 
defeat  of  the  Consul  L.  Piso  by  the  slaves  in  the  First  Slave  War. 

Verres,  Enna  was  one  of  the  towns  that  suffered  most  by  his  depredations. 
Here  Cicero  received  the  charges  against  him.  See  above,  Cicero,  and  ia 
General  Index  under  Cicero  and  Verres  and  S.  Biagio. 

Virgin  Mary  and  Ceres,  See  above,  under  Ceres,  Museum,  etc. ,  and  in 
General  Index  under  Ceres. 


324        SICILY  THE   NEW  WINTER   RESORT 

Washing-pools.  Castrogiovanni  has  picturesque  washing-pools  down 
below  the  church  of  S.  Maria  del  Popolo. 

Wine-bush.   A  bush  is  the  sign  of  a  wineshop  in  Castrogiovanni. 

Women  are  not  much  seen  in  the  streets  in  Castrogiovanni.  This  is 
marked. 

THINGS   OF  CATANIA 

CATANIA  may  be  visited  almost  any  time.  The  temperature  is  about  80 
degrees  in  July  and  August.  The  best  time  to  visit  it  is  at  the  beginning  of 
February.  February  5th  is  S.  Agatha's  Day.  On  it  and  a  few  days  pre 
viously  there  are  splendid  processions  and  ceremonies.  S.  Agatha  is  the 
patron  saint.  Catania  was  originally  Catana.  Hiero  of  Syracuse  when  he 
took  it  in  476  changed  its  name  to  ^Etna,  but  it  resumed  its  old  name.  It  is 
a  large,  bright  modern  city  with  very  interesting  antiquities  partly  subter 
ranean,  which  take  some  finding.  Foreigners  never  stay  ^  there  long,  but 
might  do  so  with  advantage,  for  besides  its  own  antiquities  it  has  many 
famous  ruins  within  easy  reach.  Short  railway  journeys  take  you  to  the 
stations  of  Centuripe  (q.v.),  Agira  (q.v.),  Pateroo  (q.v.),  Misterbianco  (q.v.), 
Adernb  (q.v.),  Acireale  (q.v.),  etc.  And  it  is  the  best  starting-place  for 
expeditions  to  the  sacred  Lake  of  Palici  (q.v, }  and  Caltagirone  (q.v.).  It  is, 
of  course,  the  town  par  excellence  for  Etna.  Cabs  are  very  cheap. 

HISTORY.— Catana,  founded  730  B.C.  from  the  Sicilian  Naxos.    A  Chal- 
cidian  city. 
B.C. 

476  Taken  by  Hiero  I.  of  Syracuse,  and  its  inhabitants  departed  to  Leontim. 
Name  changed  to  ./Etna.  Laws  of  Charondas  repealed.  Repeopled 
with  jOjOOO  Peloponnesians. 

461  Ducetius  drove  out  Hiero's  colonists  and  restored  the  original  in 
habitants. 

415-413   Catana  headquarters  of  the  Athenians  in  Sicily. 
403  Taken    by   Dionysius,   inhabitants  sold  as  slaves,    city  given    to  his 

Campanian  mercenaries. 

396  On  approach  of  great  Carthaginian  armament  under  Himilco  and  Magof 

the  Campanians  founded  a  new  town  of  jEtna,  perhaps  on  site  of  the 

Sikel  Inessa.     Mago  defeated  Leptines,  the  brother  of  Dionysius,  in 

a  great  sea-fight  off  Catana,  which  he  captured. 

339  Tirjptoleon  expels  the  tyrant  Mamercus.     First  town  to  open  its  gates 

to  Pyrrhus. 

263  One  of  the  earliest  towns  to  submit  to  the  Romans  in  the  First  Punic  War. 
133  Concerned  in  the  Slave  War. 
121   Terrible  eruption  of  Etna. 

21   Suffered  severely  from  ravages  of  Sextus  Pompeius.     Augustus  settles  a 
A.D.       colony  of  veterans  there. 

44  S.  Beriilo,  sent  by  St.  Paul,  converts  Catana  to  Christianity. 
238  S.  Agatha  was  born  here. 
253    Martyrdom   of   S.    Agatha.     Vandals   take  Catania.      The   Herulians 

take  Catania.     The  Ostro- Goths  take  Catania. 
498   Letter  of  Cassiodorus  mentions  the  decree  of  Theodoric  to  restore  the 

amphitheatre  and  the  decaying  walls. 
534  Catania  taken  by  Belisarins  from  the  Goths. 
874  Taken  by  the  Saracens. 


THINGS  OF  CATANIA  ?2< 

A.D.  °      D 

902.    Sacked  by  the  Saracens. 
About  1060.    Ben  al^  Themanh,  Emir  of  Catania,  quarrelled  with  his  wife, 

sister  of  Ali  ben  Maurnh,   lord  of  Castrogiovanni,  Girgenti,  and 

Castronuovo.     Being  routed  in  the  war,  to  avenge  himself  he  called 

in  the   Normans.     Roger,   the   Great  Count,  came  with  Adamo 

Sismondp,  to  whom  he  gave  the  dominion  and  castle  of  Aci  with 

wide  jurisdiction. 
1091.    Roger  built  the  cathedral  of  Catania,  and  under  him  took  place  the 

transporting  of  the  ashes  of  S.  Agatha  from  Constantinople,  where 

they  had  been  taken  by  the  Greek  general,  Maniace. 
1169.    On  the  Vigil  of  S.   Agatha,   February  4th,  a  terrific  earthquake 

almost  destroyed  Catania.     Fifteen  thousand  killed.     Catania  the 

centre  ^  of  resistance  to  the  Emperor  Henry  VI.,  whose  marshal, 

Valladin,  took  it  by  treachery  and  burnt  it. 
1232.    Emperor  Frederick  having  restored  the  city,  built  the  Castello  Ursino. 

Catania  takes  the  part  of  Manfred  and  Conrad  against  Charles  of  Anjou. 
1282.    The  Sicilian  Vespers. 
1287.    At  &  sort  of  _  Parliament  held  at  Catania,  Peter  of  Aragon  declared 

King  of  Sicily.     Catania  was  the  capital  of  the  Aragonese  kings. 

James  of  Aragon  ceded  Sicily  to  Robert,  King  of  Naples. 
1296.    The  Parliament  of  Sicily  at  Catania  elected  Frederick  III.  of  Aragon 

King  of  Sicily.     Catania  taken  by  treachery  and  sacked  by  the 

Angevins. 

1302.    Restored  to  the  Aragonese. 
I33^«    Frederick  III.  died  and  buried  at  Catania. 
1423.    The  plague  devastated  Catania. 

1438.    Alfonso  the  Magnanimous  of  Aragon  built  a  harbour  for  the  city. 
1444.    Alfonso  founded  the  University. 
1551.    Almost  sacked  by  the  Turks, 
1669  (March).    Awful  eruption  of  Etna,  which  filled  the  Lake  of  Nocito, 

covered  the  ruins  of  the  Naamachia,  the  Circus,  and  the  Gymnasium, 

and_buried  mach  of  the  fortifications,  but  ran  all  round  the  Castello 

Ursino  without  touching  it. 
1693.    An  earthquake  destroyed  it  with  sixty  other  cities  of  the  Val  di  Noto. 

Eighteen  thousand  of  the  60,000  killed  were  Catanians.     Nothing 

remained  but  part  of  the  cathedral  and  the  Castello  Ursino,  but  in 

twenty  years  the  city  was  rebuilt 
1837.    Syracuse  and  Catania  took  up  arms  against  the  oppression  of  the 

Bourbons. 

1848.    They  took  up  arms  again. 
1849  (April  6).     Bourbon  troops  reconquered  Catania  with  many  massacres 

and  ravages, 
1860.    Freed  from  the 


S.  Agata.  Patron  saint  Was  martyred  at  Catania  under  Decius  in  251. 
She  was  a  noble  Sicilian  lady  of  great  beauty,  who  rejected  the  love  of  the 
Prefect  Quinctilianus,  (Chambers.)  Her  festa  is  on  February  5th  and  the 
preceding  days,  and  is  one  of  the  best  in  Sicily  —  splendid  processions, 
dresses,  and  ceremonies.  See  Catiiedrai  Her  ashes  were  brought  back  to 
Cataiiia  from  CoijstaBtiBople  under  Roger.  They  had  been  taken  to  Con 
stantinople  by  Maniaces, 

Alpine  Ctafx  Catania  lias  an  Alpiae  Qub  whose  secretary  may  be  con 
sulted  about  the  ascent  of  Etoa, 


326        SICILY  THE   NEW   WINTER   RESORT 

Araphinomus  and  Anapias.  The  two  brothers  known  as  the  Pious  Folk 
of  Catania  (q.v.). 

Amphitheatre,  the.  In  the  Piazza  Stesicoro.  Mostly  covered  up  by  the 
modern  city.  It  was  nearly  400  feet  long,  and  accommodated  15,000 
spectators.  To-day  there  is  only  visible  part  of  the  corridor  on  the  west. 

Antiquities  still  covered.  Catania  is  known  to  have  various  antiquities 
of  Greek  and  Roman  periods  which  are  partly  destroyed  and  partly  still  under 
the  lava,  such  as  the  Ninfeo,  Naumachia,  Forum,  the  Curia,  the  Gymnasium, 
the  Circus,  and  the  Arch  of  Marcellus. 

Baroque  palaces.  Catania  is  a  city  of  baroque  palaces  often  in  the  worst 
taste.  They  are  large  and  built  of  stone,  but  their  ornamentations  are 
extravagant  and  vulgar. 

Basilica,  The  Roman  colonnade  in  the  Piazza  Mazzini  (q.v.)  is  supposed 
to  be  part  of  a  basilica. 

Baths,  Roman.  To  the  left  of  the  principal  entrance  of  the  cathedral 
there  is  a  narrow  stair  of  twenty-one  steps,  which  leads  to  some  ancient  baths. 
They  are  now  underground,  partly  under  the  cathedral,  and  partly  under  the 
cemetery.  At  the  foot  of  the  staircase  is  a  corridor  fifty  feet  long  and 
seven  feet  wide  which  leads  to  a  vast  chamber,  vaulted  and  supported  by  four 
great  piers.  The  vault  is  covered  with  stucco,  adorned  with  figures  in  bas- 
relief.  The  wall  is  prolonged  to  the  east,  and  seems  to  follow  an  aqueduct 
right  to  the  sea.  Other  similar  constructions  have  been  found  in  excavations 
in  various  parts  of  the  city.  See  also  the  Church  of  the  Indirizzo,  and 
S.  Maria  della  Rotonda,  for  baths. 

Belisarius.   See  above,  Historical  Introduction. 

Bellini,  monuments.   In  the  Piazza  Mazzini  and  in  the  cathedral. 

Bellini's  monument  in  the  cathedral  of  Catania  is  beautiful  and 
touching. 

Bellini,  Villa.  The  much  overrated  principal  garden  of  Catania.  It  has 
some  fair  semitropical  vegetation  and  charming  views  of  Etna  and  the 
suburban  residences  of  the  rich  Catanians.  It  contains  a  velodrome  and 
other  conveniences  for  popular  amusements,  and  is  really  thoroughly  vulgar. 

Bellini,  Vincenzo,  was  born  at  Catania  November  3rd,  1802.  Son  of  an 
organist.  At  twenty-five  he  was  commissioned  to  write  an  opera  for  La  Scala 
at  Milan.  He  produced  La  Sonnambula  when  he  was  twenty-nine,  and 
Norma  before  he  was  thirty.  He  was  thirty-two  when  he  wrote  /  Puritani, 
and  died  before  his  thirty-third  birthday. 

Ben  al  Themanh,  Emir  of  Catania.    See  Historical  Introduction  above. 

Benedettini,  the  Convent  of  (or  S.  Nicolo),  contains  the  Museum  of  Cat 
ania,  the  library  of  60,000  volumes,  the  observatory,  and  various  university 
and  other  educational  departments.  It  has  the  finest  organ  in  all  Europe,  by 
Doaato  del  Piano,  with  five  keyboards,  seventy-two  stops,  and  nearly 
3,000  pipes.  It  is  one  of  the  largest  monasteries,  and  commands  a  splendid 
view.  The  Cakbrian  priest,  who  built  the  organ  in  twelve  years,  lies  buried 
at  its  foot 

Bread,  municipal.  Bread  in  Catania  is  the  monopoly  of  the  municipality, 
whicii  has  made  it  much  cheaper  as  well  as  better. 

Catana  and  the  Classics.  Mentioned  by  Thucydides,  Strabo,'  Diodorus, 
Pindar,  Plutarch,  Cicero,  Livy,  Pausanias,  Silius,  Claudian,  etc.  Cicero,  in  the 
Verres,  speaks  of  "  the  fields  of  the  Catanians,  a  most  wealthy  people  and  most 
friendly  to  us,  ravaged  by  Apronius,"  Silius  calls  it  '*  Catana  too  near  the 


THINGS  OF 'CATANIA 


327 


glowing  Typhceus,  and  most  celebrated  as  having  produced  in  ancient  times 
the  Pious  Brothers.   See  Cicero. 

Carcere,  S.  The  portal,  a  mixture  of  Greek  and  Norman  architecture, 
which  'formed  part  of  the  original  cathedral,  is  very  beautiful.  It  gets  its 
name  from  being  built  over  the  cell  in  which  S.  Agatha  was  confined  and 
martyred.  Behind  the  Piazza  Stesicoro. 


THE  PORT  A  OF  S.  CARCERE 

Castello  Ursino,  the.  Constructed  with  extraordinary  solidity  by  the 
Emperor  Frederick  II,  in  1232,  it  stood  the  earthquake  of  1693,  and  preserves 
almost  its  original  form.  To-day  it  is  used  as  barracks.  The  lava  stream  of 
1669  divided  and  ran  on  each  side  of  it,  making  it  five  hundred  yards  further 
from  the  sea.  It  is  quite  close  to  the  harbour,  between  the  Via  Garibaldi  and 
Via  Plebiscite. 

Ceres.   See  Temple  of  Ceres. 

Charondas.  A  lawgiver  of  ancient  Catana  whose  laws  were  accepted  in  the 
Chalcidian  cities  of  Zancle,  Naxos,  Leontini,  Mybs,  and  HImera.  We  know 
that  his  laws  were  abolished  in  494  B.C.  by  Anaxilas,  the  tyrant  of  Rhegium, 
who  settled  Messana.  Bentley  has  proved  that  the  laws  mentioned  in 
Diodorus  were  not  the  real  Charondic  code. 

Churches.— Cat&edraL  Founded  by  Roger  the  Great  Count  in  1091.  The 
earthquake  of  1 169  destroyed  the  roof,  that  of  1693  spared  nothing  except  the 
apses,  the  outer  walls,  and  the  chapels  of  the  Crucifix  and  the  Immacolata. 
King  Roger's  work  can  be  seen  plainly  on  the  exterior  of  the  apse.  The  choir- 
stalls,  which  date  from  1590,  are  finely  carved  with  the  story  of  S,  Agatha. 
Above  the  choir-stalls  are  the  tombs  of  Frederick  II,  of  Aragon,  1337 ;  Prince 
John*  his  son;  King  Louis,  1355;  Frederick  III.,  1377;  his  son-in-law 
Martin  I.  and  his  queen,  Mary.  On  the  left,  Constance,  the  daughter  of 


328        SICILY   THE   NEW   WINTER   RESORT 

Peter  IV.  of  Aragon,  1363.  The  chapel  of  S.  Agatha  contains  the  relics  of 
the  saint,  her  veil,  and  the  crown  adorned  with  precious  stones  presented  by 
Richard  Cceur  de  Lion.  The  white  marble  with  which  the  cathedral  is  adorned 
came  from  the  theatre.  There  is  a  doorway  with  bas-reliefs  by  Gagini.  The 
be§t  thing  in  the  cathedral  is,  however,  the  delightful  Renaissance  monument 
of  the  Viceroy  d'  Acunha,  one  of  the  most  beautiful  of  the  fifteenth  century. 
The  monument  of  Bellini  by  Tassara  of  Florence  is  inscribed  with  this  passage 

from  his  Sonnambula —  ,        .     .. 

All !  non  credea  miracu 
Si  presto  estinto  fiori  ..." 

There  are  documents  of  Count  Roger  and  the  Emperor  Henry  VI.  in  the 
archives.  At  the  back  of  the  cathedral,  near  the  port,  are  some  ecclesiastical 
buildings  with  florid  but  extremely  elegant  Renaissance  decorations,  ptttti, 
etc.  Under  the  cathedral  (apply  to  the  sacristan)  are  the  famous  Roman 
baths  (q.v.). 

S.  Canere  (q.v.). 

S.  Giricwnidt?  Fltri  (S.  Giovanuzza).  Fourteenth-century  portal 

S.  Maria  di  Gesu  has  a  statue  by  Gagini.  Important  Roman  tombs  near 
S.  Maria  di  Gesu. 

S.  Maria  Rotonda  is  the  octagonal  hall  of  a  magnificent  Roman  bath.  It 
rests  on  eight  arches.  There  have  been  some  excavations  behind  the  church, 
in  which  was  discovered  the  Greek  sarcophagus  supposed  to  contain  the 
remains  of  S.  Agatha. 

S.  Maria  della  Grotta  contains  a  subterranean  cavern  scooped  in  the  rock, 
where  the  Christians  met  during  the  persecutions. 

Ck.  del  Indirizzo  has  near  it  some  important  Roman  baths  nearly  complete. 
Baedeker  says :  "  This  consists  of  an  undressing-room  (apodyterium\  a  tepid 
bath  (tepidarium}>  a  steam  bath  (caldarium}^  a  warm- water  bath  (balneum], 
and  the  heating  apparatus  (hypocaustum}.  In  the  neighbourhood  the  custodian 
points  out  an  interesting  fragment  of  the  ancient  town  wall,  now  partly 
covered  by  a  stream  of  lava.  Below  it  bubbles  up  a^  copious  spring,  probably 
issuing  from  the  subterranean  river  Amenanus,  mentioned  by  Pindar,  "which 
comes  to  light  just  before  it  falls  into  the  harbour." 

Cker o.  Cicero  ( Verres,  443),  says :  "  You  shall  be  told  of  the  fields  of 
the  Catanians,  a  most  wealthy  people  and  most  friendly  to  us,  ravaged  by 
Apronins. "  At  Catana  Verres  ordered  Dionysiarchus  the  proagorus  to  collect 
ail  the  silver  plate  in  the  city  and  bring  it  to  him  ;  and  in  Book  V.  45  (Bonn's 
trans.)  there  is  a  whole  chapter  about  Verres's  slave  stealing  for  him  an 
extremely  ancient  statue  of  Ceres  out  of  a  very  holy  and  secret  shrine  of  that 
goddess.  There  was  an  outcry,  and  false  witnesses  were  suborned  to  lay  the 
blame  on  another  slave,  whom  the  Senate  acquitted,  as  the  real  authors  of 
tlie  outrage  were  clearly  proved  by  the  priestesses.  See  Temple  of  Ceres. 

Cimitero.   Catania,  being  a  wealthy  city,  has  a  typical  Campo  Santo. 

Climate.  Catania  only  has  forty-five  wet  days  in  the  year,  and  over  two 
birodred  perfectly  fine  days.  Being  laid  put  in  the  French  style,  it  is  very 
open  to  wind  and  dust  and  glare.  According  to  the  Lancet  Report  it  has  one 
of  the  best  winter  climates  in  Sicily.  Mean  annual  temperature,  64-4 ;  mean 
temperature,  February,  51*67 ;  March,  54-52 ;  April,  5871 ;  July  is  the  hottest 
month,  797 ;  August,  79*30;  September,  76*30.  The  climate  is  dry  and  bright, 
and  the  vegetation  very  fine. 

Circam-^Etnea  Railway.  Runs  round  Etna  from  Catania  to  Giarre- 
Riposto,  It  has  three  stations  in  Catania,  one  of  them  close  to  the  central  stat. 


THINGS   OF  CATANIA  329 

It  is  only  a  species  of  steam-tram.  The  accommodation  is  rather  limited.  But 
it  takes  you  to  most  interesting  places  and  splendid  scenery.  Vide  Mister- 
bianco,  Belpasso,  Paterno,  S.  Maria  di  Licodia,  Biancavilla,  Aderno,  Bronte, 
Miletto,  Maniace,  Randazzo,  Malvagna,  Castiglione,  Mascali,  etc.  The 
vegetation  for  some  stations  after  Catania  is  an  inconceivably  rich  tangle  of 
fruit  trees  and  wild  flowers,  one  of  the  best  districts  in  Sicily.  Paterno, 
Aderno,  and  Randazzo  are  medieval  cities ;  Malvagna  has  the  only  perfect 
Byzantine  building  in  Sicily,  and  the  various  lava  streams  which  the  railway- 
crosses  are  astonishing  pictures  of  desolation.  Glorious  views  of  Etna.  It  is 
best  to  sleep  at  the  Hotel  d'  Italia  at  Randazzo  (q.v.). 

Curio-dealers.  Catania  is  a  great  place  for  curio- dealers.  They  scour  the 
minor  towns  of  Sicily  for  genuine  old  things,  and  it  is  the  headquarters  for  the 
forgery  of  old  coins  in  Sicily.  Some  of  the  silver  imitations  of  pieces  like  the 
Syracusan  decadrachrns  of  Eusenetus  are  works  of  high  art,  well  known  in 
museums,  which  fetch  from  25  to  50  francs  as  imitations.  See  Coins. 

Coins.   Among  the  types  of  Catania  coins  are— 

The  bull  with  a  human  head  and  a  bird  above ;  winged  Victory  on  the  reverse. 

A  youthful,  girlish  Apollo  with  a  biga  on  the  reverse. 

The  most  remarkable  types  of  Catanian  coins  are  the  heads  of  Apollo  with 
masses  of  curling  hair  by  Heraclidas  and  Chcerion,  which  have  galloping  four- 
horse  chariots  upon  their  reverses,  and  the  Roman  coins  with  the  two  Pious 
Brothers  who  saved  their  parent  from  an  eruption,  two  pick-a-back  figures. 
(See  Eruption.) 

D'Acnnha,  Viceroy,  fifteenth-century  tomb  of.     See  Cathedral. 

Elefante  <H  Menelik,  Fonte  del.  In  the  Piazza  del  Duoiao.  Made  up  of 
ancient  pieces  of  much  interest.  The  elephant  of  lava  is  very  ancient,  and 
supports  an  Egyptian  obelisk  found  in  tfae  circos  or  hippodrome.  On  the 
base  are  symbolic  figures  representing  the  rivers  Simetus  and  Aroeaanos. 

^^ions-}  See  General  ImJex. 

Etna  and  tiie  Pious  Folk  at  Catana.  Pausanias,  translated  by  Frazer, 
says  (Book  X.  xxviii.  2} :  "  The  men  of  old  set  the  greatest  store  by  their 
parents,  as  we  may  judge  by  the  example,  among  others,  of  the  so-called  Pious 
Folk  at  Catana,  who,  when  the  stream  of  fire  poured  down  from_  ^Etna  on 
Catana,  recked  nothing  of  gold  and  silver,  but  picked  up,  this  one  his 
mother,  that  one  his  father,  and  fled.  As  they  toiled  onwards  the  flames 
came  scudding  along  and  overtook  them.  But  even  then  they  did  not  drop 
their  parents ;  so  the  stream  of  lava,  it  is  said,  parted  in  two,  and  the  fire 
passed  on  without  scathing  either  the  young  raen  or  tbeir  parents.  Hence 
these  pious  folk  are  still  worshipped  at  the)  present  day  by  the  Cataaians." 
Their  names  were  Amphinomus  and  Anapias.  They  are  used  on  the  coins, 
aot  only  of  Catania,  for  Sezttts  Pompeius  used  them  on  his  silver  deaarii 

Forum,  remains  of  Roman.     Under  the  Casa  Stella. 

Gemillaro,  Ifario.  A  famous  Catanian  voicanologist  of  extraordinary 
ciaring  in  his  crater  descents.  One  of  the  new  craters,  Monte  Gemillaro,  was 
named  in  his  honour.  He  was  born  1786  ;  died  1866,  Was  interviewed^ 
Newman  (Cardinal)  on  April  27th,  1833.  Newman  mentions  his  collection 
of  medals  (z>.  coins),  and  calls  him  Froude's  friend. 

GiorouBzza,  S.  Called  also  S.  Giovanni  de'  Fieri.  See  under  Churches, 

Goethe  at  Cataoia.  Goethe  was  at  Catania,  May  1st  to  6&,  1787. 
He  visited  the  Maseo  Biscari,  climbed  Monte  Rosso,  and  interviewed  the 


330        SICILY   THE   NEW  WINTER   RESORT 

volcanologist  Gioeni.  See  University.  He  saw  remains  of  the  Naumachia, 
eta,  and  did  not  enjoy  it  See  Goethe's  Travels  in  Italy  (Bonn's  trans.), 
p.  277,  etc,  He  stayed  at  the  "  Golden  Lion." 

Harbour.  The  Porto  was  commenced  in  1601,  destroyed  by  the  sea,  and 
recommenced  with  immense  sacrifices  in  1634 ;  again  destroyed.  The  actual 
port  was  begun  in  1782,  but  in  1784,  during  a  furious  tempest,  the  sea  carried 
it  all  away.  Then  the  architect  Giuseppe  Zahara,  of  Malta,  tried  a  new 
plan  with  masses  of  concrete  and  iron  clamps.  It  was  only  finished  in  1842, 
but  the  result  is  a  most  flourishing  port.  Virgil,  in  the  Third  ^Eneid,  v.  570, 
speaks  of  an  ample  port  undisturbed  by  the  access  of  the  winds.  Near  it 
Etna  '  *  thunders  with  horrible  ruins,  and  sometimes  sends  forth  to  the  skies  a 
black  cloud,  ascending  in  a  pitchy  whirlwind  of  smoke  and  embers ;  throws 
up  globes  of  flame,  and  kisses  the  stars  ;  sometimes,  belching,  flings  on  high 
the  ribs  and  shattered  bowels  of  the  mountain,  and  with  a  rumbling  noise  in 
wreathy  heaps  convolves  in  air  molten  rocks,  and  boils  up  from  the  lowest 
bottom."  But  the  Portus  Ulixis  is  supposed  to  refer  to  the  Bay  of  Ognina, 
since  rilled  by  a  lava  stream.  (Baedeker.) 

Henry  VI.    See  above,  Historical  Introduction. 

Lava  streams.  Lava  is  omnipresent  in  Catania.  A  good  lava  stream 
runs  through  the  town  near  the  Castello  Ursino,  and  one  of  the  principal 
streets,  the  Via  Lincoln,  is  cut  through  the  lava  visibly. 

Library,  the  City.  See  BenedettinL  The  University  has  also  two  fine 
libraries,  "the  University"  and  "the  Ventimiliana." 

Mail-coaches  from  Catania.  See  p.  593.  They  run  to  Barriera  del 
Bosco,  I  hour ;  S.  Giovanni-Punta.  2  hours ;  Ognina,  25  minutes ;  Cibali, 
30  minutes  ;  S.  Giovanni -Galermo,  i|  hours  ;  Gravina-di-Catania,  if  hours ; 
Mascalucia,  2"  hours  ;  Misterbianco,  i  J  hours ;  Motta-S.  Anastasia,  2j  hours 
(q.v.). 

Market.  Artists  will  find  the  fish  and  vegetable  market  full  of  picturesque 
bits  and  colour.  The  fish  are  as  brillant  as  flowers.  Queer  trades  and  queer 
people  jostle  each  other.  It  is  close  to  the  cathedral 

Museo  Biscari  Founded  by  the  Prince  of  Biscari  in  1758.  This  museum 
is  most  important  for  the  study  of  antiquities.  Fragments  of  antique  columns, 
statues,  busts,  inscriptions,  carved  stones,  mosaics,  reliefs,  vases,  weapons, 
coins  of  great  importance,  objects  of  silver  and  bronze.  Permission  must  be 
obtained  from  the  present  Prince  of  Biscari.  Visited  by  Goethe  May  2nd,  1787. 

Museum.  See  Benedettini. 

Newman,  Cardinal.  At  Catania  April,  1833,  April  27th  he  visited 
Gemillaro.  April  3Oth  he  felt  the  fever  coming  on,  of  which  he  almost  died 
at  Castrogiovanni.  He  stayed  at  the  Corona  dj  Oro. 

S.  Nicola,   See  Benedettini. 

Observatory.  At  the  Benedettini  {q.v.}.  It  is  in  direct  communication 
with  the  observatory  on  Etna. 

Ocbon.  A  Roman  building  near  the  Greek  theatre.  A  fine  staircase  con- 
them.  It  lies  between  the  Via  Teatro  Greco  and  the  Corso  V.  Em- 
iDttojiele,  a  short  way  from  the  University.  The  remains  consist  of  a  few  arches 
like  fee  outside  of  a  ruined  amphitheatre. 

Orto  Botanico.   Catania  has  its  botanical  gardens, 

Padni,  Villa.  A  pretty  little  garden  near  the  harbour  with  shady  trees, 
traversed  by  the  two  streams  of  the  ancient  Amenanus.  There  is  a  monument 
kere  to  the  musician  Giovanni  Pacijai,  who  was  born  796. 


THINGS   OF   CATANIA 


331 


Piazzas.  Catania  is  rich  in  piazzas.  There  are  the  Piazza  del  Duomo, 
in  front  of  the  cathedral,  with  the  celebrated  elephant  fountain  ;  the  Piazza 
Mazzini,  which  has  a  colonnade  of  thirty-two  ancient  columns,  supposed 
to  have  been  the  ancient  Basilica  of  Catania  ;  the  Piazza  del!'  Universita,  in 
front  of  the  University  at  the  end  of  the  Via  Stesicoro-Jstnea,  once  the 
market-place  ;  the  Piazza  Stesicoro  on  the  same  street,  which  has  S.  Carcere 
and  the  Amphitheatre  just  beside  it,  and  very  fine  modem  buildings  round  It. 
The  monument  to  Bellini  is  here.  The  Piazza  Cavour,  also  on  the  Via 
Stesicoro-  ^Etnea  ;  the  Piazza  Castello,  in  front  of  the  Castello  Ursino  ;  the 
Piazza  Dante,  formerly  Benedettini,  in  front  of  the  Museum  ;  the  Piazza 
Bellini,,  formerly  Nuova  Luce,  in  front  of  the  Teatro  Bellini,  just  off  the  Via 
Lincoln  ;  the  Piazza  Carlo  UmbertG,  formerly  Carmine,  containing  the  Teatro 
Castagnola,  just  off  the  Piazza  Stesicoro  ;  the  Piazza  Martiri,  Via  Martlri,  is 
near  the  harbour  station. 

Plain  of  Catania.  The  principal  plain  of  the  Island.  Very  few  people 
live  on  it,  though  it  is  highly  cultivated,  because  It  Is  so  malarious.  It  can  be 
seen  from  the  train  on  the  ;ourney  from  Catania  to  Syracuse  or  Palermo. 


ETNA   FROM   THE  PLAIN  OF   CATANIA  (B!COCCA> 

Renaissance  architecture.  Notice  the  elegant  reliefs  on  the  ecclesiastical 
buildings  at  the  back  of  the  cathedral,,  seen  from  the  road  going  towards  the 
harbour. 

Roger,  the  Great  Count.  See  Historical  Introduction,  Cathedral,  and 
S,  Agata. 

Stestchonis.  One  of  the  nine  chief  lyric  poets  recognised  by  the  ancients, 
rivalling  Alcmseon  as  the  best  Doric  poet  He  was  born  at  Himera,  and 
brought  up  and  died  at  'Catania,  where  he  had  a  splendid  tomb  by  the 
Steslchorean  Lake.  Cicero  extolled  him.  A  nightingale  is  said  to  have  sat 
upon  his  lips  at  Ms  birth  and  sung  a  sweet  strain.  Said  to  have  been  bom 

362  B.C. 


332        SICILY  THE   NEW   WINTER  RESORT 

Streets— 

Via  Garibaldj,.  Leads  from  the  Duomo  to  the  Piazza  Palestra.  The 
Piazza  Mazzini  is  on  it  and  S.M.  del  Indirizzo  just  off  it. 

Corse  Vittorio  Emmanude.  Parallel  with  the  above.  Runs  from  the 
Piazza  del  Martiri  to  the  Via  Purgatorio.  Just  off  it  are  the  Duomo  and  the 
Municipio. 

Via  Teatro  Greco.  Parallel  to  the  above.  Between  the  two  lie  the 
Teatro  Greco  and  the  Odeon,  and  on  the  other  side  of  it  lies  the  Benedettini 
(q.v.),  between  it  and  the  Via  Lincoln.  It  runs  from  the  Piazza  del  Universita 
to  the  Via  del  Purgatorio. 

Via  Lincoln.  Parallel  to  the  above,  runs  from  the  sea  to  the  Benedettini. 
The  Teatro  Bellini  is  just  off  it  in  the  Piazza  of  the  same  name,  and  between 
it  and  the  Via  Teatro  Greco  lies  S.  Maria  Rotonda. 

Via  Stesicoro-ALtnea  is  the  principal  cross-street.  It  runs  from  the  Piazza 
del  Universita  to  the  foot  of  Etna.  The  University,  the  Post  Office,  the 
Prefecture,  the  Amphitheatre,  S.  Carcere,  the  Piazza  Stesicoro,  the  Villa 
Bellini,  and  the  Orto  Botanico,  all  lie  just  on  it  or  off  it. 

These  are  the  principal  streets  for  shopping  and  promenading. 

Stufi  al  Indirizzo.   See  Ch.  del  Indirizzo. 

Sulphur.   Catania  is  the  chief  sulphur  port  of  Sicily. 

Teatro  Bellini  is  a  majestic  building  situated  on  the  Piazza  of  the  same 
name.  Catania  has  other  handsome  theatres, 

Temple  of  Ceres.  Piale's  Guide  to  Naples  and  Sicily \  1847,  mentions  a 
ternple  of  Ceres,  apparently  near  the  church  of  the  Minori  Riformati :  * '  The 
ruins  consist  of  a  wall  that  supports  a  flight  of  steps  ;  the  remains  of  founda 
tions  under  the  bastion  and  those  of  an  aqueduct  are  supposed  to  have 
belonged  to  this  temple.  .  .  .  On  the  fragment  of  a  lava  cornice  of  the  Doric 
order  is  an  inscription  interpreted  as  follows :  *  Catanse  Cereri  sacrum.' " 

Tombs,  Roman.   See  S.  Maria  di  Gesu. 

University.  In  the  Via  Stesjcoro-^tnea,  near  the  Duomo.  It  was  founded 
in  1445  by  Alfonso  of  Aragon.  It  has  two  libraries,  the  University  and  the 
Ventimiliana,  and  next  to  it  is  the  Accademia  Gioenia.  It  was  founded  in 
memory  of  Giuseppe  Gioeni,  a  distiBgnistied  naturalist  (b.  1720;  d.  1788), 
chiefly  to  study  the  phenomena  in  connection  with  Etna.  Goethe  inter 
viewed  him  May  4th,  1787. 

Vegetation  outside.  The  vegetation  on  the  lower  slopes  of  Etna  is 
wonderful.  The  soil  is  so  exuberantly  fertile,  the  climate  so  even.  It  is 
best  seen  by  a  trip  on  the  Circum-^taean  Railway. 


THINGS  OF  CEFALU 

csp  be  visited  in  the  day  from  Palermo,  Mid  can  be  visited  at  any 
t&me.  Hiere  is  no  necessity  to  take  a  cab,  as  the  town  is  near  the  station  and 
tiie  cafeiaem  are  troublesome.  The  origin  of  the  name  is  much  disputed. 
Some  say  it  is  Phoenician  Cefalud,  meaning  a  rock  in  that  language,  others 
say  k  is  from  the  Greek  Cephalos,  a  head  Others  that  it  is  from  the  little 
fisfe  called  Cefali  which  abound  in  the  sea  here  and  form  the  arms  of  the  city. 
Whatever  its  origin,  its  name  was  Cephalcedium.  It  seems  as  if  it  must  have 
something  to  do  with  head,  for  the  ancient  town  stood  on  the  noble  rock 
which  is  the  rival  of  Monte  Pellegrino  and  Gibraltar.  The  Sike 


THINGS   OF  CEFALU 


333 


and  the  Saracen  city  were  certainly  on  the  hill  which  is  now  crowned  by  the 
castle.  The  Albergo  d5  Italia  is  a  possible  inn.  It  is  on  the  Cathedral  Square. 
Cefalu  is  one  of  the  worst  towns  in  Sicily  for  boys  worrying  strangers.  They 
are  not  all  beggars,  for  the  town  is  very  prosperous. 

HISTORY 

396.   It   was   probably  as   a   dependency   of  Hiznera  that    Himilco   the 
Carthaginian  made  a  treaty  with  the  inhabitants,  and  Dionysius 
'  captured  it  by  treachery. 
307.   Taken  by  Agathocles. 

254.   In  the  First  Punic  War   captared    by   a   Roman    fleet,   again   by 

treachery. 
Mentioned  by  Cicero  in  Ms  indictment  of  Verres. 

A.D. 

837.   The  Saracens  besieged  it. 
858.   The  Saracens  captured  it.  ... 
1129.   Roger  the  King  founded  the  cathedral  and  transferred  the  city  to  the 

seashore. 
1145-1148.  The  mosaics  in  the  cathedral  executed.     Charter  granted  to  the 

cathedral. 

King  Roger,  coming  from  Naples  in  1129,  was  caught  in  a  great  storm,  and 
vowed  to  raise  a  church  on  the  first  piece  of  land  he  set  foot  on  to  Christ  and 
his  apostles.  This  was  at  Cefalu,  and  he  founded  a  church,  but  dedicated  it 
to  St.  George.  It  fell  into  decay,  and  the  citizens  rebuilt  it  ^  Two  years 
afterwards,  according  to  Murray,  Roger  determined  to  fulfil  his  vow,  and 
kid  the  foundations  of  the  present  cathedral,  by  far  the  largest  and  most 
magnificent  temple  in  Sicily  at  that  time. 

Agaves.  A  wild  agave  with  leaves  of  a  beautiful  pinkish  brown  and  a 
bright  yellow  flower  about  two  feet  high  grows  on  the  rock  of  Cefalu  wherever 
the  boys  cannot  get  at  it 


CEFALUS  THE  CITY  AND  THE  KOCK 


334        SICILY  THE   NEW   WINTER   RESORT 

SS.  Annunziata.  Near  the  Palazzo  Geraci.  Mentioned  by  Murray  as 
having  an  early  tower. 

Butler,  the  late  Mr.  Samuel,  in  his  The  Authoress  of  the  Odyssey -,  published 
by  Longmans,  has  much  about  Cefalu.  He  identifies  Cefalu  with  the  Telepylus 
of  the  Odyssey.  See  Portazza,  below.  Prehistoric  house.  Prehistoric  wall  by 
the  shore. 

Casa  di  Ruggero.  An  old  Norman  palace  said  to  have  been  built  by 
King  Roger.  (Murray.) 

Castello.  The  whole  of  the  rock  above  the  town  is  encircled  with  a  battle- 
mented  wall,  largely  Saracenic.  It  is  all  called  the  Castello.  Except  at  the 
entrance,  where  there  is  a  pointed  arch,  the  walls  are  very  feeble,  being  on 
the  edge  of  precipices.  It  is  full  of  remains  of  all  ages,  the  most  important 
being  the  famous  prehistoric  house,  locally  known  as  the  Temple  of  Diana — 
a  marvellous  building.  See  Prehistoric  House. 

Cathedral.  See  History.  It  is  not  large,  only  74  .metres  by  30 ;  but  its 
west  front  is  about  the  finest  in  Sicily.  From  a  kind  of  stylobate  supposed  to 
have  belonged  to  an  ancient  temple  it  rises  with  an  arcaded  porch  of  the  four 
teenth  century  between  two  magnificent  four-storied  Norman  towers  which 
terminate  in  quaint  little  steeples.  Its  colour  is  very  beautiful.  The  mosaics 
executed  between  1 145  and  1 148  have  the  merit  of  being  unrestored,  and  are 
therefore  the  most  interesting  in  Sicily.  Notice  especially  the  glorious  Christ 
which  fills  the  end  of  the  central  apse,  one  of  the  three  great  Christs  of 
Sicily,  which  should  be  compared  with  those  of  the  Royal  Chapel  of  Palermo 
and  Monreale,  and  a  similar  Christ,  not  so  large,  in  St.  Mark's  at  Venice. 
They  all  represent  the  same  Byzantine  type,  and  might  have  been  copied  one 
from  the  other.  The  church  is  divided  into  three  naves  by  sixteen  ancient 
columns,  one  cipollino,  the  rest  granite.  Notice  the  fine  Norman  arcading 
under  the  roof  of  the  transept  and  the  splendid  Norman  capitals  of  the  choir 
arch  ;  the  curious  woodwork  roof  something  like  our  open  roofs  with  some  of 
its  ancient  colouring  on  it ;  the  font ;  King  Roger's  throne  and  the  angels, 
like  the  figures  of  six  crossed  wings  in  S.  Sofia  at  Constantinople.  There  is 
an  antique  ciborium  of  the  epoch  of  Roger  made  of  white  marble  mellowed 
by  age,  very  quaint.  The  back  of  the  cathedral  resembles  the  backs  of  the 
cathedrals  at  Monreale  and  Palermo,  but  is  much  more  venerable.  It  is 
delicately  laced  with  arcadings  of  lava.  There  are  some  fine  tombs  in  the 
cathedral,  notably  that  of  a  Marquis  of  Geraci,  dating  back  to  1 200,  and  a 
Princess  of  Aragon  buried  in  a  Greek  Christian  sarcophagus.  The  sacristy 
contains  some  fine  sixteenth-century  silk  panels  for  altar  fronts.  There  is  a 
beautiful  little  cloister  rather  in  the  Monreale  style  with  pointed  arches  resting 
on  pairs  of  columns  adorned  with  sculptures  and  various  arabesques — an 
important  example  of  Sicilian-Norman  art.  The  archive  room  is  also  im 
portant,  because  all  the  charters  have  been  preserved. 

Cephaloeditim.    See  Introduction  to  Cefalk 

dirist,  mosaic  of.     See  Cathedral 

Cisterns.  The  castle  rock  abounds  in  tb£  a^ii^l5tei^-sia|)ai  c^terns  so 
common  at  Girgenti.  The  best  kbowa  is  ife1  Bijg^o ;il  Dikasa^  i^blcli  looks 
like  one  of  the  favafojz,  or  ancient  pelbiie  ;wasfe^-p|a^^  allacied  to  many 
Sicilian  and  Italian  cities.  Tills  gigaalc  ceiaeaslei  cislera  is  full  of  a  huge 
kind  of  maidenhair. 

Cloister.   See  CatliedraL 

Coins,  The  Ras  l&efkart  coin,  hitherto  assigned  to  Heraclea  Minoa,  is,  per 
haps,  according  to  Holm  aad  Mr.  G,  F.  Hill,  to  be  attributed  to  Cefalu.  On 


THINGS   OF  CEFALU  335 

the  one  side  they  have  a  bearded  head  of  the  Phoenician  Hercules,  or  a 
female  head  with  dolphins  (or  are  they  the  Cefali  ?) ;  on  the  other  Is  a  gallop 
ing  four-horse  chariot.  The  Roman  coins  are  inscribed  in  Greek  **Kepha- 
loidiou,"  and  nearly  all  are  connected  with  Hercules's  head,  lion-skin,  club, 
and  bow  and  quiver.  (G.  F.  Hill. ) 

Diana.  At  Cefalu,  as  in  many  parts  of  Sicily,  it  is  a  custom  to  name  very 
old  things  after  Diana,  probably  because  Diana  or  Artemis  was  the  tutelary 
goddess  of  the  Dorian  race ;  and  the  Dorians  of  Syracuse  swamped  Greek 
Sicily. 

Diana,  Bagno  di.    See  Castle. 

Diana,  Tempio  di.     See  Prehistoric  house. 

Gibelmanna.  The  new  summer  station  in  delightful  scenery  near  the  famous 
monastery,  is  on  a  mountain  alx>ve  Cefalu. 

Gothic  architecture.  Scattered  about  the  town  are  various  examples  of 
Gothic  with  slender  shafted  windows. 

Himera.  Cefalu  is  said  to  have  been  a  dependency  of  Hirnera,  See 
History. 

Hotels.     See  Accommodation  above. 

Osteri  Magno.    A  medieval  edifice  mentioned  by  Sig.  Luigi  Mauceri. 

Palazzo  Geraci.  Opposite  the  Casa  di  Ruggero ;  has  the  prominent  billet 
moulding  of  Saracenic  origin.  (Murray.) 

Porta  Gindecca.    A  Norman  gate. 

Portazza.  The  local  name  for  Cefalu.  Butler,  in  his  Authoress  of  the 
Odyssey ',  declares  Portazza,  z>.  Portacci%  or  wide  gate,  to  be  too  like  a  cor 
rupt  mistranslation  of  Telepylus  of  Horaer  to  allow  of  his  passing  over. 

Laestryg'omans,  Butler  thinks  that  this  aaiae,  which  lie  translates  workers 
in  stones,  may  have  bee®  applied  to  the  Sicaas  of  Telep^Ies  or  Cefelu,  as  well 
as  the  Cyclops, 

Photograph  Tfeere  is  a  fjljotograpfer  wiso  itfes  at  Ce&&.  Any  boy 
will  take  visitors  to  JMm,  Imt  foe  is  a  small  man  working  in  his  bedroom. 
Ineorpcca  of  Palermo  afld  AHnari,  whose  photographs  are  sold  at  Reber's 
library,  have  both  taken  excellent  photographs  of  the  principal  monuments 
at  Cefalu. 

Prehistoric  house.  This  prehistoric  house  in  the  castle  at  Cefalu  is  one 
of  the  finest  monuments  of  its  period  anywhere,  and  is  much  the  oldest  monu 
ment  in  Sicily.  There  are  people  who  ascribe  it  to  the  Homeric  Age.  It  is 
locally  known  as  the  Temple  of  Diana,  See  Diana,  Butler  calls  it  "a 
building  on  a  hill  behind  the  town,  in  part  polygonal  and  very  rude,  and  part 
much  later  and  singularly  exquisite  work,  the  later  work  being  generally  held 
to  be  of  the  Mycenaean  Age."  Freeman  considers  the  remains  to  be  Sikelian. 
"  A  building  yet  stands  on  the  slope  of  the  hill  in  whose  walls  we  see  the  work 
of  the  primeval  Sikel,  the  paling  of  vast  irregular  stones,  to  which  those  who 
love  to  burn  their  fingers  with  doubtful  theories  rejoice  to  give  the  name 
Pelasgian.  We  see,  too,  the  work  of  the  Sikel  brought  under  Hellenic  influ 
ences,  his  more  regular  rectangular -masonry  and  the  cut  stones  of  his  door 
ways.  We  long  for  some  piece  of  evidence  which  might  enable  us  to  connect 
the  building  with  the  name  of  Docetras  or  of  either  Archonides.  The  only 
part  of  the  building  which  keeps  a  roof  is  covered  with  a  brick  vault,  while 
over  all  rise  the  ruins  of  a  small  early  apsidal  church," 

Com.  Luigi  Maixfcri,  Vice-Director  of  the  Sicilian  Railways,  who  has  made 
a  special  study  of  the  prehistoric  buildings  of  Sicily,  uses  the  term  Pelasgic. 


336        SICILY  THE   NEW  WINTER   RESORT 

It  was  built  of  a  sort  of  marble.    The  rock  on  which  it  and  the  castle  stand 
is  of  the  marble  called  lumachella. 

Murray  says,  ua  building  about  fifty  feet  in  length,  with  doors  and  passages 
of  polygonal  masonry  very  neatly  fitted  together,  remarkable  as  the  only 
specimen  of  the  so-called  Pelasgic  style  in  Sicily."  Rising  as  it  does  to  the 
height  of  a  room,  and  having  several  feet  of  masonry  on  the  top  of  its  singu 
larly  perfect  doorway,  it  is,  of  course,  more  perfect  than  any  known  Greek 
house  of  the  historic  age.  And  its  position  is  one  of  exquisite  beauty,  standing 
as  it  does  high  up  on  the  Pellegrino-like  mountain  with  a  view  bounded  by 
Capo  dl  Gallo  on  the  west  and  Capo  Orlando  eastward,  while  a  walk  of  a 
t  few  yards  takes  you  to  the  embattled  edge  of  the  rock  from  which  you  can 
look  down  on  King  Roger's  noble  cathedral. 


THE  PREHISTORIC  HOUSE  ON  THE  ACROPOLIS 

Prehistoric  wall.   Down  by  the  sea  near  a  fountain  is  a  very  fine  piece  of 

polygonal  wall,  showing  that  the  builders  of  the  prehistoric  house  had  a  haven. 
Freeman  says  :  '*  Two  primeval  walls  on  the  two  sides  of  the  present  town,  one 
leading  down  to  the  sea,  the  other  rising  above  the  sea,  served  to  join  the  city 
on  the  hill  to  the  waters  below.  Those  who  reared  them  had  clearly  made  a 
great  advance  on  the  condition  of  the  mere  dwellers  on  the  hilltops.  They  had 
learned  better  to  know  the  sea  ;  they  had  learned  that,  if  it  might  be  a.  source 
of  danger,  it  might  also  be  a  source  of  well-being.  The  long  walls  of  Cepha- 
Icedimm  were  no  unworthy  forerunners  of  the  long  walls  of  Athens." 

Marble.  The  shell-marble,  or  lumachella,  of  Cefalu  is  equal  to  that  of 
Siberia. 

Medieval  houses,  etc.  Near  the  cathedral.  Just  above  the  Albergo 
ds  Italia  there  is  a  medieval  house  with  a  charming  little  arcade  at  the  side  of 
its  door.  See  Gothic. 

Mosaics.  Chiesi  savs:  "The  mosaics  which  adorn  the  principal  apse  of 
the  cathedral  at  Cefalu  are,  in  the  opinion  of  all  experts,  the  finest  which 


THINGS   OF  GIRGENTI  337 

remain  in  Sicily.  They  are  the  most  perfect  for  their  style,  expression,  tone, 
and  the  religious  character  of -the  time.  They  are  the  only  mosaics  which  can 
compare  with  the  paintings  of  the  celebrated  convent  of  Mount  Athos,  the 
hearth  of  that  Christian  art  on  which  the  Byzantines  formed  their  style,  who 
passed  into  Italy,  gave  birth  in  Florence  to  Cimabue  and  Giotto,  and  in 
Palermo^  to  II  Camulio,  starting  in  this  branch  our  artistic  Renaissance." 

Sabatier,  the  celebrated  French  archaeologist,  who  wrote  with  loving 
erudition  on  the  artistic  remains  of  old  Sicily,  visiting  more  than  thirty  years 
ago  the  cathedral  of  Cefalu,  while  the  celebrated  Mosaicist,  Rosario  Riolo  of 
the  Museum  school  of  Palermo,  was  restoring  these  mosaics,  judged  those  of 
the  cathedral^  at  Cefalu  the  most  wonderful  of  their  kind,  and  ranked  them  - 
as  the  immediate  and  exclusive  work  of  those  Calogeri,  the  most  expert  and 
unsurpassed  artists  in  this  kind  of  work.  The  superb  and  colossal  half-length 
figure  of  Christ,  one  of  the  finest  in  existence,  fills  the  upper  part  of  the 
principal  apse  as  it  were  to  dominate  the  church  and  strike  veneration  in  the 
crowd  of  believers.  With  His  right  hand  He  is  in  the  act  of  blessing ;  with 
His  left  He  holds  the  Gospels  open.  Figures  of  Apostles,  Saints,  and  Angels 
surround  this  majestic  figure,  all  of  them  executed  with  the  finest  art  of  the 
time.  Among  the  notable  figures  are  those  of  St.  Basilius,  St.  Chrysostom, 


description  hi  Greek  so  different  from  the  others,  are  the  indisputable  proof  of 
their  purely  Calogerene  workmanship  of  the  mosaics.  They  were  finished  in 
1148,  and  were  fortunate  enough  in  this  restoration  to  escape  the  disfigurement 
which  the  Cappella  Reale  and  Martorana  mosaics  suffered. 

Roger  the  Second,  called  Roger  the  King,  of  Sicily,  not  Roger  I.,  the 
Great  Count,  was  the  founder  of  tfae  cathedral  of  Cefalfc.  See  History. 

Teiepylns.     Is  Cefalii  the  Telepylus  of  Homer  ?    See  above,  P&rtazza. 

View.    See  Castle  and  Prehistoric  bouse. 

THINGS   OF  GIRGENTI 

GIRGENTI  is  a  good  way  from  its  railway  station,  from  which  it  has  train 
communication  with  Palermo,  Catania,  and  Porto  Empedocle.  Omnibuses 
from  the  hotels  meet  the  train.  The  best  hotel  in  the  town  is  the  Belvedere, 
whose  proprietor,  Sig.  G.  O.  De  Angelis.,  is  a  person  of  much  consideration 
in  the  community,  the  best  person  for  a  stranger  to  go  to  if  he  wants  any 
assistance  or  information.  The  cooking  is  first-rate  at  this  hotel,  and  the 
view  from  its  terrace  superb.  The  Hotel  des  Temples,  the  most  expensive 
hotel,  frequented  by  Americans  and  the  wealthier  English,  is  a  good  way  from 
the  town— half-way  between  it  and  the  temples.  All  foreigners,  except 
Germans,  go  to  one  of  these  hotels. 

The  best  time  to  visit  Girgenti  is  the  winter  and  spring,  as  it  is  a  warm 
place,  and  the  parts  outside  the  town  are  malarious  at  bad  times.  The  great 
saint  here  is  S.  Gerlandus,  the  first  Norman  bishop.  Girgenti  is  one  of  the 
most  beautiful  places  in  Sicily.  It  stands  on  a  lofty  rifted  hill  overlooking 
the  sea,  with  the  cathedral  at  its  highest  point.  It  is  surrounded  on  the  south 
by  a  medieval  wall,  from  which  you  get  a  superb  view  of  the  rich  plain  of 
Acragas,  between  the  mountains  and  the  African  Sea,  with  two  rivers 
meandering  across  it  like  silver  ribbons,  and  rising  between  them  a  k»g 
acropolis,  crowned  by  two  of  the  noblest  temples  bequeathed  to  us  by  the 


338       SICILY  THE  NEW  WINTER  RESORT 

ancients.  Their  columns  are  of  bright  golden  stone,  and  every  spring  the 
temples  and  their  rock  are  swathed  in  clouds  of  almond  blossom  which  rival 
the  cherry-groves  round  the  temples  of  Tokio.  The  ancients  revelled  in  its 
beauty.  Pindar  calls  it  the  fairest  of  mortal  cities  and  * '  splendour-loving," 
and  in  its  day  the  rock  of  the  temples,  with  half  a  dozen  great  temples  rising 
out  of  the  quarter  of  the  nobles,  must  have  been  amazingly  beautiful  and 
impressive. 

Acragas,  the  Roman  Agrigentum,  the  modern  Girgenti,  was  founded  by 
colonists  from  Gela  in  592  B.C.  Phalaris  became  its  tyrant  in  570,  and  made 
it  one  of  the  most  powerful  cities  of  Sicily  with  a  considerable  empire  in  the 
island.  Its  next  great  ruler  was  Theron,  who  became  its  tyrant  in  488  B.C. 
By  the  expulsion  of  Terillus  from  Himera  he  gained  possession  of  that  city, 
and  aided  by  Gelo  of  Syracuse,  who  marched  to  his  rescue  with  50,000  horse 
and  foot,  destroyed  Hamilcar's  army  of  300,000  men  at  the  Battle  of  Himera 
(q.v.),  480  B.C.  He  brought  vast  numbers  of  Carthaginian  prisoners  back 
with  him,  who  constructed  the  marvellous  aqueducts  and  other  public  build 
ings  of  ancient  Acragas.  He  died  472  B.C.,  and  his  son  Thrasydseus  was 
quickly  expelled  by  Empedocles.  It  was  Empedocles  who  said  that  the 
Acragantines  built  their  houses  as  if  they  were  to  live  for  ever,  but  gave 
themselves  up  to  luxuries  as  if  they  were  to  die  on  the  morrow.  Diodorus 
says  that  Acragas  had  20,000  citizens  and  a  total  population  of  200,000  at  its 
zenith.  About  450  B.C,  Syracuse  and  Acragas  united  against  Ducetius, 
After  his  defeat  they  fought  with  each  other,  and  any  question  of  rivalry 
between  the  two  cities  was  settled  for  ever  by  the  crushing  defeat  of  the 
Acragantines  on  the  Southern  Himera,  446  B.C.  During  the  Athenian 
Expedition,  414-413  B.C.,  Acragas  remained  strictly  neutral.  In  406  B.C.  they 
stood  a  siege  of  eight  months  against  the  huge  Carthaginian  hosts  under 
Himilcon ;  but  notwithstanding  the  help  of  some  mercenaries  under  the 
Spartan  Dexippus  and  a  Syracusan  army  under  Daphnseus,  they  deserted 
their  city  and  fled  to  Gela.  Those  who  could  not  go  were  massacred  and  the 
wealth  of  the  city  plundered  by  the  Carthaginians.  By  the  truce  between 
Dionysias  and  the  Carthaginians,  the  exiles  were  permitted  to  return  on  con 
dition  of  not  fortifying.  But  a  few  years  later  they  were  able  to  shake  off  the 
yoke  of  Carthage  and  attach  themselves  to  Dionysius,  and  by  the  peace  of  383 
they  were  left  free.  Timoleon,  after  his  victory  over  the  Carthaginians  at  the 
Crimesus,  340  B.C.,  finding  the  city  very  depressed,  recolonised  it  with 
citizens  from  Velia  in  Italy.  Acragas  once  more  became  the  rival  of  Syracuse, 
regarding  Timoleon  as  its  second  founder.  In  314  B.C.  its  citizens  were 
forced  to  acknowledge  the  hegemony  of  Syracuse.  But  in  309  B.C.  they 
formed  a  league  with  the  hegemony  for  themselves  against  Agathocles,  who 
was  absent  in  Africa.  But  they  were  twice  severely  defeated,  and  on  the 
return  of  Agathocles  compelled  to  sue  for  peace.  After  the  death  of  Agatho 
cles  Phintias  made  himself  king  of  Acragas,  They  submitted  to  Pyrrhus 
wfeen  he  landed.  At  the  commencement  of  the  First  Punic  War  they  admitted 
a  Carthaginian  garrison,  but,  262  B.C.,  after  a  long  siege,  the  city  was  taken 
by  the  two  consuls  after  Hanno,  who  had  advanced  with  a  large  army  to  relieve 
it,  had  been  defeated.  From  this  time  it  is  known  as  Agrigentum.  The 
Carthaginian  garrison  fled,  leaving  the  city  to  its  fate,  and  the  Romans 
reduced  25,000  of  its  inhabitants  to  slavery.  The  Romans  lost  30,000  men 
in  the  siege.  In  255  B.C.  the  Romans,  having  been  weakened  by  a  series  of 
losses  at  sea,  the  Carthaginian  general,  Carthalo,  once  more  recovered  the 
city  with  little  difficulty,  and  once  more  reduced  the  city  to  ashes,  and 
destroyed  its  fortifications.  It  was  ceded  to  the  Romans  with  the  rest  of 


THINGS   OF   GIRGENTI  339 

Sicily  at  the  end  of  the  war.  In  the  Second  Punic  War  the  Carthaginians 
took  it  before  Marcellus  could  arrive  to  save  it,  and  it  became  the  chief 
stronghold  of  the  Carthaginians  in  Sicily,  holding  out  against  the  Romans 
long  after  the  rest  of  the  island  had  submitted.  But  in  210  B.C.  Mutines,  the 
Numidian,  who  had  taken  the  leading  part  in  the  defence,  was  offended  by 
the  Carthaginian  commander,  and  betrayed  the  city.  The  leading  citizens 
were  put  to  death,  and  the  rest  sold  as  slaves.  The  Romans  favoured  the 
city  greatly.  Cicero  mentions  it  as  one  of  the  most  wealthy  and  populous 
cities  of  Sicily.  It  never  seems  to  have  been  a  Roman  colony,  though  it  was 
still  one  of  the  leading  cities  of  Sicily  under  the  Eastern  Empire.  It  was  one 
of  the  first  places  taken  by  the  Saracens  in  A.D.  827,  and  was  not  taken  by 
the  Normans  till  1086.  Abridged  from  Sir  W.  Smith  in  the  Dictionary  of 
Greek  and  Roman  Geography.  (Murray). 

Girgenti  owed  its  prosperity  to  its  trade  with  Carthage,  which  it  supplied 
with  wine  and  oil.  It  is  a  very  prosperous  town  to-day,  having  a  large  trade 
in  sulphur.  It  has  a  population  of  25,000  inhabitants.  The  Saracens 
colonised  it  with  Berbers,  which  is  always  considered  to  account  for  the 
brutality  of  its  lower  orders.  There  is  a  proverb,  "  Girgenti— mala  genie" 

^Esculapius.     See  under  Temples. 

Agora.  Surrounded  with  colonnades,  mentioned  by  Polybius,  has  perished 
except  a  tiled  pavement  forming  an  angle  at  the  edge  of  the  road  from  Bona- 
Murone  to  S.  Nicola. 

Almond  trees.  Girgenti  is  famous  for  its  almond -blossom.  When  that  is 
at  its  height  the  view  of  the  temples  rising  out  of  it  equals  any  cherry-blossom 
effect  in  Japan. 

AngeBs,  Sig.  Giovanni  Oreste  de1.  Proprietor  of  the  Hotel  Belve 
dere.  Speaks  French  well  and  is  much  tbe  most  helpftil  man  to  strangers  at 
GirgentL  Scholars  always  go  to  his  hotel 

Aqueducts.  The  Greek  aqueducts  at  Girgenti,  though  almost  unnoticed 
by  foreign  antiquaries,  are  among  the  most  astonishing  works  of  antiquity. 
They  are  said  to  have  been  made  by  the  Carthaginian  prisoners  taken  at  the 
Battle  of  Himera,  480  B.C.,  and  are  tunnels  cut  for  vast  distances  through  the 
rock  high  enough  and  wide  enough  for  a  man  to  walk  through  them.  The 
brothers  Caltagirone  can  point  them  out.  How  the  men  who  made  them  got 
air  and  got  rid  of  the  rubbish  one  cannot  understand. 

"  Many  of  the  barbarians,  when  their  army  was  routed,  fled  up  into  the 
midland  and  borders  of  Agrigentum,  who,  being  all  taken  alive,  filled  the  city 
with  prisoners.  The  greatest  portion  were  set  apart  for  the  public  service, 
and  appointed  to  cut  and  hew  stone,  of  which  they  not  only  built  the  greatest 
of  their  temples,  but  made  watercourses  or  sinks  underground  to  convey 
water  from  the  city,  so  great  and  wide  that,  though  the  work  itself  was  con 
temptible,  yet  when  done  and  seen  was  worthy  of  admiration.  The  overseer 
and  master  of  the  work  was  one  Pheax,  an  excellent  artificer,  from  whom 
these  conduits  were  called  Pheaces."  (Booth's  translation  of  Diodorus  Siculus, 
Book  XI.) 

Arabic  remains.  A  neglected  subject  There  are  many  traces  of  them  in 
the  towns  round  Girgenti,  and  in  the  nomenclature  especially,  such  as 
Rabato,  Macalubi,  Favara. 

Avria,  Villa.  An  artist's  bit ;  built  in  1860,  with  many  charming  features^ 
but  at  the  expense  of  the  Temple  of  Hercules. 


340        SICILY  THE   NEW  WINTER   RESORT 

Bakery,  medieval.  There  is  at  least  one  medieval  bakery  with  curious 
old  furnaces  in  one  of  the  streets  which  climb  to  the  cathedral. 

Biblioteca  Lucchesiana.  Founded  by  Bishop  Lucchesi  150  years  ago. 
One  of  the  most  famous  libraries  in  Sicily.  In  the  Carabinieri  Barracks  near 
the  cathedral. 

Bridge  of  the  Dead,  or  the  Greek  Bridge.     See  Ponte  dei  Morti. 

Carlo  Quinto,  The  hand  of  the  Emperor  Charles  V.  was  heavy  on  Girgenti. 
He  used  the  stone  of  the  Temple  of  Jupiter  Olympius,  etc.,  to  build  the  mole 
of  Porto  Empedocle. 

Carthaginians.  They  played  a  large  part  in  the  story  of  Girgenti.  It 
owed  its  wealth  to  commerce  with  Carthage,  to  which  it  exported  wine  and 
oil.  It  owed  its  destruction  to  the  Carthaginians,  406  B.C.  It  belonged  to 
them  for  a  long  period.  The  Carthaginian  camp  lay  between  the  sea  and  the 
Greek  necropolis  and  the  Temple  of  Vulcan  in  the  angle  of  the  river  Hypsas. 
They  had  another  force  on  the  hill  beyond  the  Rupe  Atenea. 

Castor  and  Pollux.     See  under  Temples. 

Catacombs.  The  easiest  to  explore  are  those  which  open  out  of  the  Grotta 
di  Fragapane,  near  the  Temple  of  Concordia.  There  is  a  catacomb  or  secret 
passage  leading  from  the  Chiesa  del  Purgatorio  to  some  point  on  the  hill  of 
the  temples.  It  has  never  been  fully  explored,  and  is  now  kept  closed. 

Cathedral.  Dates  from  the  fourteenth  century.  The  windows  in  its  tower 
are  some  of  the  most  exquisite  work  of  that  period.  The  interior  is  baroque. 
The  roof  is  rich,  and  the  choir  should  be  examined  as  an  example  of  baroque 
run  wild,  with  its  sea-nymphs,  and  water  made  of  iron.  Some  of  the  fourteenth- 
century  work  is  preserved  under  the  baroque.  They  show  you  a  piece  with  an 
ancient  fresco.  See  the  sacristy  with  the  glorious  Roman  sarcophagus  of  Phsedra 
and  Hippolytus  till  recently  used  for  the  altar ;  its  splendid  ancient  pewter 
vessels  ;  its  Greek  vase,  and  its  superb  view  of  the  mountains  behind  the  city. 
On  the  way  into  the  sacristy  is  a  charming  little  late  Gothic  chapel,  the  Cappella 
Marina,  with  a  fine  tomb.  See  also  the  picture  by  Guido  and  the  silver  image 
of  S.  Gerlandus,  the  first  bishop.  The  beautiful  sixteenth-century  ironwork 
of  the  choir  has  been  removed  within  the  last  few  years.  There  are  some 
handsome  gilt  baroque  fittings. 

Cave-dwellings.  Hardly  any  visitors  to  Girgenti  are  aware  of  the  many 
dwellings  and  tombs  of  the  troglodytes,  probably  Sicanians,  which  He  between 
the  city  and  the  Ponte  dei  Morti  in  the  fennel  gardens.  There  are  some 
fine  examples.  The  Caltagirone  brothers  know  them,  and  they  are  easily 
photographable. 

Cell,  Prof.  An  able  and  obliging  antiquary,  who  is  director  of  the  local 
museum  (q.v.). 

Ceres,     See  under  Temples, 

Churches.  Girgenti  is  far  richer  in  interesting  churches  than  visitors 
suppose. 

Ad&rata.  The  Adorata  has  a  fine  dog-tooth  Gothic  arch,  like  S.  Giorgio, 
btt  not  so  good.  Behind  it  is  a  medieval  cistern.  The  church  came  down 
when  making  the  Via  Garibaldi. 

S.  Ant&nw.  Contains  some  charming  artists'  bits.  On  the  first  floor  it  has 
three  lovely  fourteenth-century  windows  almost  as  rich  as  the  cathedral  tower, 
and  another  window  round  the  corner  filled  up.  Notice  the  picturesque 
bevelled  angle  and  Gothic  doorways  on  the  ground  floor.  In  the  Via 
S.  Antonio. 


THINGS   OF   GIRGENTI  341 

S.  Biagio.  On  the  Rupe  Atenea.  Formed  out  of  the  cella  of  the  Temples 
of  Ceres  and  Proserpine,  Small  Gothic  windows. 

Carmine.  At  the  west  front  of  the  Carmine  are  four  Moresque  carvings  of 
the  Arti,  or  trade  guilds— shoemakers,  shepherds,  wine-sellers,  etc.  They  are 
on  sunken  square  panels.  To  the  right  is  another  shepherd  panel. 

S.  Domenico.  On  the  way  down  to  the  Hotel  Belvedere  and  the  museum. 
Has  a  staircase  copied  from  the  Temple  of  Concordia  and  good  organ-lofts. 
In  the  street  to  the  left  are  some  Arabo-Norman  windows,  one  with  its  shafts 
still  entire. 

Duomo.     See  above,  under  Cathedral 

S.  Francesco  d*  Assist.  Near  the  entrance  of  the  main  street  as  you  come 
from  the  station.  Full  of  charming  artists'  bits.  It  has  remains  of  a  cloister 
with  three  rich  and  lovely  Gothic  doors  with  ruined  rose-windows  above  them 
in  the  golden  stone  which  makes  Girgenti  so  lovely.  The  sacristy  is  a  Gothic 
chantrey.  It  contains  a  superb  Renaissance  tomb,  with  a  lunette  and  a  Pieta 
above  and  a  rich  sarcophagus  with  a  baronial  effigy  l>elow.  There  are  two 
churches  underneath  the  present  church,  the  upper  one  restored.  The  lower 
one,  in  which  the  original  Gothic  is  undisturbed,  is  for  some  reason  bricked 
up.  The  cloister  is  in  the  grounds  of  a  school  (25  cent,  to  porter). 

S.  Francesco  di  Paolo  has  an  effective  terra-cotta  lunette  over  its  gateway. 

S.  Giorgio^  A  ruined  chapel  under  the  vast  Chiaramonte  Palace,  which  is 
now  the  Seminario.  Its  gateway  is  one  of  the  richest  pieces  of  Arabo- Norman 
decoration  in  Sicily,  and  the  Gothic  interior  is  full  of  white  rabbits.  Charming 
artists'  bit 

S,  Maria  del  Grsci.  Near  the  cathedral.  A  picturesque  old  Gothic  church 
with  an  atrium.  Used  by  the  very  poor.  There  is  a  charming  little  antique 
reliquary.  In  the  crypt  there  is  a  splendid  piece  of  stylobate  with  the  bases 
of  ^ six  columns  variously  attributed  to  Jupiter  Poilias,  Jupiter  Atabyrius,  and 
M inerva — the  only  classical  remains  within  the  town.  It  was  formerly  the 
cathedral,  and  when  people  talk  of  a  temple  of  Minerva  on  the  site  of  the 
cathedral  they  refer  to  this  church,  not  to  the  pr esent  cathedral. 

S.  Nicola.  One  of  the  most  charming  convents  in  Sicily,  containing  an  old 
Graco-Norman  church  with  a  stately  doorway  and  very  ancient  oak  doors. 
Under  ^its  curious  barrel  roof  is  a  Greek  cornice,  which  makes  some  people 
maintain  that  it  was  the  cella  of  a  temple.  But  the  ruined  choir,  shut  off 
from  the  present  church  and  used  for  keeping  rabbits  and  peacocks,  which  also 
has  a  Greek  cornice,  looks  more  like  this  if  there  ever  was  a  cella.  The 
architecture  of  the  interior  of  the  church  is  not  good,  though  some  of  it  is 
early  medieval.  The  convent  itself  has  a  cloister  with  a  few  remains  of 
Gothic  arches  and  a  delightful  terrace,  adorned  with  a  marble  cornice  of  some 
old  Greek  building  and  with  three  views  equally  delightful,  that  of  the  golden 
temples  below,  that  of  the  yellow  city  towering  behind  the  stone-pines  to  the 
top  of  a  rifted  hill,  and  that  of  the  medieval  garden  with  its  many-columned 
pergola,  its  Temple  of  the  Sun,  and  its  glorious  stone-pines.  It  is  now  private 
property,  but  visitors  are  welcomed  by  the  Madonna-like  caretaker.  There  is 
no  better  spot  in  Sicily  for  artists.  The  scene  of  Miss  Nonna  Larimer's 
novel,  Jesiatfs  ffgfc,  is  laid  in  this  delightful  convent.  The  Temple  of  the  Sun 
is  called  also  the  Oratory  of  Phalaris  (q.v.).  Notice  the  enormous  gebbia, 

Purgaterio,  Ckiesa  del  In  the  centre  of  the  town.  Has  the  catacombs 
referred  to  above, 

S.  Spirito  (Colkgio}.  Another  charming  artist's  bit  The  church  has  a 
noble  Gothk  door  with  a  perished  rose-window  above  it,  aad  is  said  to  have 


342        SICILY  THE   NEW  WINTER   RESORT 

a  beautiful  south  front,  which  is  not  shown.  The  inside  has  a  good  old  ceiling 
in  squares  and  graceful  door-screen.  Notice  Madonna  (school  of  Gagini) 
with  a  good  carved  predella,  three  old  silver  crowns,  stucco  panels  by  Serpotta, 
the  incomparable  stucco  sculptor  (see  under  Palermo),  which  are  perfectly 
charming,  and  magnificent  fifteenth-century  font,  school  of  Gagini.  The 
piazza  in  front  of  the  church  is  quite  an  artist's  bit. 

Cisterns,  Greek,  There  are  quantities  of  the  little  bottle-shaped  cisterns 
cut  in  the  rock  at  Girgenti.  There  is  one  near  the  Temple  of  Juno,  and  the 
Grotta  of  Fragapane  (q.v.)  is  cut  out  of  another.  The  best  place  to  see 
them  is  to  walk  down  the  railway  Ime3  which  cuts  through  any  amount  of 
cisterns  and  tombs. 

Classical  fragments.  See  at  the  museum  and  in  the  garden  of  S.  Nicola. 
The  Caltagirone  brothers  will  show  numerous  remains  of  Greek  houses,  Greek 
tombs,  etc. 

Concordia.     See  under  Temples. 

Coins.  The  coins  of  Acragas  are  very  easily  recognisable  by  their  eagles 
and  crabs.  The  commonest  type  has  an  eagle  one  side  and  a  crab  the  other. 
There  is  a  splendid  decradrachm  at  Munich  with  an  eagle  holding  a  hare  on 
one  side  and  a  four-horse  chariot  under  an  eagle  on  the  other.  The  crab  was 
a  fresh-water  crab  found  in  the  river  of  Acragas.  There  is  also  a  beautiful 
bronze  coin  with  a  fine  head  on  one  side  and  the  Pegasus  on  the  other  belong 
ing  to  Acragas. 

Costumes,  Girgenti  is  not  a  good  place  for  costumes,  though  the  women, 
who  do  not  go  about  much,  make  a  picturesque  feature  in  the  churches  with 
their  black  mantos  or  shawls. 

Curios.  Girgenti  is  a  capital  place  to  buy  curios.  Fresh  Greek  tombs  are 
constantly  being  opened,  and  you  can  buy  a  few  pieces  of  old  lace,  fans,  etc. 
The  Greek  curios  consist  of  terra-cotta  figurines,  vases,  lamps,  articles  of 
toilet ;  bronze  ditto,  not  so  numerous ;  bronze  candelabra,  mirrors,  bells, 
needles,  weights,  rings,  bracelets,  etc.  ;  stray  pieces  of  antique  gold  and 
silver  and  innumerable  coins.  There  are  three  brothers  named  Caltagirone, 
who  are  licensed  to  dig  for  antiquities  on  condition  of  submitting  their  finds 
to  the  museum.  They  are  perfectly  honest  and  by  no  means  expensive. 
Sig.  de  Angelis  of  the  Hotel  Belvedere  sends  for  them. 

Curio-shops.  In  the  main  street.  The  most  reasonable  is  kept  by  a  barber. 
But  the  jewellers  all  deal  in  curios. 

Einpeclocles  was  a  native  of  Girgenti.  Was  flourishing  444  B.C.  Refused 
the  tyranny  when  he  had  driven  out  Thrasydseus,  son  of  Theron.  He  freed 
Girgenti  from  malaria  by  making  the  cleft  between  the  city  and  the  Rupe 
Atenea.  See  General  Index. 

Empedode,  Porto.  One  of  the  principal  sulphur  ports  of  Sicily.  The 
port  of  Girgenti.  Owes  its  existence  chiefly  to  the  mole  built  by  Charles  V. 
oat  of  the  Temple  of  Jupiter. 

Favara.  A  city  a  few  miles  from  Girgenti,  containing  a  splendid  old  castle 
of  Ifee  Qtiaraim>nte.  See  General  Index. 

Garibaldi,  Villa.  The  public  garden  of  Girgenti,  situated  on  the  Rupe 
Atenea  at  the  entrance  to  the  town. 

Gates.  The  Porta  Aurea  was  situated  between  the  Temple  of  Hercules  and 
the  Temple  of  Jupiter.  The  P&rta  Gela  was  situated  between  the  Temple  of 
JMIO  and  the  Rupe  Aten-ea.  The  Porta  Bracka  by  which  the  Carthaginians 
entered  was  near  the  Greek  bridge.  The  modern  gates  are  not  important 


THINGS   OF  GIRGENTI  343 

Gateways,  medieval.  There  are  at  least  two  medieval  gateways  of  the 
narrow  acute-arched  Arabo-Norman  pattern  In  the  wall  which  runs  along  the 
south  side  of  the  town.  - 

Gebbia.    One  of  the  largest  gebbias  or  water-cisterns  in  Sicily  is  at  the 

Convent  of  S.  Nicola. 

Gellias.  The  rich  citizen  of  Acragas  who  burnt  himself  in  the  Temple  of 
Juno  (Minerva),  where  the  traces  of  the  fire  can  still  be  seen,  on  the  night  that 
the  Carthaginians  took  Acragas,  406  B.C.  For  Diodorus's  stories  about  him, 
see  General  Index. 


THE  TEMPLE  OF  JUNO  (MINERVA),  WHERE  GELLIAS  BCRNED  HIMSELF 

Gerlando,  S.  The  Norman  bishop  appointed  to  Girgenti  by  Count  Roger. 

He  was  canonised,  and  is  the  popular  saint  of  Girgenti.     See  Cathedral. 

Giardino  Pubbllco.    See  Villa  Garibaldi. 

GIgantL  The  giants  which  form  the  device  of  Girgenti  are  a  pun  on  the 
name,  helped  out  by  the  fallen  giant  in  the  Temple  of  Jupiter  Olympius. 

Goethe  was  at  Girgenti  in  1787,  from  the  23rd  to  the  28th  of  April,  He 
saw  the  coast  of  Africa  one  day,  and  thought  the  Phaedra  and  Hippolytus 
sarcophagus  the  best  he  had  ever  seen. 

Golden  Gate.    See  Gates,  Porta  Aurea. 

GrBeco-Normao  architecture.  The  Greek  influence  on  the  Norman  style 
of  architecture  is  distinctly  visible  at  the  Convent  of  S.  Nicola. 

S,  Gregotio  delle  Rape  (i.e.  of  the  turnips).     The  church  in  which  the 
Temple  of  Concord  was  embodied  and  preserved  for  so  many  centuries. 
^  Grotta  di  Fragapane.  A  very  elegant  catacomb  extended  from  a  Greek 
cistern  which  had  "teen  used  as  a  tomb,  near  the  Temple  of  Concordia. 
Baedeker  assigns  it  to  the  second  century  A.D. 

Guides.  Girgenti  has  a  good  guide,  one  of  the  brothers  Caltagirone,  who 
sell  antickita  at  the  hotels.  He  can  point  out  the  houses  of  the  cave-dwellers, 
the  Greek  aqueducts,  the  various  Greek  tombs,  the  remains  of  Greek  houses, 
etc.,  as  well  as  all  the  Gothic  bits  in  the  city. 

Gmdo  Reni   There  is  a  Guido  in  the  cathedral. 


344        SICILY   THE   NEW  WINTER   RESORT 

Hercules.    See  under  Temples. 

Hanno  L,  The  Carthaginian  general  whose  failure  to  relieve  Agrigentum 
brought  about  its  capture  by  the  Romans  in  the  First  Punic  War,  262  B.C. 

Hanno  II.,  the  Carthaginian  general  who  maintained  himself  at  Agrigen 
tum  two  years  after  Marcellus  had  captured  Syracuse. 

Hollow  Way,  the.  An  ancient  Greek  road  from  the  present  city  down  to 
the  temenos  in  which  the  temples  stand.  It  looks  like  the  bed  of  a  torrent. 
The  expression  only  means  a  sunken  road. 

Hotels.  The  principal  hotel  in  the  town  in  Girgenti  is  the  "Belvedere,"  on 
the  south  wall,  commanding  a  glorious  view  of  the  temples  and  the  sea.  The 
Hotel  des  Temples  is  about  half-way  between  the  temples  and  the  city.  The 
cooking  at  the  "Belvedere"  is  very  good,  and  the  landlord,  who  speaks 
excellent  French,  is  the  most  useful  man  in  the  town  to  strangers. 

Houses,  Greek.  There  is  a  very  fine  Greek  house  at  Girgenti  on  the 
property  opposite  S.  Nicola  as  you  go  down  to  the  temples.  It  was  excavated 
by  Prof.  Salinas,  and  is  of  great  size.  It  has  a  courtyard  with  twenty-eight 
columns,  the  bases  of  which  are  all  in  situ,  and  the  walls  of  the  rooms,  some 
of  which  have  mosaiced  floors,  are  several  feet  high.  There  are  remains 
of  numerous  other  Greek  houses  in  the  fields  near  the  railway,  which  the 
Caltagirone  brothers  can  point  out.  There  is  hardly  anything  left  of  them, 
except  bits  of  foundations,  and  tiled  or  mosaiced  or  cemented  floors.  The 
leading  characteristics  of  a  Greek  house  were :  a  small  front  door  on  the 
street  leading  through  a  little  hall  into  the  courtyard  of  the  anckronitis*  Le.  the 
men's  part.  From  this,  which  was  surrounded  by  the  sleeping-cells  of  the 
unmarried  men  of  the  family  and  the  slaves,  the  mesaulus^  or  the  half-way 
hall,  conducted  one  into  the  gyn&cmitis  or  women's  part  of  the  house, 
surrounded  by  the  chambers  of  the  women  and  the  head  of  the  house.  There 
was  often  a  garden  at  the  back.  One  need  not  enter  into  details,  and  the 
plan  was  not  rigidly  adhered  to. 

Ipogeo,  or  Laberinto.    The  secret  passage  alluded  to  above.    See  Catacombs. 

Jewels,  Greek.  Little  ornaments  of  gold  and  silver  are  constantly  found 
in  the  tombs,  especially  rings  and  earrings,  though  larger  pieces  have  been 
discovered. 

"Josiah's  Wife."  A  novel  by  Miss  Nonna  Lorimer,  with  its  scene  laid 
at  Girgenti,  chiefly  at  S.  Nicola.  (Methuen,  6^.) 

Jono  Lactnia.     See  Temples. 

Jupiter.    See  Temples. 

Laberinto.     See  Ipogeo. 

Laevinus.  The  Roman  consul  to  whom  Mutines  betrayed  Agrigentum  in 
the  Second  Punic  War,  210  B.C. 

Latomia,  i.e.  literally  a  stone  quarry.  Like  those  at  Syracuse.  The 
large  hollow  called  the  Piscina,  which  was  a  reservoir  or  fish-pond  in  Roman 
times,  was  really  a  latomia  with  the  end  blocked  up. 

^  *  IB  those  former  times,  likewise,  there  was  a  pond  out  of  the  walls  of  the 
city,  cut  by  art,  seven  furlongs  in  compass,  and  twenty  cubits  in  depth ;  into 
this,  with  wonderful  art,  were  drawn  currents  of  water,  by  which  they  were 
abundantly  supplied  with  all  sorts  of  fish  ready  for  their  use  at  all  public 
entertainments.  Upon  this  pond,  likewise,  fell  multitudes  of  swans  and 
other  fowl,  which  entertained  the  spectators  with  great  delight."  (Diodoras 
Siculus,  Book  XIIL,  chap,  xii.) 

"The  Agrigentines,  likewise,  sunk  a  fish-pond  at  great  cost  and  expense 


THINGS   OF  GIRGENTI  345 

seven  furlongs  in  compass,  and  twenty  cubits  in  depth.  Into  this  water 
was  brought  both  from  fountains  and  rivers,  and  by  that  means  it  was 
sufficiently  supplied  with  fish  of  all  sorts,  both  for  food  and  pleasure.  And 
upon  this  pond  there  fell  and  rested  a  great  multitude  of  swans,  which  gave  a 
most  pleasant  and  delightful  prospect  to  the  eye ;  but  by  the  neglect  of  suc 
ceeding  ages,  it  grew  up  with  mud,  and  at  last,  through  length  of  time, 
became  entirely  dry  ground.  But  the  soil  there  being  very  fat  and  rich, 
they  have  planted  it  with  vines  and  replenished  it  with  all  sorts  of  trees, 
which  yields  to  those  of  Agrigentum  a  very  great  revenue."  (Diod.  Sic., 
Book  XL) 

Lorimer,  Miss  Norma.    Sezjosm&'s  Wijt. 

Malaria.  Empedpcles  is  said  to  have  driven  away  malaria  by  cutting  the 
valley  between  the  city  and  the  Rupe  Atenea. 

Mamilius,  Q,  One  of  the  two  Roman  consuls  who  captured  Agrigentum 
after  a  seven-months'  siege  in  the  First  Punic  War,  262  B.C. 

Minerva,     See  Temples. 

Monserrato.  The  long  hill  between  Girgenti  and  Porto  Empedocle  across 
the  river  valley  from  the  Greek  necropolis.  The  Carthaginians  occupied 
this,  as  well  as  the  valley  between  called  the  Sita.  It  is  covered  with  tombs. 

Museum.  There  is  a  small  museum  at  Girgenti  under  the  direction  of  the 
amiable  and  able  Prof.  Celi.  It  is  a  few  doors  from  the  Hotel  Belvedere. 
It  has  a  splendid  collection  of  Greek  vases  and,  of  course,  a  number  of  terra 
cotta  figurines,  and  the  various  bronzes  and  terra-cottas  which  are  generally 
found  in  tombs.  It  has  also  some  interesting  sarcophagi  in  its  rather  quaint 
little  cortile.  Among  the  vases  is  the  splendid  specimen  dug  out  while  the 
German  Emperor  was  at  Girgenti  and  presented  to  him.  He  refused  to 
deprive  the  town  of  it,  and  desired  it  to  be  kept  in  the  museum  with  his  name 
attached. 

Mnttnes.  The  courageous  and  skiifiil  Namidsean  who  defended  Agrigeotuci 
so  long  against  the  Romans  in  the  Second  Punic  War.  Having  been  offended 
by  the  Carthaginian  general,  Hanno,  he  betrayed  the  city  to  the  Consul 
C.  Lsevinus,  210  B.C. 

Necropolis.  Few  people  who  go  to  Girgenti  trouble  about  either  the  Greek 
or  the  Roman  necropolis,  though  they  comment  a  good  deal  on  the  picturesque 
Roman-Christian  tombs  of  the  Grotta  di  Fragapane  and  those  with  which  the 
ancient  city  wall  are  honeycombed.  But  there  is  a  Roman  necropolis  outside 
the  Porta  Aurea  which  has  one  rather  majestic  tomb  miscalled  the  Tomb 
of  Theron  (q.v.)9  and  there  is  an  enormous  Greek  necropolis  stretching  from 
just  beneath  the  city  wall  across  the  valley  of  the  Hypsas  aad  over  the  brow 
of  Monserrato.  The  tombs  in  it  mostly  are  cut  in  the  surface  of  the  rock  in 
a  coffin  shape  covered  with  lids  of  stone  or  terra-cotta,  aad  undisturbed 
tombs  are  constantly  being  opened  aad  yielding  up  their  treasures.  There  is 
a  high  causeway  whose  walls  are  built  of  these  tomb-covers  set  on  end.  The 
remains  of  the  Ponte  dei  Morti  (q-v.),  by  which  the  bodies  were  carried 
across  the  river  to  the  necropolis,  exist  There  is  also  a  prehistoric  necro 
polis  intermixed  with  the  houses  of  the  cave-dwellers  in  the  rocks  under 
the  town. 

Nicola,  Convent  of  S.    See  under  Churches. 

Olive  trees.  Some  of  the  olive  trees  round  Girgenti  are  said  to  be  two 
thousand  years  old.  There  are  some  very  old  ones  round  the  Temple  of 
Juno. 


346        SICILY  THE   NEW   WINTER   RESORT 

Palaces.  Girgenti  has  practically  no  palaces  of  any  pretension  going  back 
to  Gothic  times.  The  Palazzo  Granito  is  considered  the  finest.  The  interest 
ing  feature  is  the  introduction  of  Greek  features  copied  direct  from  the 
city's  own  monuments  in  its  modern  classical  architecture.  There  is  a  temple 
colonnade  in  the  main  street,  which  often  deceives  visitors,  though  it  has 
no  great  merit. 

Phaeaces.   The  aqueducts  (q.v.). 

Phaedra  and  Hippolytus.  The  subject  of  a  superb  Greek  sarcophagus 
preserved  in  the  cathedral,  and  until  recently  used  as  the  altar.  Goethe, 
in  his  Letters  from  Sicily,  says:  "In  it  there  is  an  ancient  sarcophagus  in 
good  preservation.  The  fact  of  its  being  used  for  the  altar  has  rescued  from 
destruction  the  sculptures  on  it :  Hippolytus,  attended  by  his  hunting 
companions  and  horses,  has  just  been  stopped  by  Phaedra's  nurse,  who 
wishes  to  deliver  him  a  letter.  As  in  this  piece  the  principal  object  was 
to  exhibit  beautiful  youthful  forms,  the  old  woman,  as  a  mere  subordinate 
personage,  is  represented  very  little  and  almost  dwarfish,  in  order  not  to 
disturb  the  intended  effect  Of  all  the  alto-relievoes  I  have  seen,  I  do  not, 
I  think,  remember  one  more  glorious  and  at  the  same  time  so  well  preserved 
as  this.  Until  I  meet  with  a  better,  it  must  pass  with  me  as  a  specimen 
of  the  most  graceful  period  of  Grecian  art."  (Bohn's  trans.) 

Phalaris,  tyrant  of  Agrigentum,  began  his  reign  570  B.C.  He  is  remem 
bered  equally  for  his  brazen  bull  and  the  forged  letters  which  rehabilitated  his 
character.  He  is  said  to  have  kept  the  boll  at  Ecnomras,  the  hill  above 
Licata,  Diodoras  trounces  Timsetis  for  not  believing  in  it,  and  certainly 
Scipkv,  when  he  conquered  Carthage,  brought  back  the  brazen  bull,  which  the 
Carthaginians  had  taken  from  Agrigentum  as  that  of  Phalaris.  See  General 
Index,  The  legend  was  that  he  roasted  people  alive  in  it  (like  the  Moloch 
worshippers),  beginning  with  the  artist  who  had  constructed-  it  for  him, 
so  that  their  cries  should  come  out  from  the  open  mouth.  The  so-called 
Oratory  of  Phalaris  in  the  convent  garden  of  S.  Nicola  belongs  to  a  later 
date.  Dante  (Canto  xxvii.  4-9}  alludes  to  the  brazen  bull  and  the  story 
of  Perillus  being  the  first  victim. 

"  Come  il  bue  Cicilian,  che  muggfaift  prima 

Col  pianto  di  colui  (e  ci&  fa  dntto) 

Che  I'  avea  temperate  con  sua  lima 

Muggbiva  con  la  voce  dell'  afflito 

Si  cbe  con  tutto  eh'  ei  fosse  di  rame 

Pure  e'  pareva  dal  dolor  traffito." 

*{  As  the  Sicilian  bull  (which  bellowed  first  with  the  lament  of  him — and 
that  was  right — who  had  turned  it  with  his  file)  kept  bellowing  with  the 
sufferer's  voice ;  so  that,  although  it  was  of  brass,  it  seemed  transfixed  with 
pain," 

Phtntias.  Tyrant  of  Agrigentum  289  B.C.  (according  to  Sir  W.  Smith). 
He  established  an  empire  large  enough  to  include  Agyrium.  He  is  best 
known  from  having  founded  the  new  city  of  PMntias,  the  modern  Licata,  and 
translemng  to  it  the  inhabitants  of  Gela.  See  Phintias,  General  Index. 

Pfiotograpiis.  There  is  a  small  photographer  at  Girgenti  difficult  to  fin'd. 
Sig.  de  Angelis  at  the  Hotel  Belvedere  has  the  largest  selection  of  both 
photographs  and  postcards. 

Pindar  (see  General  Index)  was  employed  by  Theron  of  Agrigentum  to 
write  odes  about  his  triumphs.  It  was  he  who  gave  Girgenti  its  name  of 
"Splendour-loving  Acragas,"  "  splendour  -loving  noble  city  of  all  the  most 
beautiful." 


THINGS   OF  GIRGENTI  347 

Piscina.    See  above,  under  Latomia.     Mentioned  by  Diodorus. 

Politi,  RafTaelle.  One  of  the  best  artists  of  his  time.  He  wrote  a  guide 
book  to  Girgenti,  which  is  now  very  valuable  and  seldom  to  be  bought, 
entitled,  //  Viaggiatore  in  Girgenti  e  il  cicerone  dz  piazza,  owero  guida  agli 
avanzi  cPAgrigento"  (Girg.,  1826).  He  belonged  to  the  same  family  as 
Salvatore  and  Vincenzo  Politi,  the  authorities  on  the  antiquities  of  Syracuse. 
Some  of  the  forty  plates  of  his  book  are  very  beautiful  and  interesting.  The 
best  are  reproduced  in  Mr.  Sladen's  In  Sicily^  including  the  reconstructed 
Temple  of  Jupiter. 

Ponte  dei  Morti.  The  Bridge  of  the  Dead.  One  of  the  few  Greek 
bridges  in  existence.  Leads  across  the  Hypsas  from  the  ancient  city  to  the 
Greek  necropolis,  It  is  one  of  the  most  important  examples  of  Greek  bridge- 
building  in  existence. 

Porta,  Aurea.     Gela,  Eraclea  (Heraclea).     See  under  Gates. 

Porto  Empedocle.     See  under  Empedocle. 

Postumius,  L.  One  of  the  two  Roman  consuls  who  captured  Agrigentum 
after  a  seven-months'  siege  in  the  First  Punic  War,  262  B.  c. 

Pottery.  Girgenti  is  the  only  place  in  Sicily  where  you  can  buy  genuine 
ancient  Greek  pottery  at  moderate  prices.  It  is  found  so  often  there.  The 
Girgenti  people  make  very  pretty  modern  pottery  of  the  ancient  shapes. 

Public  gardens.     See  under  Villa  Garibaldi. 

Roger,  the  Great  Count,  captured  Girgenti  in  1086.  The  bishopric  has 
been  one  of  the  principal  bishoprics  of  Sicily  ever  since  it  was  founded. 

Rupe  Atenea.  Girgenti  stands  upon  a  rifted  hill,  half  of  which,  known 
as  the  Rupe  Atenea,  is  almost  bare,  containing  the  ViBa  Garibaldi,  the 
Campo  Santo  (q.v.J,  the  old  church  of  S.  Biagie*,  whkfe  was  the  Temple  of 
Ceres  (q.v.jt,  and  a  few  modern  buildings  on  the  tofx  Ret  it  was  enclosed  in 
the  ancient  walls,  of  wliieti,  indeed,  there  are  remains  near  the  Poria  Gela, 
Freeman  thinks  it  never  liad  many  buildings,  wtiicti  is  easily  intelligible  ;  as 
Greek  cities  lived  ip  a  state  of  siege,  they  were  compelled  to  enclose  large 
bare  tracts  for  growing  food  and  forage.  It  bore  the  sanae  aatne  in  the  time 
of  Diodorus,  and  as  it  has  a  rocky  ledge,  artificially  planed  to  receive  a 
building,  it  has  been  assumed  that  some  building  sacred  to  Athene  (Minerva) 
stood  here.  But  if,  as  has  been  with  more  reason  conjectured,  the  Temple 
of  Athena  (Minerva),  in  which  Gellias  burnt  himself  and  his  family,  is  the 
so-called  Temple  of  Juno,  its  contiguity  to  the  Rape  Atenea  might  have  been 
sufficient  to  give  the  rock  its  name, 

Sarcophagi.     See  Cathedral,  Museum,  Phaedra,  aai  HippolytHS. 

Seminary.  Chiaramonte  Palace.  Tbe  seminary  sta<is  on  trie  site  of  an 
ancient  palace  of  the  Quaramonti,  called  like  tfaeir  great  palace  in  Palermo 
Lo  Steri.  The  foundations  were  laid  by  Bishop  Marallo  in  1574,  and  in 
1610  Gilberto  Isfare  Cprilles,  Baron  of  Siculiana,  who  had  succeeded  to  the 
possessions  of  the  Chiaramonti,  gave  the  palace  to  Bishop  Bonincontro  to 
build  the  seminary,  which  was  completed  in  1611. 

Sicilian -Gothic.  The  Sicilian-Gothic  and  Arabo-Norman  buildings  in 
Girgenti  are  the  cathedral  tower  (q.v.),  S.  Maria  dei  Greci  (q.v.),  the  Adorata 
(q.v.),  S.  Antonio  (q.v.),  S.  Giorgio  (q.v.),  S.  Nicola  (q.v.}5  S.  Spirito  (q.v.), 
S.  Francesco  d'Assisi  (q.v.),  a  building  opposite  S.  Domeriko,  S.  Biagio 
(q.-v.),  the  decorations  of  the  Carmine  (q.v.),  a  Renaissance-Gothic  <ioor- 
way  in  the  Via  Piana  Barone,  with  high  spandrils  and  a  rich  border.  In  the 
Via  ObMigato  there  is  a  very  late  square-headed  Gothic  gateway  with  an  old 


34§        SICILY  THE   NEW  WINTER   RESORT 

peacock  door-knocker.  At  No.  39,  Via  Garibaldi,  is  a  window  with  columns 
sculptured  by  Gagini,  with  more  sculptures  inside  on  the  staircase,  which 
belongs  rather  to  the  Renaissance, 

Sirocco.  The  marks  of  the  sirocco  are  distinctly  seen  on  the  temples. 
One  side  of  the  Temple  of  Juno,  which  stands  on  a  very  lofty  rock,  is  quite 
eaten  away  by  it.  The  stucco  seems  to  resist  better  than  the  stone.  The 
ancient  wail  between  the  Temple  of  Juno  and  Concordia  has  been  eaten 
away  by  the  sirocco  till  large  portions  of  it  have  dropped  out,  and  the  re 
mainder  looks  like  crumbling  coral. 

Sulphur.  All  round  Girgenti  one  sees  traces  of  the  great  sulphur  industry, 
for  which  Porto  Empedocle  is  one  of  the  principal  shipping  ports.  One  of 
the  light  tramways  used  for  shipping  the  ore  may  be  seen  right  under  the 
temples.  Pack-mules  are  also  used,  each  carrying  two  great  ingots.  See 
under  Sulphur,  General  Index, 

Teiamon.  A  male  statue  used  in  supporting  an  entablature,  etc.  See 
General  Index.  There  is  a  perfect  example  lying  on  the  ground  in  the  Temple 
of  the  Olympian  Jove.  It  measures  25  feet.  It  was  put  together  by  the  artist 
RaffaelelPoliti. 


THE  FALLEN  TELAMQN  IN  THE  TEMPLE  OF  JUPITER  OLYMPIUS 


Temenos.  A  piece  of  land  cut  off  from  the  public  lands  for  the  support  of 
rulers  or  temples.  See  General  Index.  At  Girgenti  no  less  than  six  temples 
stood  together  within  the  temenos. 

Temples.  At  Girgenti  there  are  remains  of  at  least  ten  temples— Juno, 
Concordia,  Hercules,  Jupiter  Olympius,  Castor  and  Pollux,  and  Vulcan 
together  in  the  temenos;  Jisculapius  down  in  the  plain  below  the  other 
temples  ;  the  Sun  (Oratory  of  Phakris)  in  the  garden  of  S.  Nicola ;  Ceres  on 
the  Rupe  Atenea ;  Jupiter  Polias,  or  Atabyrius  (called  also  Minerva),  under 


THINGS   OF  GIRGENTI 


349 


S.  Maria  del  Greci ;  and  possibly  a  shrine  of  Athene  (Minerva)  OB  the 
levelled  space  on  the  top  of  the  Rupe  Atenea. 

Tempio  di  Giunone  Lacinia  (Temple  of  Jano  Lacinia  or  Lucina),  really  of 
Athene  (Minerva;.  A  hexastyle  peripteral  temple  of  34  columns.  Nearly 
41  ^metres  long,  19!  wide,  and  has  columns  3  metres  high.  Notice  the 
ancient  wall  cut  out  of  the  living  rock  and  honeycombed  with  early  Christian 
tombs,  often  eaten  through  by  the  sirocco  between  the  Temples  of  Concordia 
and  Juno,  and  notice  the  bottle-shaped  cistern  in  front  of  the  Temple  of  Juno. 
The  local  guide-book  says  it  has  been  known  also  as  the  Temple  of  Venus, 
but  Diodorusjs  doubtless  right  ia  ascribing  it  to  Athena  (Minerva).  At  the 
Porta  Gela  it  joins  the  Rope  Atenea,  and  nothing  would  have  teen  more  natural 
than  to  call  the  bare  hillside  adjoining  the  temple  the  Rock  of  Athene  after 
the  Temple  of  Athene,  This  must  be  the  origin  of  the  name  Rupe  Atenea. 

The  Temple  of  Juno  stands  on  a  rock  390  feet  high.  It  was  built  about 
500  years  before  Christ,  and  still  has  a  large  platform  in  front  of  it,  called 
locally  the  Ara.  It  is  very  fairly  perfect  and  sublimely  beautiful  and  majestic. 
The  marks  of  fire  on  it  are  said  to  have  been  caused  by  Gellias  burning  him 
self  and  his  treasures  and  his  family  in  it  on  the  night  that  the  Carthaginians 
took_  Acragas  in  406  B.  c.  See  Gellias,  and  in  General  Index,  There  are 
considerable  remains  of  the  cella.  Its  name,  Juno  Lacinia,  does  not  rest  on 
any  good  authority.  It  is  one  of  the  finest  Greek  temples  in  existence,  though 
a  little  inferior  in  preservation  to  the  best. 

The  Temple  of  Concordia  is  the  next  in  order.  It  is  wonderfully  perfect, 
also  vaguely  named.  The  only  authority  for  the  name  is  that  of  Fazello  on 
the  strength  of  an  inscription  recording  a  Concordia  between  the  Communes 
of  Agrigentum  and  Lilybeeum  in  Roman  times.  (Freeman.) 


THE  TEMPLE  OF  CONCORDIA 


It  is  the  most  complete  Doric  temple  in  existence  except  the^Theseum  at 
Athens.  Possibly  the  Temple  of  Minerva  at  Syracuse  might  run  it  hard  if 
the  cathedral  which  embodies  it  were  stripped.  It  is  very  beautiful,  aEd 
like  that  of  JnnoT  the  stone  is  of  a  beautiful  golden  colour.  It  was  preserved 
by  having  been  converted  into  the  church  of  S,  Gregorio  della  Rape.  See 


3So        SICILY   THE   NEW  WINTER   RESORT 

above.  "  Perfect  staircases  lead  to  the  roof,  which  no  longer  exists.  It  is  won 
derfully  perfect,  and  the  fact  of  its  not  having  a  roof  is  of  no  particular  con 
sequence,  because  it  is  not  certain  whether  a  Greek  temple  of  the  very  best 
kind  ought  to  have  a  roof  or  be  hypsethral.  There  is  a  window  at  each  end 
of  the  cella,  and  arches  have  been  chipped  out  of  its  wall.  Having  been  a 
stuccoed  temple,  it  had  no  grand  metopes."  (Sladen's  In  Sicily.']  A  Latin 
inscription  found  in  the  eighteenth  century  which  could  not  belong  to  it  gave 
it  its  name.  It  is  42  metres  long,  19  wide,  and  10  high.  It  is  a  hexastyle 
peripteral  temple  of  34  columns. 

The  Temple  of  Hercules  was  a  hexastyle  peripteral  temple  of  38  columns. 
It  is  73  metres  long  and  19  metres  wide.  It  contained  the  masterpiece  of 
Zeuxis,  the  Alcmena,  and  the  famous  bronze  Hercules  which  Verres  tried  to 
steal.  Most  of  its  cella  went  to  build  the  mole  of  Porto  Empedocle  and  the 
Villa  Avria,  the  latter  less  than  half  a  century  ago.  The  columns  were  about 
ii  metres  high. 


RUINS  OF  THE  TEMPLE. OF  HESCOLES 


"  The  inner  part  of  the  cella  is  divided  into  three  chambers,  the  central  one 

being  prefaced  by  a  vestibule,  an  arrangement  never  found  elsewhere  in  Greek 
temples,  and  probably  a  Roman  interpolation,  as  the  masonry  appears  to 
indicate.  In  the  central  chamber  are  remains  of  the  pedestal  for  the  statue 
of  the  diety  to  whom  the  temple  was  dedicated."  (Murray.) 

Tempio  di  Giove  Olimpico  (Temple  of  the  Olympian  Zeus).  It  is 
separated  from  the  Temple  of  Hercules  by  the  gap  of  the  Porta  Aurea.  It 
is  the  largest  temple  in  Sicily  and  one  of  the  largest  in  the  world,  and  is  of 
unique  interest  as  being  the  original  from  which  the  Christians  took  the  idea 
of  a  church.  Being  so  immense,  to  strengthen  it  the  spaces  between  the 
columns  of  the  peristyle  were  walled  and  pierced  with  windows.  In  the 
interior  the  roof,  or  the  entablature  if  there  was  no  roof,  was  supported 
by  huge  telamons,  25  feet  high,  one  of  which,  put  together  by  RafFaele  Politi, 
lies  among  the  ruins.  These  are  locally  called  / gigayiti.  The  natives  think 


THINGS  OF  GIRGENTI  351 

Girgenti  is  a  corruption  of  giganft.  They  appear  on  the  city  arms.  It  was 
3$o  feet  long  and  200  feet  wide.  It  was  begun  in  the  year  of  Theron's 
great  victory  over  the  Carthaginians  at  Himera,  and  was  destroyed  by  the 
Carthaginians  before  it  was  finished,  when  they  annihilated  Girgenti,  406  B.C. 
It  is  a  pseudo-peripteros  of  38  half  columns  with  flutings  deep  enough  to 
take  in  a  man.  Most  of  its  ruins  went  to  build  Charles  V.'s  mole  on  Porto 
Empedocle. 

Tempio  di  Castors  e  Polluce  (Temples  of  Castor  and  Pollux).  Really 
two  temples  whose  foundations  are  perfectly  distinct.  An  angle  of  one  of 
them  was  restored  by  Pro£  Cavallari  out  of  four  Doric  columns  and  a 
piece  of  the  pediment,  richly  coloured  and  adorned.  One  of  the  most 
beautiful  things  in  the  kingdom  of  Italy.  Just  below  it  is  the  Piscina,  and  a 
little  way  beyond,  built  into  a  private  house,  is  the  Temple  of  Vulcan. 

Tempio  di  Vulcano  (Temple  of  Vulcan).  Consists  of  two  columns  built 
into  a  private  house.  It  stands  above  the  valley  of  the  Hypsas,  which  contains 
the  Greek  necropolis  and  the  camp  of  the  Carthaginians.  Near  it,  on  the 
edge  of  the  cliff,  are  some  fragments  of  the  ancient  wall,  and  there  are  other 
antique  bits  near. 

Tempio  di  Esculapio  (Temple  of  /EscuJapius).  In  a  field  between  the 
Rock  of  the  temples  and  the  sea.  Only  a  fragment  incorporated  in  a  farm 
building. 

Tempio  di  Cerere  e  Peru/one  (the  Temple  of  Ceres  and  Proserpine). 
Transformed  into  the  church  of  S.  Biagio  by  cutting  Sicilian-Gothic  door  and 
windows  in  the  cella.  The  peristyle  has  disappeared. 

Tempio  del  Sole,  or  Cappella  di  Falaride.  In  the  garden  of  the  convent  of 
S.  Nicola.  Its  stylobate  is  only  10-84  metres  long  by  7-22  metres  wide.  It 
was  altered  into  a  chapel  in  Norman  times,  bat  the  alterations  have  all  perished, 
except  an  arch  and  some  vaulting.  Its  connection  with  Phalaris  has  no 
foundation.  The  temple  belongs  to  a  much  later  epoch  than  his.  It  is  a 
beautiful  artist's  bit. 

Tempio  di  Giow  Pdieo  o  Atabirio  (Temple  of  Zeus  Polias  or  Atabirius). 
Not  Minerva.  That  idea  is  founded  on  a  misunderstanding  of  Diodorus, 
There  are  very  considerable  remains  in  the  crypt  of  S.  Maria  dei  Greci  (q.v.). 
Part  of  the  celia  remains  and  a  fine  piece  of  the  stylobate,  with  the  bases  of 
six  columns. 

Terra  cotta  figures,  Girgenti  is  the  best  place  to  buy  these.  They  are 
nearly  all  archaic,  most  of  the  tombs  opened  belonging  to  the  period  before 
the  destruction  of  the  city  in  406  B.C,  See  General  Index,  under  Earthenware. 

Theatre.     Was  near  the  church  of  S.  Nicola.     Fazeilo  saw  remains  of  it. 

TTieron  was  the  tyrant  of  Acragas,  who  commanded  the  forces  of  the  city 
in  the  great  defeat  of  the  Carthaginians  at  Himera.  He  reigned  from  488  B.C. 
to  472  B.C.  His  tomb  must  have  stood  near  the  Porta  Heraclea,  because  the 
Carthaginians  were  about  to  use  it  in  throwing  up  the  mound  with  which  they 
captured  the  city  at  this  point,  when  it  was  struck  by  a  thunderbolt.  Diodorus 
says :  "  Bat  then  a  sudden  pang  of  religion  seized  upon  the  army ;  for  Theron's 
monument  (a  large  and  stately  structure)  was  beaten  down  by  a  thsnderbolt, 
which,  by  the  advice  of  the  soothsayers  then  present,  pat  a  stop  to  the  perfect 
ing  the  design ;  and  forthwith  the  plague  broke  oat  in  the  army,  by  which 
many  were  destroyed  in  a  short  time,  and  not  a  few  seized  with  tonneatiBg 
and  Baiserafole  pains,  among  whom  Hannibal  himself  perished."  Disturbing 
the  graves  in  the  bed  of  a  river  was  sufficient  to  cause  a  «Jea*!ly  fever  witiioat 


352        SICILY  THE  NEW  WINTER   RESORT 

any  intervention  from  the  gods.  Theron  began  the  splendid  series  of  temples 
which  have  made  Girgenti  famous.  He  was  the  patron  of  Pindar  and 
Simonides,  and  his  niece  married  Hiero  I.  of  Syracuse.  Under  him  Acragas 
was  at  the  zenith  of  its  power. 

Theron,  the  tomb  of.    Near  the  Porta  Aurea  (q.v.).     A  Roman  edifice. 
For  the  tomb  of  the  great  tyrant  Theron,  see  the  preceding  par. 


THE  TOMB  OF   THERON  (SO  CALLED) 

Toilet  utensils,  Greek.  Jewel-boxes,  unguent-jars,  etc.,  of  terra-cotta, 
mirrors,  etc  ,  in  bronze,  can  best  be  bought  at  Girgenti,  where  they  are 
constantly  found  in  tombs. 

Tombs.   Like  most  places  in  Sicily,  Girgenti  is  remarkable  for  its  tombs. 

Between  the  present  city  and  the  Greek  necropolis  are  some  splendid  pre 
historic  tombs,  probably  Sicanian.  See  Cave-dwellings,  etc.  A  vast  Greek 
necropolis  (q.v.)  stretched  from  the  Ponte  del  Morti  over  the  valley  of  the 
Hypsas  and  the  hill  of  Monserrato.  There  was  a  Roman  necropolis,  to  which 
the  so-called  tomb  of  Theron  belongs,  outside  the  Porta  Aurea.  There  is  a 
fine  catacomb  of  the  second  century  A.D.,  known  as  the  Grotta  di  Fraga- 
pane  ;  and  the  city  wall  between  the  temples  of  Concordia  and  Juno  is  full  of 
early  Christian  tombs.  In  the  city  the  only  really  fine  tomb  is  in  the  sacristy 
of  the  church  of  S.  Francesco  d'Assisi. 

Towers  of  city  wall.  There  are  several  medieval  towers  on  the  city  wall 
along  the  south  syie. 

Type.  You  sometimes  see  very  beautiful  boys  of  the  pure  Greek  type  at 
Girgenti,  but  the  sulphur  district  round  has  brutalised  the  bulk  of  the 
inhabitants. 

Utensils,  Greek.     See  above,  Toilet  utensils. 


THINGS   OF  MARSALA  353 

Views.  Girgenti  has  glorious  views,  the  best  being  from  the  terrace  of  the 
Hotel  Belvedere  on  the  south  wall,  which  commands  a  view  of  all  the  temples 
and  the  country  enclosed  between  them  and  the  sea  and  Porto  Empedocle,  as 
well  as  the  view  of  the  mountains  that  bound  the  horizon  and  the  hog-backed 
hill  of  Monserrato.  A  closer  view  of  the  temples,  with  a  very  beautiful  view 
of  the  lofty  yellow  city  through  the  stone-pines,  is  obtained  from  the  terrace 
of  the  convent  of  S.  Nicola,  There  are  glorious  views  of  the  wild  mountains 
at  the  back  from  the  cathedral  and  the  Rupe  Atenea. 

Vito,  S, 

Vulcan,  Temple  of.   See  under  Temples. 

Walls.  The  ancient  walls  of  Girgenti  included  the  whole  of  the  present 
city  and  the  Rupe  Atenea,  The  position  of  the  west  wall,  which  ran  down 
from  the  present  city  to  the  Rock  of  the  Temples,  is  less  certain  in  some  parts, 
though  we  know  that  the  valley  of  the  Hypsas  lay  outside  it,  and  the  Greek 
necropolis.  The  Ponte  dei  Morti  must  have  been  on  the  line  of  the  wall,  and 
the  tributary  of  the  Hypsas  which  it  crosses  and  the  waters  of  the  Hypsas  from 
below  the  junction  to  the  Temple  of  Vulcan  must  have  marked  -its  line,  for 
there  are  remains  of  it  on  their  lofty  east  banks.  From  this  point  onwards  its 
course  is  clear.  There  are  remains  of  it — some  built,  some  cut  out  of  the 
virgin  stone— all  along  the  southern  face  of  the  Rock  of  the  Temples,  and 
from  the  Temple  of  Juno  right  round  the  Rupe  Atenea  and  the  back  of  the 
present  city  the  cliffs  are  precipitous  except  in  two  places — in  the  gap  of 
the  Porta  Gela  and  the  gap  between  the  Rupe  Atenea  and  modern  Girgenti. 
Remains  of  a  built  wall  may  be  seen  on  the  Rupe  Atenea  near  the  Porta 
Gela.  The  wall  cut  out  of  the  virgin  stone  between  the  Temples  of  Juno  and 
Concordia^is  very  curious.  The  Christians  of  the  fifth  century  cut  their  tombs 
in  it,  leaving  such  a  thin  layer  of  rock  that  the  sirocco  has  in  many  places 
eaten  it  through. 

In  addition  to  these  walls,  there  is  the  medieval  wall  along  the  south  face  of 
the  present  city,  which  has  several  towers  and  at  least  two  fine  pointed  Arabo- 
Norman  gateways. 

Water.  The  water  of  Girgenti  is  said  to  be  good,  but  it  is  better  not 
to  trust  it. 

Zeuxis*  The  most  celebrated  painter  of  antiquity.  His  Alcmena  adorned 
the  cella  of  the  Temple  of  Hercules. 

THINGS  OF  MARSALA 

THE  best  time  to  visit  Marsak  is  in  winter  or  spring  for  the  climate,  and  at 
vintage  time  to  see  the  wine  industry.  Its  people  are  rather  addicted  to  festas, 
especially  the  Corpus  Domini,  Good  Friday,  Holy  Thursday,  and  the  Immacu 
late  Conception.  The  patron  saint  of  its  Duomo  is  St.  Thomas  a  Becket  of 
Canterbury— a  curious  coincidence  in  a  town  which  lives  on  industries  founded 
by  Englishmen.  Marsak,  the  Marsa-AJlah,  the  "  Harbour  of  God"  of  the 
Saracens,  stands  on  the  site  of  the  ancient  lilybaeum,  of  which  there  are 
considerable  remains.  It  was  fonnded  by  Phoenicians  or  Carthaginians  after 
Dkmysius  had  annihilated  Motya  on  the  island  opposite  in  397  B.C.  It  was 
never  captured.  It  stood  a  ten-years7  siege  in  the  First  Punic  War,  and 
passed  to  the  Romans  with  the  general  cession  of  the  island.  In  276  B.C.  it 
successfully  repelled  Pyrrhus,  King  of  Epiras.  Cicero  was  Qusestor  of  IHy- 
beenm,  the  capital  of  one  of  the  two  quaestorshlps  into  which  the  island  was 


354        SICILY  THE  NEW  WINTER  RESORT 

divided.  Both  Scipios  sailed  from  Lilybseum  to  their  conquests  of  Carthage 
in  the  Second  and  Third  Punic  Wars.  Roger,  the  Great  Count,  found  it  ruined, 
and  restored  it.  Its  present  prosperity  dates  from  the  year  1794,  when 
Messrs.  Woodhouse  founded  their  wine  establishment  there,  and  still  more 
from  the  establishment  of  the  great  Ingham-Whitaker  business,  which  dates 
from  1804.  Signer  Florio  established  a  third  wine  business  in  1831.  The 
Marsala  wines  are  known  as  well  as  sherries  now,  and  have  a  higher  name  for 
purity.  Garibaldi  landed  here  with  his  Thousand  in  1860,  and  commenced  his 
freeing  of  Italy.  See  Garibaldi  Marsala  is  a  stat.  on  the  Palermo-Trapani 
line. 

^igatian  Islands,  the  scene  of  the  Roman  victory  which  terminated  the 
First  Punic  War,  lie  off  Trapani  and  Marsala.  See  General  Index. 

Archylus  of  Thurii  was  the  leader  of  the  forlorn  hope  which  stormed 
Motya  for  Dionysius  I.  See  General  Index,  and  below  under  Motya. 

Baglio  (plural,  baglj ;  Low  Latin,  ballium;  English,  bailey),  a  walled  en 
closure.  The  name  applied  to  the  great  wine  establishments,  such  as  the 
Baglio  Ingham. 

Birgi,  near  Marsala,  has  a  fine  Phoenician  necropolis,  now  being  excavated. 
See  General  Index.  The  ancient  Acithius. 

Carthaginians  at  Marsala.   See  Motya  and  Lilybseum  below. 

Causeway,  the  submarine.  From  the  mainland  to  the  island  of  S. 
Pantaleo.  This  was  constructed  by  the  Carthaginians,  and  is  still  used  by  carts. 

Churches, — Carmine.  Containing  a  sarcophagus  of  Antonio  Grignano, 
1474. 

Chiesa  Maggiore  (often  called  the  Cathedral}."  Sixteenth-century  tapestries 
and  the  celebrated  ancient  Greek  Marsala,  vase,  made  of  delicately  carved 
white  marble. 

S,  Giovanni  a  Baeo^  which  contains  the  well  of  the  Cumsean  Sibyl  (see 
Sibyl)  and  Byzantine  frescoes  in  the  crypt,  and  the  best  Gagini's  St.  John  in 
Sicily. 

S.  Salvatorf.   Fourteenth-century  church,  much  spoiled. 

City,  the  subterranean.  Marsala  has  a  subterranean  city  of  very  large 
extent,  formed  in  the  times  of  the  Saracen  raids  and  persecutions,  begun  as  a 
quarry.  Very  like  catacombs ;  but  at  Marsala  the  dead  were  of  secondary 
consideration. 

Columns,  fragments  of  ancient,  are  preserved  in  various  places. 

Coins.  No  coins  of  Lilybseum  are  known  prior  to  the  Roman  period.  The 
Roman  coins  of  Lilybseum  have  *'LILYB,"  "LILYBIT,"  or  "  LILYBAITAN,"  if 
the  lettering  is  Greek. 

Dionysius  at  Marsala.  Dionysius  I.  of  Syracuse  destroyed  Motya  (q.v.), 
the  original  Phoenician  settlement,  in  397  B.C.  The  following  year  the 
Carthaghiiaiis  founded  Lilybseum,  which  he  found  too  strong  for  him  on  his 
next  expedition. 

GaginL  There  are  three  small  reliefs  by  Gagini  in  the  Chiesa  Maggiore, 
and  a  splendid  St.  John  out  at  S.  Giovanni  a  Boeo. 

Garibaldi  landed  at  Marsala  with  Ms  Thousand  on  the  nth  May,  1860. 
See  General  Index. 

Grotta  of  the  Sibyl,  the.  In  the  crypt  of  S.  Giovanni  a  Boeo  is  the  spring 
of  the  Sibyl,  the  ancient  spring  of  Lilyba,  round  which  Himilcon  founded  his 
town  of  Lilybsenm.  The  Romans,  who  were  great  at  rinding  resemblances  in 
names,  chose  to  identify  Lilyba  with  Sibyl.  It  is  now  the  well  of  St  John. 


THINGS   OF  MARSALA  355 

Harbour,  The  harbour  of  Lilybseum  was  one  of  the  great  harbours 
of  antiquity.  It  was  on  the  opposite  side  of  Cape  Boeo  from  the  present 
harbour  of  Marsala,  and  was  filled  up  in  the  sixteenth  century  (1532)  because 
it  was  easier  to  destroy  it  than  to  keep  the  Barbary  corsairs  out  of  it.  The 
present  harbour  was  only  constructed  in  the  last  century. 

Himilcon.  A  Carthaginian  admiral  who,  with  a  hundred  triremes,  at 
tempted  to  save  Motya,  and  was  driven  off  by  the  artillery  of  Dionysius.  The 
next  year  he  founded  Lilybaeum,  and  by  building  out  a  mole  from  the  cape 
towards  the  island  made  the  harbour  of  Lilybaeum  one  of  the  best  harbours 
of  the  ancients.  This  was  on  the  other  side  of  the  cape  from  the  present 
harbour. 

Immacolata,  procession  of.  One  of  the  great  festas  at  Marsala,  Decem 
ber  8th. 

Isola  Lunga.   An  island  in  the  Stagnoni,  or  lagoons,  outside  Marsala. 

Lilyba,  the  Sacred  Spring  of.     See  above  under  Grotta  of  the  Sibyl. 

Lilybaeum.  The  ancient  city  on  whose  site  Marsala  is  founded.  See 
History  above,  and  General  Index  under  Lilybaeum. 

Lilybaeum,  Cape.  One  of  the  three  capes  which  gave  Sicily  its  name  of 
Trinacria,  now  called  Cape  Boeo.  Just  outside  Marsala,  whose  harbour 
is  partly  formed  by  it. 

Lombardo,  the.  The  name  of  one  of  the  two  Rubattino  steamers  lent  to 
Garibaldi  to  transport  his  Thousand  to  Marsala.  See  General  Index. 

Mille  of  Garibaldi,  the.  He  invaded  Sicily  with  a  thousand  picked  men, 
who  gave  their  name  to  the  Corso  dei  Mille  at  Palermo,  etc. 

S.  Maria,  Island  of.  One  of  the  small  islands  in  the  lagoon  outside 
Marsala. 

Medieval  fortifications.  There  are  some  noble  remains  of  medieval 
fortifications  at  Marsala,  which  you  see  as  you  drive  into  the  town. 

Motya.  An  island  in  the  lagoons  now  called  S.  Pantaleo.  Connected 
with  the  shore  by  a  submarine  causeway  (q.v.).  This  was  the  first  settlement 
of  the  Phoenicians  in  Sicily,  and  was  stormed  and  razed  to  the  ground  by 
Dionysius  in  397.  The  story  of  the  siege  of  Motya  is  one  of  the  finest 
passages  in  Diodorus,  the  Sicilian  Froissart,  in  the  stately  old  English  transla 
tion  of  Booth.  There  are  remains  of  walls,  a  fine  gateway,  etc.,  aboveground, 
and  probably  many  underground,  which  the  proprietor,  Mr.  J.  J.  S.  Whitaker, 
intends  to  have  excavated  when  he  has  come  to  terms  with  the  Government 
about  the  disposition  of  the  objects  found.  See  Motya  I.,  in  General  Index. 

Necropolis,  The  Phoenicians  of  Motya  had  their  necropolis  on  the 
opposite  mainland  at  Birgi ;  the  best  which  has  yet  been  discovered.  See 
under  Birgi,  General  Index. 

Nelson  at  Marsala.  Nelson  was  off  Marittimo,  one  of  the  ^Egatian  Islands, 
with  his  fieet  for  some  time  in  1799,  waiting  to  intercept  the  French.  While 
there  he  sent  an  order  to  Woodhouse's  baglio  for  some  Marsala  wine.  "  The 
wine  to  be  delivered  as  expeditiously  as  possible,  and  all  to  be  delivered  within 
the  space  of  five  weeks  from  this  date.  A  convoy  will  be  wanted  for  the 
vessel  from  Marsala,  bat  all  risks  are  run  by  Mr.  Woodhouse.  Bronte  and 
Nelson."  The  facsimile  of  his  autograph  is  kept  framed  in  Woodhouse's  office. 

PalazzettL  Marsala  abounds  with  medieval  palazzetti  of  the  lesser  nobles. 
Now  occupied  by  the  poor.  See  General  Index.  They  are  splendid  artists* 
bits  with  their  terraced  courtyards.  Good  examples  are  to  be  forad  in  the 
Strada  S.  Calogero. 


356        SICILY   THE  NEW  WINTER   RESORT 

S.  Pantaleo.  The  island  in  the  lagoons  off  Marsala  which  was  anciently 
Motya  (q.v.). 

Pantelleria.  An  island  seven  hours  by  steamer  from  Marsala.  An  Italian 
colony,  an  island  with  a  volcano  1,800  feet  high.  It  has  a  special  dialect. 
It  was  the  Phoenician  colony  Kossoura.  Has  low  round  prehistoric  towers 
called  Sesi.  The  large  riding-asses  used  in  Sicily  are  from  Pantelleria.  See 
General  Index. 

Piemonte.  One  of  the  steamers  lent  by  Raffaelle  Rubattino  to  Garibaldi 
to  convey  the  £{  Mille"  to  Sicily.  See  General  Index. 

Processions.     See  Festas  in  introductory  paragraph. 

Punic  Wars.  Lilybseum,  the  classical  city  out  of  which  Marsala  has 
grown,  played  a  great  part  in  the  Punic  Wars.  In  the  First  Punic  War  it 
stood  a  siege  of  ten  years  successfully,  and  only  passed  to  the  Romans  by  the 
cession  of  Sicily.  In  the  Second  Punic  War  it  formed  the  naval  basis  from 
which  Scipio  Africanus  invaded  Carthage,  and  in  the  Third  Punic  War  it  was 
the  naval  base  from  which  the  young  Africanus  invaded  Carthage.  Without 
it  Rome  could  not  have  taken  Carthage,  and  with  Sicily  as  a  base  Hannibal 
would  have  conquered  Rome.  It  was  the  Battle  of  the  -^Egatian  Islands 
which  settled  that  the  world  should  be  Roman  instead  of  Carthaginian.  See 
under  General  Index  under  Lilybseum  and  Punic. 

Pyrrhus,  King  of  Epirus,  Besieged  Lilybseum  unsuccessfully.  See 
General  Index. 

Rubattino,  Raffaelle.  The  Genoese  steamship  owner  who  lent  Garibaldi 
the  Lombardo  and  the  Piemonte  to  transport  his  Thousand  to  Marsala  for  the  in 
vasion  of  Sicily.  See  Garibaldi,  etc.,  and  Florio- Rubattino  in  General  Index. 

Saracens,  The  Saracens  founded  Marsala  on  the  ruins  of  Lilybseum  and  gave 
it  its  name  of  Marsa- Allah,  "Port  of  God,"  on  account  of  its  splendid  harbour. 

Salt-pans.  The  lagoons  between  Marsala  and  Trapani  are  full  of  salt-pans. 
Sicily  does  not  come  into  the  Government  monopoly  of  salt.  They  are  very 
picturesque  with  their  white  pyramids  looking  like  the  tents  of  an  army,  and 
their  windmills,  and  their  still  pools.  They  are  seen  well  on  the  excursion  to 
Motya. 

Scipio  Africanus.  Both  Scipio  Africanus  the  Elder  and  Scipio  Africanus 
the  Younger  sailed  from  Lilybeeum  to  conquer  Carthage. 

Shrines,  wayside.  The  wayside  shrines  outside  Marsala  are  among  the 
best  in  Sicily,  They  take  the  form  of  the  sedicula,  the  favourite  form  of 
tomb  of  the  Athenians,  consisting  of  a  gable  with  a  sunken  panel  in  it, 
decorated  with  reliefs. 

Stagnoni,  or  lagoons.  Between  Marsala  and  Trapani  are  a  number  of 
lagoons  with  three  small  islands  and  about  fifty  salt  works. 

Tombs,  ancient.  The  best  ancient  tombs  round  Marsala  are  in  the 
Phoenician  necropolis  at  Birgi  {q.v.,  General  Index).  In  the  Woodhouse 
baglio  are  some  tombs  of  English  people  more  than  a  hundred  years  old,  the 
right  of  Qmstian  burial  being  refused  to  Protestants  in  those  days  ;  the  earliest 
is  that  of  John  Christian,  1793. 

Vase,  the  Marsala,  A  noble  white  marbk  Greek  vase.  See  under 
Cathedral 

Villas.  Marsala  is  surrounded  with  the  villas  of  her  rich  tradesmen  and 
merchants. 

Vineyards.  There  are  not  a  great  number  of  vineyards  round  Marsala 
itself,  though  the  industry  absorbs  nearly  all  the  grapes  of  Western  Sicily, 
collected  at  places  like  Balestrate,  Partenico,  Castelvetrano,  and  Campobello. 


THINGS   OF   MAZZARA  357 

Walls.  There  are  some  remains  of  ancient  Lilybseum  near  the  Porta  di 
Trapani  and  near  Cape  Boeo. 

Whitakers.    The  principal  foreign  family  in  Sicily.    See  General  Index. 

Wine.  The  Marsala  wines  of  the  firm  of  Ingham,  Whitaker  and  Co,, 
known  as  Marsala,  are  among  the  most  celebrated  in  the  world.  The 
Woodhouse  establishment  was  founded  a  little  earlier,  and  the  Florio  is  on 
an  extensive  scale,  with  the  finest  modern  appliances.  But  to  most  people  in 
the  English-speaking  world,  Marsala  means  Ingham  Marsala, 

THINGS  OF  MAZZARA 

MAZZARA,  called  Mazzara  del  Vallo,  to  distinguish  it  from  Mazzarra  S. 
Andrea,  is  a  beautiful  old  city  on  the  Palermo-Trapani  line.  It  is  a  good- 
sized  town,  and  in  the  Middle  Ages  was  much  more  important  than  Marsala 
or  Trapani,  as  is  shown  by  the  fact  that  the  west  gate  of  Palermo  is  called 
the  Porta  di  Mazzara,  and  that  one  of  the  three  divisions  of  Sicily  was  called 
the  Val  di  Mazzara,  though  it  included  Palermo.  It  is  quite  neglected  by 
foreigners,  who  would  not  know  of  its  existence  except  for  the  superb  Mazzara 
Vase,  thegem^of  Hispano-Moresco  pottery,  preserved  in  the  Palermo  Museum. 
Its  nickname  is  Inclita,  the  famous.  It  was  a  colony  of  Selinunte,  destroyed 
by  Hannibal,  the  son  of  Cisco,  409  B.C.  Some  people  derive  its  name  from 
Magar,  a  Phoenician  word  meaning  boundary,  as  being  the  boundary  between 
the  Greeks  and  Carthaginians.  It  was  here  that  the  Saracen  conquest 
commenced,  A.D.  827.  It  was  captured  by  Count  Roger,  who  furnished  it 
m  the  year  1080  with  the  walls  and  fortress  of  which  the  ruins  still  remain. 
It  can  be  visited  in  the  day  from  Trapani,  which  has  a  fair  hotel,  or  better, 
from  Marsala,  if  the  hotel  is  good  enough  there. 

Burgio,  Conte,  the  mansion  of  the,  at  the  west  corner  of  the  Piazza  del 
Duomo,  contains  large  Arabic  majolica  vases.  Other  vases  from  Mazzara  are 
in  the  museum  at  Naples.  (Baedeker. ) 

Castle,  remains  of  an  ancient  medieval,  in  the  Piazza  Mokarta.  Built  in 
1073  by  Count  Roger,  Mazzara  was  used  by  him  as  his  capital,  while  Robert 
Guiscard  retained  his  half  of  Sicily. 

Churches.— Cathedral  Founded  by  Count  Roger,  has  a  fine  campanile  of 
1654,  a  group  by  Gagini — the  Transfiguration,  three  antique  sarcophagi,  and 
medieval  sarcophagi.  In  the  Bishop's  Palace  opposite  there  is  said  to  be  some 
magnificent  faience.  It  has  three  classical  sarcophagi,  two  of  the  Lower  Empire, 
representing  the  Rape  of  Proserpine  and  a  Boar  Hunt,  and  one  of  a  better 
period  representing  the  battle  of  the  Greeks  and  Amazons.  It  has  the  sar 
cophagus  of  the  Bishop  Tostinus,  1180,  and  the  sarcophagus  of  the  Bishop 
Monteaperto,  1485.  Notice  painted  crucifix. 

S.  Egidius.  A  sixteenth-century  church-  According  to  Murray  it  has 
traces  of  early  architecture  in  its  aisle. 


S.  Maria-di-Ges&i  &ear  Mazzara  del  Vallo.  Fifteenth  century.  Portal 
sixteenth-century  sculpture. 

S.  Maria  del  AU&>  aear  Mazzara  del  Vallo.  Fourteenth  century.  Has  a 
Madoena. 

S.  Mfckefe.  According  to  Murray  has  some  Roman  inscriptions  and  a  tomb 
of  the  family  of  Albmias,  It  has  stucco  reliefs  (school  of  Serpotta). 

S.  Nicoti  Lo  Re&k.   A  Norman  church.     Called  S.  NicoUcdo. 

S.  Vener^  Ghiesa  <Je!  Moaastero  di.    Sttxcoes  of  the  scHool  of  Serpotta. 


358       SICILY  THE  NEW  WINTER   RESORT 

Gagini.  There  is  a  fine 
Gagini  in.  the  cathedral 
(q.v.). 

Vase,   Mazzara.    A 

grand  Hispano-Moresco 
vase  of  lustre  faience, 
three  or  four  feet  high, 
now  in  the  Palermo  Mu 
seum.  It  was  formerly 
at  the  cathedral  of  Maz 
zara.  Baedeker  points 
out  that  there  are  other 
vases  of  this  kind  from 
Mazzara  at  Naples.  See 
Burgio. 

Walls,  Saracenic - 
Norman,  of  Mazzara, 
are  very  lofty.  "The 
town  forms  a  quadrangle 
about  a  mile  in  circuit, 
enclosed  by  walls  thirty- 
five  feet  high  with  square 
towers  at  intervals  of 
thirty  yards,  Saracenic 
or  Norman  in  construc 
tion." 

THINGS    OF 
MESSINA 

MESSINA  is  the  town  most 
neglected  by  foreigners 
where  there  are  dis 
coveries  to  be  made.  The 
neglect  is  evidenced  by 
the  absence  of  photo 
graphers. 

Messina  may  be  visited 
at  all  times.  Its  patron 
saint  Is  the  Madonna 
della  Lettera.  The  chief 
festa  is  on  the  third  of 
June,  The  name  Messina 
is  a  corruption  of  Mes- 
sana,  so  called  for  its 
connection  with  the  Mes- 
senians  of  the  Pelopon 
nesus.  Its  older  name 
was  Zancle  (Sickle),  from 
the  shape  of  the  harbour. 
Messina  is  approached 
by  train  from  Palermo  or 


THINGS   OF  MESSINA  359 

Catania,  by  steam  tramway  from  Barcelona  and  the  Faro,  and  by  the  Florio- 
Rubattino  steamers  from  all  parts  of  the  Mediterranean.  The  facchini, 
unless  a  bargain  is  made,  are  unusually  troublesome  and  exorbitant.  Besides 
the  large  hotels,  there  Is  a  pleasant  and  characteristic  Sicilian  hotel,  the 
Belvedere,  looking  out  on  the  cathedral,  next  door  to  La  Cattolica. 

HISTORY.— Zancle  was  founded  by  pirates  from  Cumse  in  732  B.C.  In  493 
Anaxilas  of  Rhegium  captured  it,  and  peopled  it  with  Messenians  from  the  Pelo 
ponnesus.  Destroyed  by  the  Carthaginians  in  396.  Rebuilt  by  Dionysxus.  The 
Mamertine  mercenaries  of  Agathocles  acquired  it  in  288.  Their  appeal  to  Rome 
for  help  against  the  Carthaginians  led  to  the  First  Punic  War.  From  241 
h  belonged  to  the  Romans.  After  Caesar's  death,  Sextus  Pompeius  established 
himself  here.  In  35  B.  c.  it  was  sacked  by  Octavian  ;  captured  by  the  Saracens, 
831  ;  and  by  the  Normans,  their  first  possession,  in  1061.  In  1190  Richard 
Cceur  de  Lion  and  his  Crusaders  spent  six  months  here ;  1194,  acquired  by 
Emjpror  Henry  VI.  Besieged  by  Charles  of  Anjou  unsuccessfully  after  the 
Sicilian  Vespers,  1282 ;  ^i  282  to  1713  Messina  had  Spanish  masters ;  1571, 
Don  John  of  Austria  sailed  from  Messina  to  his  victory  of  Lepanto;  1675, 
Messina  drove  out  its  Spanish  garrison;  1678,  the  Spanish  returned ;  1743,  forty 
thousand  people  died  of  the  plague  ;  1783,  it  was  almost  destroyed  by  earth 
quakes;  1848,  in  the  Revolution,  Messina  bombarded  for  five  days;  1854, 
fifteen  thousand  people  died  from  cholera  ;  1860,  Messina,  the  last  city  in 
Sicily,  taken  by  Garibaldi,  Great  men  of  Messina,  according  to  Encyclopedia 
Britannica,  are  Dioearchus,  the  historian,  drc.  322  B.C. ;  Aristocles,  the 
peripatetic  ;  Euhemerus,  the  rationalist,  drc.  316  B.C.  ;  Stefano  Protonotario, 
Mazzeo  di  Ricco,  Tommaso  di  Sasso,  poets  of  the  court  of  Frederick  II. ; 
Antonello  da  Messina,  painter,  1414-1499.  Constantine  Lascaris  taught  here 
in  fifteenth  century  and  forged  the  famous  letter  from  the  Virgin.  Bessarion 
was  archimandrite  here, 

Anaxilas,  tyrant  of  Rhegium,  hailed  from  the  Peloponnesian  Messene.  Before 
493,  with  some  Samian  and  other  refugees,  he  seized  Zancle;  and  before 
his  death,  in  4763  he  drove  them  out,  repeopled  It,  and  changed  its  name  to 
Messana. 

Abbadiazza,  or  Badiazza.  A  Benedictine  monastery  endowed  by  William  II. 
The  church,  which  dates  from  the  twelfth  century,  is  one  of  the  most  pictur- 


THE  BADIAZZA— EXTERIOR 


360        SICILY  THE   NEW   WINTER   RESORT 

esque  Norman  buildings  in  Sicily.  Splendidly  situated  at  the  top  of  the 
Fiuxnara  S.  Francesco  di  Paolo,  about  an  hour's  walk  from  Messina.  The 
ruins  are  half  buried  by  the  torrent.  You  walk  up  the  bed  of  the  torrent 
through  charming  scenery  and  endless  lemon  groves. 


THE   BADIAZZA — INTERIOR 


-dSEscnlapms  and  Hygieia  were  the  patrons  o*  ancient  Greek  Messina. 
There  are  fonts  inscribed  with  their  names  in  the  church  of  La  Cattolica  and 
the  cathedral. 

Amalflltama,  Via.    Old  name  of  Via  Primo  Settembre  (q.v.). 

Antonello  da  Messina.  The  best  of  the  Sicilian  painters,  born  1414. 
Seeing  at  Naples  an  oil-painting  by  Jan  Van  Eyck,  belonging  to  Alfonso  of 
Aragon,  he  went  to  the  Netherlands  to  learn  the  process.  He  returned  with 
his  secret  about  1465.  He  came  of  a  family  of  painters.  Died  1493.  A  very 
fine  example  of  his  work  is  in  the  Museum  at  Messina,  one  of  the  few  undis 
puted  examples. 

Austria,  Don  John  of.  Assembled  at  Messina  the  fleet  with  which  he 
defeated  the  Turks  in  1571.  His  statue,  erected  1572  in  the  Piazza  dell' 
Annunziata  on  the  Corso  Cavour,  is  one  of  the  sights  of  Messina. 

Austria,  Strada  dl   Former  name  of  the  Via  Primo  Settembre  (q.v.). 

Antennamare.  Monte  Antennamare.  Four  hours*  ascent  gives  splendid 
views  of  Etna  and  Monte  Nebrodi. 

Badiazza.     See  Abbadiazza. 

Banks.  The  Banca  di  Messina,  off  the  Via  Garibaldi,  changes  English 
circular  notes,  etc. 

Baroque.  Messina  has  a  very  effective,  almost  beautiful,  baroque  style  of 
its  own,  of  which  the  church  of  S.  Gregorio  is  the  most  striking  example. 

Beggars  are  persistent  at  Messina,  They  do  not  belong  to  the  city,  but 
have  a  tariff  of  ten  centimes  each  way  to  bring  them  over  from  Calabria, 
where  they  reside  in  order  to  defy  the  Sindaco's  progressive  regime. 


THINGS   OF  MESSINA 


361 


^  Cab  tariff.  From  the  stat.  to  the  city,  or  vice  versa ,  one  horse— clay,  50  c.  ; 
night,  i  fr.  Two-horse—day,  i  fir. ;  mght,  1.50  fr.  Course  in  the  city,  the 
same  price. 

Calabria,  The  coast  of  Calabria  Is  within  rowing  distance  of  Messina. 
There  is  a  steam-ferry  to  S.  Giovanni  and  Reggio.  The  nearest  point  is  only 
two  miles  from  Messina. 

Campo  Santo.  Is  outside  the  city  on  the  Catania  road.  One  of  the  most 
ambitious  in  Sicily. 

Campo  Inglese. 

Cappuccinl,  Monte  de'.    Half  an  hour  from  the  Via  Garibaldi  by  the  Via 

Placida.     Now  a  prison  for  women.     Admirable  view. 

Cardiaes,  Via.  Intersects  the  Via  Primo  Settembre  at  the  Four  Fountains, 
one  of  the  Boldest  streets.  The  Giudecca  was  in  this  street,  and  so  was  the 
Zecca  or  mint.  There  were  many  Jews  in  Messina.  In  or  just  off  it  are  the 
Anime  del  Purgatorio  Church,  the  remains  of  the  Temple  of  Neptune  in  the 
Church  of  the  SS.  Anrmnziata  dei  Catalani,  the  Oscan  inscription,  the  Zecca, 
and  the  University. 

Castles.  See  Castellaccio, 
Forte  Gonzaga,  Rocca  Guel- 
fonia,  Cittadella. 

Castellaccio,  Fort.  Half- 
hour's  climb  up  the  Torrente 
Portalegni  from  the  Ospedale 
CivicG.  It  contains  an  ancient 
cistern.  It  is  not  now  a  fortress. 
Splendid  view  of  the  city,  the 
Strait,  and  the  Calabrian 
Mountains. 

Cathedral.    See  Churches. 

CattoEca,  La.  SeeChnrches. 

Cemetery,  Protestant 
Near  the  Citadel. 

Charybdis.  A  whirlpool 
close  to  the  Faro  in  the  Strait 
of  Messina.  It  still  requires 
careful  navigation.  Cola  Pesce 
twice  brought  up  the  golden 
cup  King  Frederick  threw  into 
Charybdis.  The  third  time  he 
was  drowned.  This  is  the 
subject  of  Schiller's  poem  Der 
Taucksr. 

u  Once  when  the  Messenians 
who  dwell  on  the  Strait  were 
sending  to  Rhegium,  in  accord 
ance  with  an  ancient  custom, 
a  chorus  of  five-and-thirty  boys, 
along  with  a  teacher  and  a 
flute-player,  to  take  part  in  a 
local  festival  of  Rhegium,  a 


DETAIL  OF  THE  PRINCIPAL  GATEWAY  OF  THE 
CATHEDKAL  OF  MESSINA 


THINGS   OF   MESSINA 


363 


calamity  befell  them :  none  of  those  thus  sent  returned  home,  for  the  ship 
which  carried  the  boys  went  down  with  them.  In  truth,  the  sea  at  this 
strait  is  the  stormiest  of  seas,  for  it  is  lashed  by  the  winds,  which  cause  a 
swell  from  both  sides,  from  the  Adriatic  and  from  the  Tyrrhenian  Sea  ;  and 
even  when  the  winds  are  still,  the  strait  is  of  itself  in  violent  agitation,  and 
back-currents  run  strong.  It  also  swarms  so  thickly  with  monsters  that  the 
air  stinks  of  them,  so  that  the  shipwrecked  mariner  has  no  hope  of  escaping 
from  the  strait.  If  it  was  here  that  the  ship  of  Ulysses  was  wrecked,  it  would 
be  incredible  that  he  swam  safe  to  Italy,  were  it  not  that  the  favour  of  the 
gods  makes  everything  easy.  So  the  Messenians  mourned  for  the  loss  of  the 
boys,  and  among  other  means  devised  to  do  them  honour,  they  dedicated 
bronze  statues  of  them  in  Olympia,  together  with  statues  of  the  teacher  of  the 
chorus  and  the  flute-player.  The  ancient  inscription  declared  that  they  were 
offerings  of  the  Messenians  who  dwell  at  the  strait."  (Pausanias. ) 

Churches.— The  Cathedral  Begun  in  900,  but  not  dedicated  till  1197. 
Damaged  by  fire  at  the  obsequies  of  the  Emperor  Conrad  IV.,  1254.  The 
frieze  of  the  campanile  struck  by  lightning,  1559.  The  campanile  thrown 
down  in  the  earthquake  of  1783.  The  facade  is  fourteenth  century.  The 
two  towers  and  the  choir  were  rebuilt  in  1865.  The  facade  has  three  Gothic 
portals,  the  central  very  rich,  decorated  with  slender  columns,  graceful 
arabesques,  bas-reliefs,  and  statuettes.  The  bas-reliefs  are  very  curious, 
representing  agriculture,  etc.  The  nave  has  twenty-six  antique  granite 


PULPIT  OF  THE  CATHEDRAL  OF   MESSINA 


364        SICILY  THE   NEW  WINTER   RESORT 

capitals  from  the  Temple  of  Neptune  at  the  Faro.  There  are  several  rich 
Gothic  tombs.  The  south  facade  of  the  cathedral  contains  a  number  of  Gothic 
windows  in  ^  the  German  style.  The  back  has  been  recently  rebuilt.  The 
high  altar  is  a  mass  of  precious  stones,  one  of  the  earliest  and  richest 
specimens  of  Florentine  inlaying — agates,  lapis  lazuli,  chalcedony,  jasper, 
etc. 

Under  the  Baldachin  is  the  antique  picture  of  the  Madonna  of  the  Letter 
attributed  to  S.  Luke.  There  is  a  copy  of  the  letter  given  by  the  Virgin  with 
her  own  hands  to  the  citizens  of  Messina.  The  original  has  been  burnt.  It 
is  a  translation  by  Constantine  Lascaris  from  the  Greek  translation  of  the 
Hebrew  made  by  St.  Paul.  There  are  fourteenth-century  mosaics  in  the 
apses.  Underneath  the  cathedral  is  a  fine  crypt  with  pointed  Sicilian-Norman 
arches.  The  choir  stalls  are  intarsia  work.  There  are  tombs  of  various 
monarchs,  including  the  Emperor  Conrad  IV. ,  whose  lofty  catafalque  caught 
fire  at  his  funeral,  resulting  in  one  of  the  most  disastrous  conflagrations  of  the 
cathedral.  In  the  north  aisle  is  the  celebrated  carving  by  Gagini  of  the 
Cristo  Risbrto,  and  beside  it  is  the  S.  Jerome,  a  coloured  bas-relief  in 
marble.  By  them  stands  a  piece  of  a  Roman  column  with  a  Latin  inscrip- 
tioiL  Notice  the  beautiful  Gothic  door  of  the  sacristy ;  the  ciborio  of  S. 
Maria,  with  its  exquisite  carvings  of  angels ;  the  tombs  of  Bellorato,  De 
Tabiatis,  of  the  archbishops,  etc.  There  is  some  fine  gold  and  silver  work 
here,  notably  the  mantles  of  the  Madonna  and  the  paliotto  of  the  altar. 

The  treasury  is  very  rich  in  gold  and  silver  work.  Notice  antique  painted 
Saracenesque  roof  and  gracious  little  staircase  tower,  with  eight  fourteenth- 
century  arches  in  north-west  corner  of  the 
nave.  The  Gagini  S.  John  is  rather  gracious 
also,  but  very  modern  in  feeling.  The 
pulpit  is  a  good  work  of  the  last  century, 
standing  on  the  heads  of  eminent  heretics 
like  Calvin.  The  font  is  of  the  fifteenth 
century,  ornamented  with  Alexandrian 
work.  There  is  the  usual  meridian.  The 
roof,  which  replaces  that  burnt  at  the 
funeral  of  the  Emperor  Conrad  IV.,  in 
1254,  has  a  rich  and  mellow  effect,  though 
its  work  is  not  good.  It  is  one  of  the 
sights  of  Sicily.  The  whole  of  the  choir 
has  mosaics  beneath  the  plaster,  which  are 
gradually  being  laid  bare.  Notice  lovely 
intarsia  choir-stalls,  1540.  The  holy  water 
stoup  has  an  inscription  dedicating  it  to 
y£sculapius  and  Hygieia. 

5.  Agostino*  A  Gothic  church,  which 
now  belongs  to  the  Guild  of  Musicians, 
built  in  1385,  with  a  charming  Gothic 
portal,  and  the  famous  and  beautiful 
Madonna  del  Popolo  of  Antonio  Gagini, 
and  a  curious  picture  of  S.  Cecilia  by 
Quagliata.  In  the  Via  dei  Monasteri.  It 
has  a  cloister  with  a  separate  entrance, 
used  by  the  Confraternita  delle  Anime  di 
Purgatorio,  who  have  a  bas-relief  of  the 
Roman  wolf  by  Montorsoli.  The  painter,  Barbalunga,  Is  buried  here. 


GOTHIC  DOOR  IK  THE  CHURCH  OF 
S.   AGOSTINO 


THINGS   OF  MESSINA 


365 


S.  Anna.  Pictures  attributed  to 
Antoneilo  da  Messina.  In  the  Via 
dei  Monasteri. 

SS.  Annunziata  dei  Catalani. 
Built  on  the  site  of  a  temple  of 
Neptune,  the  remains  of  which  can 
be  seen  at  its  back  on  the  exterior 
of  the  apse.  The  beautiful  interior, 
which  has  lately  been  stripped  of 
its  plaster,  is  a  charming  piece  of 
twelfth-century  work,  In  which  the 
Norman,  the  Lombard,  the  Arabic, 
and  the  Byzantine  styles  are  blended. 
The  columns  are  Roman.  In  the 
Museo  Civico  are  the  Arabic  in 
scriptions  which  used  to  adorn  the 
principal  portal,  and  belonged  ori 
ginally  to  the  Royal  Palace.  Near 
the  church  is  a  gate  with  a  late 
five -centred  Gothic  arch,  the  en 
trance  to  the  ancient  Ospizio  dei 
Trovatelli.  Its  style  is  character 
istic  of  Messina,  and  this  is  one  of 
the  best  specimens.  In  the  Piazza 
dei  Catalani  off  the  Via  Prirao 
Settembre. 

551  Annunziaia.  Church  with 
imposing  baroque  front,  facing 
monument  of  Don  John  of  Austria. 
Frescoes  by  Paladino,  Suppa, 
Fihppo  Tancredi,  and  Giovanni 
*Fulco. 

5.  Caferina  di  Valmrde.  Built 
on  the  site  of  a  temjrie  of  Venus, 
according  to  an  inscription  over  a 
side  door.  The  church  has  a  door 
with  a  pointed  arch. 

La  Cattolica*  In  the  Via  Primo 
Settembre  at  the  corner  of  the  Piazza 
Duorno.  Called  also  the  Chiesa  di 
Nostra  Donna  del  Graffeo.  It  has 
a  narrow  Gothic  front  between  two 
houses.  A  Grseco-Latin  service  is 
held  here  under  the  direction  of 
the  Proto-Papa.  There  is  a  four 
teenth-century  holy -water  stoup. 
The  church  gets  its  name  from  the 
Catholika,  or  baptistery^  The  bap 
tismal  font  is  inscribed  in  Greek  to 
JEsculapius  and  Hygieia,thetutelary 
guardians  of  the  city.  Most  interest 
ing  and  historical  old  pictures  by 
good  masters. 


INTERIOR  OF  SS.  ANNUNZIATA  DEI  CATALANI 


OSPIZIO  DEI  TKQVATELLI,  NEAR  SS.  ANNUNZIATA 
DEI  CATALAXI 


366       SIC1EY  THE  NEW  WINTER  RESORT 

S.  Francesco  d9 Assist.  Commenced  in  1254.  Burnt  in  1884,  but  restored 
in  its  original  Sicilian-Norman  style.  An  extremely  fine  church,  with  a  vast 
nave  and  numerous  chapels  like  S.  Croce 
at  Florence.  The  arches  are  ogival.  This 
church  has  the  best  cloister  in  Messina, 
and  many  interesting  monuments,  includ 
ing  a  Gagini  of  the  Virgin  and  Child,  a 
beautiful  silver  image  of  the  Virgin,  the 
fine  Renaissance  monument  of  Angelo 
Balsamo,  and  a  picture  representing  the 
stigmatisation  of  S.  Francis,  by  Salvatore 
d'  Antonio,  father  of  the  celebrated  Anto- 
nello  da  Messina.  There  is  a  beautiful 
Gothic  doorway  under  the  sixteenth-century 
cloister.  In  the  apse  is  one  of  the  finest 
of  Roman  bas-reliefs,  representing  the 
Rape  of  Proserpine.  There  is  a  good  deal 
of  old  Gothic  work  in  the  exterior.  It  is 
in  the  Torrente  Boccetta,  just  above  S. 
Maria  della  Scala. 

S.  Francesco  dei  Mercanti.  In  this  other 
S.  Francesco  there  are  some  fine  pictures. 

S.  Giovanni  di  Malta.  By  the  public 
garden.  The  principal  front  dates  from 
1588.  This  is  a  very  historical  site.  rrn— 


The 


GOTHIC  DOORWAY  OF  S.  FRANCESCO 
0'  ASSISI 


first  church  was  built  by  S.  Placidus,  and  destroyed  by  the  Saracens  in  541. 
The  historian  Francesco  Maurolyco  (see  General  Index)  is  buried  there  in  a 
beautiful  sixteenth-century  tomb.  The  pictures  are  nearly  all  by  Paladino. 
An  inside  staircase  behind  the  altar  conducts  to  the  sanctuary  of  S.  Placidus. 
Under  the  church  is  the  crypt  of  S.  Placidus,  where  the  saint's  remains  were 
found  in  1588.  It  has  a  well  whose  \vaters  are  drunk  on  the  4th  of  August, 
when  they  are  miraculous. 

S.  Gregarw.  Built  on  the  site  of  a  temple  of  Jove  from  a  design  by 
Andrea  Calarnech.  One  of  the  most  striking  baroque  churches  in  Sicily.  Its 
spiral  tower  is  one  of  the  landmarks  of  Messina.  It  has  some  very  good 
pictures  by  Guercino,  Barbalunga,  etc. ,  and  the  thirteenth-century  mosaic, 
known  as  the  Madonna  della  Ciambretta,  which  is,  of  itself,  worth  a  visit. 
The  Madonna  has  such  a  beautiful  face.  The  marble  inlaying  is  very 


ROMAN  RELIEF  IN  S.   FRANCESCO  D  ASSISI — THE  RAPE  OF  PROSERPINE 


THINGS  OF  MESSINA 


367 


rich.  The  adjoining  monastery  has  many  Gothic  features.  In  one  of  the 
neighbouring  convents  •  is  another  ancient  mosaic,  the  S.  Michael,  but 
visitors  have  great  difficulty  in  seeing  it  Just  behind  S.  Gregorio  is  the 
museum  (q.v.). 


S.  GREGORIO 


S.  Maria  degH  AhmannL  This  church  and  the  adjoining  hospital  are 
among  the  numerous  traces  of  the  medieval  Germans  in  Messina.  The  church 
of  the  Teutonic  knights.  It  is  ruinous,  but  its  pointed  Gothic  architecture  is 
very  elegant.  The  key  is  kept  at  the  Municipio.  It  was  struck  by  lightning 
in  1612,  and  much  damaged  by  the  earthquake  in  1783.  The  apse  and  walls 
are  chiefly  of  the  Norman  epoch,  1189-94.  The  flat  arch  of  the  smaller  arch 
on  the  right  belongs  to  1350.  The  fourteenth-century  portions  of  the  building 
are  very  rick  The  original  of  the  Neptune  of  Montorsoli  is  kept  here.  The 
statue  now  standing  in  the  Corso  is  a  copy.  Adjoining  the  church  is  a  Gothic 
arch  belonging  to  the  Ospedale  Teutonico. 

5.  Maria,  ddla  S€dla.  Founded  1347  by  the  nuns  of  the  Badiazza,  who 
brought  the  statue  of  the  Madonna  della  Scala  to  stop  the  pestilence  which 
was  devastating  the  city.  The  front  of  the  church  is  gingerbread  Gothic,  but 

rather  striking,  and  embodies  two  beautiful  fourteenth-century  doors.     It  was 
destroyed  in  the  earthquake  of  1793,  and  completely  rebuilt  in  1856.     One 


368        SICILY  THE   NEW  ^WINTER   RESORT 

door  was  taken  from  the  Chiesa  di  Castellammare  in  1456.     This  church  is 
famous  for  its  exquisite  Luca  della  Robbia.    It  is  in  the  Via  Torrente  Boccetta. 


THK  DELLA  RGBBIA  IN  S.  MARIA  DELLA  SCALA 

Chiesa  della  Pace.  In  the  Via  dei  Monasterl.  Contains  frescoes  by  Paladino 
and  a  picture  by  Riccio.  It  adjoins  the  Palazzo  Grano. 

There  are  other  churches  of  Messina  worth  visiting  for  their  picturesque 
sites,  or  their  pictures,  or  their  monuments,  such  as  the  Madonna  di  Montalto, 
SS.  Cosmo  and  Damiano,  S.  Rocco.  Messina  is  full  of  churches  and  monas 
teries,  which,  though  of  little  architectural  value,  are  very  picturesque  and  full 
of  paintings,  and  have  been  almost  totally  neglected  by  foreigners.  Such 
names  as  Cardillo,  Paladino,  Rodriquez,  Alibrande,  Resaliba,  Michael  Angelo 
da  Caravaggio,  Antonello  da  Riccio,  are  known  fairly  generally,  and  Antonello 
da  M essina  has  a  world-wide  fame,  but  there  are  many  other  Messina  painters 
of  considerable  merit  whose  names  are  totally  unknown  to  the  average 
foreigner.  See  Paintings,  Pinacoteca. 

Cloisters.     See  S.  Agostino  and  S.  Francesco  d'Assisi. 
Citadel    Built  by  the  German  engineer,  Carl  Nuremberg,  about  1680. 
Near  the  harbour  and  railway  station.     Now  dismantled. 
Coins.    The  leaping  dolphin,  with  the  dorsal  fin  in  the  air, 

The  leaping  hare,  with  an  eagle  and  serpent  underneath  it, 

The  hare,  with  a  dolphin  underneath  it, 

The  figure  of  Neptune,  with  a  thunderbolt  in  his  right  hand  and 

an  altar  in  front  of  him, 

A  lion's  head  facing  beside  a  calf's  head  in  profile  (cf.  coins  of 
Samos), 

are  among  the  types  on  the  coins  of  ancient  Messina.     Some  of  them  have 
the  Messina  inscriptions,  and  some  the  Dancle,  or  Danklaion. 


THINGS   OF  MESSINA 


369 


Colonna,  Antonio.   The  Spanish  viceroy  who  started  the  Palazzata,  called, 
then  the  Via  Colonna. 

Colonna,  Via,     See  above. 

Confraternita.    Messina  is  full  of  confraternita,  or  guilds.     The  minor 

churches  and  chapels  are  apt  to  be  attached  to  one  or  other  of  them.  .  It  was 
the  confraternita  of  the  Azzurrini  who  founded  the  Monte  di  Pieta,  in  the 
sixteenth  century. 


THE  CHURCH  OF  S.   MARIA  BELLA  SCALA 


Corso  Cavonr.    One  of  the  main  streets  containing  some  of  the  best 

shops,   the  monument  of  Bon  John  of  Austria,  etc.,  and  runs  from  the 

Torrente  Portalegni  to  the  Villa  Mazzinl.  The  highest  but  one  of  the  great 
streets  running  parallel  with  the  harbour.  Principato's  Library,  the  centre  of 
information  about  Messina,  is  in  this  street. 


370        SICILY  THE   NEW   WINTER   RESORT 

Corso  Vittorio  Emmanuele.  Called  also  the  Palazzata;  is  one  of  the 
finest  streets  in  Europe  as  regards  architecture,  for  it  consists  of  a  uniform  row 
of  palaces  from  end  to  end.  They  were  begun  before  the  earthquake,  but  in 
spite  of  its  fine  architecture  it  is  a  squalid  street,  full  of  the  humble  but 
interesting  life  of  the  port  which  bounds  one  side  of  it.  It  contains  the 
famous  Neptune  fountain  of  Montorsoli  (q.v. ),  a  branch  of  the  custom-house 
near  the  landing-stage,  a  modern  market  (q.v.),  and  the  offices  of  all  the 
steamship  lines. 

Curio-shops.  Messina  is  very  deficient  in  these.  There  are  a  few, 
including  a  branch  of  Ciccio,  round  the  Piazza  del  Duomo. 

Faro,  the,  or  lighthouse,  stands  on  narrowest  part  of  the  Strait,  on  the  Cape 
Pelorus  of  the  ancients,  one  of  the  three  great  capes  of  Sicily.  Charybdis  is 
just  beside  it,  a  whirlpool  in  the  Strait,  and  Scylla  is  opposite — a  rock  with  a 
lofty  city  on  it.  From  here  is  visible  the  Fata  Morgana  (q.v.).  Swordfish 
harpooning  is  the  industry  of  the  place,  and  the  boats  with  their  tall 
harpooning  stages  are  very  picturesque.  Near  the  Faro  are  various  traces 
of  the  English  occupation,  and  the  two  charming  little  lakes  into  which  they 
cut  a  canal.  A  great  temple  of  Neptune  stood  here.  The  poor  little  village 
sprang  up  in  the  entrenchments  made  by  the  English  in  Nelson's  time  to  pre 
vent  the  French  crossing.  The  ancient  city  is  supposed  to  have  been  much 
nearer  the  Faro,  which  is  now  7^  miles  from  Messina,  reached  by  steam  tram. 
The  name  Faro  is  derived  from  Pharos,  the  Greek  for  a  lighthouse.  At  the 
fishing  village  of  Pace,  on  the  way,  the  church  of  SS.  delia  Grotta  stands 
on  the  site  of  a  temple  of  Diana.  The  road  to  the  Faro  is  known  as  the 
Via  Pompeia,  doubtless  from  Sextus  Pompeius,  who  long  maintained  himself 
in  Sicily.  The  story  about  Pelorus  being  the  pilot  of  Hannibal  is  nonsense. 
The  Greeks  knew  the  place  as  Peloras  centuries  earlier  than  his  time. 

Engffisfo  occupation.  Richard  Cceur  de  Lion  stayed  here  six  months  in 
1189.  Messina  was  held  by  English  troops  while  Ferdinand  and  Maria 
Carolina  were  at  Palermo. 

Excursions.  Messina  is  an  interesting  place  for  excursions.  It  is  easy  to 
get  to  Scylla  and  Reggio,  where  there  are  some  Roman  remains.  The  Lipari 
Islands  and  Tyndaris  are  more  easily  approached  from  Milazzo,  which  is  well 
worth  a  visit  There  are  charming  walks  to  the  mountains  at  the  back  of  the 
city,  among  which  there  are  some  interesting  ruins,  such  as  the  Badiazza. 
The  Benedictine  monastery  of  S.  Placid  us  is  near  Giampilieri  Stat.  (2  miles). 

Fata  Morgana.  So  called  after  the  Fata  or  Fairy  Morgan,  the  Fay  of  the 
Arthurian  romances.  Chambers  calls  it  "the  Italian  name  for  a  striking  kind 
of  mirage  observed  in  the  Strait  of  Messina."  A  spectator  on  the  shore  sees 
images  of  men,  houses,  ships,  etc. ,  sometimes  in  the  water,  sometimes  in  the 
air,  the  same  object  having  often  two  images,  one  inverted. 

Fonte  Nettuno.  In  the  Corso  Vittorio  Emmanuele,  near  the  sea  face  of 
the  Palazzo  Municipale.  It  is  the  work  of  Montorsoli,  unveiled  in  1557.  It 
is  very  fin«  and  majestic.  The  statue  is  a  copy,  the  original  is  kept  at 
S.  Maria  degli  Alemanni,  because  it  was  in  danger  of  perishing.  The  people 
call  it  the  Gigante  or  Giant.  The  inscriptions  were  written  by  the  celebrated 
Maurolycus.  One  of  the  most  striking  fountains  in  Europe. 

Fonte  Orione.  Also  by  Montorsoli.  Stands  beside  the  cathedral  in  the 
Piazza  del  Duomo.  Its  sculptures  are  exquisitely  beautiful.  It  is  perhaps  the 
most  beautiful  Renaissance  fountain  in  Italy.  It  was  built  by  Montorsoli 
between  1547  and  1551. 


372        SICILY  THE   NEW  WINTER   RESORT 

Forts.     Cast&llacrio   (q.v.).      Cittadella    (q.v.).      Gomaga  (q.V.)* 
Rocca,  Guelfonia  (q.v.). 

None  of  these  are  kept  up  as  fortresses,  but  there  are  new  fortifications 
connected  by  the  Strada  Militaria. 

Gagini,  works  by,  at  Cathedral  S. 
Agostino  and  S.  Francesco  d'AssisI. 
Vide  paragraph  on  the  Gagini  family  in 
the  General  Index.  Antonello  da  Gagini 
was  the  most  famous,  and  one  of  the 
finest  sculptors  of  the  fifteenth  century. 

Giardino  a  Mare.  A  beautiful  little 
garden  on  the  seashore  on  the  road  to 
the  Faro.  Best  public  garden  in  Messina. 

Goethe  at  Messina.  Arrived  May 
loth,  1787,  and  found  it  still  a  ruined 
city  from  the  earthquake  of  1783.  The 
Palazzata,  or  Corso,  which  had  been 
four  stories  high,  was  left  of  all  elevations 
(it  is  now  two  stories  high).  He  visited 
the  Jesuit  church,  which  had  a  very  rich 
high  altar,  and  pronounced  the  lapis 
lazuli  to  be  only  Calcara.  He  does  not 
seem  to  have  visited  the  cathedral.  He 
found  a  number  of  the  inhabitants  living 
in  huts,  on  account  of  a  shock  of  earth 
quake,  just  outside  the  city. 

Garibaldi,  Via,  Runs  from  the  Via 
Cardines  to  the  Torrente  S.  Francisco  di 
Paolo.  Contains  a  rather  dark  palm 
garden,  known  as  the  Villa  Mazzini  (q.v.), 
the  Municipio,  the  Palace  of  the  Prefect, 
the  Teatro  Vittorio  Emmanuele,  the 
church  of  S.  Giovanni  di  Malta  (q.v.), 
and  S.  Mcolo  dei  Greci,  where  there  are 
some  Byzantine  pictures,  including  the 
Madonna  dell*  Idria. 

Gonzaga,  Forte.  Erected  by  the 
Viceroy  Gonzaga  in  1540.  Not  open  to 
the  public,  but  affords  a  fine  view.  This, 
or  the  Mons  Chalcidicus  between  it  and 
the  town,  was  the  camp  of  Hiero  II.  of 
Syracuse  and  of  Charles  of  Anjou.  It  is 
on  the  height  above  the  Ospedale  Civico. 

Gothic  details.  Messina  has  been  so 
often  destroyed  that  it  has  hardly  any 
perfect  Gothic  details,  but  it  has  numerous 
charming  fragments.  Besides  the  Duomo 
the  visitor  should  study  S.  Maria  degli 
Alemanni,  SS.  Annunziata  dei  Catalani, 
the  Ospedale  Teutonico,  La  Cattolica, 
S.  Francesco  d'Assisi,  S.  Maria  della 
Scala,  the  Badiazza,  the  ruins  behind 


THE  FOUNTAIN  OF  OfclON 


374        SICILY  THE   NEW  WINTER   RESORT 

S.  Gregorio.  The  Via  del  Monasteri  has  quite  a  number  of  Gothic  arches, 
mostly  late,  but  interesting  to  compare  with  those  of  Taormina.  S.  Agostino 
is  a  fine  Gothic  church.  At  No.  69,  Via  dei  Monasteri,  there  is  an  ogee  arch ; 
at  No.  65  a  rich  square-headed  doorway,  but  the  student  of  architecture 
should  examine  the  whole  of  this  street  very  carefully.  It  is  full  of  picturesque 
old  bits.  The  Ospizio  Trovatelli  is  an  interesting  example.  Zecca  (q.v.). 


MADONNA  DEL  GRAFFEO,   IN  THE  CHIESA  BELLA  CATTQLICA 

Graffeo,  S.  Maria  del.  Another  name  of  the  church  known  as  La  Catto- 
lica  (q.v.).  The  Graffeo  is  the  famous  letter  written  by  the  Virgin  to  the 
inhabitants  of  Messina.  The  ancient  picture  of  this  name  is  kept  at  La  Catto- 
lica.  Another  very  ancient  picture  of  this  Madonna,  attributed  to  S.  Luke, 
is  under  the  baldachin  of  the  cathedral. 

Grano,  Palazzo.  A  fine  Renaissance  palace.  Next  to  the  Pace  Church  in 
the  Via  Monasteri, 


THINGS   OF   MESSINA  375 

Greek  community.  Messina  has  a  colony  of  Greeks  who  fled  from 
Turkish  oppression  like  the  Albanians  of  Piana  dei  Greci,  but  much  later,  in 
1533.  The  churches  of  La  Cattolica  and  S.  Nicolo  dei  Greci  have  modified 
Greek  ritual. 

Germans  at  Messina.  In  the  Middle  Ages  the  Germans  were  much  at 
Messina.  The  church  of  the  Alemanni  and  the  Ospedaie  Teutonico  belonged 
to  the  Teutonic  knights,  and  the  Z^ecca,  or  Mint,  in  the  Via  Cardines  (q.v.) 
was  theirs.  The  Emperor  Henry  VI.  died  at  Nizza,  near  Messina.  The 
Cittadella  was  built  by  a  German  architect.  The  Emperor  Charles  V.  did 
a  great  deal  here  ;  he  had  the  whole  town  refortified. 

Harbour.  The  harbour  of  Messina  has  always  been  famous.  Its  sickle 
shape  gave  the  town  its  ancient  name  of  Zancle. 

Hems,  Cains.  A  rich  Messanian,  conspicuous  in  Cicero's  Indictment  of 
Verres*  He  owned  the  Eros  (Cupid)  of  Praxiteles,  the  Hercules  of  Myron, 
the  Canephorse  by  Polycleitus,  and  Attalic  tapestry,  the  most  valuable  of  the 
ancient  world.  There  is  a  great  deal  about  him  in  the  lrerres.  His  house, 
which  Cicero  describes,  was  in  the  neighbourhood  of  the  Archbishop's  Palace 
and  the  Four  Fountains  {Verres^  V.  iii.,  first  par.). 

"  But  to  return  to  that  private  chapel :  there  was  this  statue,  which  I  am  speak 
ing  of,  of  Cupid,  made  of  marble.  On  the  other  side  there  was  a  Hercules, 
beautifully  made  of  brass;  that  was  said  to  be  the  work  of  Myron,  as  I 
believe,  and  it  undoubtedly  was  so.  Also  before  these  gods  there  were  little 
altars,  which  might  indicate  to  anyone  the  holiness  of  the  chapel.  There  were 
besides  two  brazen  statues,  of  no  very  great  size,  but  of  marvellous  beauty, 
in  the  dress  and  robes  of  virgins,  which,  with  uplifted  hands,  were  supporting 
some  sacred  vessels  which  were  placed  on  their  heads,  after  the  fashion  of 
the  Athenian  virgins.  They  were  called  the  Canephorse,  but  their  maker 
was  .  .  .{who?  who  -was  he?  thank  you,  you  are  quite  right)  they  called  him 
Polycletus.  Whenever  any  one  of  our  citizens  went  to  Messana,  he  used  to 
go  and  see  these  statues.  They  were  open  every  day  for  people  to  go  to  see 
them.  The  house  was  not  more  an  ornament  to  its  master  than  it  was  to 
the  city." 

Hygeia,  the  Goddess  of  Health.  One  of  the  two  guardian  deities  of 
Greek  Messina.  The  beauty  of  the  air  of  Messina  is  proverbial. 

"  Isabella  and  the  Pot  of  Basil."  Keats's  poem.  The  scene  of  the  poem, 
founded  on  a  story  in  Boccaccio's  Decameron^  is  laid  at  Messina. 

Lascaris,  Constantine,  A  famous  Greek  scholar,  who,  after  the  fall  ot 
Constantinople  in  1453,  took  refuge  with  the  Duke  of  Milan,  Francesco 
Sforza,  and  became  Greek  tutor  to  his  dattgnter  Hippolyta,  wfeo  married 
Alfonso,  King  of  Naples.  Eventually  he  was  invited  by  the  inhabitants 
to  settle  in  Messina,  and  taught  Greek  publicly  there  till  he  died  in  ^  1493. 
He  was  one  of  the  revivers  of  Greek  learning  in  Italy,  but  wrote  nothing  of 
any  importance  except  a  translation  of  the  forged  Greek  translation  said  to 
have  been  made  by  St.  Paul  of  a  letter  written  by  the  Virgin  Mary  to  the 
inhabitants  of  Messina.  This  is  the  letter  which  gives  her  name  to  the 
Madonna  della  Lettera  (di  Graffeo),  the  patron  saint  of  the  cathedral  and  city. 

LeontJseas.  A  wrestler  of  Messana,  mentioned  by  Pausanias  twice.  Once 
lor  his  styk  of  wrestling ;  instead  of  throwing  his  adversaries  he  vanquished 
tkero  by  bending  their  fingers;  the  otber  time  as  belonging  to  the  old 
Zaadean  stock,  when  he  is  mentioning  that  during  their  long  exile  from  fee 
Pelopoenese,  no  mpo  of  Messenian  stock  ever  won  a  prize  at  the  gaaaes. 

Letfcera. 


376        SICILY  THE   NEW  WINTER   RESORT 

Letterio.  A  favourite  name  in  Messina,  derived  from  the  letter  of  the 
Virgin  Mary.  See  Madonna  della  Lettera. 

Libraries.  Principato,  in  the  Corso  Cavour,  who  also  has  a  shop  at  Taor- 
mina,  has  an  excellent  assortment  of  books,  including  the  Tauchnitz  Library 
and  many  other  English  books.  Those  who  wish  to  apply  for  permission  at 
the  Municipio  should  consult  Sig.  Principato.  Messina  has,  of  course,  fine 
public  libraries,  such  as  that  of  the  University. 

Malvizzi,  the,  were  the  democratic  party  in  the  civil  disturbances  which 
led  up  to  the  driving  out  of  the  Spanish  garrison  in  1675. 

Mamertines.  Messina  is  the  city  par  excellence  of  the  Mamertines.  The 
Italian  mercenaries  of  Agathacoles,  King  of  Syracuse,  who  called  themselves 
the  sons  of  Mamers,  or  Mars,  seized  the  city  and  retained  it.  It  was  their 
appeal  for  help  to  the  Romans  which  led  to  the  First  Punic  War.  The  Mamer- 
tine  citadel  was  the  Villa  Rocca  Guelfonia  (q.v.). 

Marina,  the.     See  Corso  Vittorio  Emmanuele. 

Matagriffone.  The  ancient  Mamertine  citadel  See  Villa  Rocca  Guel 
fonia. 

Maurolyco,  Francesco.  One  of  the  most  famous  natives  of  Messina, 
a  mathematician,  a  historian,  an  astrologer,  most  esteemed  by  his  contempo 
raries  as  the  last,  for  he  foretold  Don  John  of  Austria's  immortal  victory  over 
the  Turks.  He  was  a  man  of  extraordinary  attainments,  much  quoted  still 
(b.  1494;  d.  1575).  He  brought  out  a  Euclid  (Eudydis  Phenomena,  1591). 
He  is  buried  in  S.  Giovanni  di  Malta  at  Messina.  His  tomb  has  one  of  the 
best  busts  in  Sicily.  He  was  the  author  of  the  Compendia  dette  Cose  di  Sicilia. 

Mazzini,  the  Villa,  the  public  garden,  with  fine  subtropical  foliage,  but 
gloomy  in  winter.  It  was  an  ancient  Roman  necropolis.  Many  and^  notable 
remains  have  been  found  there.  It  is  an  English  garden,  laid  out  in  1832, 
since  embellished  by  Berceau.  A  band  plays  here.  In  S.  Giovanni  di  Malta, 
the  church  on  the  Piazza,  the  pirate  Mamuka  killed  S.  Placidus.  There  are 
memorials  of  Mazzini. 

Merll.  The  aristocratic  party  in  the  civil  disturbances  which  preceded  the 
rebellion  against  Spain  in  1675. 

Messana.  It  must  be  remembered  that  the  Dorians  wrote  Messene 
Messana.  The  ancient  name  of  Messina  was  Zancle,  till  it  was  changed  by 
Anaxilas  of  Rhegium,  who  conquered  it  with  the  aid  of  Messenian  exiles 
driven  out  by  Sparta  at  the  conclusion  of  the  second  Messenian  war.  But 
according  to  Pausanias  (Book  VI.,  iv.  2),  the  Zanclean  stock  continued  distinct. 
See  Leontiscus,  History,  and  Zancle.  At  the  end  of  the  second  Messenian 
war,  the  Messenians  at  Cyllene  under  Gorgus  and  Manticlus  deliberated  as  to 
where  they  should  settle.  Pausanias,  translated  by  J.  G.  Frazer,  gives  the 
following  account  (IV.  xxiii.  5-10) : — 

"  Gorgus  was  of  opinion  that  they  should  seize  Zacynthus,  the  island  off  the 
coast  of  Cephallenia,  and  exchanging  their  continental  for  an  island  home, 
make  expeditions  to  the  coasts  of  Laconia,  and  ravage  the  country.  Manticlus 
advised  them  to  forget  Messene  and  their  hatred  of  the  Lacedaemonians,  and 
sailing  to  Sardinia  take  possession  of  that  greatest  and  wealthiest  of  islands, 
Meantime,  Anaxilas  sent  to  the  Messenians,  inviting  them  to  Italy.  When 
they  came,  he  told  them  that  the  people  of  Zancle,  who  were  at  feud  with  him, 
possessed  a  fertile  country  and  a  city  finely  situated  in  Sicily,  and  that  if  the 
Messenians  would  help  him  to  conquer  Zancle,  he  would  give  them  the  city 
and  its  territory.  They  accepted  the  proposal,  and  Anaxilas  transported  them 
to  Sicily.  The  site  on  which  Zancle  stands  was  originally  seized  by  corsairs ; 


THINGS   OF  MESSINA 


377 


the  land  was  uninhabited,  and  they  built  a  stronghold  about  the  harbour,  and 
used  it  as  their  headquarters  whence  they  scoured  sea  and  land.  So  Zancle 
was  besieged  on  the  land  side  by  the  Messenians,  and  blockaded  on  the  side 
of  the  sea  by  the  people  of  Rhegium  ;  and  when  the  walls  fell  into  the  hands 
of  the  enemy,  the  inhabitants  fled  for  refuge  to  the  altars  and  sanctuaries  of 
the  gods.  Anaxilas  exhorted  the  Messenians  to  kill  these  refugees  and  enslave 
the  rest  of  the  men  together  with  the  women  and  children.  But  Gorgus  and 
Manticlus  begged  Anaxilas  not  to  compel  them  to  retaliate  upon  Greeks  the 
cruelties  which  they  had  themselves  suffered  at  the  hands  of  kinsmen.  Then 
they  raised  the  Zancleans  from  the  altars,  and  after  exchanging  oaths  both 
peoples  dwelt  together  ;  but  they  altered  the  name  of  the  city  from  Zancle  to 
Messene  (Messana).  These  events  happened  in  the  twenty-ninth  Olympiad, 
in  which  Chionis  the  Laconian  gained  his  second  victory,  when  Miltiades  was 
archon  at  Athens.  Manticlus  also  founded  the  sanctuary  of  Hercules  at 
Messene.  It  is  outside  the  wall,  and  the  god  is  called  Hercules  Manticlus, 
just  as  Bel  in  Babylon  is  named  after  an  Egyptian  man,  Belus,  son  of  Libya, 
and  as  Ammon  in  Libya  is  named  after  the  shepherd  who  founded^  the 
sanctuary.  Thus  the  banished  Messenians  ceased  from  their  wanderings.7' 

Monasteri,  Via  dei.  See  Sicilian-Gothic.  The  highest  of  the  streets 
parallel  with  the  harbour,  and  the  most  interesting  street  in  Messina.  Runs 
from  the  Torrente  Boccetta  to  the  junction  of  the  Corso  Cavour  and  the  Via 
Porta  Reale.  The  most  interesting  and  picturesque  buildings  in  Messina  are 
in  this  street.  There  are  few  such  interesting  streets  in  Sicily. 

Monte  della  Pleta.  Public  pawning  establishment.  It  is  a  magnificent 
building.  Formerly  N.D.  della  Pieta,  built  in  1541.  The  splendid  double 
staircase  of  marble  leading  up  to  the  front  from  the  enclosed  courtyard  was 
added  in  1741,  from  the  designs  of  Antonio  Basile  and  Placido  Campolo. 
This  facade  and  staircase  form  one  of  the  most  beautiful  examples  of  the 


THE  MONTE  DI  PIETA 


378        SICILY  THE   NEW  WINTER   RESORT 

Renaissance  in  Sicily.  The  Monte  dei  Pegni,  or  Monte  dei  Prestamenti,  was 
founded  by  the  Confratemita  degli  Azzurri  in  1580  to  save  poor  citizens  from 
usury. 

Monte  Vergine.  This  has  rich  marbles  and  gilding  and  beautiful  frescoes 
by  the  Messinese  Letterio  Paladino  in  1736.  In  the  convent  there  is  a  nice 
little  cloister,  from  which  you  can  see  the  rich  Gothic  exterior  of  the  apse  of 
a  little  church. 

Montorsoli,  Fra  Giovanni  Angelo.  A  Florentine  sculptor  and  assistant  of 
Michael  Angelo,  1557-1603.  Much  employed  at  Messina.  See  Orion  and 
Neptune  fountains  and  wolf  in  cloister  of  S.  Agostino. 

Mosaics.  See  Cathedral,  S.  Gregorio,  and  in  the  convent  adjoining 
S.  Gregorio,  a  mosaic  representing  S.  Michael  More  mosaics  are  ^  being 
discovered  at  the  cathedral.  They  are  all  of  the  Sicilian-Norman  period,  so 
Messina  must  now  be  added  to  Palermo,  Monreale,  and  Cefalu. 

Murncipio.  Fine  palace  built  by  the  abbot  Minutoli,  del  Tardi,  and  dell' 
Arena  (1789-1818).  On  its  sea  face  is  part  of  the  famous  Palazzata  round  the 
harbour.  The  municipality  of  Messina  is  like  Palermo,  extremely  progressive 
and  friendly  to  foreigners. 

Museum  and  picture  gallery  of  the  city  are  now  in  the  monastery  of  S. 
Gregorio.  It  contains  exhibits  of  natural  history,  geological  (lava,  sulphur, 
shells),  Graeco-Siculo  vases  and  coins,  a  few  marbles  with  Greek  and  Arab 
inscriptions,  sarcophagi,  and,  above  all,  a  unique  collection  of  Urbino  majo 
lica.  There  are  seventy-four  of  them,  made  in  1568  for  the  Ospedale  Civico 
at  Messina,  and  recently  sold  by  the  hospital  to  the  municipality  for  the  use 
of  the  museum,  dirt  cheap,  for  £2,400.  They  are  drug-jars  of  the  picturesque 


THE  FAMOUS  URBINO  DRUG-JARS   IN  THE  MUSEUM  OF   MESSINA 

Italian  fashion.  For  pedigree  and  completeness  this  set  is  almost  unrivalled. 
Their  lustre,  their  blues,  yellows,  and  greens  are  superb,  and  some  of  them, 
like  the  horse  and  nymph  riding  on  a  dolphin  example,  are  wonderfully 
spirited  pictures.  The  museum  also  contains  Antonello  s  masterpiece.  See 
Pinacoteca.  There  is  a  small  collection  of  terra-cotta  figurines  very  different 
in  type  to  those  of  Palermo,  Girgenti,  and  Selinunte,  and  some  quaint  coral 
groups  and  shellwork  and  a  couple  of  splendid  ciborii  of  ivory  and  pearls. 
Most  interesting  views  from  the  window. 

Necropolis,  ancient.     It  was  Sikel  and  Siculo- Greek,     Between  Fort 
Gonzaga  and  Monte  Pietrazza.     Many  remains  found. 


S8o       SICILY  THE  NEW  WINTER  RESORT 

Oscan  Inscriptionis  in  the  Via  Cardines  near  the  Ponte  della  Giudecca 
opposite  No.  160,  walled-in  and  protected  by  a  fine  metal  grating.  It  has 
been  reconstructed  by  Mommsen,  and  is  given  in  Zvetaiefrs  Inscriptiones 
Italic  Infer ioris.  It  belongs,  of  course,  to  the  Mamertines  and  is  one  of 
the  most  unique  monuments  of  Sicily. 

Ospedale  Civico.  An  enormous  building  by  Angelo, 
Carrara,  and  Antonio  Sferrandino,  Andrea  Calamech, 
etc.,  commenced  in  1542  and  finished  in  1605.  In  the 
Via  Primo  Settembre,  near  the  railway  station.  It  had 
formerly  five  hundred  Urbino  drug-jars,  but  the  best  are 
now  in  the  museum  (q.v,). 

Painting,  the  Messinese  school  of.  Messina  had 
the  most  important  school  of  painting  in  Sicily.  Anton- 
ello  da  Messina"  of  the  family  of  the  Antoni,  was  a 
pupil  of  the  Van  Eycks,  who  introduced  oil-painting 
into  Italy.  For  the  best-known  painters  of  the  Messinese 
school,  see  under  Chiesa  della  Pace  (p.  368). 

Palazzata,  of  Messina,  the,  is  unique.    All  round 
the  Marina,  or  Corso  Emmanuele,  is  a  row  of  uniform 
palaces   adorned    with    handsome    colonnades.      They 
were  the  work  of  Minutolo  after  the  earthquake  of  1783  in  their  present 
form,  and  give  the  town  an  exquisite  effect  from  the  sea.     See  Goethe. 


AN  URBINO  DRUG-JAR 

SOLD  BY  THE  OSPEDALE 

CIVICO  TO  THE 

MUSEUM  OF   MESSINA 


THE  PALAZZATA 


s.  piExao  D'ALCANT&RA,  BY  D.  MAROLI,  IN  THE  MESSINA  MUSEUM 


382        SICILY  THE   NEW   WINTER   RESORT 

PaJazzi:  Palazzo  Grano  (q.v.). 

Palazzo  Brunacdni.  According  to  Baedeker,  the  scene  of  the  interview 
between  Goethe  and  the  Intenclant.  It  is  at  the  end  of  the  Corso  Cavour, 
near  the  Via  Idria. 

Palazzo  Arcivescofuile^  on  the  site  of  the  original  cathedral,  destroyed  in 
the  earthquake  of  1783. 

Photographers.  There  are  practically  no  tourists'  photographers  in  Messina. 
Crupi,  of  Taormina,  has  taken  plenty  of  photographs,  but  he  has  no  shop. 
Ledru,  opposite  the  post  office,  has  the  local  business,  .but  he  has  only  about 
a  dozen  photographs.  Principato  could  obtain  any  of  Crupi's  photographs 
as  he  has  a  branch  at  Taormina. 

Piazzas  :  Piazza  del  Duomo,  by  the  cathedral. 
The  piazza  in  front  of  the  Municipio. 

These  are  the  only  two  which  signify,  though  there  are  large  piazzas  in 
front  of  the  railway  station,  the  Ospedale  Civico,  etc. 

Pinacoteca.  Attached  to  the  museum  behind  S.  Gregorio.  This  contains 
the  "  Madonna  del  Rosario,"  1463,  Antonello  da  Messina's  masterpiece  ;  also 
a  "John  the  Baptist"  by  an  unknown  painter  with  ten  little  pictures  round  it  in 
the  Messina  style  ;  the  "  Mysteries  of  the  Rosario"  in  miniatures,  by  Cardillo, 
who  signs  with  a  goldfinch;  Caravaggio's  "Raising  of  Lazarus";  Cara- 
vaggio's  "  Mary  lying  against  the  Manger,"  both  beautiful  pictures.  There 
are  five  Antonellos  which  the  authorities  claim  to  be  genuine.  The  collection 
is  decidedly  interesting,  for  the  traveller  sees  there  work  by  good,  but  un 
familiar  artists  belonging  to  the  local  school. 

Pottery.  The  peasants'  pottery  of  Messina  is  of  two  kinds,  the  large 
unglazed  jars,  more  or  less  like  other  Sicilian  pottery,  and  a  cheap  yellow 
majolica  with  brown  and  green  blotches  on  it.  It  has  not  the  distinction  of 
the  pottery  about  Palermo  and  Syracuse. 

Primo  Settembre,  the  Via.  Formerly  the  Via  d'  Austria.  Contains 
La  Cattolica,  the  Ospedale  Civico ;  and  at  its  intersection  with  the  Via 
Cardines,  the  Four  Fountains,  occupied  until  1605  by  a  superb  temple  of 
Hercules.  See  Temples.  Gets  its  name  from  the  memorable  ist  September, 
1847. 

Prisons.  The  chief  prison  is  at  the  Villa  Rocca  Guelfonia  (q.  v.).  Women 
prisoners  are  kept  at  the  Monte  dei  Cappuccini. 

Rocca  Gnelfoma,  Villa,  is  a  Mamertine  citadel.  The  spiral  staircase  is  the 
work  of  Count  Roger,  and  there  is  a  Norman  keep.  The  first  Aragonese 
king  and  his  wife,  Constance,  lived  here  in  1284.  After  the  war  of  1674  it 
passed!  to  the  Scalzi  monks.  In  1839  it  was  turned  into  a  prison.  The 
ancient  name  of  the  rock  is  MatagrirTone.  It  belongs  to  the  De  Cola  family, 
who  allow  visitors  to  go  over  it.  It  is  one  of  the  most  picturesque  gardens 
in  all  Sicily.  The  vegetation  is  extraordinarily  rich,  and  there  are  various 
tombs  a&<l  antiquities  scattered  about  in  it.  The  vast  and  tremendously 
high  wall  surrounding  the  Rocco  affords  a  magnificent  view  of  the  Strait. 

Steamers.  Many  lines  of  steamers  call  at  Messina.  The  most  important 
is,  of  course,  the  Florio-Rubajttino,  which  connects  Messina  with  all  parts  of 
the  Mediterranean,  America,  and  the  East.  Another  line  of  steamers  growing 
in  favour  is  the  Adria,  which  touches  here  on  its  way  from  Malta  to  Genoa. 
There  are  ferries  to  Reggio  and  Villa  S.  Giovanni  in  Calabria.  Various 
English  lines  touch  here,  but  they  do  not  belong  to  the  great  passenger  lines. 


THE  DEPOSITION  FROM  THE  CROSS  (DUTCH  SCHOOL),  IK  THE  MESSINA  MUSEUM 


384        SICILY  THE   NEW  WINTER   RESORT 

The  American  and  German  lines  touch  here  on  their  yachting  cruises  in  the 
season,  as  do  Dr.  Lunn's  English  cruising  yachts.  The  steamboat  offices  are 
in  the  Palazzata. 

Swordfish.  Messina  is  the  capital  of  the  swordfishery.  The  boat,  pro 
pelled  by  several  rowers,  has  a  high  stage  for  the  lookout  man,  and  a  lower 
stage  in  the  bows  for  the  harpooner.  The  flesh,  like  tunny,  is  highly  esteemed 
for  food. 

Xeatro  Marittimo,  Via.  A  former  name  of  the  Corso  Vittorio  Emmanuele. 
Temples.  The  sites  of  the  temples  in  Messina  are  many  of  them  well 
known.  But  there  are  hardly  any  traces  of  them  except  the  colonnade  of  the 
Temple  of  Neptune  built  into  the  back  of  SS.  Annunziata  dei  Catalani,  and  the 
columns  of  the  Temple  of  Neptune  at  the  Faro  which  have  been  preserved  in 
the  cathedral.  Until  1605  there  was  a  magnificent  temple  of  Hercules,  built 

to  signalise  the  peace  between 
the  inhabitants  of  Zancle  and 
their  fellow-citizens  from  Mes- 
senia.  But  it  was  pulled  down 
in  that  year,  in  spite  of  protests, 
to  make  the  Via  d'  Austria,  now 
the  Via  Primo  Settembre.  It 
stood  where  the  four  fountains 
now  stand,  and  people  came 
from  all  parts  of  Germany  and 
France  and  Flanders  to  see  it, 
because  of  Cicero's  eulogy.  In 
1855,  when  they  were  laying 
the  water,  the  foundations  were 
discovered,  and  the  level  of  the 
antique  street,  two  yards  below 
the  present  street  There  was 
a  temple  of  Jove  outside  the 
walls  which  rose  near  the  present 
church  of  S.  Teresa,  close  to 
the  Temple  of  Venus,  which  was  opposite  to  the  present  church  of  S,  Cosmo 
and  S.  Damian.  There  was  another  temple  of  Venus,  according  to 
Maurolyco,  on  the  site  of  S.  Caterina  Valverde.  The  Temple  of  Castor 
and  Pollux  was  in  the  district  of  S.  Filippo  dei  Bianchi.  There  was  a 
temple  of  Janus  near  the  gate  of  the  same  name  ;  a  temple  of  Orion  that  was 
taller  than  Zancle,  near  the  demolished  church  of  S,  Giacomo,  where  to-day 
stands  the  house  of  Cav.  Ruggero  Anza  at  the  back  of  the  cathedral.  The 
Oscan  inscription  in  the  Via  Cardines  is  thought  to  prove  the  existence  of  a 
temple  dedicated  to  Apollo.  Close  to  the  Archbishop's  Palace  and  the  Temple 
of  Hercules  rose  the  house  of  Caius  Heius,  the  rich  man  mentioned  by  Cicero 
as  the  owner  of  the  marble  Eros  of  Praxiteles,  the  bronze  Hercules  of  Myron, 
and  the  two  statues  by  Polycleitus  carried  off  by  Verres.  There  was  a  temple 
to  Diana  at  the  church  of  S.  M.  della  Grotta,  on  the  way  to  the  Faro.  The 
Temple  of  Neptune  from  which  the  columns  were  taken  stood  by  the  smaller  of 
the  two  Pantani  lakes,  which  lie  near  the  Faro, 

Theatre.  Messina  has  a  very  handsome  theatre,  the  Vittorio  Emmanuele, 
formerly  S.  Elisabetta.  Constructed  by  the  Neapolitan  architect  Pietro 
Valenti  in  1852  on  the  site  of  the  old  gaol  and  the  Carmine  church  in  which 
Polydorus,  Constantine  Lascaris,  and  other  great  men  were  buried.  The 
interior  has  five  rows  of  boxes,  like  S.  Carlo  at  Naples.  In  front  of  the  theatre 


THE  TEMPLE  OF  NEPTUNE 


2   C 


386        SICILY  THE   NEW  WINTER   RESORT 

is  the  Casa  Vitale,  occupied  iSSi  by  the  late  King  Humbert  and  his  wife  and 
child,  and  1882  by  Garibaldi.  The  fountain  at  the  corner  of  this  palace  is 
called  Pozzoleone. 

Torrenti.  The  streets  of  Messina  leading  down  from  the  mountains  are 
called  the  Torrenti,  and  in  wet  weather  they  are  torrents  in  more  than  name, 
and  require  turn- bridges.  The  river-beds  in  this  fart  of  the  country  when 
dry  are  used  for  roads,  for  which  their  hard  surface  makes  them  very  suitable. 
They  are,  beginning  from  the  north  end  of  the  city,  the 

Torrente  S.  Francesco  di  Paolo,  which  leads  through  beautiful  scenery 
to  the  Badiazza  (q.v.) ; 

Torrente  Trapani,  called  from  a  monastery ; 

Torrente  Boccetta,  on  which  S.  Maria  della  Scala  and  S.  Francesco  d'  Assisi 
stand ; 

Torrente  Portalegni,  which  leads  up  to  the  Castellaccio  and  Forte  Gonzaga ; 

Torrente  Zaera  at  the  south  end. 

University.  In  the  Jesuit  College,  known  as  the  Prototipo.  Built  on  the 
ruins  of  an  antique  temple  of  Apollo.  It  was  a  very  large  edifice,  with 
one  door  on  the  Via  Universita  and  one  on  the  Via  Cardines,  now  in  the  Via 
S.  Domenica.  The  Jesuits  were  expelled  in  1767,  and  succeeded  by  a  semi- 
University  called  the  Accademia  Carolina.  In  1838  the  University  was  re- 
founded.  Many  of  its  important  departments  are  decentralised.  The  Clinical 
Institute,  for  instance,  is  in  the  Ospedale  Civico,  the  Orto  Botanico  outside  the 
city,  the  Pathological  Institute  in  an  adjoining  building.  There  are  two  hand 
some  colonnaded  cortili.  The  University  has  good  collections  of  mineralogy, 
etc.,  a  library  of  50,000  volumes,  and  many  ancient  manuscripts. 

Views.  Messina  is  a  city  of  views.  From  the  Museum,  the  Villa  Rocca- 
Guelfonia,  the  Monte  Cappuccini,  the  Castellaccio,  the  Torre  del  Faro — in 
fact,  from  almost  any  high  ground  one  gets  enchanting  views  of  the  Strait, 
and  the  mountains  of  Calabria  beyond. 

Zande,  the  ancient  name  of  Messina,  A  Sikel  site.  The  name  is  Sikel. 
It  means  "a  sickle."  See  Messana.  An  older  form  seems  to  have  been 
Dancle.  The  peninsula  was  called  Acte.  The  Greek  city  was  founded  by 
Chalcidians  from  Eubcea  about  715  B.c.  The  first  Samian  settlement  was 
about  490  B.  c.  They  were  subjected  by  Anaxilas  of  Rhegium,  and  the  town 
took  the  name  of  Messana  before  his  death  In  476. 

THINGS   OF  MODICA 

MoDICA,  on  the  Syracuse-Licata  Hue,  a  town  of  60,000  inhabitants,  is  very 
bleak  in  winter  and  very  smelly  in  hot  weather.  Its  patron  saint  is  S.  Giorgio, 
whose  festa  is  on  April  23rd.  The  aame  is  a  corruption  of  the  Greek  Motyca 
and  Phoenician  Motya.  Tfee  Saracens  called  it  Mohac.  It  is  a  very  striking- 
looking  city,  btiilt  m  and  on  the  sides  of  and  above  a  limestone  gorge.  Its 
inhabitants  are  tfee  nicest  people  in  Sicily.  If  the  children  or  poor  people 
crowd  round  jm,  tfee  bystanders  invariably  send  them  away.  Its  inhabitants 
are  also,  OB  festa  <!ays,  the  most  picturesque  in  Sicily.  The  town  is  full  of 
bits  for  artists  to  sketch.  The  hotel,  though  it  looks  primitive,  has  excellent 
food  (SteBa,  cf  Italia),  and  sends  carriages  to  the  station  if  you  write  before 
hand.  The  facchini  are  not  very  troublesome  or  expensive. 

HISTORY. — Modica,  under  the  name  of  Motya,  near  Pachynum,  a  mixed 
colony  of  barbarian  Libyans  and  Phoenicians,  is  mentioned  by  Pausanias  as 
liaviug  been  conquered  by  Acragas.  Its  spoils  were  hanging  in  the  temple  at 


THINGS  OF  MODICA 


Olympla.  Freeman  says  that  it  was  probably  a  colony  of  Syracuse.  Not 
mentioned  til!  Roman  times.  Mentioned  by  Pliny  and  Ptolemy,  and  Silitis 
Italians  and  Cicero,  and  Strabo.  In  Spanish  times  the  Dokes  of  Alba  were 
Counts  of  Modica. 

Agriculture.     This   great   city,   the   fifth   in   Sicily,  exists   entirely  on 
agriculture. 

Architecture.  Modica  was  almost  entirely  destroyed  in  1693  5  DUt  examples 
of  Gothic  have  sur 
vived  in  the  Carmine, 
S.  Maria  di  Gesii,  S. 
Maria  di  Betlem,  the 
Portone  of  the  Casa 
Leva,  and  the  Castle 
(q.v.).  Like  Noto3 
Modica  has  magnifi 
cent  modern  build 
ings. 

Castle.  Unique 
position  on  rock  in 
centre  of  the  town. 
Has  a  garden  con 
taining  beautiful 
Gothic  fragments,  a 
school  for  poor  chil 
dren  kept  by  nuns, 
and  remains  of  the 
Grimani  and  Grimaldi 
families. 

Churches — 

Carmine,  Four 
teenth  -  century  Sici 
lian-Gothic  gateway 
and  ruined  rose- 
•w  indow. 

S.  Giorgio  Grande. 
Stands  on  the  site  of 
the  Acropolis  and 
Temple  of  Hercnles, 
the  mythical  founder 
of  Modica.  The  Ma- 
trice  of  Modica  Alta. 
A  superb  modern 
church,  built  after  the 
great  earthquake  at 
the  head  of  gigantic 
flights  of  steps,  which 
go  to  the  bottom  of 
the  town  in  the  Corso. 
It  contains  a  silver 
altar  about  twenty 
feet  high,  made  in 
the  seventeenth  THE  CARMINE,  MODICA 


388        SICILY  THE   NEW  WINTER   RESORT 

century,  with  rather  good  putti,  and  a  famous  altar-piece  in  many  panels  by 
Paladino. 

S.  Giovanni.  Another  superb  modern  church,  built  on  a  fine  flight  of  steps 
on  the  top  of  the  hill,  near  S.  Maria  di  Gesii.  Notice  house  with  a  loggia 
opposite  of  five  arches  surmounted  by  splendid  hammered  roses. 




S.   MARIA  DI  BETLEM 


S.  Maria  di  Betkm.  Founded  by  Count  Roger,  1070.  It  has  a  very  rich 
Sicilian-Gothic  chapel,  begun  in  1094  in  the  south  aisle.  During  the  recent 
flood  the  water  rose  over  the  top  of  the  pulpit.  The  river  runs  past  it. 

S.  Maria  di  Gesu.  Founded  by  the  Counts  of  Modica  in  1478.  In  ruins, 
except  the  west  front,  a  very  rich  example  of  Sicilian -Gothic,  rather  suggest 
ing  English  Perpendicular.  The  ruined  interior  has  elegant  Gothic  features. 


THINGS   OF   MODICA  389 

In  the  convent,  which  is  now  the  gaol  (permission  to  enter  from  the  author 
ities  in  the  town),  is  a  late  Gothic  cloister,  one  of  the  most  perfect  in  Sicily. 
The  avenue  to  this  church  is  bordered  on  each  side  by  good  sixteenth-century 
statues  on  high  pedestals  soaring  into  the  air,  and  an  early  sixteenth -century 
wayside  shrine  of  St.  George,-sculptured,  about  the  earliest  and  best  in  Sicily, 
Splendid  view  of  the  town  from  here. 

S.  Pietro.  Another  superb  modern  church  at  the  head  of  a  flight  of  steps 
on  the  Corso.  The  Matrice  of  the  lower  town. 

Del  Soccorso.  Erected  about  1600.  Is  a  little  way  above  S.  Pietro.  A 
typical  church  of  the  poor.  Very  well  worth  seeing. 

Contadini.  The  peasants  round  Modica  are  the  best  in  Sicily,  of  many 
types,  some  with  grand  eagle  faces,  some  like  Berbers.  On  Sundays  and 
festas  they  wear  their  ancient  costume,  in  which  experts  trace  Spanish,  African, 
and  native  Sicilian  elements.  The  women  wear  cloaks  of  rich  dark  blue-faced 
cloth.  The  men  wear  short  frocks  of  brown  frieze  something  like  full -skirted 
Norfolk  jackets.  This  frieze  of  chocolate  colour  is  spun  by  the  women.  They 
all  use  it  for  work ;  but  for  festas  some  wear  black-faced  cloth,  breeches  and 
boleros,  showing  a  quantity  of  fine  starched  shirt.  The  breeches  come  down 
to  the  ankles,  and  are  worn  with  topboots  or  highlows.  On  their  heads  they 
wear  birettas  or  coifs  like  the  Papal  coif,  or  sock  caps  made  of  silk  or  frieze. 

f  Costumes.  See  above.  On  the  whole  the  costumes  here  are  the  best  in 
Sicily.  There  is  more  variety  than  at  Aderno  or  Randazzo. 

Earthquakes.  The  great  earthquake  which  devastated  all  this  part  of  Sicily 
was  in  1693.  _  In  September,  1902,  there  were  many  earthquake  shocks  in 
connection  with  the  disastrous  floods.  This  district  is  very  liable  to  earth 
quakes.  In  1693  the  town  was  almost  entirely  destroyed.  Three  to  four 
thousand  people  killed. 

Floods.  The  floods  at  Modica  in  September,  1902,  are  known  all  over  the 
world.  Floods  are  caused  by  the  river  which  runs  down  the  main  street,  some 
times  through  tunnels  of  considerable  length.  The  flood  reached  to  the  first- 
floor  windows  of  the  houses  looking  on  the  river. 

^  Epidemics.  Modica  has  been  scourged  by  the  plague  in  1575,  when  3,000 
died ;  1622  ;  1626 ;  1631 ;  1636  ;  1709,  when  6,000  people  died.  It  has  been 
attacked  by  cholera  in  1837,  when  1,447  people  died,  1854-55,  and  1867.  In 
1885  it:  escaped  with  only  a  single  case  during  the  great  epidemic.  No  one 
can  be  surprised.  In  hot  weather  Modica  is  an  evil-smelling  town,  especially 
near  the  river.  This  is  entirely  due  to  the  committing  of  nuisances  which  the 
authorities  permit. 

Festa.  There  is  a  grand  festa  on  the  23rd  of  April  to  St.  George,  the  patron 
saint  both  here  and  in  the  neighbouring  city  of  Ragusa. 

Grana,  Raffaele.  The  local  antiquary  and  historian,  who  has  published  a 
book  on  the  city. 

S.  Felipe  delle  Colonne.  This  is,  I  believe,  the  name  of  a  subterranean 
chamber  in  the  rock  outside  Modica,  used  during  the  Saracen  persecutions  as 
a  church,  and  adorned  with  Byzantine  frescoes  by  the  Christians. 

Hotel.  The  Stella  o?  Italia.  The  bedrooms  are  primitive,  but  the  beds 
are  clean.  The  food  is  excellent.  It  is  on  the  river-bank  just  above  the 
market. 

Liceo  Convito.  A  fine  building  on  the  hillside  containing  a  school  for 
boys  and  a  museum. 

Photographer.  The  best  photographs  in  Modica  are  those  of  the  Cav. 
Napolitano,  who  lives  in  the  neighbouring  city  of  Ragusa. 


390 


SICILY  THE  NEW  WINTER   RESORT 


River.  Modica  has  a  river  running  down  the  centre  of  the  main  street 
crossed  by  many  bridges,  and  in  places  confined  in  the  tunnels  which  caused 
the  disastrous  flood  of  September,  1902."  The  flood-marks  under  the  first- 
floor  windows,  the  railway  lines  suspended  in  mid-air  where  the  viaduct  was 
washed  away,  and  other  traces  are  still  visible.  The  river  is  called  the 
Torrente  S.  Maria. 

Portone,  Casa  Leva.  A  beautiful  Sicilian-Norman  gateway  delicately 
chased. 

Streets.  Modica  has  two  main  streets,  the  Via  Umberto  Primo,  down 
which  the  river  runs,  containing  the  hotel,  the  market,  the  municipal  buildings, 
S.  Maria  di  Betlem ;  and  the  Corso,  containing  S.  Pietro,  S.  Giorgio,  the 
theatre,  the  Chiesa  del  Soccorso,  S.  Giovanni,  winding  up  to  the  top  of  the 
hill.  The  other  streets,  like  those  of  Amalfi,  are  mostly  terraced  or  tunnelled 
from  the  cliffs. 

Teatro.   Modica  has  a  theatre. 

Val  d'  Ispica,  the.  A  drive  of  about  an  hour  takes  the  visitor  to  the  famous 
Val  d'  Ispica,  or  Cava  cl3  Ispica,  a  gorge  running  most  of  the  way  to  Spaccaforno, 
which  contains  many  Sikel  tombs  and  cave-dwellings  and  fastnesses.  Near 
the  entrance  are  two  cave  chapels  with  traces  of  Byzantine  frescoes,  used  by 
the  Christians  during  the  Saracen  persecutions,  the  so-called  pharmacy,  and  a 
huge  cavern  with  remains  of  arcaded  Roman  tombs,  like  the  famous  sepulchral 
chambers  of  Palazzolo. 


MODICA  AFTER  THE  GREAT  FLOOD  OF   1902 


THINGS   OF  MONREALE 


39 r 


THINGS   OF   MONREALE 

MONREALE  is  only  three  miles  from  Palermo,  although  it  has  a  glorious 
cathedral  and  an  archbishop  of  its  own.  Few  people  except  artists  stay 
there,  though  there  is  accommodation.  The  town  owes  its  origin  to  the 
cathedral  and  Benedictine  convent  founded  in  1174  by  William  the  Good.  It 
can  be  reached  by  carriage  or,  more  preferably,  by  the  electric  tramcar  which 
starts  from  the  Piazza  Bologni  and  takes  on  a  motor  at  Rocca  at  the  foot 
of  the  hill.  Monreale  is  famous  all  over  the  world-  for  its  eighty  thousand 
square  feet  of  glorious  golden  mosaics  in  its  cathedral  and  as  possessing  the 
most  beautiful  of  all  Gothic  cloisters. 


VIEW  OF   MONREALE 

Barisano  da  Bari.     See  under  Cathedral. 

Benedictine  Monastery,  the,  is  not  always  sufficiently  noticed  by 
strangers,  though  there  are  considerable  remains  of  the  monks'  dormitory 
and  the  chambers  underneath  it,  and  a  charming  range  of  Arabo-Norman 
windows  looking  out  on  the  garden,  which  commands  an  exquisite  view 
of  the  Conca  dj  Oro  and  Palermo.  Enter  by  a  door  in  the  south-east  corner 
of  the  cloister. 

Bonanno  da  Pisa.  See  under  Cathedral.  He  made  the  glorious  west 
doors  of  the  cathedral,  and  is,  on  the  strength  of  an  inscription  found  on 
it,  believed  to  be  the  architect  of  the  Leaning  Tower  of  Pisa  and  the  bronze 
doors  of  the  cathedral  of  Pisa. 

Cafes.  There  are  a  couple  of  pleasant  cafes  near  the  cathedral,  which 
supply  lunch  or  dinner  if  necessary. 


392        SICILY  THE   NEW  WINTER   RESORT 

Cathedral  of  Monreale,  the,  is  one  of  the  most  famous  in  the  world, 
The  exterior  of  the  east  end  is,  like  the  sister  churches  at  Palermo  and 
Cefalu,  ornamented  with  a  beautiful  interlaced  arcading  of  black  lava,  and  the 
grand  old  western  towers  are  not  spoiled  for  artists  altogether  by  the  debased 
classical  portal  added  between  them  in  1770  because  it  has  worn  so  badly, 
but  it  certainly  detracts  from  the  arcading  on  the  west  facade.  Underneath 
this  portal  are  the  famous  bronze, doors  of  Bonanno  da  Pisa,  1186.  Experts 
consider  them  finer  than  the  celebrated  bronze  gates  of  the  Baptistery  at 
Florence.  The  Arabo-Norman  doorway,  which  contains  these  old  green 
bronzes,  is  of  a  rich  orange-colour  and  exquisitely  worked.  A  fine  artist's  bit. 
Round  the  corner,  under  the  the  loggia  added  on  the  north  side,  are  some 
more  fine  doors  by  Barisano  da  Bari.  On  the  south  side  is  the  cloister — the 
gem  of  all  Gothic  cloisters,  for  in  it  the  Norman  and  the  Saracen  and  the 
Byzantine  and  the  Lombard  each  did  his  best. 


THE   CATHEDRAL,    MONREALE  (NORTH  FRONT) 


The  interior  of  the  cathedral  is  very  noble.  The  lofty  stilted  arches 
of  the  nave  are  supported  by  antique  columns  with  superb  capitals.  The 
spaces  above  the  columns  and  the  whole  upper  part  of  the  wall  are  covered 
with  glorious  golden  mosaics,  only  not  so  fine  as  those  of  the  Cappella  Reale 
and  Cefalu,  because  they  are  a  trifle  later  in  date  and  more  swept  and 
garnished.  The  subjects  are  taken  from  the  Bible,  except  that  above  the 
throne,  which  represents  King  William  receiving  the  crown  from  Christ 
and  not  from  the  Pope.  The  glory  of  the  mosaics  culminates  in  the  superb 
figure  of  Christ  in  the  central  apse.  See  General  Index,  under  Christ.  The 
lower  part  of  the  walls  are  covered,  like  those  of  the  Cappella  Reale,  with 
white  marble  panels  divided  up  by  ribbons  of  mosaic.  Monreale,  like 
Palermo,  has  its  tombs  of  kings— William  the  Good  and  William  the  Bad ; 
like  those  of  Palermo,  but  only  one  of  them  original.  Another  tomb 
contains  the  bowels  of  St.  Louis,  and  there  are  other  royal  tombs.  The 
verger  neglects  St.  Louis  for  the  adjoining  Chapel  of  the  Crucifixion— a 
monument  of  the  vulgarity  of  the  Baroque  period.  The  thrones  of  the  king 


THINGS   OF   MONREALE  393 

and  the  archbishop  and  the  huge  seventeenth-century  silver  altar  should 
be  noticed. 

The  subjects  of  the  mosaics  are  obvious.     They  are  generally  considered 
the  most  superb  display  of  the  mosaicists'  art. 


SOUTH  TOWER  AND  CLOISTER,  MONREALE  CATHEDRAL 

Cloister.  It  is  169  feet  square,  and  no  two  of  its  two  hundred  columns 
have  the  same  capitals.  The  capitals  are  carved  in  the  finest  Norman  high 
relief,  each  telling  its  legend,  and  the  columns  which  support  them  are  varied 
— some  plain,  some  spiral,  some  diapered,  not  a  few  wreathed  with  mosaic 
ribbons.  Their  quaint,  stilted,  Saracenic  arches  were  once,  as  their  ledges 
show,  rilled  with  mashrabayah  work,  and  their  golden  colour,  rich  and 
mellow,  is  thrown  up  by  the  dark-green  couch  grass  of  the  cloister  garth, 
starred  in  spring  with  orchids  and  anemones  and  grape  hyacinths.  The  gem 
of  gems  is  the  Moorish  fountain  in  one  corner — a  richly  chased  column  capped 
with  lions'  heads,  which  pour  little  splashing  jets  of  water  into  a  low 
basin,  from  which  the  column  rises.  This  lion  fountain  is  in  a  tiny  colon 
naded  roofless  court. 

Conca  d'  Oro  is  the  great  plain  of  Palermo,  famous  for  its  orchards,  but 
visitors  generally  narrow  its  application  to  the  valley  below  Monreale.  It 
means  literally  the  Golden  Shell,  a  name  singularly  applicable  to  the  valley 
between  Monreale  and  the  beautiful  mountains  on  the  other  side,  both  from  its 
shape  and  from  the  lemon  groves  with  their  millions  of  golden  fruit  which 
line  it,  dotted  with  quaint  old  farms.  The  best  view  of  it  is  from  the  garden 
of  the  Benedictine  monastery  behind  the  cloister  (q.v.). 

Contadini,  the,  of  Monreale  are  most  interesting,  not  so  much  for  their 
costume  as  for  their  fine  rugged  type  and  their  Nonconformist  habits. 
Almost  any  Sunday  you  may  see  a  large  congregation  of  them  in  the  cathedral 
without  any  priest,  praying  individually  until  the  spirit  moves  one  of  them  to 
conduct  a  sort  of  service.  Nowhere  near  Palermo  can  an  artist  get  such  good 
character  studies. 


394        SICILY  THE   NEW  WINTER   RESORT 

Funerals  are  very  good  up  at  Monreale.  A  chapel  on  the  right  side  is  used 
as  a  chapette  ardente,  and  there  is  a  burial  guild  whose  robes  are  sky  blue  and 
white,  which,  added  to  the  large  cathedral  establishment,  makes  the  burial  of 
an  important  Monrealese  a  most  beautiful  and  impressive  sight. 

Goethe  drove  past  Monreale  to  S.  Martino,  and  has  recorded  his  opinion  of 
the  road.  He  does  not  even  mention  the  cathedral  or  the  cloister.  In  the 
same  way  he  visited  the  Royal  Palace  at  Palermo  without  one  word  about  the 
Cappella  Reale  contained  in  it,  which  is  the  gem  of  all  Christian  architecture. 

S.  Martino  is  a  long  way  above  Monreale.     See  General  Index. 

Monte  Castellaccio  with  the  castle  of  S.  Benedetto  is  the  mountain  just 
above  Monreale. 

Novelli,  Pietro.  There  is  a  picture  by  Novelli  in  the  monastery  of 
S.  Benedetto.  He  was  a  Monrealese  (<5.  1603  ;  d.  1647),  and  was  one  of  the 
pioneers,  as  he  was  one  of  the  greatest  masters,  of  the  Italian  naturalistic 
school.  There  are  numbers  of  his  pictures  in  Palermo  churches,  and  a 
Novelli  Hall  in  the  museum. 

Parco.  The  village  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  Conca  d'  Oro.  See 
General  Index. 

Photos  and  Postcards.  There  is  a  shop  at  Monreale  where  you  can  buy 
photos  and  postcards  and  sketches  by  artists  of  Monreale. 

Piazza.  There  is  a  pretty  little  piazza  on  the  north  side  of  the  cathedral, 
quite  an  artist's  bit. 

Road  up  to  Monreale.  Few  people  drive  to  Monreale  nowadays,  it  is 
such  a  tremendous  drag  up  from  Palermo  and  the  electric  trams  are  fast  and 
good.  But  the  last  bit  of  the  road  from  Rocca  to  the  cathedral  is  very 
picturesque  and  is  well  described  by  Goethe.  "To-day  we  took  a  drive  up 
the  mountains  to  Monreale,  along  a  glorious  road,  which  was  laid  down  by  an 
abbot  of  this  cloister,  in  the  times  of  its  opulence  and  wealth  :  broad,  of  easy 
ascent,  trees  here  and  there,  springs  and  dripping  wells,  decked  out  with 
ornaments  and  scrolls — somewhat  Palagonian  in  style— but  still,  in  spite  of 
all  that,  refreshing  to  both  man  and  beast." 

Tabulario.    In  the  Benedictine  monastery.     Contains  the  archives,  etc. 

Trams.  There  is  an  excellent  electric  tram  service  runs  from  the  Piazza 
Bologni  at  Palermo.  See  above. 

Velasquez,  Giuseppe,  of  Monreale.  1646-92.  Painted  many  of  the 
pictures  in  the  Royal  Palace  at  Palermo. 


THINGS   OF  MONTE  S.   GIULIANO 

FOREIGNERS  generally  visit  Monte  S.  Giuliano  in  spring  because  it  is  the 
ancient  Eryx  ;  but  the  people  who  are  at  Marsala  and  Trapani  flock  there  in 
summer  because  it  is  2,465  feet  above  the  sea.  It  is  seven  miles  by  carriage- 
road  from  Trapani,  but  it  can  be  ascended  by  a  shorter  road  on  foot  in 
2j  hours.  Being  a  favourite  summer  place,  it  has  fair  accommodation. 

The  origin  of  Eryx,  as  it  was  called  in  ancient  times,  is  lost  in  antiquity. 
Its  walls  are  largely  the  work  of  the  Phoenicians,  and  even  the  Pelasgians, 
whoever  they  were,  in  places.  In  other  words,  the  lower  part  of  them  is 
polygonal,  and  to  some  extent  megalithic.  But  they  are  topped  with 
medieval  masonry  and  pierced  with  Arabo-Norman  gates.  Hamilcar  Barca, 
the  father  of  the  great  Hannibal  during  the  First  Punic  War,  tried  to  persuade 


THINGS   OF   S.    GIULIANO  395 

the  inhabitants  to  migrate  to  his  strong  fortress  seaport  of  Drepanum, 
without  success.  Dorieus,  the  king's  son  of  Sparta,  in  510  B.C.,  tried  to  take 
Eryx  as  the  inheritance  of  Hercules,  but  was  defeated  by  the  united  forces  of 
the  Elymian  cities.  It  was  visited  by  the  envoys  of  Athens,  415  B.C.  It 
joined  Dionysius  against  the  Carthaginians  in  his  invasion  of  the  west,  but 
was  taken  by  Himilcon,  though  it  was  retaken  by  Dionysius.  Pyrrhus,  King 
of  Epirus  (q.v.),  took  it  by  storm  at  the  head  of  his  troops.  The  Romans 
captured  it  249  B.C.,  perhaps  by  connivance  with  its  inhabitants,  for  the 
Elymians  claimed  kinship  with  the  Romans.  The  lower  town  was  seized  by 
Hamilcar,  and  he  managed  to  hold  it  to  the  end,  more  than  two  years  after 
wards.  Eryx,  like  Marsala,  passed  to  Rome  by  the  cession  of  Sicily,  and  not 
by  conquest.  For  its  change  of  name,  see  below  under  Monte  S.  Giuliano. 

^Egatian  Islands.  Off  Trapani  and  Marsala.  See  under  General  Index. 
Can  best  be  seen  from  Eryx. 

^neid,  Fifth.  Nearly  the  whole  of  the  Fifth  ^neid  is  taken  up  with  the 
funeral  games  of  Anchises,  celebrated  on  the  lower  slopes  of  Eryx  and  the 
harbour  of  Trapani.  The  Temple  of  Venus  is  specifically  alluded  to.  Virgil 
ascribes  its  foundation  to  ^Eneas — 

"  Turn  vicina  astris  Erycino  in  vertice  sedes 
Fundatur  Veneri  Idalise." 

Aphrodite  (Venus).  Undoubtedly  to  be  identified  with  the  Phoenician 
Ashtaroth.  The  Temple  of  Venus  at  Eryx  was  one  of  the  most  famous  of  the 
ancient  world  ;  it  stood  on  the  twin  summit  nearest  to  Trapani.  It  was  built 
by  Eryx,  son  of  the  giant  Butes  and  Venus.  Diodorus  tells  us  that  the  crest 
of  the  mountain,  being  very  rugged  and  too  circumscribed  for  a  temple,  was 
levelled  by  Dsedalus,  then  an  exile  from  Crete,  who  built  fortifications  at  the 
verge  of  the  precipices,  and  constructed  a  road  up  to  the  building.  * l  This 
celebrated  shrine,  in  splendour,  wealth,  and  beauty,  far  surpassed  all^  the 
other  temples  of  Sicily,  and  was  reverenced  alike  by  Sicanians,  Carthaginians, 
Greeks,  and  Romans.  The  senate  assigned  it  a  guard  of  two  hundred  soldiers, 
the  most  beautiful  women  in  the  island  became  its  priestesses,  and  even 
Verres,  who  profaned  every  other  temple  in  Sicily,  offered  up  his  unholy  vows 
at  this  voluptuous  shrine,  and  enriched  it  with  a  silver  Cupid"  (Murray). 
The  E.  B.  considers  that  the  so-called  Torre  del  Balco  represents  the  propylsea 
of  the  temple.  Near  the  Arco  di  Dedalo  is  a  fragment  of  regular  masonry 
without  cement,  probably  part  of  the  substructure  of  the  temple,  and  there  is 
a  huge  bell-shaped  pit  called  the  Pozzo  di  Venere.  Smith  says  the  Roman 
magistrates  never  failed  to  pay  a  visit  of  honour  to  this  celebrated  sanctuary. 
A  body  of  troops  were  appointed  as  a  guard  of  honour  to  watch  over  it,  and 
seventeen  of  the  principal  citizens  of  Sicily  were  commanded  to  pay  a  yearly 
sum  of  gold  for  its  adornment. 

Ashtaroth,  or  Astarte.   The  Phoenician  goddess,  identified  with  the  above. 

Bagno  di  Venere.  A  horse-trough  near  the  Pozzo.  Murray  considers  the 
latter  to  have  been  a  granary.  ^ 

Biblioteca  Communale.   Contains  an  Annunciation  by  Antonio  Gagini. 

Butler,  Samuel.  A  Fellow  of  St.  John's  College,  Cambridge,  who  wrote 
The  Authoress  of  the  Odyssesy  (Longmans,  1897),  in  which  he  set  out  to  prove 
that  the  Odyssesy  was  written  by  a  woman  living  at  Trapani,  and  that  the 
scenery  was  all  Sicilian,  the  islands  being  the  ^gatian  Islands  and  not  the 
Ionian  Islands.  Eryx  naturally  comes  into  this  book. 

Carthaginians.     See  above,  under  History. 


396        SICILY  THE   NEW  WINTER   RESORT 

Castle,  the  old.  Occupies  the  twin  summit  which  was  crowned  by  the 
Temple  of  Venus.  It  contains  the  Pozzo  di  Venere,  the  Bagno  di  Venere, 
and  the  Arco  di  Dedalo  (q.v.),  and  like  so  many  Sicilian  castles  is  used  for  a 
prison. 

Castle  of  Count  Pepoli.  Likewise  on  the  site  of  a  Greek  temple  and  a 
Roman  tower.  Restored  by  Count  Pepoli  in  the  classical  style  which  gives  it 
a  very  curious  effect,  and  should  be  compared  with  Comm.  Luigi  Mauceri's 
reconstruction  of  the  Castle  of  Euryalus  at  Syracuse  (q  v.) 


THE  CASTELLO  PEPOLI 


Caves.  From  these  Sig.  Poma  obtained  the  prehistoric  articles  which  he 
gave  to  the  Palermo  Museum. 

t  Churches.— Cathedral  of  the  fifteenth  century  with  a  gaunt  but  delightfully 
picturesque  Saracenic  tower  and  a  Saracenic  porch.     An  artist's  bit. 
,      Church  ofS.  Giovanni  Battista.  Contains  a  St.  John  the  Baptist  attributed 
to  Antonello  Gagini. 

Cicero  mentions  Eryx  in  his  Indictment  of  Verres,  who  spared  this  temple 
and  dedicated  a  silver  Cupid  to  it. 

Coins.  The  hound  is  one  of  the  best-known  types  of  the  coins  of  Eryx, 
though  while  it  was  under  the  influence  of  Acragas  it  used  the  crab  and  the 
hare.  On  one  tetradrachm  we  have  the  goddess  Aphrodite  (Venus)  holding 
a  dove,  while  before  her  stands  Eros  (Cupid). 

Daedalus.  Diodorus  says  that  Daedalus  levelled  the  mountain-top  for  the 
temple  and  built  the  fortifications  round  it,  and 'the  road  up  to  it. 

Dedalo,  Arco  di.  Called  also  the  Arco  di  Diavolo.  Probably  a  fragment 
of  the  substructure  of  the  temple.  See  above. 

Dionysius.     See  History  above. 

Dorieus.     See  History  above. 

.    5re?f  ^f  natives-     The  most  noticeable  thing  is  the  number  of  women 
in  the  black  manto,  or  shawl,  worn  over  the  head  and  shoulders. 


THINGS   OF   S.   GIULIANO  397 

Elymian  town.  Eryx,  like  Segesta,  is  beyond  dispute  an  Elymian  town, 
bee  General  Index.  Whether  or  not  the  Elymians  were  Trojans,  the  Romans 
accepted  this  belief,  and  the  honour  they  attached  to  the  Temple  of  Venus  at 
Eryx  was  due  to  its  identification  with  the  story  of  ^Eneas,  the  legendary 
founder  of  Rome.  s 

Erycina  ridens,  the  Laughing  Lady  of  Eryx.    A  famous  phrase  in  Horace, 
Book  I.,  Ode  2.     Dean  Wickham,  the  latest  translator,  renders  it 
"  Laughing  queen  of  Eryx,  round  whom  hover  mirth  and  love." 

Freeman.  Freeman's  History  of  Sicily  is'  extremely  good  and  interesting 
about  Eryx. 

t  Gagini,  Antonello.  The  best  sculptor  of  Sicily.  There  are  two  Gaginis 
in  Monte  S.  Giuliano— one  at  the  Biblioteca  Communale  and  one  at  S.  Gio 
vanni  Battista  (q.v.). 

Hamilcar  Barca.     See  above,  under  History. 

Hercules  wrestled  with  Eryx,  the  Eponymus  of  the  mountain  and  city, 
for  them,  and  overthrew  him.  But  he  left  it  to  Eryx  and  his  descendants  on 
a  land  of  lease  till  a  Heraclid  should  come  to  claim  it.  Dorieus,  the  king's 
son  of  Sparta,  was  a  Heraclid,  but  failed  from  not  carrying  out  the  instruc 
tions  of  the  oracle.  It  was  as  a  Heraclid  that  Pyrrhus,  the  King  of  Epirus, 
helped  himself  to  it.  See  below. 

Himilcon.     See  under  History. 

Jabel-Hamed.    The  Arab  name  for  Eryx. 

Mail-vettura,  a,  runs  to  Borgo-Annunziata  2\  hours,  and  Trapani  (q.v.) 
3  hours. 

Monte  S.  Giuliano.  The  ancient  Eryx,  an  isolated  mountain  very  like 
Monte  Pellegrino  and  the  rock  of  Cefalu,  received  its  present  name  from  the 
legend  quoted  by  Murray  connected  with  its  siege  by  the  Saracens. 

"  While  these  were  assaulting  the  city,.  St.  Julian  suddenly  confronted 
them  on  the  walls  with  a  pack  of  hounds,  which,  flying  at  the  Moslems, 
drove  them  over  the  ramparts  and  caused  them  to  break  their  necks  in  the 
fall," 

Monte  S.  Giuliano  is  quite  a  good-sized  town  with  a  very  large  district 
attached  to  it,  which  formerly  extended  as  far  as  Castellammare. 

Montesi.  The  montesi  of  this  city  are  celebrated  for  their  exclusiveness. 
The  strangers  who  come  there  in  summer  are  only  admitted  to  the  club,  and 
not  invited  out  by  the  inhabitants. 

Pepoli,  Count  See  above,  under  Castle  of  Count  Pepoli. 

Phoenicians.  Eryx  seems  to  have  been  a  Phoenician  rather  than  a 
Carthaginian  town.  There  are  some  splendid  remains  of  the  Phoenician 
walls. 

Porta  Spada,  the,  and  Porta  di  Trapani  are  the  two  old  gates  of  the  city. 
They  are  cut  in  the  ancient  masonry,  but  have  the  Arabo-Norman  pointed 
arches. 

Pozzo  di  Venere.     See  above  under  Castle,  the  old. 

Pyrrhus,  King  of  Epirus.  "276  B.C.,  Pyrrhus  the  Epirote,  who  was 
a  born  sieger  of  cities,  brought  his  engines  up  the  mountain  to  play 
on  the  defences,  but  took  the  city  by  storm.  He  was  an  heir  of  Hercules 
(q.v.)  through  Achilles,  and  his  soldiers  hailed  him  as  the  Eagle  when 
he  led  the  storming  party  over  the  walls  of  Eryx.'3  (Sladen's  In  Sicily.} 

Romans  at  Eryx.    See  above  under  History. 


398        SICILY  THE   NEW  WINTER   RESORT 

Streets.  The  streets  of  Eryx  are  very  characteristic.  They  are  paved 
in  beautifully  even  patterns  with  huge  blocks  of  lava,  and  mostly  run  between 
high- wailed  gardens  and  palaces  with  Juliet  balconies. 

Venus.     See  above  under  Aphrodite. 
^  Walls.    ^The   ancient   city  wall,   built  partly  in   Phoenician,  partly  in 

Pelasgian  times,  did  not  belong  to  the  city  of  Eryx,  which  was  lower  down 
near  St.  Ann's,  but  to  its  citadel,  which  contained  the  famous  Temple 
of  Venus.  The  Pelasgian  portions  of  the  wall  are  attributed  to  Dsedalus 
(q.v.). 

THINGS   OF  PALAZZOLO-ACREIDE 

PALAZZOLO-AcREiDE,  the  ancient  Acrse,  a  colony  and  outpost  of  Syracuse, 
should  ^he  visited  as  late  in  the  year  as  possible,  because  it  is  in  the 
mountains,  2,285  feet  above  the  sea.  It  is  twenty-seven  miles  from  Syracuse, 
and  nineteen  from  Modica  or  Noto,  but  foreigners  generally  go  to  it  from 
Syracuse.  The  centre  of  a  most  interesting  but  little-known  district.  Both 
Pantalica^  the  prehistoric  city  of  the  dead,  and  Giarratana,  the  mysterious 
classical  city  with  so  many  remains  about  which  nothing  is  known,  are  in  this 
district.  There  are  two  roads  from  Syracuse,  both  interesting  and  beautiful. 
People  generally  go  by  the  way  of  Canicattini  and  return  by  way  of  Floridia. 
The_  Canicattini  road  at  first  passes  between  gardens  of  the  finest  olives 
in  Sicily,  carpeted  in  spring  with  narcissi  and  blue  anemones.  A  little  before 
Canicattini,  it  climbs  a^splendid^plateau  commanding  a  superb  view  of  Syra 
cuse — much  the  best  drive  and  picnic  excursion  from  that  city.  Between  this 
and  Canicattini  you  catch  glimpses  of  the  Spampinato,  the  gorge  of  the  Anapo, 
by  which  ^the  Athenians  attempted  to  retreat,  with  fine  precipitous  sides. 
Canicattini — called  Bagni-Canicattini  from  its  abundant  springs — is  chiefly 
interesting  for  the  splendid  montesi  you  begin  to  see,  the  women  wearing  very 
picturesque  flat  head-dresses  with  curtained  sides,  and  the  men  splendid 
specimens  of  Sicilian  mountaineers.  Then  you  cross  a  high  tableland  with 
numerous  varieties  of  iris,  and  Etna  rising  superbly  on  your  right  and  the 
great  wedge  of  the  rock  of  Palazzolo,  between  the  Anapo  and  its  sister  gorge, 
right  in  front  of  you.  ^  To  reach  the  town  you  have  to  descend  one  of  the 
gorges  and  mount  again.  They  form  natural  moats  on  the  two  accessible 
sides.  Towards  the  interior  the  rock  is  a  precipice  of  immense  height. 
Before  the  days  of  artillery  Palazzolo  could  have  been  made  impregnable. 
The  air  of  Palazzolo  is  delightful,  and  the  district  is  famous  for  its  fertility. 
The  town  has  no  buildings  between  Roman  times  and  those  of  the  Renais 
sance,  and  its  buildings  of  the  latter  period  have  no  great  interest.  But  there 
are  some  nice  artists'  bits,  such  as  splendid  old  hammered -iron  balconies 
or  the  great  fortress-like  convent  in  the  centre  of  the  town,  round  which  the 
market  people  gather. 

_  Acremonte.  The  upper  part  of  the  hill  of  Palazzolo  occupied  by  the 
citadel  and  adjacent  ruins— a  translation  of  the  Akraion  Lepas  of  Thucydicles, 
who  describes  it  as  a  steep  hill  with  a  precipitous  ravine  on  either  side 
of  it  called  the  A.  L. 

Acrae  was  founded  by  the  Syracusans,  664  B.C.  Its  tombs  show  it  to  have 
been  occupied  by  one  of  the  earlier  races.  During  the  Second  Punic  War  it 
offered  a  place  of  refuge  to  Hippocrates  after  he  was  defeated  by  Marcellus  at 
Acrillse,  214  B.C.  This  is  the  last  time  it  appears  in  history.  (Smith.) 


THINGS   OF  PALAZZOLO-ACREIDE          399 

Acrsean  Rock.  The  Akraion  Lepas  of  Thucydides,  wrongly  assumed  to  be 
in  the  Cava  di  Spampinato,  near  Floridia.  It  really  signifies  the  hill  on 
which  ancient  Acrse  stood,  the  Acremonte  (q.v.)  of  to-day. 

Acrocoro  della  Torre.  The  name  attached  to  a  Greek  necropolis,  most 
of  which  lies  on  a  road  between  the  Santoni  and  the  Monte  Pineta.  The  wall 
with  which  the  Syracusans  stopped  the  Athenian  retreat  through  the  pass 
in  the  battle  of  the  Acrsean  Rock  (Palazzolo)  must  have  stood  somewhere  near 
here. 

Acropolis,  the,  at  the  top  of  the  rock,  near  the  Greek  theatre,  still  has 
some  fragments  of  its  walls  remaining  (not  very  interesting). 

Buscemi.  See  General  Index.  The  Saracen  Abisama  is  on  the  opposite 
hill  from  Palazzolo. 

Churches.  The  churches  are  merely  quaint,  but  they  are  worth  visiting 
to  see  their  furniture  and  the  kneeling  women  with  their  black  mantos  over 
their  heads,  many  of  them  delightfully  pretty.  A  woman  with  a  hat  is  hardly 
ever  seen  at  Palazzolo. 

Coins.    Unimportant. 

Contadini,  the,  of  Palazzolo  are  proverbial  all  over  Sicily  for  their  beauty 
and  their  splendid  physique  and  their  intolerance  of  malefactors.  Bad 
characters  are  driven  away.  They  are  not  allowed  to  reside  in  the  district. 
"Not  a  Christian  "  is  the  term  they  apply  to  a  bad  man.  They  are  extremely 
prosperous  on  account  of  the  great  fertility  of  the  soil.  They  are  singularly 
polite  to  strangers. 

Costumes.  See  preceding  remarks.  For  artists  the  contadine  women 
with  their  wonderful  head-dresses  are  among  the  most  picturesque  in  Sicily. 

Ferale,  Tempio,  or  Heroum,  on  the  road  out  to  the  Pineta,  is  extremely 
interesting.  Here  the  heroic  dead  had  their  niches  and  inscriptions  in  a  sort 
of  roofless  chapel  cut  out  of  the  rock.  The  key  is  kept  by  the  custode  of  the 
theatre.  Perhaps  originally  founded  to  commemorate  the  defeat  of  the 
Athenians,  as  it  is  close  to  the  site  of  the  three  days'  battle  in  the  pass  below 
the  Acrsean  Rock  (q.v.). 

Hotels.  The  best  place  to  put  up  at  Palazzolo  is  the  Albergo  d3  Italia.  Its 
sole  recommendations  are  that  it  is  free  from  vermin  and  kept  by  pleasant 
people.  There  are  no  mineral  waters,  no  butter ;  the  wine  is  new,  and, 
if  the  cooking  is  not  bad,  food  to  cook  can  hardly  be  procured.  But  provisions 
can  be  taken  from  Syracuse,  and  the  bedrooms,  forbidding  as  they  appear,  will 
be  found  to  be  clean.  The  other  hotel  has  every  fault — vermin,  overcharges, 
dirt,  and  pigging  with  the  family.  Palazzolo,  with  its  delightful  air  and 
delightful  antiquities,  is  worthy  of  a  good  hotel  and  motor  connection  with 
Syracuse. 

Inscriptions,  Greek.  Unlike  most  Sicilian  places,  Palazzolo  has  in 
scriptions  in  situ — mostly,  if  not  all,  of  the  Grseco-Roman  period — in  her 
necropolis. 

Judica,  Baron,  the  principal  landowner,  has  ruined  the  only  Gothic  palace 
in  Palazzolo,  but  otherwise  deserves  well  of  students  of  the  antique,  because 
the  discoveries  of  antiquities  at  Palazzolo  have  largely  been  due  to  him.  He 
has  a  fine  collection  of  Greek  vases,  etc.,  taken  from  the  tombs,  in  his 
enormous  palace  at  Palazzolo. 

Latomia.  Below  the  theatre.  Contains  the  relief  of  the  warrior  on  horse 
back  and  splendid  Greek  tombs  of  the  Roman  period  (q.v.). 

Mail-vetture  from  Noto  (q.v.)  4  hours,  and  from  Syracuse  (q.v.) 
7j  hours. 


400       SICILY  THE   NEW  WINTER  RESORT 

Necropolis,  the  Greek,  called  the  Acrocoro  della  Torre,  consists  of  a  large 
number  of  the  ordinary  coffin-shaped  Greek  tombs  cut  in  the  surface  of  the 
rock.  They  are  not  interesting. 

Odeon.  The  beautiful  little  ancient  Greek  odeon,  a  minute  theatre  with  a 
curious  rectangular  trough  in  front  of  it,  which  looks  like  one  of  the  baths 
at  Pompeii,  is  in  an  almost  perfect  condition,  and  lies  at  the  back  of  the 
theatre.  Perhaps  it  was  used  for  training  the  Chorus.  Its  auditorium  is 
divided  into  three  blocks  of  two  rows  each. 

Palaces.  The  only  important  palace  is  that  of  Baron  Judica,  at  which 
strangers  are  permitted  to  see  the  antiquities. 

Pineta,  La,  is  the  name  of  a  bare  hill  presumably  once  covered  with  pines, 
but  now  growing  nothing  much  larger  than  the  saffron.  It  is  a  most  extra 
ordinary  place.  On  the  face  of  a  lofty  precipice  there  is  a  grassy  ledge  a  few 
feet  wide  with  a  rocky  wall  above  it  as  well  as  below.  This  has  been  hewn 
into  elegant  cave-tombs  or  cave- dwellings  by  some  prehistoric  race.  It  is 
difficult  to  believe  that  there  were  not  dwellings,  for  some  of  them  have 
windows  as  well  as  doors,  and  there  is  no  sense  in  having  tombs  in  such 
a  place  where  the  corpse-bearers,  if  they  knocked  the  bier  against  the  side, 
would  fall  over  the  precipice  ;  while  at  the  same  time  it  was  an  exceedingly 
secure  place  for  dwellings.  If  the  ends  were  guarded,  the  rest  of  the  shelf 
was  absolutely  unapproachable.  Whatever  their  object,  the  hewing  of  the 
rock  is  most  beautifully  done.  The  spelling  of  the  Italian  guide-book,  La 
Pinnita,  seems  more  reasonable. 

Placeolum.   A  later  name  of  Acrae,  commemorated  in  Palazzolo. 

Population.   Palazzolo  has  fifteen  or  twenty  thousand  inhabitants. 

Reliefs.     See  under  Santoni  and  Latomia. 

Santoni  (Contrada  di  Santicelli).  In  the  valley  between  the  city  and  the 
Pineta — a  row  of  little  sediculse  let  into  the  surface  of  the  rock  containing 
images  of  Proserpine,  warriors,  etc.,  some  of  life-size,  some  diminutive.  The 
period  in  which  they  were  carved  is  not  known.  They  were  quite  perfect  well 
into  the  last  century  when  the  churl  of  a  farmer,  in  whose  lands  they  lay, 
destroyed  them  with  a  hammer,  because  he  could  not  be  bothered  with 
strangers  coming  to  see  them— ignorant,  poor  silly  fool,  that  there  was  more 
to  be  earned  by  them  than  with  his  crops.  Their  subjects  may  still  be  made 
out,  and  they  are  of  considerable  artistic  merit.  In  one  of  the  oadiculse 
is  a  man  with  a  mantle  and  a  spear,  and  a  dog  who  stands  at  his  feet ;  in 
another  is  a  colossal  figure  of  a  goddess  armed  with  a  spear  and  shield  belong 
ing  seemingly  to  the  same  period  as  the  fifth-century  B.  C.  terra-cotta  figurines 
of  goddesses  found  at  Girgenti.  It  is  possible  that  these  images  were  carved 
to  commemorate  the  three  days'  battle  fought  near  this  spot  under  the  Acrsean 
Rock  (q.v.),  in  which  the  Syracusans  defeated  the  Athenians  in  their  attempt 
to  force  the  pass. 

Theatre.  The  ancient  Greek  theatre  of  Palazzolo  is  quite  small.  The  interior 
is  only  16  metres  across,  but  it  is  one  of  the  most  elegant  Greek  theatres 
which  have  survived.  Its  auditorium  is  broken  up  by  staircases  into  nine 
blocks,  in  each  of  which  are  twelve  seats.  The  stage  is  more  perfect  than  any 
of  the  other  Greek  theatres  in  Sicily.  It  is  on  the  same  principle  as  that 
of  Athens.  Behind  it  there  are  several  little  reservoirs,  and  in  the  sort 
of  latomia  underneath  the  theatre  are  some  Greek  tombs  of  the  Roman 
period  and  a  bas-relief  of  a  warrior  on  horseback  in  a  very  good  state 
of  preservation.  Everything  is  well  kept,  and  the  custode  intelligent  and 
obliging. 


THINGS    OF   PALERMO  401 

Tombs.  The  Greek  tombs  of  the  Greek  period  are  treated  above  under 
Acrocoro  della  Torre  and  La  Pineta.  The  Greek  tombs  of  the  Roman  period 
need  more  mention.  The}'-  are  the  finest  tombs  in  Sicily ;  in  fact,  they  are 
quite  as  interesting  and  important  as  the  theatre  itself.  The  only  thing  like 
them  is  in_  the  very  ill-kept  cave  by  the  farm  at  the  Modica  entrance  of  the 
Val  d'  Ispica.  There  are  probably  numbers  of  them  which  have  not  been 
explored,  but  those  which  have  been  explored  are  singularly  interesting  and 


"A  PERFECT  GREEK  THEATRE,   CLEAN   FORGOT,"  AT  PALAZZQLO  ACREIDE 

beautiful.  They  are  in  a  kind  of  latomia.  You  enter  doorways  cut  in 
the  rock  and  find  yourself  in  large  beautiful  chambers,  looking  on  a  small 
scale  like  the  cathedral  at  Cordova  or  the  Galilee  at  Durham,  with  their 
forests  of  columns  and  arches  and  Roman  cancelli  cut  out  of  the  living 
rock  to  form  the  avenues  between  the  tombs.  The  effect  is  singularly 
charming. 

Vases.    There  is  a  fine  collection  of  them  in  the  Judica  Palace  (q-v.). 

Villa,  or  Public  Garden.    Is  quite  unimportant, 

THINGS  OF  PALERMO 

PALERMO  is  a  Phoenician  town,  said  to  have  been  founded  on  the  site  of  a 

prehistoric  town  many  centuries  before  the  Christian  era. 

B.C. 

276.     Pyrrhus,  King  of  Epirus,  takes  Palermo. 

264-241.  First  Punic  War. 

254,     The  Romans,  under  Aulus  Atilius  Calatinus  and  Cn.  Cornelius  Scipio, 

take  Palermo. 

250.     Metellus  defeats  the  Carthaginians  outside  Palermo. 
247-244.  Hamilcar,  father  of  Hannibal,  maintains  himself  on  Ercta  (Hercte) 
A.D.  (Monte  Pellegrino). 

440.     Taken  by  Genseric  the  Vandal. 

2   D 


402        SICILY  THE  NEW  WINTER   RESORT 

A.D. 

535.     Recovered  for  the  Empire  by  Belisarius. 

835.     Taken  by  the  Saracens  (Freeman),  or  831. 
1063.     Sacked  by  the  Pisan  fleet 
1068.     Roger  defeats  the  Saracens  at  Misilmeri, 
1071.     Robert  Guiscard  and  his  brother  Roger  take  Palermo. 
1090.    All  Sicily  is  subdued  by  the  Normans  under  Count  Roger  I. 
1093.     Half  the  city  ceded  to  Roger  I.,  the  Great  Count. 
1101.     Roger,  the  Great  Count,  dies. 
1101-1105.     Roger's  son  Simon,  Count  of  Sicily. 
1105.     Roger  II.  succeeds, 
1 1 22.     The  rest  of  Palermo  ceded  to  Roger  II. 
1130.     Roger  II.  takes  titles  of  King  of  Italy  and  Sicily  in  Palermo. 
1 129-1 140.     Cappella  Reale  built. 

1154-1166.  Reign  of  William  I.  (the  Bad),  son  of  King  Roger. 
1185.     Consecration  of  the  cathedral. 
1189-1194.  Tancred,  natural  son  of  Roger  II.,  king. 
1194.     William  III.,  son  of  Tancred,  king. 
Emperor  Henry  VI.  enters  Palermo. 
1194-1197.    Henry  VI.    (Emperor   of  Germany),   husband    of  Constance, 

daughter  of  Roger  II.,  king. 
1197-1254.    Frederick  I.  (Frederick  II.,  Emperor  of  Germany),  son  of  Henry 

and  Constance,  king. 

1198.     Emperor  Frederick  II.  crowned  at  Palermo. 

1250-1254.    Conrad,  King  of  the  Romans,  second  son  of  Frederick.  II.,  king. 
1258-1266.    Manfred,  natural  son  of  Frederick  II.,  usurps  the  crown. 
1254-1268.    Conradin,  son  of  Conrad,  king. 
1266.     Palermo  passes  to  Charles  of  Anjou. 

1282.     Easter  Monday,  the  Massacre  of  the  Sicilian  Vespers  (Giannotta). 
1392.     Andrew  Chiaramonte  aspires  to  the  throne  and  is  beheaded. 
1517.     Squarcialupo's  rebellion  at  Palermo. 

1535.     Emperor  Charles  V.,  returning  from  Tunis,  lands  at  Palermo. 
1646.     (August  1 5th)  Revolt  of  Giuseppe  d'Alesi  against  the  Spaniards.     He 

is  killed. 

1713.     Victor  Amadeus  of  Savoy  crowned  at  Palermo. 
I735-     Charles  III.  of  Bourbon  crowned  at  Palermo. 

1787.     Goethe's  visit  to  Sicily  (Palermo,  Segesta,  Girgenti,  Castrogiovanni, 
Catania,  Taormina,  Messina,  etc.). 

1798.  Court  of  the  Two  Sicilies  at  Palermo. 

(December  23rd)  First  flight  of  Ferdinand  and  Maria  Carolina  to 

Sicily  from  the  French. 
(December  26th  to  May  I9th,  1799)  Nelson  at  Palermo. 

1799.  (May  2gth  to  June  2ist)  Nelson  at  Palermo,  etc. 
(August  8th  to  October  4th)  Nelson  at  Palermo. 
(October  22nd)  to  1800  (January  i5th)  Nelson  at  Palermo. 

1805.     Second  flight  of  Ferdinand  and  Maria  Carolina  to  Sicily  from  the 

French. 

1806-1815.    Sicily  under  English  protection. 
1820.     Palermo  rises  against  the  Bourbons. 
1833.     (February)  Cardinal  Newman's  first  visit  to  Sicily  (April  to  June, 

second  visit),  Messina,  Catania,  Taormina,  Syracuse,  Castrogiovanni, 

Segesta,  Palermo. 

1837.     Cholera  carries  off  24,000  people  in  eight  weeks. 
1848.     (January  I2th)  Palermo  rises  against  the  Bourbons. 


A.D. 

1860. 


1904. 


THINGS   OF   PALERMO 

(May  27th)  The  Bourbons  driven  out  by  Garibaldi. 
(October  2ist)  Palermo  unites  itself  to  Italy. 
(December  2nd)  Victor  Emmanuel  comes  to  salute  Palermo. 
Visit  of  William  II. ,  Emperor  of  Germany,  to  Sicily.  " 
Second  visit  of  William  II.,  Emperor  of  Germany,  to  Sicily. 


403 


Abatelli,  Palazzo. 
Palaces. 


The  most  perfect  Gothic  palace  in  Palermo.    See  under 


Acquaiuolo.  The  man 
who  sells  water  at  the  little 
brass  tables.  See  General 
Index. 

Acqua  Santa.  A  suburb 
of  Palermo,  on  the  sea- 
washed  foot  of  Monte  Pelle- 
grino,  containing  the  Hotel 
Igiea,  the  Villa  Belmonte,etc. 

"Admiral,  The —  The 
love  story  of  Lord  Nelson 
and  Lady  Hamilton,"  by 
Mr.  Sladen,  has  most  of  its 
scene  laid  in  Palermo. 

Admiral,  the  Bridge  of 

the  (Ponte  del  Ammiraglio). 
Said  to  be  the  oldest  building 
in  Europe  with  Gothic  arches. 
Built  by  George  of  Antioch, 
King  Roger's  Admiral,  in 
1113.  It  crosses  a  dry 
channel  of  the  river  Oreto 
on  the  Corso  dei  Mille  be 
yond  the  station. 

Ainemolo,  Vincenzo  di 
Pavia.  A  Palermitan  painter, 
died  after  1557  (Baedeker). 
A  painter  of  great  merit ;  the  best  represented  except  Piero  Novelli  in  the 
Palermo  Museum. 

Albanians.  There  are  many  descendants  in  Palermo  of  the  Albanians  and 
Greeks  who  fled  from  the  Turks  in  1450-1500.  They  have  a  church  of  their 
own.  It  is  near  the  Via  Castello  and  Via  Bambinai. 

Albergheria,  formerly  a  separate  quarter  surrounded  by  walls.  The  beauti 
ful  tower  of  S.  Nicolo  all'  Albergheria  is  supposed  to  have  belonged  to  these 
fortifications  with  Sicilian- Gothic  alterations.  It  was  spelt  Albergaria  at  the 
time  of  the  Arab  invasion. 

Alinari's  photographs  of  Sicily.  Palermo  agent,  Reber's  Library, 
Corso  360. 

Altarello  di  Baida.  A  village  outside  Palermo,  on  the  Monreale  road. 
Contains  Mimnerno,  a  ruined  Arabic  palace  like  the  Zisa  (q.v.). 

Amari,  Emerico.   One  of  the  leaders  of  the  revolution  of  '48. 


THE  PALAZZO  ABATELLI 


404        SICILY  THE   NEW   WINTER   RESORT 

Americans  in  Palermo.  Mr.  W.  Beaumont  Gardner,  the  banker, 
Mrs.  Robert  Whitaker  and  Baroness  Bordinaro  are  American  residents. 
American  visitors  are  very  numerous. 

Antichita,  or  Curio-shops.  The  principal  are  on  the  Via  Macqueda, 
west  side,  and  in  the  Corso,  near  the  Cathedral.  The  custode  of  the  Eremiti 
has  a  shop  there,  etc.  The  principal  things  for  collectors  in  Palermo  are 
articles  veneered  with  tortoise-shell  and  mother-of-pearl,  old  enamels,  old 
Sicilian  jewellery,  silver  plate,  and  reliquaries,  old  ecclesiastical  embroideries, 
coins,  old  Sicilian  majolica,  drug-jars,  wine-jugs,  salt-cellars,  door-tiles, 
holy-water  stoups,  etc.,  carved  coral. 

Greek  antiquities  are  dearer  here  than  elsewhere  and  often  forgeries. 

Apartments,  furnished.  Can  be  obtained,  but  strangers  rf^r^use  them, 
apartments  without  food  being  let  in  the  hotels  and  Pension  ,^j  *">. 

Apollo  and  Daphne.    Form  the  subject  of  one  of  the/  ,-s 

in  the  museum  (q.v.). 

Aqueduct,  the  old,  may  be  seen  at  S.  Giovanni  dei  Lebbrosi.  Not 
interesting. 

Arabic  buildings.  Only  the  lower  part  of  the  archbishop's  tower  and  the  old 
oak  door  preserved  in  S.  Maria  della  Vittoria  are  known  to  date  from  the  Arab 
dominion.  The  principal  buildings,  built  or  decorated  by  Arab  workmen  for 
the  Normans,  are  the  Royal  Palace  with  the  Cappella  Reale  and  Norman 
room  and  Torre  di  S.  Ninfa ;  La  Zisa,  La  Cuba,  La  Cubola,  La  Favara,  and 
Mimnerno,  which  were  pavilions  of  the  Norman  kings;  the  mosque-like 
churches  of  the  Eremiti  and  S.  Cataldo  ;  the  Martorana  ;  the  Cathedral ;  the 
cathedral  and  cloister  of  Monreale  ;  the  cathedral  of  Cefalu,  a  few  miles  from 
Palermo ;  the  Bridge  of  the  Admiral,  and  the  Porta  Mazzara. 

There  are  Arabic  inscriptions  on  the  exterior  of  the  Cappella  Reale,  the 
Cuba,  the  Martorana,  etc. 

Arabo- Norman  buildings.  The  Arabic  influence  survived  into  the  four 
teenth  century,  the  age  of  the  Chiaramonti.  The  best  examples  of  Arabo- 
Norman  buildings  are  the  Torre  del  Diavolo,  the  Palace  of  the  Inquisition, 
S.  Antonio  Abate,  La  Magione,  the  Maddalena,  the  Casa  Normanna  in  the 
Salita  S.  Antonio,  the  arches  under  the  colonnade  in  the  Palazzo  Aiutamicristo, 
the  Porta  S.  Agata,  the  Palazzo  Sclafani,  the  Incoronata  (ruined),  S.  Salva- 
tore  in  the  Via  Protonotaro,  the  Pietra  Tagliata  Palace.  The  fa£ades  of  the  two 
Chiaramonte  churches,  S.  Agostino  and  S.  Francesco,  though  built  in  this 
period,  have  more  in  common  with  the  fifteenth-century  Sicilian-Gothic,  just 
as  the  crypt  of  the  Cathedral,  the  Church  of  the  Vespers,  S.  Cristina  La  Vetera, 
and  S.  Giovanni  dei  Lebbrosi,  though  dating  from  the  eleventh  and  twelfth 
centuries,  are  more  Anglo-Norman  than  Arabic. 

Arabic  water-towers.  The  stone  obelisks,  overgrown  with  maidenhair, 
twenty  or  thirty  feet  high,  containing  a  sort  of  syphon  arrangement  of  pipes 
common  in  Palermo,  are  Arabic  water-towers.  There  is  one  near  the  Hotel 
Milano.  The  best  to  photograph  is  that  at  the  fords  of  the  Oreto  on  the  way 
to  the  Gesii. 

Arabs,  relics  of  the  Sicilian.  Besides  the  Museum,  see  treasury  of  the 
Cappella  Reale.  They  are  mostly  ivory  chests,  vases,  bits  of  roofs,  brass 
astrolabes  and  other  instruments,  coins,  etc. 


THINGS   OF   PALERMO  405 

Aragona,  Admiral  Ottavio.  A  Palermitan  admiral  who  won  the  great 
Battle  of  Cap  Corvo  over  the  Turks  in  1613  and  rebuilt  the  famous  convent 
of  the  Cappuccini,  outside  Palermo,  A.D,  1623. 

Aragonese  kings  reigned  from  Peter  I.,  who  succeeded  in  1282  as 
husband  of  Manfred's  daughter  Constance  till  Aragon  was  swamped  in  the 
Spanish  monarchy  under  Charles  V. 

Aragonesi,  the  Mercato  dei.    The  new  market  on  the  Via  S.  Agostino, 

Architecture.  See  under  Arabo  -  Norman  (including  Anglo-Norman), 
Baroque,  and  modern.  There  are  no  Greek  buildings,  and  nothing  Roman 
except  a  subterranean  way  from  the  palace  to  the  cathedral.  There  is,  how 
ever,  a  fine  piece  of  Phoenician  wall  in  the  Via  Candelai.  Palermo  contains 
many  beautiful  examples  of  Sicilian- Gothic  and  Renaissance.  Among  the 
former  may  be  enumerated  :— 

Sicilian- Gothic.  Front  of  S.  Agostino,  q.v. ;  S.  Antonio,  Via  Roma,  q.v.; 
SS.  Annunziata,  q.v. ;  tower  and  cloister  of  the  SS.  Quaranta  Martin,  q.v. ; 
Palazzo  Speciale,  q.v. ;  Palazzo  Cifuentes,  q.v. ;  cloister  of  S.  Domenico, 
q.v. ;  S.  Francesco  d'  Assisi,  q.v. ;  La  Gancia,  q.v. ;  S.  Maria  di  Gesu,  q.v. ; 
S.  Giovanni  di  Baida,  q.v. ;  windows  in  Via  Cintorinai,  near  Palazzo  Catto- 
lica,  q.v. ;  the  windows  in  the  Archbishop's  Palace,  q.v. ;  courtyard  in  Via  S. 
Basilio,  opposite  Pietratagliata  Palace,  q.v. ;  two  palaces  in  Via  del  Celso, 
near  the  Via  Macqueda,  q.v. ;  a  loggia,  now  built  up,  near  the  comer  of  the 
Vicolo  Merlo  and  Piazza  Marina ;  S.  Maria  delle  Grazie,  q.v. ;  S.  Nicol6  all' 
Albergheria,  q.v. ;  Palazzo  del  Conte  Federigo,  q.v. ;  Palazzo  Abatelli,  q.v. ; 
Palazzo  Aiutamicristo,  q.v.;  Palazzo  S.  Remy,  q.v.;  Palazzo  Trigona,  q.v.; 
the  later  portions  of  S.  Giovanni  degli  Eremiti,  q.v. ;  palace  at  the  corner  of 
Via  S.  Agostino  and  Via  S.  Giuseppe,  q.v. 

Renaissance-Gothic.  S.  Giacomo  la  Marina,  q.v.;  S.  Maria  alia  Catena, 
q.v, ;  Lo  Spasimo,  q.v. 

Renaissance*  S.  Agata  la  Guilla,  q.v.;  the  Cancelliere,  q.v.;  S.  Chiara, 
q.v.;  S.  Eulalia  dei  Catalani,  q.v.;  S.  Giorgio  dei  Genovesi,  q.v.;  S.  Gio 
vanni  dei  Napolitani,  q.v, ;  S.  Marco,  q.v. ;  side  of  S.  Agostino  in  Via  S. 
Agostino,  q.v.;  S.  Maria  dei  Miracoli,  q.v.;  S.  Maria  di  Porto  Salvo,  q.v.; 
Ospedale  dei  Sacerdoti,  q.v. ;  Cappella  del  Solidad,  q.v.  ;  Palazzo  Arezzo, 
q.v. ;  a  porch  in  the  Palazzo  Fonderia,  q.v. ;  the  old  houses  round  the  Cala, 
q.v. ;  the  Palazzo  Mazzarino-Trabia,  q.v. ;  the  cortile  of  the  Royal  Palace, 
q.v. ;  the  Istituto  Randazzo  in  the  Via  Ailoro,  q.v. ;  the  cloister  of  S.  Agos 
tino,  q.v. ;  the  fountain  at  S.  Maria  di  Gesu,  q.v. ;  S.  Giovanni  in  Via  Beati 
Paoli,  q.v. ;  Porta  dei  Greci,  q.v.  There  are  many  palaces  with  good  Renais 
sance  details  in  the  district  round  the  Via  Divisi,  Piazza  Aragona,  and  Via 
Ailoro. 

Arsenal,  The  arsenal  is  a  seventeenth-century  building  used  for  other 
purposes  near  the  Palazzo  di  Gregorio  on  the  Molo. 

Artichokes,  Sicilian,  are  hawked,  cooked  in  oil  and  uncooked,  about  the 
streets  of  Palermo. 

Artists*  bits.   Piazza  Marina. 

D'Aumale,  Parco.  The  villa  of  the  Duke  of  Orleans.  Has  one  of  the  most 
delightful  gardens  in  Palermo,  with  vast  lemon  gardens  occupying  the  dried-up 
bed  of  the  harbour,  avenues  of  espaliered  roses?  splendid  old  palms,  and 


406        SICILY  THE   NEW  WINTER  RESORT 

glorious  views  of  Monreale.  Anyone  can  go  in  by  giving  a  few  coppers  to  the 
gatekeeper, 

Baida.  An  old  Cistercian  convent  founded  by  Manfred  Chiaramonte  in 
1388,  according  to  Murray.  Forms  one  of  the  best  excursions.  You  drive 
through  the  exceedingly  picturesque  village  of  Bocca  di  Falco.  The  convent, 
which  is  occupied  by  monks,  has  beautiful  architecture  in  its  cloister,  a  good 
west  front,  a  pergola,  its  terrace  with  an  old  fountain  at  the  end,  and  a  superb 
view.  It  is  one  of  the  best  artists'  bits.  It  has  a  Gagini,  and  stands  delight 
fully  on  the  slopes  of  Monte  Cuccio.  Mimnerno  may  be  done  on  the  same 
drive. 

Bagheria.  The  old  court  suburb  of  Palermo,  where  the  nobles  had  their 
villas.  Few  of  them  are  used  now.  See  General  Index. 

Balarmu.  The  Saracenic  name  for  Palermo. 

Balconies.  The  hammered-iron  balconies  for  which  Sicily  is  famous  (see 
General  Index)  are  seldom  found  in  Palermo.  Modern  houses  have  none,  as 
they  are  taxed. 

Banks.  Wedekind's  Bank  is  in  the  superb  Cattolica  Palace  in  the  Via 
Cintorinai. 

Baptisms.   The  best  to  see  are  in  the  cathedral  on  Holy  Saturday. 

Barca.  These  quaint  gaily  coloured  boats  may  be  hired  at  the  Gala  and 
many  points  on  the  Borgo  and  Marina.  The  view  of  Palermo  from  the  sea  is 
very  fine.  You  have  to  make  a  bargain. 

Baroque  architecture.  For  definition,  see  under  General  Index.  Palermo 
is  full  of  examples.  In  the  Casa  Professa,  S.  Caterina,  etc.,  the  use  of  rich 
marbles  which  produced  the  effect  of  brawn,  reached  its  most  extreme  point. 
In  S.  Giuseppe  its  worst  extravagances  in  stucco  are  the  feature.  *  It 
produced  in  Giacomo  Serpotta  the  best  of  sculptors  in  stucco,  and  some  of 
its  brilliantly  tiled  domes  are  not  unpleasing.  In  fa9ades  it  was  better. 
There  is  something  noble  and  elegant  about  those  of  S.  Domenico  and 
the  Olivella.  It  ruined  the  interior  and  roof  of  the  Cathedral.  In  domestic 
architecture  it  is  not  so  bad.  Its  chambers,  like  those  of  Wren,  are  apt  to 
be  finely  proportioned,  and  its  decorations  in  gilt  and  white  and  lacquer  can 
be  made  effective.  Prince  Gangi's  palace  is  one  of  the  best  specimens.  The 
modern  style  seen  in  the  Palazzo  Cattolica  is  much  superior.  See  Modern 
Architecture. 

Basket-stoves.    Used  by  street  cooks.     See  General  Index. 

Baths.  There  is  a  good  bath  establishment  in  the  Via  Quattro  Aprile,  off 
the  Piazza  Marina. 

Baucina,  Palace.  At  the  corner  of  the  Marina,  by  the  Villa  Giulia.  A 
superb  mansion,  showing  how  splendidly  the  Sicilians  built  in  the  nineteenth 
century.  It  contains  a  Norman  room,  imitated  from  that  in  the  palace,  and 
two  ballrooms  in  the  Hispano-  Moorish  style,  suggested  by  the  Alhambra. 
The  Prince  has  a  splendid  collection  of  majolica,  etc.  Visitors  require  an 
introduction  from  some  friend  of  the  Prince.  The  palace  occupied  by  Sir 
William  and  Lady  Hamilton  stood  on  part  of  its  site. 

Bay  of  Palermo.  Cardinal  Newman  and  others  have  pronounced  this 
superior  to  the  Bay  of  Naples.  It  is  marvellously  lovely,  with  the  crown- 


THINGS   OF   PALERMO  407 

shaped  Monte  Pellegrino  at  one  end,  and  Monte  Zafferana  at  the  other. 
Zafferana  is  like  a  camel  kneeling  to  be  mounted,  and  has  pointed  mountains 
behind  it  looking  like  the  tents  of  an  army.  The  mountains  at  the  back  of 
Palermo,  headed  by  the  pure  pyramid  of  Monte  Cuccio,  are  incomparable. 

Beans,  Broad.     See  General  Index. 

Bassi.  Shops  and  dwellings  of  the  poor  are  in  the  basements  of  the  rich. 
See  General  Index. 

Beggars.  See  General  Index.  The  municipality  of  Palermo  is  most 
anxious  for  the  comfort  of  strangers. 

Bell-ringing1  with  a  hammer.  See  General  Index.  A  reminiscence  of 
the  Sicilian  Vespers.  Palermo  has  some  beautiful  bells,  best  heard  at  vespers 
from  Monte  Pellegrino  or  the  Gesu. 

Belvedere.  The  Belvedere  is  out  at  the  Gesu.  Many  Palermo  palaces  have 
loggias  high  up  for  belvederes.  Notice  the  belvedere  at  S.  Giuseppe  Church 
and  the  Castello-a-Mare. 

Benedettini,  Monastery  of.  Adjoining  the  church  of  the  Eremiti.  Not 
very  interesting. 

Bene  Economico.  A  society  founded  in  Palermo  for  the  development  of 
Sicily  and  the  comfort  of  visitors,  which  does  admirable  work.  See  General 
Index.  Address :  Care  of  Joshua  Whitaker,  Esq. ,  Via  Cavour,  Palermo. 

Benitier.  See  under  Cathedral,  S.  Domenico,  etc.  A  holy- water  stoup. 
There  are  glorious  examples  in  the  Cathedral. 

Bentinck,  Lord  William.  British  ambassador  during  the  English  occupa 
tion  of  Sicily,  and  author  of  the  Sicilian  Constitution.  See  General  Index, 

Bentinck,  Palazzo.  Palace  of  the  above  in  the  Via  Torremuzza,  near  the 
Hotel  Trinacria. 

Boats.   See  under  Barca. 

Bocca  di  Falco.  A  wonderfully  picturesque  village  on  the  way  to  Baida, 
full  of  artists'  bits. 

Boccaccio  at  Palermo.  Boccaccio  lays  his  story  about  the  young  Giovanni 
di  Procida,  Restituta,  the  Admiral  Roger  di  Loria,  and  King  Frederick  II. 
of  Aragon  at  Palermo,  at  the  Cuba. 

Bolgaro,  Restituta.  The  heroine  of  the  above  story.  Her  father,  Maron 
Bolgaro,  secured  Ischia  for  Frederick  in  his  struggle  with  Charles  of  Anjou. 

Bookshops.  Reber's  Library,  360,  Corso,  is  one  of  the  best  bookshops  in 
Italy.  Sandron  of  Milan  has  a  shop  in  the  Corso.  The  English  Tea-rooms, 
Piazza  Marina,  keep  English  books.  Second-hand  bookshops  and  stalls  are 
in  the  pierce  of  the  Via  Macqueda  near  the  University,  and  in  the  Corso, 
near  the  Quattro  Canti. 

Bookstalls.   On  the  ledges  of  the  churches  near  the  University. 

Borgo,  i.e.  the  suburb.  Runs  along  the  edge  of  the  harbour  on  the  way 
to  the  Mole.  An  excellent  place  to  photograph  Palermo  carts  and  other 
picturesque  street-scenes. 


408        SICILY  THE   NEW   WINTER    RESORT 

Botanical  Gardens.  On  the  Via  Lincoln  above  the  Villa  Giulia.  Among 
the  most  attractive  in  Europe.  Superb  semi-tropical  collection  of  giant 
bamboos,  palms,  yuccas,  euphorbise,  cacti,  aloes,  agaves,  Morton-bay  figs, 
etc.  The  bougainvilleas  in  the  great  house  are  among  the  finest  in  existence. 
Cuttings  and  seeds  of  anything  may  be  purchased,  and  the  gardeners  let  you 
pick  any  flowers  in  moderation  Tip  a  franc,  if  you  pick  any  flowers,  other 
wise  a  few  coppers. 

Bourse,  The  Bourse  at  Palermo  is  in  the  same  building  as  the  Banca 
d'  Italia  in  the  Palazzo  dei  Finanzi.  A  fine  building  in  the  Corso,  opposite  the 
Piazza  Marina,  built  in  1578, 

Brancaccio.   A  village  outside  Palermo,  on  the  way  to  the  Favara. 
Brass.     Much  used  in  Palermo  for  cookshops,  water-tables,  shop-lamps, 
coffee-pots,  etc.     Well  worth  collecting,  but  difficult  to  buy. 

Bread  riots.  These  occur  from  time  to  time  because  bread  is  the  staff  of 
life  to  an  extraordinary  degree  in  Sicily.  But  foreigners  are  never  molested. 

Broccoli,  red,  white,  yellow,  green,  and  purple,  is  a  great  feature  in  the 
vegetable  shops  and  costermongers'  carts  in  Palermo.  The  broccoli-hawker 
has  one  of  the  most  striking  street- cries. 

Buca  della  Salvezza,  the,  is  a  hole  under  the  Gancia  Church,  now  closed 
with  a  marble  tablet  bearing  an  inscription  to  the  two  companions  of  the 
hapless  Francesco  Riso  in  the  abortive  rebellion  of  April  4th,  1860,  who  hid 
here  five  days  and  escaped  by  this  hole. 

Burial  Guilds.     Costume.     See  General  Index. 
Butera,  Prince  of.     A  title  held  by  the  Prince  of  Trabia. 
Butera,   Palazzo.     On  the  Marina  at  the  bottom  of  the  Corso.     The 
property   of  the   Prince  of  Trabia-Butera.     One  of  the  finest  palaces  in 
Palermo,  containing  many  valuable  objects. 

Butera,  Villa.  The  property  of  Sig.  Florio.  It  contains  practically 
undisturbed  the  furniture  purchased  by  Maria  Carolina's  favourite  the  Prince 
of  Butera,  when  the  court  of  the  Two  Sicilies  was  at  Palermo,  and  a  splendid 
collection  of  Venetian  glass.  The  large  ornamental  garden  has  extremely 
fine  yuccas. 

Byzantine.  There  is  much  Byzantine  workmanship  in  the  Cappella  Reale 
and  other  buildings  erected  under  the  Norman  kings,  and  valuable  Byzantine 
metal-work  in  the  treasuries  of  the  Cappella  Reale  and  the  Cathedral  and 
in  the  Museum.  All  the  mosaics  for  which  Palermo  is  so  famous  were  the 
works  of  Byzantine  artists.  There  is  a  small  gallery  of  Byzantine  paintings 
in  the  Palermo  Museum. 

Cabs.  Cabs  in  Palermo  are  very  slow  but  very  cheap  by  the  course,  which 
is  50  centimes  irrespective  of  the  number  of  persons,  for  any  drive  within  the 
city  bounds  except  to  the  railway  station.  By  the  hour  they  cost  i  fr.  60  c. 
Each  additional  quarter  of  an  hour  40  centimes.  The  cabmen  are  decent  sort 
of  men,  satisfied  with  their  tariff  and  a  very  small  &uon'  amano. 

Cafes.  Cafe's  are  a  great  Sicilian  institution,  but  in  Palermo  in  the  main 
streets  they  have  no  outside  chairs — there  is  not  room,  the  streets  are  so 
narrow  and  so  crowded.  The  most  popular  cafes  are  those  of  Caflisch  in  the 
Via  Macqueda,  where  you  get  excellent  tea  and  coffee  and  cakes  at  moderate 
prices.  In  the  summer  there  are  open-air  caf6s  along  the  Marina,  which  do 
an  immense  business  in  ices.  The  cafe  at  the  Teatro  Massimo  is  also  very 
popular. 

Caflisch.     See  above. 


THINGS   OF   PALERMO 


409 


Gala.  All  that  remains  of  the  ancient  harbour  of  Palermo.  Only  used  by 
small  coasting  craft  like  feluccas,  mostly  laden  with  pottery  and  tiles.  The 
great  harbour  of  antiquity  filled  the  Piazza  Marina  and  ran  up  in  two  arms 
on  each  side  of  the  Corso,  one  flowing  to  the  top  of  the  Duke  of  Orlean's 
garden,  where  its  bed  can  be  clearly  traced,  and  the  other  can  be  traced 
past  the  Papireto  to  a  good  way  up  the  Corso  Olivuzza.  Gala  is  an  Arabic 
word.  The  Gala  is  very  picturesque  with  its  ring  of  old  palaces,  terminating 
in  the  ancient  fortress  of  the  Castellammare  on  the  north  side  and  S.  Maria 
della  Catena,  the  most  beautiful  piece  of  Renaissance-Gothic  in  Sicily,  on  the 
south  side.  The  harbour  chain  (Catena)  stretched  between  these  two  points. 

Campi  Santi,  Palermo  has  two  famous  Campi  Santi,  that  of  S.  Orsola 
round  the  Church  of  the  Vespers  (q.v.)  and  the  Campo  Santo  of  the  nobles 
out  at  S.  Maria  di  Gesu.  See  Gesu. 

Canaris  brothers,  the,  who  adorn  the  well-known  fountain  in  the  Villa 
Giulia,  are  considered  the  chef  cftzuvre  of  modern  Sicilian  sculpture. 

Candied  fruit,  the,  of  Sicily  is  famous ;  the  best  can  be  bought  at  Cav. 
Guli's  shops  in  the  Corso  and  Via  Macqueda. 

Cap  Corvo.  A  great  victory  gained  by  Ottavio  d5  Aragona,  the  Paler- 
mitan  admiral,  over  the  Turks  in  1613. 

Cappella  Reale.  Also  called  Cappella  Palatina.  In  the  Royal  Palace. 
Founded  by  King  Roger  in  1129.  Partly  finished  in  1132,  consecrated  in 
1 140.  It  is  only  about  70  feet  long  and  40  feet  wide,  and  the  cupola  is 
about  55  feet  high.  It  has  a  wooden  ceiling  of  Moorish  honeycomb  work, 
sculptured  and  painted  and 
adorned  with  Old  Arabic 
Inscriptions.  It  is  the  most 
beautiful  ecclesiastical  build 
ing  in  Christendom  inside. 
The  lower  parts  of  the  walls 
are  covered  with  veined  white 
marble  panels  bordered  with 
bands  of  mosaics.  The  upper 
parts,  like  the  walls  above 
the  arches,  are  covered  with 
some  of  the  finest  mosaics 
in  existence,  on  a  gold  ground. 
Thirty-three  of  them  belong 
to  the  Old  Testament,  seven 
to  the  life  of  Jesus  Christ, 
nine  to  the  life  of  St.  Peter, 
and  five  to  the  life  of  St. 
Paul.  ^The  masterpiece  is 
the  glorious  mosaic  of  Christ, 
which  fills  the  central  apse, 
and,  like  those  of  Cefalu  and 
Monreale,  gives  the  original 
representation  of  Christ, 
handed  down  by  Byzantine 
tradition.  See  Christ,  in 
General  Index.  The  choir 
and  the  altars  are  surrounded 
with  low  walls  panelled  with  CAPPELLA  REALE  (CAPPELLA  PALATINA) 


410        SICILY  THE   NEW  WINTER   RESORT 

the  most  precious  crimson  porphyry.  The  two  side  altars  and  the  pulpit  have 
columns  of  Fiore  di  Persico,  of  which  no  other  examples  are  known  except  at 
Rome.  The  pulpit,  of  the  twelfth  century,  is  gloriously  beautiful,  as  is  the 
white  marble  Easter  candlestick  of  the  same  date  cut  out  of  one  piece  (except 
the  Renaissance  top),  and  brought  by  sea  from  Constantinople  to  King  Roger. 
The  arches  are  of  the  stilted  Byzantine  type.  The  floor,  inlaid  with  precious 
marbles  in  opus  Alexandrinum,  dates  from  the  foundation.  The  effect  of 
the  precious  marbles  and  the  antique  golden  mosaics  known  as  King  Roger's 
Bible,  mellowed  by  age,  is  inexpressibly  rich  and  soft.  Down  below  there  is 
a  crypt,  said  to  have  been  the  refuge  of  St.  Peter  while  he  was  in  Palermo, 
and  containing  the  crucifix  used  at  the  trials  of  the  Inquisition  in  Palermo. 
The  sacristy  is  full  of  priceless  Arabo-Norman  treasures,  such  as  ivory  and 
metal  caskets  and  old  charters.  Notice  the  inscription  in  Greek,  Arabic,  and 
Latin  outside,  relating  to  a  clock  made  in  1 142. 

Cappuccini  Convent,  the.  Off  the  Monreale  Road,  founded  in  1533  and 
rebuilt  by  Ottavio  d'Aragona  ;  is  famous  all  over  the  world  as  having  the 
most  perfect  collection  of  bodies  dried  in  the  Cappuccini  fashion.  Cardinals, 
nobles,  and  court  ladies,  some  of  them  in  their  robes  and  some  in  the  garb  of 
penitents,  are  pinned  against  the  walls  of  the  catacombs  after  having  been 
dried  in  sacred  earth  brought  from  Palestine.  Originally  they  were  exhumed 
to  make  room  for  others  to  be  interred  in  the  sacred  earth.  The  practice  is 
now  prohibited  by  law.  This  extraordinary  place  is  well  worth  a  visit. 

Carabinieri.  See  General  Index.  Their  barrack  on  the  Piazza  della  Vittoria 
contains  the  beautiful  ruined  Arabo-Norman  church  of  the  Maddalena. 

Carretti.    See  Carts,  Palermo. 

Carthaginians.  Palermo  was  a  Phoenician  rather  than  a  Carthaginian 
city.  The  Carthaginians  under  Hamilcar  Barca  maintained  themselves  for 
three  years  on  Ercta  on  Monte  Pellegrino. 

Carts,  Palermo.  These  two-wheeled  yellow  carts,  painted  with  gaudy 
pictures  from  the  Bible  or  Sicilian  history,  or  Dante,  or  Tasso,  or  Ariosto, 
or  recent  ghastly  events,  are  a  feature  of  Sicily,  and  above  all  of  Palermo. 
They  are  made  of  oak,  often  beautifully  carved  with  figures  of  saints  and 
angels,  and  their  hammered  ironwork  is  elaborately  ornate  with  the  figures  of 
flowers  and  dragons,  and  so  on.  They  are  handed  down  from  father  to  son, 
and  their  capacity  is  enormous.  I  have  seen  fifteen  people  on  one,  and  a 
hundred  chairs  on  another,  and  they  are  generally  drawn  by  a  single  ass, 
seemingly  indifferent  to  weight  if  it  is  allowed  to  walk.  They  are  known  as 
carretti. 

Casa  Normanna.  The  Casa  Normanna  in  the  Salita  S.  Antonio  behind 
S.  Matteo  in  the  Corso  has  eight  of  the  most  richly  decorated  Norman 
windows  in  Palermo.  Nothing  is  known  about  it. 

Casr.  An  Arab  word  meaning  a  castle,  which  we  get  in  Casr  Janni,  the 
Arab  name  for  Castrogiovanni.  The  Arab  Emirs  had  a  Casr  on  the  site  of 
the  Royal  Palace  at  Palermo. 

Cassaro,  the,  derived  from  the  above ;  the  former  name  for  the  Corso. 

Cassari,  the  Via.  The  long  street  running  up  from  the  Cala  parallel  to 
the  Corso,  in  which  the  potters  and  wooden-box-makers  live. 

Castellammare,  or  Castello-a-mare.  The  ancient  sea  fortress  to  guard  the 
Cala.  On  the  site  of  a  fortress  existing  from  the  earliest  times.  Rebuilt  in 
the  fifteenth  and  sixteenth  centuries.  As  it  was  used  to  bombard  the  revolt 
ing  city  in  1848  and  1860,  it  was  dismantled  after  that  year. 


'  Pi^i 

-J' 


ARCH  IN  THE  CASA  NORMANNA  (SALITA  S,  ANTONIO),  PALERMO 
FROM  A  DRAWING  BY  BENTON  FLETCHER,  ESQ. 


4i2        SICILY  THE   NEW   WINTER   RESORT 

dastello  di  Mar  Dolce,  the.  The  popular  name  for  the  AraboNorman 
palace  of  the  Favara  (q.v.).  So  called  from  the  spring  and  lake  of  fresh  water 
in  the  grounds. 

Castellaccio,  Monte,  a  mountain  crowned  by  an  old  fort  above  Monreale, 
2,515  feet  high. 

Catafalque.    See  General  Index. 

Cathedral.  Built  by  Walter  of  the  Mill  for  William  the  Good  in  1170. 
Its  splendid  tower  forms  part  of  the  Archbishop's  Palace.  The  bottom  goes 
back  to  Arabic  times,  the  top,  connected  with  the  church  by  two  flying 
bridges,  is  an  admirable  reproduction  of  the  antique.  The  Cathedral,  built 
of  a  beautiful  golden  stone,  with  delightful  campaniles  as  graceful  as  Giotto's 
tower  at  each  corner,  would  be  the  most  remarkable-looking  in  Europe  if  it 


THE  CATHEDRAL  OF   PALERMO 


were  not  for  the  tasteless  dome  added  in  the  eighteenth  century  by  Fuga,  who 
ruined  the  interior  with  his  railway-station  stucco-work.  For  it  is  most 
Oriental  in  feeling,  and  wonderfully  ornate  in  its  decorations.  Every  yard  of 
stone  is  arcaded,  or  fretted  with  Moorish  carvings,  or  hung  with  white  marble 
scutcheons,  and  its  mosque-like  south  porch  is  extremely  beautiful.  Inside 
it  depends  on  its  treasures :  the  great  porphyry  sarcophagi  of  the  Norman 
princes  under  marble  presentations  of  the  pavilions  they  used  in  their  cam 
paigns  ;  the  S.  Cecilia  of  Quartararo  ;  the  statue  and  two  glorious  benitiers  by 
Gagini;  the  silver  shrine  of  S.  Rosalia;  the  antique  treasuries  and  sacristy;  and 
the  unspoiled  Norman  crypt  with  the  founder's  tomb.  Notice  the  beautiful 
arcading  of  the  exterior  of  the  east  end. 

Catacombs.  There  are  extensive  catacombs  at  Palermo,  near  the  Porta 
d'  Ossuna ;  S.  Michele  Arcangelo,  etc.,  besides  the  well-known  Cappuccini 
(q.v.). 

Cattolica,  Palazzo.  The  gigantic  modern  palace  in  the  Via  Cintorinai,  with 
superb  courtyards,  in  which  Wedekind's  Bank  is  situated. 


THINGS   OP   PALERMO  413 

Cefalu.  By  returning  at  II  p.m.  one  can  have  a  long  day  to  explore  Cefalu 
Cathedral,  prehistoric  house,  etc. 

Ceremonies.     See  under  General  Index. 

Cemeteries.     See  under  Campi  Santi. 

Chapels,  Mortuary.  Derived  from  the  tower-shaped  brick  or  stone  tombs 
of  the  ancient  Romans ;  are  carried  to  great  excess  by  Sicilians,  who  will  spend 
as  much  as  two  thousand  pounds  on  them. 

Charles  of  Anjou.  Brother  of  St.  Louis,  to  whom  the  Pope  presented 
Manfred's  kingdom  of  Sicily.  Reigned  1264-82.  See  General  Index. 

Chemists*  shops  (Farmacia).  The  two  best  for  foreign  drugs  and  pre 
scriptions  are  the  Farmacia  Puleo-Caputo  in  the  Corso,  and  the  Farmacia 
Petralia  in  the  Via  Macqueda,  near  the  Teatro  Massimo.  The  Farmacia 
Campisi  off  the  Corso  does  a  large  business  with  natives. 

Chiaramonte  family.  What  the  Douglases  were  to  Scotland  the  Chiara- 
monti  were  to  Sicily  in  the  fourteenth  century.  In  Palermo  they  built  the 
superb  Palace  of  the  Inquisition,  on  the  Piazza  Marina  (q.v.),  the  churches  of 
S.  AgosLino  and  S.  Francesco,  S.  Antonio  in  Via  Roma,  S.  Antonio  Abate, 
the  convent  of  Baida,  and  the  Torre  del  Diavolo  on  the  way  to  the  Gesii, 
etc.,  and  their  strongholds  and  churches  are  to  be  found  all  over  Sicily. 
They  aspired  to  the  crown,  and  the  last  of  them,  Andrea  Chiaramonte,  was 
actually  conspiring  for  it,  when  he  was  captured  by  Martin  of  Aragon  and 
beheaded  in  front  of  his  palace  in  Palermo. 

Christ,  body  of  the  dead.  On  Holy  Thursday  it  is  the  custom  to  take 
down  the  body  of  our  Lord  from  the  chief  crucifix  in  each  church  and  lay  it 
in  a  sepolcro,  or  Garden  of  Gethsemane.  The  most  famous  of  these  images, 
that  belonging  to  the  Cappella  del  Solidad,  is  carried  round  the  city  in  the 
Pieta  procession  on  Good  Friday.  See  under  Ceremonies. 

Christ,  the  three  great  mosaic  portraits  of.  See  General  Index  and 
Palermo,  Cappella  Reale,  Monreale,  and  Cefalu. 

Churches. — Anglican  Church  in  the  Via  Stabile,  near  the  Hotel  des  Palmes. 

S.  Agostino.  Via  S.  Agostino.  A  very  graceful  fourteenth-century  church 
built  by  the  Chiaramonti.  Notice  the  south  side  as  well  as  the  facade  with  its 
beautiful  rose-window  and  Gothic  doorway.  The  interior  has  some  of 
Serpotta's  charming  stucco  figures.  There  is  a  good  early  Renaissance  cloister 
in  the  convent  used  for  police  barracks. 

S,  Anna  La  Miscricordia,  near  the  Piazza  S.  Croce  dei  Vespri.  Has  a  fine 
late  cloister. 

S.  Antonio.  Via  Roma;  was  built  in  1220  and  restored  by  the  Chiaramonti, 
who  raised  here  the  highest  tower  in  Palermo,  destroyed  by  the  earthquake  of 
1822,  which  devastated  the  church.  Till  then  the  church  had  mosaics  like  the 
Martorana,  which  have  been  replaced  by  painted  imitations,  though  the 
beautiful  form  of  the  church  has  been  preserved.  Within  historic  times  the 
harbour  ran  up  to  this  point,  the  Corso  ending  here.  Below  the  church  is  a 
quaint  old  market. 

S.  Antonio  Abate.  Connected  with  the  Palace  of  the  Inquisition.  A  ruinous 
but  beautiful  Arabo-Norman  building  with  a  remarkable  west  front. 

S.  Agata  La  Guilla.  One  of  the  most  beautiful  Renaissance  churches ; 
behind  the  cathedral,  in  the  Via  del  Incoronata. 

S.  Agata  Gli  Scorruggi.  Behind  the  Mercato  dei  Aragonesi ;  with  sixteenth- 
century  frescoes. 

SS.  Annunziata.  With  a  Sicilian- Gothic  doorway  in  its  facade  and  a  remark 
able  interior  of  light  and  airy  Renaissance-Gothic.  The  roof  is  covered  with 


414        SICILY   THE   NEW  WINTER   RESORT 

paintings  in  panels ;  some  of  them  attributed  to  Tommaso  di  Vigilia.  The 
church  is  in  the  Via  Bambinai  near  the  Porta  S.  Giorgio.  The  convent  is  the 
Conservatoire  of  Music. 

Cancdliere^  thet  in  the  Piazza  of  the  same  name  just  off  the  Corso,  has 
nothing  very  ancient  about  it  but  a  good  many  charming  minor  Renaissance 
features. 

Cappella  Reah.     See  above. 

Carmine^  the.  On  the  Piazza  del  Carmine.  Interesting  because  it  is  always 
full  of  devout  poor  people.  It  has  a  Gagini  and  rather  a  striking  coloured 
dome.  It  only  dates  from  1626. 

Casa  Professa,  or  Jesuit  church.  Has  a  charming  group  of  palm  trees  in 
front  of  it,  and  has  its  walls  inlaid  with  precious  marbles  like  a  Florentine 
table,  wonderfully  rich  and  interesting  to  those  who  can  tolerate  this  kind  of 
thing.  Its  convent  is  used  for  the  Biblioteca  Communale.  Round  the  corner, 
approached  from  the  Via  Macqueda  through  the  Piazza  of  the  SS.  Quaranta 
Martiri,  it  has  a  charming  Sicilian-Gothic  tower  and  cloister  with  beautiful 
details. 

5.  Cataldo.  The  mosque -like  church  on  the  same  raised  terrace  as  the 
Martorana.  It  was  thought  to  have  been  built  in  1181  by  the  Admiral 
Majo  di  Ban,  but  Reber's  excellent  guide  to  Palermo  says  that  recent  evidence 
proves  it  to  be  older.  It  has  three  cupolas  and  an  elegant  battlement ;  and 
though  its  interior  has  been  stripped  of  its  mosaics,  for  pure  elegance  it  is 
unsurpassed  in  the  island.  The  mosaics  are  said  to  be  still  in  existence  some 
where  in  Spain. 

S.  Caterina,  A  baroque  church  on  the  Piazza  Pretoria  entirely  rebuilt  in 
1566,  though  founded  in  1312.  The  inlaid  marbles  of  its  walls  are  wonder 
fully  rich,  in  the  taste  of  the  time.  Gagini's  beautiful  S.  Anna  and 
Vandyck's  Madonna  are,  however,  gems.  The  church  should  be  visited. 

S.  Caterina  alP  Olivella  is  a  chapel  adjoining  the  Olivella  with  sculpture 
by  Serpotta  and  an  elegant  little  cortile  used  by  an  ironworker. 

S.  Ckiara,  in  the  street  which  leads  up  from  the  back  of  the  Piazza 
Bologni,  has  a  gracious  little  Renaissance  front  with  an  antique  inscription, 
an  excellent  artist's  subject.  A  Piero  Novelli  inside.  The  Gothic  Palazzo 
Speciale  is  a  few  doors  off. 

Cifuentes,  chapel  in  the  palace  of  (q.v.),  has  been  modernised. 

S.  Cita  (Sicilian  S.  Zita).  One  of  the  most  interesting  churches  in 
Palermo.  It  contains  the  masterpiece  of  Gagini ;  the  glorious  tribunal  beyond 
the  high  altar  full  of  exquisite  figures  and  medallions.  Also  Gagini's  St. 
Anthony  with  a  centaur  and  St.  Jerome,  and  a  delightful  little  lunette  above 
(at  the  end  of  the  left  aisle).  At  the  end  of  the  right  aisle  is  another  Gagini 
(or  scuola).  The  chapel  itself  is  more  interesting,  having  as  its  subject  the 
triumphs  of  Christianity.  Over  the  arch  is  inscribed  the  famous  line  from 
Virgil  which  is  supposed  to  refer  to  Christianity.  The  church  contains  many 
tombs ;  one  early  Gothic. 

The  Oratorio  del  Rosario  of  S.  Cita,  which  has  a  charming  cortile,  is  behind 
the  church  and  contains  many  charming  Serpottas,  including  his  masterpiece, 
the  stucco  statues  of  his  two  boys. 

Collegia.   The  Jesuits'  church  in  the  Corso— its  convent  is  the  Biblioteca. 

S.  Crispino.  A  queer  little  church  adjoining  a  piece  of  the  ancient  wall  in 
the  Via  S.  Michele  Arcangelo.  Has  two  good  pictures.  The  wall  is  a  good 
artist's  bit. 


THINGS   OF   PALERMO  415 

-5*.  Cristina  La  Vetera.  A  very  ancient  church  in  a  lane  at  the  back  of  the 
Incoronata.  Built  by  Offamilia  1171-74.  When  stripped  of  its  plaster,  the 
interior  of  this  church  will  be  one  of  the  most  interesting  churches  in  Palermo. 
It  is  entire,  and  pure  Norman  architecture.  The  lane  in  which  it  stands  is  a 
charming  artist's  bit. 

S.  Croce. 

S.  Domenico.  The  largest  and  most  important  church  in  Palermo. 
Founded  in  1300,  but  in  its  present  condition  dates  from  1640,  except  its 
beautiful  Gothic  cloister,  which  is  approached  by  an  archway  at  the  back  of 
the  church.  Its  baroque  facade  has  a  certain  majesty  and  elegance.  It  con 
tains  works  by  Gagini,  Novelli,  Paladino,  Ainemolo,  etc.  But  its  chief  interest 
lies  in  its  being  the  Westminster  Abbey  of  Sicily,  where  the  great  men  are 
buried.  The  services  are  interesting  because  all  classes  love  the  church. 

Eremiti.     See  S.  Giovanni  degli  Eremiti. 

S.  Eulalia  dei  Catalani.  In  the  street  leading  from  S.  Antonio  to  the 
Piazza  Garraffello,  a  picturesque  fa$ade  dear  to  artists,  for  whom  this  whole 
street  is  excellent.  This  was  the  Borgo  of  the  Catalan  traders. 

S.  Francesco  d' Assist.  Founded  1234,  but  rebuilt  in  1302  by  the  Chiara- 
monti.  It  has  a  beautiful  rose-window  and  other  Gothic  features  on  its  ex 
terior.  Inside  it  is  full  of  interesting  things.  A  chapel  by  the  now  famous 
Laurana,  pictures  by  Novelli,  sculptures  by  Serpotta,  etc.  One  of  the  most 
interesting  interiors  in  Palermo. 


S.   FRANCESCO   D'ASSISI  (DEI  CHIODARl) 

La  Gancia.  The  great  Franciscan  church  of  Palermo  with  a  large  ruinous 
cloister.  The  church  of  the  people.  Francesco  Rise's  conspiracy,  April  4th, 
1860,  began  with  the  vesper  bells  of  the  Gancia,  following  a  famous  precedent. 
Two  of  the  conspirators  escaped,  and  hid  under  the  church,  escaping  by  the 
hole  known  as  the  Buca  della  Salvezza  (q.v.).  The  church  contains  many 
medieval  tombs,  Gaginfs  exquisite  Annunciation  on  two  medallions,  and 
pictures  by  Vincenzo  da  Pavia  (Ainemolo).  The  exterior  of  the  church  is  Gothic. 


4i6        SICILY  THE   NEW   WINTER   RESORT 

Gesfi,  S.  Maria  di.  Called  the  Gesiu  In  front  of  it  is  the  Campo  Santo 
of  the  nobles.  It  has  a  delightful  old  Renaissance  fountain,  picturesque 
cloisters,  beautiful  Sicilian- Gothic  doorways,  some  of  the  best  Renaissance 
tombs  in  Sicily ;  and  the  celebrated  half-finished  fresco  of  Lorenzo  da 
Palermo.  It  stands  on  the  flowery  side  of  a  mountain,  commanding  a 
lovely  view  of  Palermo  at  sunset.  One  of  the  best  excursions  to  be  made  from 
Palermo. 

S.  Giacomo  la  Marina.  The  name  usually,  though  incorrectly,  applied  to 
the  church  of  S.  Maria  Nuova,  which  stands  in  the  Piazza  S.  Giacomo.  A 
church  founded  1339.  Its  fa9ade  is  like  that  of  S.  Maria  della  Catena,  a 
charming  mixture  of  classical  and  Gothic. 

S.  Giorgio  del  Genovesi.  Considered  the  best  Renaissance  church  of  Sicily. 
Has  pictures  by  Palma  Giovanni,  Luca  Giordano,  Paladino,  etc.  The 
church  of  the  Genoese  Borgo  in  medieval  Palermo. 

S.  Giovanni  in  Via  Beati  Paoli,  A  perishing  church,  which  contains 
a  beautiful  Renaissance  tomb  that  should  be  removed  to  the  museum.  Near 
S.  Agata  La  Guilla. 

S.  Giovanni  di  Baida.     See  Eaida. 

S.  Giovanni  Decollate.  A  very  curious  little  church  near  the  Bridge 
of  the  Admiral,  with  a  charming  little  garden  in  front  and  pictures  of  three 
martyrs  being  boiled  in  oil.  Criminals  and  revolutionary  martyrs  were  buried 
here. 

S.  Giovanni  dei  Lebbrosi.  Outside  Palermo,  in  the  village  of  the  same 
name,  a  little  beyond  the  Bridge  of  the  Admiral.  Built  in  1071  by  Robert 
Guiscard  on  the  site  of  his  camp,  and  never  rebuilt.  The  plaster  is  gradually 
being  stripped  off,  the  interior  showing  the  original  Norman  work.  It  stands 
in  a  lemon  grove,  and  has  a  courtyard  in  front  with  a  handsome  old  gateway. 
A  good  place  to  examine  the  old  aqueduct. 

S.  Giovanni  degli  Eremiti,  One  of  the  gems  of  Palermo.  If  it  never  was  a 
mosque,  it  looks  as  if  it  had  been  with  its  five  red  domes.  It  was  founded  by 
Gregory  the  Great  on  one  of  the  estates  he  inherited  from  his  Sicilian  mother, 
Sylvia,  But  there  are  no  buildings  older  than  the  time  of  King  Roger  in 
1132.  There  is  an  exquisite  Arabo-Norman  cloister  with  remains  of  numerous 
other  conventual  buildings  and  a  fine  piece  of  the  city  wall,  all  intermingled 
with  a  mass  of  palms  and  semi-tropical  flowers.  For  artists  this  is  the  best 
group  in  Palermo.  The  name  Eremiti  has  nothing  to  do  with  hermits.  Its 
old  name  was  S.  Ermeti,  and  it  was  sometimes  referred  to  as  S.  Mercuric, 
which  shows  that  the  Ermeti  was  our  Hermes. 

S.   Giovanni  e  Giacomo.    By  the  Porta  Carini. 

S.  Giovanni  dei  Napolitani.  An  elegant  renaissance  church  on  the  Corso, 
near  the  Piazza  Marina.  Has  a  picture  by  Vincenzo  da  Pavia. 

S.  Giovanni  di  Rio.  A  curious  little  church,  oval  in  shape,  in  a  street 
off  the  south  side  of  the  Corso.  A  good  place  to  visit  on  Holy  Thursday  for 
the  sepolcri. 

S.  Giuseppe,  Two  churches  one  above  the  other.  The  upper  has  an 
elegant  belvedere  outside,  but  the  inside  shows  how  bad  baroque  can  be. 
Here  is  kept  the  Sudario  Santo,  the  shroud  in  which  our  Lord  is  said  to  have 
been  buried.  See  General  Index.  There  are  paintings  by  Novelli,  Borre- 
mans,  etc.  S.  Giuseppe  is  at  the  Quattro  Canti. 


THINGS   OF   PALERMO 


417 


Greek  Church.  See  above,  under  Albanians.  The  orthodox  rites  are  con 
ducted  with  some  purity  here. 

Incoronata,  the  ruined  Chapel  of  the.  with  a  picturesque  colonnade  outside, 
in  the  Via  dell'  Incoronata  at  the  back  of  the  Cathedral.  King  Roger  was 
crowned  here.  The  key  is  kept  in  the  Martorana. 

S.  Lorenzo,  Oratory  of,  founded  1564.  Its  walls  have  reliefs  and  stuccoes 
by  Serpotta,  considered  his  best.  There  is  a  Nativity  by  Michelangelo  da 
Caravaggio.  The  seats  are  of  ebony  inlaid  with  ivory  and  mother-of-pearl. 
It  adjoins  S.  Francesco  d'Assisi  in  the  Via  Cintorinai. 

^Maddalena,  the.  A  beautiful  but  ruinous  Norman  church  in  the  Cara- 
binieri  Barracks  on  the  Piazza  della  Vittoria.  It  could  easily  be  restored  into 
a  gem. 


GREGORY  THE  GREAT'S  CHURCH  OF  THE  EREMITI 


Magione,  the.  The  church  of  the  Teutonic  knights,  near  the  Kalsa. 
Recently  restored.  Has  a  half-concealed  but  beautiful  little  Arabo-Norman 
cloister,  many  tombs  of  its  former  owners,  the  Teutonic  knights.  See 
General  Index.  And  in  its  sacristy  a  valuable  Flemish  painting  of  the  Van 
Eyck  period,  which  ought  to  be  in  the  museum.  A  very  ancient  church,  not 
to  be  missed. 

-  S,  Marco.  The  church  of  the  Venetian  colony  in  Palermo.  Near  the 
Mercato  dei  Aragonesi.  Has  an  interesting  exterior.  Its  distance  from  the 
sea  shows  the  great  size  of  the  Venetian  Borgo  in  the  Middle  Ages. 

S.  Maria  del  Ammiraglio.     See  under  the  Martorana. 

5.  Maria  della  Catena,  At  the  end  of  the  Gala  near  the  Piazza  Marina. 
One  of  the  most  beautiful  churches  in  Sicily.  Its  porch,  a  mixture  of  the 
classical  and  the  Gothic,  might  well  found  a  new  style  in  architecture ;  and 
the  interior  is  very  graceful  and  airy. 

S.  Maria  di  Gesii.     See  Gesu. 
2   E 


4i8        SICILY  THE   NEW   WINTER   RESORT 

S.  Maria  delle  Grazie.  A  little  low  church  in  the  Via  Divisi  off  the  Piazza 
Marina.  With  charmingly  pretty  late  Gothic  windows.  In  the  district  all 
round  here  the  artist  will  find  palaces  with  paintable  Renaissance  details.  The 
church  is  also  known  as  the  Ree  Pentiti. 

5.  Maria  della  Mazza  in  the  Via  Macqueda. 

S.  Maria  dei  Miracoli  is  a  handsome  Renaissance  church  near  the  Palazzo 
S.  Cataldo  in  the  Piazza  Marina.  Notice  a  loggia  of  the  Tuscan  pattern  built 
into  a  shop. 

S.  Maria  di  Mont'1  Oliveto. 

S.  Maria  di  Monserrato. 

S.  Maria  di  Porto  Salvo.  Built  in  1526 ;  cut  when  the  Corso  was  pro 
longed.  It  stands  just  by  the  Bourse. 

S.  Maria  della  Vittoria.  In  the  street  between  the  Piazza  della  Kalsa  and 
the  Piazza  Magione.  Contains  beyond  an  altar  the  fire-charred  oak  door 
which  Robert  Guiscard  burst  in  when  he  stormed  Palermo  in  1071.  There  is 
no  better  place  in  Palermo  to  see  the  life  of  the  very  poor. 

S.  Martino.  A  huge  secularised  monastery  above  Monreale,  founded  by 
Pope  Gregory  the  Great,  with  one  of  his  Syracusan  mother's  estates,  but, 
of  course,  rebuilt.  It  is  enormous,  and  has  a  fine  garden  and  some  pictures 
by  Pietro  Novelli. 

Martorana,  the.  Properly  called  S.  Maria  del  Ammiraglio.  Built  in  1143 
by  George  of  Antioch,  King  Roger's  admiral,  but  bestowed  in  1435  on  the 
nuns  of  the  Martorana,  who  are  responsible  for  throwing  the  porch  into  the 
church  and  ruining  half  the  mosaics  by  breaking  through  the  apses  to  add  a 


THE  MARTORANA  AND  S.  CATALDO 


choir,  containing  the  famous  lapis-lazuli  high  altar,  a  beautiful  thing  in  itself. 
But  there  .are  many  mosaics  left  intact,  including  the  two  celebrated  panels  of 
the  Virgin  giving  Christ  his  charter  for  George  of  Antioch,  and  that  of  Christ 
crowning  King  Roger.  Notice  also  the  wooden  Saracenic  door  of  the  south 
side.  This  is  one  of  the  chief  mosaic  churches  in  Sicily.  The  Parliament  of 
Sicily  met  here  after  the  massacre  of  the  Vespers. 


THINGS   OF   PALERMO  419 

S.  Matteo.  In  the  Corso.  Erected  1652.  Has  pictures  by  Novell!  and 
stuccoes  by  Serpotta.  Good  music  at  the  midday  service  on  weekdays.  Has 
one  of  the  best  sepolcri  on  Holy  Thursday.  At  the  back,  in  the  Salita  S.  Antonio, 
is  the  celebrated  Casa  Normanna  with  eight  superbly  sculptured  windows, 

S.  Michele  Arcangelo.  In  the  Via  S.  Michele  Arcangelo  adjoining  the 
Communal  Library.  It  has  catacombs,  closed  like  the  other  Palermo  cata 
combs,  and  a  rather  picturesque  fa9ade. 

S.  Nicola  da  Tolentino.  Built  on  the  site  of  the  synagogue  after  the  expul 
sion  of  the  Jews  in  1492.  It  has  four  pictures  by  Novelli  and  a  good-sized 
cloister.  It  is  the  most  popular  of  all  churches  for  the  Holy  Thursday  sepolcri. 

S.  Niccolo  alP  Albergheria.  A  ruinous  church  in  the  street  of  the  same  name, 
with  a  charming  tower  and  other  features  of  the  Sicilian- Gothic  period. 
Notice  the  flood-mark  on  the  tower.  See  under  Via  Albergheria, 

S.  Ninfa  dei  Crodferi.  At  the  corner  of  the  Via  Celso  and  the  Via 
Macqueda.  Its  cloister  is  the  General  Telegraph  Office. 

Olivella,  the.  One  of  the  most  popular  churches  in  Palermo.  Next  door 
to  the  Museum.  Its  baroque  fa9ade  is  rather  elegant.  Inside  notice  the 
celebrated  Chapel  of  the  Crucifix,  whose  inlaying  of  precious  stones  cost 
;£  1 0,000.  It  has  a  Lorenzo  di  Credi,  the  best  picture  in  Palermo  except  the 
Mabuse  in  the  Museum. 

Oratory  of  S.  Caterina  all*  Olivella.     See  under  S.  Caterina. 

Oratory  of  the  Filippini.  Next  to  the  Olivella.  Has  a  beautiful  stucco- 
work  by  Serpotta,  and  since  its  convent  contains  the  two  beautiful  cloisters  of 
the  Museum,  it  may  fairly  be  considered  the  best  building  of  its  time.  It  was 
built  by  Marvuglia. 

Oratory  of  S.  Lorenzo.  Adjoining  the  church  of  S.  Francesco  d'Assisi  in 
the  Via  Cintorinai.  Famous  for  its  stucco-work  by  Serpotta. 

Oratory  of  the  Rosario  of  S.  Cita.  Behind  S.  Cita  (q.v.).  Beautiful  stuccoes 
by  Serpotta,  especially  portraits  of  his  two  boys.  Charming  cloister. 

Oratory  of  the  JRosario  of  S.  Domenico.  At  the  back  of  S.  Domenico. 
Beautiful  stucco-work  by  Serpotta.  It  has  a  number  of  good  pictures,  in 
cluding  the  Vandyck  of  the  boy  holding  his  nose. 

Origlione^  the  Church  of  the.  In  the  Via  Saladino  at  the  back  of  the  Corso. 
Has  a  curiously  tiled  waiting-chamber  in  its  convent  at  the  back  of  the  church. 
This  and  the  church  itself  are  quite  artists'  bits. 

S.  Orsola,  the  Cemetery  of  the  Vespers.  On  the  Via  dei  Vespri  which  leads 
from  the  Porta  S.  Agata.  It  can  be  seen  on  the  drive  out  to  the  Gesu.  The 
Campo  Santo  with  it  avenues  of  old  cypresses  is  far  more  dignified  than  most 
Campi  Santi.  At  the  end  is  S.  Spirito,  better  known  as  the  Church  of  the 
Vespers.  Built  in  the  Anglo-Norman  style  by  Walter  of  the  Mill  (OfFamilia) 
in  the  twelfth  century.  Here  on  Easter  Monday,  1282,  when  vespers  rang, 
the  people  assembled  at  the  great  fair  in  front  of  the  church,  began  the 
massacre  of  the  French  known  as  the  Sicilian  Vespers.  The  beautiful  little 
church  stands  on  the  lofty  banks  of  the  rushing  Oreto. 

,  Ospedale  dei  Sacerdoti.  At  the  back  of  the  Archbishop's  Palace,  with  a 
beautiful  Renaissance  portal. 

Ospedale  della  Concezione.  Now  the  University  Medical  School  near  the 
Porta  Carini ;  has  a  church  with  very  fine  marbles  in  it. 

Piedigrotta.  The  Piedigrotta  Church  down  by  the  Castellammare  has  a 
curious  little  grotto,  and  the  lamp  in  the  form  of  an  eagle  carried  by  Ottavio 
d'Aragona's  flagship  in  his  victory  of  Cap  Corvo.  An  artist's  church. 


420        SICILY  THE   NEW  WINTER   RESORT 

Pieta,  the.  Adjoining  the  Palazzo  Abatelli  (q.v.),  which  forms  its  convent. 
It  has  a  picture  by  Vincenzo  da  Pavia.  In  the  Via  Alloro. 

S.  Pietro  e  S.  Paolo.  In  the  Via  Stabile.  A  modern  church  in  the  four 
teenth-century  style, 

S.  Pietro  Martiri.  Built  in  1656.  Has  two  pictures  by  Vincenzo  da 
Pavia. 

Rosario  di  S.  Cz'ta,  Oratory  of.     See  under  Oratories. 

Rosario  di  S.  Domenico,  Oratory  of.     See  under  Oratories. 

S.  Rosalia.  On  Monte  Pellegrino,  enclosing  the  tomb  where  the  body 
of  the  saint  was  found  which  contains  the  effigy  so  much  admired  by  Goethe. 
Notice  the  imitation  prickly-pears  made  of  tin  for  catching  the  drips  from  the 
roof,  most  of  the  church  being  formed  of  the  cave. 

S.  Salvatorc.  On  the  Corso.  Built  at  the  end  of  the  seventeenth  century 
with  a  large  elliptical  cupola  frescoed.  There  are  some  Sicilian-Gothic  remains 
of  the  old  convent  founded  by  Robert  Guiscard,  A.D.  1071,  for  the  Greek 
rite  in  the  Via  Protonotaro. 

Solidad,  Cappella  del*  On  the  Piazza  della  Vittoria  opposite  the  Royal 
Palace.  Its  interior  is  curious  and  elegant.  It  contains  the  famous  image  of 
our  Lord,  which  is  carried  round  the  city  in  the  procession  of  the  Pieta. 

SpasimO)  Lo.  The  great  unfinished  Renaissance-Gothic  church  for  which 
Raphael  painted  his  celebrated  picture,  the  Madonna  del  Spasimo,  the 
beautiful  marble  framework  for  which  is  in  the  Palermo  Museum.  Never 
completed.  It  is  in  the  street  of  the  same  name  near  the  Kalsa. 

SpiritO)  S.     Called  also  the  Church  of  the  Vespers  and  S.  Orsola  (q.v,). 

Val  Verde,  the.  In  the  Via  Bambinai.  Has  pictures  by  Novelli  and 
Vincenzo  da  Pavia. 

Vergine^  delle.  In  the  Salita  Castellana  near  the  Casa  Normanna.  It  has 
a  picture  by  Tommaso  di  Vigilia. 

Volta^  della.  Near  the  Piazza  Nuova.  Contains  an  inscription  recording 
the  death  of  Giuseppe  d'Alesi,  leader  of  the  abortive  revolution  of  1647. 

Zisa,  Chapel  of  the.  A  few  yards  along  the  road  from  the  palace.  The  old 
part  has  a  Moorish  honeycomb  roof. 

S.  Zita.     See  under  S.  Cita. 

Cipollino.  White  marble  veined  like  an  onion  (cipolla).  Much  used  in 
the  palaces  and  churches  of  the  Norman  kings. 

Giro,  Grotte  di.  Just  beyond  the  Castello  di  Mar  Dolce.  These  caverns 
were  full  of  bones  of  gigantic  extinct  animals.  Called  by  the  people  Grotta 
dei  Giganti. 

Cistercians.  See  General  Index.  The  Church  of  the  Vespers  belonged  to 
them. 

Cisterns.     See  Gebtia  and  Water-towers. 

City  walls.  Large  portions  remain.  One  of  the  oldest  and  most  beautiful 
pieces  is  at  the  Porta  Mazzara,  just  beyond  the  Eremiti.  From  this  point  to 
the  Porta  S.  Antonino,  at  the  end  of  the  Via  Macqueda,  there  are  large 
stretches  of  ancient  wall,  especially  near  the  Porta  S.  Agata,  Another  piece 
of  the  medieval  wall  may  be  seen  near  Mr.  Joshua  Whitaker's  palace  in  the 
Via  Cavour.  There  are  grand  stretches  of  the  tremendous  Spanish  walls  from 
the  Porta  Carini,  just  above  the  Teatro  Massimo,  right  round  to  the  Porta 
Nuova  in  the  Royal  Palace.  There  is  a  piece  of  old  wall  in  the  Via  S. 
Michele  Arcangelo,  and  there  is  a  piece  of  Phoenician  wall  in  the  Via  Candelai. 


THINGS   OF  PALERMO  421 

Clausen's  Library.  Now  Reber's.  At  the  corner  of  the  Piazza  Bologni 
and  the  Corso.  One  of  the  largest  bookshops  in  Italy.  Sells  the  best  photo 
graphs  by  non-Sicilians  and  good  postcards.  Sig.  Reber  speaks  English, 
French,  German,  and  Italian  equally  well.  Visitors  will  find  it  a  help  to  go 
here  the  day^  of  their  arrival  and  look  at  the  various  guide-books.  Sig,  Reber 
has  a  collection  and  bibliography  of  books  on  Sicily. 

Cloisters.  The  following  churches  have  cloisters  t  S.  Agostino  (police 
barracks),  S.  Anna,  SS.  Annunziata,  Casa  Professa,  S.  Caterina  al  Olivella, 
Collegio,  S.  Cita,  S.  Domenico,  Eremiti,  S.  Francesco  (two),  Gancia,  S. 
Maria  di  Gesu,  S.  Giovanni  di  Baida,  Magione,  S.  Martino,  S.  Michele 
Arcangelo,  Monreale,  S.  Nicola  di  Tolentino,  S.  Ninfa  dei  Crociferi,  Olivella, 
Ospedale  della  Concezione,  SS.  Quaranta  Martiri,  SS.  Salvatore, 

Clubs.  Palermo  has  various  clubs  at  which  strangers  can  be  proposed 
temporarily  as  members,  Among  the  principal  are  the  Nuovo  Casino  and  the 
Unione,  both  in  the  Corso ;  the  latter  in  the  Palazzo  Geraci.  The  Cercolo 
degli  Impiegati  in  the  Piazza  Bologni,  the  Cercolo  Bellini  by  the  theatre 
of  that  name,  the  Casino  dei  Buoni  Amici  in  the-  Corso,  and  the  German- 
Swiss  Club. 

Coffee-pots.  See  under  Brass.  The  old  Moorish  shape  has  never  been 
altered. 

Colazione  (Lunch).  Taken  by  the  Sicilians  between  11.30  and  12.30;  but 
hotels  frequented  by  foreigners  adopt  their  hours. 

Conca  d'  Oro.  The  name  of  the  plain"  bet  ween  the  mountains  and  the  sea 
on  which  Palermo  stands.  Celebrated  for  the  incomparable  richness  of  its 
orchards.  Foreigners  generally  restrict  the  name  to  the  valley  below  Monreale. 
It  is  full  of  lemon  groves.  It  means  Shell  of  Gold. 

Constance  or  Constantia,  the  Empress.  Daughter  of  King  Roger. 
After  the  legitimate  male  line  was  extinct  she  became  the  heiress  and  took 
Sicily  to  her  husband,  the  Emperor  Henry  VI.  She  was  the  mother  of  the 
celebrated  Emperor  Frederick  II.  According  to  Dante  she  came  out  of  a 
convent  to  marry. 

Constance,  daughter  of  Manfred,  wife  of  Peter  of  Aragon,  who  claimed  the 
crown  of  Sicily  through  her  and  founded  the  Aragonese  dynasty. 

Consuls.  The  British  Consul  is  Mr.  Churchill,  and  his  consulate  is  near 
the  Giardino  Inglese. 

Cooking-baskets.    See  General  Index,  under  Basket -stoves. 
Cookshops    See  General  Index. 

Conrad  IV.,  the  Emperor,  was  King  of  Sicily  1250-1254.  See  General 
Index. 

Conradin,  son  of  Conrad.    King  of  Sicily  1254-1268.    See  General  Index. 

Confraternita.  Guilds  for  burial,  etc.  The  Confraternita  del  Rosario  of 
S.  Cita  and  S.  Domenico  have  very  fine  oratories  (q.v.).  The  Confraternita 
of  S.  Orsola  has  an  extensive  burying-ground  in  the  cemetery  of  that  name. 

Coal-carts  and  Shops.  Coal  is  such  a  scarce  commodity  that  the  coal-carts 
are  drawn  by  tiny  Sardinian  asses,  and  the  shops  show  a  piece  of  coal  hung  on 
a  string  across  the  door. 

Coppersmiths  in  Palermo  have  a  street  of  their  own — Via  Calderai,  behind 
the  Martorana,  where  they  make  Saracenic  coffee-pots  and  cooking  vessels. 


422        SICILY  THE   NEW  WINTER   RESORT 

Coral  embroideries.  Made  at  Trapani,  can  best  be  bought  at  Palermo. 
Specimens  in  the  museum. 

Corleone,  excursion  to,  by  the  Corleone  Railway.  See  General  Index, 
and  Elenco. 

Corsairs'  towers.  Built  like  our  Martello  towers  to  guard  the  coasts  from 
Barbary  corsairs.  There  is  a  medieval  one  at  Acqua  Corsari  just  outside 
Palermo,  which  gives  the  place  its  name. 

Corso.  The  main  street  of  the  town,  from  the  palace  to  the  sea,  containing 
the  Cathedral,  the  Bourse,  etc.,  is  now  called  the  Corso  (Vittorio  Emmanuele). 
It  was  the  Via  Toledo  of  Bourbon  times,  the  Casr  of  the  Arabs.  It  is  termi 
nated  at  the  top  by  the  stately  Porta  Nuova  adjoining  the  Royal  Palace,  and 
at^the  bottom  by  the  Porta  Felice  and  the  Marina.  Like  most  Palermo  streets 
it  is  dead  straight.  If  you  stand  at  the  Porta  Felice  you  can  see  the  mountains 
behind  the  Porta  Nuova.  The  office  of  Cook's  correspondent,  Mr.  Von  Pernull, 
and  the  Florio  Rubattino  are  where  it  opens  into  the  Piazza  Marina,  where 
most  of  the  tramcars  start.  It  crosses  the  Via  Macqueda  at  the  Quattro  Canti, 
the  Piccadilly  Circus  of  Palermo.  Reber's  Library,  the  best  place  for  books,  is 
at  the  corner  of  the  Piazza  Bologni,  which  contains  the  General  Post  Office 
and  the  Monreale  tramway  terminus.  Most  curio-shops  are  here  near  the 
Cathedral. 

Corso  Alberto  Amadeo.  Runs  round  the  west  side  of  the  city  from  the 
Porta  Nuova  to  the  Porta  Carini.  Contains  splendid  pieces  of  the  Spanish 
walls,  and  catacombs  which  are  closed. 

Corso  Calatafimi  from  the  Porta  Nuova  to  Rocca  at  the  foot  of  Monreale 
Hill.  The  Cuba,  Cubola,  Villa  Tasca  and  Cappuccini  Catacombs  lie  on  or  off 
this  street.  Named  after  Garibaldi's  victory. 

Corso  dei  Mille.  Named  after  Garibaidi's  Thousand ;  leads  from  the  Porta 
Garibaldi  to  the  Bridge  of  the  Admiral,  (q.v.). 

Corso  Olivuzza  leads  from  the  piazza  above  the  Teatro  Massimo  to  the 
Olivuzza  quarter  and  the  Zisa. 

Corso  Scina.  Leads  from  the  Politeama  to  the  Molo.    It  is  a  poor  street. 

Corso  Tukery.  Leads  from  the  Piazza  Independenza  round  the  west 
and  south  sides  of  the  city  to  the  end  of  the  Via  Macqueda  at  the  Porta  S. 
Antonino.  It  passes  the  Porta  Mazzara  and  the  Porta  S.  Agata,  the  two 
oldest  gates,  and  the  oldest  portions  of  the  city  wall. 

Cortez,  Palace  of.  The  Monteleone  Palace  round  the  corner  from  the 
Olivella  belongs  to  the  Duke  of  Monteleone,  the  descendant  and  heir  of 
Cortez.  The  family  name  is  Pignatelli-Cortez.  Being  occupied  by  the 
Pension  Suisse  the  palace  can  be  seen. 

Cortile.  The  best  courtyards  in  Palermo  other  than  cloisters  are  those 
belonging  to  the  Palazzo  Aiutamicristo,  the  Archbishop's  Palace,  the  Palazzo 
Cattolica,  Palazzo  Chiaramonte  (Dogana)  on  the  Piazza  Marina,  Palazzo  Gangi, 
Palazzo  Mazarino,  Palazzo  Monteleone,  Royal  Palace,  Istituto  Randazzo  in 
the  Via  Alloro,  Palazzo  Trigona,  the  Municipio,  Palazzo  Sclafani,  Palazzo  S 
Ninfa(q.v.). 

^  Cotillons.  Are  a  great  feature  of  Palermo  balls.     The  presents  are  some 
times  very  costly. 

Crescenzio,  Antonio.  Early  sixteenth-century  Sicilian  painter,  to  whom 
the  '  Triumph  of  Death"  in  the  Palazzo  Sclafani  and  the  S,  Cecilia  in  the 
the  cathedral  were  formerly  attributed. 


THINGS   OF   PALERMO 


423 


Crispi,  Francesco.  The  late  Italian  premier,  was  deputy  for  Palermo. 
See  General  Index. 

Cruelty  to  Animals,  Society  for  the  Prevention  of.  Those  interested  in 
the  matter  should  apply  to  Mr.  Ambroise  Pare  Brown,  Agent-General  of  the 
Val  de  Travers  Asphalt  Paving  Company  in  Sicily,  9,  Via  S.  Martino, 
Palermo.  Owing  to  the  generous,  financial  support  of  the  Messrs.  Whitaker, 
and  the  action  taken  by  the  public-spirited  Mayor,  Sig.  Tasca,  in  placing  the 
police  at  the  disposal  of  the  society,  there  is  less  cruelty  to  animals  in  Palermo 
than  in  any  town  in  Italy. 

Cuba,  La.  A  magnificent  Saracenic  palace  on  the  road  to  Monreale. 
Now  an  artillery  barrack.  Its  exterior  is  perfect,  but  there  is  not  much 
inside  it  beyond  a  little  honeycomb  work.  It  was  the  scene  of  a  story 
of  Boccaccio.  See  Boccaccio,  General  Index.  On  the  strength  of  its 


LA  CUBA,   THE  ARABO-NORMAN  PALACE  AT  PALERMO^  WHICH   IS  THE 
SCENE  OF  ONE  OF   BOCCACCIO'S  STORIES. 


Arabic  inscription  it  was  supposed  that  it  was  built  by  one  of  the  Emirs,  till 
someone  who  could  read  Arabic  found  that  the  inscription  stated  the  contrary. 
"In  the  name  of  God3  Clement,  Merciful,  pay  attention.  Here  halt  and 
admire  you  will  see  the  illustrious  dwelling  of  the  most  illustrious  of  the 
Kings  of  the  Earth,  William  II."  A  portion  of  the  date  also  survives: 
"And  of  our  Lord  the  Messiah  a  thousand  and  a  hundred  add  three  to  four 
score." 

Cubola,  La.  A  beautiful  little  Arabo-Norm'an  pavilion  in  the  large  orange 
garden  which  was  part  of  the  grounds  of  the  Cuba,  now  on  the  other  side  of 
the  Corso  Calatafimi.  Baedeker  gives  the  number  as  495. 

Curio-shops.     See  above,  under  Antichita. 

Decamerone.     See  under  Boccaccio  for  its  story  about  Palermo. 

Diana  and  Actaeon.  The  subject  of  one  of  the  finest  of  the  Selinuntine 
metopes  in  the  Palermo  Museum, 


424        SICILY  THE   NEW  WINTER   RESORT 

Doctors.  There  are  generally  no  English  doctors  at  Palermo,  but  Dr, 
Berlin,  a  German,  Via  Americo  Amari  104,  can  speak  English. 

Dolls  in  tin  armour.  King  Roger,  Saladin,  etc.,  are  a  feature  of  the 
Easter  fair  at  Palermo.  The  poor  people  make  them  out  of  kerosene  tins. 

Donkeys.  The  carting  in  Palermo  is  mostly  done  with  asses.  There  are  a 
great  many  of  the  tiny  Sardinian  asses  no  larger  than  goats. 

Door  tiles,  armorial.  Much  sought  by  collectors.  See  General  Index. 
Only  to  be  found,  if  anywhere,  on  convents. 

Doria,  Archbishop.  The  seventeenth-century  Genoese  archbishop  who  dis 
covered  the  remains  of  S.  Rosalia.  He  is  buried  in  the  crypt  of  the  Cathedral. 

Dress.  Palermo  being  a  capital,  you  see  little  of  national  dress  except  in 
the  shawls  of  the  lower-class  women,  the  headkerchiefs  of  a  few  male 
peasants,  and  the  rather  distinctive  dress  of  the  fisherwomen  from  the  Porto 
at  the  back  of  Pellegrino. 

Drug-store  (Farmacia),  A  feature  of  Sicilian  cities.  See  Chemists  for 
making  up  foreign  prescriptions. 

D'  Uccria.  The  Prince  of  d'  Uccria,  Gravina,  Villafranca,  and  Valguarnera 
(Giuseppe  Alleata)  is  the  descendant  of  the  Prince  of  Gravina,  who  com 
manded  the  Spaniards  at  Trafalgar,  and  of  the  reformer  Villafranca.  He 
lives  in  the  Villafranca  Palace  opposite  the  General  Post  Office  in  the  Piazza 
Bologni,  to  which  Garibaldi  paid  a  pilgrimage,  the  Villa  Valguarnera  at 
Bagheria,  etc. 

Earthenware  lamps.  See  under  General  Index.  The  curious  majolica 
figures  of  bandsmen,  fashionable  ladies,  cats,  etc.,  used  for  lamps  may  be 
bought  at  the  Easter  fair  and  in  the  Via  Cassari. 

Easter.     See  General  Index,  under  Ceremonies. 

Easter-candlestick.     See  General  Index. 

Easter  Fair.  In  Palermo  on  Easter  Monday  and  the  following  days  they 
have  a  great  fair  in  the  Piazza  Castel  Nuovo,  with  all  sorts  of  raree-shows  and 
booths  for  the  sale  of  dolls  in  tin  armour,  pottery,  copperware,  knives,  toys, 
sweets,  etc.  One  of  the  best  places  to  see  the  contadini  who  come  to  buy  their 
stores  here. 

Eating-shops.  See  Cookshops,  Cafe's,  Pasticceria,  Restaurants,  etc,,  and 
same  entries  in  General  Index. 

Edrisi,  El.     King  Roger's  Arab  geographer.     See  under  General  Index. 

Embroideries.  The  Cathedral,  Cappella  Reale,  etc, ,  and  the  Museum 
have  superb  ecclesiastical  embroideries  in  which  the  Palermitan  monks 
excelled.  They  may  sometimes  be  bought  at  the  curio-shops. 

Enamels  (Smalti).  Beautiful  little  enamels,  mostly  religious,  sometimes 
of  great  age,  may  be  bought  in  Palermo  cheap,  even  in  the  curio-shops  of  the 
Corso. 

Empire  furniture.     See  General  Index. 

Emirs.  Palermo  was  the  capital  of  the  Saracen  Emirs  for  a  couple  of 
centuries.  King  Roger  called  his  sea-commander  an  Emir.  See  under 
Admiral. 

English  in  Palermo.  Nelson  brought  the  Royal  Family  of  the  Two 
Sicilies  from  Naples  in  the  last  week  of  1798,  and  was  at  Palermo^  great 
deal  in  1799.  From  1806  to  1815  Sicily  was  under  English  protection  and 
virtually  managed  by  the  British  representative,  Lord  William  Bentinck,  who 
gave  Sicily  her  constitution.  See  General  Index.  Cardinal  Newman,  Dean 
Stanley,  etc.,  visited  Palermo. 


THINGS   OF   PALERMO  425 

English  colony.  The  English  colony  in  Palermo  is  headed  by  Messrs. 
Joshua  Whitaker,  J.  J.  S.  Whitaker,  and  Robert  Whitaker,  who  were  born,  like 
their  father,  in  the  island,  and  own  the  famous  Ingham- Whitaker  Marsala  wine 
business.  Their  residences,  the  Palace  Whitaker,  Malfitano,  and  Villa  Sofia, 
are  among  the  finest  in  Palermo.  The  British  chaplaincy  is  held  by  Canon 
Skeggs,  the  British  Consulate  by  Mr.  Churchill.  Among  the  other  English 
residents  are  Mr.  Ambroise  Pare  Brown,  head  of  the  great  asphalt  industry  at 
Ragusa.  English  people  needing  advice  should  apply  to  Mr.  Von  Pernull, 
Cook's  correspondent  in  the  Corso.  There  is  an  English  library  and  tea-room 
on  the  Piazza  Marina. 

English  dress  of  men.  Palermo  exquisites,  when  they  can  afford  it,  get 
their  clothes  from  the  best  London  tailors,  and  in  any  case  make  the  English 
their  models. 

Eremiti.     See  under  Churches. 

Etna.   Can  be  seen  on  clear  days  from  the  tower  of  the  Di  Gregorio  Palace. 

Facchini.     See  Railway  station. 

Favara,  the  (or  Castello  di  Mar  Dolce).  A  Saracenic  palace  outside 
Palermo  near  Brancaccio.  Was  the  hunting-box  of  the  great  Emperor 
Frederick  II.  Of  considerable  extent.  Differs  from  the  other  Arabic  palaces 
in  being  built  round  a  large  open  court  like  a  castle.  The  beautiful  chapel  is 
structurally  still  perfect.  It  is  a  charmingly  picturesque  old  ruin  in  the  midst 
of  lemon  groves.  For  its  other  name,  see  under  Mar  Dolce.  The  Princess  of 
the  Favara  living  there  is  the  heroine  in  Mr.  Sladen's  novel,  The  Admiral 

Feluccas.  Much  of  the  coasting  trade  in  Sicily  is  done  with  feluccas, 
small  vessels  with  picturesque  shoulder-of-mutton  sails  and  high  beaks, 

Fennel.   One  of  the  favourite  foods  of  Sicily.     See  General  Index. 

Ferdinand  I.  and  IV.  The  King  of  the  Two  Sicilies  whom  Nelson 
brought  to  Palermo.  See  General  Index. 

Ferdinand  II.  (Re  Bomba).     See  General  Index. 

Ferrovia  (Stazione  Ferrovia),  The  ordinary  term  in  Sicily  for  a  railway 
station. 

Fevers.     See  General  Index. 

Figs.     See  General  Index. 

Figs,  Indian.     See  General  Index. 

Filippini,  Oratory  of.    See  Oratories. 

Fiore  di  Persico.  A  rare  kind  of  marble  only  to  be  seen  in  the  Cappella 
Reale  and  at  Rome. 

Fireplaces.  Only  the  best  houses  and  new  buildings  have  fireplaces. 
There  are  very  few  chimneys  in  Palermo. 

Fish  and  Fish-salesmen.  Strange  fish  can  be  sometimes  seen  in  the  old 
market  in  the  Piazza  Nuova.  But  the  best  place  to  see  them  is  at  the  fish 
sales  on  the  Borgo,  where  the  salesmen  have  queer  booths  shaped  like  Greek 
temples  and  with  curious  devices  and  religious  mottoes.  One  is  inscribed 
"Dio  sole  e  grande"  (Only  God  is  great);  and  another,  with  a  sort  of 
mermaid  for  its  device,  has  "Viva  Maria  SS.  della  Providenza." 

Flora,  or  Villa  Giulia.     See  under  Gardens. 

Florio.  The  Florio  family  have  played  a  great  part  in  the  development  of 
Palermo.  The  late  Ignazio  Florio,  who  has  a. statue  in  the  city  and  the  finest 
tomb  at  the  Gesu,  founded  the  steamship  line  which  bears  his  name,  and  a 
shipbuilding  yard  for  his  steamers  at  Palermo.  His  son,  Comm.  Ignazio  Florio, 


426       SICILY  THE  NEW  WINTER  RESORT 

the  richest  man  in  Palermo,  built  the  Villa  Igiea,  and  is  the  principal  owner  in 
the  Anglo-Sicilian  Sulphur  Company.  He  owns  the  Villa  Butera,  and  has  a 
bank  in  Palermo.  His  sister  married  the  Prince  of  Trabia. 

Flowers.     See  under  chapter  on  Flowers. 

Flower-sellers  have  picturesque  stalls  with  plumes  of  dyed  grasses,  but 
they  do  not  have  a  great  stock. 

Fonderia,  Piazza  dl.    See  Piazzas. 

Forestieri.   The  name  by  which  foreigners  are  always  known  in  Sicily. 

Foro  Italico.  The  Marina  of  Palermo,  stretching  from  the  Porta  Felice 
southwards  between  the  sea  and  the  Trabia  and  Baucina  Palaces  and  the  Villa 
Giulia  public  gardens.  The  most  beautiful  Marina  in  Europe,  with  its  old 
crumbling  yellow  wall  and  exquisite  panorama  of  mountains.  People  drive 
here  in  summer  for  their  passeggiata,  and  at  night  sit  about  the  open-air  cafes 
eating  ices  and  listening  to  the  band. 


Palazzo  Baucina 


Trabia  Palace 
T 


Porta  Felice 


PALERMO  HARBOUR  AND  PORO  ITALICO 

Fortune-tellers.  In  the  Piazza  S,  Domenico,  etc.  If  you  see  a  woman 
with  her  eyes  blindfolded  and  her  hands  tied  behind  her,  or  with  a  long  thing 
like  a  fishing-rod  in  her  mouth,  you  will  know  that  she  is  a  fortune-teller. 
They  tell  fortunes  more  like  paroquet  fortune-tellers  than  gypsies. 

Fossa  del  Girofalo.  The  dried-up  bed  of  the  old  harbour  which  forms  the 
orange  grove  in  the  Parco  d'Aumale.  It  has  tall  sea-beaten  cliffs. 

Fountains.  Palermo  has  some  interesting  and  beautiful  fountains.  That 
in  the  Piazza  Pretoria  on  the  Via  Macqueda,  surrounded  with  allsorts  of  strange 
beast's,  was  made  in  Florence  in  the  sixteenth  century  by  Camilliani,  Montor- 
soli,  and  Nacherini.  It  was  erected  in  1576.  The  prettiest  is  the  fountain 
in  the  little  Piazza  S.  Spirito,  the  work  of  Marabitti,  with  the  sea-horse 
coming  out  of  a  delightful  patch  of  green.  There  is  a  large  fountain  in  the 
Piazza  della  Vittoria  in  front  of  the  palace.  Four  wall- fountains  form  the 
chief  feature  in  the  very  handsome  Quattro  Canti.  There  is  a  beautiful 
Renaissance  fountain  of  considerable  size  out  at  the  Gesii.  Most  of  the  best 
gardens,  public  and  private,  have  beautiful  fountains,  In  the  Villa  Giulia 


THINGS   OF  PALERMO 


427 


is  one  of  the  three  fountains  associated  with  the  Genius  of  Palermo  and  his 
serpents.  On  its  back  is  the  marble  plaque  of  the  Trinacria  (q.v.  under 
General  Index),  executed  by  Marabitti  from  an  ancient  coin  to  form  the  arms 
of  Sicily,  whose  emblem  it  had  been  in  the  coins  of  Julius  Gesar.  See  Villa 
Giulia.  Another  is  the  three-cornered  Piazza  della  Rivoluzione  (Fiera 
Vecchia),  an  absurd  old  gentleman,  but  an  institution.  The  third  is  in  the  little 
Piazza  Garraffo,  opposite  S.  Eulalia  dei  Catalani,  off  the  Via  Roma.  The 


MARABITTl'S  FOUNTAIN,  CALLED  THE  GENIUS  OF  PALERMO,  IN  THE  VILLA  GIULIA 

Fontane  Garraffello  is  no  longer  in  the  piazza  of  that  name,  but  in  the  Piazza 
Marina.  The  origin  of  both  these  names  is  the  Arabic  gharraf,  which 
means  abundant.  The  most  picturesque  of  all  is  the  Moorish  mosaic  wall- 
fountain,  with  a  mosaic  channel  carrying  its  water  across  the  pavement,  in  the 
Palace  of  the  Zisa.  See  Monreale. 

Frederick  of  Aragon.     See  General  Index. 

Frederick  II.,  the  Emperor.     See  General  Index. 

Freeman's  History  of  Sicily.     See  General  Index. 

French  dress.  Society  women  of  Sicily  when  they  can  afford  it  get  their 
dresses  from  Paris. 

Frescoes.  Palermo  is  not  rich  in  frescoes  of  any  antiquity.  The  only  two 
in  situ  in  the  city  are  in  the  Palazzo  Sclafani,  one  of  which  is  the  "  Triumph  of 
Death,"  the  magnificent  work  by  a  Flemish  artist.  The  other  is  almost 
destroyed.  Out  at  the  Gesu,  in  the  Cappella  La  Grua,  is  a  beautiful  unfinished 
fresco  by  Lorenzo  da  Palermo.  In  medieval  Palermo  mosaics  took  the  place 
of  frescoes.  There  are  a  charming  set  of  frescoes  by  Tommaso  di  Vigilia  in 
the  Museum  (q.v.).  In  later  times  the  fresco-painter  was  largely  in  request. 
Many  of  the  palaces  have  frescoed  walls  and  ceilings,  See  various  baroque 
churches. 


428        SICILY  THE    NEW   WINTER   RESORT 

Fuga,  Ferdinando,  1699-1784.  A  Florentine  architect  who  spent  his  last 
years  in  Naples.  When  he  was  eighty-three  he  was  entrusted  with  the  vulgari 
sation  of  the  cathedral  of  Palermo.  He  died  before  he  could  complete  the 
ruin  of  the  exterior. 

Funeral  services.  They  are  made  picturesque  by  the  Burial  Guilds  (q.v.), 
in  their  long  white  robes  and  hoods  concealing  all  but  the  eyes  and  mouth. 
These  funeral  guilds  take  part  in  the  procession  of  the  Pieta  on  Good  Friday 
as  they  would  in  an  ordinary  funeral. 

Furniture,  eighteenth-century.  When  the  court  of  the  Two  Sicilies 
removed  to  Palermo  in  1798  to  escape  the  French  many  of  the  nobles  re 
furnished  their  palaces,  and  most  of  the  palaces  then  refurnished  remained 
practically  unaltered.  The  Villa  Butera  belonging  to  the  Sig.  Florio,  the 
Palazzo  di  Gregorio  occupied  by  Nelson,  and  the  Royal  Palace  itself  may  be 
instanced,  so  Palermo  is  a  good  place  to  study  it. 

Gagini,  Antonio  (and  other  members  of  his  family).  See  General  Index. 
The  great  Sicilian  sculptor  who  rivalled  the  great  Florentines.  At  Palermo 
his  statues  may  be  found  at  S.  Cita  (the  best),  the  Cathedral,  the  Gancia,  the 
Museum,  S.  Domenico,  S.  Francesco  d'Assisi. 

Gangi.    See  Palaces. 

Gardens  of  Palermo.  Are  unique  in  Italy,  they  are  so  rich  in  palms.  Of 
the  public  gardens  the  Orto  Botanico,  with  its  gigantic  bamboos,  its  superb 
yuccas,  palms,  aloes,  agaves,  euphorbias,  and  Moreton  Bay  figs  and  wonderful 
bougainvillea-house  stands  first.  The  Giardini  Garibaldi  in  the  Piazza  Marina 
has  superb  palms.  ^  The  Villa  Giulia  excels  in  its  avenues  of  Portuguese  laurel 
and  has  an  interesting  Valhalla  of  world-famous  Sicilians  grouped  round  the 
Genius  of  Palermo's  fountain,  which  is  adorned  with  Marabitti's  Trinacria 
(q.v.).  The  Gardino  Inglese  at  the  other  end  of  the  Via  Macqueda  is  more 
noted  for  its  splendid  flowering  shrubs  and  the  white  bougainvillea  on  the 
engine-house.  The  delightful  little  semi-tropical  garden  of  the  Eremiti  is  the 
link  between  public  and  private  gardens,  unless  one  prefers  to  reckon  the  gay 
parterres  of  the  Favorita  as  filling  this  position. 

Among  private  gardens  the  best  known  is  Count  Tasca's  on  the  Monreale 
road,  with  superb  palms,  yuccas,  aloes,  bamboos,  and  flowering  trees  grouped 
in  rather  a  formal  way  round  a  lake  with  a  Sibyl's  temple.  But  English 
people  would  prefer  either  Mr.  J.  J.  S.  Whitaker's  sunny  palm  garden  at 
Malfitano,  or  Mr.  Joshua  Whitaker's  charming  creation  at  Sperlinga.  The 
choicest  palms  in  Sicily  are  to  be  found  at  the  Villa  Sofia,  Mr.  Robert 
Whitaker's  garden.  Personally  I  find  the  Parco  d'Aumale,  belonging  to  the 
Duke  of  Orleans,  perfectly  delightful,  with  its  lemon  groves  filling  the  dried- 
up  bed  of  the  old  harbour,  its  avenues  of  espaliered  roses,  and  its  fountains 
below  the  coral  trees.  The  Hotel  des  Palmes  has  a  fine  palm  garden,  and 
Sig.  Florio  and  the  Duchess  Serradifalco  have  very  fine  old  gardens  at  their 
villas  in  the  Olivuzza,  which  are  not  shown.  The  lemon  garden  of  the 
Marchese  di  Gregorio,  just  beyond  the  Molo,  is  of  vast  extent,  and  contains 
curious  medieval  buildings ;  and,  finally,  there  are  rich  southern  gardens  well 
worth  visiting  at  the  Hotel  Igiea  and  the  Villa  Belmonte  just  above  it. 

Garibaldi  entered  Palermo  on  the  27th  of  May,  1860.  He  visited  the 
Municipio  and  the  Villafranca  Palace.  He  had  just  won  the  Battle  of  Gibil- 
rossa  outside  Palermo.  A  street  and  a  gate  and  the  garden  in  the  Piazza  Marina 
are  named  after  him,  and  various  statues  have  been  erected  in  his  honour,  and 
the  top  floor  of  the  Museum  is  mostly  given  up  to  Garibaldi  relics, 

Genius  of  Palermo.     See  above,  under  Fountains. 


THINGS   OF  PALERMO 


429 


Geraci,  Palazzo.  A  very  handsome  palace  on  the  Corso  by  the  architect 
Marvuglia,  with  a  superb  marble  staircase  and  frescoes  by  Velasquez  (of 
Monreale).  Occupied  by  the  club  called  the  Nuovo  Casino. 

Gardens  of  Gethsemane  (Sepolcri)  of  Holy  Thursday.  See  under  Cere 
monies,  General  Index.  The  best  in  Palermo  are  at  S.  Nicola  da  Tolentino, 
S.  Matteo,  S.  Domenico,  S.  Giovanni  di  Rio,  the  Gancia,  S.  Maria  alia 
Catena,  etc, 

Gates.     See  Porta. 
.     Giants,  Caves  of  the.     See  Giro,  Grotte  di. 

Gibilrossa.  On  the  mountains  above  S.  Maria  di  Gesu,  There  is  a  monu 
ment  marking  where  Garibaldi's  camp  was  pitched  on  the  night  before  the 
battle  of  May  27th,  i860. 


THE  VILLA  TASCA  AT  PALERMO,   ONE  OP  THE  FINEST  GARDENS  IN  THE  WORLD 

Giordano,  Lucca  A  Neapolitan  painter,  1632-1705.  See  S.  Giorgio 
Genovese. 

"  Giornale  di  Sicilia."  The  leading  Palermo  paper.  Very  good  for  foreign 
news,  Rather  on  the  line  of  the  Tribuna  at  Rome.  Was  iair  to  England 
during  the  war. 

S.  Giovanni,  the  Marquis  of,  the  owner  of  the  Zisa  Palace  (q.v.).  The 
great  coat-of-arms  outside  is  his, 

Giovanni,  Vincenzo  di.  One  of  the  best  modern  geographical  writers 
of  Palermo.  His  La  Topografia  antica  da  Palermo  dal  Secolo  X.  al  XV.  is  a 
most  interesting  book. 

Goats.  Like  other  Sicilian  cities,  Palermo  relies  principally  on  goats  for 
its  milk.  During  the  day  they  are  driven  up  to  Monte  Pellegrino,  etc. ,  to  feed. 

Goethe  in  Palermo.  Goethe  was  in  Palermo  in  the  spring  of  1787.  The 
hotel  in  which  he  stayed,  now  a  private  house,  is  on  the  right  hand  (south) 


430       SICILY  THE  NEW  WINTER   RESORT 

side  of  the  Corso,  near  the  Piazza  S.  Spirito,  and  is  marked  by  a  tablet.  The 
things  which  interested  him  most  were  the  stories  about  Cagliostro,  the 
modern  statue  of  S.  Rosalia  in  her  cave  on  Monte  Pellegrino,  and  the  mon 
strosities  of  the  Villa  Palagonia  at  Bagheria.  The  inscription  on  the  house 
he  occupied  runs  as  follows  : — 

"  Giovanni  Volfango  Goethe, 
Durante  il  suo  soggiorno  a  Palermo 

Nel  1787. 

Dimoro  in  Questa  Casa 
Allora  pubblico  albergo." 

Good  Friday  processions.    See  under  Ceremonies. 

Gothic  architecture.     See  under  Architecture,  Sicilian-Gothic. 

Gravina,  Admiral.  A  Sicilian  prince  who  commanded  the  Spanish  fleet  at 
the  Battle  of  Trafalgar.  His  sword  is  preserved  in  the  Municipio  at  Palermo. 

Gregorio,  Marchese  dL  Has  a  large  palace  near  the  Molo,  of  which  the 
piano  nobile  was  always  occupied  by  the  Spanish  Viceroys  when  they  landed, 
and  afterwards  by  Lord  Nelson  during  his  stay  in  Palermo.  See  Gardens 
above.  The  present  Marchese  is  the  Antonio  di  Gregorio  so  well  known  as 
a  geologist,  a  musician,  and  a  poet. 

Gregory  the  Great,  Pope.  See  under  Churches,  Eremiti  and  S.  Martino. 
His  mother  was  a  Syracusan  named  Sylvia. 

Greek.  Palermo  was  never  in  Greek  hands  except  for  a  brief  while  under 
Pyrrhus,  King  of  Epirus. 

Greek  coins.     See  under  Coins  and  Museum. 

Greek  terra-cotta  figures.    See  General  Index  and  Museum. 

Greek  metopes,  the  famous  of  Selinunte.     See  under  Museum. 

Greek  objects  in  the  Museum,  the  collection  of,  is  very  fine.  See 
Museum. 

Grotte  dei  Giganti.     See  Giro,  Grotte  dei. 

Grotta  delle  Quattro  Arche.   The  cavern  on  Monte  Cuccio,  above  Baida. 

Guevara,  Donna  Giulia.  The  Spanish  Viceroy's  wife  after  whom  the 
Villa  Giulia  was  named. 

Guiscard,  Robert,  with  his  brother,  took  Palermo  in  1071.  He  founded 
S.  Giovanni  dei  Lebbrosi  and  SS.  Salvatore.  See  General  Index. 

Guli,  Cavaliere.  A  pastry-cook  on  the  Corso  and  Via  Macqueda,  the  best 
in  Sicily.  Famous  for  his  candied  fruits. 

Haberdashery  peddler.    See  General  Index. 

Hamilcar  Barca,  the  father  of  the  great  Hannibal,  entrenched  himself  in 
Ercta,  the  city  on  Pellegrino,  for  three  years,  247-244,  in  the  hopes  of  captur 
ing  Palermo  from  the  Romans. 

Hamilton,  Sir  William  and  Lady.  Brought  by  Nelson  to  Palermo  with 
the  Royal  Family  at  the  end  of  1798.  He  occupied  a  palace  on  the  site 
of  the  present  Baucina  Palace. 

Harbour  of  the  ancients.  The  Panormus,  or  All-Harbour,  if  that  be  the 
real  origin  of  the  name,  was  not  so  inadequate  for  it  as  would  appear  now, 
though  now  it  is  confined  to  the  little  Cala.  The  whole  body  of  water  flowed 
up  as  far  as  the  church  of  S.  Antonio.  The  Piazza  Marina  was  covered  with 
water,  and  two  long  arms  ran  up  right  and  left  of  the  present  Corso  ;  the  one 
through  the  S.  Antonio  Market  and  the  Piazza  Nuova  and  the  Via  Candelai 
and  the  Papireto  crossed  the  present  Via  Colonna  Rotta.  The  other  ran  up 
the  left-hand  side  of  the  Corso,  past  the  Martorana  and  the  Casa  Professa, 


THINGS   OP  PALERMO 


43* 


between  the  Via  Porta  di  Castro  and  the  Royal  Palace,  washing  the  rocks  of 
the  Eremiti,  on  which  the  sea-marks  are  plainly  visible,  and  flowing  up 
through  the  deep  hollow  called  the  Fossa  di  Garofalo  in  the  Parco  d'Aumale, 
to  the  far  end  of  that  property.  Besides  the  sea-worn  rocks  of  the  Fossa  di 
Garofalo  and  the  market  gardens  above  the  Papireto,  there  are  various  other 
traces  to  be  noted.  Above  all,  the  ancient  Phoenician  wall  in  the  Via 
Candelai,  which  was  clearly  one  of  the  walls  of  the  old  town,  of  which  the 
present  Corso  is  the  centre,  and  there  is  a  Vicolo  and  Cortile  of  the  Catalans 
on  the  other  side  of  the  channel  just  here,  as  there  is  a  Venetian  church 
of  S.  Marco  not  far  from  it  facing  the  Mercato  degli  Aragonesi.  S.  Eulalia 
of  the  Catalans,  near  S.  Antonio,  marks  the  other  end  of  the  Catalans'  Borgo, 


VIEW  OF  PALERMO  HARBOUR  FROM  THE  VILLA  BELMONTE  AND  HOTEL  IGIEA 

and  the  Borgo  of  the  Malfitani,  the  men  of  Amalfi,  then  a  huge  seaport  which 
supplied  King  Roger  with  his  navy,  is  known  to  have  been  in  the  neighbour 
hood  of  the  Argenteria,  also  on  the  banks  of  this  right-hand  arm  of  the 
harbour.  Of  the  left-hand  arm  we  know  more,  though  there  are  fewer  traces. 
We  know  that  in  Robert  Guiscard's  time  there  was  a  separate  city  called 
Neapolis,  or  the  Kalsa,  between  the  Piazza  Marina  and  the  Villa  Giulia. 
Robert  captured  that  first.  We  also  know  that  between  the  Via  Porta  di 
Castro  and  the  present  wall  on  the  Corso  Tukery  there  was  another  separate 
fortified  quarter  or  city  known  as  the  Kemonia,  which  was  the  special  quarter 
of  the  Christians  under  the  Arabic  Emirs.  One  bit  of  the  wall  of_  this, 
evidently  rebuilt  in  much  later  times,  still  stands  in  the  Via  S.  Michele 
Arcangelo,  between  the  church  of  that  name  and  S.  Crispino.  This  right-hand 
arm  is  considered  to  have  followed  the  line  of  Via  Tornieri,  Via  Calderai,  the 
Piazza  Casa  Professa,  and  the  Via  Porta  di  Castro.  The  Eremiti  lay  in  the 
Kemonia  quarter.  One  can  only  speak  roughly,  of  course,  but  the  general  lie 
is  perfectly  plain. 


432        SICILY  THE  NEW  WINTER   RESORT 

Harbours.  Palermo  has  two  harbours  now,  the  Gala  (q.v.)  and  the 
Molo  (q.v.). 

Harris  and  Angell.  The  names  of  the  two  English  architects  who  in  the 
year  1823  discovered  the  splendid  metopes  of  Selinunte,  now  in  the  Museum. 

Headkerchiefs.  Worn  by  the  peasants  round  Palermo,  male  and  female. 
The  men  tie  theirs  under  the  chin  or  wear  them  turban-wise. 

Hercte.   See  Ercta. 

Hairdressers.  Palermo  has  no  good  ladies'  hairdressers.  They  only  shave 
and  sell  hairwash. 

Henry  VI.,  Emperor,  King  of  Sicily.  Buried  in  the  Cathedral.  See 
General  Index. 

Herb-shops.  See  General  Index.  There  is  one  in  the  Via  Macqueda 
near  the  Teatro  Massimo. 

Hercules  and  the  Ceryneian  Stag.  One  of  the  Labours  of  Hercules. 
See  General  Index.  The  subject  of  a  splendid  bronze  in  the  Palermo 
Museum  (q.v.). 

Holy  Thursday.  See  under  the  Gardens  of  Gethsemane,  and  also  in 
General  Index  under  Ceremonies  and  Gardens  of  Gethsemane. 

Hotels.  The  chief  hotels  of  Palermo  are  the  Hotel  Igiea  in  the  suburb  of 
Acquasanta,  the  Hotel  de  France  on  the  Piazza  Marina,  which  is  the  most 
modern  in  its  arrangements,  and  the  Hotel  des  Palmes,  Via  Stabile,  which 
had  no  rival  for  so  many  years.  To  these  must  be  added  the  Trinacria,  over 
looking  the  Marina.  Though  they  do  not  enter  into  the  calculations  of 
foreigners  much,  there  are  of  course  many  others.  There  are  two  good 
pensions,  the  Panormus,  near  the  Hotel  des  Palmes,  and  the  Pension  Suisse 
in  the  old  Monteleone  Palace,  which  is  one  of  the  best  places  in  Palermo  to 
take  rooms  ;  it  is  such  a  splendid  old  palace. 

Humbert,  King.     See  General  Index. 

Ingham  family.     See  under  Marsala. 

Inquisition,  the,  was  conducted  in  the  grand  old  palace  on  the  Piazza 
Marina,  now  called  the  Dogana.  It  was  abolished  in  1782.  The  vaults  in 
which  the  victims  were  tortured  still  exist,  and  may  go  back  to  Arabic  times, 
for  the  Palace  of  the  Emirs  stood  here.  The  auto-da-fi  took  place  in  the 
dried-up  harbour  in  front  of  the  palace  now  occupied  by  the  Piazza  Marina. 
The  crucifix  used  at  the  Inquisition  trials  is  still  preserved  in  the  crypt  of  the 
Cappella  Reale. 

Introductions  are  very  useful  in  Palermo,  where  strangers  of  good  social 
standing  receive  a  good  deal  of  attention  if  properly  introduced. 

Iron,  hammered.  See  General  Index.  But  there  is  not  much  of  the  fine 
old  hammered  ironwork  at  Palermo,  except  in  the  Museum. 

James  of  Aragon,  King  of  Sicily.     See  General  Index. 

Jilting  in  Sicily.  Is  considered  an  unpardonable  crime.  In  the  lower 
class  it  often  leads  to  murders.  A  single  man  is  not  expected  to  pay  any 
attention  to  a  single  woman  unless  he  wishes  to  marry  her.  See  General 
Index,  under  Courtships. 

Jupiter  and  Semele.  The  subject  of  one  of  the  Selinuntine  metopes  in 
the  Palermo  Museum  (q.v). 

Kalesa,  or  Kalsa  (Neapolis.)  The  suburb  of  Palermo,  in  Arab  times 
between  the  present  Piazza  Marina  and  the  Villa  Giulia,  which  gave  its  name 
to  the  present  Piazza  della  Kalsa,  near  the  Villa  Giulia.  See  above  under 


THINGS    OF   PALERMO  433 

Ancient  Harbour.  It  was  here  that  Robert  Guiscard  forced  his  way  into 
Palermo.  See  under  S.  Maria  della  Vittoria. 

Kemonia.  The  Christian  quarter  under  the  Emirs.  See  above,  under 
Harbour,  Ancient. 

Kids  for  food.    Kid  is  eaten  almost  as  much  as  lamb  for  food  in  Sicily. 

Knives.  The  daggery-looking  native  knives  and  scissors,  which  are  very 
picturesque,  may  be  bought  on  stalls  and  at  shops  in  the  Piazza  Nuova  and 
Via  Tornieri.  It  is  not  legal  to  carry  a  knife  with  a  blade  longer  than  the 
palm  of  the  hand. 

Lattices  ( Persian!)  painted  green  are  found  outside  nearly  every  window  in 
Palermo.  See  under  Courtships,  General  Index. 

Laurana,  Francesco,  sculptor,1  has  a  beautiful  bust  resembling  that  of 
the  Louvre  in  the  Palermo  Museum,  and  decorated  a  chapel  at  S.  Francesco 
at  Palermo. 

Lazarus.  Notice  the  mosaic  of  the  raising  of  Lazarus  in  the  Cappella 
Reale. 

Lemons.  The  growing  of  lemons  is  one  of  the  principal  industries  all 
round  Palermo.  The  nobles  largely  derive  their  incomes  from  it.  There  is 
an  enormous  export  of  them. 

Lenten  veils.  In  Palermo  a  greyish-blue  veil  outlined  with  some  scene 
from  the  Passion  is  hung  in  front  of  the  high  altar  during  Lent.  At  midday 
on  the  Saturday  between  Good  Friday  and  Easter  Sunday  they  are  cut  down 
with  a  run.  The  Cardinal-Archbishop  generally  performs  the  ceremony 
himself  in  the  Cathedral.  See  General  Index,  under  Ceremonies  and  Easter. 

Letter-writers,  Public.     See  General  Index. 

Libraries.  A  library  in  Sicily  is  called  Biblioteca.  Libreria  means  a  book 
shop.  There  are  two  great  libraries  in  Palermo,  the  Nazionale  in  the  great 
Jesuit  convent  called  the  Collegio,  on  the  Corso,  open  from  9  a.m.  to  3  p.m.  In 
the  great  hall  of  the  library  the  Sicilian  nobles  met  in  1812  and  of  their  own  free 
will  renounced  their  feudal  privileges,  and  the  Revolutionary  Junta  used  to 
meet  there.  The  Communal  Library  is  in  the  convent  next  to  the  Casa  Pro- 
fessa,  another  Jesuit  church  just  off  the  Via  Macqueda,  and  is  open  from  nine 
to  four.  It  contains  about  150,000  books,  including  3,000  manuscripts  relating 
to  Sicilian  history,  Sicilian  history  being  the  speciality  of  this  library.  The 
archives  are  kept  in  the  former  convent  of  S.  Maria  alia  Catena  at  the  end  of 
the  Cala. 

Liveries.     See  General  Index. 

Loggie.  Palermo  is  not  rich  in  loggie  except  high  up  on  palaces  and 
churches.  The  most  elegant  is  on  the  tower  of  S.  Giuseppe  near  the  Quattro 
Canti.  A  paintable  loggia  is  that  of  the  Castellammare  facing  the  Cala.  The 
Palermitan  has  not  grown  out  of  the  Arabic  love  of  domestic  privacy.  The 
old  palaces  have  their  gardens  behind  them  secreted  from  view  and  their 
loggie  in  their  courtyards.  The  singularly  beautiful  Arabic  hall  of  the  Zisa 
might  almost  be  called  a  loggia,  as  you  can  see  into  it  from  the  street  through 
the  old  iron  gate. 

Lombards.  The  Lombards  employed  by  the  Norman  kings  have  left  few 
traces  in  Palermo,  except  perhaps  in  the  architectural  grace  of  the  most 
ancient  cloisters  like  Monreale,  and  in  the  pulpit  and  altar-screens  of  the 
Cappella  Reale, 

Lorenzo  da  Palermo.  A  fifteenth -century  painter  of  Sicily,  one  of  the 
best.  See  under  Gesu. 

2   F 


434        SICILY  THE   NEW   WINTER   RESORT 

Loria,  Roger  di.  The  great  Catalan  admiral  who  helped  the  Aragonese 
king  to  drive  out  the  Angevin.  See  General  Index. 

Louis  Philippe  at  Palermo.  When  Louis  Philippe  was  in  exile  the 
Sicilian  Bourbons  presented  him  with  the  Parco  d'Aumale,  now  the  property 
of  the  Duke  of  Orleans  (q.v.). 

Love-letters  in  Palermo.  Among  the  lower  classes  they  are  generally 
written  by  strangers  from  people  who  cannot  write  to  people  who  cannot  read. 
A  set  of  the  lucubrations  of  public  letter-writers  would  beggar  all  competitors, 
from  Mile,  de  1'  Espinasse  to  the  man  who  wrote  The  Love-Letters  of  an 
Englishwoman. 

Lumia,  La.  One  of  the  most  valuable  historians  of  Sicily.  See  under 
General  Index. 

Mabuse,  Jan.  The  exquisite  cabinet  picture  in  the  Palermo  Museum 
formerly  attributed  to  Van  Eyck  is  now  attributed  to  Jan  Mabuse,  whose 
real  name  was  Gossaert,  a  Flemish  painter,  born  at  Maubeuges  in  1470,  who 
died  at  Antwerp  1532.  (Chambers.)' 

Macaroni  shops  with  their  golden  fringes  of  drying  macaroni  and  their 
brilliantly  coloured  baskets  of  vermicelli  are  very  picturesque.  There  is  a 
good  one  facing  the  market  under  S.  Antonio. 

Machanat.  The  Phoenician  name  of  Palermo,  according  to  some,  while 
others  say  Machoshbim,  the  Camp  of  the  Workers  in  Colour,  or  Ziz  (q.v.). 

Mafia.   See  General  Index.     The  secret  society  which  pervades  Sicily. 

Magione,  La.     See  under  Churches. 

Mail-vetture  run  from  Palermo  to  Villagrazia,  i£  hours;  Piana  dei  Greci 
(q.v.),  4j  hours;  Pioppo,  3  hours  ;  S.  Giuseppe-] ato,  5j  hours  j  Sancipirello, 
5J  hours  ;  Belmonte-Mezzagno,  3^  hours  ;  and  Parco  (q.v.),  2  hours. 

Majolica.  There  is  a  fine  collection  in  the  Palermo  Museum  (q.v.).  A 
good  deal  of  majolica  has  been  made  in  Sicily  since  the  seventeenth  century 
at  any  rate.  The  salt-cellars  of  Caltagirone  form  a  unique  and  beautiful  branch 
of  the  art.  Drug-jars  and  wine-jars  are  also  a  speciality. 

Majone,  or  Majo  di  Bari.  An  admiral  of  William  the  Bad,  King  of  Sicily. 
See  General  Index.  Palermo  owes  some  of  her  buildings  to  him. 

Malfitano.  The  most  beautiful  villa  in  Palermo,  with  one  of  the  best 
gardens.  It  belongs  to  J.  J.  S.  Whitaker,  Esq.,  and  owes  its  name  to  the 
fact  that  it  belonged  to  the  men  of  Amalfi,  who  had  an  important  Borgo  or 
suburb  of  their  own  on  the  right-hand  arm  of  the  ancient  harbour  near  the 
present  Argenteria.  They  were  very  influential,  because  the  fleet  of  King 
Roger  was  supplied  by  the  city-state  of  Amalfi,  whose  mariners  invented  the 
compass. 

Manfred,  King  of  Sicily,  1258-1266.  Natural  son  of  Emperor  Frederick  II. 
See  General  Index. 

Manto.  The  fine  black  cashmere  shawl  worn  over  the  head  and  shoulders 
of  Sicilian  women  in  old-fashioned  towns,  especially  for  Mass. 

Marabitti.  A  Sicilian  sculptor,  who  designed  for  Maria  Caroline  the 
Trinacria  arms  of  Sicily  (q.v.)  from  a  coin  of  Julius  Csesar,  where  they  were 
the  device  of  Sicily. 

Mar  Dolce,  Castello  di.  See  Favara.  So  called  from  the  spring  and 
pool  of  fresh  water  under  Monte  Griffone. 

Maria  Carolina,  Queen  of  the  Two  Sicilies,  when  the  court  was  in 
residence  at  Palermo.  See  General  Index. 

Marie.     See  General  Index. 


THINGS   OF   PALERMO  435 

Marina,  the,  of  Palermo  is  known  as  the  Foro  Italico  (q.v.). 

Marionette  theatres.  In  Palermo,  as  at  Messina,  stories  from  Sicilian 
history  and  the  great  Italian  poets  are  given  at  these.  Their  play-bills  are  as 
blood-curdling  as  Japanese  theatre  posters.  There  is  one  in  the  old  market 
in  the  Piazza  Nuova. 

Markets.  Palermo  has  three  permanent  markets;  the  old  market  in  the 
Piazza  Nuova,  very  picturesque  and  full  of  bits  for  artists ;  the  old  market  on 
the  Via  Roma,  under  S.  Antonio,  even  quainter,  but  less  open ;  and  the  new 
Mercato  dei  Aragonesi,  off  the  Via  S.  Agostino,  which  possesses  no  interest 
in  itself.  Informal  markets  are  always  going  on  in  the  poor  people's  parts  of 
the  town. 

Marvuglia.  A  Sicilian  architect,  who  built  the  two  cloisters  of  the  Museum. 
See  General  Index. 

Mastrangelo.  The  leader  of  the  Sicilians  in  the  massacre  of  the  Sicilian 
Vespers. 

Mazarin,  Cardinal.  A  cadet  of  the  great  Sicilian  family  of  Mazzarino. 
A  Mazzarin  palace,  where  he  is  said  to  have  been  born,  is  pointed  out  on  the 
Piazza  Garraffello. 

Mazzarino,  Conte  di.  One  of  the  most  important  nobles  of  Sicily.  The 
head  of  the  Bene  Economic©  Society  (Associazione  Siciliana  pel  Bene 
Economico,  q.v.). 

Mazzara  Vase.  One  of  the  largest  and  most  splendid  examples  of 
Hispano-Moorish  pottery.  See  Museum.  It  was  preserved  at  Mazzara  till  a 
tew  years  ago. 

Meli,  Giovanni,  a  Sicilian  poet.  See  General  Index.  He  was  buried  in 
S.  Domenico. 

Milan  butter.    Used  at  all  Palermo  hotels.     See  General  Index. 

Milch  goats.   Even  Palermo  depends  chiefly  on  goats  for  its  milk. 

Mimnerno.  At  the  village  of  Altarello,  a  little  off  the  Monreale  road. 
Built  by  King  Roger.  The  exterior  of  the  chapel  is  fairly  perfect,  and  it  has 
a  much-ruined  hall  in  the  style  of  the  Zisa.  Though  very  ruinous,  the 
remains  are  quite  considerable,  and  command  a  delightful  view  of  Palermo. 
It  can  be  visited  en  route  for  Baida.  Take  a  "guide  from  Altarello. 

Minerva  and  Mars  (Pallas  and  Ares)  is  the  subject  of  one  of  the  great 
Selinunte  metopes  in  the  Palermo  Museum. 

Misericordia.  The  people  who  look  like  a  Misericordia  Guild  of  Florence 
are  really  Burial  Guilds.  See  General  Index,  under  Burial  Guilds. 

Modern  architecture.  A  great  deal  of  modern  Sicilian  architecture  is 
very  fine.  The  Sicilians  are  beautiful  masons.  The  Palazzo  Whitaker,  Via 
Cavour,  the  Palazzo  S.  Cataldo  on  the  Piazza  Marina,  and  the  Villa  Malfitano 
are  splendid  examples. 

Molo.  The  present  port  of  Palermo.  Takes  its  name  from  the  Mole, 
commenced  in  1565,  and  prolonged  to  its  present  length  of  nearly  half  a  mile 
in  1865.  It  is  not  a  good  harbour.  In  easterly  gales  it  is  unsafe. 

Money-changers  (Gambia  Valute).  Are  mostly  in  the  Via  Macqueda. 
Foreigners  get  better  exchange  at  Gardner's  Bank,  but  for  a  small  commission 
the  money-changers  will  often  change  a  doubtful-looking  note  which  is  all 
right,  but  refused  by  the  shops. 

Monreale,  Cathedral  and  Cloisters.  See  under  Monreale.  The  best 
way  to  go  there  is  by  the  electric  tram  from  the  Piazza  Bologni.  The  three- 
mile  hill  is  a  tremendous  drag  on  horses. 


436        SICILY  THE   NEW  WINTER   RESORT 

Moorish  honeycomb  work.  This  beautiful  style  of  ceiling,  which  looks 
like  a  matrix,  exists  in  very  few  places,  e.g.  the  Royal  Palace  and  Cappella 
Reale,  the  Zisa  and  its  chapel,  the  Cuba,  Mimnerno,  and  the  Museum.  It 
was  executed  by  Arabic  workmen  for  the  Norman  kings.  The  House  of  the 
Moor,  so  called  from  the  black  head  on  its  exterior,  is  near  the  Piazza  S.  Spirito 
at  the  bottom  of  the  Corso.  It  has  a  blood-curdling  legend. 

Monte  dl  Pieta  contains  Gagini's  beautiful  eagle. 

Mosaics.  The  mosaics  of  Palermo  are  world-famous.  See  General  Index. 
They  are  to  be  found  in  the  Cappella  Reale,  Monreale  and  Cefalu  outside 
Palermo,  the  Norman  room  in  the  Royal  Palace,  the  hall  of  the  Zisa,  the 
porch  of  the  Cathedral,  and  at  the  Martorana.  The  other  mosaics  from 
the  Martorana,  and  those  at  S.  Cataldo,  are  said  to  be  preserved  in  Spain. 

Mountains  round  Palermo.  Monte  Catalfano  is  the  mountain  on  which 
Solunto  (q.v.)  stands. 

Monte  Cuccio,  The  beautiful  pyramidal  mountain  at  the  back  of  Palermo 
above  Baida. 

Monte  Gallo. 

Monte  Grifone.  The  mountain  above  the  Favara  which  contains  the 
Grotta  dei  Giganti. 

Monte  PelZegrino.  The  splendid  crown-shaped  mountain  at  the  northern 
end  of  Palermo.  In  Ercta,  the  city  which  formerly  stood  on  it,  Hamilcar, 
the  father  of  Hannibal,  maintained  himself  against  the  Romans  from  247  to 
244  B.C.  In  1624,  when  the  plague  was  raging  in  Palermo,  Archbishop  Doria 
discovered  the  bones  of  S.  Rosalia,  daughter  of  the  Duke  Sinibald,  who  had 
lived  as  a  hermit  on  the  mountain.  Her  relics  stopped  the  plague,  and  a 
church  facade  was  built  in  front  of  the  cave  in  which  they  were  found. 
There  is  a  coastguard  station  on  the  top  of  the  rock,  and  a  colossal  image  of 
the  saint,  and  the  ruins  of  a  sixteenth -century  chapel  which  looks  like  a  Greek 
temple  on  a  point  overhanging  the  sea.  The  mountain  is  frequented  by  the 
large  griffon  vultures  and  quail. 

Monte  Zafferana.  At  the  south  end  of  the  Bay  of  Palermo,  is  about 
700  feet.  It  and  Monte  Catalfano  together  suggest  a  camel  kneeling  to 
receive  its  burden. 

Murders  in  Sicily  are  numerous,  but  foreigners  are  never  among  the 
victims.  The  absence  of  capital  punishment,  the  difficulty  of  obtaining 
evidence,  especially  where  the  Mafia  are  concerned,  are  among  the  reasons. 

Museum.  The  Museum  of  Palermo,  next  door  to  the  Olivella  Church  in 
the  convent  of  the  Oratory  of  Filippini,  is  the  most  charmingly  arranged  of 
museums,  and  its  collection  of  certain  classes  of  things,  such  as  Sicilian-Greek 
and  Sicilian- Arab  antiquities,  is  very  fine.  Its  director,  Prof.  Salinas,  is  known 
all  over  Europe  as  an  antiquary,  and  speaks  English  fluently.  See  chapter 
on  Museum. 

Naumachia,  the  Roman.  The  traces  of  this  are  to  be  found  in  the 
grounds  of  the  Castello  di  Mar  Dolce.  Its  uses  are  as  difficult  to  identify  as 
most  of  the  buildings  to  which  Sicilians  attach  this  name.  See  General 
Index. 

Nelson  in  Palermo.  Nelson  was  at  Palermo  for  a  few  days  in  1798,  and 
a  great  deal  of  1799  and  part  of  1800.  See  Palazzo  di  Gregorio,  and  under 
Nelson,  General  Index. 

Newman,  John  Henry  (Cardinal),  was  at  Palermo  in  1833.  He  stayed  at 
Page's  Hotel  in  the  Corso,  which  is  now  the  house  of  Cav.  Testa,  near 


THINGS    OF   PALERMO  437 

Gull's.  He  has  left  a  description  of  a  dinner-party  at  Mr.  Ingham's,  in  the 
old  part  of  the  Palazzo  Whitaker,  and  of  Palermo  generally,  and  has  recorded 
his  preference  for  the  Bay  of  Palermo  over  the  Bay  of  Naples. 

"The  majestical  Bay  of  Palermo.  That  bay  is  in  my  eyes  far  finer  than 
that  of  Naples.  It  is  not  to  the  purpose  that  we  have  had  bad  weather  here, 
for  I  am  speaking  of  outlines.  The  Bay  of  Naples  is  surrounded  by  lumpish 
cliffs.  In  Palermo  you  have  a  theatre  of  the  most  graceful  mountains." 

Newspapers.    See  Giornale. 

Nicholas  I.,  the  Czar,  at  Palermo.  He  lived  in  Sig.  Florio's  villa, 
and  as  he  wished  to  have  his  apartments  on  the  ground  floor,  the  bassi  were 
removed  and  their  place  taken  by  the  imperial  suite,  a  unique  feature  in  a 
Palermo  palace. 

S.  Ninfa,  Torre  di.  The  centre  part  of  the  Royal  Palace,  which  contains 
the  Norman  room  and  the  Observatory.  Built  by  Arabic  workmen.  Visitors 
will  recognise  its  likeness  to  the  Zisa  and  the  Cuba. 

Norman  buildings.     See  Architecture,  Norman. 

Normans  in  Sicily.  The  Normans  captured  Messina,  A.D,  1060 ; 
Palermo,  1071  ;  Taormina,  1078  ;  Syracuse,  1085 ;  Girgenti  and  Castro- 
giovanni,  1086 ;  and  Noto,  the  last  place  to  hold  out,  1090.  Roger  II. 
crowned  himself  King  of  Sicily,  1130,  at  Palermo.  William  III.,  son  of 
Tancred  (see  General  Index),  was  the  last  of  the  real  Norman  kings,  but  their 
inheritance  passed  through  the  First  Constantia  to  the  Suabian  Henry  VI. , 
and  through  the  Second  Constantia  to  the  Aragonese  dynasty. 

Novelli,  Piero.  A  Monrealese  painter,  1603-1647.  One  of  the  best  of 
the  Italian  naturalists.  There  is  a  Novelli  room  in  the  Museum  (q.v.),  and 
there  are  many  Novellis  in  the  churches.  For  a  list  of  where  his  paintings 
are  to  be  found,  see  General  Index. 

Novel-reading.    See  General  Index. 

Obituary  notices.     See  General  Index. 

Odo,  Bishop  of  Bayeux,  brother  of  William  the  Conqueror,  died  at 
Palermo  on  his  way  to  the  Crusade. 

Offamilia,  or  Offamiglio,  the  English  archbishop  of  Palermo  under  William 
the  Good,  who  erected  some  of  the  chief  buildings  in  Palermo.  See  Gen.  Index. 

Omnibuses.  Only  in  the  very  large  towns  are  there  lines  of  omnibuses  in 
the  streets  and  hotel  omnibuses.  The  Sicilian  mail-vettura,  or  diligence,  which 
runs  from  railway  stations  to  far-off  towns  in  the  interior,  is  little  more  than  a 
glorified  fly  with  special  conveniences  for  luggage.  You  often  wish  that  the 
vermin  would  get  out  and  help  the  horses. 

Opera-houses.  The  Teatro  Massimo  at  Palermo  is^by  one  yard  the  largest 
opera-house  in  Europe.  It  is  a  very  imposing  building.  The  Politeama  is 
a  beautiful  building,  a  reproduction  in  shape  and  colouring  of  the  antique. 

Orleans,  Palazzo  d',  called  also  Parco  d'Aumale  (q.v.).  The  Palermo  villa 
of  the  Duke  of  Orleans,  which  has  a  most  exquisite  garden. 

Orange-peel  drying.  Poor  people's  houses  are  covered  with  festoons  of 
drying  orange-peel,  intended,  I  suppose,  to  make  eau  de  Cologne. 

Oreto,  the.  The  river  of  Palermo ;  a  hardly  navigable  torrent  with  high 
banks  which  flows  past  the  Church  of  the  Vespers. 

Oria.     See  under  Loria  Ruggiero  di. 

Ospedale  de'  Sacerdoti.     See  under  Churches. 

Palermo  Carts.     See  under  Carts,  p.  410. 


438        SICILY  THE   NEW  WINTER   RESORT 

Palaces,  characteristics  of.  They  are  built  round  courtyards  or  round 
three  sides  of  a  square  with  a  garden  behind.  The  oldest,  such  as  the  Pietra- 
tagliata  and  Abatelli  have  towers,  but  there  are  few  anterior  to  the  sixteenth 
century,  the  best  type  of  which  have  cortili  with  two  tiers  of  colonnades  round 
them.  The  largest  is  the  Palazzo  Cattolica.  The  principal  palaces  worth 
visiting  are — 

(1)  Palazzo  AbateZlL    Of  the  fifteenth  century  (next  to  the  Gancia  Church). 
With  a  fine  square  tower.    The  exterior  is  the  most  perfect  of  any  late  medieval 
palace  in  Palermo.     The  interior  is  a  convent,  and  cannot  be  seen. 

(2)  AiutamicristO)   on  the  Via  Garibaldi,  with  a  fifteenth-century  Gothic 
fa9ade  rather  spoiled.     The  central  entrance  in  the  Via  Garibaldi  admits  to 
the  exquisite  cortile  which  is  rather  difficult  to  find,  and  is  the  nearest  thing 
that  Palermo  has  to  the  courtyard  of  the  Bargello  at  Florence.     Notice  the 
far  older  Arabo-Norman  windows  behind  the  colonnade.    At  the  side  entrance 
there  is  an  avenu£  of  laurels. 

(3)  The  Archbishop's  Palace.   Notice  a  window  by  Gagini  at  the  corner  of 
the  Corso,  and  Gothic  windows  at  the  other  end ;  the  base  of  the  great  tower 
built  in  Arabic  times ;  the  dagger  on  the  door,  said  to  be  that  with  which 
Matteo  Bonello  killed  the  Admiral  Majo,  the  minister  of  William  the  Bad, 
etc.    It  is  enormously  large,  connected  with  the  cathedral  by  two  flying  arches. 

(4)  Palazzo  Arezzo.  At  the  corner  of  the  street  leading  from  the  Via  Roma 
to  the  old  market,  now  used  as  a  shop  ;  has  in  its  courtyard  a  beautiful  tiled 
picture  of  a  Botticelli-like  design. 

(5)  Palazzo  Baucina^  on  the  Marina.     Extends  from  the  Porta  Greca  to 
the  Villa  Giulia,  and  contains  a  splendid  collection  of  old  majolica  by  Maestro 
Giorgio,  etc. ,  a  room  in  the  style  of  the  Norman  room  at  the  palace,  and  ball 
rooms  designed  from  the  Alhambra  at  Granada.     Can  only  be  visited  by 
introduction  to  the  Prince.    One  of  the  finest  in  Palermo.   The  palace  occupied 
by  Sir  William  and  Lady  Hamilton  during  their  stay  in  Palermo  covered  part 
of  the  site  facing  the  Villa  Giulia. 

(6)  Bentinck  Palace,  occupied  by  Lord  William  Bentinck  during  the  English 
occupation  of  Sicily,  is  nearly  opposite  the  Monastero  della  Pieti  on  the  Via 
Torremuzza. 

(7)  The  Butera  Palace  is  more  generally  known  as  the  Trabia  Palace.     It 
occupies  the  Marina  from  the  Porta  Felice  to  the  Hotel  Trinacria,  which  is 
part  of  the  original  building.    It  has  splendid  old  pictures,  etc. ,  and  magnificent 
apartments.     Can  only  be  visited  by  introduction  to  the  Prince.     It  is  the 
typical  palace  in  occupation  of  the  Sicilian  grand  seigneur. 

(8)  Butera,  Villa,     See  under  Florio. 

(9)  Cattolica^  Palazzo^  in  the  Via  Cintorinai,  near  the  church  of  S.  Fran 
cesco,  has  the  largest  cortile  in  Palermo,  a  noble  specimen  of  Sicilian  archi 
tecture.    There  are  one  or  two  old  palaces  with  Gothic  features  almost  opposite. 

(10)  Palazzo  Chiaramonte.     See  Dogana. 

(n)  CifuenteS)  Palazzo.  Fine  pala.ce  of  dark  yellow  stone  with  numerous 
Gothic  windows  of  the  fifteenth  century  near  the  Giardino  Inglese.  The 
interior,  now  occupied  by  a  charitable  institution,  has  no  features  of  archi 
tectural  interest.  It  was  at  one  time  used  by  the  viceroys. 

(12)  La  Cuba.     One  of  the  great  Arabo-Norman  palaces.    See  under  Cuba. 

(13)  Dogana.  Called  also  Palazzo  Chiaramonte,  the  Palace  of  the  Inquisition, 
Palazzo  Tribunale,  and  Lo  Steri.    Far  the  most  interesting  palace  in  Palermo. 
On  the  site  of  a  palace  of  the  Arabic  Emirs,  of  which  portions  probably  remain 


THINGS   OF   PALERMO  439 

embodied.  Its  great  hall  has  a  painted  roof  showing  all  the  life  of  the  four 
teenth  century  in  little  figures  about  a  foot  high,  which  is  the  rival  of  the  Bayeux 
tapestry,  and  is  dated  1377-80.  It  was  painted  by  Simuni  da  Corleone  and 
Chicu  da  Naro,  on  twenty-four  flat  beams  of  fir  resting  on  corbels.  The  roof 
itself  is  divided  into  five  hundred  little  compartments  of  shallow  carvings 
brilliantly  coloured.  As  late  as  the  eighteenth  century  its  gardens  comprised 
the  whole  of  the  Villa  Giulia,  which  was  formed  from  them.  The  palace  was 
used  by  the  kings  and  the  viceroys  after  them  till  1600.  From  1600  to  1782 
it  was  the  headquarters  of  the  Inquisition  in  Sicily.  The  palace  was  built  by 
Manfred  Chiaramonte  in  1307,  and  contains  besides  this  glorious  roof,  un 
paralleled  in  Europe,  a  number  of  magnificent  Arabo-Norman  windows,  one 
especially  being  the  richest  in  Sicily.  Climb  the  antique  staircases  to  the  roof 
to  see  the  splendid  view  of  Monreale  and  its  castle  and  the  mountains.  The 
courtyard  is  unfortunately  rather  built  up,  but  when  the  municipality  has 
fulfilled  its  promise  of  turning  the  palace  into  a  museum,  it  can  easily  be 
restored  to  its  medieval  condition.  See  the  vaults  in  which  the  tortures  of 
the  Inquisition  were  conducted,  and  see  the  ruinous  but  easily  restorable 
church  of  S.  Antonio  Abate,  its  chapel,  with  very  beautiful  Arabo-Norman 
work. 

(14)  Favara,  the.     One  of  the  great  Arabic  palaces.     See  under  Favara, 

(15)  Favorita.    The  villa  of  Maria  Caroline  under  Monte  Pellegrino.     In 
the  Chinese  style,  with  many  interesting  features,  mostly  worthless  from  the 
point  of  view  of  art,  and  rather  fine  gardens. 

(16)  Palazzo  Conte  Federigo.   In  the  lane  which  runs  down  the  back  of  the 
Palazzo  Sclafani  opposite  the  Royal  Palace.     An  artist's  bit  with  delightfully 
picturesque  late  Gothic  windows. 

(17)  Villa  FloriO)  on  the  Corso  Olivuzza.    Belonged  to  the  Prince  of  Butera, 
who  was  the  favourite  of  Maria  Caroline.     Contains  all  the  furniture  used 
when  it  was  the  centre  of  court  life  in  Nelson's  time.     Has  a  beautiful  palm 
garden.     Was  tenanted  by  the  Czar  Nicholas  I.  of  Russia  (q.v.). 

(18)  Palazzo  Gangi,  on  the  Piazza  Croce  dei  Yespri.    About  the  best  baroque 
palace  in  Palermo.     With  a  fine  cortile  and  processional  staircase  and  many 
objects  of  interest  in  its  noble  chambers  decorated  in  the  best  baroque  style. 

(19)  Palazzo  di  Gregorio  on  the  Mok.    Occupied  by  Nelson.     See  under 
Di  Gregorio. 

(20)  Palazzo  Ingham.    Via  Cavour  and  Via  Bara.     Called  also  Palazzo 
Whitaker.    A  beautiful  palace  built  in  the  style  of  the  great  Venetian  palaces, 
In  the  older  part  at  the  back  Mr.  Ingham  entertained  John  Henry  Newman. 
It  contains  more  beautiful  curios  than  any  palace  in  Palermo,  and  has  a  noble 
marble  staircase. 

(21)  Palace  of  the  Inquisition.     See  Dogana. 

(22)  Malfitano.     See  under  Malfitano. 

(23)  Mardoke,  Castello  di.     See  under  Favara. 

(24)  Palazzo  Mazzarino-Trabia.   Facing  the  Via  Macqueda  and  Via  Trabia. 
Has  a  noble  early  Renaissance  cortile,  and  contains  with  many  other  ^objects 
of  great  interest  and  value  some  of  the  finest  Sicilian  silk  hangings  in  existence. 
It  belongs  to  the  Conte  di  Mazzarino. 

(25)  Mazzarino  Palace,  in  the  Piazza  Garraffello.    An  old  palace  fallen 
upon  evil  days,  in  which  the  great  Cardinal  Mazarin  is  said  to  have  been  born. 

(26)  Mimnerno.    One  of  the  Arabic  palaces.     See  under  Mimnerno. 


440        SICILY  THE   NEW  WINTER   RESORT 

(27)  Palazzo  Montekone,  between  the  Olivella  and  S.  Domenico.     Has  an 
enormous  lemon  garden  running  the  whole  length  of  the  Via  Gagini,  which 
can  be  seen  from  the  windows  of  the  Museum,  and  a  marble  terrace  shaded  by 
a  magnificent  stone-pine.     The  Monteleone  family  are  the  descendants  and 
representatives  of  Cortez,  the  conqueror  of  Mexico.     It  has  some  very  fine 
rooms  with  frescoed  ceilings,  and,  being  a  pension,  can  be  visited. 

(28)  Palazzo  Municipio  is  not  very  interesting. 

(29)  Villa  d"  Orleans^  called  also  the  Parco  d'Aumale.     See  under  Gardens. 

(30)  Pietratagliata  Palace^  in  the  Via  S.  Basilio.     The  most  ancient  in  style 
of  the  Palermo  palaces,  restored  in  the  fifteenth  century,  with  a  fine  tower  and 
Gothic  windows.     There  are  some   Gothic  remains  in  a  courtyard  almost 
opposite.     It  is  close  to  the  Piazza  S.  Domenico. 

(31)  St.  Remy^  Palazzo.  Marked  with  an  antique  column  built  into  the  corner 
of  the  Piazza  Croce  dei  Vespri.    St.  Remy  (see  General  Index)  was  the  French 
Justiciar,  whose  oppressions  caused  the  revolution  of  the  Sicilian  Vespers. 

(32)  RitO)  Palazzo.     One  of  the  finest  palaces  in  the  Corso,  built  by  Mar- 
vuglia,  formerly  Palazzo  Belmonte,  opposite  Reber's  Library. 

(33)  Royal  Palace.  The  oldest  portion  of  the  exterior  is  the  Torra  di  S.  Ninfa 
in  the  centre,  in  the  same  style  as  the  Cuba  and  the  Zisa.    The  oldest  portions 
of  the  interior  are  the  exquisite  Cappella  Reale  (q.v.),  and  the  Norman  room 
and  the  dining-room.     The  perfect  Norman  room,  with  its  mosaics  above  and 


THE  ROYAL  PALACE 


its  marble  panelling  below,  has  no  equal  among  domestic  chambers  for 
antiquity  and  perfect  condition.  The  dining-room,  which  was  King  Roger's 
chapel,  only  preserves  its  form  and  its  columns.  The  picturesque  Spanish 
Porta  Nuova  forms  part  of  the  palace.  The  royal  apartments  are  not  very 
interesting,  except  as  retaining  most  of  the  furniture  and  features  of  the  Maria 
Caroline  period.  The  garden,  which  contains  some  fine  palms,  is  small  The 
views  are  splendid.  The  rooms  occupied  by  Garibaldi  and  Victor  Emmanuel 
are  shown. 

(34)  Scalea,  Palazzo.     On  the  Via  Macqueda.     Belonged  to  Ferdinand  I. 
and  IV.,  and  contains  the  furniture  of  his  time  undisturbed. 


THINGS   OF   PALERMO  441 

(35)  Sclafam,  Palazzo,     On  the  Piazza  della  Vittoria  opposite  the  Royal 
Palace.    The  south  and  east  fronts  are  in  their  original  medieval  condition.    The 
former  is  a  splendid  artists'  bit,  with  its  golden  stone  and  scutcheon  over  the 
door.     In  this  palace  (key  kept  at  the  Martorana)  is  the  magnificent  fresco  of 
the  "Dance  of  Death,"  the  only  great  fresco  in  Palermo,  by  a  fifteenth- 
century  Flemish  artist,  and  not  by  Crescenzio.     Also  the  remains  of  another 
fresco,  and  a  noble  cortile.    This  palace  was  built  in  the  fourteenth  century  by 
Matteo  Sclafani,  Count  of  Aderno,  the  rival  of  the  Chiaramonte. 

(36)  Sofia,  Villa.     See  under  Gardens.     The  original  Whitaker  Palace. 

(37)  Palazzo  Speciale.    In  a  street  leading  from  the  south-west  corner  of  the 
Piazza  Bologni,  with  charming  late  fifteenth-century  windows. 

(38)  Steri>  Lo.     See  Dogana. 

(39)  Trabta  Butera^  Palazzo.     See  Butera. 

(40)  Trabia  e  Silvern^  Palazzo.     An  old  palace,  with  most  of  its  features 
restored  out  of  recognition.     In  the  Via  del  Celso,  behind  the  Cancelliere. 

(41)  Trigona^  Palazzo.   A  palace  with  late  fifteenth-century  Gothic  features. 
At  the  corner  of  the  Via  Garibaldi  and  the  Piazza  Rivoluzione.     Artists  will 
find  the  best  street  Madonna  on  its  corner.     It  has  a  picturesque  courtyard. 

(42)  Villafranca^  Palazzo.    On  the  Piazza  Bologni.    A  yast  baroque  palace 
visited  by  Garibaldi  which  contains  a  Vandyck. 

(43)  Whitaker ;  Palazzo.     See  Ingham. 

(44)  Zisa,  La.    Much  the  best  of  the  Arabic  palaces.     See  under  Zisa. 
Palm  brooms.     The  ordinary  brooms  of  Palermo  are  made  of  the  leaves 

of  wild  palm.     Goethe  mentions  them  in  his  time. 

Palm  fans.   Used  for  blowing  up  the  charcoal. 

Palm  Sunday.   A  great  day  in  Palermo.     See  under  Ceremonies. 

Panormitan.  The  inscription  on  the  Trinacria  is  the  Doric  genitive  plural 
of  Panormitai,  the  inhabitants  of  Panormus. 

Panormus.  The  name  by  which  Palermo  was  best  known  to  the  ancients, 
translated  by  Liddell  and  Scott,  "  Always  fit  for  landing  in."  Homer  uses  it 
as  an  adjective.  It  was  not,  of  course,  a  Phoenician  name.  See  Machanat. 

Papireto,  i.e.  the  papyrus  swamp.  Almost  opposite  the  west  end  of  the 
Cathedral.  A  remnant,  long  since  dried  up,  of  the  right  arm  of  the  ancient 
harbour. 

Papyrus.  Grown  in  most  of  the  large  Palermo  gardens.  See  General 
Index. 

Parcels  Post.     See  General  Index. 

Paschal  Lambs.  In  sugar  or  almond  paste,  costing  from  a  halfpenny  to 
several  pounds ;  are  sold  everywhere  in  Palermo  for  Easter.  The  more  expen 
sive  ones  are  elaborate  scenes  from  the  Nativity. 

Pasticceria.  A  pastry-cook's  shop.  Guli  is  the  best  in  Palermo.  See 
General  Index. 

Passeggiata.  The  drive  at  sunset  dear  to  Italians  and  Sicilians.  In  Palermo 
they  use  the  Marina  in  the  summer  and  the  Giardino  Inglese  in  the  winter. 
See  General  Index. 

Patriarchal  Institutions.    See  General  Index. 

Patricola,  Prof.  The  head  of  the  "  Conservazione  dei  Monumenti  di 
Sicilia,"  behind  the  Martorano,  which  has  charge  of  the  preservation  of 
historical  buildings. 

Pellegrino.     See  Monte  Pellegrino. 


442        SICILY  THE   NEW   WINTER   RESORT 

Per  mia  Moglia,  etc.  For  these  inscriptions  on  houses  in  mourning,  see 
General  Index. 

Perseus  and  Medusa.  The  subject  of  one  of  the  more  ancient  Selinunte 
metopes  in  the  Palermo  Museum  (q.v,). 

Peter  I.  of  Aragon.  The  founder  of  the  Aragonese  dynasty  of  the  kings 
of  Sicily  in  right  of  his  wife  Constance,  the'  daughter  of  Manfred.  See 
General  Index.  He  comes  into  Shakespeare's  Much  Ado  About  Nothing. 

Photographers.  The  best  in  Palermo  is  Cav.  Giovanni  Incorpora,  Via 
Cavour.  The  next  is  Interguglielmi.  Alinari's  photographs  of  Sicily  may  all 
be  bought  at  Reber's,  and  Brogi's  at  the  stationer  at  the  corner  of  the  Corso  and 
the  Via  Roma.  Sommer,  the  great  Neapolitan  photographer,  has  a  shop  at  the 
bottom  of  the  Corso.  He  sells  many  views  of  Sicily.  • 

Phoenicians,  the,  in  Palermo,  Palermo  was  founded  by  the  Phoenicians, 
and  hardly  under  the  Carthaginians  or  Greeks  at  all.  For  its  ancient  name, 
see  under  Machanat.  There  is  a  splendid  lofty  piece  of  polygonal  Phoenician 
wall  still  to  be  seen  in  the  Via  Candelai,  and  there  are  two  Phoenician  sarco 
phagi  and  numerous  smaller  Phoenician  remains  in  the  Museum. 

Piana  dei  GrecL  A  favourite  excursion  from  Palermo  is  to  Piana  dei 
Greci,  where  an  Albanian  colony  has  been  settled  since  the  fifteenth  century, 
still  preserving  its  costumes,  rites,  customs,  and  language.  It  is  24  kil.  from 
Palermo.  There  is  a  diligence  at  2.30  p.m.,  which  charges  2  francs.  See 
General  Index. 

Piana  della  Foresta.  Near  Carini.  An  easy  day's  excursion  from  Palermo. 
Has  prehistoric  tombs  cut  in  the  rock. 

Piazzas. — P.  S.  Andrea.    A  quaint  little  piazza  close  to  S.  Domenico. 

P.  Aragona.  At  the  end  of  the  Via  Cintorinai.  An  interesting  medieval 
district. 

P.  Bellini.  Contains  the  Teatro  Bellini,  the  Martorana,  S.  Cataldo,  and 
S.  Caterina. 

P.  Bologni.  On  the  Corso.  Contains  the  post  office,  the  Villafranca  Palace, 
Reber's  Library,  and  the  terminus  of  the  Monreale  trams.  Named  after  Luigi 
Bologni,  who  built  it  in  1573.  The  bronze  statue  by  Livolsi,  1630,  represents 
Charles  V.  in  the  act  of  swearing  the  Sicilian  constitution. 

P.  Carmine.   In  front  of  the  church  of  that  name  near  the  Porta  S.  Agata. 

P.  Casa  Professa.  In  front  of  that  church  just  off  the  Via  Macqueda,  near 
the  University.  Has  some  nice  palms. 

P.  Castelnuovo.  On  the  opposite  side  of  the  Via  Macqueda  from  the 
Politeama.  The  Easter  fair  is  held  here. 

P.  Castelk.    Between  the  Castellammare  and  the  Piedigrotta  Church. 

P.  Croce  dei  Vespri.  Adjoining  the  Piazza  Aragona.  The  traditional  place 
where  the  French  were  buried  after  the  massacre  of  the  Sicilian  Vespers  in 
1282.  The  original  monument,  erected  some  centuries  after  the  massacre,  is 
preserved  in  the  Museum,  and  has  been  replaced  by  a  copy.  The  Gangi 
Palace  is  here  and  the  Palace  of  St.  Remy  (q.v.). 

P.  S.  Domenico.  One  of  the  most  frequented  squares,  is  at  the  end  of  the 
Via  Roma.  It  is  surrounded  by  S.  Domenico  and  great  sixteenth-century 
palaces  fallen  on  evil  days.  In  the  centre  rises  the  colossal  statue  of  the 
Immacolata  on  a  tall  column  erected  1724.  The  statue  was  made  by  Gian 
Battista  Ragusa.  This  is  the  place  to  see  fortune-tellers,  quack  dentists,  etc. 


THINGS    OF   PALERMO  443 

There  is  a  picturesque  water-shop  at  the  corner,  and  the  best  street  shrine  in 
Palermo  is  attached  to  the  side  of  the  church. 

P.  del  Duomo.  A  lovely  piazza  on  the  Corso.  The  whole  north  side  is 
bounded  by  the  long  line  of  the  Cathedral.  The  whole  west  side  by  the  vast 
Archbishop's  Palace.  It  is  laid  out  in  a  garden  whose  balustrade  is  surmounted 
by  marble  statues  of  saints  and  bishops,  and  its  graceful  palms  are  trailing 
with  smilax.  Since  1744  there  has  been  a  statue  of  S.  Rosalia  in  the  middle. 

P.  Fonderia.  On  the  road  from  S.  Domenico  to  the  Piazza  Marina.  So 
called  from  a  cannon  foundry.  It  has  a  pretty  pepper-tree  avenue  and  a 
house  with  a  picturesque  porch,  one  of  the  few  in  Palermo. 

P.  Garraffello,  at  the  corner  of  the  Via  Cassari  and  the  Argenteria.  The 
old  Mazzarino  Palace  is  here  (q.v.),  but  the  fountain  which  gave  it  its  name 
has  been  removed  to  the  Piazza  Marina.  An  excellent  place  for  kodakers. 

P.  Garraffb.  Just  below  S.  Antonio  at  the  back  of  the  old  market.  It  has 
a  curious  fountain  and  an  inscription,  and  the  fa9ade  of  S.  Eulalia  dei  Catalani 
is  a  charming  artist's  bit. 

P.  d> Indipend&nza.  At  the  back  of  the  Royal  Palace.  The  Parco  d'Aumale 
is  here,  and  the  tramway  terminus. 

P.  S.  Giacomo  alia  Marina.  Just  below  S.  Domenico  on  the  way  to  the 
Fonderia.  Named  after  a  recently  destroyed  church.  On  the  site  of  a 
mosque.  A  charming  artist's  bit  is  made  by  the  beautiful  church  of  S.  Maria 
Nuova  (q.v.),  and  the  little  house  adjoining  which  is  a  mass  of  colour  and 
quaintness. 

P.  Kalsa.  Named  after  the  Arabic  Kalesa,  or  Kalsa,  the  quarter  of  Saracenic 
Palermo  between  the  Piazza  Marina  and  the  Villa  Giulia.  Robert  Guiscard 
stormed  Palermo  through  the  gate  whose  door  is  still  preserved  in  situ  in  the 
little  church  of  S.  Maria  della  Vittoria  in  the  Via  Lo  Spasimo.  This  is  one 
of  the  very  poorest  quarters  of  Palermo. 

P.  Marina.  One  of  the  finest  squares  in  the  kingdom  of  Italy.  The  centre 
is  filled  with  the  majestic  palms  and  yuccas  of  the  Giardino  Garibaldi.  The 
Corso  and  S.  Maria  alia  Catena  with  its  soaring  and  exquisite  porch  bound  the 
north  side.  On  the  east  side  is  the  Palace  of  the  Inquisition,  an  enormous 
many-coloured  mass  with  fourteenth- century  Gothic  windows.  On  the  south 
side  is  the  noble  Palazzo  Cattolica,  with  glimpses  of  the  romantic  old  church  of 
the  Gancia.  Where  the  garden  now  stands  was  once  sea,  and  when  the  sea 
retreated,  probably  owing  to  a  volcanic  upheaval,  its  dry  bed  was  used  for 
fairs  and  the  autos-da-ft  of  the  Inquisition.  In  front  of  the  Inquisition  Palace 
built  by  the  Chiaramonti,  Andrew,  the  last  of  his  line,  and  the  most  ambitious, 
was  beheaded  for  aspiring  to  the  crown  of  Sicily.  It  is  an  important  tramway 
terminus. 

P.  Monteleone.  Between  the  Olivella  and  S.  Domenico.  Contains  the 
palace  of  that  name. 

P.  Nuova.  A  misnomer,  for  it  is  one  of  the  oldest.  It  lies  between  the  Via 
Macqueda  and  the  Via  Roma  in  the  bed  of  the  dried-up  right-hand  arm  of  the 
harbour,  and  contains  the  old  market.  It  is  one  of  the  best  kodakers'  and 
artists'  bits  in  Palermo.  The  market  is  primitive,  the  houses  round  are  old, 
quaint,  and  full  of  colour,  and  one  of  them  on  the  south  side  has  the  old  city 
postern  built  into  it.  It  has  a  marionette  theatre.  Looking  down  on  it  from 
the  Via  Macqueda  you  see  a  seething  mass  of  life  and  colour. 

P.  S.  Onofrio.  On  west  side  of  Via  Macqueda  in  the  dried-up  right  arm  of 
the  harbour. 


444        SICILY  THE   NEW  WINTER   RESORT 

P.  Pretoria.  Nothing  to  do  with  South  Africa.  So  called  because  the 
Palazzo  Pretoria — the  Municipio — is  situated  on  it.  Contains  a  large  and 
remarkable  fountain  full  of  figures.  The  west  side  is  open  to  the  Via  Macqueda. 
S.  Caterina  is  on  the  east  side. 


THE   FOUNTAIN   IN  THE  PIAZZA  PRETORIA 


P.  Papireto.  Behind  the  cathedral.  Has  a  superb  bank  of  agaves.  See 
Papireto. 

P.  Quaranta  MartirL  Off  the  Via  Macqueda  a  little  beyond  the  University, 
at  the  back  of  the  Casa  Professa.  Has  a  beautiful  Sicilian-Gothic  tower  and 
cloister. 

P.  della  Rivoluzione.  Formerly  called  the  Fi era  Vecchia,  i.e.  the  old  Fair 
or  Market.  Contains  a  Fountain  of  the  Genius  of  Palermo  and  the  late 
Gothic  Trigona  Palace.  Very  good  bits  for  artists. 

P.  Ruggero  Settimo.  Named  after  one  of  the  chief  patriots  of  the  Revolu 
tion.  Is  in  front  of  the  Politeama. 

P.  S.  Spirtto,  A  little  piazza  at  the  foot  of  the  Corso  (q.v.),  containing  a 
beautiful  fountain.  . 

P.  Ucdardone.  Between  the  Mole  station  and  the  prison.  A  cab  and 
tramway  piazza. 

P.  Tredici  Vittimi,  at  the  foot  of  the  Via  Cavour. 

P.  della  Vittoria.  In  front  of  the  Royal  Palace.  In  Norman  times  this 
piazza  was  bounded  on  the  south  by  a  wall  faced  with  marble  which  formed 
the  court  of  the  palace.  There  was  an  antique  Roman  theatre  here  pulled 
down  in  1447  by  the  Viceroy.  Falcandus  called  the  piazza  the  Aula  Regia. 
The  bronze  statue  of  Philip  V.  was  erected  here  in  1731.  It  was  taken  down 
to  make  cannon  for  the  rebels.  The  splendid  mosaic  pavement  discovered 
here  in  1869  is  in  the  Museum.  The  other  remains  covered  up  again.  There 


THINGS   OF   PALERMO  445 

is  a  subterranean  Roman  passage  underneath  It  from  the  palace  to  the 
cathedral.  One  of  the  finest  squares  in  the  kingdom.  The  whole  west  side 
is  taken  up  with  the  Royal  Palace,  and  Porta  Nupva  rising  from  a  beautiful 
mass  of  pepper  trees  and  agaves.  The  north  side  is  occupied  by  the  Convent 
of  the  Maddalena,  now  the  Carabinieri  Barracks,  but  with  a  charming  Arabo- 
Norman  chapel;  and  with  the  Archbishop's  Palace.  At  the  corner  where 
Gagini's  exquisite  window  stands  one  gets  a  glimpse  of  the  Moorish  form  of 
the  great  cathedral  built  with  golden  stone.  The  exteriors  of  the  Solidad  and 
the  Palazzo  Sclafani  facing  the  east  side  are  not  interesting,  nor  is  the  south 
side  important,  but  the  whole  effect  with  the  fountain  and  Philip's  statue  in 
the  middle  and  the  splendid  mass  of  buildings  rising  from  the  top  is  very  fine. 
There  are  other  squares  which  need  not  be  mentioned. 

P.  Vigliena.  A  little  octagonal  piazza  at  the  intersection  of  the  Via  Mac- 
queda  and  the  Corso,  always  called  the  Quattro  Canti  (q.v.).  The  decorations 
by  Giuglio  Sasso  were  finished  1662.  Each  face  contains  a  fountain,  a  statue 
of  a  Spanish  king,  and  a  composition  of  the  three  orders  of  classical  architec 
ture.  Architecturally  worthless,  but  delightfully  picturesque. 

Pieta.    See  under  Churches. 

Pitre.  Dr.    The  chief  living  antiquary  of  Sicily.    See  under  General  Index. 

Peasants'  Pottery.  See  General  Index.  The  best  place  to  buy  it  in 
Palermo  is  at  the  bottom  of  the  Via  Cassari,  near  the  Cala. 

Politeama.  A  beautiful  theatre  in  the  classical  style  coloured  in  the  ancient 
style.  Built  by  the  municipality  in  1867.  It  has  been  everything  from  a 
circus  to  an  opera-house,  as  its  name  betokens. 

Ponte  del  Ammiraglio.    See  under  Admiral,  Bridge  of  the. 

Porphyry.  There  is  some  glorious  ancient  porphyry  in  Palermo.  The 
white-flowered  crimson  porphyry  of  the  Cappella  Reale  is  as  beautiful  as  any  I 
ever  saw.  The  Norman  kings  buried  in  the  Cathedral  have  sarcophagi  of 
porphyry. 

Port,  the  dried  up.    See  under  Harbour. 

Porta  (Porte,  gates). — Porta  S.  Agata.  Belonging  to  the  Suabian  epoch. 
The  best  gate  in  Palermo  for  artists,  with  its  picturesque  shrine  over  its  old 
pointed  arch  and  the  long  stretch  of  medieval  wall  occupied  by  rope-spinners. 
It  is  close  to  the  end  of  the  Macqueda. 

Porta  S.  Antonino.  At  the  end  of  the  Via  Macqueda.  A  landmark,  but 
unimportant. 

Porta  Carini.  Near  the  Teatro  Massimo.  The  Hospital  of  the  Conception 
adjoins  it,  and  with  its  garden  occupies  most  of  the  superb  stretch  of  Spanish 
walls  which  begin  at  this  gate. 

Porta  di  Castro.  Near  the  Eremiti  Church  at  the  end  of  the  street  of  the 
same  name. 

Porta  Felice.  At  the  bottom  of  the  Corso.  Rather  handsome.  Erected  by 
the  Viceroy  Colonna  in  1582,  and  named  after  the  Vicereine  Felice  Orsini.  It 
has  no  top  in  order  that  the  lofty  car  of  S.  Rosalia,  which  is  as  high  as  the 
houses,  may  be  able  to  pass  through  it. 

Porta  Garibaldi.  Between  the  Via  Garibaldi  and  the  Corso  dei  Mille. 
Formerly  the  Porta  di  Termini,  destroyed  by  the  Bourbon  Government  in 
1852,  Garibaldi  entered  here  when  he  took  Palermo. 

Porta  S.  Giorgio,  the  foot  of  the  Via  Cavour.  Named  after  the  beautiful 
Renaissance  church,  S.  Giorgio  dei  Genovesi. 


446        SICILY  THE   NEW  WINTER   RESORT 

Porta  del  Greci.  A  very  handsome  gate  with  quite  a  classical  grace,  built  in 
1553.  The  north  end  of  the  Baucina  Palace  is  over  it,  as  the  Royal  Palace  is 
over  the  Porta  Nuova.  It  gets  its  name  because  this  was  the  quarter  of  the 
Greeks  till  the  thirteenth  century.  The  fine  Imperial  Eagle  by  Gagini,  now 
at  the  Monte  di  Pieta,  was  formerly  here.  It  is  between  the  Piazza  della 
Kalsa  and  the  Foro  Italico. 

Porta  Macqueda.  Used  to  stand  at  the  corner  of  the  Via  M'acqueda  and  the 
Via  Cavour.  It  is  now  only  a  geographical  expression. 

Porta  Mazzara  is  the  oldest  and  most  elegant  of  the  gates  of  Palermo.  It 
belongs  to  the  Arabo-Norman  epoch,  but  was  restored  by  the  Aragonese, 
whose  scutcheon  adorns  it.  It  is  very  narrow,  with  a  beautiful  pointed  arch, 
and  stands  in  a  pure  and  noble  fragment  of  the  medieval  wall.  It  is  famous 
for  the  repulse  of  the  Angevins  and  Genoese,  in  1325,  by  the  citizens  under 
Giovanni  Chiaramonte.  It  is  on  the  Corso  Tukery  close  to  the  Eremiti. 


THE  PORTA   FELICE, 
PALERMO 


Porta  Nuova  is  the  most  imposing  of  the  gates  of  Palermo.  It  forms  the 
north  end  of  the  Royal  Palace,  and  used  to  be  called  the  Porta  del  Sole. 
It  is  in  the  form  of  a  triumphal  arch,  surmounted  by  a  conical  pavilion  adorned 
with  a  design  in  brilliant-coloured  tiles  of  a  huge  eagle.  Its  architect  was 
Gaspare  Quercio,  but  it  is  said  to  have  been  designed  by  Michelangelo. 
The  huge  fettered  Moors  on  the  outside  record  the  triumphal  entry  of 
Charles  V.  after  his  Tunisian  expedition.  It  was  named  in  his  honour  the 
Porta  Austria,  but  the  people  christened  it  the  Porta  Nuova.  It  was  destroyed 
by  lightning  in  1667,  but  restored  in  the  same  form.  Garibaldi  slept  in 
the  pavilion  in  1860.  It  commands  a  splendid  view  down  the  Corso  to  the 
sea  and  up  to  Monreale. 

Porta  cF  Ossttna.  It  is  on  the  Corso  Alberto  Amadeo,  near  the  magnificent 
Guccia  bastion.  There  are  important  catacombs  here  like  those  of  Rome  and 
Syracuse,  discovered  in  1875,  and  never  properly  explored.  The  public  are 
not  admitted  to  them. 

Porta  di  Termini  was  on  the  site  of  the  Porta  Garibaldi. 

Porta  di  VicarL   Another  name  for  S.  Antonino  (q.v.). 


THINGS   OF  PALERMO  447 

Porta  del/a  Victoria.  A  translation  of  Bab-el-Fotic,  the  name  it  bore  in 
Arabic  times.  It  was  through  this  gate  that  Robert  Guiscard  burst  into 
1  alermo.  There  are  no  remains  of  the  gate,  but  its  oaken  door  is  preserved  in 
the  church  which  is  built  on  its  site,  S.  Maria  della  Vittoria,  in  the  Piazza 
del  Spasimo. 


THE  PORTA  NUOVA 


Post  Office.  The  General  Post  Office  is  in  the  Piazza  Bologni.  Foreigners 
are  much 'better  served  at  the  large  branch  office  in  the  Via  Roma,  which 
is  under  the  direction  of  Prince  Giardinelli,  who  was  formerly  an  officer  in  the 
English  Navy,  and  speaks  English. 

Pottery,  Sicilian.     See  under  Earthenware,  General  Index. 

Prefectures  (Prefettura).  Sicily  is  divided  into  Prefectures.  See  General 
Index.  The  Palace  of  the  Prefecture  at  Palermo  is  on  the  Piazza  della 
Vittoria  next  to  the  Archbishop's  Palace. 

Prickly-pears.  This  charming  fruit  is  much  sold  in  Palermo.  See 
General  Index,  p.*  175. 

Priests'  schools.   To  be  distinguished  by  their  cassocks  and  birettas. 

Quack  dentists,  etc.,  are  to  be  found  in  the  Piazza  S.  Domenico. 

Quails  are  to  be  shot  quite  close  to  Palermo,  even  on  Monte  Pellegrino, 
when  they  are  migrating. 

Quartararo,  Riccardo.  A  fifteenth-century  Sicilian  painter,  who  painted 
the  S.  Cecilia  in  the  Cathedral  behind  the  royal  tombs. 

Quattro  Aprile.  The  street  of  this  name  is  called  after  the  unsuccessful 
revolution  of  April  4th,  1860,  in  which  Francesco  Riso  and  his  companions 


448        SICILY  THE   NEW   WINTER   RESORT 

lost  their  lives.  The  street  leads  to  the  Gancia  Church,  where  the  revolution 
began. 

Quattno  Canti.  The  Piccadilly  Circus  of  Palermo.  The  intersection  of 
the  Corso  and  the  Via  Macqueda.  See  under  Piazza  Vigliena. 

Quattro  Canti  di  Campagna.  The  intersection  of  the  Via  Macqueda  and 
the  Via  Stabile. 

Radishes,  gigantic.     See  General  Index. 

Railways.  The  headquarters  of  the  Strade  Ferrate  della  Sicilia  are  at 
Palermo.  Though  the  trains  are  necessarily  slow,  because  the  small  amount 
of  traffic  compels  them  to  stop  at  so  many  stations,  this  is  balanced  by  the 
absence  of  accidents  and  absence  of  thieving.  The  Vice- Direct  or  in  charge  is 
the  well-known  antiquary  Comm.  Luigi  Mauceri,  who  pays  great  attention  to 
giving  access  to  the  leading  antiquities  of  the  island.  The  Ferrovia  Centrale, 
the  principal  station,  is  just  outside  the  Porta  S.  Antonina.  The  facchini 
who  take  your  luggage  from  the  train  will  contract  to  deliver  it  at  your  house 
if  you  are  not  going  to  an  hotel.  There  is  a  tariff,  but  you  have  to  stipulate 
that  it  is  to  include  the  porterage  at  the  station,  which  makes  a  difference 
of  about  50  per  cent. 

Randazzo,  Istituto.  In  the  Via  Alloro ;  has  a  beautiful  Renaissance 
cortile,  one  of  the  most  elegant  in  Palermo. 

Rape  of  Europa.  The  subject  of  one  of  the  beautiful  metopes  recently 
discovered  by  Prof.  Salinas  at  Selinute,  now  in  the  Palermo  Museum. 

Reber's  Library.  Formerly  Clausen's.  The  best  bookshop  in  Palermo, 
one  of  the  fcest  in  Italy.  Corner  of  the  Corso  and  the  Piazza  Bologni. 

Renaissance.     See  under  Architecture. 

Restaurants.  Palermo  is  not  great  on  restaurants  other  than  those  attached 
to  hotels.  Baedeker  gives  the  names  of  a  few. 

Revolutions.  See  General  Index.  The  last  two  before  the  successful 
Garibaldi  revolution  of  May,  1860,  were  those  of  1848  and  the  4th  of  April, 
1860.  Various  streets,  etc.,  are  named  after  their  heroes,  such  as  Francesco 
Riso,  Ruggero  Settimo,  and  Emefico  Amari. 

Riso,  Francesco.  The  leader  of  the  abortive  revolution  of  April  4th, 
1860.  See  General  Index. 

Robbia,  Della.  There  is  a  beautiful  example  in  the  Palermo  Museum 
of  these  glazed  terra-cotta  medallions.  There  are  hardly  any  in  Palermo. 

Robert  Guiscard,  Duke  of  Apulia,  who  provided  his  brother  Roger,  the 
Great  Count,  with  the  army  to  conquer  Sicily,  and  conducted  the  capture  of 
Palermo  himself,  A.D.  1071.  See  General  Index. 

Rocca.  The  suburb  at  the  foot  of  the  Monreale  Hill,  where  the  mountain 
motor  is  attached  to  the  Monreale  tramcar. 

Roger  the  First,  the  Great  Count.  The  founder  of  the  Norman  dynasty 
in  Sicily.  See  General  Index. 

Roger  II.,  the  King.  The  first  king  of  Sicily.  Crowned  1130.  See 
General  Index. 

Romagnola.   A  suburb  of  Palermo. 

Romans  in  Palermo.  The  Romans  took  Palermo  254  B.C.  and  retained  it 
till  the  Empire  broke  up. 

Rope-walk.  There  is  a  good  walk  on  the  medieval  walls  near  the  Porta 
S.  Agata. 

Rosaries.  Little  images  of  the  saints,  etc.,  can  be  bought  on  the  quaint 
stall  outside  S  Domenico.  A  good  subject  for  kodakers. 


THINGS   OF   PALERMO  449 

Ruggiero  Settimo.  A  revolutionary  leader  after  whom  the  piazza  is  named. 
See  General  Index. 

Rusidda,  Fountain  of  Donna.  Mentioned  in  The  Admiral.  Is  in  the 
Villa  Giulia. 

Salinas,  Prof.  A.  The  well-known  antiquary  and  author  who  is  director 
of  the  Palermo  Museum.  See  General  Index. 

Saracenic.     See  under  Architecture. 

Saracenic  water-towers.     See  under  Arabic,  p.  405. 

Saracens.  Were  masters  of  Palermo  from  A,D.  831-1071,  and  made  it 
their  capital.  They  called  it  Balarmu. 

Scina  Domenico,  after  whom  Corso  Scina  is  named.     See  p.  277. 

Sclafani,  Matteo.     See  under  Palazzo  Sclafani. 

Sea-urchins.   A  favourite  Palermo  delicacy.     See  General  Index. 

Selinunte  metopes.     See  under  Museum. 

Sepolcri  of  Holy  Thursday.  See  Gardens  of  Gethsemane  and  General 
Index,  under  Ceremonies  and  Gardens  of  Gethsemane. 

Serradifalco,  late  Duke  of.  An  eminent  antiquary.  See  General 
Index. 

Shoeblacks.  A  good  place  to  photograph  the  queer  Palermo  shoeblacks  is 
by  the  fish-market  outside  the  Castellammare. 

Shoemakers,  streets  of.  The  Via  Cintorinai  is  their  street  par  excellence, 
but  the  Via  Trabia,  Via  Bandiera  and  Via  S.  Agostino  are  also  full  of  them. 

Shops.  The  best  are  in  the  lower  part  of  the  Corso  and  in  the  Via 
Macqueda,  north  of  the  Quattro  Canti.  There  are  very  few  large  European- 
looking  shops  ;  most  of  them  are  simply  bassi  with  glazed  fronts.  See  Bassi, 
General  Index.  A  few  jewellers  have  beautiful  things,  but  the  expensive 
curio-shops  are  the  most  tempting  to  foreigners.  Ladies  find  handsome 
parasols  cheap  and  elegant  in  Palermo,  and  say  you  can  get  beautiful  printed 
cottons  for  blouses.  The  poor  people's  shops  are  still  in  bassi,  mostly  without 
glass  fronts,  and  each  trade  congregates  in  its  own  street.  The  drapers  are 
in  a  street  which  leads  off  the  Piazza  Garraffello,  containing  Florio's  Bank. 
The  shoemakers — see  preceding  par.  The  turners  and  cutlers  are  in  the 
Via  Tornieri;  the  coppersmiths  in  the  Via  Calderai ;  the  potters  and  car 
penters  in  the  Via  Cassari  and  the  adjoining  streets.  The  Argenteria  is 
confined  to  small  jewellers,  but  they  are  not  good.  ^The  expensive  curio-shops 
are  in  the  Corso  and  Via  Macqueda.  See  Antichita-shops. 

Shrines.  Palermo  is  full  of  street  shrines  with  a  lamp  or  row  of  candles 
in  front  of  them.  The  best  picture  is  on  the  Trigona  Palace,  Piazza^  della 
Rivoluzione.  The  best  chapel  shrine  is  on  the  south  side  of  S.  Domenico. 

Shroud  of  our  Lord.  The  shroud  of  our  Lord  (Santo  Sudario)  is  at 
S.  Giuseppe. 

Sicanian.     There  is  some  -Sicanian  pottery  in  the  Museum  (q.v.). 

Sicilian  cakes.  The  best  in  Palermo  are  at  Guli's  in  the  Corso  and  Via 
Macqueda. 

Sicilian- Gothic.     See  under  Architecture. 

Sicilian  Vespers.  The  name  given  to  the  massacre  of  the  French  on 
Easter  Monday,  1282,  the  signal  for  which  was  the  vesper  bell  of  S.  Spirito. 
The  Sicilians  at  the  first  sound  of  the  bell  each  poniarded  the  nearest  French 
man.  A  few  fought  their  way  to  the  city  of  Sperlinga,  which  opened  its 
gates  to  them  and  protected  them  till  Charles  of  Anjou  marched  to  avenge 

2   G 


450        SICILY   THE   NEW  WINTER   RESORT 

the  massacres.  To  this  day  the" people  of  Sperlinga  speak  a  French  dialect. 
•Their  loyalty  to  the  French  is  commemorated  in  the  famous  line,  "  Quod 
Siculis  placuit,  sola  Sperlinga  negavit."  The  native  Sicilians  were  led  by 
Mastrangelo,  but  the  arch -plotter  in  the  movement  was  Gianni  or  (Giovanni 
da  Procida),  and  the  man  who  did  the  most  to  put  Peter  of  Aragon,  who  had 
married  the  Sicilian  Princess  Constantia,  on  the  throne,  was  the  great  Catalan 
admiral,  Roger  de  L'Oria.  Boccaccio's  tale  of  Gianni  and  Restituta,  located 
at  Palermo,  concerns  the  personages  of  the  Sicilian  Vespers,  which  has  been 
made  the  subject  of  a  famous  picture. 

Sikelian.  There  is  a  fine  collection  of  Sikelian  pottery,  etc.,  in  the 
Museum  (q.v.). 

Silk  hangings.  Of  the  Saracenic  silk  hangings,  for  which  Palermo 
was  famous,  even  the  Museum  has  hardly  any  specimens.  Of  the  later 
medieval  silk  hangings  the  Conte  Mazzarino  has  some  splendid  examples  in 
his  palac'e. 

Silver  map  of 'the  world.  Made  for  King  Roger  by  the  Arabic  geographer, 
El  Edrisi,  q.v.  under  General  Index. 

Silversmiths,  the  street  of  the.     See  under  Shops,  Via  Argenteria, 

Sinibald,  Duke.  Brother  or  brother-in-law  of  William  the  Good,  and 
father  of  S.  Rosalia. 

Sirocco.  See  under  General  Index.  Palermo  sometimes  has  fierce  storms 
when  the  sirocco  blows,  strong  enough  to  blow  the  windows  in,  if  the  persiani 
are  not  closed  in  time.  See  Persiani.  The  harbour  is  not  very  safe  in  a 
sirocco,  and  you  see  ships  running  out  into  the  bay.  The  passage  from 
Naples  in  a  bad  sirocco  is  fearful.  Nelson  records  it  as  being  the  worst  sea 
he  ever  was  in ;  but  it  does  not  affect  the  voyage  from  Naples  to  Messina  so 
much,  owing  to  the  lie  of  the  land. 

Skeggs,  Canon.    Is  British  chaplain  at  Palermo. 

Skin-sellers.  Hawkers  go  about  selling  skins,  mostly  of  the  domestic  cat 
or  dyed  sheep. 

Smalti,  enamels.     See  under  Enamels,  p.  424. 

.  Solunto.  The  Sicilian  Pompeii  (q.v.)  is  only  ten  miles  from  Palermo,  near 
the  S.  Flavia  Stat.  Its  frescoes,  terra-cottas,  etc.,  are  in  the  Palermo  Museum 
(q.v.). 

Spanish  tiles.  See  General  Index.  Much  used  for  palace  floors  and  for 
domes.  They  are  glazed,  and  mostly  blue  or  green,  orange,  and  white. 

Spanish  Viceroys.  See  General  Index.  Their  portraits  hang  in  the  first 
room  of  the  Royal  Palace.  See  also  Palazzo  di  Gregorio,  where  they  stayed 
on  their  arrival. 

Sphinx  metope.  A  beautiful  metope  discovered  in  recent  years  by  Prof. 
Salinas  at  Selinunte.  Now  in  the  Palermo  Museum  (q.v.). 

Squid,  or  Octopus.  A  popular  article  of  food  in  Palermo.  See  General 
Index,  under  Octopus. 

—  'Stalls.  There  are  all  sorts  of  stalls  in  the  streets,  the  commonest  of  which 
are  the  water-stalls,  nut-stalls,  dried  bean  stalls,  fried  fish  stalls,  bookstalls, 
knives  and  knick-knacks  stalls,  sponge  stalls,  sweet  stalls,  stationery  stalls, 
and  post-card  stalls.  Some  of  the  water-stalls  with  their  rickety  canopies  and 
Oriental  brasses  and  jars  are  extremely  picturesque. 

-  Steamers.  There  are  French  steamers  from  Palermo  to  Marseilles.  The 
Italian  steamers,  mostly  belonging  to  the  Florio-Rubattino  Line  (q.v.),  go  to 


THiJNUb    OF    PALERMO  451 

all  parts  of  Sicily  and  Italy  and  to  Tunis.  Their  office  is  at  the  corner  of  the 
Piazza  Marina  and  the  Corso.  There  are  also  General  Steam  Navigation  Co. 
steamers  from  London,  and  Wilson  Line  steamers  from  Hull  carrying  cargo. 

Stoves.    See  General  Index,  p.  290. 

Streets. —  Via  Albergheria.  Runs  from  the  Piazza  di  Carmine  to  the  Via 
Benedettini,  near  the  Eremiti.  Contains  the  old  church  of  S.  Nicola  with 
its  Sicilian -Gothic  tower  and  windows.  A  typical  Sicilian  street.  See 
Albergheria. 

Via  Alloro.  The  street  which  runs  past  the  Gancia  and  the  Palazzo  Abatelli, 
at  the  back  of  the  Piazza  Marina.  Good  for  medieval  buildings. 

Via  Bambinai.  Runs  from  the  back  of  S.  Domenico  to  the  Porta  S. 
Giorgio.  Contains  the  Gothic  cloister  of  S.  Domenico,  entered  under  an 
archway  close  to  the  Oratory  del  Rosario  di  S.  Domenico,  S.  Cita,  SS. 
Annunziata,  S.  Maria  di  Valverde,  and  S.  Giorgio  Genovese.  One  of  the 
best  streets  for  churches. 

Via  Bar  a.  Runs  from  the  Via  Macqueda,  past  the  Museum,  down  to  the 
Palazzo  Whitaker.  In  the  little  piazza  adjoining  this  palace  is  an  artist's  bit. 

Via  S.  Basilio.  Runs  from  the  Via  Bandiera,  where  it  joins  the  Piazza  S. 
Domenico  to  the  Via  Trabia.  It  contains  the  antique  Gothic  Pietratagliata 
Palace,  and  almost  opposite  a  courtyard  with  some  Gothic  windows  belonging 
to  an  old  convent. 

Via  Bandiera.  One  of  the  most  important  of  the  old  streets  of  Palermo ;  is 
the  main  street  from  the  Macqueda  to  the  Piazza  S.  Domenico.  Where  they 
join  there  is  a  house  with  some  Gothic  details.  It  has  no  side-walk.  All  the 
streets  in  Palermo  are  paved  with  lava. 

Via  BonellO)  or  Matteo-Bonello.  Runs  from  the  west  end  of  the  Cathedral 
past  the  Papireto.  On  its  left,  overlooking  the  Papireto,  adjoining  the  Arch 
bishop's  Palace,  is  an  artist's  bit — a  charming  Renaissance  doorway,  It 
belongs  to  the  Ospedale  dei  Sacerdoti.  On  the  opposite  side  of  the  road  are 
the  remains  of  a  beautiful  Arabo-Norman  chapel  of  the  Incoronata  (q.v.),  and 
in  a  lane  round  the  corner  the  ancient  Norman  church  of  S.  Cristina  la  Vettere. 

Via  Calderai.  Runs  down  from  the  Via  Macqueda  at  the  back  of  the 
Martorana.  Very  interesting,  because  the  coppersmiths  do  their  forging  here. 
Turn  from  it  into  the  Via  Tornieri  (q.v.). 

Via  Candelai.  Runs  from  the  Via  Macqueda  up  to  the  Via  Beati  Paoli, 
and  was  the  right-hand  boundary  of  the  ancient  city  before  the  old  harbour 
dried  up.  It  contains  a  splendid  fragment  of  the  Phoenician  wall,  and  in  a 
beautiful  little  garden  near  the  top  the  old  bed  of  the  harbour  is  distinctly 
visible. 

Via  Cassari,  Runs  from  the  Cala  up  to  the  Piazza  Garraffello,  and  is  the 
street  of  the  carpenters  and  potters.  It  is  a  capital  street  for  kodakers. 

Via  Cavour.  A  new  street  just  outside  the  old  north  wall,  which  is  full  of 
artists'  bits  at  its  back  in  the  Via  Bara.  It  contains  the  noble  Venetian  Palazzo 
Whitaker  and  some  fine  new  shops,  and  leads  up  to  the  Via  Macqueda  at  the 
Teatro  Massimo. 

Via  Cintorinai.  Runs  from  the  Corso  to  the  Piazza  Aragona  (and  on  to  the 
Via  Garibaldi).  It  contains  the  beautiful  church  of  S.  Francesco  d'Assisi 
(q.v.),  the  Oratory  of  S.  Lorenzo  (q.v.),  the  Palazzo  Cattolica  (q.v.),  and  a 
house  with  some  Gothic  details  almost  opposite.  It  is  the  street  of  the  boot 
makers.  There  are  some  jewellers  who  sell  unique  things  at  moderate  prices 
in  this  street. 


452        SICILY  THE   NEW  WINTER   RESORT 

Corso,  the.  Via  Toledo  of  the  Spaniards  and  the  Cassaro  of  the  Arabs;  is 
the  most  important  street  of  the  city.  It  runs  from  the  Porta  Nuova  under  the 
Royal  Palace  to  the  sea  at  the  Porta  Felice.  See  under  Corso. 

f  Via  Colonna  Rotta.  A  street  which  leads  from  the  Porta  Nuova  to  the 
Zisa.  Notice  the  traces  in  the  market-gardens  of  the  dried-up  right-hand  arm 
of  the  harbour. 

Via  del  Ceho,  on  the  left  side  of  the  Via  Macqueda.  Between  the  Via 
Candelai^  and  the  Corso.  It  contains  some  fine  old  Sicilian-Gothic  palaces 
close  to  its  junction  with  the  Via  Macqueda,  and  higher  up  the  old  Trabia  e 
Silvera  Palace  close  to  the  Cancelliere  church,  whose  gateway  and  interior  are 
capital  artists'  bits. 

Via  Gagini.  Runs  from  the  Piazza  S.  Domenico,  past  the  east  side  of  the 
vast  garden  front  of  the  Monteleone  Palace. 

Via  Garibaldi.  Contains  at  the  corner  of  the  Piazza  Rivoluzione  the  late- 
Gothic  Trigona  Palace,  and  runs  from  there  to  the  Porta  Garibaldi.  Much  of 
it  is  taken  up  with  the  vast  battlemented  Aiutamicristo  Palace  (q.  v.),  which  has 
many  late  Gothic  windows  on  its  fa9ade  and  inside  has  a  superb  Gothic  cortile. 
One  of  the  best  artists'  bits  in  Palermo. 

Via  Lincoln.  A  new  street  outside  the  south  wall  of  the  city.  Runs  from 
the  Porta  S,  Antonino  by  the  railway  station,  past  the  Orto  Botanico,  and  be 
tween  the  Villa  Giulia  and  the  Baucina  Palace  to  the  sea. 

Via  Lolli.  Runs  from  the  Piazza  Castelnuovo  to  the  Olivuzza,  past  the 
Lolli  station,  Malfitano,  and  the  Villa  Serradifalco. 

Via  Macqueda.  Runs  right  through  Palermo  from  the  railway  station  to  the 
Teatro  Massimo,  and  for  miles  each  way  under  other  names.  It  cuts  the 
Corso  at  the.Quattro  Canti,  and  though  second  in  rank,  is  the  most  fashionable 
street  and  contains  the  best  shops.  It  is  the  favourite  promenade. 

Vice  Merlo.   The  south-west  corner  of  the  Piazza  Marina. 

Via  Porta  di  Castro.  Follows  the  dried-up  left-hand  arm  of  the  harbour 
pretty  closely  from  the  Casa  Professa  church  to  the  Piazza  Indipendenza.  In 
the  streets  off  it  are  some  very  interesting  old  buildings,  and  it  is  a  good 
street  for  kodakers,  because  it  is  absolutely  Sicilian  and  uninvaded  by  foreigners. 
See  Kemonia. 

Via  Protonotaro.  A  street  off  the  Corso  by  the  church  of  SS.  Salvatore. 
It  contains  some  beautiful  old  Sicilian-Gothic  mouldings  and  a  very  fine 
palace  almost  opposite  each  other. 

Via  Roma.  Is  a  new  street  leading  from  the  Corso  to  the  Piazza  S.  Domenico. 
Contains  the  church  of  S.  Antonio  (q,v.),  the  old  market  under  S.  Antonio 
(see  Markets),  and  just  round  the  corner  on  the  way  to  the  Piazza  Nuova,  the 
Palazzo  Arezzo  (q.v.),  with  the  tile  picture  in  its  cortile.  The  most  convenient 
post  office  is  here. 

Via  Ruggero  Settimo.  A  prolongation  of  the  Macqueda  from  the  Teatro 
Massimo  to  the  Politeama  in  the  Piazza  Ruggero  Settimo. 

Via  S.  Agostino.  Runs  from  the  Via  Macqueda,  past  the  Mercato  dei 
Aragonesi  to  the  Via  Beati  Paoli.  There  is  a  charming  fountain  in  a  little 
pkzza  on  the  left  hand  near  the  Via  Macqueda,  and  a  Gothic  palace  on  the 
right  at  the  corner  of  the  Via  S.  Giuseppe.  The  side- wall  of  S.  Agostino 
itself  is  one  of  the  prettiest  pieces  of  Renaissance  in  Palermo,  a  beautiful 
artists'  bitj  and  higher  up  opposite  the  Mercato  is  S.  Marco,  the  church  of 
the  Venetians.  This  street  is  almost  entirely  occupied  by  bootmakers. 


THINGS   OF   PALERMO 


453 


Salita  S.  Antonio.  Leading  from  the  Corso  a  little  below  S.  Matteo,  to  the 
Casa  Normanna,  a  superb  old  Norman  house  with  eight  richly  decorated 
windows,  right  at  the  back  of  S.  Matteo. 

Via  Stabile.  Leads  from  the  sea  to  the  Quattro  Canti  di  Campagna  and 
beyond.  It  contains  the  Hotel  des  Palmes,  the  English  church,  the  Pension 
Panormus;  etc. 

Via  Tornieri.  The  street  of  the  turners  and  cutlers,  leads  from  the  Corso 
a  little  below  S.  Antonio  to  the  Via  Calderai. 

Via  Torremuzza.  Leads  from  the  Piazza  della  Kalsa  at  the  back  of  the 
Foro  Italico  to  the  Via  Butera.  Contains  the  Bentinck  Palace. 

Via  Trabia.  ^  Leads  from  the  Via  Macqueda,  opposite  the  Teatro  Massimo,  to 
the  Via  S.  Basilio,  and  contains  the  splendid  Mazzarino-Trabia  Palace,  and  a 
very  good  artists'  bit  almost  opposite. 

Suisse.  The  Cathedral,  Cappella  Reale,  and  one  or  two  other  churches  have 
Suisses  in  rose-coloured  silk  robes  for  their  processions. 

Suisse,  Pension,  in  the  splendid  old  Palazzo  Monteleone.  Lets  apart 
ments  as  well  as  takes  people  en  pension. 

Tapestry.  Several  of  the  palaces  have  fine  tapestry,  notably  Malfitano 
(q.v.). 

Tarsia.   In  several  of  the  churches.     See  General  Index. 

Tasca,  Villa.  Count  Tasca  has  one  of  the  most  beautiful  gardens  in 
Palermo,  to  which  strangers  are  admitted.  See  Gardens. 

Tasca.  The  late  Mayor,  or  Sindaco,  of  Palermo,  who  has  done  so  much  to 
make  the  city  healthy  and  to  suppress  cruelty  to  animals,  is  a  son  of  the  above. 
He  lives  in  the  Palazzo  Aiutamicristo. 

Telegraph  Office,  the  General,  is  on  the  Via  Macqueda,  in  S.  Ninfa  dei 
Crociferi.  About  Telegrams,  see  General  Index. 


TEATRO   MASSIMO,  THE  LARGEST  THEATRE  IN  THE  WORLD 


454       SICILY  THE  NEW  WINTER   RESOkT 

Terra-cotta  figures.  The  beautiful  Tanagra  figures  found  at  Solunto  and 
quantities  of  the  more  archaic  figures  found  at  Selinunte,  etc.,  are  in  the 
Museum  (q.v.).  See  General  Index,  under  Earthenware. 

Teutonic  knights.  Their  church  was  the  beautiful  old  Magione,  whose 
inside  has  lately  been  badly  restored.  Near  the  Villa  Giulia.  Many  of  their 
effigies  are  on  the  floor.  See  General  Index. 

Theatres. — Teatro  Massimo.  The  opera-house ;  is  the  largest  in  the  world. 
On  the  Via  Macqueda  (q.v.) 

Pptiteama  (q.v.),  on  the  Via  Macqueda,  also  has  an  opera  sometimes. 


THE  POLITEAMA  GARIBALDI 

The  other  theatres  are  the  Anfiteatro  Mangano  in  the  Via  Stabile,  the 
Bellini  near  the  Martorana,  the  S.  Cecilia  in  the  Via  S.  Cecilia,  the  Teatro 
Garibaldi  in  the  Via  Castro  Fillipo,  and  the  Umberto  in  the  Via  Merlo. 
There  are  also  marionette  theatres  in  the  Piazza  Nuova,  etc. 

Tombs.  The  splendid  tombs  of  the  Norman  kings  are  in  the  Cathedral 
and  at  Monreale.  There  are  very  fine  medieval  tombs  in  the  crypt  of  the 
Cathedral  and  a  few  in  the  Gancia.  S.  Maria  di  Gesu  has  some  exquisite 
Renaissance  tombs  in  the  church.  See  also  S.  Francesco  d'Assisi.  Some  of 
the  best  tombs  are  in  the  Domenican  church  of  S.  Cita.  Sicilian  notabilities, 
especially  of  the  last  century,  are  buried  in  S.  Domenico,  the  Westminster 
Abbey  of  Palermo.  The  tombs  in  the  Campo  Santo  of  the  nobles  at  the  Gesu 
resemble  the  towers  of  masonry  which  the  Romans  affected.  See  under 
Campi  Santi.  The  best  tombs  in  Palermo  are  in  the  Museum. 

Tortoiseshell.    See  Antichita. 

Trabia-Butera.     See  under  Butera. 

Trams  .Palermo  has  a  good  many,  all  electric  now.  They  call  them 
trams  or  tramways  like  we  do.  Those  for  Monreale  start  from  the  Piazza 
Bologni.  Most  others  start  from  the  Piazza  Marina.  A  few  from  the  Piazza 
d5  Indipendenza. 


THINGS   OF  PALERMO  455 

Trattorie.  A  trattoria  is  a  humbler  kind  of  restaurant.  Called  also 
locanda. 

Trifoglio.  The  Sicilian  weed.  An  oxalis  with  a  pale  green  trefoil  leaf 
and  a  yellow  flower  like  the  giant  musk.  See  General  Index.  Most  lemon 
groves  are  carpeted  with  it. 

Trinacria.   The  name  of  Sicily.     See  General  Index. 

Trinacria.  The  arms  of  Sicily.  See  General  Index.  Taken  from  a  coin 
of  Julius  Caesar. 

Triquetra.     See  under  Trinacria  (arms). 

"Triumph  of  Death."  A  famous  fourteenth-century  Flemish  fresco  in  the 
Palazzo  Sclafani  (q.v.). 

Tunny-fish.     See  General  Index. 

University.  Is  situated  in  the  former  convent  of  the  church  of  S.  Giuseppe 
on  the  Via  Macqueda.  It  existed  in  the  fifteenth  century  in  the  convent  of 
S.  Domenico.  In  1805  it  was  elevated  to  the  rank  of  a  royal  university  ;  the 
Orto  Botanico,  the  observatory  of  the  palace,  and  the  clinical  school  in  the 
Hospital  of  the  Conception  are  attached  to  it,  and  it  has  an  interesting  museum 
of  geology,  zoology,  etc.  At  the  head  of  the  Geological  Museum  is  one  of 
the  most  eminent  men  in  Italy,  Senator  Gaetano  Giorgio  Gemmellaro. 

Vandycks  of  Palermo.  There  are  famous  examples  in  S.  Caterina  (q.v.), 
the  Oratorio  del  Rosario  di  S.  Domenico  (q.v.),  etc.  The  latter  is  an  alle 
gory  of  Vandyck's  flight  from  Sicily  to  escape  the  plague. 

Vases.  There  is  a  fine  collection  of  vases—Greek,  Sicanian,  Sikelian, 
Etruscan,  and  Arab —in  the  Museum' (q.  v. ). 

Vegetable-sellers  and  their  cries.    See  Hawkers. 

Vegetable  shops.     See  under  Greengrocers. 

Velasquez.  The  Velasquezes  in  Sicily  are  generally  by  Giuseppe  Velasquez 
of  Monreale  (see  General  Index),  not  Diego  Velasquez.  There  is  a  good 
deal  of  his  painting  in  the  Royal  Palace. 

Vendettas.     See  under  General  Index. 

Vigilia,  Tommaso  di.  One  of  the  best  Sicilian  painters.  He  lived  in  the 
fifteenth  century.  See  General  Index.  The  Museum  has  some  charmingly 
poetical  frescoes  by  him.  The  roof  of  the  Annunziata  church  is  attributed  to 
him,  and  one  other  church  has  a  picture. 

Villas.—  Villa  Bdmonte.    At  the  foot  of  Monte  Pellegrino.     Has  a_  stately 
yellow  palace,   which  is  a  landmark  as  you  enter  the  harbour  in  its  rich 
southern  garden,  to  which  the  public  are  admitted  on  certain  conditions. 
Villa  Butera.     See  under  Palazzo  Florio. 

Villa  Chiaramonte.  Is  represented  by  the  Villa  Giulia,  made  out  of  part  of 
the  garden  attached  to  the  old  palace  of  the  Chiaramonte  on  the  Piazza 
Marina,  now  the  Dogana. 

Villa  Giulia^  or  Flora.     See  preceding  par. ;  see  under  Gardens. 
Villa  Malfitano.     See  under  Malfitano,  the  residence  of  J.  J.  S.  Whitaker, 
Esq. 

Villa  d?  Orleans.   See  Aumale,  Parco  d1,  the  Palermo  residence  of  the  Duke 
of  Orleans.     The  public  are  admitted. 
Villa  Ranchibile,  Near  the  Favorita. 

Villa  Serradifalco.  In  the  Olivuzza  on  the  Via  Lolli.  Occupied  by  the 
Dowager  Duchess. 


456        SICILV  THE   NEW   WINTER   RESORT 

Villa  Sofia.  In  the  suburb  of  Resuttana,  Belongs  to  Robert  Whitaker, 
Esq.,  and  is  considered  to  have  the  finest  palms  in  Palermo.  Public  admitted. 

Villa  Sj>erlinga.  Belongs  to  Joshua  Whitaker,  Esq.  Has  a  wonderful 
artificial  grotto  and  delightful  lawns.  The  tennis  parties  at  this  villa  are  one 
of  the  chief  features  of  the  Palermo  season. 

Villa  Tasca.  One  of  the  most  beautiful  gardens  in  Europe.  Its  tangles 
of  subtropical  vegetation  are  really  wonderful.  It  is  just  off  the  Monreale 
road.  The  public  are  admitted.  Small  tip  to  gatekeeper. 

To  these  must  be  added  four  villas  at  Bagheria,  the  old  court  suburb  ;  the 
Villa  Valguernera,  with  its  beautiful  gardens  and  views  of  the  Lipari  Islands  ; 
the  Villa  Trabia-Butera,  with  its  imitation  Carthusian  monastery  and  wax 
works;  the  Villa  Palagonia,  described  at  such  length  by  Goethe,  with  its  stucco 
monsters ;  and  the  Villa  S.  Elia,  between  Bagheria  and  Ficarazzi,  which  has 
a  very  handsome  double  outside  staircase. 

Villafranca.   A  well-known  Sicilian  reformer  of  the  nineteenth  century. 

Virgin,  street-pictures  of.  Palermo  is  full  of  them.  Each  with  its  lamp 
or  row  of  candles  lit  at  dark.  The  best  is  on  the  Trigona  Palace,  Piazza 
Rivoluzione. 

Virgin  in  the  Procession  of  the  Pieta  on  Good  Friday.  She  stands  on 
a  lofty  car  carried  on  the  shoulders  of  a  score  of  men  in  black  velvet.  She 
wears  a  black  velvet  mantle  embroidered  by  the  Queen-Mother  Margherita. 

Vultures.   The  large  griffon  vulture  is  common  on  Monte  Pellegrino. 

Walls.     See  under  Phoenicians,  Ancient  Harbour,  etc. 

Walter  of  the  Mill.  The  English  Archbishop  of  Palermo.  See  under 
Offamilia. 

Water-carriers  and  their  little  brass  tables.  See  General  Index,  under 
Water-carriers. 

Wheel  of  Bells.  See  under  General  Index.  There  are  examples  at  the 
Gesu  and  S.  Giovanni  dei  Lebbrosi. 

Whitakers  of  Sicily,  the.  See  under  Palazzo  Whitaker,  Malfitano,  Villa 
Sofia,  General  Index,  p.  313,  and  under  Marsala. 

William  I.  of  Sicily  (the  Bad).  1154-1166.  See  General  Index.  Buried 
in  Monreale  Cathedral. 

William  II.  (the  Good).  1166-1189.  King  of  Sicily.  See  General 
Index.  Buried  in  Monreale  Cathedral. 

William  III.  of  Sicily.  Reigned  for  a  short  while  in  1194.  See  General 
Index. 

Wine-shops  of  Palermo  seem  very  quiet.  As  at  Syracuse,  they  sell  food 
as  well  as  wine,  and  have  their  casks  whitened  and  painted  with  images  of 
saints. 

Women.  See  General  Index.  In  Palermo  they  seldom  wear  any  dis 
tinctive  dress  except  the  black  man  to  over  their  heads  when  they  go  to  Mass, 
The  lower-class  women  go  about  bareheaded.  They  do  not  carry  water-jars 
on  their  heads,  though  we  sometimes  see  them  carrying  other  burdens  on  their 
heads  in  the  suburbs. 

Zisa,  La.  The  best  of  the  Arabic  palaces  of  Palermo.  Its  name,  which 
is  said  to  be  derived  from  an  Arabic  word  Ziz  or  Sis,  meaning  flower,  is  very 
interesting,  both  because  of  the  palace's  flower-like  beauty  and  because 
many  people  think  that  this  was  the  original  Phoenician  name  of  Palermo. 
There  is  no  finer  artists'  bit  in  the  kingdom  of  Italy  than  the  vast  sort  of 
loggia  under  the  Zisa,  with  its  great  Saracenic  arch  filled  up  with  old  iron- 


THINGS   OF   RAGUSA 


457 


work  ;  its  honeycombed  ceiling  ;  its  vaults  springing  from  Saracenic  columns ; 
its  many-angled  walls,  marble  below  and  golden  mosaics  above.  The  crown 
ing  touch  is  a  beautiful  mosaic  fountain  in  the  back  wall,  which  still  pours 
its  waters  as  it  did  in  the  days  when  King  William  the  Norman  made  it  his 


THE  ARABO-NORMAN  PALACE  OF  THE  2ISA 


pleasure-house,  along  a  mosaic  channel  in  the  floor.  There  are  other  lordly 
rooms  above,  and  a  charming  Spanish  belvedere  at  the  top,  commanding  the 
very  finest  views  of  Palermo.  But  these  its  owner,  the  Marchese  di  S. 
Giovanni,  does  not  show  to  the  public.  In  the  chapel  a  little  way  along  the 
road,  built  at  the  same  time  as  the  palace,  there  is  some  more  honeycomb  vault 
ing.  According  to  Amari,  it  was  built  by  Arabic  workmen  for  William  I. 


THINGS   OF   RAGUSA 

RAGUSA,  being  in  the  mountains,  is  cold  in  winter.  It  is  very  beautiful  in 
almond -blossom  time  and  interesting  at  the  Feast  of  St.  George,  April  23rd. 
It  is  healthy  and  not  too  hot  in  summer.  Ragusa  is  now  rivalling  Marsala  in 
the  introduction  of  English  capital  and  industries.  The  famous  Pietra  Pece 
is  found  at  Ragusa,  which  has  revolutionised  the  asphalt-paving  of  the  world's 
capitals.  London,  Paris,  New  York,  etc.,  have  a  large  quantity  of  pietra 
pece  in  their  asphalt  roads  and  pavements.  It  is  mixed^  with  other  kinds. 
There  were  three  large  English  companies  at  Ragusa  until  recently  engaged 
in  this  business,  but  the  two  principal  are  now  amalgamated.  They  employ 
a  large  number  of  men  and  bring  great  wealth  to  the  town.  The  Val  di  Travers 
is  the  principal  company  at  Ragusa  now.  It  is  managed  by  Mr.  Ambrpise 
Pare  Brown,  so  well  known  in  connection  with  the  introduction  of  the  Society 
for  the  Prevention  of  Cruelty  to  Animals  into  Sicily. 

The  patron  saint  of  Ragusa,  as  of  the  neighbouring  city  of  Modica,  is 
St.  George ;  and  his  day,  the  23rd  of  April,  is  the  principal  festa. 

Ragusa  is  on  the  site  of  the  ancient  Hybla  Heraea,  and  it  is  washed  by  the 
river  Hyrminus  or  Fiume  di  Ragusa,  in  which  black  amber  is  found.  Freeman 


45§        SICILY  THE   NEW   WINtER   RESORT 

considers  that  Ragusa  Inferiore  was  the  more  likely  to  have  been  the  ancient  city 
of  Hybla  Henea,  and  that  its  castle  walls,  in  which  some  of  the  older  material 
is  worked  up,  represent  the  lines  of  the  acropolis,  in  which  there  may  have 
been  a  temple  of  Hera  (Juno)  identified  with  the  Sikel  goddess  Hybla— Hybla 
Heraea.  It  does  not  come  into  history  much,  till  it  was  destroyed  by  the 


THE  DUOMO  OF  RAGUSA  SUPERIORS  (S.   GIOVANNl) 

Saracens  in  848.  Roger  made  it  a  fief  for  his  second  son  Godfrey.  The  city 
is  divided  into  two  distinct  parts,  Ragusa  Superiore  or  Cosenza,  from  the 
colony  founded  there  by  the  Cosentini,  and  Ragusa  Inferiore.  Both  have 
stations  on  the  line  between  Syracuse  and  Licata.  Mail-vetture  start  from 
Ragusa  Superiore  to  Chiaramonte-Gulfl  in  3  hours,  and  to  Monterosso  Almo 
in  6  hours,  and  from  Ragusa  Inferiore  to  Giarratana  in  4  hours,  to  Monterosso 


THINGS   OF   RAGUSA 


459 


Almo  in  5^  hours,  and  Mazzarelli  in  5  hours.  In  the  neighbourhood  of  Ragusa 
is  a  great  fortress,  which  from  the  solidity  of  its  construction  and  from  its  site 
is  almost  impregnable.  It  has  vaulted  substructures.  Other  traces  of  the 
ancient  walls  are  to  be  found  near  the  Cappuccini  (q.v.).  There  are  a  great 
number  of  cisterns,  and,  about  half  a  mile  west,  an  antique  necropolis  scattered 


S"  ^f 

;^,i^«»^4t"| 


A  CHAPEL  IN  S.   MARIA  DELLA  SCALA 


with  tombs,  and  not  far"  oft  another  of  the  labyrinth  pattern.     Notice  the 
splendid  viaduct  which  unites  Ragusa  Superiore  to  the  opposite  hill. 

Ragusa,  like  Noto,  is  a  city  of  splendid  modern  buildings,  which  in  London 
would  imply  immense  wealth.  It  is  difficult  to  put  into  words  how  picturesque 
the  valley  and  isthmus  between  the  two  cities  are ;  but,  like  Modica,  the  two 
Ragusas  are  full  of  artists'  bits. 


460        SICILY  THE   NEW   WINTER   RESORT 

Almond  trees.   Ragusa  should  be  visited  when  they  are  out,  as  their 
number  enhances  its  beauty  so. 

Asphalt  mines  (Pietra  pece).     See  above. 


RAGUSA  SUPERIORS 

Churches. — Duomo  S.  Giovanni.  A  splendid  modern  church  on  a  hand 
some  terrace  at  the  top  of  the  town,  said  to  contain  some  fine  tombs.  This, 
and  the  church  of  S.  Giorgio  (Ragusa  Inferiore,  q.v.),  and  the  three  great 
churches  of  Modica,  show  the  very  fine  character  of  modern  Sicilian  building. 

S.  Maria  delta,  Scala  is  a  far  more  interesting  church,  because  it  escaped 
the  great  earthquake  of  1693,  which  destroyed  nearly  all  the  south  of  Sicily. 
There  is  a  whole  range  of  Gothic  chapels  down  one  aisle,  late  and  florid,  but 
with  novel  and  interesting  details,  and  containing  a  couple  of  very  curious 
coloured  terra-cotta  reliefs,  the  whole  forming  an  important  chapter  in  late 
Sicilian-Gothic.  There  is  an  outside  pulpit.  See  Scala.  There  are  some 
interesting  things  in  the  sacristy. 

Convent  of  the  Cappuccini.  Contains  the  tomb  of  the  turbulent  Spanish 
baron,  Bernardo  Cabrera,  who  aspired  to  the  crown  of  Sicily  in  the  fifteenth 
century.  See  General  Index,  under  Motta  S.  Antastasia.  It  contains  three 
paintings  by  Pietro  Novelli. 

Cosenza.     A  former  name  of  Ragusa  Superiore. 

Curio-shops.  Ragusa  has  curio-shops  in  the  street  leading  down  to  the 
Scala,  where  some  nice  pieces  can  be  picked  up  at  moderate  prices. 

Gothic.  The  only  surviving  pieces  are  in  S.  Maria  della  Scala  (q.v.),  and 
a  portal  in  a  private  garden. 

Mail-vetture  run  from  Ragusa  Inferiore  to  Mazzarelli,  5  hours ;  Monte- 
rosso  Almo  (q.v.),  54  hours;  Giarratana  (q.v.),  4  hours;  and  from  Ragusa 
Superiore  to  Chiaramonte-Gulfi,  3  hours;  Monterosso  Almo  (q.v.),  6  hours. 

Photographs.  Ragusa  has  an  excellent  photographer,  Cav,  Napolitano, 
recently  decorated  for  his  skill.  He  has  taken  all  the  principal  objects  in 
Ragusa  and  Modica,  and  some  things  in  the  neighbourhood,  like  the  Val 
d'  Ispica.  This  is  important,  because  these  cities  have  been  almost  entirely 
neglected  by  the  great  photographers  from  other  places. 

Pietra  pece  (asphalt  stone).     See  above,  and  footnote  on  page  102. 

Reliefs.  Ragusa  Superiore  has  terra-cotta  reliefs  besides  the  two  in  S.  Maria 
della  Scala.  There  is  a  very  curious  one  of  the  flight  into  Egypt  on  the  Scala 
half-way  up,  and  a  large  one,  much  inferior,  at  the  foot.  They  are  quaint 
rather  than  artistic. 

Scala,  the,  between  Ragusa  Superiore  and  Ragusa  Inferiore,  is  one  of  the 
most  curious  things  of  the  kind  to  be  found  anywhere,  an  unending  joy  to 
artists,  being  bold  and  elegant  in  its  conception,  and  winding  up  between 
some  of  the  most  delightful  old  houses  in  Sicily,  dating  apparently  from  the 
sixteenth  century.  That  which  is  over  the  relief  of  the  flight  into  Egypt  has 
most  charming  lines.  It  is  a  little  way  below  S.  Maria  della  Scala. 

Tombs,  prehistoric.  The  rocks  on  which  Ragusa  stands  are  full  of 
prehistoric  tombs,  as  is  the  country  all  found.  They  are  hewn  out  of  the 
rock. 


THINGS   OF   RAGUSA 


461 


View.  The  view  of  the  twin  cities  of  Ragnsa  as  you  come  round  the  corner 
driving  from  Modica  is  the  best  city  view  in  Sicily.  It  is  really  incomparably 
lovely.  They  are  built  on  a  couple  of  lofty  rocks,  and  they  compose  them- 


VIEW  OF   RAGUSA  INFERIORE 


selves  into  a  perfect  ellipse  of  richly  coloured  old  "buildings  such  as  medieval 
masters  loved  to  put  in  the  backgrounds  of  their  pictures.  The  ancient 
citadel  of  the  Heraean  Hybla  and  the  noble  cathedral-like  church  of  St.  George 
rise  out  of  Ragusa  Inferiore  in  a  way  that  can  only  be  described  as  majestic. 


RAGUSA   INFERIORE 

Castle,  the.  See  above.  Is  believed  by  Freeman  to  have  Its  walls  built 
on  the  line  of  those  of  the  acropolis  of  Hybla  Hersea.  It  is  very  picturesque, 
because  its  old  walls  are  so  mingled  with  vegetation. 

Churches.  There  are  two  churches  of  St.  George  in  Ragusa  Inferiore,  both 
worth  seeing.  The  new  is  approached  by  one  of  the  superb  flights  of  steps 
which  make  Ragusa  and  Modica  so  majestic,  and  is  one  of  the  finest  modern 
churches  in  Sicily.  There  are  said  to  be  extremely  interesting  tombs  under 
neath  the  hill  on  which  it  stands.  Of  the  older  St.  George  nothing  remains 
but  a  beautiful  Gothic  gateway  in  a  dirty  yard  close  to  the  uninteresting  villa 
or  public  garden. 


462        SICILY   THE   NEW   WINTER   RESORT 

Palace.   As  you  enter  Ragusa  Inferiore  you  pass  below  an  enormous  and 
stately  Renaissance  palace, 


THE  GATEWAY  OF  s.  GIORGIO,  RAGUSA  INFERIOKE 


THINGS   OF   RANDAZZO 

THE  proper  time  to  visit  Randazzo  is  in  warm  weather.  It  is  the  highest 
town  on  Etna.  It  has  delightful  air  in  warm  weather.  Sicilians  use  it  to 
some  extent  as  a  summer  station;  2,535  feet  above  the  sea.  It  has  a  station 
,on  the  Circum-^Etnean  railway.  The  Albergo  d'  Italia  is  an  unpretentious 
place,  but  the  rooms  are  well  whitewashed,  and  there  are  no  vermin,  and  it 
is  kept  by  obliging  people  who  cook  well,  though  it  is  not  always  possible  to 
buy  the  food  you  want  in  Randazzo,  and  it  is  difficult  to  get  any  wine  that 


THINGS   OF  RANDAZZO  463 

is  not  new.  The  hotel  is  situated  in  the  old  fourteenth-century  Fisauli  Palace. 
The  street  front  occupied  by  visitors  is  new,  but  the  back  is  full  of  handsome 
Gothic  features,  and  there  is  some  fine  vaulting  in  the  basement.  The  win 
dows  of  the  best  rooms  look  right  out  on  Etna ;  the  crater  looks  less  than  a 
mile  away.  The  people  of  the  town,  whose  dialect  is  said  to  be  Lombard, 
are  very  pleasant,  and  have  the  best  name  for  probity  and  good  behaviour  of 
all  the  people  round  Etna.  There  are  no  cabs  at  the  stations,  but  the  whole 
population  goes  to  the  railway  station  and  assists  in  carrying  your  baeeaee  to 
the  town.  /  s  /  ss  s 

The  Good  Friday  procession  of  the  Pieta  is  very  picturesque  at  Randazzo. 
Its  name  Etnea  ^does  not  belong  to  classical  times  ;  it  was  given  to  it  by  the 
Emperor  Frederick  II.  to  chronicle  its  immunity  from  the  eruptions  of  Etna. 
trorn  his  time  it  was  customary  for  the  heir  to  the  crown  to  take  the  title  of 
Duke  of  Randazzo,  it  being  a  royal  city.  The  ducal  palace  still  survives. 
The  Emperor  Charles  V.  spent  a  night  there.  It  was  founded  by  a  Lombard 
colony.  Randazzo  is  one  of  the  most  medieval  towns  in  Sicily.  It  is  full  of 
palazzetti  with  fourteenth  and  fifteenth-century  windows  in  the  Lombard  style. 
There  are  even  one-story  houses  with  Gothic  doors.  It  has  several  old 
churches,  medieval  walls,  and  gates,  and  in  the  Volta  S.  Nicola  has  one  of  the 
best  artists'  Gothic  bits  in  Sicily.  It  is  a  splendid  artists'  town. 

Cappuccini,  Convent  of  the.  Outside  the  city  walls,  at  the  head  of  a 
splendid  and  picturesque  flight  of  many  broad  steps.  Is  said  to  have  a 
cloister.  The  artist  will  be  satisfied  with  the  sort  of  shrine  outside  and  the 
other  shrine  with  a  gorgeous  flash  of  colour  half-way  down  the  steps,  and 
the  Gothic  ruin  at  the  foot,  and  the  medieval  massa,  or  farm,  by  the  river, 
and  the  superb  view  of  Etna  at  the  end  of  the  lane  by  the  church. 

Castello  Ducale.  A  grim  old  medieval  fortress  with  a  huge  square  tower 
which  still  has  the  iron  spikes  on  which  heads  were  exposed  in  the  Middle 
Ages.  Now  the  prison.  Admission  is  not  easily  obtained.  It  is  on  the 
Piazza  of  S.  Martino  with  its  back  overlooking  the  river. 

Charles  V.  at  Randazzo.  Charles  V.  spent  a  night  in  Randazzo  at  the 
Casa  Communale.  See  below. 

S.  Giovanni.  Across  the  river  by  the  curious  little  rock  passage.  It  is  in 
ruins.  It  has  the  remains  of  a  fresco,  a  few  arches,  and  a  picturesque  belfry. 
The  fountain  near  the  house  in  the  rock,  and  the  well  show  what  the  fountain 
of  the  massa  (q.v.)  was  like. 

Churches. —Randazzo  has  three  Gothic  churches— S.  Maria,  S.  Martino, 
and  S.  Nicolo. 

S.  Maria.  The  Chiesa  Maggiore.  Is  a  very  curious  church,  much  of  it 
going  back  to  the  twelfth  century  in  a  severe  fortified  style  by  Arabo-Norman 
builders,  with  windows  that  are  hardly  more  than  loopholes.  The  later  parts 
have  recently  been  restored.  But  the  earlier  masonry  is  so  crisp  that  it  is 
difficult  to  distinguish  it  from  the  restored  later  part.  It  is  built  of  lava ;  its 
west  tower  would  equal  that  of  S.  Martino  (q.v.)  if  it  were  not  too  much 
restored.  As  it  is,  it  is  full  of  splendid  Gothic  detail.  The  apse  of  the  church 
has  a  round  tower  flanked  by  two  smaller  half-towers  like  the  Castle  of 
Tarascon.  ^  They  all  have  Pisan  -  Romanesque  machicolated  tops.  It  has 
many  gracious  Romanesque  and  Gothic  details,  such  as  pairs  of  windows  in 
containing  arches— generally  composite  double  arches.  The  nave  has  Pisan- 
Romanesque  columns  with  rich  Corinthian-Ionic  capitals.  The  font  is  six- 
teentl}  Century,  Jwo  massive  stone  measures  are  in  the  sacristy. 


464        SICILY   THE   NEW   WINTER   RESORT 

Notice  a  very  graceful  little  double  window  with  a  double  ogee  heading  on 
the  south  side.  The  south  door  is  Gothic  vulgarised  into*  a  Renaissance 
imitation  of  Provencal-Romanesque. 


THE  CHURCH   OF  S.   MAKIA,   RANPAZZO 


6".  Martino.  The  whole  way  along  the  main  street  to  S.  Martino  is  a  suc 
cession  of  Gothic  houses  and  bits.  The  tower  of  S.  Martino  itself  is  simply 
delightful.  It  is  rusted  lava  with  a  Kentish  cowl  on  the  top,  and  on  the  west  face 
fine  white  stone  windows  of  three  contained  arches,  and  in  the  stories  below 
two  lovely  pairs  of  black  and  white  arches  with  clustered  columns  (Pisan- 
Romanesque).  The  windows  on  the  south  side  are  beautiful,  and  on  the  east 
side  the  church  is  even  better.  The  church  is  machicolated,  and  some  of  the 
split  battlements  remain.  On  the  north  and  south  there  are  fifteenth- century 
Renaissance  doors.  On  the  south  die,  just  by  the  door,  a  little  eleventh- 
century  window  with  curious  carving.  Notice  a  comical  iron  angel  that  acts 
as  a  wind-vane  on  the  top. 

S.  Nicolb.  S.  Nicol6j  besides  the  great  church,  has  the  ruins  of  a  fourteenth- 
century  Gothic  convent,  whose  volta  is  one  of  the  most  beautiful  pieces  of 
Gothic  in  Sicily.  The  whole  piazza  is  surrounded  with  Gothic  bits.  The 
church  contains  a  large  sitting  statue  of  the  saint  and  reliefs  by  Gagini.  A 
stately  fourteenth-century  pulpit,  a  fine  ancient  picture  with  a  crucifix  in  it 


THINGS   OF   RANDAZZO 


465 


in  the  south  transept,  some  fine. tottery  sixteenth-century  carving,  etc.,  and 
is  a  people's  church,  full  of  picturesque  worshippers,  The  back  of  S.  Nicolo 
is  machicolated  and  battlementecl,  and 
has  an  octagonal  tower  at  the  corner 
of  the  Vico  Caccia.  Notice  a  small 
gate  at  the  back  of  S.  Nicol6  with 
three  people  in  hell.  An  angel  and 
Christ  in  the  heart  above. 

Communale,  Casa.  A  picturesque 
old  building  occupied  for  one  night 
by  the  great  Emperor  Charles  V. ,  and 
with  a  charming  cloister,  the  best  in 
Randazzo,  used  as  a  post  office. 

Dress  of  the  women  in  Randazzo 
differs  from  the  rest  of  Sicily  in  their 
wearing  short  white  woollen  cloaks 
and  a  particular  kind  of  jewellery. 
The  men  wear  cloaks  of  black  frieze. 
The  peasants  who  come  into  Mass 
and  market  from  Tortorici  with  their 
swathed  legs  are  almost  like  the 
Saracen  village  people,  who  find  such 
favour  as  models  at  Rome. 

Etna.  Randazzo  is  the  highest 
city  on  Etna,  and  after  Nicolosi,  the 
favourite  place  for  commencing  the 
ascent  of  the  summit,  which,  under 
favourable  circumstances,  can  be 
made  in  5^  hours.  The  contracting 
for  mules,  guides,  and  provisions  is  done  by  the  landlord  of  ^the  Albergo  d' 
Italia,  from  whose  windows  it  looks  as  if  it  was  less  than  a  mile  away.  The 
uninterrupted  view  of  the  summit  is  sublime.  Randazzo  has  been  saved  from 
eruptions  by  the  deep  valley  which  lies  between  it  and  the  crater,  and  it 
can  hardly  be  destroyed  except  by  a  new  crater  opening  in  its  own  hill, 
though  it  once  had  a  narrow  shave  from  the  lava  stream,  which  passed  just 
above  it,  and  contains  its  borgo  (suburb). 

Finocchiaro,  Casa.  A  beautiful  little  Gothic  palace  with  charming  Lom 
bard  windows,  doorway,  and  hall,  and  a  Latin  inscription.  It  is  at  the 
corner  of  the  Piazza  of  S.  Nicol6. 

Gates.  Randazzo  has  a  gate  with  a  pointed  arch  just  below  S.  Maria.  Its 
most  important  gate  is  that  just  beyond  S.  Martino.  It  has  several  old  gates. 

Fountains.  Beyond  the  massa  is  the  shell  of  an  ancient  fountain  with 
a  fourteenth-century  carved  stone  at  corner.  Another  fountain  near  the  house, 
in  the  rock,  shows  what  the  fountain  of  the  massa  was  like.  ^  Artists  will  find 
it  a  good  place  for  women  and  children  with  pitchers  on  their  heads. 

Gothic  architecture.  Randazzo  is  full  of  Gothic  architecture,  mostly  of 
a  Lombard  type  ;  besides  the  castle,  the  walls,  the  gates,  and  the  three  Gothic 
churches  there  are  a  number  of  palaces  and  palazzetti,  even  cottages,  with 
Gothic  features.  It  is  one  of  the  most  medieval  towns  in  Sicily. 

Hotel.  The  Hotel  d'  Italia  (see  introductory  paragraph)  is  quite  a  possible 
place.  While  the  gentlemen  of  the  party  are  using  it  as  a  base  for  ascending 

2    H 


THE  VOLT  A  S.  NICOLO 


466        SICILY  THE   NEW   WINTER   RESORT 

Etna,  the  ladies  can  make  excursions  by  carriage  to  Malvagna  and  Mascali, 
and  by  rail  to  Aderno  and  Paterno  and  Castiglione,  which  are  not  so  nice  to 
stay  at.  See  under  Etna. 

Jewellery.  Notice  the  jewellery  of  the  women ;  big  gold,  round  beads  and 
handsome  earrings.  The  jewellery  resembles  that  of  Aderno,  but  each  has 
its  special  characteristics* 


THE  CASA  FINOCCHIARO 


Lava.  The  use  of  lava  in  building  the  town  is  naturally  extensive,  for  it  is 
surrounded  by  lava  streams,  one  of  which  is  just  beyond  the  Cappuccini  con 
vent,  not  a  mile  out  of  the  town.  Here  is  the  celebrated  lava  village  with  red 
roofs  almost  on  a  level  with  the  ground,  squatting  in  the  crevices  of  the  lava  to 
escape  the  wild  storms  of  the  winter.  The  people  live  there  to  escape  the 
octroi,  and  come  to  work  in  Randazzo.  Artists  will  find  this,  with  the  bright 
golden  spurge  standing  out  against  the  red  and  black  of  the  village,  an  extra 
ordinary  place  for  colour  effects.  There  are  several  lava  streams  between 
Randazzo  and  Maniace,  the  older  brilliant  with  reddish  and  goldish  spurges 
and  lichens,  the  more  recent  with  their  jagged  peaks  and  little  abysses  as  bare 
and  black  as  if  they  had  been  formed  yesterday,  looking  like  bits  of  Dore's 
Inferno. 


THINGS   OF   RANDAZZO  467 

Malvagna.  See  General  Index.  A  village  on  Etna  with  the  only  above- 
ground  church  which  escaped  the  Saracens  at  all  perfect— a  Byzantine  chapel, 
a  short  drive  from  Randazzo. 

Mantellini.  The  short  white  woollen  cloaks  of  the  Randazzo  women.  See 
under  Dress. 

Massa  is  a  Sicilian  word  meaning  a  beast  farm.  See  General  Index. 
There  is  a  medieval  massa  with  a  roof  sweeping  almost  to  the  ground  like 
a  Kentish  barn,  down  by  the  river,  between  the  Cappuccini  convent  and  the 
walls  of  Randazzo.  A  fine  artist's  bit. 

Maniace,  Castello  di.  The  capital  of  Nelson's  Duchy  of  Bronte  and  resi 
dence  of  the  Hon.  A.  Nelson  Hood.  See  General  Index.  Is  i  J  hours'  good 
drive  from  Randazzo  across  sweeping  tablelands  right  under  the  summit  of 
Etna,  full  of  magnificent  spurges  and  irises  of  several  kinds. 

Medieval  ruins.  The  convent  and  volta  of  S.  Nicolo,  mentioned  above, 
the  ruined  convent  outside  the  city  gate  on  the  way  up  to  the  Cappuccini,  the 
ruined  fountain  near  the  massa  by  the  river,  and  the  ruins  of  S.  Giovanni  by 
the  river. 

Municipio.     See  under  Casa  Communale. 

Museum.  The  museum  of  Nobile  Paolo  Vagliasindi  Polizzi  del  Baroni  del 
Castello  di  Randazzo,  is  one  of  the  best  private  museums  of  Sicily.  It  has  a 
superb  collection  of  Greek  and  Phoenician  antiques,  found  here  about  1900, 
consisting  of  gold  jewellery,  the  fine  Harpy  vase,  terra-cotta  statuettes,  and 
articles  belonging  to  the  Stone  Age,  the  Phoenician  Age,  the  Grceco-Siculan 
period,  and  the  Roman  period.  Notice  the  Phoenician  coloured-glass  vases, 
and  three  Phoenician  necklaces,  one  of  which  is  the  best  specimen  known. 

Palaces. — After  the  Castello,  the  largest  is  the  FisaMli  Palace^  at  the  back  of 
the  Albergo  d' Italia,  which  has  two  vaulted  Gothic  bassi,  used  as  a  carpenter's 
shop,  etc.,  and  outside  staircases  and  several  Gothic  windows  and  doors.  The 
most  perfect  is  the  Casa  Finocchiaro.  See  above.  The  others  will  be  found 
under  the  streets  which  contain  them.  Near  the  castle  is  a  charming  fifteenth 
or  sixteenth  -  century  palace,  and  a  little  beyond  that  another  charming 
sixteenth-century  palace. 

Patti.  There  is  a  track  from  Randazzo  to  the  little  seaport  of  Patti  on  the 
north  coast,  much  used  before  the  railway  was  opened,  and  the  picturesquely 
dressed  inhabitants  of  Tortorici,  about  half-way  between  the  two,  are  often 
seen  in  Randazzo  now. 

Post  Office  is  in  the  cloister  of  the  Casa  Communale. 

Processions.  The  procession  of  the  Pieta  at  Randazzo  on  Good  Friday  is 
very  picturesque.  By  day  there  is  a  long  parade  of  men  in  processional  white 
dresses,  headed  by  priests  with  the  Pieta  and  a  vast  silver  cross  and  church 
banners  and  music,  to  the  church  of  S.  Martino,  amid  a  great  sending-off  of 
fireworks.  By  night  the  spectacle  is  really  very  fine,  for  the  torches  and  old 
church  lanterns  fill  with  their  glare  the  narrow  illuminated  streets,  and  a 
frame  of  lanterns  round  the  Christ,  like  a  halo,  gives  a  most  brilliant  effect. 
The  white  mantellini  of  the  women,  under  the  old  Gothic  palaces,  are  the 
finishing  touch. 

Streets.— Scala,  Vico.  A  little  beyond  the  Volta  S.  Nicolo  is  the  Vico 
Scala,  which  has  a  thirteenth-century  palace  in  it,  and  at  the  bottom  a  house 
with  a  curious  antique  chimney  outside  and  two  arches  resting  on  corbels. 
In  the  house  opposite  the  bottom  of  this  street  is  a  dear  little  cortile,  with  a 


468        SICILY   THE   NEW   WINTER   RESORT 

charming  well-head.  On  the  right  hand  going  down  the  Vico  Scala  there 
is  a  fine  dragon  door-knocker  on  a  house  marked  1636. 

Scala,  Volta.  Has  a  Gothic  lava  portal  and  lava  stream  course  above  it  in 
Taormina  style. 

The  street  which  runs  from  the  Volta  S.  Nicolo  down  to  S.  Martino  is  full 
of  Gothic  buildings.  Nearly  opposite  the  Volta  Scala  is  a  particularly  fine 
Gothic  shop  with  broad  shelves  almost  meeting  across  its  arch,  such  as  you 
get  at  Eryx. 

The  Via  Lanza  has  a  palace  which  is  one  of  the  richest  of  all  the  Gothic 
palaces,  but  woefully  destroyed. 

Strada  Piazza  Stefano.  Has  a  row  of  charming  pointed  and  transomed 
windows  with  inscription  and  cornice  underneath,  and  below  are  carved 
square-headed  windows,  and  a  round-headed  door  with  a  lintel.  A  fifteenth- 
century  door  inside.  In  this  street  one  house  after  another  is  medieval. 

Vico  Agonia,  Has  a  house  with  an  ancient  medieval  window  like  the 
Aiutamicristo  Palace  in  Palermo.  The  little  chapel  of  the  Agonia,  at  the 
bottom  of  the  vico,  has  a  fifteenth-century  door. 

Shops.  Randazzo  shops  are  very  primitive,  though  there  are  two  which 
sell  postcards.  The  only  feature  of  interest  about  them  is  the  prevalence 
•of  the  Gothic  type  of  broad  stone  counters,  almost  meeting -from  opposite 
sides  of  an  arch,  with  a  door  underneath  them  suggestive  of  a  horse's  loose 
box. 

Situation.  Randazzo,  the  highest  city  on  Etna,  has  a  very  fine  situation. 
It  stands  in  full  view  of  the  summit  on  a  little  hill  whose  valley  has  saved  it 
from  eruptions,  and  on  the  other  side  its  rock  goes  down  sheer  to  the  river. 
It  is  surrounded  by  medieval  walls  and  has  two  splendid  Gothic  towers  rising 
out  of  its  nest  of  ancient  houses.  The  best  view  of  it  is  from  the  Cappuccini 
Convent. 

Tortorici.     See  above,  under  Patti  and  Dress. 

Walls,  medieval.  Randazzo  is  still  surrounded  by  its  medieval  walls, 
which  look  finest  from  the  other  side  of  the  river. 

Washing-pools,  Randazzo  has  a  unique  washing-pool  made  by  the  rocks 
in  the  river  near  S.  Giovanni.  A  splendid  artists'  bit. 


THINGS   OF  SCIACCA 

SCIACCA  must  not  be  visited  too  early  in  the  year  by  those  who  go  to  it  for  the 
baths.  There  must  be  some  fair  accommodation,  since  it  is  much  frequented 
by  Sicilians  for  its  cures,  as  it  has  been  from  the  earliest  times — the  modern 
Sciacca  having  been  the  ancient  Thermae  Selinuntinsc — the  -hot  baths  of 
Selinunte,  Except  by  sea  from  Girgenti  or  Mazzara,  Sciacca  is  a  difficult 
place  to  reach,  the  nearest  points  of  the  railway  being  Girgenti,  14^  hours  by 
mail-vettura  j  Corleone,  1 6J  hours  by  mail-vettura ;  and  Castelvetrano,  on  the 
Palermo-Trapani  line,  7  hours  by  mail-vettura.  It  is  25  miles  from  S.  Carlo, 
on  the  Corleone  railway.  With  a  motor-car  it  would  be  an  excellent  place 
to  stay  at  while  studying  Selinunte.  The  country  between  is  full  of  antiqui 
ties.  Its  cavern  of  natural  vapour  baths  is  said,  for  certain  complaints,  to  be 
unrivalled  in  Europe,  and  its  drinking  waters  are  said  to  be  superior  to  those 
at  Vichy.  If  it  had  been  on  the  railway  it  would  have  been  one  of  the 


THINGS   OF   SCIACCA 


469 


popular  places  of  Sicily  long  ago,  Sciacca  is  famous  for  its  beautiful  vases, 
made  of  a  fine  clay  found  in  the  neighbourhood.  If  Fazello  be  correct  in 
saying  that  these  were  the  Thermae  at  which  Agathocles  was  bom  (and  not 
those  of  Termini),  it  is  possible  that  his  father,  Carcinus,  the  potter,  used  this 
very  clay.  Its  name  is  Arabic  Xacca,  alluding  to  the  numerous  fishers  of  the 
country. 


ENVIRONS  OF  SCIACCA,   SEEN  FROM   THE  TABLELAND  OF  TRADIMENTO 


HISTORY. — Ancient  Sciacca,  oi  which  the  part  called  Terra  Vecchia  shows 
remains  of  walls,  was  restored  by  Roger  after  the  expulsion  of  the  Saracens. 
About  the  Selinuntine  Thermae,  represented  by  the  modern  Sciacca,  Freeman 
says  :  "  Here  Herakles  seems  to  have  no  special  legend.  But  tales  of  yet  earlier 
times  are  not  lacking.  It  was  held  that  in  the  sulphurous  vapour  baths 
Daidalos  had  left  some  of  the  choicest  works  of  his  skill,  alike  in  the  valley  below 
Sciacca  and  on  the  mountain  above.  He  had  found  out  and  he  had  adapted 
to  human  use  the  hot  steam  sent  forth  by  the  chthonian  powers  of  Sicily  alike 
on  the  mountain  top  and  in  the  vale  below.  Here  too  in  later  days  Kalo- 
geros  supplanted  Daidalos,  as  he  supplanted  Herakles  on  the  other  side  of  the 
island.  The  wondrous  cave  is  there,  and  its  virtues  have  not  failed  ;  we  see 


470        SICILY  THE   NEW   WINTER   RESORT 

the  bed  of  the  Christian  hermit,  which  we  strongly  suspect  to  have  been  the 
tomb  of  a  Sikan  king."  The  town  was  much  enlarged  by  the  wish  of 
Frederick  II.,  and  by  Nicolo  Perollo.  In  the  Middle  Ages  it  was  devastated 
by  the  civil  wars  between  the  Perollo  and  the  Luna  families  from  1410-1529. 
See  below,  Casi  di  Sciacca.  It  was  a  royal,  not  a  baronial  town.  Charles  V. 
fortified  it  heavily. 

Calogero,  Monte  S.  Two  kils.  from  the  town  is  Monte  S.  Calogero,  the 
Mons  Cronius  of  antiquity.  On  one  side  of  this  mountain,  on  the  higher  part, 
there  is  a  vapour  bath  with  seats  hollowed  in  the  rock  ;  in  other  hollows  there 
are  infiltrations  of  hot  water  with  sulphurous  vapours.  In  the  heart  of  the 
mountain  rise  hot  springs  whose  virtues  have  been  recognised  from  the  most 
remote  antiquity.  Almost  instantaneous  cures  are  reported  at  the  vapour 
bath.  Many  foreigners,  as  well  as  Sicilians,  go  to  the  bathing  establishments 
at  Sciacca.  The  ancient  grottoes,  which  have  some  inscriptions,  are  very 
interesting. 

Calogero,  Saint.  It  will  be  noticed  that  here,  as  at  Termini  and  Lipari, 
the  baths  are  called  after  S.  Calogero.  Calogero  is  merely  the  Greek  for  a 
hermit,  and  hermits  naturally  would  establish  themselves  in  such  caves.  See 
General  Index. 

Camicus.  Sciacca  is  one  of  the  places  that  claims  the  honour  of  being  the 
ancient  Camicus,  famous  in  the  story  of  Dsedalus  (q.v.,  and  see  also  General 
Index). 

Carmine,  Convent  of.  Has  its  cloister  spoilt,  but  a  beautiful  fifteenth- 
century  doorway  still  left. 

Casi  di  Sciacca.  In  1410,  according  to  Murray,  the  beautiful  and 
immensely  wealthy  heiress  of  the  Peralta  family  was  wooed  by  the  Spanish 
Count,  Artale  di  Luna,  and  by  the  Sicilian,  Giovanni  di  Perollo.  King 
Martin,  being  a  Spaniard,  used  his  influence  to  make  her  marry  Di  Luna. 
Perollo  was  so  enraged  that  he  poisoned  his  rival  in  1412,  establishing  a 
vendetta.  In  1455  Pietro  Perollo,  son  of  Giovanni,  attacked  a  Di  Luna 
at  a  public  festa,  stabbing  him  till  he  was  left  for  dead  ;  but  he  recovered  and 
burnt  Perollo's  castle  and  slew  a  hundred  of  the  defenders.  Seventy-four 
years  later  Giacomo  Perollo  became  so  wealthy  and  powerful  that  his 
haughtiness  enraged  Sigismondo  di  Luna,  who  collected  a  large  force,  seized 
Sciacca,  and  put  all  the  Perollo  faction  he  could  find  to  death.  Perollo  him 
self  eluded  him  for  a  while,  but  was  betrayed  and  butchered,  and  his  dead 
body  dragged  at  the  tail  of  Di  Luna's  horse.  The  adherents  of  Perollo  then 
gathered  a  still  larger  force,  and  seizing  Sciacca  in  their  turn,  put  to  death  all 
the  Di  Luna  faction  except  the  Count  himself,  who  had  retired  to  his  castle 
at  Bivona.  Charles  V.  determined  to  stop  the  feud,  and  ordered  the  Viceroy 
to  bring  Di  Luna  and  his  partisans  to  justice.  Sciacca  had  to  pay  a  third 
time ;  the  judges  fining,  imprisoning,  and  hanging  its  citizens  freely,  and 
fining  the  city  as  well  for  not  having  stopped  these  faction-fights.  Every 
follower  of  Di  Luna  that  could  be  caught  was  hung,  drawn,  and  quartered  ; 
their  heads  and  limbs  being  sent  all  round  Sicily  as  a  terror  to  evil-doers. 
The  Count,  who  was  the  nephew  of  Charles  V.'s  old  tutor,  now  Pope 
Clement  VII.,  fled  to  his  uncle,  whose  intercessions  were  useless  ;  so  he 
drowned  himself  in  the  Tiber.  The  castles  of  the  Perollo  and  Di  Luna 
families  still  frown  at  each  other  from  opposite  ends  of  Sciacca. 

Castello  di  Luna  is  very  large  and  has  some  Gothic  windows.  See 
above. 

Castello  Perollo.     See  above,  under  Casi  di  Sciacca. 


THINGS   OF  SCIACCA  471 

Churches.  —  Chiesa  Matrice  (Maggiore),  of  the  fifteenth  century,  was  founded 
in  the  eleventh  century  by  Juliette  de  Hauteville,  daughter  of  Roger,  the  Great 
Count,  in  atonement  for  having  lived  with  Count  Zamparron  before  marriage 
— dedicated  to  St.  Mary  Magdalen.  (Murray.) 

S.  Margherita.  Fifteenth  century.  Has  a  beautiful  white  marble  side 
doorway. 

S.  Michele  has  a  tower  famous  for  its  view. 

5.  Satoatore  (according  to  Murray)  was  founded  by  Count  Roger.  "  The 
cloisters  have  been  spoilt  by  restoration,  but  a  beautiful  quattro-cento 
portal  still  remains." 

Spedale  Vecchio^  the.    Also  has  a  fine  portal  of  the  same  period.    (Murray.) 

Celebrities  of  Sciacca.  See  under  Agathocles,  Fazello,  Cocalus,  and 
Daedalus.  Goethe  visited  it  in  April,  1787. 

Cocalus,  the  Sicanian  king  of  Camicus.  See  General  Index.  The  guide 
book  of  the  Fratelli  Treves  (Milan)  says  that  he  founded  Sciacca  with  the 
help  of  Dcedalus,  who  constructed  the  baths. 

Coral  reef.   There  is  a  coral  reef  near  here. 

Cronius,  Mons.   The  ancient  name  of  S.  Calogero. 

Daedalus.  According  to  the  local  legend  built  the  city  and  baths  for 
Cocalus.  (This  assumes  Sciacca  to  be  Camicus. ) 

Fazello,  Tommaso,  the  father  of  Sicilian  history  (died  1570),  was  born  in 
Sciacca.  See  General  Index. 

Giummarre,  Convent  of  S.  Maria  delle.  Founded  1103  by  Juliet, 
daughter  of  Count  Roger.  Outside  the  town,  near  the  Castello  di  Luna. 

Goethe.  Goethe  visited  Sciacca  in  April,  1787,  and,  as  usual,  has  nothing 
to  say  about  the  history  or  architecture.  tf  At  last  we  came  on  a  little  wood, 
thick  with  brushwood,  the  tall  trees  standing  very  wide  apart — the  cork  tree 
at  last !  .  .  .  We  examined  the  baths.  ...  A  hot  stream  burst  from  the 
rock  with  a  strong  smell  of  sulphur ;  the  water  had  a  strong  saline  flavour, 
but  it  was  not  at  all  thick.  May  not  the  sulphurous  exhalation,  be  formed  at 
the  moment  of  its  breaking  from  the  rock  ?  A  little  higher  is  a  spring,  quite 
cool  and  without  smell ;  right  above  is  the  monastery,  where  are  the  vapour 
baths ;  a  thick  mist  rises  above  it  into  the  pure  air." 

Luna,  Di.     See  Casi  di  Sciacca  and  Castello,  above. 

Mail-vetture.     See  Introduction. 

Monte  S.  Calogero.    See  under  S.  Calogero. 

Pantelleria,  the  Island  of.    See  General  Index.     Is  occasionally  visible. 

Perollo.     See  under  Casi  di  Sciacca  and  Castello. 

Palaces.  Sciacca  has  some  Gothic  palaces.  The  best  of  them  is  the  Casa 
Steripinto  of  the  Renaissance.  The  Casa  Triolo  is  also  a  fine  specimen  of 
medieval  architecture,  and  the  Marchese  di  S.  Giacomo  has  a  huge  modern 
palace  with  a  very  fine  garden. 

Remains,  classical.  The  whole  country  round  Sciacca  is  full  of  remains. 

Selinunte.  Is  within  a  drive  of  Sciacca ;  and  to  anyone  with  a  motor-car, 
Sciacca  is  much  the  best  point  for  paying  frequent  visits  to  Selinunte.  It  was 
the  baths  of  Selinus,  and  perhaps  to  some  extent  a  port  of  Selinus. 

Springs,  hot.  The  springs  which  form  the  baths  between  Sciacca  and  the 
mountain  are  the  Sorgenti  dei  Bagni,  57.5  centigrade, sulphureous;  the  Sorgente 


472        SICILY  THE   NEW  WINTER   RESORT 

dell  Acqua  Santa,  31.5  centigrade,  salino-ferrugmous,  which  is  drunk.  The 
Sorgente  delle  Palme,  27.5  centigrade,  saline,  used  for  bathing.  The  Sorgente 
Molinelli,  35  centigrade,  iodurated  saline,  is  prescribed  for  external  use.  The 
waters  of  Sciacca  are  about  to  be  exported  in  bottles,  like  Vichy.  The  baths 
are  frequented  in  summer. 

Steripinto,  Casa.     See  Palaces. 

Terra  Vecchla.     See  Introduction  to  Sciacca. 

Thermae  Selinuntinae.  The  ancient  name  of  Sciacca.  See  above,  under 
Selinunte, 

Triolo,  Casa.     See  under  Palaces. 

Vapour  baths.  See  under  S.  Calogero,  Monte.  They  are  called  stufi,  and 
are  said  to  have  been  fitted  up  by  Daedalus  three  thousand  years  ago. 


THINGS   OF  SEGESTA 

AT  Segesta,  famous  for  its  superb  and  uninjured  Greek  temple  of  Diana  and 
for  its  great  theatre,  there  is  no  modern  city,  the  nearest,  Calatafimi,  being 
two  and  a  half  miles  away.  It  can  be  reached,  by  those  who  do  not  wish  to 
spend  the  night  at  a  Calatafimi  hotel,  in  the  day  from  either  the  Alcamo- 
Calatafimi  Stat.  or  the  Castellammare  Stat, ,  and  from  a  number  of  points  in 
the  neighbourhood  by  motor-car. 

Segesta,  being  an  Elymian  city,  was  founded  before  the  dawn  of  history. 
We  first  meet  it  as  Egesta  in  its  Greek  spelling,  and  know  that  in  580  B.C.  the 
Egestans  and  the  Phoenicians  defeated  the  Selinuntines  and  the  Rhodians  and 
the  Cnidians,  under  Pentathlus,  who  tried  to  make  a  settlement  in  the 
Phoenician  territory  near  the  future  Lilybceum.  In  510  B.C.  we  hear  of  them 
joining  their  fellow  Elymians  of  Eryx  and  Phoenician  allies  in  the  battle  in 
which  Dorieus,  the  king's  son  of  Sparta,  was  defeated  and  killed.  See  under 
Monte  S.  Giuliano.  In  454  we  know  from  an  inscription  that  the  Athenians 
made  an  alliance  with  Egesta.  In  416  B.C.  they  had  a  fresh  quarrel  with  the 
Greeks  of  Selinus  about  the  rites  of  marriage  and  the  position  of  their 
boundary,  and  sent  envoys  to  Athens  to  ask  for  help.  Early  in  415  Athenian 
envoys  came  to  Egesta.  The  Egestans  took  them  to  Eryx  to  see  the  treasures 
of  the  temple,  and  afterwards  collected  all  the  plate  of  the  two  cities  for  a 
great  banquet  at  Egesta.  Then,  as  now,  silver-gilt  was  used  to  an  immense 
extent  in  Sicily.  The  Athenians  thought  that  all  this  glittering  mass  was  gold 
and  the  property  of  their  hosts,  so  on  receiving  sixty  talents  earnest  money, 
they  concluded  the  alliance.  When  the  invasion  commenced  they  supplied 
Athens  with  some  horsemen,  but  the  war  was  transferred  to  headquarters, 
the  Athenians  determining  to  strike  at  Syracuse,  and  the  Selinuntines  to  send 
their  aid  to  Syracuse.  When  Athens  was  conquered,  413  B.C.,  the  Egestans 
offered  in  vain  to  surrender  the  matters  in  dispute— nothing  less  than  conquest 
would  satisfy  the  Selinuntines.  Egesta,  in  her  despair,  appealed  to  Carthage, 
who  sent  a  sort  of  armed  commission  at  first,  followed  in  409  B.  c.  by  Hannibal 
the  son  of  Cisco's  great  army  of  a  hundred  thousand  men,  which,  in  eight  days, 
conquered  the  whole  city  and  territory  of  Selinus.  Dionysius  laid  siege  to 
Egesta  in  397,  but  in  vain.  It  continued  an  Elymian  city  till  the  time  of 
Agathocles,  who  cleared  out  the  Elymian  aborigines  with  horrible  tortures, 
and  replaced  them  with  a  mixed  population  of  Greeks.  He  renamed  the  city 
Dicseopolis,  the  city  of  righteousness,  307  B.C.  The  city  joined  Pyrrhus,  the 
King  of  Epirus ;  and  in  262,  of  its  own  accord,  slew  its  Carthaginian  garrison 


THINGS   OF   SEGESTA  473 

and  joined  the  Romans.  Whether  or  not  its  old  inhabitants  had  returned, 
the  citizens  gave  themselves  out  for  Trojans,  and  were  received  by  the  Romans 
as  brethren  and  equals.  The  Romans  changed  the  city's  name  to  Segesta, 
because  of  the  likeness  of  the  word  Egesta  to  the  word  Egestas  (want). 
When  Sicily  became  a  Roman  province,  Segesta  was  made  a  cimtas  libera  and 
immunis  sine  fad&re.  See  Romans  at  Segesta.  It  afterwards  received  the 
lower  franchise  of  Latium.  The  date  of  its  destruction  is  unknown.  We 
know  that  it  lasted  to  the  fourth  century  A.D.,  but  had  disappeared  before  the 
Norman  Conquest  in  the  eleventh. 

Acestes.  An  eponymous  hero,  son  of  the  river  Crimesus  and  a  Trojan  girl, 
invented  by  Virgil  to  account  for  the  name  Egesta- Segesta.  Virgil  describes 
the  foundation  of  the  city  in  the  Fifth  ^Eneid.  Acestes  does  various  odd 
jobs  all  through  the  sEneid.  In  it,  711-718,  Nautes  suggests  to  ^Eneas  : — 

"You  have  Trojan  Acestes  of  divine  original:  admit  him  the  partner  of 
your  counsels,  and  unite  yourself  to  him  your  willing  friend,  to  him  deliver 
up  such  as  are  supernumerary  now  that  you  have  lost  some  ships  :  choose  out 
those  who  are  sick  of  the  great  enterprise,  and  of  your  fortune,  the  old  with 
length  of  years  oppressed,  and  the  matrons  fatigued  with  the  voyage  ;  select 
the  feeble  part  of  your  company  and  such  as  dread  the  danger,  and,  since 
they  are  tired  out,  let  them  have  a  settlement  in  these  territories  :  they  shall 
call  the  city  Acesta  by  a  licensed  name." 

And  a  little  later  on,  lines  746-758,  he  says:  "Forthwith  he  calls  his 
followers,  and  first  of  all  Acestes,  and  informs  them  of  Jove's  command,  and 
of  the  instructions  of  his  beloved  sire,  and  of  the  present  settled  purpose  of 
his  soul.  No  obstruction  is  given  to  his  resolution ;  nor  is  Acestes  averse  to 
the  proposals  made  to  him.  They  single  out  the  matrons,  for  the  city  and  set 
on  shore  as  many  of  the  people  as  were  willing,  souls  that  had  no  desire  of 
high  renown.  Themselves  renew  the  benches  and  repair  the  boards  half- 
consumed  by  the  flames  ;  fit  oars  and  cables  to  the  ships ;  in  number  incon 
siderable,  but  of  animated  valour  for  war.  Meanwhile  ^Eneas  marks  out  a 
city  with  the  plough  and  assigns  the  houses  by  lot :  here  he  orders  a  second 
Ilium  to  arise,  and  these  places  to  be  called  after  those  of  Troy.  Trojan 
Acestes  rejoices  in  his  new  kingdom,  institutes  a  court  of  judicature ;  and, 
having  assembled  his  senators,  dispenses  laws  to  his  subjects." 

^Eneas.  See  preceding  paragraph.  According  to  Virgil,  joint  founder  of 
Segesta  with  Acestes. 

Agathocles  of  Syracuse.  See  History.  Rooted  out  the  old  Elymian 
element  at  Segesta  with  horrible  tortures. 

Athenian  Alliance.  See  History.  It  was  the  cause  of  the  war  between 
Athens  and  Syracuse.  The  Athenian  missions  went  to  Segesta  in  427  B.C. 
and  41 5  B.C. 

"  For  the  Segestans  had  recourse  to  the  following  contrivance,  at  the  time 
when  the  first  envoys  of  the  Athenians  came  to  them  to  see  the  state  of  their 
funds.  They  took  them  to  the  Temple  of  Venus  at  Eryx,  and  showed  them 
the  treasures  deposited  there,  consisting  of  bowls,  wine-ladles,  censers,  and 
other  articles  of  furniture  in  no  small  quantity ;  which  being  made  of  silver, 
presented,  with  a  value  really  trifling,  a  much  greater  show  of  wealth.  And 
in  their  private  receptions  of  the  triremes'  crews,  having  collected  the  cups, 
both  of  gold  and  silver,  that  were  in  Segesta  itself,  and  borrowed  those  in  the 
neighbouring  cities,  whether  Phoenician  or  Grecian,  they  brought  them  to  the 
entertainments  as  their  own.  And  thus,  as  all  used  pretty  nearly  the  same, 
and  great  numbers  of  them  were  everywhere  seen,  it  created  much  astonish 
ment  in  the  Athenians  from  the  triremes  ;  and  on  their  arrival  at  Athens  they 


474        SICILY  THE   NEW  WINTER   RESORT 

spread  it  abroad  that  they  had  seen  great  wealth,"    (Thucydides,  translated  by 
Dale.) 

* '  The  opinion  of  Nicias  was  that  they  should  sail  to  Selinus  with  all  their 
forces,  that  being  the  object  for  which  they  had,  most  of  all,  been  sent :  and  in 
case  of  the  Segestans  supplying  money  for  the  whole  armament,  that  then 
they  should  determine  accordingly ;  otherwise,  that  they  should  beg  them  to 
give  provisions  for  their  sixty  ships,  the  number  which  they  had  asked  for;  and 
remaining  there  should  bring  the  Selinuntines  to  terms  with  them,  either  by 
force  or  by  treaty."  (Diodorus,  translated  by  Booth.) 

Carthaginians.  See  History.  When  the  Athenians  were  conquered  by 
Syracuse,  the  Selinuntines,  who  had  been  the  cause  of  their  seeking  the 
Athenian  alliance,  oppressed  them  mightily.  The  Segestans  tried  to  buy 
them  off  with  the  cession  of  the  territory  which  had  been  the  cause  of  the 
dispute,  but  nothing  less  than  the  utter  abasement  of  Segesta  would  satisfy  the 
Selinuntines,  so  Segesta  invited  the  aid  of  Carthage,  which  did  better  than 
Athens,  for  Hannibal,  the  son  of  Cisco,  came  at  the  head  of  a  hundred 
thousand  men  in  409  B.  C.  and  wiped  Selinus  off  the  face  of  the  earth.  After 
this  Segesta  was  off  and  on  a  Carthaginian  city. 

Cicero.   We  learn  much  of  ancient  Segesta  from  Cicero.     He  says  : — 

"Segesta  is  a  very  ancient  town  in  Sicily,  O  judges,  which  its  inhabitants 
assert  was  founded  by  ^Eneas  when  he  was  flying  from  Troy  and  coming  to 
this  country.  And  accordingly  the  Segestans  think  that  they  are  connected 
with  the  Roman  people,  not  only  by  a  perpetual  alliance  and  friendship,  but 
even  by  some  relationship.  This  town,  as  the  state  of  the  Segestans  was  at 
war  with  the  Carthaginians  on  its  own  account  and  of  its  own  accord,  was 
formerly  stormed  and  destroyed  by  the  Carthaginians,  and  everything  which 
could  be  any  ornament  to  the  city  was  transported  from  thence  to  Carthage. 

"There  was  among  the  Segestans  a  statue  of  Diana  of  brass,  not  only 
invested  with  the  most  sacred  character,  but  also  wrought  with  the  most 
exquisite  skill  and  beauty.  When  transferred  to  Carthage  it  only  changed  its 
situation  and  its  worshippers ;  it  retained  its  former  sanctity.  For  on  account 
of  its  eminent  beauty  it  seemed,  even  to  their  enemies,  worthy  of  being  most 
religiously  worshipped.  Some  ages  afterwards,  Publius  Scipio  took  Carthage, 
in  the  third  Punic  war ;  after  which  victory  ...  he  summons  all  the 
Sicilians,  because  he  knew  that  during  a  long  period  of  time  Sicily  had 
repeatedly  been  ravaged  by  the  Carthaginians,  and  bids  them  seek  for  all 
they  had  lost,  and  promises  them  to  take  the  greatest  pains  to  ensure  the 
restoration  to  the  different  cities  of  everything  which  had  belonged  to  them.  .  .  . 

"At  that  time  the  same  Diana  of  which  I  am  speaking  is  restored  with  the 
greatest  care  to  the  Segestans.  It  is  taken  back  to  Segesta ;  it  is  replaced  in 
its  ancient  situation,  to  the  greatest  delight  and  joy  of  the  citizens.  It  was 
pkced  at  Segesta  on  a  very  lofty  pedestal,  on  which  was  cut  in  large  letters 
the  name  of  Publius  Africanus  ;  and  a  statement  was  also  engraved  that  *  he 
had  restored  it  after  having  taken  it  to  Carthage.'  It  was  worshipped  by  the 
citizens  ;  it  was  visited  by  all  strangers  ;  when  I  was  queestor  it  was  the  very 
first  thing  they  showed  me.  It  was  a  very  large  and  tall  statue  with  a  flowing 
robe,  but  in  spite  of  its  large  size  it  gave  the  idea  of  the  age  and  dress  of  a 
virgin  ;  her  arrows  hung  from  her  shoulder,  in  her  left  hand  she  carried  her 
bow,  her  right  hand  held  a  burning  torch,  .  .  . 

*'He  commands  the  magistrates  to  take  the  statue  down  and  give  it  to 
him  ;  and  declares  to  them  that  nothing  can  be  more  agreeable  to  him.  But 
they  said  that  it  was  impossible  for  them  to  do  so.  ... 

* '  See  now  with  what  religious  reverence  it  is  regarded.      Know,  O  judges, 


THINGS   OF  SEGESTA  475 

that  among  all  the  Segestans  none  was  found,  whether  free  man  or  slave, 
whether  citizen  or  foreigner,  to  dare  to  touch  that  statue.  Know  that  some 
barbarian  workmen  were  brought  from  Lilybseum  ;  they  at  length,  ignorant 
of  the  religious  character  of  the  image,  agreed  to  take  it  down  for  a  sum  of 
money,  and  took  it  down.  And  when  it  was  being  taken  out  of  the  city  how 
great  was  the  concourse  of  the  women  !  How  great  was  the  weeping  of  the 
old  men  !  Some  of  whom  even  recollected  that  day  when  that  same  Diana, 
being  brought  back  to  Segesta  from  Carthage,  had  announced  to  them,  by  its 
return,  the  victory  of  the  Roman  people.  How  different  from  that  time  did 
this  day  seem  !  Then  the  general  of  the  Roman  people,  a  most  illustrious 
man,  was  bringing  back  to  the  Segestans  the  gods  of  their  fathers,  recovered 
from  an  enemy's  city ;  now  a  base  and  most  profligate  prsetor  of  the  same 
Roman  people  was  taking  away,  with  the  most  nefarious  wickedness,  those 
very  same  gods  from  a  city  of  his  allies.  What  is  more  notorious  throughout 
all  Sicily  than  that  all  the  matrons  and  virgins  of  Segesta  came  together  when 
Diana  was  being  taken  out  of  their  city?  That  they  annointed  her  with 
precious  unguents?  That  they  crowned  her  with  chaplets  and  flowers? 
That  they  attended  her  to  the  borders  of  their  territory  with  frankincense  and 
burning  perfumes  ?  If  at  the  time  you,  by  reason  of  your  covetousness  and 
audacity,  did  not,  while  in  command,  fear  these  religious  feelings  of  the 
population,  do  you  not  fear  them  now,  at  a  time  of  such  peril  to  yourself  and 
to  your  children  ?  What  man,  against  the  will  of  the  immortal  gods,  or  what 
god,  when  you  so  trample  on  all  the  religious  reverence  due  to  them,  do  you 
think  will  come  to  your  assistance  ?  Has  that  Diana  inspired  you,  while  in 
quiet  and  leisure,  with  no  religious  awe ;  she  who,  though  she  had  seen  two 
cities,  in^which  she  was  placed,  stormed  and  burnt,  was  yet  twice  preserved 
from  the  flames  and  weapons  of  two  wars  ;  she  who,  though  she  changed  her 
situation  owing  to  the  victory  of  the  Carthaginians,  yet  did  not  lose  her  holy 
character  ;  and  who,  by  the  valour  of  Publius  Africanus,  afterwards  re 
covered  her  old  worship,  together  with  her  old  situation?  And  when  this 
crime  had  been  executed,  as  the  pedestal  was  empty,  and  the  name  of  Publius 
Africanus  carved  on  it,  the  affair  appeared  scandalous  and  intolerable  to  every 
one,  that  not  only  was  religion  trampled  on,  but  also  that  Caius  Verres  had 
taken  away  the  glory  of  the  exploits,  the  memorial  of  the  virtues,  the  monu 
ment  of  the  victory  of  Publius  Africanus,  that  most  gallant  of  men.  But  when 
he  was  told  afterwards  of  the  pedestal  and  the  inscription,  he  thought  that 
men  would  forget  the  whole  affair,  if  he  took  away  the  pedestal  which  was 
serving  as  a  sort  of  signpost  to  point  out  his  crime.  And  so  by  his  command, 
the  Segestans  contracted  to  take  away  the  pedestal  too  ;  and  the  terms  of  that 
contract  were  read  to  you  from  the  public  registers  of  the  Segestans  at  the 
former  pleading.'' 

Coins.  Some  early  coins  of  Segesta,  about  480  B.C.,  according  to  Mr.  G.  F. 
Hill,  like  those  of  Eryx,  bear  the  hound,  the  form  taken  by  the  River 
Crimesus  at  his  union  with  the  nymph  Segesta.  On  the  reverse  is  a  female 
head  representing  the  nymph  and  an  Elymian  inscription  USAGESTATIB." 
Behind  the  hound  are  three  ears  of  barley  also  used  at  Eryx,  showing  that 
they  adopted  Segesta  types.  Later  coins  have  the  river-god  as  a  shepherd 
accompanied  by  a  dog,  and  a  four-horse  chariot,  whose  driver  holds  the  three 
barley  ears  on  the  reverse.  Mr.  Hill  thinks  the  Greek  coins  of  Segesta  ceased 
409  B.C.  Some  Roman  coins  of  Segesta  represent  JEneas  carrying  his  father 
Anchises  from  the  ruins  of  Troy,  alluding,  of  course,  to  the  legend  of  the 
Trojan  foundation  of  Segesta.  Some  of  these  bear  the  head  of  Augustus  on 
the  reverse. 


4?6        SICILY   THE   NEW  WINTER   RESORT 

Diana.  The  great  Temple  of  Segesta  (q.v.),  see  below,  was  dedicated  to 
Diana.  For  the  famous  image  of  Diana  see  under  Cicero,  above. 

Dicaeopolis.  When  Agathocles  had  rooted  out  of  Segesta  with  horrible 
tortures  the  Elymian  aborigines,  who  had  been  there  from  time  immemorial, 
he  repeopled  the  city  with  a  mixed  population  of  Greeks,  and  renamed  it 
"  Dicoeopolis " — "the  city  of  righteousness,"  307  B.C. 

Egesta.  The  Greeks  called  Segesta,  Egesta.  But  when  the  Romans 
came,  and  on  the  strength  of  their  traditional  Trojan  origin,  welcomed  the 
Egestans  as  brothers  and  equals,  they  disliked  the  ill-omened  resemblance  of 
the  name  Egesta  to  the  Latin  word  Egestas  (poverty  or  want).  So  they 
changed  it  to  Segesta. 


THE  TEMPLE  OF   DIANA  AT  SEGESTA 


Elymians.  Egesta,  like  Eryx,  was  an  undisputed  Elymian  city.  Entella 
and  Halicyse  (q.v.)  were  generally  allowed  to  be  Elymian  also  ;  but  in  any  case 
the  Elymians,  the  third  and  least  known  of  the  races  whom  we  find  in  Sicily  at 
the  dawn  of  history,  must  have  been  very  few  compared  to  the  Sikelians  and 
Sicanians.  Their  cities  were  of  such  tremendous  natural  strength  that  they 
managed  to  exist,  unless  we  are  to  think  that  originally  they  were  more  widely 
spread,  and  driven  out  of  all  except  these  almost  impregnable  fastnesses  in  the 
west  of  Sicily.  All  over  Europe  the  weaker  races  retreated  to  western  fast 
nesses.  However  that  may  be,  no  one  has  ever  disputed  that  Eryx  and 
Egesta  were,  when  we  first  know  them,  inhabited  by  a  distinct  race.  The 
Segestans  themselves  and  the  Romans  identified  the  Elymians  with  the 
Trojans.  Pausanias  mentions  the  Elymians  once  when  he  says  that  Pentathlos 
and  his  Cnidians  founded  Lipari  when  they  were  driven  out  of  the  city  on 
Cape  Pachynum,  in  Sicily,  by  the  Elymi  and  Phoenicians.  We  know  from 
other  sources  that  these  Elymians  were  Segestans,  at  that  time  at  war  with 
Selinus.  But  Pausanias,  in  the  often-quoted  passage  (V.  xxv.  6),  says  :  "  Sicily 
is  inhabited  by  the  following  races :  Sicanians,  Sikels,  and  Phrygians,  of 
whom  the  first  two  crossed  into  it  from  Italy,  but  the  Phrygians  came  from 
the  river  Scamander  and  the  district  of  the  Troad.  These  Phrygians  of  his 


THINGS   OF   SEGESTA  477 

are,  of  course,  the  Elymians.  Virgil,  as  usual,  invents  an  eponymous  hero, 
Elymus,  whom  we  find  in  the  Fifth  /Eneid.  But  he  was  always  wise  after 
the  event.  He  invented  origins  ;  he  did  not  discover  them.  Agathocles 
murdered  the  adult  Elymians  and  sold  the  women  and  children  into  slavery 
into  Italy,  but  they  must  have  returned  in  some  degree  for  the  Romans  to 
confer  such  privileges  upon  Egesta. 

Eiyx,  connection  of  Egesta  with.  Eryx,  like  Egesta,  was  an  Elymian 
town.  Eryx  helped  Egesta  against  the  Selinuntines  and  the  Cnidians  of  Pen- 
tathlos,  580  B.C.  Egesta  helped  Eryx  to  defeat  Dorieus,  q.v.  (see  General 
Index),  and  Eryx  lent  Egesta  the  superb  silver-gilt  treasures  of  her  great 
Temple  of  Venus  to  impress  the  Athenians  with  the  idea  of  their  wealth  when 
the  Egestans  were  seeking  the  alliance  of  Athens. 

Garibaldi.  Garibaldi's  first  battle  in  Sicily,  Calatafimi,  was  fought,  as  it 
were,  under  the  shadow  of  the  Temple  of  Segesta. 

Goethe  on  Segesta.  Goethe  visited  the  Temple  of  Segesta  on  April  2oth, 
1787.  He  has  not  one  word  to  say  of  its  beauty.  The  only  feature  which  he 
mentions  with  any  commendation  is  the  restoration,  and  his  remarks  upon  the 
theatre  show  what  claims  he  has  to  be  considered  a  man  of  taste.  "The 
whole  is  built  of  a  limestone,  very  similar  to  the  travertine  ;  only  it  is  now 
much  fretted.  The  restoration  which  was  carried  on  in  1781  has  done  much 
good  to  the  building.  The  cutting  of  the  stone,  with  which  the  parts  have 
been  reconnected,  is  simple,  but  beautiful.  The  large  blocks  standing  by 
themselves,  which  are  mentioned  by  Riedesel,  I  could  not  find  ;  probably  they 
were  used  for  the  restoration  of  the  columns.  The  site  of  the  temple  is 
singular ;  at  the  highest  end  of  a  broad  and  long  valley,  it  stands  on  an 
isolated  hill.  Surrounded  on  all  sides  by  cliffs,  it  commands  a  very  distant  and 
extensive  view  of  the  land,  but  takes  in  only  just  a  corner  of  the  sea.  The 
district  reposes  in  a  sort  of  melancholy  fertility.  .  .  .  The  wearisomeness  of 
winding  through  the  insignificant  ruins  of  a  theatre  took  away  from  us  all  the 
pleasures  we  might  otherwise  have  had  in  visiting  the  remains  of  the  ancient 
city. "  (Cf.  Cardinal  Newman's  remarks  on  Segesta,  below. ) 

Lamia  of  Segesta.  A  purple-worker  mentioned  by  Cicero  as  receiving 
commissions  from  Verres.  "  There  is  a  woman,  a  citizen  of  Segesta,  very  rich 
and  nobly  born,  by  name  Lamia.  She  having  her  house  full  of  spinning- 
jennies,  for  three  years  was  making  him  robes  and  coverlets,  all  dyed  with 
purple." 

Medieval  remains. 

Newman,  Cardinal.  In  1833,  John  Henry  Newman,  afterwards  Cardinal, 
was  in  Segesta.  He  drove  from  Alcamo  to  Calatafimi,  thirty-three  miles,  and" 
rode  from  Calatafimi  to  Segesta  on  a  mule.  Verres  himself  hardly  stands  in 

Greatest  contrast  to  Newman  than  Goethe.     Newman  was  enchanted  with 
egesta. 

.  "I  recommended  a  slight  'refection,'  as  Lady  Margaret  would  say,  before 
starting  with  our  mules ;  so,  after  an  egg  or  two,  we  set  off  for  the  Temple, 
which  is  four  miles  off,  and  which  came  in  sight  suddenly  after  we  had 
advanced  about  a  mile.  Oh,  that  I  could  tell  you  one  quarter  what  I  have  to 
say  about  it !  First,  the  surrounding  scene  on  approaching  it  is  a  rich  valley 
— now,  don't  fancy  valleys  and  hills  as  in  England  ;  it  is  all  depth  and  height, 
nothing  lumpish — and  even  at  this  season  the  colouring  is  rich.  We  went 
through  groves  of  olive  covered  with  ruins.  We  wound  up  the  ascent— once, 
doubtless,  a  regular  road  to  the  city  gate— and,  on  surmounting  the  brow,  we 
saw  what  we  had  seen  at  a  distance  (and  what  we  saw  also  afterwards  at  the 


478        SICILY   THE   NEW   WINTER   RESORT 

end  of  a  long  valley  on  leaving  the  plain  of  Castel-a-mare  for  Palermo),  the 
Temple.  Here  the  desolation  was  a  striking  contrast  to  the  richness  of  the 
valley  we  had  been  passing.  On  the  hill  beyond  it  there  were,  as  on  our  hill, 
ruins,  and  we  conjectured  they  might  mark  the  site  of  the  Greek  town  ;  but  on 
the  circular  hill  there  was  nothing  but  a  single  Temple.  Such  was  the  genius 
of  ancient  Greek  worship— grand  in  the  midst  of  error,  simple  and  unadorned 
in  its  architecture.  It  chose  some  elevated  spot,  and  fixed  there  its  solitary 
witness,  where  it  could  not  be  hid.  I  believe  it  is  the  most  perfect  building 
remaining  anywhere — Doric  j  six  gigantic  pillars  before  and  behind,  twelve  in 
length,  no  roof.  Its  history  is  unknown.  The  temples  of  later  and  classical 
times  have  vanished— the  whole  place  is  one  ruin  except  this  in  the  waste  of 
solitude.  A  shepherd's  hut  is  near  and  a  sort  of  farmyard — a  number  of  eager 
dogs — a  few  rude,  intrusive  men,  who  would  have  robbed  us,  I  fancy,  if  they 
dared.  On  the  hill  on  which  the  theatre  stood  was  a  savage-looldng  bull 
prowling  amid  the  ruins.  Mountains  around  Eryx  in  the  distance.  The  past 
and  present !  Once  these  hills  were  full  of  life  !  I  began  to  understand  what 
Scripture  means  when  speaking  of  lofty  cities  vaunting  in  the  security  of  their 
strongholds.  What  a  great  but  ungodly  sight  was  this  place  in  its  glory  !  And 
then  its  history,  to  say  nothing  of  Virgil's  fictions.  Here  it  was  that  Nicias 
came  ;  this  was  the  ally  of  Athens.  What  a  strange  place  !  How  did  people 
take  it  into  their  heads  to  plant  themselves  here?" 

And  elsewhere  he  writes  that  in  all  Sicily  '*  the  chief  sight  has  been  Egesta 
(Segesta),  its  ruins,  with  its  temple.  Oh  wonderful  sight !— full  of  the  most 
strange  pleasure.  Strange,  from  the  position  of  the  town,  its  awful  desolate- 
ness,  the  beauty  of  the  scenery — rich  even  in  winter — its  historical  recollec 
tions,  by  contrast  with  the  misery  of  the  population,  the  depth  of  squalidness, 
and  brutality  by  which  it  is  surrounded.  It  has  been  a  day  in  my  life  to  have 
seen  Egesta  ! "  ( The  Letters  and  Correspondence^  of  f.  H.  Newman,  edited  by 
Mrs.  Mozley.  Longmans,  second  edition,  vol.  i.,  p.  307). 
Punic  War,  First.  See  History. 

Pyrrhus.  The  Egestans  voluntarily  joined  Pyrrhus  in  his  march  on  Eyrx. 
Romans  at  Segesta.  In  262  B.C.  the  people  of  Egesta  massacred  the 
Carthaginian  garrison  and  joined  the  Romans.  Agathocles  had  expelled 
all  the  Elymians.  They  may  have  returned,  or  the  new  inhabitants  may  just 
have  taken  on  the  traditions  of  the  place.  In  any  case,  the  Romans  received 
them  as  Trojans.  Later  on,  when  Sicily  became  a  Roman  province,  Segesta 
(for  change  of  name  see  above,  under  Segesta)  was  one  of  the  five  civitates 
liberce  et  immunes  sine  federe^  i.e.  exempt  from  tribute  to  Rome  and  keeping 
a  free  local  administration.  Augustus  gave  Segesta  the  lower  franchise  of 
Latium.  Under  the  Republic,  before  Sicily  became  a  province,  its  inhabitants 
were  treated  almost  as  brothers  by  Romans.  Scipio  Africanus  restored  the 
great  brass  image  of  Diana,  which  had  been  carried  from  its  temple  to 
Carthage.  Segesta  suffered  greatly  by  the  depredations  of  Verres.  See  under 
Verres  and  Cicero.  The  Romans  altered  the  theatre  (q.v.),  and  there  are 
remains  of  various  Roman  buildings  among  the  ruins  of  the  city. 

Temple.  The  temple  is  a  hexastyle  peripteral  temple  with  thirty-six  columns, 
standing  high  up  on  a  mountain  in  an  incomparable  position.  The  river 
Crimesus  runs  below.  The  Temple  is  61  metres  long  and  26-30  wide.  The 
columns,  which  are  some  of  them  repaired,  are  9*50  metres  high,  1*90  in 
diameter,  and  at  intervals  of  2*50.  Although  not  the  largest,  it  is  the  most 
impressive  temple  in  Sicily,  because  of  its  perfect  condition,  its  elegance  and 
lightness,  and  its  solitary  majestic  situation.  Goethe  (p.  259,  Bonn's  trans.) 
says  :  "  The  temple  of  Segesta  was  never  finished ;  the  ground  around  it  was 


THINGS   OF   SELINUNTE  479 

never  even  levelled,  the  space  only  being  smoothed  on  which  the  peristyle  was 
to  stand.  For  in  several  places  the  steps  are  from  9  to  10  feet  in  the  ground, 
and  there  is  no  hill  near  from  which  the  stone  or  mound  could  have  fallen. 
Besides,  the  stones  lie  in  their  natural  position,  and  no  ruins  are  found  near 
them."  It  was  dedicated,  as  we  learn  from  Cicero's  Verres>  to  Diana.  See 
above,  under  Cicero. 

Theatre,  Graeco-Roman.  One  of  the  most  important  in  Sicily,  cut  in  the 
living  rock  with  a  diameter  of  63  metres  (that  of  Syracuse  is  130  metres  in 
diameter),  with  tiers  of  seats  separated  by  a  preecinction  and  divided  into 
seven  blocks.  The  fine  entrance  wall  is  preserved  with  two  entrances.  Inside 
the  theatre,  which  enjoys  a  magnificent  view,  according  to  the  Greek  custom, 
are  many  remains  of  antique  buildings.  For  Goethe's  childish  comment  on 
the  theatre  see  above. 

The  last  row  of  the  lower  seats  is  furnished  with  a  back,  a  feature  which  is 
not  observable  in  any  other  theatre  in  Sicily,  behind  which  is  a  proscinction 
which  divides  the  auditorium  into  two  parts.  The  lower  is  perfectly  preserved, 
while  the  upper  is  much  wasted.  The  part  of  the  theatre  opposite  the  rock 
is  supported  by  piers  of  mortared  stone.  Only  the  foundations  remain  of  the 
scena,  and  at  the  sides  are  seen  the  lower  parts  of  two  sculptured  satyrs. 
There  is  a  memorial  to  some  person  whose  name  is  given  in  Greek  letters, 
whom  the  citizens  wished  to  honour.  There  are  pieces  of  columns  and 
friezes  and  cornices  lying  about. 

Virgil  describes  the  foundation  of  Segesta  in  the  Fifth  /Eneid.  See  above, 
under  Acestes. 

Walls  of  the  city.   There  are  some  remains  of  the  ancient  walls. 


THINGS   OF   SELINUNTE 

SELINUNTE  is  best  visited  in  the  winter  or  spring;  it  is  malarious  at  times. 
There  is  no  modern  city,  but  the  director  of  the  museum  has  a  house  here, 
and  Sig.  Florio  has  a  baglio,  in  both  of  which  strangers  are  sometimes 
accommodated,  though  they  generally  have  to  go  to  the  tonnaro  or  a  locanda 
near  the  shore.  Practically  strangers  never  stay  there.  They  sleep  at  Castel- 
vetrano,  which  is  only  an  hour  or  two's  drive,  and  spend  the  day  at  Selinunte. 
The  name  Selinunte  is  hardly  altered  from  the  ancient  Selinus,  generally 
identified  with  the  wild  parsley,  though  Freeman  calls  it  wild  celery  (selinon\ 
See  General  Index.  The  wild  parsley  is  found  in  great  quantities  here  round 
the  dried-up  bed  of  the  harbour. 

Selinunte  is  7j  miles  from  Castelvetrano  Stat.  on  the  Palermo-Trapani  line. 
It  is  on  the  road  to  Sciacca,  which  is  about  twice  the  distance.  With  a 
motor-car  Sciacca  would  be  the  best  point  to  stay  at  for  studying  Selinunte, 
whose  enormous  mass  of  ruins  affords  much  food  for  the  antiquary.  It  stands 
on  three  hills  close  by  the  sea  on  the  south  coast,  midway  between  Girgenti 
and  Mazzara. 

It  was  founded  by  Megara-Iblea  628  B.C.  Baedeker  speaks  of  its  ruins  as 
the  grandest  ancient  temples  in  Europe.  Thucydides  says  :  "The  Megareans, 
after  inhabiting  it  two  hundred  and  forty-five  years,  were  expelled  from  their 
city  and  country  by  Gelo,  tyrant  of  Syracuse.  Before  their  expulsion,  how 
ever,  a  hundred  years  after  their  settlement,  they  founded  Selinus,  having 
sent  Pamillus  for  the  purpose,  who  came  from  Megara,  their  mother  city,  and 
joined  them  in  founding  it.  The  great  Athenian  armament,  which  perished  in 


480        SICILY  THE   NEW  WINTER   RESORT 

Sicily,  was  sent  against  Selinus."  Thucydides  (Book  VI.  Ivii.)  says  :  £<The 
opinion  of  Nicias  was  that  they  should  sail  to  Selinus  with  all  their  forces, 
that  being  the  object  for  which  they  had,  most  of  all,  been  sent  ;  and,  in  case 
of  the  Segestans  supplying  money  for  the  whole  armament,  that  then  they 
should  determine  accordingly ;  otherwise,  that  they  should  beg  them  to  give 
.  provisions  for  their  sixty  ships,  the  number  which  they  had  asked  for ;  and, 
remaining  there,  should  bring  the  Selinuntines  to  terms  with  them,  either  by 
force  or  by  treaty."  580  B.C.  the  Selinuntines  and  their  allies  from  Cnidos 
and  Rhodes  under  Pentathlus  were  defeated  by  the  Egestans  and  Phoenicians. 
Pentathlus  forsook  his  colony  near  Cape  Pachynum  to  found  a  new  colony  at 
Lipara  (q.v.).  416  B.C.  happened  the  dispute  between  Selinus  and  Segesta 
mentioned  by  Thucydides,  which  caused  the  invasion  of  Sicily  by  the 
Athenians.  When  the  Athenians  were  defeated  the  Selinuntines  turned  on 
little  Segesta.  Not  content  with  receiving  the  lands  which  had  been  in 
dispute,  they  aimed  at  nothing  short  of  the  subjection  of  Segesta.  The 
Segestans  appealed  to  Carthage,  who  sent  a  small  expedition,  followed  in  409 
B.C.  by  a  great  army  of  100,000  men  under  Hannibal,  the  grandson  of  the 
Hamilcar  who  was  defeated  and  killed  in  the  supreme  Battle  of  Ilimera, 
480  B.C. 

The  Selinuntines  were  old  allies  of  Carthage.  They  sent  a -contingent 
of  cavalry,  which  arrived  too  late  to  fight  at  Himera,  but  that  did  not  avail 
them ;  and  the  Syracusans,  to  whom  they  appealed  for  aid,  voted  it,  but  did 
not  send  it.  In  eight  days  Selinunte,  which  was  not  prepared  for  war,  was  taken 
and  razed  to  the  ground.  How  effectually  can  be  seen  to  this  day,  when  we 
are  at  a  loss^  whether  to  account  the  destruction  of  this  and  the  other  temple  to 
the  Carthaginians  or  to  an  earthquake.  Sixteen  thousand  of  the  sixty  thousand 
citizens  were  slaughtered  in  the  sack  ;  five  thousand,  mostly  women  and  children 
it  may  be  supposed,  were  sent  as  slaves  to  Carthage.  A  few  armed  men  cut 
their  way  through  to  Acragas.  Of  the  remainder,  many  probably  disappeared 
into  the  interior,  as  was'the  way  of  routed  armies  in  Sicily.  Armies  could  not 
operate  there.  The  Sikels  very  likely  welcomed  them,  from  their  knowledge 
of  the  useful  arts.  This  might  account  for  the  Hellenising  of  the  Sikels,  who 
eventually  became  indistinguishable  from  the  Sikeliot  Greeks.  When  Dionysius 
made  his  treaty  with  Carthage  Selinus  was  left  to  the  invader,  and  the  same 
thing  happened  in  the  treaties  between  Timoleon  and  Carthage,  and  again  in 
the  treaty  between  Agathocles  and  Carthage.  In  the  war  against  Athens  the 
Selinuntines  joined  Gylippus,  and  in  412  B.C.,  when  the  Athenians  in  Sicily 
had  been  conquered,  Selinus,  as  well  as  Syracuse,  sent  ships  to  operate 
with  the  Peloponnesian  fleet  against  Athens  itself.  In  276  B.C.  it  welcomed 
Pyrrhus. 

About  250  B.C.  the  Carthaginians  destroyed  Selinus  again,  to  prevent 
it  falling  into  the  hands  of  the  Romans,  and  transferred  its  inhabitants  to 
Lilybseum.  It  seems  never  to  have  been  rebuilt.  Pliny  mentions  it,  but 
Strabo  distinctly  classes  it  with  cities  which  were  wholly  extinct.  Ptolemy 
does  not  even  mention  it,  though  he  mentions  the  river  Selinus.  (Smith's 
Dictionary  of  Greek  and  Roman  Geography.}  Hermocrates,  while  exiled  from 
Syracuse,  refounded  Selinunte  on  a  small  scale,  two  years  after  its  destruction 
in  409. 

Acropolis.  The  main  part  of  the  ruins  of  Selinunte  lie  in  the  Acropolis. 
It  is  there  that  we  find — 

(I)  Temple  C.  The  Temple  of  Hercules,  also  attributed  to  Apollo.  The 
older  metopes  of  the  Palermo  Museum  were  found  in  this  temple. 


THINGS   OF   SELINUNTE  481 

(2)  Temple  B.   Contains  some  of  the  best  examples  of  Greek  temple  colouring. 

(3)  Temple  A.  i-  -      .  *•  s 

(4)  Temple  D. 

(5)  Byzantine  and  other  tombs. 

(6)  Main  street  in  the  Acropolis,  bordered  by  foundations  of  houses  leading 
to  splendid  gateways. 


THE  MAIN  STREET   OP'   THE  ACROPOLIS 


The  fortifications  of  Hermocrates  He  to  the  north  of  the  Acropolis.  Their 
three  fine  towers,  or  bastions,  and  underground  passaging  prove  Hermocrates 
to  have  been  a  great  military  architect  like  his  son-in-law  Dionysius.  The 
necropolis  occupies  the  seaward  half  of  a  low  rocky  hill  and  has  a  very  fine 
gateway  on  the  north  side. 

uEsculapius.  Some  of  the  Selinuntine  coins  bear  a  cock  in  allusion  to  the 
aid  given  by  ^Esculapius  against  the  fever  caused  by  the  marshy  site. 

Angell,  one  of  the  two  English  architects  who  discovered  the  famous 
Selinunte  metopes  in  1823.  See  General  Index. 

Antiques.  There  are  more  Greek  antiques  dug  up  at  Selinunte  than  in  any 
place  in  Sicily.  Thirty-seven  thousand  lamps  had  been  found  there  before 
1896.  On  one  occasion  eight  thousand  were  dug  out  in  three  days.  The 
heads  of  small  archaic  terra-cotta  figurines  are  also  extremely  numerous,  and 
not  a  few  perfect  figures  have  been  taken  out,  besides  bronzes,  ancient 
Phoenician  beads,  and  jewellery.  Some  of  them  are  kept  in  the  local  museum, 
others  in  the  vaults  of  the  Palermo  Museum,  and  the  best  of  them  are  in  a 
room  near  that  which  contains  the  Mazzara  Vase  at  the  Palermo  Museum. 
Poor  specimens  are  taken  down  in  little  trolleys  and  dumped  by  the  seashore. 
Many  charming  specimens  are  to  be  found  more  or  less  damaged  in  these 
refuse-heaps.  But  antiques  cannot  be  purchased  at  Selinunte  like  they  can  at 
Girgenti. 

Byzantine.  There  are  a  quantity  of  Byzantine  tombs,  houses,  etc.,  to  be 
found  in  the  Acropolis.  They  are  mostly  very  inferior.  The  tombs  look  like 
a  cross  between  cromlechs  and  altar-tombs  made  out  of  paving  stones.  It 
was  a  settlement  of  refugees  fortifying  themselves  against  the  Saracens  in  the 
ruins  of  the  ancient  city.  They  used  classical  fragments.  Their  work  can 
easily  be  recognised  by  the  rude  crosses  cut  on  the  stones. 


482        SICILY  THE   NEW  WINTER   RESORT 

Campobello  di  Mazzara.,  Near  here  are  the  quarries  of  Kusa  from 
which  the  stones  for  the  temples  of  Selirmnte  were  hewn.  Some  of  them  are 
lying  there  still.  They  were  waiting  to  be  transported  when  the  city  was 
destroyed. 

Carthaginians.  Selinus  was  a  Carthaginian  city  for  about  a  century  and  a 
half.  See  above,  introductory  paragraph. 

Cavallari,  Prof.  See  General  Index.  It  was  he  who  discovered  the 
Temple  of  Hecate  with  its  propylsea  on  the  far  side  of  the  River  Madiuni, 
where  most  of  the  antiquities  are  found. 

Coins.  The  distinguishing  feature  of  the  early  coins  of  Selinus  is  the 
selinon  leaf,  which  looks  like  a  triple  thistle.  Later,  there  is  a  tetradraclim 
with  Apollo  and  Diana  driving  in  a  chariot  shooting  arrows  against  the 
malaria,  with  the  river-god  Selinus  on  the  reverse  sacrificing  between  a  cock 
and  a  bull,  the  former  belonging  to  /Esculapius.  This  also  has  the  selinon 
leaf  on  it.  There  is  another  coin  with  a  reverse  rather  like  this,  but  a  man 
and  a  horse  on  the  obverse.  Both  coins,  according  to  Mr.  G.  F.  Hill,  refer 
to  Empedocles  driving  away  malaria.  The  river-god  occurs  on  another  coin 
with  a  four-horse  chariot  on  the  obverse.  Mr.  Hill  points  out  that  the  people 
of  Solunto  (Solous),  the  Solontinpi,  had  a  coin  deliberately  copied  from  the 
ordinary  Selinuntine  type  to  gain  currency  for  their  less-known  coinage. 
Selinunte  had  no  coins  after  its  great  destruction  in  409  B.C. 

Corsairs,  Saracen.  Great  destruction  in  the  ruins  of  Selinunte  was  caused 
by  the  Byzantines  pulling  down  ancient  buildings  to  fortify  themselves  against 
the  corsairs. 

Destruction  of  Selinunte.  The  way  in  which  Selinunte  was  destroyed  has 
furnished  much  discussion  among  antiquaries.  The  main  destruction,  of  course, 
was  by  the  Carthaginians,  409  B.C.  ;  and  they  again  destroyed  the  fortifications 
at  any  rate  about  250  B.C.,  when  during  the  First  Punic  War  they  removed 
the  inhabitants  of  Selinunte  to  Lilybseum  to  have  a  smaller  line  to  defend. 
But  it  is  not  considered  that  the  best  temples  were  thrown  down  by  them. 
This  is  generally  attributed  to  earthquakes,  though  some  maintain  that  the 
Carthaginians  harnessed  their  captives  with  cables  to  the  architraves  of  the 
temples  and  pulled  them  down.  Two,  at  any  rate,  of  the  temples  are  so  little 
destroyed  that  for  a  few  thousand  pounds  they  could  be  re-erected  and  be 
among  the  finest  Greek  temples  in  existence.  * '  The  whole  of  these  six 
massive  buildings  now  lie  in  a  complete  state  of  ruin,  a  work  of  evidently 
wilful  destruction ^on  the  part  of  the  Carthaginians,  as  the  Temple  of  Segesta, 
not  many  miles  distant,  has  still  every  column  and  its  whole  entablature  quite 
perfect ;  so  it  is  impossible  to  suppose  that  an  earthquake  was  the  cause  of 
the  utter  ruin  at  Selinus.  Few  or  no  marks  of  fire  are  visible  on  the  stone 
blocks."  (Prof.  Middleton.) 

Diogenes,  Laertius.  We  owe  some  of  our  knowledge  of  ancient  Selinus 
to  Diogenes  Laertius. 

Earthquakes.     See  above,  under  Destruction  of  Selinunte. 

Empedocles  is  said  to  have  cured  Selinus  of  malaria  by  filling  up  the 
harbour  under  the  Acropolis. 

Excavations.  A  good  deal  of  excavation  has  been  conducted  in  recent 
years  in  Selinunte  by  •  Profs.  Salinas  and  Patricola.  Photographs  of  the 
splendid  new  metopes  exhumed  by  the  former  are  given  in  Mr.  Sladen's 
In  Sicily.  All  the  most  important  objects  excavated  at  Selinunte  are  in  the 
Palermo  Museum.  Attention  was  first  drawn  to  the  wonderful  wealth  of 
antiquities  at  Selinunte  by  the  discoveries  of  two  English  architects,  Messrs. 


THINGS   OF   SELINUNTE  483 

Angell  and  Harris,  who  in  1823  discovered  the  superb  metopes  now  in  the 
Palermo  Museum,  which  are  only  excelled  by  those  of  the  Parthenon  and 
Olympia.  See  also  Cavallari.  Visitors  can  generally  see  some  excavations 
going  on. 

Florio's  bag-lio.  A  wine  baglio,  in  the  midst  of  the  temples,  belonging  to 
Sig.  Florio,  with  a  picturesque  well-head  in  its  courtyard.  Carriages  put  up 
here,  and  doubtless  visitors  could  be  put  up  here  if  they  had  a  proper  intro 
duction  to  Sig,  Florio. 

Flowers.  Selinunte  is  one  of  the  best  places  in  Sicily  for  wild  flowers. 
They  sweep  in  a  great  flood  over  everything.  The  Sicilian  daisies  are  par 
ticularly  fine  here.  See  chapter  on  Flowers. 

^  Fortifications.  After  the  Castle  of  Euryalus  there  are  no  Greek  fortifica 
tions  in  Sicily  to  compare  with  those  of  Selinunte,  especially  those  put  up  by 
Hermocrates,  north  of  the  Acropolis.  The  masonry  at  Selinunte  is  magnifi 
cent. 

Gate  of  the  ancient  city.  There  is  a  very  fine  gate  in  the  north  wall  of 
the  Acropolis,  and  a  postern  cut  out  of  the  wall  instead  of  built  into  it. 

Girgenti,  connection  with.  People  sometimes  drive  from  Girgenti  through 
Sciacca  to  Selinunte  and  Castelvetrano ;  and  as  motor-cars  come  in,  this 
journey  will  constantly  be  made.  The  only  means  of  getting  from  Girgenti 
to  Selinunte  by  rail  is  to  go  the  whole  way  to  Palermo  on  the  north  side  of  the 
island,  and  back  again  to  a  place  which  is  only  about  30  or  40  miles  from 
Girgenti,  as  the  crow  flies,  on  the  south  coast.  Another  very  good  way  to  go 
is  to  take  the  boat  from  Girgenti  to  Sciacca,  and  drive  down  from  there 
about  1 6  miles — pursuing  the  journey  to  Castelvetrano  at  night,  and  sending 
the  carriage  back  from  there. 

Gorgo  di  Cottone.  The  name  of  the  ancient  harbour  of  Selinunte. 
Drained  by  Empedocles  to  dispel  the  malaria.  Now  a  marshy  valley, 
malarious  at  certain  times  of  the  year. 

Guides  (custodi).  The  best  guide  one  can  get  at  Selinunte  is  the  custode 
of  the  temples  j  but  the  padrone,  who  lets  carriages  at  Selinunte  and  generally 
drives  himself,  knows  sufficient  of  the  main  features  to  satisfy  the  ordinary 
tourists. 

Hamilcar.  See  above,  under  preliminary  paragraph.  The  Selinuntines 
were  his  allies,  but  arrived  too  late  for  the  Battle  of  Himera. 

Hannibal,  the  son  of  Gisco.  Captured  Selinunte  after  eight  days'  siege, 
409  B.C.,  and  razed  it  to  the  ground.  See  General  Index,  under  Hannibal. 

Harris.  See  General  Index.  One  of  the  two  English  architects  who  dis 
covered  the  famous  Selinunte  metopes. 

Houses,  Greek.  In  the  Acropolis  along  the  main  street  are  the  remains 
of  many  ancient  houses.  They  are  not  considered  by  scholars  to  be  Greek. 
They  are  very  small. 

Lamps,  Greek.  More  have  been  found  at  Selinunte  than  anywhere  else 
of  little  earthenware  lamps  used  by  the  Greeks,  most  of  which  are  in  the 
shape  of  flattened-out  pears,  with  a  handle  at  the  broad  end  of  the  pear,  and 
a  little  spout  at  the  narrow  end  containing  the  strands  of  wick.  In  the  top  of 
the  lamp  is  another  hole  for  pouring  in  the  oil.  Sometimes  they  have  two 
or  more  spouts.  The  majority  of  them  are  plain,  but  often  of  beautifully 
symmetrical  form.  Some  of  them  are.  made  in  the  shape  of  masks  or  orna 
mental  bas-reliefs.  At  Selinunte  we  do  not  find  the  superb  lamps  decorated 
with  grouped  figures  such  as  are  being  found  at  Myrina.  They  belong  to  a 


484        SICILY  THE   NEW   WINTER   RESORT 

later  period  than  the  Selinunte  terra-cottas.    More  than  50,000  of  them  have 
been  found  at  Selinunte. 

Madiuni,  River.  The  ancient  Selinus,  A  muddy  stream  with  a  swampy 
mouth  flowing  between  the  Acropolis  and  the  hill  on  which  the  new  temple  is 
situated. 


VALLEY  OF  THE  RIVER  MADIUNI  AT  SELINUNTE 


Main  street.  In  the  Acropolis  are  two  large  streets  running  north  to  south 
and  east  to  west.  The  former  is  a  very  fine  street,  lined  with  ancient  houses, 
and  terminating  in  a  splendid  north  gate. 

Malaria.  Selinunte  has  always  been  malarious.  Empedocles  drained  the 
harbour  under  the  citadel  to  cure  it,  but  it  is  still  malarious  in  hot  weather. 

Mare  Africano.  The  sea,  on  whose  shore  Selinunte  stands,  is  the  Mare 
Africano. 


THINGS   OF  SELINUNTE  485 

Metopes.  The  best  metopes  from  Selinunte  come  from  the  so-called 
Temple  of  Juno,  known  as  Temple  E,  near  Sig.  Florio's  baglio.  The 
older  metopes  in  the  Palermo  Museum  were  found  in  Temple  C,  variously 
attributed  to  Hercules  and  Apollo,  which  is  in  the  Acropolis.  The  beautiful 
metopes  exhumed  by  Prof.  Salinas,  the  Rape  of  Europa  and  the  Sphinx,  were 
found  near  the  north  wall  of  the  Acropolis. 

Middleton,  the  late  Prof.  J.  H.,  of  Cambridge,  wrote  the  valuable 
articles  on  the  Sicilian  Temples  in  the  present  ninth  edition  of  the  Encyclo 
pedia  Britannica,  dated  1879. 

Museum.  There  is  a  small  museum  at  Selinunte,  but  until  recently,  at  all 
events,  it  was  not  open  to  the  public,  but  used  as  a  receiving  house  for  the 
Palermo  Museum. 

Patricola,  Prof.  The  head  of  die  Conservazione  dei  Monument!  di  Sicilia 
at  Palermo  has  done  a  good  deal  of  excavating  at  Selinunte. 

Pausanias  (VI.  xix.  10)  says  :  Selinus  in  Sicily  was  destroyed  by  the  Car 
thaginians  in  war,  but  before  this  calamity  befell  them  the  people  of  Selinus 
dedicated  a  treasury  to  Zeus  at  Olympia.  It  contains  an  image  of  Dionysus, 
whereof  the  face,  feet,  and  hands  are  made  of  ivory.  He  also  mentions 
a  village  named  Selinus  in  Laconia,  and  rivers  of  that  name  in  Elis  and 
Achaia. 

Salinas,  Prof.  The  learned  antiquary  at  the  head  of  the  Palermo  Museum 
(q.v.),  who  exhumed  the  beautiful  Selinuntine  metopes  of  the  Sphinx  and  the 
Rape  of  Europa,  now  in  the  Palermo  Museum.  See  General  Index. 

Saracens.  The  Saracens  fortified  themselves  in  the  ruin  of  Selinunte, 
which  was  one  of  the  last  places  where  they  held  out  against  King  Roger, 
1072.  According  to  Baedeker  they  called  the  place  Rahl-el-Asnam,  or 
"Village  of  the  Idols." 

Segesta.  Selinunte  had  wars  with  Segesta  580  B.C.,  when  she  and  her  ally 
Pentathlus  of  Cnidus  were  defeated  by  them.  It  was  a  war  between  Seli 
nunte  and  Segesta  that  led  to  the  Athenians  being  invited  to  aid  the  Segestans 
in  415  B.C.,  and  a  fresh  war  with  Segesta  which  led  to  the  Egestans  invoking 
the  aid  of  the  Carthaginians. 

Statuettes,  terra-cotta.  A  great  number  of  heads  of  Greek  terra-cotta 
statuettes  about  a  foot  high,  and  not  a  few  complete  figures  have  been  found. 
They  belong  mostly  to  the  fifth  century  before  Christ,  and  are  of  an  archaic 
pattern.  See  under  Earthenware,  General  Index. 

Streets,  ancient.  The  Acropolis  is  laid  out  in  streets,  two  of  which  have 
been  traced  for  their  entire  length  from  wall  to  wall. 

Temples. — It  has  never  been  satisfactorily  proved  whether  the  temples  were 
destroyed  by  the  Carthaginians  or  by  an  earthquake.  All  the  temples  except 
one  were  correctly  orientated,  and  that  one,  attributed  to  Pollux,  belonged  to 
a  pair  of  temples.  We  have  ample  evidence  that  the  temples  at  Selinunte  were 
highly  decorated  with  colour.  Prof.  Middleton  says :  "  One  remarkable 
peculiarity  in  their  technique  is  that  the  nude  parts  of  the  female  figures 
(heads,  feet,  and  hands)  are  executed  in  white  marble,  while  the  rest  of  the 
reliefs 'are  in  the  native  grey  tufa,  which  originally  was  covered  with  marble- 
dust  stucco  and  then  painted.  The  whole  of  the  stone-work  of  all  the  temples 
was  treated  in  a  similar  way,  and  gives  most  valuable  examples  of  early 
Greek  coloured  decoration.  Recent  excavations  at  Selinus  have  shown  that 
in  many  cases  the  cornices  and  other  architectural  features  were  covered  with 
moulded  slabs  of  1#rra-cotta,  all  richly  coloured."  Those  who  are  unable  to 


486        SICILY   THE   NEW   WINTER   RESORT 

go  to  Selinunte  will  find  good  examples  of  the  colouring  in  the  Museum 
at  Palermo. 

Temple  A.   In  the  Acropolis. 

Temple  B.  Also  in  the  Acropolis,  the  temple  where  the  polychromatic 
colouring  is  found. 

Temple  C.  Attributed  to  Hercules  or  Apollo.  "  Some  of  the  columns 
on  the  seaside  are  monoliths.  On  the  land  side  they  are  all  formed  of  drums. 
The  oldest  of  the  famous  metopes  at  Palermo  were  taken  from  this  temple. 
All  the  columns  have  fallen  as  they  stood — architraves  and  all.  Those  on  the 
seaside  fell  inwards,  those  on  the  landside  outwards.  It  is  wonderful  to  see 


RUINS  OF  TEMPLE  C 


column,  capital  and  architrave,  cornice,  triglyph  and  metope  lying  there  as  if 
they  were  waiting  for  a  steam  crane  to  put  them  up  again ;  and  on  the  stone 
flags  in  front  of  the  temple  are  the  rut-marks  of  the  chariots."  (Douglas 
Sladen,  In  Sicily.} 

Temple  D.  Also  in  the  Acropolis.  Attributed  to  Jupiter  Agorius.  Length, 
65*81  metres;  width,  28*13. 

Temple  E*  Attributed  to  Juno.  From  this  temple  was  taken  the  best 
metopes  in  the  Palermo  Museum,  of  which  Prof.  Middleton  says : — 

"The  sculptured  metopes  of  Temple  E  are  of  extraordinary  beauty  and 
interest,  and  appear  to  date  from  the  finest  period  of  Greek  art — the  age  of 
Phidias,  or  perhaps  that  of  Myron.  The  chief  subjects  are  Zeus  and  Heira  on 
Mount  Olympus,  Artemis  and  Actseon,  and  Heracles  defeating  an  Amazon. 
They  are  of  the  noblest  style,  simply  and  highly  sculpturesque  in  treatment, 
and  full  of  grace  and  expression." 

"  There  are  still  three  columns  standing  in  one  corner  on  the  south  side, 
but  the  rest  of  the  temple,  though  prostrate,  is  in  such  order  that  Murray  says 
it  looks  as  if  the  pieces  had  been  arranged  ready  for  construction,  unless 
Hannibal,  as  I  have  said,  simply  tied  cables  round  the  superstructure  and 
made  the  captive  Selinuntians,  harnessed  in  hundreds,  drag  them  down,  Or 


THINGS   OF   SELINUNTE  487 

was  it  due  to  the  geometrical  destructiveness  of  an  earthquake?"  (Douglas 
Sladen,  In  Sicily.} 

The  peristyle  consisted  of  thirty-eight  columns  with  flutings  but  no  bases. 
The  portico  had  two  columns  and  the  pronaos  had  two  with  pilasters.  The 
length  of  the  temple  was  69-3;  the  depth,  27-61  metres.  It  was  in  this 
temple  that  the  exquisite  metopes  in  the  Palermo  Museum  were  taken.  The 
ruins  of  this  temple  form  a  little  mountain  of  magnificent  blocks  of. stone, 
among  which  are  ruined  columns  and  capitals,  and  other  pieces  of  superbly 
carved  masonry.  In  a  little  hill  to  the  east,  crossing  the  valley  on  the  way  to 
the  Acropolis,  there  are  the  remains  of  the  building  identified  with  the  theatre 
of  Selinunte. 

Temple ^  F^  Minerva.  Surrounded  by  a  peristyle  of  thirty-six  columns, 
with  Doric  capitals  and  eighteen  flutings,  but  no  bases.  There  were  fourteen 
columns  showing  on  each  side,  and  six  at  each  end.  The  double  portico  was 


RUINS  OF  TEMPLE  F 


supported  by  a  row  of  four  columns,  which  started  at  the  third  column  of  the 
sides.  The  cella  was  narrow,  the  peristyle  wide.  The  form  of  the  pronaos 
was  quadrilateral  and  the  treasury  was  in  the  naps.  The  cornice  of  this 
temple  had  a  frieze  of  green,  red,  and  yellow  colouring. 

Temple  G  (Temple  of  Jupiter  Olympus).  "The  largest  peripteral 
temple  of  the  whole  Hellenic  world,  being  almost  exactly  the  same  size  as 
the  enormous  pseudo-peripteral  Olympeium  at  the  neighbouring  city  of 
Girgenti."  (Middleton.) 

It  is  113  metres  long,  and  53*42  metres  wide.  One  column  exists  entire  to 
show  us  the  vast  height  of  the  temple.  For  vastness,  magnificence,  and 
solidity,  it  was  only  excelled  by  two  temples  in  Greece,  Italy,  Egypt,  and 
Asia  Minor,  that  of  Diana  at  Ephesus,  and  that  of  Jupiter  Olympius  at 
Girgenti.  In  1871,  in  making  some  excavations,  a  Greek  inscription  in  very 
large  letters  was  found,  which  was  considered  the  most  important  found  in 
Sicily.  On  it  are  mentioned  many  divinities  with  particular  epithets,  in 
gratitude  for  a  victory  gained  by  the  Selinuntians,  and  a  peace  made  by 
their  enemies,  This  gives  a  name  of  the  temple  as  the  Apollonion, 


488        SICILY  THE   NEW  WINTER   RESORT 

Temple  H.  Across  the  Madiuni.  The  only  Sicilian  temple  with  a  propylsea. 
Discovered  by  Cavallari,  and  excavated  by  Profs.  Salinas  and  Patricola.  There 
are  various  altars  and  other  buildings  scattered  between  it  and  the  propylsea, 
which  was  at  first  thought  to  be  a  separate  temple.  Baedeker  attaches  the 
name  of  Megaron  of  Demeter  to  the  main  temple,  the  name  "  Temple  of 
Hecate  "  being  attached  to  the  propyloea. 

Theron,  tyrant  of  Selinunte,  the  son  of  Miltiades.  He  seized  the 
tyranny  by  the  aid  of  three  hundred  slaves  granted  to  him  to  go  out  and 
bury  the  dead  after  a  battle.  This  was  after  the  affair  of  Pentathlus, 
579  B.C. 

Theatre.  The  building  identified  with  the  ruins  of  the  theatre  is  mentioned 
under  Temple  E  above. 


THINGS   OF  SOLUNTO 

SOLUNTO  is  ten  miles  from  Palermo  and  about  a  mile  from  the  S.  Flavia 
Stat.  It  stands  on  the  top  of  Monte  Catalfano,  conspicuous  as  forming  part 
of  the  kneeling  camel  at  the  southern  end  of  the  Bay  of  Palermo.  It  has 
received  its  name  of  "The  Sicilian  Pompeii,"  because  a  whole  city  of  little 
houses,  like  Pompeii  on  a  small  scale,  has  been  exhumed  from  the  mountain 
side.  *  It  was  founded  by  the  Phoenicians  in  prehistoric  times,  doubtless  as  an 
outpost  fortress  to  command  the  approach  to  the  great  city  which  is  now 
Palermo.  The  name  of  Hiram,  King  of  Tyre,  who  was  King  Solomon's 
admiral,  is  associated  with  its  remains.  There  are  many  sepulchres  and  cata 
combs  in  the  rocks  below.  According  to  Freeman  it  comes  from  the  word 
Sela,  used  for  a  rock  in  the  Old  Testament.  It  submitted  to  Pyrrhus,  King 
of  Epirus,  and  though  a  Phoenician  city,  joined  the  Romans  of  its  own 
accord  in  the  First  Punic  War.  The  ruins,  except  certain  roads  of  sticky 
stone,  on  which  you  cannot  slip,  climbing  the  hill,  and  one  Phoenician  house, 
belong  to  the  Roman  period.  When  it  was  first  discovered  there  were  abundant 
remains  both  of  public  and  private  buildings  to  attest  its  former  magnificence. 
This  was  in  1825,  but  there  were  occasional  small  finds  and  rumours  thirty 
years  before,  and  it  was  on  these  that  I  based  the  archaeological  aspirations  of 
the  Prince  of  Favara  in  The  Admiral  In  1825  the  fact  of  there  being  a 
Sicilian  Pompeii  was  placed  beyond  all  doubt  by  the  discovery  of  the  great 
statue  of  Jupiter,  of  two  exquisite  stone  candelabra,  and,  later,  of  the  famous 
archaic  figure  of  Isis.  (Douglas  Sladen,  In  Sicily. ) 

Altar,  sacrificial.  There  is  a  sacrificial  altar  consisting  of  a  slab  cut  out  of 
the  rock  supported  by  two  carved  upright  slabs. 

Bakehouse.  There  is  a  good  bakehouse. 

Castello.  The  castle  which  you  see  down  by  the  shore  near  the  modern 
Solanto,  belongs  to  Prince  Gangi. 

Cefalu,  the  view  towards.  Solunto  has  a  noble  view  of  the  sea  and  a  host 
of  small  pyramidal  mountains,  which  look  like  blue  tents  in  the  distance  from 
Palermo.  Prince  Gangi's  castle  juts  out  in  the  foreground  on  a  headland. 

Cistern.  There  is  a  curious  cemented  cistern  in  a  house  on  the  main  street, 
which  has  the  virgin  rock  for  its  back  wall,  and  is  divided  up  by  square  piers 
and  doorways,  which  once  contained  doors  looking  like  the  water-tight  bulk 
head  of  steamers. 


THINGS   OF   SOLUNTO  489 

Coins.  Some  of  the  Roman  coins  of  a  century  B.C.  had  tunny  fish  on 
them.  Solanto  still  has  a  considerable  tonnara.  Mr.  G.  F.  Hill  (ix.  15) 
shows  a  beautiful  tetradrachm  of  Solunto,  with  a  head  of  Persephone  on  one 
side  and  a  four-horse  chariot  on  the  other,  but  admits  it  to  be  doubtful ;  and 
shows  a  curious  bronze  coin  with  a  head,  half  human,  half  ram,  on  one  side 
and  a  sea-horse  on  the  other. 

Ginnasio  (Gymnasium).  The  beautiful  temple-like  building,  of  which  the 
columns  have  been  re-erected,  one  of  the  most  charming  artists3  bits  in  Sicily, 
has  been  pronounced  a  gymnasium.  It  is  the  most  conspicuous  building  in 
the  place. 


THE  GINNASIO — THE  SICILIAN  POMPEII 

Guides.   The  custode  of  the  ruins  is  the  best  guide. 

Hiram,  King"  of  Tyre,  was,  according  to  local  tradition,  the  founder  of 
Solunto.  Solunto  has  three  little  ports  at  the  foot  of  the  rock,  which  may  have 
accommodated  his  fleet. 

Isis,  figure  of.  The  famous  archaic  figure  of  Isis  in  the  Palermo  Museum 
was  found  here  in  1825. 

Jupiter,  statue  of.  The  great  statue  of  Jupiter,  now  in  the  Palermo  Museum, 
was  found  here  in  1825. 

Kfra.   The  Phoenician  name  of  Solunto,  according  to  Mr.  G.  F.  Hill. 

Mosaic  floors.   Solunto  is  rich  with  mosaic  floors  in  good  condition. 

Phoenicians.  It  used  to  be  said  that  there  were  no  Phoenician  remains  at 
Solunto,  but  a  good  many  houses  containing  the  tell-tale  polygonal  masonry 
have  since  been  discovered.  They  are  much  the  same  size  as  the  Greek  houses 
at  Selinunte.  The  streets  which  climb  the  hill  are  also  said  to  be  Phoenician. 
They  are  flagged  with  a  very  peculiar  stone,  intensely  hard,  but  as  sticky  as 
indiarubber  to  the  tread.  If  it  were  not  for  this  stone,  it  would  be  impossible 
to  walk  on  paved  streets  at  such  an  incline. 

Ports.  At  the  foot  of  Monte  Catalfano  are  a  couple  of  tiny  ports,  S.  Elia 
and  Porticelli,  corresponding  to  the  two  little  ports  of  Monte  Pellegrino,  which 


49o        SICILY   THE    NEW   WINTER    RESORT 

served  Hamilcar  when  he  was  entrenched  in  the  city  of  Ercta.  These,  not  the 
modern  Solanto,  would  be  King  Hiram's  ports. 

Roads,  flagged.  There  are  two  kinds  of  flagged  roads  at  Solunto — the 
ordinary  Roman  flagged  roads,  which  run  along  the  face  of  the  mountain 
horizontally,  and  the  curious  Phoenician  flagged  roads  alluded  to  in  the 
preceding  par.  The  Roman  streets  are  all  horizontal. 

Roman  houses.  There  are  plenty  of  Roman  houses  at  Solunto,  but  none 
of  them  with  very  high  walls.  There  are  some  good  mosaic  floors. 

Roman  streets.   See  above,  under  Flagged  Roads. 

Solanto.  The  modern  town,  which  like  the  ancient  Solous  has  an  im 
portant  tonnara,  is  situated  down  by  the  seashore  a  mile  or  two  from  the 
ancient  town.  See  under  Ports. 

Terra-cotta  figurines.  The  most  beautiful  figurines  found  in  $icily  are 
those  now  in  the  Palermo  Museum  found  at  Solunto.  They  are  highly 
coloured,  and  have  the  elegance  of  the  Tanagra  and  Myrina  figures.  If 
they  were  not  imported,  they  are  of  the  highest  interest,  showing  that  in  the 
corresponding  period  in  Sicily  there  was  the  same  feeling  for  elegance  and 
luxury  in  terra-cottas  as  there  was  in  the  Tanagra  of  the  Great  Alexander's 
day.  Perhaps  we  may  yet  find  at  Syracuse  a  treasure-trove  of  these  late 
Greek  terra-cottas.  That  luxurious  and  wealthy  city  is  just  the  place  where 
one  would  expect  it. 

Tombs,  near  S.  Flavia  Stat.  The  necropolis  of  Solunto  is  near  the 
S.  Flavia  Stat. ,  where  you  get  out  when  you  are  visiting  the  city  by  train. 

Vegetation.  Monte  Catalfano,  on  which  Solunto  stands,  is  covered  with 
asphodels,  and  wild  palms  and  prickly-pears. 

Walls.   The  walls  of  Solunto  have  been  traced,  two  miles  in  circuit. 

Zafferana,  Monte,  which  gives  its  name  to  the  whole  headland,  really 
belongs  to  the  head  of  the  kneeling  camel  of  the  southern  promontory  of  the 
Bay  of  Palermo.  The  hump  upon  which  Solunto  stands  is  properly  Monte 
Catalfano. 

SYRACUSE 

HISTORY. 

B.C. 

734.     Syracuse  founded  in  Ortygia. 

664.     Syracuse  founds  Acrse. 

644.     Syracuse  founds  Casmense. 

599.     Syracuse  founds  Camerina. 

540-450.  Epicharmus  of  Syracuse,  a  comic  poet. 

734-486.  Syracuse  governed  by  the  Gamori  (aristocratic  government). 

486.     Expulsion  of  the  Gamori. 

485.     Gelon  of  Gela  restores  the  Gamori  to  Syracuse. 

485-478.  Gelon  tyrant  of  Syracuse. 

480.     Gelon  and  his  allies  defeat  the  Carthaginians  at  Himera  on  the  same 

day  as  the  Battle  of  Salamis. 

478-467.  Hiero  I.  (Gelon's  brother)  tyrant  of  Syracuse. 
473-469.  Pindar  at  the  court  of  Hiero. 
467.     Simonides,  the  lyric  poet,  dies  at  Syracuse. 
467-466.  Thrasybulus,  brother  of  Hiero,  tyrant  of  Syracuse. 
466-405.  Democratic  government. 

415.     The  Athenians  land  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  harbour. 
414.     The  Athenians  commence  to  besiege  Syracuse, 


SYRACUSE  491 

B.C. 

413.     Capture  of  the  two  Athenian  armies. 
436-356-  Philistus,  the  historian  of  Syracuse,  lives. 
405-367.  Dionysius  I.  tyrant  of  Syracuse. 

402.     Syracuse  the  greatest  city  in  Europe. 

397.     Dionysius  I.  takes  the  Carthaginian  fortress  of  Motya  by  storm. 

396.     Syracuse  besieged  by  Himilco  the  Carthaginian. 

367.     Dionysius  II.  succeeds  his  father. 

357.     Return  of  Dion. 

356.     Dion  expels  Dionysius  II. 

354.     Dion  dies. 

352.     Hipparinus  tyrant  of  Syracuse. 

346.     Dionysius  II.  restored. 

344.     Timoleon  lands. 

Dionysius  II.  exiled  to  Corinth. 

339.     Timoleon  defeats  the  Carthaginians  at  the  Battle  of  the  Crimesus. 

338.     He  abdicates. 

336.     He  dies. 

31 7-289.      Agathocles  tyrant  of  Syracuse. 
310-307.      Agathocles  besieges  Carthage. 
315  (circ.\  Theocritus  born  at  Syracuse. 
288-279.     Hicetas  tyrant  of  Syracuse. 
284  (circ. ).  Theocritus  goes  to  Alexandria. 
278-276.      Pyrrhus  master  of  Syracuse. 
270  (circ.).  Theocritus  returns  to  Syracuse. 

270-215.      Hiero  II.,  son  of  Hierocles,  autocrator  and  King  of  Syracuse. 
287-212.     Archimedes  flourishes  at  Syracuse. 
264-241.      First  Punic  War. 

263.       Hiero  recognised  by  the  Romans  as  King  of  Syracuse,  Acrse,  Helorus, 
Neetum,  Megara,  and  Leontini. 

215.     Hieronymus  King  of  Syracuse. 

214.     Marcellus  lays  siege  to  Syracuse. 

212.     Marcellus  captures  Syracuse. 

205.     Scipio  Africanus  at  Syracuse  preparing  for  his  conquest  of  Carthage. 
73-70.  Verres  Pnetor  in  Sicily. 

70.     Cicero's  indictment  of  Verres. 
42-36.  Sextus  Pompeius  master  of  Sicily. 

27.     Sicily  becomes  the  first  senatorial  province  with   Syracuse  as   its 

capital. 
21.     Augustus  sends  a  Roman  colony  to  Syracuse. 

A.D. 

44.  St.  Peter  said  to  have  been  at  Syracuse. 

62.  St.  Paul  lands  at  Syracuse  for  three  days. 

278.  Syracuse  sacked  by  the  Franks. 

535.  Recaptured  by  Belisarius  from  the  Goths. 

555-  Pope  Vigilius  dies  at  Syracuse. 
663-668.  Syracuse  capital  of  the  Eastern  Empire. 

668.  The  Emperor  Constans  murdered  at  Syracuse. 

827.  Euphemius  of  Syracuse  invites  the  Saracens  into  Sicily. 

878.  Syracuse  surrenders  to  the  Saracens. 

1043.  George  Maniaces  defeats  the  Saracens  and  builds  the  Castle  of  Maniace 

at  the  entrance  of  the  harbour. 

1085.  The  Normans  take  Syracuse. 

1204.  Syracuse  taken  first  by  the  Pisans,  then  by  the  Genoese. 

1410.  Queen  Blanche  besieged  by  Bernardo  Cabrera. 


492        SICILY  THE   NEW  WINTER   RESORT 

1676.  The  great  Dutch  admiral,  De  Ruyter,  defeated  by  the  French  off 
Augusta  ;  dies  of  his  wounds  at  Syracuse,  and  is  buried  there. 

1693.  Many  antique  buildings  at  Syracuse  destroyed  by  the  great  earth 
quake. 

1 729.     A  ship  of  Alexandria  brings  the  plague  to  Syracuse. 

1798.  (July  20  to  22)  Nelson  at  Syracuse  watering  his  fleet  for  the  Battle 
of  the  Nile. 

1833.     Cardinal  Newman  at  Syracuse. 

1837.     Rising  at  Syracuse  against  the  Bourbons. 

1860.  Syracuse  freed  from  the  Bourbons  by  an  expedition  of  volunteers  from 
Catania. 

1865.     Syracuse  again  becomes  capital  of  the  province. 


ITINERARY   OF   SYRACUSE 

The  researches  of  Fazello,  Cluverius,  Mirabella,  Serradifalco,  and  Cavallari 
have  cleared  up  the  positions  of  the  various  quarters  of  the  town,  etc. ,  beyond 
a  doubt.  The  ancient  city  consisted  of  five  quarters— Achradina,  Neapolis, 
Tyche,  Epipolae,  and  the  Island  of  Ortygia.  But  only  Ortygia  and  a  small 
portion  of  Achradina,  known  as  the  borgo  of  S.  Lucia,  are  now  inhabited. 

By  working  very  hard,  Syracuse  may  be  seen  in  four  days.  On  the  first  day. 
See  the  Greek  theatre,  the  Roman  amphitheatre,  the  Ara  (Altar  of  Hecatombs), 
Street  of  Tombs,  the  Necropolis  on  the  Catania  road  with  the  so-called  tomb 
of  Archimedes,  the  Piscina,  the  Latomia  del  Paradiso,  containing  the  ear  of 
Dionysius,  the  Latomia  di  S.  Venere,  the  Villa  Landolina,  the  Latomia 
Casale,  the  old  Norman  church  of  S.  Giovanni,  the  subterranean  church 
of  S.  Marcian  where  St.  Paul  preached,  the  Catacombs  of  Syracuse  (the  best 
in  the  world),  the  Latomia  dei  Cappuccini,  where  the  Athenian  prisoners  were 
confined,  and  the  Convent  of  the  Cappuccini,  now  a  lazzaretto. 

Second  day.  Drive  to  the  "  second  bridge,"  and  make  the  excursion  up  the 
River  Anapo,  the  only  place  where  the  papyrus  still  grows  wild,  to  the  Foun 
tain  of  Cyane,  behind  which  are  prehistoric  tombs.  After  that  visit  the  ruins 
of  the  Temple  of  Jupiter  Olympius  and  drive  on  past  the  harbour  of  Dasco, 
which  played  a  great  part  in  the  siege  by  the  Athenians,  to  Plemmyrium,  the 
opposite  headland  of  the  Great  Harbour.  There  are  no  traces  of  Athenian 
forts,  but  there  are  splendid  ancient  Greek  potters'  furnaces  and  the  best  pre 
historic  tombs  near  Syracuse.  On  the  return  see  the  Norman  church  and 
tombs  of  S.  Lucia  in  the  suburb  of  that  name. 

Third  day.  See  the  monuments  in  the  city  of  Syracuse,  the  Gothic  palaces, 
such  as  the  Montalto,  the  Bellomo,  the  Lanza,  the  Daniele,  the  House  of  the 
Clock,  the  Opera  Pia  Gargallo,  No.  8  and  1 7  Via  Dione,  the  Miliaccio ;  the 
Renaissance  palaces,  such  as  the  Bosco,  the  Lantieri,  and  the  former  Leon 
dj  Oro  Restaurant ;  the  Cathedral,  embodying  the  Temple  of  Minerva  j  the 
Temple  of  Diana,  the  Gothic  churches  (q.v.),  the  Gothic  Porta  Marina,  the 
ancient  aqueduct,  the  Marina,  the  Castle  of  Maniace,  the  Fountain  of  Arethusa, 
the  ancient  ramparts,  and  the  Museum  with  the  famous  Venus. 

Fourth  day.  Drive  to  the  Castle  of  Euryalus,  the  Belvedere,  the  Athenian 
fort  of  Labdalon,  the  Latomia  del  Filosofo,  the  Temple  of  Ceres  and  Prosper- 
pine  by  the  Campo  Santo,  and  the  Ipogeo  Gallito  in  the  morning.  In  the 
afternoon  drive  first  to  the  ancient  Palaestra  (Bath  of  Diana).  Then  go  along 
the  Catania  road  to  the  Porta  Catania,  the  Adito,  the  Scala  Greca,  the  Camp 


THINGS   OF   SYRACUSE  493 

of  Marcellus,  the  little  harbours  of  Leon  and  Trogilus,  noticing  the  magnificent 
view  of  Etna. 

If  a  week  be  given  to  Syracuse,  the  city  of  the  dead  at  Pantalica  may  be 
seen  in  a  very  long  day's  journey  by  taking  the  train  to  Lentini,  and  having  a 
carriage  and  pair  to  meet  you.  Palazzolo  takes  two  days'  driving  from  Syra 
cuse,  but  Melilli,  or  Thapsus  and  Megara,  can  be  done  in  a  day,  and  there  is  a 
daily  steamer  to  Malta  in  six  hours. 

Acetylene  gas  is  used  both  at  the  large  hotels  outside  Syracuse  and  in  quite 
small  as  well  as  large  shops  in  the  city  of  Syracuse. 

Achradlna.  One  of  the  five  quarters  of  ancient  Syracuse.  In  many  ways 
the  most  important  in  ancient  times,  though  it  contains  none  of  the  great 
public  buildings  which  have  survived.  Situated  on  a  rock  twenty  or  thirty  feet  " 
high,  so  precipitous  that  a  wall  must  in  many  parts  have  been  unnecessary,  it 
was,  like  Epipolse,  secure  from  malaria.  At  the  same  time,  it  adjoined  the 
seat  of  government  in  Ortygia,  and  Tyche  and  Neapolis  with  their  places  of 
amusement  and  worship.  The  Achradina  of  to-day,  with  the  exception  of  its 
latomias  and  its  tombs  and  a  few  cisterns,  contains  nothing  that  goes  back  to 
classical  times,  except  the  niches  from  which  tablets  have  been  torn,  founda 
tions  from  which  every  vestige  of  building  has  disappeared,  and  the  roads  of 
virgin  rock  worn  into  deep  ruts  by  the  wheels  of  Greek  chariots.  The  ex- 
pknation  of  this  is  probably  that  the  buildings  of  Achradina,  in  classical 
times,  were  like  the  buildings  of  Achradina  to  this  day—made  of  little 
boulders  put  together  with  incredible  rapidity,  and  covered  over  with  plaster. 
When  the  city  was  destroyed  such  buildings  would  resolve  into  their  original 
elements  of  stone  and  sand  and  lime  under  the  gradual  ravages  of  the  weather. 
On  no  other  basis  can  one  account  for  the  extraordinary  quantity  of  stones, 
varying  from  the  size  of  an  orange  to  the  size  of  a  man's  head,  with  which  the 
whole  of  Achradina  and  Epipolse  are  sown. 

Achradina  is  not,  however,  uninteresting.  It  has  quantities  of  foundations 
of  quite  extensive  Greek  buildings,  a  good  many  of  which  have  what  appear 
to  be  long  benches  of  stone  against  the  foundations  of  their  walls.  In  one 
place,  at  any  rate,  you  can  see  where  a  double  or  triple  gate  led  down  to  the 
sea.  This  is  between  the  Convent  of  the  Cappuccini  and  the  little  tonnara  of 
S.  Panagia.  In  the  inner  gateway  there  is  a  pier  a  few  feet  high  cut  out  of 
the  rock  with  a  road  on  each  side,  and  at  the  outermost  you  can  see  quite 
clearly  the  sill  cut  in  the  rock  on  which  the  great  gates  rested,  Prof.  Orsi 
has  discovered  the  foundations  of  a  large  public  building  of  some  sort  in 
Achradina  which  may  yield  good  results  when  he  can  get  the  money  to  excavate 
it.  Baedeker  marks  an  antique  wall  almost  in  a  straight  line  with  the  Latomia 
Casale  and  the  tonnara  of  S.  Panagia.  A  little  behind  the  Villa  Politi  the 
line  of  one  of  the  principal  streets  can  be  traced  for  about  half  a  mile  as 
straight  as  a  dart. 

On  the  rocks  of  the  garden  of  the  Villa  Politi,  and  the  rocks  just  outside  it 
along  the  footpath  to  the  Greek  theatre,  there  are  innumerable  niches  which 
have  once  held  marble  tablets  with  Roman  inscriptions,  but  none  of  them  are 
in  situ.  In  Madame  Politi's  garden,  also,  near  the  staircase  down  to  the 
latomia,  are  the  site  of  a  Greek  house,  and  above  it  a  platform  cut  in  the  rock 
which  seems  to  have  supported  a  small  temple.  Round  the  edge  of  the  plateau 
for  most  of  the  way  from  the  Cappuccini  Convent  to  S.  Panagia,  are  the  traces 
of  the  great  Dionysian  wall,  mostly  foundations,  though  dislodged  stones  be 
longing  to  the  wall,  about  a  yard  long  and  half  a  yard  wide,  are  to  be  found 
here  and  there.  It  is  in  the  rocks  underneath  here  that  the  famous  coral 


494        SICILY   THE   NEW  WINTER   RESORT 

caves  are  situated.  As  a  rule  there  is  so  much  swell  as  to  make  them  very 
difficult  of  access.  It  is  near  the  Cappucini  Convent  that  the  steps  belonging 
to  an  ancient  aqueduct,  known  as  the  Scala  dei  Cento  Gradini,  noted  by 
Comm.  Luigi  Mauceri,  lie.  There  are  Christian  catacombs  near  the  con 
vent.  In  the  field  in  front  of  the  convent  and  the  Villa  Politi  there  is  a  small 
ancient  necropolis  containing  a  quantity  of  tombs  packed  close  together  in 
caves  like  a  honeycomb.  Between  the  Villa  Politi  and  S.  Lucia  are  the  tombs 
of  a  noble  family  recognisable  by  having  the  stone  dai'ses  once  occupied  by 
sarcophagi  in  the  well-cut  caves.  These  are  inhabited,  and  there  are  other 
tomb-dwellers  just  outside  the  Villa  Politi  side  gate.  The  rocks  which  con 
tain  them  are  very  interesting.  Their  face  is  covered  with  niches  for  inscrip 
tions  ;  they  contain  a  small  necropolis  of  tombs,  some  of  them  inhabited,  and 
long  caves  into  which  the  goats  and  sheep  are  driven  at  night,  as  they  were  in 
the  Odyssey.  Between  the  railway  line  and  the  sea,  in  front  of  the  Villa 
Politi,  are  large  caves,  once  much  used  by  smugglers.  Near  these  are  some  re 
mains  of  the  kilns  used  for  baking  pottery.  There  are  a  good  many  ancient 
tombs  down  the  Latomia  dei  Cappuccini,  besides  the  tombs  of  modern  Protes 
tants  before  they  were  allowed  Christian  burial. 

Dionysius's  marble  harbour  stretched  from  Achradina  to  Ortygia.  At  very 
low  water  and  in  very  still  weather  the  remains  may  be  seen.  There  is  a  ferry 
across  it.  Between  this  ferry  and  the  railway  are  the  foundations  known  as 
the  Casa  di  Agratico,  really  the  remains  of  Dionysius's  arsenal.  The  stone 
slips  on  which  he  built  his  triremes  are  some  of  them  perfect.  At  the  edge  of 
Achradina  is  the  church  of  S.  Lucia  al  Sepolcro,  with  its  catacombs  (q.v.). 

In  the  very  centre  of  the  Achradina  plateau  is  a  fine  Sikelian  tomb  which 
Freeman  thinks  must  have  belonged  to  a  king. 

In  character  Achradina  is  a  stony  plateau  mostly  filled  with  rocks  or  founda 
tions  cut  in  the  rock.  Little  of  it  is  cultivated.  It  is  left  to  goats  and  sheep, 
whose  herd-boys  often  play  charmingly  on  Theocritean  pipes.  There  are  few 
flowers  except  asphodels,  but  a  great  quantity  of  herbs,  such  as  rosemary,  rue, 
wormwood,  thyme,  and  others  less  known. 

The  Agora,  of  which  a  few  columns  remain  (q.v.),  on  the  sort  of  common 
near  the  head  of  the  little  harbour,  belonged  geographically  perhaps  to  Achra 
dina.  But  it  was  probably  included  in  Ortygia,  to  which  Dionysius  added 
some  of  the  mainland. 

Achradina,  the  loveliest  part  of  ancient  Syracuse.  Reached  by  a  mole 
from  Ortygia,  stretched  along  the  sea  coast,  surrounded  on  all  sides  by  a  strong 
wall ;  must  have  been  very  strong,  since  it  would  have  held  out  long  after 
Marcellus  had  conquered  Epipolae,  Tyche,  and  Neapolis,  had  not  the  treachery 
of  the  Spaniard  Mericus  given  over  the  island  to  the  Romans  and  discouraged 
the  Syracusans  in  Achradina.  On  the  seaside  were  those  walls  which 
Archimedes  defended  with  catapults,  etc.  Achradina,  according  to  Cicero, 
contained  the  chief  forum,  very  beautiful  halls,  a  nobly  decorated  prytaneum, 
a  very  roomy  curia,  and  a  grand  Temple  of  Zeus  Olympius.  It  is  not  easy  to 
account  for  the  complete  disappearance  of  buildings  on  Achradina.  To  the 
south  of  Achradina  are  rock-graves,  mainly  columbaria  and  loculi  of  the 
Roman  style,  and  catacombs  towards  Neapolis,  (Gregorovius.) 

Acrae.  Now  called  Palazzolo-Acreide,  an  outpost  of  Syracuse,  about  twenty- 
seven  miles  from  the  west  of  Syracuse.  Founded  by  the  Syracusans  in 
664  B.C.  For  details  of  its  fine  Greek  theatre,  its  odeon,  its  heroum,  its  superb 
Greek  tomb-chambers  of  the  Roman  period,  the  finest  in  all  Sicily,  its  rock- 
sculptures,  and  its  mountain  of  prehistoric  tombs,  and  its  Greek  necropolis, 
see  Palazzolo,  p.  398.  There  is  a  hotel  of  sorts  there,  and  it  can  be  reached 


THINGS   OF   SYRACUSE  495 

by  mail-vettura  or  carriage  from  Syracuse  or  Noto.  The  drive  from  Syracuse 
through  Canicattini  is  one  of  the  finest  in  the  island.  No  one  should  omit 
this  trip. 

Adytum.  Half-way  down  the  modern  road,  miscalled  the  Scala  Greca,  is 
an  adytum  (Greek  aduton,  a  place  not  to  be  entered),  or  sanctuary,  excavated 
in  recent  years  by  Prof.  Orsi.  It  was  perhaps  dedicated  to  the  Furies.  There 
is  nothing  visible  but  a  few  foundations. 

^  "./Eneid,"  Syracuse  in  the.  Virgil  (Mneid  III.,  692-3) :  "In  front  of  the 
Sicilian  bay,  outstretched,  lies  an  island  opposite  to  surf-beaten  Plemmyrium. 
The  ancients  called  its  name  Ortygia.  The  legend  is  that  Alphseus,  a  river  of 
Elis,  had  worked  a  secret  channel  here  under  the  sea,  and  that  he  now  flows 
through  thy  mouth,  O  Arethusa,  into  the  Sicilian  waves.  As  commanded, 
we  venerate  the  important  gods  of  the  place." 

-dEschylus.  ^Eschylus  came  to  Syracuse  at  the  invitation  of  Hiero  I.  in 
468  in  disgust  at  being  defeated  by  Sophocles,  a  younger  man,  in  a  tragic 
contest  at  Athens.  He  wrote  his  Women  of  Etna  before  this  in  471  at  the 
request  of  Hiero,  who  had  built  the  town  of  Etna. 

African  Sea.   The  south  side  of  Sicily  is  washed  by  the  African  Sea. 

Agathocles.  Agathocles,  King  of  Syracuse,  was  one  of  the  most  remark 
able  men  ^  in  Sicilian  history.  He  was  born  at  the  Thermos  of  Himera,  then 
a^  possession  of  Carthage,  the  fourth  century  B.c,  His  father's  name  was 
Carcinus,  a  colonist,  from  Rhegium,  so  that  he  was  not  even  a  Sicilian,  let 
alone  a  Syracusan,  by  birth.  As  it  had  been  prophesied  that  he  would  be 
a  curse  to  Sicily,  his  father,  a  tradesman,  had  him  exposed,  but  his  mother 
secretly  rescued  him.  At  seven  he  was  restored  to  his  father,  who  took  him 
to  Syracuse  and  brought  him  up  as  a  potter.  He  grew  up  distinguished  alike 
by  strength  and  beauty,  extravagance,  and  debauchery.  This  attracted  the 
notice  of  Damas,  a  rich  and  noble  Syracusan,  who  took  him  up.  With  his 
help  Agathocles  rose  to  be  military  tribune.  When  Damas  died  the  widow 
married  him,  making  him  one  of  the  wealthiest  men  in  the  city.  With  this 
he  made  himself  autocrator.  He  was  a  bloody  and  remorseless  tyrant  of 
immense  ability,  the  only  Greek  who  invaded  Carthage,  which  he  besieged 
for  three  years  and  almost  took.  His  coins  are  famous.  It  is  on  a  coin 
of  Agathocles  that  the  three-legged  emblem  of  Sicily,  generally  called  the 
Trinacria,  is  first  seen,  suspended  over  a  biga.  See  under  Segesta,  and  see 
Smith's  Dictionary  of  Greek  and  Roman  Biography.  Agathocles  reigned 
317-298  B.C.  His  second  wife  was  the  step-daughter  of  a  Ptolemy  of  Egypt. 

Agora.  Called  locally  the  Roman  Temple.  A  few  columns  are  left,  one 
perfect,  and  standing  on  the  sort  of  common  where  the  women  do  their  wash 
ing  between  the  railway  stat.  and  the  little  harbour.  Gregorovius  says :  "  The 
Fountain  of  the  Ingegneri  has  near  it  a  single  column,  which  is  not  Doric" 
(having  attic  base  and  no  " canneluren  "),  "and  so  may  have  belonged  to  the 
Temple  of  Zeus,  according  to  Serradifalco,  which  was  built  by  Hiero  II.  on 
the  forum.  But  this  is  improbable,  for  the  column  is  on  too  small  a  scale. 
The  forum  is  surrounded  by  arcades.  The  Prytaneum  and  Curia  stood  here 
also,  but  there  is  no  trace  of  them  left." 

Agragian  Gate,  i.e.  the  gate  leading  to  Acragas  (Girgenti).  Near  the 
modern  Portella  del  Fusco,  a  gap  in  the  rocky  plateau  above  the  Campo  Santo. 
This  is  where  Cicero  found  the  tomb  of  Archimedes  (q.v.). 

Agratico,  Temple  of.  Called  also  the  House  of  Agathocles,  is  really  the 
arsenal  of  Dionysius.  Some  of  the  groves  in  which  he  built  his  triremes 


4g6        SICILY  THE   NEW  WINTER   RESORT 

are  still  perfect.  It  lies  between  the  ferry  and  the  tomb  of  S.  Lucia  at  the 
edge  of  Achradina. 

Alphaeus,  the  River.  A  river  of  Elis,  in  love  with  the  nymph  Arethusa. 
Artemis  took  her  under  the  sea  to  the  island  of  Ortygia,  where  her  fountain 
has  been  famous  in  all  ages.  Alphseus  sank  into  the  earth,  and  followed  her 
under  the  sea  to  Sicily.  To  this  day  a  river  issues  from  a  cavern,  and  pours 
into  the  pool  formed  by  the  springs.  The  ancients  said  that  when  the  sacrifices 
were  being  offered  at  Olympia,  the  blood  and  entrails  of  the  sacrifices  came 
out  at  Syracuse,  and  that  a  cup  thrown  into  the  river  there  would  reappear 
in  Ortygia.  (See  Virgil,  AZneid  III.,  above,  and  Smith's  Dictionary  of  Greek 
and  Roman  Biography.} 

The  following  tale  is  told  of  the  Alphseus  :  "He  was  a  huntsman,  and  loved 
Arethusa,  a  huntress  maid.  But  she,  they  say,  not  choosing  to  wed,  crossed 
over  to  the  isle  that  fronts  Syracuse,  by  name  Ortygia,  And  there  she  was 
changed  from  a  woman  into  a  spring  of  water  ;  and  Alphaeus,  too,  turned  into 
a  river,  all  for  love.  Such  is  the  tale  of  Alphseus  and  Ortygia.  But  that  the 
river  flows  through  the  sea  and  there  mingles  its  water  with  the  spring,  I 
cannot  choose  but  believe,  knowing  as  I  do  that  the  god  at  Delphi  counten 
ances  the  story ;  for  when  he  was  sending  Archias  the  Corinthian  to  found 
Syracuse,  he  uttered  these  verses  also— 

'  There  lies  an  isle.  Ortygia,  in  the  dim  sea 
Off  Trinacria,  where  Alphaeus's  mouth  bubbtes 
As  it  mingles  with  the  springs  of  the  fair-flowing  Arethusa.' 

I  am  persuaded,  therefore,  that  the  fable  of  the  river's  love  arose  from  the 
mingling  of  the  water  of  Alphasus  with  Arethusa."  (Pausanias,  V.  vii.  2.) 

Altar  of  Hecatombs.    See  Ara. 

Amphitheatre.  The  Roman  amphitheatre  at  Syracuse  is  the  finest  in  the 
island.  Until  the  time  of  the  Emperor  Charles  V.,  who  used  it  as  a  quarry 
when  he  was  fortifying  the  island  of  Ortygia,  it  seems  to  have  been  perfect. 
Probably  built  in  the  reign  of  Augustus.  Larger  than  that  of  Verona.  In 


THE  AMPHITHEATRE 


THINGS   OF   SYRACUSE 


497 


the  centre  of  the  arena  is  a  square  reservoir/ said  to  have  been  used  for  the 
crocodiles,  which  fed  on  the  bodies  of  the  slain.  The  seats  occupied  by  the 
various  ranks  may  be  traced,  and  the  underground  passage  all  round  com 
municating  with  the  dens  of  the  beasts  is  fairly  perfect.  Above  the  amphi 
theatre  is  the  commencement  of  the  Roman  street,  which  is  met  again  at  the 
Palsestra.  The  custode  has  acquired  a  mass  of  information  about  it. 

Gregorovius  says:  S.E.  from  the  theatre  lies  the  amphitheatre,  larger  than 
those  of  Verona,  Pola,  Pompeii.  Excavated  in  1840  by  the  Duke  of  Serradifalco. 
Not  mentioned  by  Cicero,  but  by  Tacitus.  Its  existence  shows  that  Syracuse, 
as  the  seat  of  a  Roman  praetor,  was  peopled  anew  by  a  Roman  colony,  and 
was  again  prosperous. 

Anapo.  The  trip  up  the  so-called  Anapo  is  one  of  the  favourite  excursions 
from  Syracuse,  but  the  river  really  bordered  by  the  papyrus  groves  is  the 
Cyane,  to  which  boats  gain  admission, from  the  Great  Harbour  by  a  canal. 
They  do  not  go  upon  the  real  Anapo  at  all.  This  is  a  beautiful  excursion. 


GENERAL  VIEW  OF  THE  UPPER  VALLEY  OF   THE  ANAPO,   FROM   POGGIO  SANTORA 

The  barcas  go  up  a  clear  river  just  wide  enough  to  let  them  pass  through  an 
over-arching  avenue  of  papyrus  mingled  here  and  there  with  donax  reeds  and 
yellow  irises.  The  stream  ends  in  the  wonderful  spring  called  the  Fountain 
of  Cyane,  which  is  funnel-shaped,  thirty  feet  deep,  and  as  its  name  betokens 
is  bright  blue  in  colour.  It  is  the  seat  also  of  one  of  the  most  famous  legends 
of  antiquity.  Cyane  was  a  nymph  of  Proserpine,  who  begged  Pluto  not  to 
carry  her  off.  When  Pluto  just  at  this  spot  struck  the  earth  with  his  trident 
to  let  the  chariot  with  four  black  horses,  in  which  he  was  carrying  off  Proser 
pine,  sink  to  the  lower  region,  she  wept  so  copiously  that  she  filled  the  cleft 
with  her  tears  and  was  turned  into  a  fountain.  ,  In  classical  times  a  black 
bull  was  sacrificed  to  Pluto  in  this  fountain  every  year.  The  real  Anapo, 
which  is  crossed  higher  up  by  the  road  to  Palazzolo,  was  very  much  in  evi 
dence  in  1902,  when  its  floods  turned  the  whole  valley  into  a  lake  and  did  an 


498       SICILY  THE   NEW  WINTER   RESORT 

immense  amount  of  damage.  Higher  up  still,  it  flows  through  the  gorge 
known  as  the  Spampinato,  up  which  the  Athenians  attempted  to  escape  after 
their  final  naval  defeat  in  the  harbour.  The  scenery  of  the  upper  Anapo  is 
very  beautiful.  It  flows  into  the  Great  Harbour  in  shallow  streams  near  the 
canal  which  admits  to  the  Cyane.  The  papyrus  was  planted,  according  to 
tradition,  by  the  Egyptian  wife  of  Agathocles  ;  others  say  that  the  Saracens 
introduced  it.  Most  visitors  take  a  boat  from  the  S.  Lucia  landing-stage  on  the 
small  harbour  to  the  mouth  of  the  Anapo,  and  tranship  at  the  second  bridge 
into  the  river  barcas.  It  is  easy  to  drive  to  the  second  bridge,  for  those  who 
do  not  like  the  sea: 

Ancient  Syracuse.  See  Achradina,  Adytum,  Agora,  House  of  Agathocles 
or  Temple  of  Agraticus,  Amphitheatre,  Temenos  of  Apollo,  Aqueducts,  Ara, 
Tomb  of  Archimedes,  Arsenal,  Temple  of  Bacchus,  Catacombs,  Catania  Gate, 
Cave-Sepulchres,  Temple  of  Ceres  and  Proserpine,  Chariot  roads,  Cisterns, 
Temple  of  Diana,  Castle  of  Euryalus,  Excavations,  Greek  theatre,  Marble 
Harbour,  Hexapylon,  Temple  of  Minerva,  the  Naumachia,  the  Necropolis, 
Olympeium,  Plemmyrium,  Scala  Greca,  Sikelian  walls  and  tombs,  Ipogea, 
Ear  of  Dionysius,  Palaestra,  Tomb  of  Timoleon,  Street  of  Tombs,  Wall  of 
Dionysius,  Labdalon,  Zapylon,  etc. 

Anglo-Indians.  Syracuse  is  a  favourite  resort  of  Anglo-Indians,  who 
tranship  from  Malta  and  acclimatise  themselves  to  a  cooler  temperature  here. 

Apollo  Belvedere.  There  is  a  tradition  that  the  Apollo  Belvedere,  now  in 
the  Vatican,  was  made  for  the  Nymphseum  above  the  Greek  theatre  at 
Syracuse,  where  there  is  a  base  for  a  group  of  statuary.  The  Nymphseum  is 
often  called  the  Belvedere. 

Apollo,  temenos  of.  On  the  plateau  above  the  Greek  theatre  are  the 
foundations  of  the  Temple  of  Apollo,  whose  temenos  gave  its  name  of 
Tememtes  to  this  portion  of  the  city.  There  was  a  statue  of  Apollo  so  large 
that  Verres  could  not  remove  it. 

Aqueducts.  Syracuse  has  various  ancient  aqueducts,  none  of  them  very 
imposing.  The  principal  aqueduct  runs  past  the  Castle  of  Euryalus  and  is 
the  favourite  topic  of  its  custode.  The  main  feature  of  the  aqueducts 
of  Syracuse  is  that  they  have  appropriated  nearly  all  the  streams  and 
springs  of  which  Theocritus  sings.  They  are  mostly  what  we  should  call 
leats,  i.e.  open  stone  channels,  and  freely  used  by  the  washerwomen.  The 
aqueduct  of  Tyche,  which  is  six  miles  long,  and  mainly  underground,  and 
drives  the  mill  by  the  Greek  theatre,  was  perhaps  built  by  Carthaginian 
prisoners,  according  to  Gregorovius. 

Ara,  or  Altar  of  Hecatombs,  640  feet  long  by  40  feet  wide,  is  said  by 
Diodorus  to  have  been  constructed  by  King  Hiero,  but  the  popular  tradition 
is  that  it  was  made  to  celebrate  the  expulsion  of  Thrasybulus  and  that  450 
oxen  were  sacrificed  on  it  every  year.  It  lies  immediately  below  the  amphi 
theatre.  A  large  three-stepped  substructure  unearthed  in  1839  by  Serradi- 
falco.  He  considers  it  the  Altar  of  Hiero.  (Gregorovius.) 

Arcivescovado,  the.  Adjoins  the  Duomo.  Has  antique  columns,  and 
Gagini's  charming  statue  of  S.  Lucia  in  the  pretty  garden,  or  cortile,  of  the 
Archbishop's  Palace. 

Archimedes.  Archimedes,  the  most  celebrated  engineer  of  antiquity, 
whose  inventions  are  still  in  use  in  Italy,  flourished  at  Syracuse  from  287-212, 
and  specially  distinguished  himself  by  his  resourcefulness  as  a  military  engineer 
during  the  siege  of  Syracuse  by  the  Romans  ;  he  was  killed  in  the  sack  of  the 
city.  Several  of  his  works  have  come  down  to  us,  and  we  know  much  about 


THINGS   OF  SYRACUSE  499 

him  from  Plutarch's  Life  of  Marcellus.     (See  Smith's  Dictionary  of  Greek 
and  Roman  Biography,  and   Tomb  of  Archimedes.} 

Archimedes,  Tomb  of.  The  so-called  tomb  of  Archimedes  in  the  Greek 
necropolis  off  the  Catania  road  is  a  Roman  tomb  in  the  Corinthian  style 
belonging  to  a  later  date.  It  is  called  the  tornb  of  Archimedes  as  being  the 
best  in  Syracuse,  but  has  no  connection  with  him.  We  know  from  Cicero, 
who  rediscovered  the  tomb,  that  it  was  close  by  the  Agragian  Gate  (q.v.). 
Cicero  in  the  Tusculan  Disputations  (Bonn's  trans.,  p.  454)  gives  a  description 
of  the  tomb  which  shows  that  it  could  not  have  been  that  which  now  bears  his 
name. 

f  "  I  will  present  you  with  an  humble  and  obscure  mathematician  of  the  same 
city,  called  Archimedes,  who  lived  many  years  after,  whose  tomb,  overgrown 
with  shrubs  and  briars,  I  in  my  Qusestorship  discovered,  when  the  Syracusans 


THE  ARA,   OR  ALTAR  OF  HECATOMBS 

knew  nothing  of  it,  and  even  denied  that  there  was  any  such  thing  remaining ; 
for  I  remembered  some  verses  which  I  had  been  informed  were  engraved  on 
his  monument,  and  these  set  forth  that  on  the  top  of  the  tomb  there  was 
placed  a  sphere  with  a  cylinder.  When  I  had  carefully  examined  all  the 
monuments  (for  there  are  a  great  many  tombs  at  the  gate  of  Achradina),  I 
observed  a  small  column  standing  out  a  little  above  the  briars,  with  the  figure 
of  a  sphere  and  a  cylinder  upon  it  ;  whereupon  I  immediately  said  to  the 
Syracusans,  for  there  were  some  of  their  principal  men  with  rne  there,  that  I 
imagined  that  was  what  I  was  inquiring  for.  Several  men  being  sent  in  with 
scythes,  cleared  the  way,  and  made  an  opening  for  us.  When  we  could  get 
at  it,  and  were  come  near  to  the  front  of  the  pedestal,  I  found  the  inscription, 
though  the  latter  parts  of  all  the  verses  were  effaced  almost  half  away.  Thus 
one  of  the  noblest  cities  of  Greece,  and  one  which  at  one  time  likewise  had 
been  celebrated  for  learning,  had  known  nothing  of  the  monument  of  its 
greatest  genius  if  it  had  not  been  discovered  to  them  by  a  native  of  Arpinum," 
(See  Cicero.) 


500        SICILY   THE   NEW   WINTER   RESORT 

Arete.  Arete  was  the  niece  and  wife  of  Dion ;  during  his  exile  Dionysius 
forced  her  to  live  with  another  man.  It  was  her  writing  to  Dion  while  he  was 
in  exile  at  Athens  that  persuaded  Plato  to  come  to  Syracuse  for  the  third 
time.  Plutarch,  in  his  Dion  (North's  trans.),  describes  charmingly  her 
meeting  with  Dion  and  her  forgiveness. 

Arethusa,  Fountain  of.  The  most  famous  of  the  fountains  of  antiquity. 
Situated  in  the  island  of  Ortygia,  at  the  end  of  the  Marina.  The  pool  into 
which  the  fountain  and  the  river  Alphseus  (q.v.)  pour  their  waters  is  now  filled 
with  papyrus,  but  it. still  contains  the  sacred  fish  (grey  mullet)  as  described  by 
Cicero.  Tumblers  are  kept  by  the  spring  for  those  who  wish  to  drink  it.  The 
allusions  to  this  fountain  are  frequent  in  all  ages.  The  story  is  told  above 


THE  FOUNTAIN  OF  ARETHUSA 


(see  Alphseus).  Nelson  visited  it  and  wrote  two  letters  about  it  to  the 
Hamiltons  (p.  303).  Up  to  half  a  century  ago  it  was  left  in  a  state  of  nature 
under  the  city  wall,  but  it  is  now  converted  into  a  sort  of  garden,  rather 
pretty.  Almost  immediately  after  Nelson  had  watered  his  fleet  at  the  fountain 
an  earthquake  disturbed  the  waters  and  made  them  salt.  Shelley's  exquisite 
poem,  Arethusa,,  should  be  read. 

In  this  famous  letter,  addressed  to  the  Hamiltons,  Nelson  says  : — 

"July  22nd,  1798. 

*{  MY  DEAR  FRIENDS, — Thanks  to  your  exertions,  we  have  victualled  and 
watered,  and  surely,  watering  at  the  Fountain  of  Arethusa,  we  must  have 
victory.  We  shall  sail  with  the  first  breeze,  and  be  assured  I  will  return  either 
crowned  with  laurel  or  covered  with  cypress." 

And  on  the  following  day  he  writes  to  Sir  William  Hamilton  from  the 
Vanguard : — 

"  MY  DEAR  SIR, — The  fleet  is  unmoored,  and  the  moment  the  wind  comes 
off  the  land  shall  go  out  of  this  delightful  harbour,  where  our  present  wants 


THINGS   OF   SYRACUSE  501 

have  been  most  amply  supplied,  and  where  every  attention  has  been  paid 
to  us  ;  but  I  have  been  tormented  by  no  private  orders  given  to  the  Governor 
for  our  admission.  I  have  only  to  hope  that  I  shall  still  find  the  French  fleet, 
and  be  able  to  get  at  them ;  the  event  then  will  be  in  the  hands  of  Providence 
of  whose  goodness  none  can  doubt.  I  beg  my  best  respects  to  Lady  Hamilton 
and  believe  me  ever  your  faithful  HORATIO  NELSON. 

"No  frigates^  to  which  has  been,  and  may  again,  be  attributed  the  loss 
of  the  French  Fleet." 

Gregorovius  wrote  :  "One  should  watch  the  panorama  by  moonlight  from 
the  Arethusa.  What  one  feels  here  is  love  for  Hellas,  the  fatherland  of  every 
thinking  soul." 

Lord  Mahon,  in  his  Life  of  BeHsarius>  writes  : — 

"  This  classic  fountain  has  retained  its  ancient  name,  and  with  the  exception 
of  the  fishes,  seemed  to  me,  in  1825,  still  to  correspond  exactly  with  Cicero's 
description  :  '  In  hac  insula  extrema  est  fons  aquae  dulcis,  cui  nomen  Arethusa, 
incredibilis  magnitudine,  plenissimus  piscium,  qui  fluctu  totus  operiretur  nisi 
munitione  ac  mole  lapidum  man  disjunctus.'  (In  Verr.  iv.  c.  53.)  It  is 
remarkable,  that  in  the  middle  ages  the  ancient  fable  of  the  Alphseus  survived 
at  Syracuse,  in  the  altered  shape  of  a  pious  legend.  It  was  asserted  that  the 
fountain  had  a  submarine  and  iniraculous  communication  with  the  river  Jordan." 

Aristomache.  Wife  of  Dionysius  I. :  sister  of  Dion ;  mother  of  Sophrosyne, 
who  married  her  half-brother,  Dionysius  II.,  and  Arete,  who  married  (i)  her 
half-brother  Thea?ides,  (2)  her  uncle  Dion.  Aristomache  had  also  two  sons. 

Ariston.  A  Syracusan  opposed  to  Hermocrates  in  politics,  but  next  to  him 
in  influence.  The  father  of  Chsereas  (q.v.). 

Aristippus  at  Syracuse.  Aristippus  the  Cyrenian,  a  philosopher  who 
visited  the  court  of  Dionysius  at  the  same  time  as  Plato.  His  sayings  are 
quoted  by  Plutarch.  He  was  founder  of  the  Cyrenaic  school. 

Arsenal  of  Dionysius.     See  Temple  of  Agratico. 

Artemis.   The  Greek  goddess  identified  with  Diana  (q.v.). 

Artemis,  Temple  of.     See  Temple  of  Diana. 

Ash  Wednesday  at  Syracuse.  The  people  continue  the  carnival  outside 
the  city,  especially  at  the  Greek  theatre.  Best  occasion  for  seeing  country 
people. 

Athenians,  expedition  of.  The  Athenians  commenced  to  interfere  in 
Sicily  in  427  B.C.  for  Leontini.  The  Athenian  expedition  against  Syracuse 
was  B.C.  4I5-4I3- 

Athene,  Temple  of.    See  Minerva. 

Athenagoras.  A  demagogue  mentioned  in  Thucydides  who  led  the  party 
opposed  to  Hermocrates,  which  ridiculed  the  idea  of  preparations  against  the 
Athenians.  Chariton  of  Aphrodisias,  who  wrote  the  Greek  novel,  Chareas  and 
Callirrhoe,  claims  to  have  been  the  secretary  of  Athenagoras. 

Athenian  prisoners.  The  Athenian  prisoners,  taken  when  Demosthenes' 
army  surrendered  at  the  Cacyparis,  and  Nicias's  army  surrendered  at  the 
Assinarus,  were  confined  (7,000  of  them)  in  the  Latomia  dei  Cappuccini  (q.v.). 

Bacchus,  Temple  of.  It  has  long  been  known  that  the  church  of  S. 
Giovanni  was  founded  on  the  site  of  a  temple  of  Bacchus.  The  font  of  the 
cathedral  is  a  cratera  or  mixing-bowl  discovered  there, 

Various  columns  and  emblems  of  the  temple  are  built  into  the  church,  and 
excavations  during  the  past  year  have  revealed  at  the  back  of  the  church  the 
stylobate  of  the  temple,  with  portions  of  the  columns  in  situ. 


502        SICILY  THE   NEW  WINTER   RESORT 

Bacchus,  Cratera  of.     See  above,  and  Cathedral. 

Bagnio  di  Diana.     See  Pal&stra. 

Balconies,  hammered-iron  Spanish.  Syracuse  is  the  best  place  in  Sicily 
to  see  the  beautiful  kneeling-balconies  made  in  the  Spanish  times  of  hammered 
iron.  They  bulge  out  like  the  bows  of  an  ancient  man-of-war,  and  are 
decorated  with  splendid  roses  and  sunflowers  of  iron  wrought  in  high  relief. 
Sometimes  they  have  also  ornamental  ironwork  for  an  awning. 

Banks.  The  Banca  d' Italia  and  Banca  di  Sicilia  have  branches  at  Syracuse, 
but  there  are  no  banks  who  cash  English  circular  notes  or  letters  of  credit 

Barca.  Syracuse  has  typical  barcas  painted  gorgeous  colours  ;  their  bows 
are  decorated  with  eyes,  and  their  bow-posts  have  mops  of  tow  on  them. 
They  sail  with  a  curious  spritted  mainsail. 

Beggars.    Beggars  are  not  troublesome  at  Syracuse  now. 

Belvedere.     See  Apollo  Belvedere. 

Bull,  sacrifice  of.     See  Fountain  of  Cyane. 

Burial  of  Protestants.  Until  recently  Protestants  were  denied  Christian 
burial  at  Syracuse.  There  are  many  tombs  of  Americans  and  English  and 
Germans  in  the  Latomia  dei  Cappuccini  and  the  Villa  Landolina. 

Cacyparis.  A  river  a  little  west  of  Syracuse.  Flowing  near  the  Sikelian 
necropolis  of  Monte  Cassibile,  the  scene  of  the  capture  of  the  Athenians 
under  Demosthenes  by  the  Syracusans. 

Campo  Santo.  The  modern  Campo  Santo  of  Syracuse  is^chiefly  interesting 
as  a  great  place  for  wild  flowers.  It  is  on  the  road  to  Euryalus. 

Capitaneria.   On  the  Marina,  the  office  of  the  port  authorities. 

Cappuccini  Convent.  On  the  Latomia  of  the  same  name  in  Achradina. 
It  has  a  Renaissance  cortile  and  a  loggia  with  a  good  view.  Parts  of  it  go 
back  to  the  fourteenth  century.  It  has  recently  been  violated  with  plaster  and 
whitewash,  being  used  as  a  lazzaretto.  It  has  vaults  or  catacombs  with  the 
usual  Cappuccini  mummies.  The  monks  are  now  at  S.  Giovanni. 

Carcinus.    Father  of  Agathocles  (q.v.). 

Carlo  Quinto.  At  Syracuse,  as  in  many  places  in  Sicily,  the  hand  of  the 
Emperor  Charles  V.  was  heavy.  He  stripped  the  amphitheatre  for  the  fortifi 
cations  of  Ortygia,  which  have  been  pulled  down  in  their  turn  to  make  room 
for  cheap  new  avenues. 

Carnival.  Syracuse  has  a  carnival  with  a  charity  ball  and  enormous  card 
board  giants  and  a  very  serious  battle  of  confetti — of  gesso,  not  paper. 

Carthaginians.  The  Carthaginians  played  a  great  part  in  the  history  of 
Syracuse.  For  fear  of  the  Carthaginians,  Dionysius  was  allowed  the  guard 
with  which  he  acquired  the  tyranny.  It  was  against  the  Carthaginians  that 
he  built  the  long  walls  of  the  Castle  of  Euryalus.  More  than  once  Syra 
cuse  was  threatened  and  nearly  taken  by  the  Carthaginians,  and  it  was  the 
espousal  of  the  cause  of  the  Carthaginians  by  Hieronymus  that  led  to  the 
capture  of  Syracuse  by  Marcellus.  See  Agathocles,  Dionysius,  etc. 

Casa  de'  Sessanta  Letti.  Called  Palace  of  Agathocles  (q.v.)  without 
reason .  (Gregorovius. ) 

Casale,  Latomia.  On  the  upper  road  from  the  Villa  Politi  to  the  church 
of  S.  Giovanni.  It  contains  a  nice  garden  with  some  beautiful  cypresses  in  it. 

Casa  Mezzo,  etc.    See  Palaces. 

Cassibile,  Monte.  Has  a  prehistoric  necropolis  and  a  medieval  castle.  It 
can  be  reached  by  train  or  carriage  from  Syracuse.  The  scene  of  Demosthenes' 
capture.  See  Cacyparis. 


THINGS   OF   SYRACUSE 


S°3 


Catacombs,  Syracuse  has  some  of  the  finest  catacombs  in  the  world.  The 
catacombs  of  S.  Giovanni  (entrance  at  the  back  of  the  church),  which  are  airy 
and  well  lighted,  and  extend  for  a  mile  or  more,  sometimes  at  two  or  three 
levels,  contain  a  great  variety  of  tombs,  and  some  very  fine  tomb-chambers  like 
the  Chapel  of  Antioch,  There  are  other  catacombs  adjoining  S.  Lucia,  in 
the  Borgo,  and  the  Cappuccini  Convent,  etc. ,  and  many  a  small  necropolis. 
The  catacombs  of  Syracuse  are  far  larger  than  those  of  Rome.  Besides  these 
above-mentioned,  there  are  others  lying  between  the  Villa  Landolina  and 
S.  Mana  di  Gesu.  Baedeker  says  that  the  catacombs  of  S.  M.  di  Gesii,  the 
oldest  in  ^Syracuse,  date  from  A.D.  260. 

Sig.  Giannotta,  in  his  Annuario,  says  that  these  catacombs  were  the  largest 
and  most  imposing  in  the  world,  with  their  main  streets,  and  side  streets  and 
piazzas,  and  sepulchres  of  every  degree  and  variety.  There  are  a  few  palms, 
the  universal  symbol  of  martyrdom,  and  peacocks,  the  symbol  of  immortality, 
and  other  early  Christian  emblems  left  here  and  there. 

The  best^ catacombs  of  Syracuse  are  entered  from  the  church  of  S.  Giovanni, 
the  oldest  in  Sicily,  and  more  systematic  than  the  catacombs  of  Naples  or 
Rome.  They  were  originally  quarries.  All  the  galleries  lead  to  a  central  hall 
or  room.  They  are  said  to  reach,  not  only  to  Setebos,  but  even  to  Catania. 
The  width  of  the  passages  is  12  to  16  palms,  height  8  to  12.  Pagan  idols, 
small  bronzes,  and  lacrimarii,  etc.,  have  been  found  here.  (Gregorovius.) 

Catania  Gate  and  Road.  Where  the  Catania  road  turns  down  to  the  sea 
at  the  corner  of  the  so-called  Scala  Greca,  there  are  the  distinct  marks  of  an 
ancient  gateway  which  must  have  been  the  Catania  Gate  (Hexapylon  ?).  Three 
deeply-rutted  chariot  roads  lead  up  to  it.  Between  this  and  the  railway- 
station,  parallel  to  the  new  road,  there  is  an  ancient  Greek  road,  with  deep 
chariot  ruts,  which  must  have  been  the  Catania  road  of  classical  times. 

Cathedral  of  Syracuse.  The  Cathedral  of  Syracuse  is  one  of  the  most 
interesting  in  the>  world.  There  is  probably  no  spot  in  Europe  where  worship 
has  gone  on  continuously  for  so  long  a  time — about  twenty-five  hundred  years 


THE  CATHEDRAL  OF  SYRACUSE,   BUILT  INTO  THE  TEMPLE  OF  MINERVA 


5o4        SICILY  THE    NEW   WINTER   RESORT 

— and  the  temple,  which  is  embedded  in  the  cathedral,  is  one  of  the  most 
ancient  and  perfect  of  Greek  temples.  It  stood  there  a  hundred  years 
before  the  Parthenon  was  built,  and  the  columns  inside  it  have  hardly  a  chip. 
This  was  about  the  most  important  temple  of  Dorian  Greece.  Its  cella,  which 
has  been  cut  into  piers  and  arches  by  the  cathedral-makers,  was  once  decorated 
with  the  paintings  of  Zeuxis.  Its  chryselephantine  doors  (z.  e,  of  gold  and  ivory), 
plundered  by  Verres,  were  the  wonder  of  the  world.  Cicero  raves  over  its 
glories.  To-day  it  hides,  almost  forgotten,  in  a  medieval  town  ;  but  it  is  all 
there,  and  if  ever  the  day  should  come  for  Syracuse  to  have  a  new  cathedral, 
a  little  judicious  stripping  would  show  us  the  Temple  of  Minerva  (or  more 
likely  of  Diana),  the  protectress  of  the  Dorian  Greeks,  much  as  it  looked  when 
the  Syracusans  went  there  in  state  to  return  thanks  for  their  victories  over 
Athens.  It  was  built  in  about  the  sixth  century  before  Christ,  and  the  old 
gods  were  worshipped  there  till  the  time  of  Bishop  Zosimus,  600  years  after 
Christ.  The  present  facade  was  built  after  the  great  earthquake  of  1693  had 
shaken  down  everything  but  the  old  temple.  But  a  beautiful  Renaissance 
doorway  of  the  fifteenth  century  was  saved,  and  may  be  seen  behind  the  font. 
The  font,  as  we  know  from  its  inscription,  was  once  the  cratera  or  mixing-bowl 
of  the  Temple  of  Bacchus,  which  is  now  being  excavated  at  the  back  of 
S.  Giovanni.  The  old  seventeenth-century  gilding  of  the  organ-lofts  is  very 
fine,  and  the  church  is  rich  in  the  bodies  of  martyrs,  including  a  certain  Regina 
Vittoria.  There  is  also  a  fine  silver  image  of  S.  Lucia.  Syracuse  is  an 
archbishopric.  There  are  some  fair  pictures. 

Caverns,  a  city  of.  The  number  of  caverns  about  Syracuse  is  extraordinary. 
The  five  great  latomias  are  simply  caverns  with  their  roofs  quarried  off,  and  it 
is  highly  probable  that  a  similar  formation  extends  under  the  whole  of  ancient 
Syracuse.  There  is  a  similar  latomia,  never  opened  to  the  sky,  under  the 
church  of  S.  Filippo  in  the  Giudecca,  and  the  number  of  caves  round  Syracuse 
has  never  been  reckoned. 

Caves,  coral.  The  coral  caves  of  Achradina  are  in  the  sea  face  opposite 
the  rocks  known  as  the  Due  Fratelli.  There  is  not  much  coral  in  them, 
but  they  are  very  beautiful  and  of  considerable  size.  The  sea  flows  into  all 
of  them  and  they  can  only  be  approached  in  the  calmest  weather,  as  the 
entrances  are  narrow  and  the  swell  very  heavy. 

Cave-sepulchres.  Syracuse  abounds  in  cave-sepulchres.  There  are  good 
examples  in  the  Street  of  Tombs,  but  they  are  by  no  means  the  best.  In  the 
nature  of  things  some  of  the  best  examples  are  isolated.  There  are  several 
varieties.  The  most  important  were  those  which  had  stone  daises  rising  from 
the  centre  to  support  sarcophagi.  They  were  the  private  sepulchres  of  noble 
men.  The  next  were  those  which  had  arcosoli,  lunettes  about  six  feet  long,  of 
which  there  are  good  examples  in  the  Street  of  Tombs.  Others  were  sur 
rounded  by  small  niches,  like  a  columbarium,  others  had  the  floor  honey 
combed  with  coffin-shaped  hollows  as  close  as  they  could  be  packed.  The 
caverns  are  generally  of  a  fair  height.  One  of  the  prehistoric  races,  probably 
the  Sikelians,  has  left  beautiful  tombs  all  round  Syracuse.  They  have  low, 
beautifully  chiselled  doorways  admitting  into  a  beehive  -  shaped  chamber 
surrounded  by  small  niches.  Many  of  the  cave -sepulchres  are  now  in 
habited. 

Cemeteries.  Syracuse  is  particularly  rich  in  cemeteries.  There  is  fortu 
nately  only  one  Campo  Santo  with  photographs  framed  in  tombstones  and 
sculptures  of  bowler  hats ;  but  there  are  burial-places  everywhere,  not  count 
ing  the  new  cemetery  called  Ipogea,  near  the  Villa  Politi,  which  has  never 


THINGS    OF   SYRACUSE  505 

been  able  to  get  any  patrons  ;  or  the  tombs  of  Protestants  in  the  Cappuccini 
Latomia  and  the  Villa  Landolina.     There  are — 

(1)  The  Street  of  Tombs  just  above  the  Greek  theatre. 

(2)  The  Greek  necropolis  off  the  Catania  Road. 

(3)  The  little  necropolis  in  the  Rocks  of  Acradina  by  the  side  gate  of  the 

Villa  Politi. 

(4)  The  recently  excavated  necropolis  in  the  field  below  the  Villa  Politi. 

(5)  .The  prehistoric  necropolis  near  the  lighthouse  at  Plemmyrium. 

(6)  The  tombs  at  the  back  of  the  Fountain  of  Cyane. 

(7)  The  tombs  in  the  rocks  near  the  Coral  Caves. 

(8)  The  necropolis  near  the  Portella  del  Fusco. 

(9)  The  prehistoric  tombs  near  the  real  Scala  Greca,  etc. 

Ceres  and  Liberia,  Temple  of.  The  building  now  shown  as  the  Temple 
of  Ceres  and  Proserpine  is  undoubtedly,  as  Freeman  points  out,  part  of  the 
fortifications  of  Dionysius.  It  is  situated  just  outside  the  Campo  Santo. 

Chaereas  and  Callirrhoe,  the  Loves  of.  An  ancient  Greek  novel,  which 
bears  the  name  of  Chariton  of  Aphrodisias,  who  claims  to  have  been  secre 
tary  of  Athenagoras,  the  opponent  of  Hemocrates  (q.v.).  It  is  a  capital 
story.  The  first  version  we  get  of  the  immortal  theme  of  Romeo  and  Juliet. 
In  reality  it  was  probably  the  work  of  some  Alexandrian  Greek.  It  would 
not  have  been  safe  to  write  it  at  Syracuse  in  the  days  of  Dionysius,  who  was 
brother-in-law  of  Callirrhoe. 

Chariton  of  Aphrodisias.     See  above. 

Charles  V.     See  Carlo  Quinto. 

Charles  III.  of  Naples.  The  real  destroyer  of  ancient  Syracuse,  who 
used  it  as  a  quarry  to  build  his  modern  fortifications. 

Chariot  roads.  The  Greek  idea  of  a  road  was  to  plane  a  surface  on  the 
virgin  rock  just  wide  enough  for  a  chariot.  When  the  ruts  became  too  deep 
in  any  portion  they  planed  a  new  bit  alongside  of  it.  There  are  many 
instances  round  Syracuse  where  these  roads  abound.  Their  ruts  fit  the 
carrette  of  to-day,  who  frequently  use  them  as  a  kind  of  tram-line. 

Chimneys.  There  are  no  chimneys  at  Syracuse3  The  houses  have  flat 
roofs  like  the  cities  of  antiquity,  and  the  cooking  is  done  over  charcoal 
stoves. 

Christian  church,  the  oldest  in  the  world.     See  S,  Marziano. 

Churches  of  Syracuse. —  Cathedral.    See  above. 

Collegia,  thet  or  Jesuit  Church,  in  the  Via  Cavour,  is  the  building  which 
towers  over  the  city  in  every  distant  view.  The  convent  is  a  barrack.  It  is 
supposed  to  occupy  the  site  of  Dionysius's  granary. 

S.  Giovanni.  Between  the  Villa  Landolina  and  the  Greek  theatre.  Was 
founded  in  1182,  and  has  a  ruined  south  porch  with  an  exquisite  arcade.  One 
of  the  gems  of  Syracuse.  The  little  Renaissance  portal  behind  it  is  also  a 
charming  bit  for  the  artist.  There  are  some  earlier  doorways  on  the  west 
side,  and  in  the  great  west  gable  is  a  beautiful  rose-window,  which  looks  best 
across  the  lemon  groves  from  the  Catania  road.  In  the  church  are  some 
columns  from  the  Temple  of  Bacchus,  whose  site  it  partly  occupies.  Built 
into  the  arcading  are  some  columns  of  the  temple  in  its  Roman  days. 
Observe  in  the  walls  of  the  church  (inside)  a  stone  carved  with  drinking 
emblems  taken  from  the  temple.  For  the  extensive  remains  now  being  dis 
covered  of  the  latter  see  Bacchus,  Temple  of.  Under  this  temple,  as  the 


506        SICILY  THE   NEW   WINTER   RESORT 

most  unlikely  place,  the  Christians  founded  their  subterranean  church  of 
S.  Marcian  (q.v.).  At  the  back  of  the  excavations  are  the  catacombs  of 
S.  Giovanni.  See  Catacombs.  The  most  extensive  in  the  world. 

S.  Giovanni  Battista.  In  the  Giudecca.  A  poverty-stricken  little  church 
with  a  Sicilian-Gothic  doorway  and  rose-window  in  its  west  front.  There  is  a 
charming  arcaded  window  in  the  Piazza.  Near  the  church  is  the  Casa  di 
Bianca,  which  has  a  bath  (subterranean)  approached  by  fifty-two  steps  cut 
in  the  rock  supported  by  pilasters.  This  is  connected  with  a  whole  range  of 
caves. 

S.  Filippo  Neri  is  a  church  in  the  Giudecca,  which  has  underneath  it  a  well 
and  a  covered  latomia  approached  by  a  staircase  (spiral).  In  1900  I  tried  to 
see  it,  but  finding  it  had  not  been  opened  for  many  years,  was  afraid  of 
foul  air. 

S.  Giuseppe.  Only  interesting  when  there  is  a  festa.  He  is  a  favourite 
saint  of  the  poor. 

S.  Maria  di  Gesh.  Is  in  Achradina.  It  is  important  for  the  oldest 
Christian  catacombs  in  Syracuse. 

S.  Maria  dei  Miracoli.  Has  the  oldest  doorway  in  Syracuse,  with  porch 
columns  resting  on  old  Lombard  lions.  Close  to  the  Porta  Marina. 

6".  Martino.  Close  to  the  Palazzo  Bellemo ;  has  a  very  elegant  Sicilian- 
Gothic  doorway.  It  is  off  the  Via  Capodieci. 

S.  Marziano.  S.  Marziano,  the  subterranean  church  underneath  S.  Gio 
vanni,  is  of  extreme  interest.  It  claims  to  be  one  of  the  oldest  churches  in 
Christendom ;  only  two  being  older,  one  in  Egypt  and  one  in  Antioch,  and 
the  next  in  order  of  antiquity  being  at  Taormina,  S.  Pancrazio,  and  Rome. 
This  is  speaking,  of  course,  of  existing  churches.  St.  Paul  is  said  to  have 
officiated  here.  The  apse  dates  from  the  fourth  century.  Notice  the  epis 
copal  chair  of  S.  Marcian ;  a  very  ancient  crumbling  wooden  chair;  four  Greek 
marble  columns  with  the  Four  Beasts  sculptured  on  their  capitals ;  a  Byzantine 
Madonna  of  the  ninth  century ;  a  supposed  Byzantine  fresco  of  St.  John  the 
Baptist;  the  granite  columns  to  which  S.  Marziano  was  bound  when 
martyred.  In  the  baptistery,  from  which  the  cratera  now  used  as  a  font  in 
the  cathedral  was  taken,  is  a  fresco  of  the  Trinity  with  the  Holy  Ghost  as  a 
pigeon  in  the  beard  and  Christ  on  a  cross  in  the  lap  of  the  Father.  Another 
fresco  of  the  second  or  third  century  has  a  Madonna  which  is  quite  a  fore 
runner  of  Cimabue.  The  church  is  approached  by  a  handsome  flight  of  steps 
from  above,  and  is  really  amazingly  interesting. 

S.  Lucia.  The  church  bearing  this  name  near  the  cathedral  has  one  of  the 
most  beautiful  Renaissance  facades  in  Sicily. 

S.  Lucia  al  Borgo.  This  church,  which  gives  its  name  to  the  new  S.  Lucia 
quarter  of  Syracuse,  is  of  Norman  origin,  but  only  the  handsome  campanile 
and  the  west  front  remain  of  the  Norman  church.  There  is  a  picture  by 
Caravaggio  over  the  high  altar.  In  the  sunken  octagonal  church  adjoining, 
connected  by  an  underground  passage  which  also  leads  into  a  catacomb,  is  the 
ancient  tomb  of  S.  Lucia,  the  scene  of  her  martyrdom.  There  are  some 
Norman  remains  here,  but  the  statue  of  the  recumbent  saint  and  the  curtains 
carved  in  red  marble  with  decadent  fidelity  belong  to  the  school  of  Bernini. 
The  body  of  the  saint  is  no  longer  here.  It  was  taken  to  Venice,  where  it  is 
lost  to  fame.  On  S.  Lucia's  Day  the  procession  from  the  cathedral  is  to  this 
church. 

S.  Maria  di  Gesfo,  in  Borgo  of  S.  Lucia,  is  famous  for  its  catacombs. 


THINGS    OF  SYRACUSE  507 

S.  Nicola.  Opposite  the  amphitheatre ;  is  a  Norman  church,  but  stuccoed 
out  of  all  recognition.  It  is  chiefly  interesting  for  the  Grseco-Roman  cistern 
underneath  it.  See  Piscina.  There  are  remains  of  Norman  architecture  in  the 
desecrated  eastern  part  of  the  church. 

S.  Pietro.  S.  Pietro  is  a  charming  little  Gothic  church  of  the  fourteenth 
century.  It  is  not  far  from  the  Temple  of  Diana. 

S.  Sebastiano.  Opposite  the  north  side  of  the  cathedral  is  a  little  fifteenth- 
century  church  of  S.  Sebastiano.  Notice  the  scutcheon  built  into  a  wall  just 
here. 

S.  Spirito. 

S.  Tommaso.  Has  an  ancient  gate,  now  walled  up.  It  is  near  the  Palazzo 
Daniele. 

Cicero  on  Syracuse.  "Nihil  pulchrius  cjuam  Syracusanorum  portus  et 
moenia  videri  potuisse  "  is  his  summing  up  of  it. 

It  is  to  Cicero  that  we  owe  much  of  our  knowledge  of  the  life  of  ancient 
Syracuse.  See  Latomiay  Sword  of  Damocles,  etc.  He  visited  Syracuse  when 
he  was  Quaestor  at  Lilybseum,  and  again  when  he  was  collecting  evidence 
against  Verres.  He  was  attacked  by  Metellus  for  being  so  undignified  as  to 
speak  Greek  to  the  Senate  of  Syracuse,  which  was  beneath  the  dignity  of  a 
Roman  magistrate.  He  has  left  us  one  of  the  finest  contemporary  descriptions 
of  an  ancient  city. 

"  You  have  often  heard  that  the  city  of  Syracuse  is  the  greatest  of  the 
Greek  cities,  and  the  most  beautiful  of  all.  It  is  so,  O  judges,  as  it  is  said  to 
be ;  for  it  is  so  by  its  situation,  which  is  strongly  fortified,  and  which  is  on 
every  side  by  which  you  can  approach  it,  whether  by  sea  or  land,  very  beauti 
ful  to  behold.  And  it  has  harbours  almost  enclosed  within  the  walls  and  in 
sight  of  the  holy  city ;  harbours  which  have  different  entrances,  but  which 
meet  together  and  are  connected  at  the  other  end.  By  their  union  a  part  of 
the  town,  which  is  called  the  island,  being  separated  from  the  rest  by  a  narrow 
arm  of  the  sea,  is  again  joined  to  and 'connected  with  the  other  by  a  bridge. 
That  city  is  so  great  that  it  may  be  said  to  consist  of  four  cities  of  the  largest 
size  ;  one  of  which,  as  I  have  said,  is  that  '  island  '  which,  surrounded  by  two 
harbours,  projects  out  towards  the  mouth  and  entrance  of  each.  In  it  there  is 
a  palace  which  did  belong  to  King  Hiero,  which  our  praetors  are  in  the  habit 
of  using ;  in  it  are  many  sacred  buildings,  but  two  which  have  a  great  pre 
eminence  over  all  the  others — one  a  temple  of  Diana,  and  the  other  one, 
which  before  the  arrival  of  that  man  was  the  most  ornamented  of  all,  sacred  to 
Minerva.  At  the  end  of  the  island  is  a  fountain  of  sweet  water,  the  name  of 
which  is  Arethusa,  of  incredible  size,  very  full  offish,  which  would  be  entirely 
overwhelmed  by  the  waves  of  the  sea,  if  it  were  not  protected  from  the  sea  by 
a  rampart  and  dam  of  stone.  There  is  also  another  city  at  Syracuse,  the  name 
of  which  is  Achradina,  in  which  there  is  a  very  large  forum,  most  beautiful 
porticoes,  a  highly  decorated  town-hall,  a  most  spacious  senate-house,  ^  and  a 
superb  Temple  of  Jupiter  Olympius ;  and  the  other  districts  of  the  city  are 
joined  together  by  one  broad  unbroken  street  and  divided  by  many  cross- 
streets  and  by  private  houses.  There  is  a  third  city,  which,  because  in  that 
district  there  is  an  ancient  Temple  of  Fortune,  is  called  Tyche,  in  ^ which ^there 
is  a  spacious  gymnasium  and  many  sacred  buildings,  and  that  district  is  ^the 
most  frequented  and  the  most  populous.  There  is  also  a  fourth  city,  which, 
because  it  is  the  last  built,  is  called  Neapolis,  in  the  highest  part  of  which 
there  is  a  very  large  theatre,  and,  besides  that,  there  are  two  temples  of  great 
beauty— one  of  Ceres,  the  other  of  Libera— and  a  statue  of  Apollo,  which  is 


5o8        SICILY   THE   NEW  WINTER   RESORT 

called  Temenites,  very  beautiful  and  of  colossal  size,  which,  if  he  could  have 
moved  them,  he  would  not  have  hesitated  to  carry  off." 

"  Cicero,  when  he  was  Questor  of  Sicilia,  having  by  some  description  found 
out  the  place  of  Archimedes  buriall,  shewed  his  tomb  to  the  Senate  of 
Syragusa  137  years  afterwards,  although  it  was  quite  worne  out  of  memory 
grown  over  with  briars  and  brambles,  and  unknowne  to  the  very  Citizens 
themselves,  he  further  reports  that  this  City  of  Syracusa  was  the  greatest  and 
most  beautifull  City  in  Greece,  and  that  it  was  compact  of  four  very  great 
Cities :  the  Hand,  where  was  the  fountaine  of  Arethusa  having  great  store  of 
fish  :  Acradina  where  the  market-place  (Porticus\  the  public  walking-place  for 
pleasure,  recreation,  or  exercise  (Prado],  and  the  Senate-House  (Curia)  stood  : 
Tyche,  where  the  Temple  of  Fortune  stood  :  Neapolis  built  last  of  all,  where 
the  most  spacious  Theater  was  erected.  Moreover  this,  of  any  forraigne 
Nation,  was  the  first  that  entred  into  amitie  and  allegiance  with  the  Romans 
and  was  their  first  province,  as  the  same  Cicero  testifies."  (1661  translation  of 
J.  Sleidan,  De  Quatuor  Summis  Imperils. ) 

Cimon.  A  coin-cutter  of  Syracuse.  The  great  silver  decadrachms,  called 
locally  medaglioni,  struck  by  the  Syracusans  after  their  conquest  of  the 
Athenians,  which  still  remain  the  finest  coins  of  the  world,  were  the  work  of 
Cimon  and  Eusenetus.  His  decadrachms  are  signed  "KIM."  Cimon  and 
Eusenetus  were  the  Phidias  and  Praxtiteles  of  Doric  art.  Their  heads  of 
Arethusa  are  the  most  beautiful  Greek  heads  which  have  come  down  to  us. 

Cisterns,  Greek.  At  Achradina  and  elsewhere  may  be  found  a  few  of  the 
bottle-shaped  ancient  cisterns  so  frequent  at  Girgenti  and  Cefalu.  See  Piscina, 

Classical  atmosphere.  At  Syracuse  it  is  easy  to  get  the  classical  atmo 
sphere.  Visitors  do  not  stay  in  the  town  but  at  the  Villa  Politi,  near  the 
ruins,  and  far  from  any  other  habitations.  There  is  nothing  to  distract  one's 
attention  from  the  study  of  Greek  Syracusan  history,  study  of  the  Greek 
ruins,  and  the  poems  of  Theocritus. 

Clock,  House  of  the.     See  Palaces. 

Collegio.     See  Churches. 

Coins.  The  coins  of  ancient  Syracuse  are  the  most  beautiful  of  all  lime. 
They  have  never  been  equalled  in  the  2,000  years  which  have  since  elapsed. 
Most  important  of  all  are  the  glorious  decadrachms — coins  in  high  relief,  larger 
than  crown-pieces,  struck  to  commemorate  the  conquest  of  the  Athenians,  from 
the  dies  of  Eusenetus  and  Cimon.  The  head  of  Arethusa,  which  has  come  down 
to  us  on  these  coins,  is,  on  the  best  specimens,  the  most  beautiful  face  in  art. 
It  is  surrounded  by  the  dolphins  of  sea-girt  Syracuse,  and  decorated  under  the 
four-horse  chariot  at  the  back  with  trophies  of  the  arms  of  the  captured 
Athenian  hoplites.  A  winged  Victory  flies  above.  A  fine  specimen,  when  it 
can  be  bought,  is  worth  twelve  hundred  francs.  There  are  numerous  other 
exquisite  Syracusan  coins,  such  as  the  16  litra  piece,  which  bears  the  head 
of  Hiero  II.'s  queen,  Philistis,  hooded  j  the  32  litra  piece  of  Hiero 
himself;  both  with  four-horse  chariots  on  the  reverse,  as  the  Damareteion 
decadrachms  and  tetradrachms.  These  are  named  after  Damareta,  the  wife  of 
Gelo,  who  annihilated  the  Carthaginians  at  Himera  on  the  day  of  Salamis, 
480  B.c.  These  trophy  coins  were  struck  with  the  silver  given  by  the  conquered 
Carthaginians  to  Damareta  in  honour  of  that  victory,  as  the  great  medaglioni 
of  Cimon  and  Eusenetus  were  struck  to  commemorate  the  conquest  of  the 
Athenians — th'e  two  proudest  days  in  the  history  of  Syracuse.  The  Damareteia 
have  four-horse  chariots  on  the  obverse,  and  on  the  reverse  have  the  finest 
archaic  coin-head,  thus  described  by  Mr.  G.  F.  Hill : — 


THINGS   OF   SYRACUSE  509 

"  The  head  of  a  Goddess  (probably  Victory),  wearing  a  simple  earring  and 
necklace,  and  crowned  with  a  laurel-wreath,  her  hair  caught  up  behind  by  a 
plain  cord,  and  hanging  in  a  heavy  loop  on  the  neck,  is  surrounded  first  with 
a  faint  circular  line.  .  .  .It  would  be  difficult  to  find  any  monument  which 
conveys  a  better  idea  than  this  coin  of  the  grace  and  refinement,  the  faithful 
and  careful  workmanship,  the  combination  of  formality  with  the  promise  of 
freedom,  which  are  characteristic  of  the  best  archaic  art  of  Greece." 

The  Syracusan  coins  of  the  last  third  of  the  fifth  century  and  the  early  years 
of  the  fourth  century  B.C.  bear  the  signatures  of  the  artist  who  engraved  them. 
"  To  this  fact  alone,"  says  Mr.  Hill,  "  we  owe  our  knowledge  of  the  names  of 
the  men  who  produced  the  most  beautiful  series  of  coins  in  the  whole  history 
of  coinage."  Other  noted  Syracusan  coin-makers  of  this  period  are  Eumenes, 
Sosion,  and^Phrygillus.  The  first  and  the  last  remarkable  for  the  fidelity  of 
their  galloping  horses,  and  the  beautiful  profiles  of  their  chignoned  heads ; 
•though  in  this  respect  none  of  them  come  up  to  the  unsigned  head  with  three 
bandeaux  on  a  tetradrachm  of  this  period.  Nearly  all  bear  the  name  of  the 
city  and  its  four  dolphins. 


THE  FINEST  COIN   IN  THE  WORLD — THE  ARETHUSA  TETADRACHM  OF  SYRACUSE, 
STRUCK  TO  COMMEMORATE  THE  CONQUEST  OF  THE  ATHENIANS,  413  B.C. 

Some  of  the  coins  of  the  decline  are  also  very  beautiful,  such  as  the  Pegasi, 
introduced  from.  Corinth  in  the  Timoleon  epoch,  distinguished  by  a  flying 
horse  on  one  side,  and  the  head  of  Minerva  on  the  other ;  and  frequently 
without  any  inscription,  though  they  have  a  little  emblem  at  the  back  of  the 
head  ;  and  the  famous  coin  of  Agathocles,  which  has  the  head  of  a  beautiful 
but  effeminate  Apollo  on  one  side,  and  on  the  other  a  galloping  four-horse 
chariot  with  the  three-legged  emblem  known  as  the  Trinacria  above  it.  There 
are  other  beautiful  coins  of  Agathocles  with  the  head  of  Proserpine  with  long 
curls  on  one  side,  and  a  winged  Victory  nailing  a  helmet  to  a  trophy-stand  on 
the  other  side.  The  later  coins  of  Agathocles  bear  his  name.  Those  of  Hiero 
and  Philistis  are  mentioned  above.  There  are  some  beautiful  Phoenician 
coins  copied  from  Agathocles's.  But  for  Syracuse  it  is  absolutely  necessary  to 
consult  Mr.  G.  F.  Hill's  Coins  of  Ancient  Sicily.  There  is  a  splendid  collection 
of  them  in  the  Syracuse  Museum.  No  expensive  coins  should  be  bought 
without  consulting  the  courteous  Director,  Prof.  Orsi,  a  man  of  European  fame. 
See  Museum. 

Colonne.  The  ancient  Polichna,  so  called  from  the  two  columns  of  the 
Olympieum  (q.v.). 


5io       SICILY  THE   NEW  WINTER   RESORT 

Cortili. — There  are  a  good  many  medieval  courtyards  left  in  Syracuse ;  though 
the  splendid  Ardizrone  Palace  figured  in  my  In  Sicily  has  now  been  gutted. 

Clock-house.  On  the  Piazza  Archimede.  Has  a  terraced  staircase  of  the 
fourteenth-fifteenth  century  carried  round  it  on  heavy  arches.  The  foot  of 
the  stair  is  adorned  with  a  lion,  and  has  a  graceful  ancient  window  over  it. 

Leon  UOro.  The  cortile  of  the  former  Leon  D'Oro  Restaurant  in  the  Via 
Maestranza  is  large  and  handsome,  of  the  sixteenth  century. 

Montalto  Palace.  The  cortile  is  much  later  than  the  front,  but  has  a  good 
staircase,  with  a  pleasing  arcade  of  the  sixteenth  century. 

Archbishops  Palace.  This  courtyard,  approached  through  a  passage  adorned 
with  the  columns  of  an  antique  temple,  has  a  pleasing  little  garden,  with 
Gagini's  S.  Lucia  in  the  centre.  The  only  Gagini  I  know  in  the  open  air. 

Palazzo  Bosco.  An  elegant  but  ruinous  Renaissance  courtyard  in  a  palace 
almost  opposite  the  cathedral. 

Palazzo  Abela  or  Daniele.  Via  Maestranza  21.  Has  a  small  courtyard  with 
a  fifteenth-century  terraced  staircase  leading  up  to  a  sixteenth-century  arcade. 

Palazzo  Miliaccio.  On  the  road  to  the  Castello  di  Maniace.  Over  the 
entrance  is  a  terrace  in  black  and  white  in  the  Taormina  style  of  the  fifteenth 
century. 

Opera  Pia  Gargallo,  A  large  courtyard  with  the  most  important  medieval 
processional  staircase  in  Syracuse.  Now  a  charitable  institution. 

Palaces  in  Via  Cavour.  No.  32,  the  house  with  the  spiral-columned 
arcade,  has  on  its  ground  floor  two  pillars  belonging  to  the  Agora.  A  house  on 
the  same  side,  nearer  the  cathedral,  has  several  Gothic  arches  in  the  courtyard, 
with  a  sort  of  lane  going  off  it.  Of  palaces  with  courtyards,  a  little  later  than 
this,  there  are  several  examples  in  this  street. 

Finanzi.  In  the  Via  Ruggiero  Settimo,  the  Palace  of  the  Finanzi,  has  an 
elegant  Renaissance  courtyard. 

Costumes.  Syracuse  is  not  a  very  good  place  for  observing  national 
costumes,  though  there  is  an  old  man  at  the  farm  in  the  rocks  by  the  side  gate 
of  the  Villa  Politi  who  wears  the  mutton-chop  whiskers  of  old  Spanish  days 
and  dresses  in  the  short  blue  jacket  and  breeches,  the  typical  Sicilian  of 
Spanish  times.  However,  the  women  with  their  brightly  coloured  head- 
kerchiefs  make  the  Floridia  road  very  picturesque,  though  they  only  wear 
nondescript  shawls.  The  men  wear  the  hooded  dark  blue  Sicilian  cloaks 
when  it  is  cold. 

Cyane.     See  Anapo. 

Damas.     A  wealthy  Syracusan,  the  patron  of  Agathocles  (q.v.). 

Damareta.     The  wife  of  Gelo.     See  under  Coins,  Damarateion. 

Dascon.  Now  called  Maddalena.  The  little  bay  just  inside  the  heads  of 
the  opposite  side  of  the  Great  Harbour  of  Syracuse.  The  first  anchorage  of 
the  Athenian  fleet. 

Decadrachm.  A  ten-drachma  piece.  The  decadrachms  of  Syracuse 
(z  medaglioni)  are  famous.  See  Coins. 

De  Ruyter.  The  great  Dutch  admiral,  famous  in  wars  with  England,  was 
defeated  and  mortally  wounded  in  an  action  with  the  French  off  Augusta  in 
1676.  He  died  at  Syracuse,  and  is  said  to  be  buried  there. 

Diana.  The  goddess-patron  of  the  Dorian  Greeks.  It  is  imagined  that  the 
temple  now  built  into  the  cathedral  was  really  dedicated  to  her  originally  and 
transferred  to  Minerva  in  Roman  times.  The  proximity  of  the  Fountain  of 
Arethusa,  who  was  a  nymph  of  Diana,  lends  colour  to  this. 


THINGS   OF  SYRACUSE 


S11 


Diana,  Temple  of.  A  hexastyle  peripteral  temple  near  the  church  of 
S.  Paolo.  According  to  Mauceri,  of  the  seventh  century  before  Christ, 
Giannotta  says  that  it  is  more  likely  dedicated  to  Apollo.  It  is  only  partly 
excavated,  but  it  is  interesting  on  account  of  an  inscription  and  its  high 
antiquity.  It  seems  to  have  been  of  exceptional  size.  It  stands  below  the 
level  of  the  street  in  the  Vico  S.  Paolo. 


THE  TEMPLE  OF  DIANA 


Diocles.  A  Syracusan  demagogue  and  lawgiver.  The  rival  of  Hermo- 
crates.  For  the  legislation  of  Diocles,  see  Freeman's  History  of  'Sicily \  vol.  iii. , 
P-  439- 

Dion.  A  Syracusan,  son  of  Hipparinus,  whose  daughter  Aristomache 
Dionysius  married.  Dion  married  his  sister's  daughter  Arete  (q.v.).  He 
headed  the  opposition  to  the  excesses  of  the  younger  Dionysius,  for  which  he 
was  exiled.  In  357  he  returned  and  expelled  Dionysius  II.  in  356,  but  died 
in  354,  It  was  his  friendship  with  Plato-  which  led  to  Plato's  visits  to  the 
Syracusan  court.  He  was  a  man  of  austere  republican  principles,  the  fore 
runner  of  Timoleon,  but  of  immense  possessions.  It  was  remarked  at  Athens 
while  he  was  in  exile  there  that  he  lived  in  all  the  state  of  a  tyrant. 

Dionysius  L  One  of  the  greatest  men  in  ancient  history,  in  spite  of  his 
wickedness.  He  was  a  son  of  a  Hermocrates,  but  not  the  great  Hermocrates, 
who  was  his  father-in-law.  He  began  life  as  a  scrivener,  and  was  left  for  dead 
in  the  emeute  in  which  Hermocrates,  attempting  to  return  from  exile,  was 
slain.  He  bided  his  time,  and  when  all  the  Greek  cities  in  Sicily  were  going 
down  before  the  Carthaginians  he  rose  by  impeaching  the  incompetence  of  the 
Syracusan  generals  and  getting  a  bodyguard.  He  is  suspected  of  having 
colluded  with  the  Carthaginians  over  the  fall  of  Acragas  and  Gela,  and  in  the 
later  phase  of  the  war  was  constantly  making  deals  with  them  which  had  the 
result  of  securing  him  absolute  power  at  Syracuse  for  thirty-eight  years,  405- 
367  B.C.  Plutarch  and  Cicero  have  familiarised  us  with  the  severities  by 
which  Dionysius  secured  his  power,  and  the  Louis  XI. -like  suspiciousness  of 
his  later  years,  but  he  made  Syracuse  the  greatest  city  in  the  world  and  the 


512        SICILY  THE   NEW  WINTER   RESORT 

most  powerful  state  in  Greece,  and  does  not  seem  to  have  been  cruel  except 
where  it  was  necessary  to  secure  his  power.  There  are  many  anecdotes  about 
his  wit.  It  is  of  him  that  Cicero  tells  the  story  of  the  Sword  of  -Damocles. 
And  it  was  he  who  took  away  the  golden  cloak  of  Jupiter,  saying  that  it  was 
too  heavy  in  summer  and  too  cool  in  winter,  and  that  the  woollen  one  which 
he  gave  him  in  its  place  would  serve  for  all  seasons,  which  Henry  VIII. 
parodied  when  he  seized  the  Golden  Shrine  of  the  Venerable  Bede,  saying 
that  it  would  be  of  more  use  to  him  than  Bede.  It  was  Dionysius  who 
saved  Europe  from  the  Carthaginians  in  the  days  when  Rome  was  not  yet 
strong  enough  to  take  the  lead.  Like  Frederick  the  Great  he  was  very  vain 
over  his  poems.  He  took  the  prize  of  tragedy  at  Athens  with  his  play  called 
the  Ransom  of  Hector.  The  Latomia  del  Filosofo  is  said  to  be  named  from 
Philoxenus,  whom  Dionysius  imprisoned  there  for  ridiculing  his  poems.  He 
built  the  famous  walls  of  Syracuse,  of  which  splendid  fragments  still  exist, 
three  and  a  half  miles  long,  in  twenty  days.  He  used  60,000  workmen  and 
6,000  oxen.  It  was  about  twenty  feet  high  and  from  six  to  fourteen  feet  thick,  and 
built  of  stones  a  yard  long,  half  a  yard  wide  and  thick.  Also,  impressed  with  the 
way  in  which  the  Athenians  were  trapped  in  the  Great  Harbour,  he  constructed 
a  new  harbour  by  building  a  marble  mole  between  the  two  headlands  of  the 
smaller  harbour,  called  from  this  the  Marble  Harbour.  He  died  in  367,  and 
was  succeeded  by  his  son.  He  was  three  times  married,  first  to  the  daughter 
of  Hermocrates,  who  killed  herself,  having  been  outraged  during  his  tem 
porary  defeat,  second  to  Aristomache,  the  sister  of  Dion,  and  third  (simul 
taneously)  to  a  Locrian  woman  named  Doris.  Aristomache  was  long  barren, 
so  Dionysius  put  his  other  mother-in-law  to  death  on  the  plea  of  witchcraft, 
By  Doris  he  had  the  younger  Dionysius  and  Thearides  and  another  child.  By 
Aristomache  he  had  four  children,  one  of  whom,  Sophrosyne,  married  her  half- 
brother  Dionysius  II.  and  another,  Arete,  married  both  her  half-brother 
Thearides  and  her  uncle  Dion.  He  invited  Plato  to  visit  him,  but  being 
annoyed  at  him  sold  him  into  slavery,  if  reports  may  be  believed.  In  his  latter 
days  he  grew  so  suspicious  that  he  only  allowed  his  daughters  to  shave  him, 
and  that  not  with  a  razor,  but  with  red-hot  nutshells.  Philistus,  the  historian, 
helped  him  in  his  rise,  and  was  his  lifelong  friend.  The  very  site  of  his 
magnificent  tomb,  as  well  as  of  his  palace,  is  forgotten,  though  Gregorovius 
says  that  Dionysius  I.  built  on  the  isthmus  a  wall  with  towers,  or  castle,  on 
the  same  spot  where  Hiero's  palace  had  stood,  which  hardly  agrees  with  the 
statement  that  Timoleon  pulled  down  Dionysius's  castle  and  built  there  the 
tribunal,  where  he  was  buried  himself,  the  Timolonteum  (a  gymnasium  or 
palaestra)  being  built  above  his  grave.  This  is  beyond  the  railway  station,  some 
way  from  the  isthmus.  Gregorovius  says  a  castle  was  once  more  existing  at 
the  time  of  the  Romans,  but  that  almost  all  traces  were  destroyed  by  the 
strong  fortifications  and  citadel  erected  successively  by  the  Byzantines,  the 
Emperor  Charles  V.,  and  Charles  III.  of  Naples,  at  the  entrance  into  Ortygia. 
See  also  Ear  of  Dionysius.  Dante  places  Dionysius  amongst  the  "  violent 
against  themselves  "  (Inferno,  canto  xii.,  107-109). 

Dionysius  II.  The  younger  Dionysius  was  a  weak  man,  but  Plato  visited 
him  twice,  and  was  much  attached  to  him.  He  was  alternately  under  the 
philosopher's  influence  and  a  cruel  tyrant.  After  he  had  reigned  eleven  years, 
from  367  to  356,  Dion,  who  was  various  relations  to  him  (see  preceding  par.), 
expelled  him/  But  he 'was  restored  in  346,  and  reigned  a  couple  of  years 
before  he  was  finally  exiled  to  Corinth  on  the  arrival  of  Timoleon.  He 
married  his  half-sister  Sophrosyne.  Like  his  father,  he  fortified  himself  in 
Ortygia. 


THINGS   OF   SYRACUSE  5I3 

Dionysius,  Wall  of.    See  above,  Dionysius  I. 

Dionysus.     See  Bacchus,  Temple  of. 

Doctor.  There  is  no  English  doctor  at  Syracuse.  Visitors  should  ask  for 
Cav.  Dottore  Francesco  Mauceri,  uffizio  sanitorio  del  governo  per  la  orovincia 
di  Siracusa.  r  r 

Dolphins.  Four  dolphins  are  the  emblem  of  ancient  Syracuse.  They 
appear  on  nearly  all  her  coins.  One  wonders  if  they  were  really  tunnyfish. 

Doric.  Syracuse  was  a  colony  of  Doric  Greeks  from  Corinth.  Its  archi- 
tecture^was  all  Doric,  except  a  few  columns  built  into  S.  Giovanni. 

Doris.   A  Locrian  woman  who  married  Dionysius  I. 


WALL  OF  DIONYSIUS,  ON  THE  NORTHERN  EDGE  OF  EPIPOL^E 

Damocles,  the  Sword  of.  The  Students  Greece  gives  the  account  of  the 
flatterer  lying  on  a  golden  couch  decked  with  the  most  gorgeous  trappings, 
garlanded,  and  anointed,  supping  the  richest  food  from  golden  plate,  waited 
on  by  beautiful  pages,  surrounded  by  lovely  women,  and  the  grirn  despot 
suddenly  drawing  attention  to  the  naked  sword  suspended  over  his  head  by  a 
single  hair.  "  At  this  sight,"  says  Smith,  paraphrasing  Cicero,  ct  his  satisfac 
tion  vanished  in  an  instant,  and  he  entreated  to  be  released  from  the  enjoy 
ment  of  pleasures  which  could  only  be  tasted  at  the  risk  of  life."  (Sladen's 
In  Sicily,  vol.  i.,  p.  246.) 

Drachmas.  The  modern  Greek  drachma  corresponds  to  the  franc.  The 
ancient  corresponded  to  it  roughly,  but  it  was  not  so  large  in  diameter.  My 
Damarateion  tetradrachm  exactly  balances  three  shillings. 

Ducetius.  One  of  the  few  Sikelians  whose  names  have  come  down  to  us. 
He  formed  a  Sikelian  league  against  Syracuse.  See  General  Index,  p.  162. 

Due  Fratelli  Rocks.  Two  tall  rocks  rising  from  deep  water  in  the  sea  in 
a  line  with  the  coral  caves  of  Acradina.  One  of  the  best  views  of  Etna  is 
from  this  point,  because  you  have  an  uninterrupted  view  of  it  from  the  sea-level 
to  the  summit. 


514        SICILY  THE   NEW   WINTER   RESORT 

Ear  of  Dionysius.  A  curious  phenomenon  in  the  Latomia  del  Paradiso. 
A  cave  is  quarried  into  the  shape  of  a  rude  human  ear,  so  that  sounds  are 
conveyed  in  an  extraordinary  manner,  High  np  in  the  cave  is  a  small 
chamber  approached  from  the  plateau  above.  Dionysius  is  said  to  have 
sat ^  here  listening  to  the  prisoners  confined  in  the  cave,  whose  slightest 
whispers  were(said  to  he  audible  to  him.  The  name  seems  to  be  an  arbitrary 
one,^  as  there  is  no  mention  of  it  before  the  sixteenth  century.  It  obviously 
received  the  name  on  account  of  a  passage  in  Cicero,  which  mentions  that 
Dionysius  had  a  prison  where  he  could  hear  the  faintest  conversation  of  his 
prisoners.  There  is  a  cavity  almost  precisely  similar,  but  not  so  large,  in  the 
Latomia  dei  Cappuccini,  which  is  very  puzzling. 


THE  ROCK  OF  THE  DUE  FEATELLI 

Addison  mentions  it  in  The  Spectator:  "Vulgar  Souls  of  a  quite  contrary 
Character.  Dionysius,  the  Tyrant  of  Sicily,  had  a  Dungeon  which  was  a 
very  curious  Piece  of  Architecture :  and  of  which,  as  I  am  informed,  there  are 
still  to  be  seen  some  Remains  in  that  Island.  It  was  called  Dionysiufs  Ear 
and  built  with  several  little  Windings  and  Labyrinths  in  the  form  of  a  real 
.bar.  The  Structure  of  it  made  it  a  kind  of  whispering  Place,  but  such  a  one 
as  gathered  the  Voice  of  him  who  spoke  into  a  Funnel  which  was  placed  at 
the  very  Top  of  it.  The  Tyrant  used  to  lodge  all  his  State- Criminals  or 
those  whom  he  supposed  to  be  engaged  together  in  any  evil  Designs  upon  him 
in  this  Dungeon.  He  had  at  the  same  time  an  Apartment  over  it,  where  he 
used  to  apply  himself  to  the  Funnel,  and  by  that  means  overheard  everything; 
that  was  whispered  in  the  Dungeon.  I  believe  one  may  venture  to  affirm 
that -a  Lesar  or  an  Alexander  would  have  rather  died  by  the  Treason  than 
have  used  so  disingenuous  Means  for  the  detecting  it"  (The  Spectator,  No.  439, 
Thursday,  July  24th.)  '  ^y* 

Gregorovius  says  :  "The  Ear  of  Dionysius  forms  a  huge  square.  A  single 
pillar  in  the  centre  perhaps  formerly  supported  the  roof.  The  name  Ear  of 
Dionysius  was  given  to  one  of  the  halls  by  Michelangelo  da  Caravaggio,  who 
visited  the  place  with  Mirabella  (q.v.),  and  used  the  phrase  casually  This 


THINGS   OF   SYRACUSE  515 

led  to  strange  suppositions.  In  1840  Serradifalco  discovered  an  opening 
through  which  one  could  see  in  from  above.  A  whisper  below  is  heard 
above." 

Epipolae.  One  of  the  five  quarters  of  ancient  Syracuse.  Stretching  from 
the  Castle  of  Euryalus  to  Tyche  and  Neapolis,  for  which  one  may  take  a  line 
drawn  from  the  top  of  the  slope,  miscalled  the  Scala  Greca,  to  the  Campo 
Santo — speaking  very  roughly.  Dionysius  surrounded  it  with  his  famous  wall 
to  meet  the  older  fortifications  of  the  other  quarters.  It  seems  only  to  have 
been  sparsely  inhabited,  and  contained  besides  the  Castle  of  Euryalus,  the 
Athenian  port  of  Labdalon,  the  fortress  near  the  castle  now  miscalled  Zapylon, 
the  famous  Round  Fort  of  the  Athenians  on  the  centre  of  the  plateau,  and 
perhaps  the  necropolis  by  the  Agragian  Gate  which  contained  the  tomb  of 
Archimedes  might  have  been  included  in  it. 

Epipolse  is  the  highest  point,  ending  in  two  hills,  Euryalus  and  Labdalon 
lower,  now  known  as  Belvedere  and  Mongibellisi.  On  north  side  of  Epipolse 
lay  (exact  spot  doubtful)  Hexapylon,  through  which  the  Romans  forced  their 
way  in,  and  the  Gallagra  Tower,  which  they  seized  during  the  feast  of  Diana. 
(Gregorovius.) 

Etna.  There  are  splendid  views  of  Etna  from  any  high  ground  in  Syracuse. 
It  is  much  like  Fujiyama  from  this  side. 

Euaenetus.  A  coin-engraver  of  Syracuse.  See  Decadrachms  and  Coins. 
He  stands  perhaps  first  among  the  coin-engravers  of  the  world,  though  Cimon 
comes  near  him. 

Euclidas.  A  famous  coin-engraver  of  Syracuse  of  a  later  and  rather  inferior 
period. 

Eumenes.  A  coin- engraver  of  Syracuse  who  comes  next  to  Eusenetus  and 
Cimon.  See  Coins. 

Euryalus.  "  Dionysius,  in  preparing  for  his  great  war  against  the  Cartha 
ginians,  built  the  wall  along  the  northern  side  of  Epipolse  in  twenty  days  in  the 
year  402  B.C.,  and  the  Castle  of  Euryalus  in  the  six  years  between  that  date 
and  397  B.C.  This  wonderful  work  occupies  an  area  of  15,000  square  metres, 
of  which  4,682  were  occupied  by  ditches  and  subterranean  galleries.  There  is 
more  than  a  quarter  of  a  mile  of  galleries  which  served  to  put  into  communica 
tion  the  fortress  and  the  three  ditches  and  the  various  ramparts.  The  great 
towers,  fifteen  metres  high,  were  first  made  perhaps  to  be  crowned  with  those 
ingenious  catapults,  which  in  393  were  invented  by  a  commission  of  engineers 
of  Syracuse.  Dionysius,  in  constructing  the  Castle  of  Euryalus,  set  himself  to 
occupy  permanently  the  highest  point  of  Epipolse,  to  protect  the  communica 
tion  with  the  interior  of  the  island  in  case  of  siege,  to  have  a  strong  and  secure 
base  of  operations,  to  take  the  offensive  against  an  enemy  who  threatened  the 
vast  city  from  the  north  or  south. 

"Seeing  the  ruins  of  this  marvellous  castle  placed  astride  the  road  from 
Hexapylum,  one  understands  the  high  merit  of  the  great  captain  who  made 
his  country  so  impregnable  and  feared."  (Comm.  Luigi  Mauceri,  Veditfe  e 
Monumenti  di  Siracusa  Antica:  N.  22  cartolim postali  con  cenni  illustratim.) 

Gregorovius  remarks  that  Euryalus  was  of  great  importance  at  the  time  of 
Marcellus  ',  and  there  was  a  danger  of  being  shut  in  between  it  and  Achradina, 
especially  as  Hippocrates  and  Himilco  were  advancing  from  inland  towards 
Euryalus  against  him.  Now  rightly  known  as  the  Belvedere. 

"  The  interest  in  the  Castle  of  Euryalus  begins  at  the  second  ditch.  You  do 
not  realise  that  there  is  a  first  ditch,  and  the  second  ditch  does  not  look  like  a 
ditch  any  longer.  It  is,  in  fact,  more  like  a  sunken  court  protected  by  a  cross 


5i6        SICILY  THE   NEW  WINTER   RESORT 

wall  of  heavy  masonry,  now  entered  by  the  little  gate,  with  the  Sicilian  padlock 
on  it,  in  the  foreground  of  the  illustration.  From  this  court — which  in  its  old 
ditch  days  was  crossed  by  a  drawbridge  supported  by  the  tall  stone  pier  which 
rises  from  its  centre,  with  stones  as  fresh  as  if  they  had  been  built  since  Nelson's 
day — various  passages  lead  off,  those  going  toward  the  right  of  the  picture,  to 


THE  KEEP  OF  THE 
CASTLE  OP  EURYALUS 


which  you  have  to  descend,  prove  to  be  mere  vaults  some  fifteen  yards  long 
for  provisions  or  ammunition.  They  contain  inscriptions  in  an  unknown 
language — unknown  to  local  antiquaries.  From  the  walls  above  spring  wild 
fig  trees — the  classical  appendage  of  Sicilian  ruins.  The  passages  on  the  left 
hand,  which  connect  with  each  other,  are  passages  hewn  in  the  rocks  in  the 
manner  of  modem  fortresses,  like  Gibraltar,  to  enable  the  men  in  the  court 
to  retreat  into  the  keep  of  the  fortress.  With  this  they  communicate  by  a 
circuitous  and  easily  blocked  approach.  Until  the  invention  of  the  most 
modern  artillery  they  must  have  been  bomb-proof,  and  one  of  them  is  spacious 
enough  for  four  horsemen  to  ride  abreast  with  lances  raised.  Another  is  a 
stable.  This  shows  how  very  far  advanced  were  the  military  engineers  who 
built  the  Castle  of  Euryalus,  four  centuries  B.C.  These  galleries  in  the  rock 
are  beautifully  cut  and  are  still  perfectly  dry.  In  the  day  when  it  was  built, 
'*  Mongibellisi,'  as  the  natives  call  it,  must  have  been  impregnable. 

"  There  is  one  passage  curiously  like  the  secret  passage  which  leads  into  the 
Castle  of  S.  Andrew's,  with  the  same  tricks  for  preventing  a  surprise.  There  is 
a  corpo  di  guardia  and  a  niche  where,  according  to  the  guide-books,  the  sentinel 
could  He,  or  rather  sit,  and  wait ;  but  the  custode  scoffed  at  this,  and  said, 
*  Letto,' — bed — '  one,  two,  yes  ;  sentinel  seat  imaginazione.'  The  finest 
passage  of  all  is  one  about  a  furlong  in  length,  which  leads  from  the  main 
fortress  to  the  outwork  on  the  north-west,  wrongly  called  by  the  guide  Zapylon 
(Hexapylon).  Imposing  as  the  great  court  called  the  second  ditch  and  these 
splendid  galleries  are,  it  cannot  be  denied  that  the  most  majestic  part  of  the 
whole  fortress  is  the  piece  of  wall  surmounted  by  the  five  solid  towers  which 
crown  the  apex  of  the  hill.  The  masonry  is  so  massive  and  splendid.  These 
towers  stand  above  the  second  ditch  and  guard  that  end  of  the  crater  alluded 
to  above,  and  their  old  yellow  stone  is  set  off  by  the  most  extraordinary  blaze 


THINGS   OF   SYRACUSE  517 

of  wild  marigolds,  almost  vermilion  in  their  depth  of  colour,  which  I  ever 
saw.  Sicily  is  of  course  the  land  of  the  marigold.  It  blazes  with  marigolds 
as  Japan  blazes  with  the  scarlet  azalea  in  spring.  Inside,  every  chink  of  the 
fortress  is  filled  with  the  yellow  flower  of  the  rue,  with  yellow  and  white, 
scarlet  and  yellow,  and  crimson  and  puce  vetches,  and  glorious  purple  and 
white  tares,  while  from  the  turf  spring  the  deep  pink  anemone  and  the  tall 
asphodel.  The  curious  crater-like  depression  which  forms  the  keep  is  tri 
angular  in  shape,  and  terminates  in  another  tower-like  mass  of  masonry  known 
as  the  punt  a.  This  keep,  like  every  other  defensible  fortress,  contains  a  round 
cistern-like  pozzo,  or  well,  now  dry.  It  is  extremely  beautiful,  for  its  flower- 
studded  lawns  rise  gently  to  the  five  solid  towers  at  the  highest  point,  and  the 
minor  fortifications  at  the  apex  of  the  triangle.  Among  the  masses  of  stone 
fallen  outward  from  the  ruined  walls  grows,  besides  the  vetches"  and  the  rues 
and  the  blue  germanders  and 'masses  of  a  small  purple  campanula,  the  hand 
some  and  conspicuous  pale  yellow  flower  which  looks  like  a  calceolaria,  but  is 
really  a  sage,  and  grows  so  profusely  on  Mount  Lycabettus  at  Athens.  The 
yucca-like  tufts  of  the  wild  onion  rise  everywhere  from  the  fields  sown  with 
stones  which  surround  the  castle."  (Sladen,  In  Sicily,  vol.  i.) 

"  The  experience  of  that  time  led  him  (Dionysius)  to  see  that  Euryalus,  the 
key  of  Epipolai  and  of  all  Syracuse,  must  be  made  into  a  strong  fortress.  And 
large  remains  of  a  strong  fortress  are  there.  At  the  narrow  neck  which  joins 
the  triangle  of  Epipolai  to  the  hill  to  the  west,  the  height,  as  in  many  other 
parts,  rises  in  two  stages  with  a  terrace  between.  The  upper  ridge  is  narrow 
indeed  ;  it  is  on  the  ridge  itself,  just  to  the  east  of  its  narrowest  point,  where 
the  isthmus  first  begins  to  lose  itself  in  the  general  mass  of  the  hill,  that  the 
fortress  of  Dionysius  arose,  with  the  ditch  that  forms  its  first  defence  across  the 
very  narrowest  part  of  the  ridge.  The  visitor  from  modern  Syracuse,  unless 


VIEW  Cft?  THE  HVBL^EAN    HILLS  FROM  THE  CASTLE  OF  EURYALUS 


5iS        SICILY  THE   NEW  WINTER   RESORT 

he  has  made  a  toilsome  march  over  the  whole  length  of  the  hill,  will  approach 
the  Castle  of  Euryalus  from  the  west,  as  if  he  were  an  enemy  advancing  to  test 
the  strength  of  the  engineering  works  of  the  tyrant.  The  modern  road  at  the 
foot  of  the  hill  climbs  it  at  this  point,  and  brings  him  in  front  of  the  best-pre 
served  part  of  the  castle,  five  towers  of  fine  masonry,  placed  closely  side  by 
side,  and  with  two  deep  ditches  in  front  of  them.  The  rest  of  the  fortress  is 
less  perfect.  Taking  the  group  of  towers  as  the  centre,  it  sends  forth  two 
branches  to  the  north  and  south-east,  to  the  points  where  the  wall  of  Epipolai 
— north  and  south — parts  from  the  castle  to  run  its  own  course  along  the  brow 
of  the  hill.  An  outpost  of  very  irregular  shape  stands  out  to  the  north-west, 
near  the  point  where  the  Athenians  had  climbed  up.  The  works  on  the  south 
side,  where,  at  this  point,  the  ascent  is  easier  than  on  the  north,  are  also  of  a 
remarkable  shape.  Taken  as  a  whole,  they  form  a  long  and  very  irregular 
triangle  ;  but  this  is  made  up  of  a  nearly  rectangular  court  adjoining  the 
towers,  connected  by  a  small  gate  with  its  lint-el,  with  an  irregular  polygon  to 
the  east.  The  extreme  eastern  point  of  this  building  is  one  of  the  most  strik 
ing  that  Syracuse  can  supply.  It  is  the  centre  of  the  Syracusan  territory, 
commanding  the  full  view  of  the  city  and  her  belongings  in  the  widest  sense. 
The  windings  and  different  heights  of  the  hill  itself  bring  into  view  the  greater 
part  of  the  south  side,  and  some  points  on  the  north  ;  the  island  is  full  in  sight 
with  the  Great  Harbour  and  all  that  surrounds  it,  the  plain,  the  isthmus,  and 
the  hills  with  their  steep  bluffs  which  seem  to  guard  them.  Between  those 
hills  and  the  more  ragged  bluff  of  Hybla,  we  get  a  glimpse  of  the  ways  that 
open  to  the  inland  regions  of  Sicily,  to  the  outpost  of  Akrai,  and  to  the  inner 
depths  of  the  Sikel  land.  But  the  wonders  of  the  Castle  of  Dionysius  are  not  all 
above  ground.  Beneath  the  towers  and  in  front  of  them  are  underground 
chambers  and  passages,  which,  at  first  sight,,  it  is  tempting  to  look  upon  as 
primeval  works  turned  into  account  by  Greek  engineers,  but  which  have 
so  clear  a  reference  to  the  buildings  above  that  one  is  driven  to  conclude  that 
they  are  all  parts  of  the  same  work.  Of  several  such  passages,  the  longest  and 
most  remarkable  is  that  which  leads  from  the  great  ditch  in  front  of  the  towers 
to  the  northern  fort.  A  shorter  one  also  leads  to  the  outer  court  on  the  south 
side.  Special  care  is  taken  not  to  carry  any  of  these  underground  works  under 
the  group  of  towers,  so  as  not  to  endanger  the  strength  of  their  foundations. 
By  works  like  these,  if  an  enemy  had  taken  an  outpost,  he  might  still  be 
attacked,  like  Veii  in  the  story  of  Camillus,  by  a  party  making  its  way  through 
the  bowels  of  the  earth.  Some  of  the  chambers  were  seemingly  used  as  store 
houses,  and  mysterious  characters  are  carved  by  the  entrance  of  one  of  them, 
which  are  held  to  be  figures  in  some  unknown  system  of  notation.  Elsewhere 
rings  seem  to  show  places  for  tying  up  horses:  such  a  retreat  might  well 
be  needful  when  the  garrison  was  hard  pressed.  The  whole  fortress  is  the 
most  unique  and  the  most  striking  of  all  the  monuments  of  Syracuse,  as  the 
place  where  it  stands  is  the  most  striking  of  all  the  points  of  view."  (Freeman.) 
Excavations.  Principal  excavations  going  on  now  are  at  the  Temple  of 
Bacchus,  behind  the  catacombs  of  S.  Giovanni.  There  have  been  recent 
excavations  at  Plemmyrium,  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  bay,  and  in  the  field 
below  the  Villa  Politi,  etc. 

Fever.  Achradina  is  free  from  fever  at  all  times,  and  there  is  no  fever  any 
where  round  Syracuse  except  in  the  summer  and  autumn,  when  it  is  very  bad 
all  round  the  mouths  of  the  Anapo  and  on  the  shore  of  the  Great  Harbour 
generally.  The  ancient  historians  mention  it  constantly.  It  was  largely  fever 
which  brought  the  downfall  of  the  Athenians.  It  was  fever  which  saved 
Syracuse  from  the  Carthaginians  when  Acragas  and  Gela  had  fallen.  Invader 


THINGS   OF  SYRACUSE 


"5'9 


after  invader  camped  on  the  rich  flat  land  round  the  Great  Harbour  and  paid 
the  penalty,  The  Romans,  whose  generalship  was  better,  attacked  from  the 
high  ground  to  the  north,  The  common  people  nowadays  dose  themselves  for 
fever  with  the  powerful  herbs  providentially  to  be  found  in  great  abundance 
everywhere. 

S.  Felipe  (Filippo),  the  Latomia  under.    See  Churches. 

Foro  Vittorio  Emmanuele.  Called  also  the  Marina.  A  drive  on  the 
terraced  shore  of  the  Great  Harbour  with  a  beautiful  avenue  of  evergreens.  A 
band  plays  here  on  certain  days.  It  extends  from  the  Porta  Marina  to  the 
Fountain  of  Arethusa. 


THE   MARINA  AND   GREAT   HARBOUR   OF  SYRACUSE 

Fortress.  Syracuse,  the  great  fortress  of  Charles  V.,  one  of  the  strongest 
places  in  the  Two  Sicilies,  under  the  Bourbons,  is  no  longer  fortified. 

Fortune,  Temple  of.     See  Tyche. 

Freeman  upon  Syracuse.  By  far  the  most  important  part  of  Freeman's 
great  History  of  Sidfy  relates  to  Syracuse.  It  is  an  inexhaustible  mine  of 
information  and  pleasure. 

Fountains,  Syracuse  has  its  fair  share  of  street  fountains  where  the  women 
go  with  their  water-jars  in  fine  attitudes.  It  has  at  the  Rotondo  an  interesting 
horse  fountain,  where  the  water  is  drawn  from  a  well  with  a  weighted  beam — 
an  ancient  classical  method.  It  has  the  celebrated  Fountain  of  Arethusa.  It 
has  some  other  fountains  of  the  highest  interest  which  strangers  seldom  see. 
The  well  in  the  subterranean  chamber  below  S.  Felipe,  the  well  with  a  fine 
staircase  of  classical  times  under  the  Casa  di  Bianca.  See  Church  of  S.  Gio 
vanni  Battista.  The  subterranean  cistern  known  as  the  Bagnio  della  Regina, 
which  is  covered  with  marble  and  approached  by  forty  steps  under  the  Castello 
di  Maniace,  and  a  washing-pool  of  great  antiquity,  a  good  many  feet  below  the 
surface  of  the  ground,  called  the  Fonte  di  S.  Giovanni,  near  the  castle. 


520        SICILY  THE   NEW   WINTER   RESORT 

Gamori,  the  landed  aristocracy  of  Syracuse  (and  other  Dorian  cities).  At 
Syracuse  they  were  extremely  powerful.  Dion,  during  his  exile  at  Athens, 
lived  like  a  king.  There  was  an  insurrection  against  the  power  of  the  Gamori 
in  486.  They  retired  to  Casmenoc,  but  were  restored  by  Gelo  in  the  following 
year  when  he  went  from  Gela  to  Syracuse,  and  became  its  tyrant,  doubtless  by 
the  help  of  the  Gamori.  Freeman  says  the  Gamori  were  the  descendants  of 
those  who,  in  the  beginning  of  the  settlement,  received  both  lots  of  land 
of  their  own  and  a  right  to  the  profits  of  the  folk-land.  The  Gamori  had  an 
assembly  like  the  Curia  at  Rome,  and  we  know  that  they  sat  in  judgment  at 
the  trial  of  the  first  Agathocles,  the  contractor  for  the  building  of  the  Temple 
of  Minerva. 

Gates.  The  only  gate  of  any  importance  now  standing  is  the  handsome 
Porta  Marina,  a  fifteenth-century  Gothic  gateway  at  the  station  end  of  the 
Marina.  But  until  recently  there  was  a  gate  put  by  Charles  V.  at  the  entrance 
of  the  island  of  Ortygia.  The  Agragian  Gate  leading  to  Acragas  or  Girgenti 
was  near  the  modern  Portella  del  Fusco,  above  the  Campo  Santo.  The 
Catania  Gate,  of  which  distinct  traces  can  be  seen,  was  where  the  three 
ancient  roads  meet  at  the  top  of  the  modern  road  miscalled  the  Scala  Greca. 
There  are  very  distinct  marks  of  a  double  or  triple  ancient  gateway  leading 
down  into  a  gully  facing  the  Due  Fratelli,  and  there  must  have  been  a  gateway 
where  the  road  climbs  up  on  to  the  plateau  of  Achradina,  a  few  hundred  yards 
from  the  side-gate  of  the  Villa  Politi. 

Giudecca,  or  Ghetto.  The  name  of  a  street  in  Syracuse.  The  inhabitants 
are  of  a  pronounced  Jewish  type  and  prosperous  looking.  See  S.  Felipe, 
S.  Giovanni  Battista^  Casa  di  Bianca.  The  little  shops  have  acetylene  flares. 

Ginnasio.     See  Palaestra. 

Gagini.     See  Arcivescovado,  Courtyards,  etc. 

Goats.  Even  for  Sicily,  goats  are  very  numerous  at  Syracuse.  The 
desolate  plateau  of  Achradina  and  Epipolse  are  good  for  observing  Virgilian 
flocks  of  goats  and  Theocrilean  goatherds  playing  on  reeds.  At  night  they 
are  driven  into  caves  in  Homeric  style.  There  is  a  good  local  goat's-milk 
cheese  like  Port  du  Salut. 

Goethe  did  not  think  Syracuse  worth  a  visit. 

Gothic  and  Norman  Churches.  S.  Giovanni,  near  Greek  theatre;  S. 
Giovanni,  in  the  Giudecca ;  S.  Nicola ;  S.  Lucia  del  Borgo ;  S.  Martino ; 
S.  Maria  dei  Miracoli;  S.  Pietro;  S.  Sebastiano;  S.  Tommaso.  See  Churches. 

Gothic  Palaces.  Ardizrone;  8,  Via  Dione  ;  17,  Via  Dione  ;  Clock-house  ; 
Opera  Pia  Gargallo ;  Ronco  Capobianco ;  Bellomo  ;  Daniele,  now  Abela ; 
Lanza ;  Miliaccio  ;  Montalto  ;  Padronaggio.  See  Palaces. 

Granary.     See  Collegio. 

Great  men  who  have  visited  Syracuse.  Ducetius  the  Sikel  king, 
-^Eschylus,  Pindar,  Plato,  Pyrrhus  the  King  of  Epirus,  Marcellus,  Scipio 
Africanus,  Cicero,  Sextus  Pompeius,  St.  Peter,  St.  Paul,  De  Ruyter  (Admiral), 
Nelson,  Cardinal  Newman.  Theocritus,  Archimedes,  and  Epicharmus,  the 
comic  poet,  were  natives  of  Syracuse. 

Greek  castle.     See  Euryalus. 

t  Greek  dramatists.  ^Eschylus  himself  wrote  plays  presented  for  the  first 
time  in  the  theatre  of  Syracuse.  Dlonysius  I.  won  the  prize  of  tragedy  at 
Athens.  Epicharmus,  the  writer  of  comedies,  flourished  here  from  540 
to  450. 


THINGS    OF   SYRACUSE  521 

Greek  poets.  Theocritus  was  born  in  Syracuse.  Simonides  died  there. 
Moschus  was  born  there.  Bion  and  Bacchylides  and  the  mighty  Pindar 
settled  there. 

Greek  necropolis.  See  Cemeteries.  The  necropoles  round  Syracuse  are 
extremely  interesting  and  varied.  The  Sikelian  tombs  near  Plemmyrium 
and  Scala  Greca  are  the  best.  The  various  kinds  of  tombs  are  given  under 
Cave-sepulchres.  The  Necropolis,  so  called,  is  on  the  Catania  Road,  where  the 
new  road  leaves  the  old.  It  has  quantities  of  tombs,  many  of  them  containing 
fragments  of  antiquities.  There  are  many  more  still  unopened.  Some  finely- 
hewn  tomb  chambers  are  here,  especially  the  tomb  miscalled  the  Tomb  of 
Archimedes  and  the  Tomb  of  Timoleon  (q.v.).  It  commands  a  view  of  the 
Latomia  di  S.  Venere. 

Greek  roads.     See  Chariot-roads. 

Greek  theatre.     See  Theatre. 

Grotta  dei  Cordari.  A  splendid  stalactite  cavern  in  the  Latomia  del 
Paradiso  used  by  the  rope-makers.  When  flooded  it  is  singularly  beautiful. 

Gregory  the  Great.  His  mother,  Sylvia,  was  a  great  Syracusan  heiress, 
but  there  is  no  record  of  his  visiting  the  city.  A  letter  from  him  to  Syracuse 
is  preserved. 

Greek  temples.     See  Temples. 

Groups  of  public  buildings.  The  ancients,  especially  the  Greeks,  were 
in  the  habit  of  grouping  their  public  buildings  together,  often  outside  the 
city,  equidistant  from  the  various  quarters,  or  in  the  citadel.  We  have  an 
example  of  this  at  Syracuse,  Girgenti,  Selinunte,  etc.  Neapolis  was  the 
quarter  of  the  public  buildings  at  Syracuse.  In  it  were  included  the  amphi 
theatre,  the  Greek  theatre,  the  Ara,  the  Street  of  Tombs,  the  Temenos  of 
Apollo,  the  Palaestra  or  Gymnasium,  the  Temple  of  Ceres  and  Proserpine,  etc. 

Griffon,  House  of  the.    See  under  Palaces  (Casa  Padronaggio). 

Guide-books.  Syracuse  has  excellent  local  guide-books  in  Italian.  Sig. 
E.  Mauceri,  brother  of  the  eminent  Comm.  Luigi  Mauceri,  is  the  author  of 
that  most  generally  in  use,  and  there  is  another  beautiful  illustrated  guide 
compiled  fifty  years  ago  by  Vincenzo  Politi. 

Guides.  The  best  guide  is  an  intelligent  cabman.  It  is  his  interest  to  go 
on  finding  classical  and  Gothic  antiquities  for  visitors  to  see,  and  he  re 
members  what  people  who  know  anything  tell  him.  Such  a  man  is  Francesco 
at  the  Villa  Politi.  Those  who  cannot  speak  Italian  will  find  Salvatore,  the 
son  of  the  cab-proprietor  at  the  Villa  Politi,  useful.  He  speaks  English  well, 
and  is  not  a  bad  guide.  To  those  who  speak  Italian  the  custodi  of  the 
various  monuments  make  a  guide  superfluous  in  visiting  them. 

Gylippus.  The  general  sent  by  Sparta  to  command  the  Syracusan  forces 
against  Athens. 

Harbours,  (r)  The  Great  Harbour  or  Porto  Grande  is  entered  by  the  narrow 
Strait  three-quarters  of  a  mile  wide  between  the  Castle  of  Maniace  and 
Plemmyrium.  It  is  very  deep.  The  Bay  of  Dascon  or  Maddalena  just  inside 
Plemmyrium  was  the  first  anchorage  of  the  Athenians.  The  Syracusans  had 
an  outpost,  Polichna,  now  called  Colonne,  round  the  Olympieum  (q.v.),  to 
guard  the  approach  from  the  west.  The  river  Anapo  runs  into  it  opposite  the 
city.  The  district  on  its  shores  known  as  Lysimeleia  has  never  been  built  on 
because  its  low  marshy  ground  is  so  malarious.  None  of  the  invaders  who 
camped  on  it  could  ever  maintain  themselves  against  its  fevers.  Dionysius 
cut  a  channel  through  from  it  to  the  smaller  harbour,  where  the  moats  are  still 
traversed  by  row-boats.  On  the  city  side  it  is  terraced  with  lava  used  here 


522        SICILY  THE  NEW  WINTER   RESORT 

and  there  for  quays.  Part  of  the  ancient  wall  still  exists  near  the  Castello. 
It  commands  a  fine  view  of  Etna.  It  was  the  scene  of  two  great  sea-fights 
between  the  Athenians  and  the  Syracusans,  In  the  second  of  which  the  Syra- 
cusans,  who  had  blocked  the  entrance,  won  a  complete  victory.  After  the 
Middle  Ages  there  was  an  idea  that  no  large  ship  could  enter  the  port,  but 
Nelson  dispelled  the  idea  by  taking  in  his  whole,  fleet  to  water  his  ships  just 
before  the  Battle  of  the  Nile. 


:  • 

c/."  •':.  '•  '•' "    v  ,   •4;'.'1'''^.i:;1>)//'',iJ  ^tili'v^l'zW^ 

^-;;r '  %/!'^:l5^^^Sc^ 


THE  GREAT   HARBOUR 


(2)  The  Small  Harbour  or  Porto  Piccolo  lies  at  the  other  entrance  of  the 
moat  which  makes  Ortygia  an  island.  Only  very  small  craft  can  use  it.  The 
Marble  Harbour  of  Dionysius,  called  by '  Gregorovius  the  strongest  fortifica 
tions  and  shipping-wharfs,  was  far  larger.  He  built  a  marble  mole  across  the 
two  headlands  of  the  bay,  large  enough  to  contain  all  his  triremes.  The 
remains  of  the  arsenal  in  which  he  built  his  ships  may  be  seen  close  to  the 
S.  Lucia  end  of  the  bay.  The  harbour  was  large  enough  to  contain  his  whole 
fleet.  The  two  little  harbours,  called  Leon  and  Trogilus,  used  by  the 
Athenians,  are  on  the_open  sea  near  the  Scala  Greca. 

Hecatombs.    See  Ara. 

Helorus.  The  road  to  Helorus  was  that  taken  by  the  Athenians  when 
Demosthenes  and  Nicias  and  their  armies  were  captured. 

Heraclius.    Son  of  Hiero,  a  wealthy  Syracusan  noble  plundered  by  Verres. 

Herbs.  See  Fevers.  All  round  Syracuse  aromatic  herbs  such  as  rosemary, 
rue,  wormwood,  vermouth,  thyme,  mint,  etc. ,  are  as  common  as  wild  flowers. 
They  are  much  used  for  fevers.  There  are  herb  shops  in  most  Sicilian  towns. 

Hermocrates,  the  father-in-law  of  Dionysius.  Not  to  be  confused  with 
Hermocrates  his  father,  who  was  unimportant.  The  leader  of  the  war-party 
in  Syracuse  who  forced  the  city  to  prepare  for  the  invasion  of  the  Athenians. 


THINGS   OF  SYRACUSE  523 

Jealousy  afterwards  drove  him  to  exile,  where  he  covered  himself  with  glory  in 
the  wars  of  Athens,  Sparta,  and  Persia  round  the  Hellespont.  In  attempting 
to  re-enter  the  city,  where  a  party  was  waiting  to  restore  him  to  power,  he  was 
killed.  He  is  one  of  the  greatest  figures  in  Greek  history. 

Hexapylpn.  A  name  of  great  importance  in  Syracusan  history,  because  it 
was  from  this  point  that  Marcellus  stormed  Syracuse.  It  could  not  have  been 
the  Greek  fortress  now  called  Zapylon,  connected  by  an  underground  passage 
with  the  castle  now  called  Euryalus.  Freeman  must  be  right  in  placing  it 
near  the  Catania  Gate.  He  accounts  for  the  six  gates.  See  Freeman's  History 
of  Sicily. 

Hicetas.  A  rival  of  Timoleon  in  deposing  Dionysius  II.  He  had  mur 
dered  Aristomache,  the  wife  of  Dionysius  I.,  Dion's  sister,  and  her  daughter 
Arete,  Dion's  wife,  but  was  eventually  captured  and  executed  by  Timoleon. 

Hiero  I.  Succeeded  his  brother  Gelo  as  tyrant  of  Syracuse  478  B.C.,  and 
reigned  for  eleven  years.  One  of  the  golden  periods  of  Syracuse.  He  was 
the  patron  of  Pindar,  who  celebrated  his  victories  of  Olympia  and  Delphi,  of 
yEschylus,  of  Bacchilides,  and  Simonides  and  Epicharmus.  The  splendid 
coins  of  Syracuse  begin  in  his  reign.  He  was  son  of  Dinomenes  and  had  a 
son  Dinomenes,  who  presented  the  trophies  he  won  in  the  games  to  the 
treasury  at  Olympia. 

Hiero  II.  Son  of  Hierocles,  a  noble  Syracusan.  By  his  marriage  with  the 
daughter  of  Leptines  he  became  very  powerful.  He  abandoned  the  unruly 
mercenaries  of  Syracuse  to  be  cut  to  pieces  by  the  Mamertines,  and  afterwards 
defeated  the  Mamertines  with  the  native  Syracusan  forces.  By  this  means  he 
became  king  of  Syracuse  in  270  B.C.,  and  reigned  for  fifty-five  years.  He 
married  Philistis.  Their  faces  are  well  known  from  their  magnificent  coins. 
He  was  a  lifelong  friend  of  the  Romans. 

Hieronymus.  The  weak  grandson  of  Hiero  II.,  who  succeeded  -him  in 
216  B.C.  Encouraged  by  the  Roman  defeat  at  Cannce,  he  went  over  to  the 
Carthaginians,  but  reigned  only  thirteen  months. 

Hipparinus.  A  son  of  the  elder  Dionysius  by  Aristomache.  Succeeded 
Caiippus  as  tyrant  of  Syracuse  in  352. 

Hyblsean  Hills.  The  range  of  flat-top  mountains  which  is  a  feature  in  the 
landscape  of  Syracuse,  and  rises  above  Priolo  and  Thapsus,  is  the  Hyblsean 
range,  famous  in  all  times  for  its  honey.  It  gets  its  name  from  Hybla.  See 
Hybla  (a  Sikelian  goddess)  in  the  General  Index. 

Ironwork.  The  hammered  ironwork  of  Syracuse  is  the  best  in  Sicily,  and 
very  beautiful.  There  are  some  fine  specimens  in  the  chapels  of  the  south 
aisle  in  the  cathedral,  and  innumerable  splendid  balconies  in  Ortygia. 

Isola,  the  modern  name  for  the  promontory  of  Plemmyrium,  which  is  the 
opposite  side  of  the  entrance  to  the  Great  Harbour  (q.v  ). 

Ipogeo  Gallitto,  at  the  corner  where  the  road  goes  off  to  Noto.  Key  kept 
in  museum.  A  large  subterranean  chamber  cut  in  the  calcareous  rock. 
Approached  by  twelve  steps,  also  cut  in  the  rock.  The  walls  are  covered  with 
stucco.  There  are  several  niches  with  inscriptions.  On  the  east,  west,  and 
north  walls  are  traced  graffiti  and  designs,  one  of  them  erotic,  which  certainly 
belong  to  an  older  epoch,  because  they  have  nothing  to  do  with  the  original 
object  of  the  Ipogeo.  They  are  figures  rudely  sketched  in  charcoal,  but 
done  by  a  skilled  hand.  They  consist  of  youthful  heads,  the  sketch  of  a 
building,  and  various  inscriptions,  Prof.  Orsi,  to  whom  we  owe  the  dis 
covery  of  this  monument,  believes  that  it  belongs  to  the  Hellenistic  epoch  at 
the  end  of  the  third  or  beginning  of  the  second  epoch  B.C.,  and  that  not  long 


5^4        SICILY  THE   NEW  WINTER   RESORT 

afterwards  it  was  desecrated  and  turned  into  a  canteen.  It  was  perhaps 
originally  a  family  tomb,  and  designed  for  the  proprietors  of  the  estate,  for 
there  never  was  any  suburb  in  this  direction  (Mauceri).  There  is  a  small 
Ipogeo  just  below  S.  Giovanni,  on  the  road  between  the  Villa  Landolina  and 
the  Greek  theatre. 

Juno,  Temple  of.  Stood  on  farthest  point  of  Ortygia,  i.e.  where  the 
castle  stands.  (Gregorovius). 

Villa  Landolina.  A  beautiful  old  garden  with  a  small  house  in  it,  between 
the  Villa  Politi  and  S.  Giovanni.  Its  rose  and  rosemary  hedges,  bananas, 
etc.,  are  very  fine,  and  it  contains  many  Protestant  tombs  before  they  were 
allowed  Christian  burial.  Formerly  called  the  Giardino  Bonavia.  Here,  in 
1804,  was  discovered  the  gem  of  the  Syracuse  Museum,  the  exquisite  Lando 
lina  Venus,  supposed  to  have  the  most  beautiful  back  of  any  statue  in  the 
world,  which  has  lately  been  reproduced  by  Comm.  Mauceri.  (Repro 
ductions  are  sold  at  the  Casa  dei  Viaggiatori,  near  the  Castle  of  Euryalus.) 
The  Bavarian  poet.  Count  Von  Platen, lies  buried  here.  Gregorovius  wrote  : 
"  Not  far  off  is  the  tomb  of  Count  Platen,  the  poet.  '  The  Horace  of  Ger 
many  '  is  the  bold  inscription  written  by  Cav.  Landolina.  *  It  was  his  happiest 
thought  to  die  in  Syracuse. ' " 

Lang's  Theocritus,  in  the  little  Golden  Treasury  Series.  This  is  a  book 
which  every  visitor  to  Syracuse  should  take  with  him  to  see  how  Theocritean 
the  country  round  remains. 

Latomia.  The  word  Latomia  is  probably  the  oldest  word  in  Europe 
which  has  never  gone  out  of  everyday  use.  We  have  it  both  in  Greek  and 
Latin  before  the  Christian  era.  Cicero  uses  it  in  the  form  "  lautumke"  in  one 
of  his  most  famous  passages  in  the  Verres : — 

"You  have  all  heard  of  the  Syracusan  lautumire.  Many  of  you  are 
acquainted  with  them.  It  is  a  vast  work  and  a  splendid ;  the  work  of  the 
old  kings  and  tyrants.  The  whole  of  it  is  cut  out  of  rock  excavated  to  a 


PANORAMA  FROM   THE  LATOMIA   DEI  CAFPUCCINI 


THINGS   OF  SYRACUSE  525 

marvellous  depth  and  carved  out  by  the  labour  of  great  multitudes  of  men. 
Nothing  can  either  be  made  or  imagined  so  closed  against  all  escape,  so 
hedged  in  on  all  sides,  so  safe  for  keeping  prisoners  in.  Into  these  quarries 
,  men  are  commanded  to  be  brought  even  from  other  cities  in  Sicily  if  they  are 
commanded  by  the  public  authorities  to  be  kept  in  custody." 

Strabo  uses  it  in  its  actual  form  latomm.  By  derivation  it  means  "  a  place 
where  stone  is  cut,"  and  is  to  this  day  used  by  the  Syracusans  for  the  smallest 
quarry,  as  weU  as  the  great  latomias,  of  which  there  are  five— the  Cappuccini, 
the  Casale,  tlie  Paradiso,  the  Filosofo,  and  S.  Venere.  The  Cappuccini  in 
Achradina,  under  the  convent  of  that  name,  is  by  far  the  largest  and  most  im 
portant.  In  it  the  Athenian  prisoners  were  confined.  It  is  of  great  extent, 
and  contains  at  its  far  end,  approached  by  an  avenue  of  cypresses,  a  monu 
ment  to  Mazzini,  near  which  there  is  a  sixteenth-century  well-pulley,  The 
whole  latomia  is  contained  in  the  garden  of  the  Villa  Politi.  It  is  in  parts  a 
hundred  feet  deep,  surrounded  by  sheer  cliffs  of  white  limestone,  covered  in 
many  places  with  a  magnificent  growth  of  golden  ivy,  lentisk,  the  silvery  ver 
mouth,  prickly-pear,  rose-coloured  geranium,  and  caper-plants,  and  the 
mesembtyanthemum,  known  as  Barba  di  Giove,  which  has  huge  flowers  of 
red,  white,  or  yellow.  ^  In  its  depths  are  groves  of  almonds,  olives,  lemons, 
and  oranges,  many  wild  orange  trees,  pomegranates,  a  wonderful  wealth  of 
undergrowth,  and  its  fantastic  rocks  group  themselves  into  natural  arches  and 


THE   LATOMIA  DEL  PARADISO 


spire's.  It  contains  many  tombs,  some  being  tombs  ot  nobles  in  the  Roman 
period,  one  of  which  has  architectural  decorations  like  the  so-called  Tomb  of 
Archimedes.  It  has  also  some  Protestant  tombs,  and  innumerable  skulls  and 
other  bones.  In  the  rocks  round  the  top  are  many  niches  which  have  held 
marble  Roman  inscriptions.  There  is  a  private  entrance  to  the  Villa  Politi ; 
the  public  entrance  is  at  the  back  of  the  convent. 


526        SICILY  THE   NEW   WINTER   RESORT 

Pausanias,  writing  about  the  Olympian  games,  tells  us  of  at  least  one  Greek 
tomb  that  was  in  the  latomia.  "  Lygdamis  of  Syracuse  vanquished  the  other 
competitors  in  the  pancratium.  The  tomb  of  the  latter  is  at  the  quarries  in 
Syracuse.  Whether  Lygdamis  was  as  big  as  the  Theban  Hercules  I  know 
not,  but  the  Syracusans  say  he  was," 

The  Latomia  Casdle  is  on  the  upper  road  between  Villa  Politi  and  the 
church  of  S.  Giovanni.  It  contains  some  fine  cypresses,  but  it  is  not  so  well 
worth  seeing  as  the  above.  , 

The  Latomia  del  Paradiso  lies  between  the  amphitheatre  and  the  Greek 
theatre.  It  contains  the  celebrated  Ear  of  Dionysius  (q.v.)  and  Grotta  clei 
Cordari  (q.v.). 


THE  GROTTA  DEI  CORDARI  IN  THE  LATOMIA  DEL  PARADISO 


The  Latomia  del  Filosojo  is  in  Epipolae,  near  the  Castle  of  Euryalus,  and 
unlike  the  Cappuccini  Latomia,  whose  origin  had  been  forgotten  even  in  the 
time  of  Thucydides,  four  hundred  years  before  Christ,  it  is  known  to  have 
been  the  source  from  which  the  Castle  of  Euryalus  and  the  walls  of  Dionysius 
were  built.  It  is  called  also  the  Latomia  del  Buffalaro,  from  the  hill  in  which 
it  is  built.  It  gets  its  usual  name,  Filosseno,  or  Filosofo,  from  the  poet 
Philoxenus,  whom  Dionysius  imprisoned  here  for  laughing  at  his  verses. 

The  Latomia  di  S.  Venere  is  approached  by  a  narrow  lane  at  the  back 
of  S.  Nicolo,  almost  opposite  the  amphitheatre.  It,  and  the  Villa  Landolina, 
were  formerly  the  two  richest  gardens  in  Syracuse,  but  they  are  now  surpassed 
by  the  gardens  of  the  Villa  Politi.  This  latomia  is,  however,  well  worth 
a  visit ;  a  part  of  the  Greek  necropolis  lies  in  its  cliffs,  and  it  contains  near  the 
entrance  a  beautiful  spring  in  a  little  cave,  covered  with  splendid  maidenhair, 
known  as  the  Bagno  di  Venera,  a  little  shell-shaped  cave,  with  its  lower  valve 
full  of  clear  cold  water  and  its  upper  valve  fringed  with  dripping  maidenhair. 


THINGS   OF  SYRACUSE  527 

And  _  there  is  a  marvellous  fringe  of  maidenhair  at  its  entrance  round  the 

inscription—  «  Come  I1  antica  tradizion  rimembra 

Qui  Venere  bagno  le  belle  membra." 

It  belongs  to  Baron  Targia,  who  owns  also  the  Camp  of  Marcellus. 

Lava.  Syracuse,  like  most  Sicilian  towns,  is  paved  with  lava,  and  it  is  used 
in  decorating  a  few  palaces,  but  it  is  not  used  in  building,  on  account  of 
the  splendid  quarries  of  Syracuse.  Near  the  Camp  of  Marcellus,  between  the 
Castle  of  Euryalus  and  the  sea,  are  two  small  lava  streams,  which  show  that 
the  conical  hill  known  as  the  Belvedere,  or  Telegrafo,  must  have  been  a 
volcano. 

Lavatojo.    See  Washing-places. 

Leon.  A  small  harbour  on  the  open  sea  near  the  Scala  Greca  and  the  Castle 
of  Euryalus,  used  by  the  Athenians. 

Leon  d'  Oro.    See  Cortilis. 

Libera.     See  Temple  of  Ceres. 

Lprimer,  Miss  Norma,  author  of  a  charming  novel  entitled  By  the  Waters 
of  Sicily  (Hutchinson),  which  deals  mainly  with  Syracuse. 

S.  Lucia  is  the  patron  saint  of  Syracuse.  She  was  martyred  where  the 
curious  round  church  rises  over  her  empty  sepulchre.  See  under  Churches. 

S.  Lucia.  Suburb  of  Syracuse,  on  the  other  side  of  the  Small  Harbour, 
built  round  the  tomb  of  the  martyr,  which  has  a  church  with  a  fine  Norman 
tower. 


THE  SUBURB  OF  S.  LUCIA 


Lysimeleia.   The  low,  marshy  ground  between  the  Great  Harbour  and 
Epipolse. 

Macaroni-drying'.   The  Via  Nizza  is  a  good  place  to  see  this. 
Maddalena  Bay,    See  Dctscon. 


528        SICILY   THE   NEW   WINTER   RESORT 

Mail-vetture  run  from  Syracuse  to  Priolo  (q.v.),  2  hours  ;  Melilli  (q.v.), 
4  hours;  Sortino  (q.v.),  6|  hours;  Ferla  (q.v.),  io£  hours  j  Cassaro  (q.v.), 
II J  hours;  Floridia  (q.v,),  I  hour;  Bagni-Canicattini  (q.v.),  4  hours; 
Palazzolo-Acreide  (q.v.),  7^  hours  ;  Buscemi  (q.v.),  8J  hours  ;  Buccheri  (q.v.), 
9f  hours. 

Malaria.     See  Fevers. 

Malta.  There  is  a  steamer  to  and  from  Malta  every  day.  It  is  only  eight 
hours  from  Syracuse.  The  English  of  Malta  come  to  Syracuse  a  great  deal, 
and  the  natives  of  Syracuse  often  speak  of  Malta  as  England. 

Maniace,  Castle  of.  The  finest  medieval  building  in  the  town,  though 
much  ruined.  Parts  of  it  date  back  to  1038,  when  George  Maniaces  captured 
the  city  from  the  Saracens  and  built  it  on  the  site  of  an  earlier  castle.  It  has 
a  singularly  beautiful  doorway  of  fourteenth-century  Gothic,  surmounted 
by  the  arms  of  Charles  V.,  and  two  niches,  which,  till  1448,  were  occupied  by 
the  superb  bronze  antique  rams.  These  were  carried  ofif  by  the  Marquis 
Geraci,  1448,  and  confiscated  from  his  nephew.  They  were  preserved  intact 
in  the  palace  at  Palermo  till  1848,  when  one  of  them  was  destroyed  by 
the  revolutionaries.  The  other  is  still  quite  perfect  in  the  museum  at  Palermo. 
Round  the  corner  there  is  a  beautiful  Gothic  window,  blocked  up.  Inside  the 
gate  the  visitor  finds  himself  in  a  ruined  Gothic  hall  of  very  fine  masonry, 
which  seems  to  be  the  earliest  portion  of  the  building  now  shown.  An  ancient 
passage  and  stair  of  the  same  date  in  the  thickness  of  the  wall  conducts 
to  the  roof,  from  which  there  is  a  fine  view.  Charles  V.  built  the  lower  work 
which  surrounds  the  square  fortress.  It  forms  one  of  the  heads  of  the  harbour, 
jutting  right  out  into  the- sea. 

Maniaces,  George.     See  preceding  par. 

Marcellus.  The  Roman  general  who,  after  two  years'  siege,  captured 
Syracuse,  212  B.C.  One  of  the  finest  characters  in  Roman  history.  Plutarch 
wrote  his  life.  He  conquered  Syracuse  with  the  Romans  dismissed  from 
public  service  for  surrendering  to  Hannibal  at  Cannee,  having  obtained 
the  leave  of  the  Senate  to  take  them  to  Sicily.  He  was  killed  by  Hannibal  on 
the  hill  of  Petely.  Plutarch's  Life  of  Marcellus  tells  us  all  about  the  miraculous 
war-engines  invented  by  Archimedes. 

Marcellus,  the  Camp  of.  Marcellus  at  first  fortified  himself  on  the  low 
plateau  on  the  estate  of  Baron  Targia,  underneath  the  Castle  of  Euryalus. 
These  grounds  reward  a  careful  examination.  They  are  full  of  remains  of  all 
ages.  There  are  several  Roman  buildings  near  the  camp,  and  near  the  Baron's 
house  are  a  superb  antique  stone  cistern,  built  out  from  the  hillside,  an  under 
ground  passage  of  fine  Greek  masonry,  a  foarteenth-century  tower,  etc.,  and 
all  along  the  cliff  above  are  some  of  the  best  pieces  of  the  Wall  of  Dionysius, 
including  a  small  postern  gate. 

Marcellus,  Monument  of.  The  so-called  monument  of  Marcellus  is  near 
Priolo.  It  is  a  large  square  pedestal  about  23  feet  high,  and  though  called 
the  Torre  di  Mar  cello  and  alleged  to  have  been  built  by  him  to  commemorate 
his  conquest  of  Syracuse,  it  is  said  by  Mr.  Dennis  to  be  a  tomb. 

S.  Marcian,  or  S.  Marziano.  Was  martyred  in  the  subterranean  church 
which  bears  his  name.  See  Churches. 

Marina.     See  Foro  Italico.  • 

Marina,  Porta.     See  Gates. 

Mazzini,  Monument  of.     See  Latomia  dei  Cappuccini. 

Medieval  town.  See  Gothic  Churches  and  Palaces.  Though  it  has  not  a 
great  many  medieval  buildings,  Syracuse,  with  its  narrow  streets,  numerous 


THINGS   OF   SYRACUSE  529 

small  courtyards  and  long  blind  walls,  is  a  very  medieval  town.     There  are 
considerable  remains  of  medieval  walls  washed  by  the  sea  in  the  neighbour 
hood  of  the  Castle  of  Maniace.     There  is  nothing  modern  about  it  except  a  few 
shops  in  the  Via  Roma  and  the  Via  Maestranza. 
Minerva,  Temple  of.    See  Temples  and  under  Cathedral 

Mirabella,  Vincenzo.  A  Syracusan  patrician,  died  1624.  A  man  most 
learned  in  all  branches  of  literature.  Fie  published  (Naples,  1613),  Dichiarazioni 
della,  pianta  dellj  antica  Siracusa  e  di  akum  scelte  medaglie  di  essa  e  dei  principi 
die  quelk  possedellero.  His  Icknographi®  Syracusarum  antiquarum  explicatio 
was  published  at  Leyden,  in  1 723.  A  palace  and  a  street  in  Syracuse  are 
named  after  him, 

Moats  of  Syracuse.  A  system  of  shallow  moats,  mostly  due  to  the 
Emperor  Charles  V.,  separates  Ortygia  from  the  mainland.  When  they  were 
being  cut  the  river  Alphceus,  engaged  in  its  immemorial  task  of  pursuing  the 
fountain  nymph  of  Arethusa,  leapt  out  in  volume,  and  at  the  same  time  the 
flow  at  the  fountain  stopped.  But  when  the  isthmus  was  repaired  the  river 
soon  found  its  way  back  to  its  wonted  channel. 

Moschus.  Was  a  grammarian  and  a  bucolic  poet,  born  at  Syracuse  in  the 
third  century  B.C. 

Mullet,  grey.  Both  the  Fountain  of  Arethusa  and  the  Fountain  of  Cyane 
are  full  of  fine  grey  mullet.  These  fish  seem  to  monopolise  the  Mediterranean, 
and  will  go  a  long  way  from  the  sea  in  the  freshest  water. 

MongibelHsi.   The  local  name  for  the  Castle  of  Euryalus  (q.v.). 

Montalto  Palace.    See  Palaces.     One  of  the  show  places  of  Syracuse. 

Municlpio.  Is  in  a  good  baroque  palace,  all  of  stone,  with  the  Spanish 
royal  arms  on  it  in  marble.  Was  commenced  in  1629  and  completed  in  1633. 
The  senatorial  carriage  is  preserved  inside,  arabesqued  with  gold  outside.  It 
was  built  in  Palermo  in  1763,  under  the  direction  of  the  Prince  of  Cassaro. 
There  is  also  an  older  carriage,  but  much  damaged.  It  is  opposite  the  north 
front  of  the  Cathedral  and  the  Palazzo  Bosco. 

Museum,  the,  of  Syracuse  is  almost  opposite  the  Cathedral.     Its  back 


THE  MUSEUM 


530        SICILY   THE   NEW   WINTER   RESORT 

overlooks  the  bay  and  commands  a  splendid  view.  Its  curator,  Prof.  Paolo 
Orsi,  is,  after  Prof.  Salinas,  the  most  distinguished  antiquary  in  Sicily. 
Like  the  museum  in  Palermo,  it  is  charmingly  arranged.  Its  gem  is  the 
famous  Landolina  Venus,  but  it  had  also  a  notable  statue  of  Jupiter  and  mask 
of  the  Medusa.  Its  collection  of  ancient  Greek  sarcophagi,  some  of  which  re 
tain  their  contents  undisturbed,  is  very  fine.  Notice  the  splendid  terra-cotta 
sarcophagi  from  the  necropolis  of  ancient  Gela  ;  and  the  sarcophagus  of  a  little 
girl  containing  the  image  of  Diana  and  the  toys.  The  museum  has  a  good  col 
lection  of  vases — Greek,  Sikelian,  and  Sicanian — and  the  splendid  set  of  the 
coins  of  ancient  Syracuse.  Everything  is  most  attractively  and  lucidly 
arranged. 

Neapolls.  One  of  the  five  quarters  of  ancient  Syracuse.  Gregorovins  says  : 
"Also  known  as  Temenites,  from  a  statue  of  Apollo  of  that  name."  The 
Temples  of  Ceres  and  Proserpine,  built  by  Gelo  from  the  Carthaginian  booty, 
were  there  near  the  present  Campo  Santo,  as  well  as  the  Greek  theatre,  the 
Amphitheatre,  the  Ara,  the  Nymphseum,  the  Piscina,  the  Street  of  Tombs,  the 
Aqueduct,  the  Latomia  Casale,  and  the  Latomia  del  Paradise,  which  contains 
the  so-called  Ear  of  Dionysius.  Neapolis  was,  roughly  speaking,  the  quarter 
stretching  from  the  island  of  Ortygia  (and  Achradina)  at  one  end,  to  Epipoloe 
at  the  other.  It  contains  nearly  all  the  principal  public  monuments  of  ancient 
Syracuse. 

Necropolis.     See  Greek  Necropolis,  Cemeteries,  and  Cave-sepulchres, 

Nelson  at  Syracuse.  See  above,  Fountain  of  Arethusa ;  and  Syracuse 
chapters  in  Mr.  Sladen's  novel,  The  Admiral ;  and  Sir  Harris  Nicolas's  Dis 
patches  and  Letters  of  Lord  Nelson,  vol.  iii. 

Neptune,  Cave  of.  One  of  the  coral  caves  of  Achradina  opposite  the  Due 
Fratelli.  It  can  only  be  entered  by  boat. 

Newman,  Cardinal,  at  Syracuse.  He  was  there  towards  the  end  of 
April,  1833.  He  came  by  speronaro,  a  small  sailing-boat,  from  Catania.  He 
visited  the  Fountain  of  Arethusa,  the  Anapo,  the  Cathedral,  the  Olimpieo,  and 
read  his  Thucydides  ;  but  he  did  not  see  the  theatre  or  the  amphitheatre, 
"  which,  being  Roman,  I  care  little  for."  His  trip  was  spoilt  by  a  sirocco 
and  wet.  Nor  did  he  see  the  Castle  of  Euryalus,  for  he  says  :  "  Epipolre  is 
neither  beautiful  nor  romantic,  but  striking  as  resembling  huge  human  works, 
walls,  etc.  He  had  a  very  miserable  time  at  Syracuse,  where  he  only  spent  a 
day  or  two  just  before  he  sickened  of  fever  at  Catania. 

Niches  for  inscriptions.     See  Achradina. 

Novel,  Greek,  about  Syracuse.     See  Chsereas  and  Callirrhoe, 

Nymphaeum.  A  lunette-shaped  grotto  behind  the  Greek  theatre  which 
formerly  contained  a  fountain  formed  by  the  waters  which  now  drive  the 
Mulini  di  Galerme,  called  also  the  Belvedere,  from  the  tradition  that  the 
celebrated  Apollo  Belvedere  once  occupied  the  statue  base  in  it.  It  reminded 
Gregorovius  of  the  Grotto  of  Egeria  at  Rome. 

Occhio  della  Zillica.  A  spring  of  fresh  water  which  bubbles  up  through 
the  sea  near  the  entrance  to  the  port,  considered  to  belong  to  the  Alpheeus, 
who,  according  to  Gregorovius,  here  seized  the  flying  nymph. 

Olive  trees  at  Syracuse.  There  are  many  fine  olives  of  high  antiquity 
near  Syracuse,  especially  on  the  roads  to  Euryalus  and  Canicattini. 

Olympieum,  the,  or  Temple  of  the  Olympian  Jove,  is  situated  a  little 
back  from  the  shore  of  the  great  harbour  between  Plemmyrium  and  the 
Fountain  of  Cyane.  Two  columns  are  still  standing,  and  there  is  a  pit  lined 
with  deep  masonry,  said  to  have  been  the  treasury  of  the  temple.  It  was  a 


THINGS    OF   SYRACUSE  531 

Doric  peripteral  hexastyle  temple  ;  and  a  good  deal  of  its  stylobate  has  been 
excavated  by  Prof.  Orsi,  who  thinks  it  may  have  gone  back  to  tbe  seventh 
century  B.C.  It  is  mentioned  by  Diodorus  as  already  standing  in  493  B.C. 
The  archives  of  Syracuse  were  kept  here,  and  the  statue  of  Jove  had  a  mantle 
of  pure  gold  given  it  by  Gelon  with  the  spoils  of  his  victory  over  the  Cartha 
ginians  at  Himera.  See  Dionysius.  It  contained  a  celebrated  bronze  plani 
sphere  which  marked  the  seasons,  months,  days,  hours,  and  the  movements  of 
the  planets.  Dionysius  removed  the  cloak  from  the  god's  shoulders,  saying 
that  it  was  too  hot  in  summer,  too  cold  in  winter !  Verres  afterwards  stole 
this  famous  statue.  Here  the  register  of  all  the  citizens  of  Syracuse  was  pre 
served,  which  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  Athenians  when  they  occupied  the 
temple.  (Gregorovius.) 

Opera  Pia  Gargallo.     See  Palaces. 

Orsi,  Prof.  Paolo.  Director  of  the  Syracuse  Museum  and  a  man  of 
European  fame  as  an  antiquary  upon  Sicilian  subjects. 

Orecchio  di  Dionigi.     See  Dionysius,  Ear  of. 

Ortygia.  The  name  of  the  island  quarter  of  ancient  Syracuse,  which  was 
the  original  city  of  Archias ;  also  used  for  Delos,  the  island  of  Apollo  and 
Diana,  pointing  probably  to  the  fact  that  the  temple  now  embedded  in  the 


THE  ISLAND  OF  OKTYGIA 


cathedral  was  dedicated  originally  to  Diana,  and  the  temple  now  attributed  to 
Diana  was  originally  dedicated  to  Apollo,  as  held  by  some  authorities. 
Ortygia  means  quail-island,  and  Diana  was  the  patron  of  hunting.  Gre 
gorovius  wrote  of  Ortygia:  "Nowhere  have  I  seen  a  place  so  steeped  in 
melancholy  as  this." 

Pachyrms.  The  modern  Passaro,  one  of  the  three  capes  of  Sicily,  thirty- 
six  miles  from  Syracuse. 

Palaces,  Gothic.—  Palazzo  A bela.     See  Daniele. 


532        SICILY  THE   NEW  WINTER   RESORT 

Palazzo  Ardizronc,  19,.  Via  Roma,  which  has  the  beautiful  cortile  figured  in 
Mr,  Sladen's  In  Sicily r,  has  now  no  features  of  interest  in  its  gutted  courtyard, 
but  it  still  has  some  of  the  finest  balconies  of  Spanish  ironwork. 

Palazzo  Bellomo,  In  the  Via  Capodieci.  One  of  the  best  in  Syracuse.  A 
fourteenth  and  fifteenth-century  palace,  with  a  splendid  vaulted  chamber  which 
can  be  examined  on  its  ground  floor,  and  delightful  Sicilian-Gothic  windows 
broken  with  slender  shafts,  and  the  remains  of  a  loggia  on  its  piano  nobile. 
The  ground-floor  windows  are  later  and  not  so  fine,  introduced  when  fortifica 
tion  was  not  so  important.  This  palace  unfortunately  now  forms  part  of  the 
Benedettini  nunnery,  so  it  is  impossible  to  examine  its  upper  chambers  or  the 
superb  fourteenth-century  staircase  which  exists  within  it. 

Clock-house.  On  the  Piazza  Archimede.  Has  a  noble  terraced  stair 
case,  etc.  See  Cortili. 

Via  Dione,  Nos.  8  and  17.  Near  the  corner  of  the  Piazza  Archimede; 
are  fifteenth-century  palazzetti  of  good  masonry  with  rather  elegant  late  Gothic 
shafted  windows,  and  poor  but  typical  courtyards  with  wells. 

Palazzo  Daniele.  Now  Palazzo  Abela.  21,  Via  Maestranza.  Has  the 
best  Spanish  balcony  in  Syracuse.  The  lower  part  of  the  palace,  which  is 
a  Gothic  building  of  the  fourteenth  or  fifteenth  century,  has  been  converted 
to  the  Renaissance  style,  in  order  to  enlarge  its  windows  and  to  add  the 
superb  balcony  which  sweeps  along  its  entire  front,  rendered  doubly  effective 
by  the  fact  that  the  house  is  built  in  a  sort  of  crescent  following  the  bend  of 
the  street.  The  hammered  ironwork  of  its  balcony  shows  out  royally  and  is 
adorned  with  splendid  flamboyant  roses,  and  the  ironwork  runs  without  a 
break  the  whole  length  of  the  house.  The  top  story  has  never  been  con 
verted,  but  still  has  its  range  of  small  Sicilian-Gothic  windows.  The  terraced 
fifteenth-century  stairway  leads  up  to  the  lovely  little  three-bayed  arcade  of 
1638,  carried  in  a  gallery  across  the  archway.  Right  over  the  foot  of  the 
stair  is  a  square  Sicilian-Gothic  window,  which  still  retains  its  slender  shaft. 
The  courtyard  has  its  mounting-stone  and  its  vine,  and  reminds  one  very 
much  of  the  courtyards  in  the  palaces  of  the  minor  nobles  at  Marsala,  which 
are  now  inhabited  by  poor  people. 

Palazzo  Landolina,  In  the  Via  Nizza.  Has  a  fine  Gothic  hood  moulding 
over  the  gateway,  and  good  masonry  with  spirited  Saracenic  windows  in  the 
top  story. 

Palazzo  Lanza.  Piazza  Archimede.  Has  an  exquisitely  graceful  Saracenic 
window  of  the  fifteenth  century,  richly  arabesqued,  the  most  beautiful  thing 
of  its  kind  in  Sicily,  and  other  windows  not  so  good  of  the  same  period. 

MezzO)  Cam.  Near  the  corner  of  the  Via  Maestranza  and  Via  Aragona. 
Has  a  terraced  cortile  and  a  good  little  Renaissance  window  over  it. 

S.  Michele,  Casa.  There  are  some  good  little  Gothic  details  and  a  sculpture 
of  St.  Michael  on  a  house,  No.  19,  in  the  first  street  to  the  right  as  you 
turn  into  the  Via  Roma  from  the  Piazza  Archimede. 

Miliaccio^  Palazzo.  On  the  road  to  the  Castle  of  Maniace ;  the  gateway 
unfortunately  has  been  modernised.  The  old  palaces  which  have  not  suffered 
much  alteration  in  their  exterior,  like  the  Palazzo  Bellomo  or  the  Palazzo 
Miliaccio,  are  apt  to  have  their  lower  walls  pierced  only  with  loopholes,  like 
the  former ;  or  blank,  like  the  latter,  which  has  unfortunately  only  one  story 
now  standing.  The  terrace  over  the  gateway  of  the  Palazzo  Miliaccio  is 
supported  with  heavy  stone  brackets  and  decorated  with  a  zigzag  of  black 
lava  and  white  marble,  something  in  the  style  of  the  Taormina  palaces. 


THINGS   OF  SYRACUSE  533 

^  Montalto,  Palazzo^  the  gem  of  medieval  Syracuse,  on  account  of  the  two 
rich  and  exquisitely  graceful  windows  of  its  piano  nobile.  Much  of  the  seen© 
of  Mr.  Sladen's  novel,  The  Admiral,  is  laid  here.  Besides  these  windows  it 
has  a  most  picturesque  fourteenth-century  coat-of-arms  and  -inscription  in; 
Gothic  characters  over  the  gateway,  setting  forth  that  it  was  built  in  1397. 
The  palace,  which  is  very  large,  has  a  fine  arcaded  staircase  of  the  sixteenth, 
century  in  its  cortile.  It  stands  behind  the  comer  of  the  Piazza  Archimede 
and  the  Via  Dione.  Opposite  it  is  a  queer  little  fifteenth-century  palazzetto 
with  a  courtyard  that  makes  a  good  subject  for  artists.  There  is  another 
Montalto  palace  in  the  Via  dei  Gracchi,  but  only  the  portal  and  a  fifteenth- 
century  portal  in  the  courtyard  are  ancient. 


PALAZZO  MONTALTO — DONNA  RUSIDDA'S  WINDOW  IN  MR.  SLADEN*S 
NOVEL,  "THE  ADMIRAL" 

Palazzo  PadronaggiO)  in  the  Via  Nizza.  A  palace  with  broken  sea-horses 
on  its  balcony  and  a  broken  griffon  over  the  porch,  in  the  earlier  Renaissance 
style.  But  it  has  many  Gothic  details,  and  its  ground  floor  with  its  antique 
twisted  colums  inside  is  ancient,  forbidding,  and  mysterious.  Called  also  the 
House  of  the  Griffon  or  the  House  of  the  Cock. 

Opera  Pia  Gargallo  t  38,  Via  Gargallo.  Has  a  courtyard  with  a  fine 
Gothic  arcade,  and  sweeping  stairway  with  Gothic  mouldings,  marking  the 
position  of  each  stair  on  the  balustrade  of  solid  masonry.  There  is  a  well 
in  the  corner  in  a  sort  of  tower  carried  up  to  the  wide  terrace.  No  one  who 
takes  any  interest  in  architecture  should  miss  this  highly  characteristic  court 
yard,  which  is  now  devoted  to  a  charity.  On  the  other  side  of  the  Via 
Gargallo  is  a  house  with  a  charming  triple  braiding  at  the  top. 

Ronco  Capobianco  leads  out  of  the  Via  Maestranza.  Has  a  charming  bit  for 
the  artist  at  its  end,  and  a  good  late  Sicilian -Gothic  window  on  its  right-hand 
side. 


534        SICILY   THE   NEW   WINTER   RESORT 

Palazzo  Abela,  in  the  Via  Mirabella.  Has  a  very  ancient  arcade  in  its 
courtyard  with  Norman  masonry  in  it. 

Via  Cavour  Palaces,  There  are  several  with  late  Gothic  doorways.  See 
also  Cortili* 

Palaces,  Renaissance.— Archbishop's.  See  Archovescovado  and  Cortili. 
On  the  staircase  is  a  Greek  inscription.  Built  in  1618. 

Palazzo  Bongio'vanni)  in  the  Via  Mirabella.     Has  a  rich  Renaissance  front. 

Palazzo  Bosco.  The  most  beautiful  Renaissance  palace  in  Syracuse,  opposite 
the  cathedral.  Built  in  1775.  *ts  beautiful  courtyard  is  rather  ruinous.  At 
the  back,  on  a  terrace  overlooking  the  sea,  is  a  delightfully  picturesque  little 
pavilion  like  a  Proven9al  cour  d'amour—a.  charming  bit  of  colour. 

Palazzo  LantierL  At  the  corner  of  the  Via  Trieste  and  the  Via  Roma. 
The  sculptures  of  its  angle  from  the  pavement  to  the  roof  are  carved  with 
putti,  etc.,  the  most  delicate  and  beautiful  Renaissance  carving  in  Syracuse. 

Casa  Platinia.  Next  to  S.  Spirito,  with  its  ancient  lions  in  the  Via  Roma. 
Has  a  fair  Renaissance  staircase. 

Casa  Specchi,  in  the  Via  Dione.  Next  to  No.  8.  A  fine  old  house  with 
a  good  Renaissance  balcony. 

Leond'Oro.     See  Cortili. 

Palaces,  Greek. — Palace  of  Dionysius.  No  remains:  supposed  to  have 
been  near  the  junction  of  Ortygia  with  the  mainland. 

Casa  dei  Viaggiatori*  A  house  built  in  the  old  Greek  style  near  the  Castle 
of  Euryalus  (q.v.)  by  the  well-known  antiquary  Comm.  Luigi  Mauceri. 

Palazzolo.     See  Acres,  and  General  Index. 

Palaestra,  called  also  the  Ginnasio  and  Bagno  di  Diana.  Is  the  Timolon- 
teum,  a  gymnasium,  lecture-hall,  library,  etc.,  built  round  the  tomb  of 
Timoleon,  which  Prof.  Orsi  .believes  to  have  stood  where  the  fragment 
now  called  the  Library  stands.  The  remains  are  considerable  and  very 
beautiful.  The  little  marble  lecture -theatre,  now  filled  with  clear  spring 
water  and  called  the  Bath  of  Diana,  is  one  of  the  gems  of  ancient  Sicily,  and 
large  fragments  remain  in  situ  of  the  white  marble  library  (or  was  it  the  Tomb 
of  Timoleon  ?).  The  ground  plan  of  it  may  be  traced  with  tolerable  clearness, 
and  there  are  interesting  details  to  be  identified.  At  the  back  we  meet  again 
the  Roman  street  which  begins  behind  the  amphitheatre.  The  Palcestra  is 
quite  close  to  the  railway  station. 

Pantalica.  A  gorge  full  of  prehistoric  tombs  and  with  remains  of  a 
megalithic  building  and  troglodytes'  caves.  Explored  thoroughly  by  Prof. 
Orsi.  Near  Sortino,  which  has  a  mail-vettura  from  Syracuse.  But  can  be 
done  better  in  the  day  by  carriage  from  Augusta. 

S.  Panagia,  or  Bonagia.  The  first  station  from  Syracuse  going  towards 
Catania.  Better  visited  by  carriage.  There  are  the  foundations  of  very 
extensive  buildings  here  and  a  tonnara.  I  have  never  explored  this  district 
properly,  but  there  are  interesting  remains  of  many  ages  round  its  latomia. 

Papyrus.  The  Egyptian  reed  which  supplied  the  paper  of  the  ancients. 
See  Anapo  and  Fountain  of  Arethusa.  "Its  tufts  are  called  c la  perrucca '  by 
the  people."  (Gregorovius.) 

St.  Paul.  Was  at  Syracuse  three  days.  He  is  said  to  have  preached  at 
S.  Marziano.  (See  Churches.} 


THINGS   OF  SYRACUSE  535 

Passeggiata,  or  Promenade.  The  Syracusans  walk  and  drive  at  sunset 
on  the  Marina  on  Thursday  and  Sunday  afternoon,  when  there  is  a  band  there. 

St.  Peter,  ace,  to  Giannotta,  met  S.  Marziano  at  Syracuse  44  A.  D.  Peter 
the  Subdeacon  was  the  vicar  of  Gregory  the  Great  at  Syracuse. 

Philistus.  The  historian.  A  rich  Syracusan  who  was  the  early  patron  and 
the  lifelong  friend  and  chronicler  of  Dionysius  I. 

Philistis.  Daughter  of  Leptines,  Queen  of  Hiero  II.  Her  seat  in  the 
Greek  theatre  still  bears  her  name,  and  the  tetraclrachms  with  her  head  in  a 
hood  are  among  the  most  beautiful  of  the  later  coins  of  Syracuse. 


THE  PAPYRUS   GROVES  OF  THE  RIVER  ANAPO 

Philoxenus,  A  poet  of  ancient  Syracuse  imprisoned  by  Dionysius  in  the 
Latomia  del  Filosofo,  which  was  a  corruption  of  his  name,  for  deriding  his 
verses.  He  is  known  as  Philoxenus  of  Cythera,  and  died  380  u.c.  He  was 
a  dithyrambic  poet  mentioned  by  Aristophanes  Supposed  to  have  gone  to 
Sicily,  according  to  Sir  W.  Smith,  396  B.C.  The  luxury  of  the  court  of 
Syracuse  inspired  his  poem  Deipnon  (The  Banquet).  His  poem  Cyclops 
was  written  during  his  imprisonment.  His  dithyrambs,  which  were  set  to 
music,  were  very  popular.  He  occupies  two  whole  pages  in  the  Dictionary  of 
Greek  and  Roman  Biography. 

Photographs  and  Photography.  There  is  a  photographer  named  Leon 
in  Syracuse  who  has  taken  a  few  views.  A  few  photographic  materials  can  be 
bought  in  the  Via  Maestranza  and  the  Via  Roma,  near  the  corner  of  the  Piazza 
Archimede.  The  best  way  to  get  films  is  through  the  officer  of  the  Malta 
boat,  the  s.s.  Cairola,  Madame  Politi,  at  the  Villa  Politi,  keeps  a  splendid 
selection  of  Syracusan  photographs  by  Crupi,  of  Taormina. 

Piazzas.  The  chief  piazzas  of  Syracuse  are  the  Piazza  del  I)uomo,  which 
contains  the  Cathedral,  the  Museum,  the  Municipio,  the  Archbishop's  Palace, 
the  Palazzo  Bosco,  S.  Lucia,  etc. 


536        SICILY  THE   NEW  WINTER   RESORT 

Piazza  Archimede,  Where  the  Via  Roma,  Corso,  Via  Matistranza,  and  Via 
Dione  meet.  Contains  the  Palazzo  Lanza  and  the  Clock-house,  and  round  the 
corner  the  Casa  Montalto. 

Piazza  Savonarola.  Contains  the  Presidio  or  military  headquarters,  with 
rather  a  charming  courtyard. 

Piazza  Mazzini.    On  the  sea-front  by  the  Porta  Marina,  and  the 

Piazza  del  Popolo.  At  the  entrance  to  the  island,  Only  the  first  two  are 
worthy  of  note. 

Pindar  at  Syracuse.     See  Hi&ro  I. 

Pisma,  La.  The  deep  circular  spring  known  as  the  Fountain  of  Cyane 
(q.v.).  The  name  is  also  applied  to  the  river  running  out  of  it. 

Plato  was  at  Syracuse  to  visit  Dionysius  I.  and  II.  See  his  life  by 
Olimpiodorus,  Bonn's  tranlation  of  Plato,  vol.  vi.  237,  and  Plutarch's  Life 
of  Dion  ;  see  also  Dionysius  /,  and  Dionysius  II.  above,  and  In  Sicily, 
chap.  xvii. 

Plemmyrium.  The  western  headland  of  the  Great  Harbour  with  a  light 
house.  It  contains  a  necropolis  of  fine  prehistoric  tombs,  and  near  the  sea  a 
number  of  the  kilns  used  by  the  ancient  Greek  potters.  It  has  beautiful  little 
bays  with  fierce  rocks,  and  well  deserves  its  Virgilian  epithet  of  surf-beaten. 
From  an  inaccessible  rock  grows  the  largest  wild  palm  in  Sicily,  about 
seven  feet  high.  It  was  held  by  the  Athenians  for  a  while,  and  the  loss  of  it 
caused  the  destruction  of  their  fleet,  the  Syracusans  mooring  a  chain  of  boats 
across  the  entrance.  It  is  now  known  as  the  Isola ;  the  Bay  of  Dascon  or 
Maddalena  is  just  inside  it.  It  may  be  visited  by  boat  (less  than  a  mile)  or 
carriage  drive  round  the  harbour. 

Plutarch.  Has  much  to  say  about  Syracuse  in  his  lives  of  Dion,  Nicias, 
Timoleon,  and  Marcellus. 

Polichna.  On  the  hill  of  Polychne,  beyond  the  Anapus,  stood  the  Temple 
of  Zeus  Olympus  (Olympieum).  The  Carthaginians  several  times  encamped 
here,  also  the  Athenians.  The  malaria  rising  each  time  from  the  swamp 
worked  havoc  in  their  armies.  (Gregorovius.) 

Politi,  Villa.  A  hotel  kept  by  Madame  Politi,  which  contains  in  its 
garden  the  celebrated  Latomia  dei  Cappuccini,  where  the  Athenian  prisoners 
were  confined.  This  is  the  chief  hotel  of  Syracuse,  and  has  one  of  the  most 
beautiful  gardens  in  Europe.  The  Casa  Politi,  in  the  town  near  the  Castle  of 
Maniace,  also  belongs  to  Madame  Politi,  who  is  the  widow  of  the  celebrated 
guide  Salvatore  Politi,  who  supplied  the  late  George  Dennis,  writer  of 
Murray's  Guide,  with  his  local  knowledge. 

Politi,  Vincenzo.  Author  of  a  charmingly  illustrated  guide  to  Syracuse, 
published  about  fifty  years  ago. 

Population.  Syracuse  was  once  the  largest  city  in  the  world.  It  had, 
according  to  Gregorovius,  a  million  and  a  half  inhabitants.  It  has  now  twenty 
or  thirty  thousand. 

Portella  del  Fusco.  See  Agragian  Gate,  Tomb  of  Archimedes,  etc.  A  gap 
in  the  plateau  of  Epipolce,  above  the  modern  Campo  Santo.  Nicias  built 
a  fort  here  in  his  wall  to  blockade  Syracuse.  Freeman  claims  to  have 
discovered  the  site. 

Potteries,  ancient  Greek  and  Modern.  There  are  remains  of  many 
kilns  near  the  sea  below  the  lighthouse  at  Plemmyrium  practically  perfect. 
On  the  sea-cliffs  of  Achradina,  in  front  of  the  Cappuccini  Convent,  there  also 
are  remains  of  ancient  Greek  kilns.  There  is  a  large  modern  pottery  near  the 


THINGS   OF  SYRACUSE  537 

railway  station,  where  they  turn  out  the  unbaked  pitchers  of  ancient  Greek 
forms  used  by  peasants. 

pottery,  ancient  and  peasants':  Syracuse  is  not  such  a  good  place  as 
Girgenti  to  buy  ancient  pottery,  though  Madame  Politi  has  a  splendid 
collection  of  expensive  specimens  for  sale,  including  many  Sicanian  and 
Sikelian  pieces.  Cheap  pieces  of  undoubted  genuineness  can  hardly  be 
bought  at  Syracuse,  though  so  plentiful  at  Girgenti,  because  there  are  no 
licensed  antiquity-hunters.  But  one  finds  a  great  many  fragments  in  the 
innumerable  tombs  round  Syracuse,  and  I  myself  found  an  entire  vase,  now  in 
the  possession  of  Mrs.  Hector  MacNeal,  Losset  Park,  Argyllshire. 

One  can  buy,  however,  fascinating  peasants'  pottery  at  Syracuse.  The 
unglazed  local  ware  and  the  glazed  Caltagirone  ware,  all  of  Greek  shapes,  for 
trifling  sums.  A  special  brand  seems  to  be  made  for  Syracuse,  ornamented 
with  papyrus  blooms  in  rich  splashes  of  green,  yellow,  and  brown  paint  on 
a  grey  ground.  The  Greek  Diota,  the  Neapolitan  pizzipapero — a  large  sort 
of  mug  with  a  bashed-in  spout— and  a  narrow-necked  Greek  lecythion  or  oil- 
jar  are  favourite  shapes.  Sicilians  do  not  go  in  for  amphora.  One  of  the  best 
places  for  buying  this  handsome  and  typical  peasants'  pottery  is  the  Rotondo, 
a  kind  of  market  near  the  railway  station.  A  collection  of  it  is  thought  worthy 
of  a  place  in  the  Palermo  Museum. 

Priests'  schools.  There  are  a  number  of  priests'  schools  in  and  round 
Syracuse.  Towards  sunset  they  may  be  seen  taking  their  walks  in  berretta  and 
cassock — black,  scarlet,  and  purple. 

Prison.  The  chief  prison  of  Syracuse  is  in  the  angle  of  the  island  facing 
the  small  harbour.  Outside  it  are  the  remains  of  a  fortification  and  aqueduct 
of  the  Emperor  Charles  V.,  built  with  easily-recognisable  stones  taken  from  the 
Roman  amphitheatre.  It  is  a  very  large  building,  heavily  barred. 

Prison,  the  old,  at  No.  297,  Via  Ruggiero  Settimo,  which  leads  from 
the  Marina  to  the  Piazza  del  Duomo.  It  bears  a  very  fine  coat-of-arms} 
and  has  a  vaulted  Gothic  dungeon,  used  the  last  time  I  saw  it  as  a  wine-shop. 
It  belongs  to  the  Conte  della  Torre.  The  street  is  full  of  old  buildings. 

Proserpine,  daughter  of  Ceres,  and  her  mother  are  the  special  Sicilian 
deities.  They  have  legends  and  temples  everywhere.  Here  at  Syracuse, 
which  owned  Enna  for  a  considerable  portion  of  its  history,  they  had  a  temple 
near  the  modern  Campo  Santo,  though  the  remains  shown  do  not  belong  to  it, 
but  are  portions  of  the  fortifications  of  Dionysius.  It  is  also  alleged  that 
Pluto  sank  below  the  earth  with  Proserpine  at  the  Fountain  of  Cyane  (q.v.). 
Her  head  appears  on  many  of  the  coins  of  Syracuse. 

Pyrrhus  at  Syracuse.  Pyrrhus,  the  King  of  Epirus,  came  to  Syracuse 
at  the  earnest  appeal  of  the  citizens  to  save  them  from  the  Carthaginians, 
and  was  master  of  Syracuse  from  278  to  276.  He  was  the  son-in-law  of 
AgathocVes. 

Post  Office.  The  Post  Office  is  in  the  Via  Roma,  but  as  most  foreigners 
stay  at  the  Villa  Politi,  they  go  to  the  Succursale  Post  Office  in  the  Piazza  del 
Popolo,  which  is  at  the  city  end  of  the  S.  Lucia  ferry.  The  people  at  the 
Succursale  lay  themselves  out  for  foreigners. 

Roman  remains.  For  the  Roman  amphitheatre,  see  Amphitheatre.  One 
of  the  few  pure  Roman  remains  in  Sicily,  though  Gracco-Roman  buildings  are 
common. 

Roman  Temple,  the.  The  local  name  for  the  remains  of  the  Agora.  See 
Agora. 


538        SICILY  THE   NEW  WINTER  RESORT 

Roman  tombs.  There  are  quantities  of  Greece-Roman  tombs  at  Syracuse,  but 
.pure  Roman  are  very  rare,  though  perhaps  the  monument  near  Priolo,  supposed 
to  be  Marcellus's  trophy,  is  an  example.  Greek  tombs  are  all  cut  in  the  rock. 
Roman  are  built  round  a  core  of  rubble. 

Roman  conquest  and  rule.  The  Romans  conquered  Syracuse  in 
212  B.C.,  when  it  was  sacked  for  the  first  time,  and  made  it  the  capital  of  the 
province.  For  a  brief  period  it  was  the  capital  of  the  Byzantine  empire. 
(See  MareettuS)  Verres^  and  Cicero. ) 

"Romeo  and  Juliet"  is  a  story  of  ancient  Syracuse.  For  the  origin 
of  this  story  see  above,  Ch&reas  and  Callirrhoc,  the  Loves  of. 

Ronco — the  Latin  /rw«a^=lopped-off — is  a  Syracusan  expression  for  a 
street  which  is  a  cul-de-sac. 

Ronco  Capo  Bianco.     See  Palaces. 

Rope-spinners  and  their  cave.  See  Grotta  dei  Cordari,  and  General 
Index. 

Rotondo.  A  kind  of  market-place  between  the  railway  station  and  the 
island,  so  called  from  its  oval  shape,  Is  the  best  place  to  buy  peasants' 
pottery  and  see  peasant  life.  The  ancient  method  of  drawing  water  with 
a  beam  may  be  seen  here. 

Sandys,  George.  A  seventeenth-century  traveller  who  wrote  on  Syracuse. 
See  General  Index. 

Scala  of  the  Aqueduct  of  the  Hundred  Steps.  In  the  rocks  of  Achra- 
dina,  near  the  sea  and  the  Cappuccini  Convent. 

Scala  Greca.  One  of  the  most  extraordinary  monuments  of  Syracuse. 
The  name  is  generally  misapplied  to  the  modern  road  down  the  slope  from  the 
Catania  Gate  (q.v.).  The  real  Scala  Greca,  a  mile  further  on,  is  a  Greek 
road  cut  in  steps  from  the  sea-level  to  the  plateau  of  Epipolce,  just  before  you 
come  to  Baron  Targia's  villa,  There  are  really  two  approaches  to  it  from 
below,  one  a  little  way  inland.  The  main  steps  are  very  skilfully  conceived. 
You  do  not  notice  them  till  you  are  right  on  them.  Upon  the  plateau  it 
opens  out  on  to  a  road  a  dozen  feet  wide,  one  half  of  which  is  cut  in  steps 
where  necessary.  It  is  one  of  the  finest  Greek  roads  in  existence.  I  have 
traced  it  for  a  mile.  It  leads,  not  to  the  Castle  of  Euryalus,  but  across  the 
plateau,  and  comes  out,  I  have  been  told,  into  the  Greek  theatre ;  but  it  is 
not  so  well  marked  as  it  approaches  the  Great  Harbour.  Just  where  it 
climbs  to  the  top  of  the  plateau  there  are  some  very  well-chiselled  prehistoric 
tombs. 

Scipio  Africanus,  the  Elder,  formed  at  Syracuse  in  205  B.C.  the  expedition 
with  which  he  invaded  and  captured  Carthage. 

Sikelians  and  Sicanians.  Various  necropoles  at  the  Scala  Greca,  Plem- 
myrium,  etc.  (q.v.),  testify  to  the  presence  of  the  prehistoric  races  round 
Syracuse.  There  is  one  such  tomb,  very  fine,  in  the  centre  of  the  Achradina 
plateau.  _  Whether  the  Sicanians  were  here  or  not,  we  are  in  no  doubt  about 
the  Sikelians,  for  we  have  a  historical  record  of  the  presence  of  the  Sikelian 
king,  Ducetius,  at  Syracuse  in  450  B.C.  He  had  attempted  to  form  a  Sikel 
empire.  He  was  crushed  by  an  alliance  between  Syracuse  and  Acragas. 
After  his  final  defeat  he  rode  into  Syracuse  by  night  and  became  a  suppliant 
at  the  altars  of  the  gods  of  the  Agora.  See  Ducetius ,  General  Index. 
Gregorovius  says  that  Syracuse  was  built  by  Sicanians,  who  were  later 
expelled  by  Corinthians  under  Archias. 

Sophrosyne.  The  daughter  of  Dionysius  I.  by  Aristomache,  sister  of 
Dion.  She  married  her  half-brother,  Dionysius  II. 


THINGS   OF  SYRACUSE  539 

Sosion.   One  of  the  most  celebrated  coin-engravers  of  ancient  times.     He 
lived  at  Syracuse  at  the  beginning  of  the  fourth  century  B.  c.     Few  heads  are  • 
more  beautiful  than  those  on  his  tetradrachms. 

Spampinato,  Cava  di.  A  gorge  between  Palazzolo  and  Floridia,  through 
which  the  Anapo  flows,  like  the  wooded  gorges  on  Dartmoor.  After  their 
final  naval  defeat  the  Athenians  are  said  to  have  tried  to  force  their  way  up  it 
to  take  refuge  with  their  Sikel  allies  in  the  interior.  I  cannot  believe  this. 
The  Syracusans  could  have  lined  the  top  of  the  gorge  and  driven  them  back 
with  missiles.  There  seems  no  reason  why  they  should  have  clung  to  the 
river-bed,  as  there  is  plenty  of  gently  rising  country  hereabouts,  hard  soil, 
lightly  wooded,  just  as  good  as  a  road  for  an  army  to  move  on,  even  with 
modern  artillery. 

Spanish  armorial  bearings.  Syracuse  is  full  of  Spanish  armorial  bear 
ings  of  Charles  V.,  and  of  Aragon,  and  various  viceroys,  on.  buildings  they 
erected  or  repaired.  They  are  a  great  feature  in  the  city.  Notice  the 
scutcheon  on  the  Castello  Maniace,  on  the  convent  of  -S.  Lucia  near  the 
Duomo,  on  the  wall  opposite  the  north  side  of  the  Duomo,  and  passim. 

Spanish  balconies  of  Syracuse.  See  Hammered  Ironwork.  The 
Spanish  balconies  of  Syracuse,  bowed  out  for  kneeling  and  adorned  with 
flamboyant  roses  and  passion-flowers  at  the  angles,  or  rising  up  from  them, 
are  the  finest  you  see  anywhere. 

Stalactite  caves.     See  Grotto,  del  Cordari. 

Streets.  Syracuse  is  full  of  ancient  streets,  in  any  one  of  which  the  artist 
could  spend  days  sketching  Gothic  windows,  Spanish  balconies,  Renaissance 
ornament,  galleried  courtyards,  all  swarming  with  the  life  of  the  people.  The 
Via  Dione  is  about  the  best,  but  the  Via  Aragona,  Via  Capodieci,  Via 
Cavour,  Via  Gargallo,  Via  Gelone,  Via  Maestranza,  Via  Mirabella,  Via 
Nizza,  Via  Rome,  Ronco  Capobianco,  Via  Ruggiero  Settimo,  Via  Trieste, 
and  Via  delle  Vergine  are  all  of  them  medieval  and  full  of  good  things. 

Strada  dei  Sepolcri.  The  famous  Street  of  Tombs  runs  up  from  the 
Greek  theatre  to  the  little  plateau  of  Apollo  Temenites.  Of  the  numerous 
tablets  which  once  adorned  it,  one  with  a  horse-relief  on  it  survives,  guarded 
by  an  iron  door  of  which  the  custode  had  the  key.  The  centre  of  the  street 
has  Greek  chariot  ruts  a  foot  deep,  The  tombs  are  in  chambers  cut  in  the 
rock.  Some  of  them  contain  the  dais  for  a  sarcophagus.  The  sides  and 
back  are  generally  cut  into  arcosoli  (graves  in  lunette-shaped  recesses). 
There  are  a  few  of  the  simpler  honeycomb  graves  so  common  in  Syracuse. 
The  chambers  generally  have  doorways  so  marked  that  they  might  be  taken 
for  cave-dwellings. 

Street  of  Tombs.    See  preceding  paragraph. 

Subterranean  church.     See  under  Churches,  S.  Marziano. 

Sylvia,  mother  of  Pope  Gregory  the  Great,  was  a  Syracusan  heiress. 

Syracuse.  One  of  the  seven  provinces  of  Sicily,  of  which  the  city  of 
Syracuse  is  the  capital.  It  has  the  highest  reputation  for  absence  of  outrage. 

Tapso,  or  Thapsus.  A  low-lying  island  connected  with  the  shore  by  a 
sand-spit  between  Priolo  and  Syracuse.  The  Athenians  used  it  as  a  harbour 
for  their  fleet,  dragging  their  vessels  across  to  escape  a  gale.  There  are  salt 
works  and  a  tunny  fishery,  and  numerous  prehistoric  tombs.  It  should  be 
visited  by  boat  as  it  is  a  tiresome  drive. 

Targia,  Baron,  A  Syracusan  of  ancient  noble  family,  owner  of  the 
Latomia  di  S.  Venere,  and  the  estate  which  contains  the  Camp  of  Mar- 
cettus  (q.v.). 


THINGS   OF   SYRACUSE  S4I 

Agathocles,  the  architect,  because  he  used  the  best  building  stones  for  a  fine 
house  of  his  own.  Described  by  Cicero  in  his  speech  against  Verres-he 
praises  its  doors  (with  carvings  in  gold  and  ivory,  and  a  Medusa's  head  above) 
On  the  walls  inside  were  painted  the  wars  of  King  Agathocles  against  Carthace 
and  portraits  of  twenty-seven  rulers  of  Sicily.  According  to  Athenaus,  on 
the  top  of  the  gable  was  a  golden  shield  of  Minerva,  visible  from  afar  by 
ships.  Custom  held  that  all  who  sailed  from  the  harbour  of  Syracuse  took  with 
them  a  vessel  full  of  burning  coals  from  the  altar  of  Olympian  Zeus,  and  held 
it  m  their  hands  so  long  as  this  shield  was  visible.  Marcellus  spared  this 
temple,  but  Verres  plundered  it,  even  the  doors. 

Terra-cotta  coffins,  figures,  and  pottery.  A  fine  collection  of  these  in 
the  museum,  especially  the  noble  terra-cotta  sarcophagi  exhumed  near  Terranova 
and  the  collection  of  prehistoric  pottery.  See  Museum, 

Thapsus.     See  Tapso. 

Tetradrachms.     See  Coins. 

Thearides.  Brother  of  Dionysius  II.  Married  his  half-sister  Arete,  who 
afterwards  became  the  wife  of  Dion. 

Theatre,  the  Greek,  of  Syracuse  is  one  of  the  most  splendid  monuments 
of  antiquity.  The  auditorium,  except  that  it  is  stripped  of  its  marbles  is 
perfect,  and  you  can  see  much  of  the  mechanism  of  the  stage.  The  top  tier 
is  250  yards  round.  There  were  formerly  twelve  rows  of  marble  seats  besides 
the  forty-seven  rows  cut  in  the  rock.  The  theatre  held  24,000  people  The 
first  representations  of  some  of  ^Eschylus's  plays  and  the  first  recitations  of 
some  of  Pmdar  s  poems  took  place  here.  The  old  men  and  women  of  Syracuse 
sat  here  to  witness  the  last  great  sea-fight  against  the  Athenians.  Timoleon 
after  he  had, laid  down  his  power,  used  to  come  to  the  theatre  to  address  the 
people  m  great  national  crises.  It  has  an  exquisite  situation,  commanding  a 
v  vie5T  «f  the  bay,  the  city  on  the  island  of  Ortygia,  the  honeyed  and  fabled 
hills  of  Hybla,  and  the  columns  of  the  temple  of  the  Olympian  Jove.  You 


THE  GREEK  THEATRE 


542        SICILY  THE    NEW   WINTER   RESORT 

can  still  see  where  they  rested  the  litter  on  which  the  Wind  Timoleon  was 
carried  into  the  theatre,  and  the  seats  of  Dionysius  the  Great,  and  of  Hiero 
and  his  lovely  queen  Philistis.  It  is  the  most  majestic  and  historical  of  the 
theatres  of  the  ancient  Greeks.  It  was  built  by  the  first  Hiero,  the  patron  of 
Pindar,  and  stands  at  the  extremity  of  the  quarter  of  Neapolis,  beyond  the 
amphitheatre  and  the  Ara  and  below  the  Street  of  Tombs  and  the  rock  of 
Apollo  Temenites.  There  is  an  ancient  Greek  road  running  from  the  theatre 
across  Epipolse  to  the  Scala  Greca. 

Gregorovius  says  of  the  theatre  :  "One  of  the  largest  of  the  ancient  world, 
called  maximum  even  by  Cicero."  According  to  Serradifalco  it  is  contem 
porary  with  that  of  Athens,  the  first  stone  theatre  in  Greece,  built  by  Themis- 
tocles.  It  had  forty-six  rows  of  seats,  but  perhaps 'some  have  been  destroyed. 
Its  Greek  inscriptions,  "Basilissas  Nereides"  and  "Basilissas  Philistidos," 
have  caused  the  antiquarians  much  trouble,  because  these  names  of  queens 
are  not  known  in  the  history  of  Syracuse.  Nereis  is  said  to  be  the  daughter  of 
Pyrrhus  of  Epirus,  who  married  Gelon,  son  of  Hiero  II.;  and  Philistis,  the 
daughter  of  Leptines  and  wife  of  Hiero  II.  Gregorovius  mentions  a  cippus 
of  white  marble  with  the  fable  from  Homer  of  the  snake  and  the  sparrow's  nest 
in  Aulis,  the  appearance  of  which  made  Chalcas  prophesy  the  length  of  the 
Trojan  war,  and  says,  "What  is  most  impressive  about  it  is  the  position  and 
the  importance  of  the  theatre — {a  centre  of  human  culture.'  Here  once  sat 
Plato,  JEschylus,  Aristippus,  Pindar  j  in  the  orchestra  there  once  stood  the 
captive  and  condemned  Athenians ;  here  spoke  Timoleon,  and  here  he  sat  as 
a  blind  old  man  listening  to  the  debates  on  State  affairs.  .  .  .  The  theatre 
performed  a  double  purpose,  as  the  stage  where  great  dramas  and  the  city's 
affairs  were  alike  enacted. " 

Theocritus.  The  most  famous  bucolic  poet  of  all  times  was  born,  it  is 
said,  in  315  B.C.  at  Syracuse.  He  left  it  as  a  boy  and  went  to  Alexandria,  but 
returned  to  Syracuse  about  270  B.C.  Some  of  his  idylls  refer  to  Alexandria, 
but  the  bulk  of  them  refer  to  country  life  round  Syracuse.  They  are  in 
imitable.  Even  Virgil,  with  all  his  knowledge  of  the  country,  is  not  so 
natural.  Except  that  the  Romans  imprisoned  the  streams  and  fountains  in 
aqueducts  and  that  the  forests  have  gone,  he  might  have  been  writing  about 
the  countryside  of  to-day,  so  truthfully  do  his  idylls  describe  what  the 
traveller  sees,  even  to  the  goatherds  playing  on  their  reed-pipes. 

Theodosius,  a  monk  of  Syracuse,  who  described  the  capture  of  Syracuse 
by  the  Saracens  in  an  epistle  to  the  Archdeacon  Leo.  Quoted  by  Mr.  Marion 
Crawford,  vol.  ii.,  p.  79,  in  one  of  the  most  valuable  passages  of  his  Rithrs  of 
the  South. 

Thrasybulus.  Brother  of  Gelo  and  Hiero  I.  Reigned  as  tyrant  for  one 
year,  467-466.  A  sacrifice  of  450  oxen  is  said  to  have  been  offered  annually 
on  the  Ara  to  commemorate  his  expulsion. 

Thucydides.  An  Athenian,  born  471  B.C.  Wrote  the  history  of  the 
Peloponnesian  War,  a  very  large  part  of  which  is  devoted  to  the  siege  of 
Syracuse. 

Timaeus.  A  historian,  born  at  Tauromenium,  the  modern  Taormina.  The 
son  of  Andromachus,  who  became  tyrant  of  Tauromenium  in  358  B.C. — 
the  only  Sicilian  tyrant  not  expelled  by  Timoleon.  He  wrote  the  history  of 
Sicily,  from  the  earliest  times  to  264  B.C.,  during  his  long  exile  at  Athens. 
He  was  born  352  B.C.  and  died  256  B.C.  Banished  by  Agathocles,  and  lived 
more  than  fifty  years  at  Athens. 


THINGS   OF   SYRACUSE 


543 


Timocrates.  A  Syracusan,  who  commanded  a  fleet  of  ten  galleys  sent  by 
•  Dionysius  II.  to  aid  Sparta  in  360  B.C. 

Timoleon.  A  Corinthian,  who  twenty  years  before  his  expedition  to 
Sicily  had  connived  at  the  death  of  his  elder  brother,  when  the  latter  was 
attempting  to  make  himself  tyrant  of  Corinth.  Their  mother  cursed  him. 
For  twenty  years  he  withered  under  the  curse  and  regret.  Ten  triremes  were 
being  sent  to  assist  in  the  deposition  of  Dionysius  II.  A  chance  vote  in  a 
Corinthian  assembly  nominated  -Timoleon  to  the  command  of  this  forlorn 
hope.  In  344  B.C.  he  went  to  Sicily,  expelled  Dionysius  from  Syracuse,  and 
drove  out  all  the  other  Sicilian  tyrants  except  Andromachus  of  Taormina, 
whom  he  spared  for  his  virtues.  He  destroyed  the  fortifications  of  Ortygia 
used  for  overawing  the  Syracusans.  He  gave  the  city  a  constitution  modelled 
on  the  laws  of  Diocles  He  introduced  as  new  citizens  10,000  Corinthians 


THE  TIMOLONTEUMj  OR  PALESTRA 

and  Syracusan  exiles,  who  were  followed  by  50,000  others.  In  339  B.C. 
he  won  his  great  victory  with  n,ooo  Greeks  over  75,000  Carthaginians  at 
the  river  Cnmesus,  The  next  year  he  abdicated,  but  continued,  says  Sir 
William  Smith,  "  however  to  retain,  though  in  a  private  station,  the  greatest, 
influence  in  the  state,  During  the  latter  part  of  his  life,  though  he  was 
totally  deprived  of  sight,  yet  when  important  affairs  were  discussed  in  the 
assembly  it  was  customary  to  send  for  Timoleon,  who  was  carried  on  a  litter 
into  the  middle  of  the  theatre  amid  the  shouts  and  the  affectionate  greetings 
of  the  assembled  citizens.  When  the  tumult  of  his  reception  had  subsided 
he  listened  patiently  to  the  debate.  The  opinion  which  he  pronounced  was 
usually  ratified  by  the  vote  of  the  assembly,  and  he  then  left  the  theatre 
amidst  the  same  cheers  which  had  greeted  his  arrival."  See  Palestra,  Villa 
di  Tremilio,  etc.  He  died  in  336  B.C. 

Timoleon,  Tomb  of.   Not  that  erroneously  shown  near  the  so-called  Tomb 
of  Archimedes  in  the  Greek  necropolis.     He  was  buried  in  the  Palaestra  or 


544        SICILY   THE   NEW   WINTER   RESORT 

Timolonteum.  The  so-called  Tomb  of  Timoleon  is  a  large  rock  tomb  of  the 
late  Roman  period  with  rather  ambitious  architectural  decorations  outside,  and 
an  arcosolio  and  a  number  of  niches  inside. 

Tomb  of  Archimedes.  The  so-called  Tomb  of  Archimedes  is  a  very  hand 
some  cave-tomb  in  the  Greek  necropolis  on  the  Catania  road.  It  is  the  best 
tomb  in  Syracuse.  It  looks  like  a  little  temple  cut  out  of  the  face  of  the  rock, 
with  its  worn  Doric  fa9ade,  and  contains  a  large  arcosolio  for  the  head  of  the 
family,  occupying  the  whole  of  the  right  side,  while  there  are  four  niches  in 
the  left  side  and  five  in  the  back.  His  real  tomb  was  near  the  Agragian  Gate 
(q.v.).  Gregorovins  quotes  about  this  neglect  Pericles's  saying,  "The  grave 
of  great  men  is  the  world." 

Tombs.  Of  the  magnificent  tomb  of  Dionysius  I.  not  a  trace  remains,  nor 
have  any  traces  of  the  magnificent  tombs  of  Gelon  and  his  wife  Damareta, 
near  the  Catania  road,  been  discovered.  They  were  destroyed  by  Himilco  in 
revenge  for  the  day  of  Himera.  The  huge  size  of  ancient  Syracuse  is  shown 
by  the  fact  that  for  fully  three  miles  on  the  Catania  road  tombs  are  scattered 
in  all  directions. 

Tombs,  Street  of.     See  Strada  dei  Sepolocri. 

Tombs,  types  of.     See  Cemeteries. 

Tomb -dwellers.     See  Cave-dwellers. 

Trade.  The  trade  of  Syracuse  was  once  as  great  as  that  of  Constantinople 
at  her  best  (Gregorovius).  Syracuse  has  a  considerable  and  increasing  trade 
with  Malta,  etc. 

Tremilio,  Villa  di,  on  the  road  to  Euryalus ;  has  above  it  the  remains  of 
the  country  villa  occupied  by  Timoleon  after  his  retirement. 

Trogilus.  One  of  the  two  little  harbours  on  the  Ionian  Sea  used  by  the 
Athenians.  Near  the  Scala  Greca. 

Tunny  fishing1.   There  is  a  tonnara  at  S.  Panagia,  and  another  at  Tapso. 

Tyche,  one  of  the  five  quarters  of  ancient  Syracuse,  so  called  from  its 
famous  Temple  of  Fortuna.  It  lay  between  Epipolce  and  Achradina  on  the 
seaside  near  the  Catania  Gate.  Tyche  lay  northwards  along  the  aqueduct, 
a  barren  and  rocky  tract  intersected  by  the  road  to  Catania,  and  touched  the 
sea  on  the  north  by  the  harbour  of  Trogilus. 

Venus  of  Syracuse,  the.  See  also  under  Museum.  Gregorovius  calls  the 
Venus  "a  Venus  for  Michel  Angelo,"  p.  210.  "Among  all  the  famous  statues 
of  the  Goddess  of  Love,  those  of  Milo,  of  Capua,  of  the  Capitol,  of  Florence, 
that  of  Syracuse  displays  the  least  charm  and  the  most  fully  developed  womanly 
beauty."  It  was  discovered  in  1804  in  the  Giardino  Bonavia,  now  the  Villa 
Landolina,  occupied  by  Mrne.  Politi,  by  Cav.  Landolina  (the  emulator  of 
Mirabella),  who,  with  Bishop  Trigona,  founded  the  Museum  in  1809. 

Wall  of  Dionysius.     See  under  Dionysius  f. 

THINGS   OF   TAORMINA 

THE  name  Taormina  is  a  corruption  of  Tauromenion  (Tauromenium).  Visitors 
like  March  better  than  any  other  month,-  not  because  the  climate  is  better, 
but  because  the  climate  is  fairly  good  and  the  place  crowded,  and  all  the 
•  curio-shops  in  full  blast.  It  is  an  admirable  artists'  place,  because  it  is  full 
of  picturesque  bits.  But  there  is  not  much  to  do  there  except  loaf  for  anyone 
except  students  of  history  and  architecture,  for  whom  Taormina  really  provides 
rather  a  rich  field.  Most  people  go  there  because  its  scenery  is  hardly  to  be 


THINGS   OF   TAORMINA  545 

surpassed  anywhere  in  the  world,  and  because  they  will  meet  plenty  of  people, 
and  because  it  is  an  amusing  place  to  shop  at.  In  good  weather,  the  air,  like 
the  view,  comes  near  perfection.  Taormina  is  well  off  for  accommodation. 
It  has  two  of  the  best  hotels  in  Sicily,  the  S.  Domenico  and  Timeo ;  a  very 
popular  artists'  hotel  in  the  Victoria  ;  a  good  hotel  for  those  who  prefer  to  be 
outside  the  town  in  the  Castellammare  ;  and  other  hotels  with  good  sites,  such 
as  the  Naumachia  and  the  Metropole.  There  is  a  large  new  hotel  building 
on  a  spur  above  the  sea  near  the  Catania  Gate.  The  town  is  an  hour  or 
more  above  the  Giardini-Taormina  Stat.  The  carriages  climb  up  a  fine  zig 
zag  road.  Rooms  should  be  ordered  beforehand,  as  it  is  only  a  small  place, 
and  very  full  in  the  season. 

Taormina  was  one  of  the  few  Greek  cities  which  were  not  on  the  sea.  It 
was  founded  in  a  period  of  constant  wars  when  defensibility  was  the  first  con 
sideration  ;  unless  we  are  to  take  it  that,  like  Tyndaris,  it  had  long  walls 
reaching  down  to  the  sea,  of  which  no  traces  have  been  found. 

B.C. 

735.  Naxos  founded  the  first  Greek  colony. 

403.  Naxos  destroyed  by  Dionysius  and  given  to  the  Sikels. 

396.  Tauromenium  founded  by  Sikelians  from  Naxos,  with  the  aid  of  the 
Carthaginian  Himilco. 

394.  Dionysius  repulsed  from  Tauromenium. 

391.   Secured  to  Dionysius  by  treaty. 

358.  Andromachus,  father  of  Timseus,  brings  the  exiled  Naxians  from  all 
parts  of  Sicily  to  Tauromenium. 

352.  Timseus,  the  historian  (who  died  262),  born  at  Tauromenium. 

345.  Timoleon  lands  at  Tauromenium. 

278.  Tyndarion,  the  tyrant  of  Tauromenium,  invites  Pyrrhus,  the  King  of 
Epirus,  who  landed  there, 

263.  Left  to  Hiero  of  Syracuse  by  treaty  with  the. Romans. 

134-2.  Eunus  and  his  slave  army  hold  Tauromenium. 
36.  Sextus  Pompeius  makes  it  one  of  his  chief  fortresses. 

Octavian  defeated  in  the  sea-fight  off  Tauromenium  by  Sextus  Pompeius. 

A.D. 

692.  Attacked  by  the  Caliph  Almoez,  whence  its  name  Almozein. 

902.  Almost  destroyed  by  the  Saracens  under  Ibrahim. 

906.  Taken  by  the  Saracens,  who  called  it  Almozein. 

968.  Retaken  after  revolt  by  the  Saracens  under  Abucalssem.     Destroyed 

and  the  Bishop  Procopius  murdered. 
1080.  Taken  by  the  Normans. 

Acanthus.  The  acanthus,  from  whose  leaf  the  Corinthian  capitals  were 
taken,  grows  freely  on  the  hill  of  the  Greek  theatre.  It  is  very  like  the 
crown  artichoke,  both  in  leaf  and  in  its  purple  flower ;  but  the  leaves  are 
dark  green  instead  of  bluish  grey. 

Addolorata,  the.     See  Churches. 

Alcantara.  The  name  of  the  river  which  runs  on  the  south  side  of  Taor 
mina  into  the  sea  near  the  black  lava  promontory  of  Cape  Schiso,  on  the 
opposite  side  of  the  river.  At  the  mouth  for  some  hundred  yards  is  the 
splendid  Sikelian  wall,  several  feet  high,  built  of  polygonal  stones,  which 
formed  part  of  the  fortifications  of  ancient  Naxos.  See  below.  The  name 
is  Arabic,  and  signifies  the  bridge,  and  it  is  said  that  there  are  remains  of  a 
bridge  going  back  to  Saracen  times  to  be  found  near  here. 

S.  Alessio,  Capo.   See  General  Index.   The  bold  rocky  cape  with  a  castle 
on  it  which  you  see  from  the  back  of  the  Greece-Roman  theatre. 
2   N 


546        SICILY  THE  NEW  WINTER   RESORT 

Almozein.    Arabic  name  of  Taormina.     See  preceding  page. 

S.  Andrea,  Capo.  The  beautiful  headland  just  below  Taornnna  enclosing 
a  little  bay.  There  are  some  interesting  grotte  near  here. 

Apollo  Archagetas.  The  god  under  whose  patronage  the  Greeks  began 
their  colonisation  of  Sicily.  He  had  a  temple  whose  location  has  not  yet  been 
precisely  discovered  at  Naxos,  the  oldest  Greek  settlement  in  Sicily,  and 
when  the  inhabitants  of  that  defenceless  city  transferred  themselves  to  the 
almost  impregnable  rock  of  Tauromenium,  it  is  said  that  they  built  to  Apollo 
Archagetas  the  temple  whose  cella  to-day  forms  the  church  of  S.  Pancrazio 
(q.v.). 

Aqueduct.  Taormina  has  an  ancient  aqueduct  which  comes  down  from  the 
hill  of  the  Stagnone  to  the  Messina  Gate,  where  a  large  piece  of  it  may  be  seen, 
and  goes  under  the  town,  emerging  at  the  rock  below  the  Hotel  Metropole. 

Architecture.  The  architecture  of  Taormina  is  equally  fascinating  and  diffi 
cult  to  classify.  Its  more  ambitious  specimens  would  generally  be  called  Sicilian- 
Gothic  ;  but  there  is  a  strong  Moresco  element  in  them  and  also  an  ancient 
Greek  element.  Its  architectural  chefs-d? czuvre  may  be  divided  broadly  into 
classical  and  Gothic,  of  sorts.  This  is  reckoning  the  fine  Sikelian  wall  below 
the  road  from  the  Messina  Gate  to  the  Hotel  Castellammare  as  classical, 
because  it  was  probably  built  in  the  classical  period.  The  principal  classical 
remains  are  the  larger  and  smaller  theatres  (q.v.),,  the  Stagnone  (q.v.),  the 
Zecca  (q.v.),  the  stylobate  of  a  temple,  the  Sikel  wall  and  the  tombs  in  its 
neighbourhood,  the  cella  which  is  now  the  church  of  S.  Pancrazio,  the  Belve 
dere  (q.v.),  the  Naumachia,  and  the  Roman  pavement  by  the  Hotel  Victoria. 

The  principal  Gothic  buildings  are  the  Palazzo  S.  Stefano,  the  Badia,  the 
Palazzo  Corvaja,  the  Palazzo  Ciampoli,  the  Casa  Floresta,  the  Cathedral, 
S.  Agostino,  S,  Antonio,  the  Cappnccini,  S.  Pietro  e  Paolo,  the  Porta 
Catania,  the  Porta  Toca,  many  gateways  and  windows  in  the  Corso,  the 
Orologio,  and  sundry  details  in  the  Castle.  See  also  under  Gothic. 

American  bars.  Taormina  is  full  of  vulgar  bars,  styled  American,  but  not 
kept  by  Americans — it  only  means  whisky,  largely  made  in  France. 

Amusements.  There  is  the  ghost  of  a  cafi  chantant  by  the  Orologio,  and 
there  are  occasional  moonlight  concerts  in  the  Greece- Roman  theatre ;  charity 
concerts  got  up  by  the  English  ;  the  band  in  the  Largo  and  in  the  gardens  of 
the  Hotel  S.  Domenico ;  occasional  operas  at  the  theatre  by  regular  barn 
stormers  ;  and  strolling  troops  of  Neapolitan  singers.  The  chief  amusements 
are,  however,  talking  to  curio-shop  keepers  and  going  to  the  Grseco-Rornan 
theatre  to  see  if  there  are  any  fresh  arrivals.  There  are  a  few  excursions  by 
carriage,  a  coach-drive  to  Francavilla,  where  there  is  nothing  to  see  except  a 
view  of  Etna,  walks  to  Naxos  and  the  various  sites  above  the  town,  and  the 
beautiful  Monte  Zirreto.  A  few  people  bathe,  but  most  remember  that  there 
is  a  climb  up  and  down  of  900  feet. 

Antichita-shops.  Taormina  is  a  great  place  for  antichita-shops  along  the 
Corso  and  Via  Timeo.  You  sometimes  get  some  great  bargains  at  Auteri's. 
They  are  mostly  kept  by  fairly  decent  people  who  have  plenty  of  genuine  old 
things,  though  you  must  he  careful  about  buying  pieces  which  would  be  of 
great  value  if  genuine.  The  German  is,  perhaps,  the  most  reliable  and  also 
the  dearest  for  minimum  prices — his  being  fixed  prices.  Taormina  is  a  good 
place  to  buy  the  commoner  of  the  Sicilian-Greek  coins,  old  silver  jewellery, 
little  old  enamels,  lace,  carved  corals,  and  the  delightful  old-fashioned  orna 
ments  made  of  threaded  pearls.  The  shops  are  not  at  all  as  dear  as  might  be 
expected. 


THINGS  OF  TAORMINA 


547 


Artists.  Taormina  suffers  from  artists  badly — they  swarm,  and  have  made 
models  dear  and  independent.  The  town  is,  of  course,  full  of  artists'  bits. 
Many  of  the  shops  sell  their  pictures.  Taormina  is  the  artists'  town  of  Sicily. 
The  artists'  hotel  is  the  Victoria,  which  has  a  delightfully  picturesque  garden 
court  and  a  loggia  for  sketching  from,  and  commands  splendid  views.  See 
also  under  Photographers. 

Auteri  keeps  the  curio-shop  in  the  Corso  at  which  you  get  the  greatest 
bargains. 

Badia  Nuova.  The  Carabinieri  Barracks  formed  the  monastic  buildings  of 
this  convent,  and  the  Teatro  Regina  Margherita  was  the  church. 

Badia  Vecchia.  Always  known  as  the  Badia.  One  of  the  most  beautiful 
Gothic  buildings  in  the  world.  There  is  nothing  inside  it.  "The  Badia 
Vecchia,  the  ancient  convent  of 
Taormina,  has  a  beauty  hardly 
to  be  matched  except  in  Eastern 
lands.  Its  beauty  of  outline  and 
position  is  absolute ;  it  stands, 
as  I  have  said,  on  the  spur  of 
a  mountain,  with  a  background 
ofprickly-pearand  brown  thicket 
and  brown  crag.  The  fact  that 
it  is  a  mere  shell,  whose  very 
use  can  hardly  be  ascertained, 
is  nothing.  There  it  stands  like 
a  broad  tower,  with  its  facade 
pierced  at  its  head  by  a  triplet 
of  vast  Gothic  windows  unsur 
passed  in  grace.  Their  arches, 
the  masses  of  clustered  columns 
from  which  they  spring,  and  the 
grandly  bold  tracery  with  which 
they  are  still  partly  filled,  are 
of  pure  white  marble,  and  make 
a  belt  of  glittering  white  right 
across  the  facade.  The  spandrels 
between  the  arches  are  filled  in 
with  chequer-work  of  black  lava 
and  white  marble,  and  below 
the  windows  there  is  an  exquisite 
tesselated  band  of  the  same 
materials."  (Douglas  Sladen,  In  Sicily.) 

Badia  in  Sicily  always  means  a  nuns'  convent.    See  General  Index. 

Bank.  There  is  no  bank  at  Taormina,  only  a  money-changer,  very  timid 
and  exorbitant  about  changing.  You  have  to  fall  back  on  the  hotel-keeper,  or 
get  your  money  sent  by  registered  letter,  which  is  fortunately  easy  in  Sicily. 

Barrack-master's  Store  No.  2.  This  is  scribbled  on  a  wall  in  the  inner 
cloister  of  the  Hotel  S.  Domenico.  It  is  a  relic  of  the  English  occupation, 

Booksellers.  Taormina  has  now  an  excellent  bookseller's—a  branch  shop 
of  Principato  of  Messina,  the  largest  in  Eastern  Sicily.  During  the  season 
Signor  Principato  spends  most  of  his"  time  at  the  Taormina  shop,  which  has  a 
large  stock  of  all  the  books  travellers  are  most  likely  to  want.  It  is  in  the 
Via  Timeo,  close  to  Crupi's,  the  photographer's.  Visitors  should  consult 


THE  BADIA  VECCHIA 


548        SICILY  THE   NEW  WINTER   RESORT 

Sig.  Principato  about  visiting  Messina,  if  they  have  not  already  done  so. 
Most  travellers  overlook  it,  but  it  is  really  one  of  the  most  beautiful  and 
interesting  towns  in  Sicily,  full  of  artists'  bits. 

Bruno,  in  the  Corso.     See  under  Photographers. 

By-streets,  bits  in.  The  by-streets  of  Taormina  are  full  of  artists'  bits. 
At  one  of  them  you  get  the  ruined  arcade  of  the  Ciampoli  Palace,  one  of  the 
gems  of  Sicily.  Down  the  last  before  the  Catania  Gate  you  get  the  glorious 
Palazzo  S.  Stefano,  up  another  the  still  more  beautiful  Badia.  In  the  by 
street  between  the  Messina  Gate  and  the  theatre  is  a  two-storied  ancient 
Roman  house,  the  Zecca,  occupied  by  a  blacksmith. 

"  One  of  the  special  charms  about  Taormina  lies  in  the  number  of  streets 
only  about  half  a  dozen  feet  wide,  spanned  by  arches,  which  climb  up  or 
down  hill  from  the  Corso.  They  often  have  overhanging  balconies  supported 
by  heavy  stone  corbels  or  brackets.  There  are  not  many  prettier  sights  than 
one  of  these  sak'te,  half  in  the  sun,  half  in  the  shade,  with  two  or  three  gaily 
kerchiefed  women  coming  up  or  down.  When,  after  heavy  rain,  they 
become  regular  rivers,  the  women  in  the  neighbouring  houses  do  their  wash 
ing  in  them.  It  is  less  trouble  than  going  to  the  nearest  fountain.  These 
ladies  will  banter  with  you  if  you  have  sufficient  Sicilian."  (Douglas  Sladen's 
In  Sicily. ) 

Calabria.  From  Taormina  one  has  a  splendid  view  of  the  long  arm  of 
Calabria  opposite.  This  is  the  weather-glass  of  the  people  of*  Taormina. 
When  it  is  extra  clear  it  means  rain. 

Campo  Santo,  the.  Lies  beyond  the  church  of  S.  Pancrazio,  outside  the 
Messina  Gate. 

Cappuccini  Convent.  Now  used  as  a  prison,  is  just  outside  the  Messina 
Gate.  The  church  has  some  elegant  Gothic  details  on  the  exterior. 

Castello.  "The  Castle  of  Taormina  looks  as  if  it  had  been  built  by  the 
people,  without  a  regular  architect,  when  they  were  desperately  frightened  by  a 
sudden  threat  of  invasion.  Its  architecture  is  as  uncertain  as  its  date,  and  you 
can  say  no  more  of  it  than  that,  seen  at  a  due  distance,  it  has  an  exceedingly 
picturesque  effect,  and  the  generally  *  Saracen  *  appearance  which  can  be 
imparted  to  almost  any  blank  wall  of  rough  brown  stone  topped  with  cloven 
Saracen  battlements.  It  consists  of  a  larger  outer  court  and  a  little  keep, 
which  contains  the  well  indispensable  to  a  fortress,  a  grassed-over  tower,  and 
a  battlemented  walk  supported  by  a  number  of  pointed  arches.  The  little 
court  which  has  this  walk  running  along  it  was,  I  suppose,  the  hall  of  the 
castle,  or  something  of  the  kind.  From  it  a  flat-headed  doorway  leads  into 
what  may  have  been  a  dungeon  or  a  wine-cellar,  about  ten  feet  long,  four  feet 
wide,  and  six  feet  high.  Rather  a  good  little  pointed  arch  leads  from  $ie 
hall  into  the  large  porch.  ...  In  the  great  outer  court  there  is  simply  no 
trace  of  anything.  It  might  have  been  a  sheepfold  with  a  high  wall  to  keep 
out  beasts  of  prey."  (Sladen's  In  Sicily.) 

Catania,  Porta.  The  Catania  Gate  of  Taormina  is  a  high  pointed  arch  in 
the  lofty  wall  which  runs  near  the  Palazzo  S.  Stefano.  The  outer  gate  is  the 
Porta  Toca(q.v.). 

Caterina,  S.  The  old  convent  in  a  delightful  garden  near  the  Hotel 
Castellammare.  Now  the  residence  of  Lady  Hill,  let  in  1903  to  the  Duchess  of 
Sutherland.  It  has  one  of  the  loveliest  Renaissance  cloisters  in  Sicily  which 
contains  a  beautiful  Gothic  doorway.  The  chapel  is  now  the  English  church. 
The  ruins  on  the  hill  above  belong  to  a  different  proprietor. 


THINGS   OF  TAORMINA  549 

Chemists.  Taormina  has  several  of  varying  degrees  of  merit,  none  very 
ambitious. 

Churches,— Cathedral  (Duomo),  Near  the  Catania  Gate  and  the  post  office. 
Rather  charming.  The  exterior  has  many  Gothic  features ;  said  to  have  been 
built  in  the  time  of  Charles  of  Anjou,  deposed  1282,  or  even  the  Emperor 
Henry  VI.,  1190-1197,  or  William  the  Good,  1166-1189.  It  was  not  the 
original  cathedral  of  Taormina.  That  rose  on  the  site  of  the  little  church  of 
S,  Francesco  di  Paola,  memorable  for  the  murder  of  Bishop  Procopius  and 
his  companions  in  the  Saracen  conquest  of  962.  It  is  a  basilica  with  three 
naves  and  three  apses.  The  gate  by  which  you  enter  from  the  street  is  fourteenth 
century  and  beautiful.  There  is  a  similar  gate  and  some  other  Gothic  work 
on  the  opposite  side  of  the  church,  which  from  its  resemblance  to  a  gate  in 
S.  Maria  della  Scala  at  Messina  must  belong  to  the  middle  of  the  fourteenth 
century.  It  has  charming  reliefs  of  vines  and  birds.  There  are  some  delight 
ful  artists'  bits  inside,  such  as  the  tottering  Renaissance  organ-lofts  and  the 
queer  old  red  marble  tribunal  of  the  Conscript  Fathers  of  Taormina.  The 
services  are  very  picturesque,  they  are  so  crowded  with  contadini,  who  always 
separate  the  sexes. 

S.  Agnese.  The  charming  little  Renaissance  church  whose  fa£ade  is  one  of 
the  best  artists'  bits  between  the  Palazzo  Corvaja  and  the  tiny  Greek  theatre. 

Addolorata^  the.    Not  ancient.     Called  also  Chiesa  del  Varo. 

Agostino,  S.  Is  a  beautiful  little  church  with  a  simple  but  elegant  Gothic 
exterior  on  the  Largo  Nove  Aprile.  It  has  ancient  red  marble  columns  with 
Greek  capitals  and  a  fair  wooden  roof  resting  on  fourteenth-century  corbels. 

Antonio,  S.  A  desecrated  little  Gothic  church  near  the  Porta  Toca,  quite  an 
artists'  bit. 

Cappuccini)  the.   See  above,  under  Cappuccini.     Has  a  Gothic  exterior. 

Catering  S.  Now  used  as  an  English  church.  See  under  S.  Caterina, 
Convent  of. 

S.  Giuseppe.  On  the  Largo  Nove  Aprile.  A  baroque  church  with  quite  a 
handsome  tower  and  a  picturesque  porch  with  a  handsome  double  stairway. 

Pancrazio>  S.,  is  both  interesting  and  beautiful.  It  is  built  out  of  the  cella 
of  a  Greek  temple  considered  to  have  been  dedicated  to  Apollo  Archagetas 
(q.v.).  It  has  a  very  picturesque  atrium  in  front  twined  with  roses  and  a 
curious  black  image  within.  It  is  just  outside  the  Messina  Gate. 

Pietro  e  Paolo,  SS.  A  church  that  most  visitors  miss,  as  it  is  a  good  way 
down  the  road  to  Giardini.  You  save  a  good  deal  by  taking  the  cross  cut  near 
the  house  with  the  modem  shrine  just  below  S.  Caterina.  This  is  a  difficult 
church  to  get  into.  The  key  is  kept  by  the  sacristan,  who  lives  in  the  little 
Piazza  of  S.  Domenica  (not  S.  Domenico).  It  has  a  number  of  Gothic  arches 
and  other  features,  and  a  charming  little  late  Gothic  altar.  If  the  church  is  . 
closed,  look  in  through  a  peephole  by  the  door.  Both  inside  and  out  it  is  a 
characteristic  piece  of  fourteenth- century  Sicilian- Gothic. 

S.  Domenico.  The  church  is  in  the  convent  which  forms  the  hotel.  There 
is  said  to  be  some  old  work  on  the  exterior  at  the  tower  end.  In  any  case  it 
is  a  characteristic  piece  of  work.  The  sacristy  contains  a  good  deal  of  wood 
carving  which  has  been  praised  too  much.  It  is  rather  striking  but  poor  work. 
The  church  has,  of  course,  no  connection  with  the  hotel. 

The  convent  is  much  better  than  the  church :  the  great  cloister  is  an  elegant 
bit  of  sixteenth-century  Renaissance  prettily  overgrown.  The  inner  cloister  is 
older  and  charmingly  overgrown.  Go  through  to  the  dormitory,  which  has 


550        SICILY  THE   NEW   WINTER   RESORT 

the  words  "Barrack-master's  Store  No.  2"  painted  on  the  wall.  See  above. 
The  hotel  rooms  are  made  out  of  the  cells.  Formerly  there  was  a  beautiful 
loggia  at  each  end,  bat  these  have  been  transformed  into  rooms  and  lost  their 
grace.  The  garden,  with  its  views  of  Etna  and  the  sea  and  its  long  pergola 
overgrown  with  dark  evergreens,  its  rich  flowers  and  handsome  palms,  grows 
more  beautiful  every  year.  It  is  the  prettiest  lounge  in  Taormina,  and  any 
body  can  have  tea  there  at  a  franc  a  head  without  staying  in  the  hotel.  The 
band  plays  there  sometimes. 

Francesco  di  Paolo,  S.,  is;  a  poor  little  church  with  some  quaint  old  artists' 
bits  in  it,  up  the  hill  outside  the  Catania  Gate.  Behind  it  is  the  hospital, 
with  a  lovely  old  garden  in  which  various  ancient  fragments  of  architecture 
are  preserved.  It  stands  on  the  site  of  the  old  cathedral,  where  Bishop 
Procopius  was  murdered. 

Church  of  England  services  are  held  during  the  season  in  the  chapel  of 
S.  Caterina.  See  above. 

Cicero  mentions  Tauromenium  in  his  Verres  as  having  thrown  down  the 
statue  of  Verres. 

Clock-tower.  The  Orologio,  or  Clock-tower,  is  one  of  the  landmarks  and 
artists'  bits  of  Taormina.  It  spans  the  gate  in  the  curious  wall  between  the 
two  halves  of  the  city.  It  is  a  tall  plain  Gothic  tower,  the  lower  part  of  which 
is  said  to  have  been  built  in  Greek  times.  At  the  back  is  a  most  curious 
antique  outside  stairway,  proving  that  in  medieval  times  the  half  of  the  city 
near  the  Catania  Gate  was  the  inner  part.  The  Catania  Gate  really  corresponds 
to  it  in  a  way,  for  though  the  space  between  the  Porta  Catania  and  the  Porta 
Toca.  is  less  than  the  space  between  the  Orologio  and  the  Porta  Messina,  both 
of  these  two  outer  spaces  are  walled  in  with  strong  gates,  and  the  city  between 
the  Porta  Catania  and  the  Orologio,  containing  as  it  does  the  cathedral  and 
the  two  oldest  palaces,  obviously  made  a  kind  of  citadel,  as  the  castle  was  so 
high  up  and  so  difficult  to  reach  from  the  city. 

Club.  The  club  opposite  S.  Agostino  is  a  humble  set  of  rooms  with  one  or 
two  Italian  newspapers  where  anybody  can  go  by  giving  the  curator  three 
halfpence. 

Coins.  The  head  of  Apollo  Archagetas  forms  the  obverse  of  the  early 
coins,  and  the  Tauros,  the  bull,  sometimes  with  a  human  head,  the  reverse. 
Mr.  Hill  thinks  that  the  dear  little  gold  coins  marked  AG  or  GA  with  Athena 
and  her  owl,  or  Apollo  and  his  lyre,  may  belong  to  Taormina,  not  to  Panormus 
under  Pyrrhus.  The  coins  of  Hiero's  time  have  the  head  of  Apollo 
Archagetas  on  the  obverse,  and  on  the  reverse  a  lyre,  a  tripod,  or  a  bunch  of 
grapes. 

Column  and  Ball.     See  Gambling. 

Corso  Umberto  Primo  is  the  main  street  of  Taormina,  running  from  the 
Messina  Gate  to  the  Catania  Gate.  Most  of  the  principal  buildings  are  on  or 
just  off  it.  Beginning  at  the  Messina  end  we  come  almost  immediately  to  the 
medieval  Palazzo  Corvaja,  next  to  which  stands  the  beautiful  little  Renaissance 
church  of  S.  Agnese  with  the  little  Greek  theatre  behind  it.  Between  this 
and  the  church  of  S.  Agostino  are  various  hotels  and  Gothic  palaces.  There 
is  a  Gothic  house  at  the  corner  of  the  Via  Naumachia.  There  is  a  shafted 
Gothic  window  at  No.  126.  Opposite  the  Hotel  Metropole  are  two  ad 
joining  arches,  one  round  and  one  Gothic.  There  is  a  door  with  a  square 
hood  at  No.  178 ;  a  door  with  a  round  arch  with  a  black  hood  in  the 
Palazzo  Syroi,  180  Corso,  rather  a  handsome  little  Renaissance  palace,  with  a 
small  Gothic  entrance  -  hall.  There  is  another  hooded  door  at  No.  190. 


THINGS    OF   TAORMINA  551 

Where  the  street  crosses  the  Largo  Novo  Aprile  there  is  the  little  Gothic 
church  of  S.  Agostmo  and  a  fine  view  on  the  left  hand,  while  S.  Giuseppe  is 
on  the  right.  Here  the  road  passes  under  the  noble  old  tower  of  the 
Orologio,  and  makes  for  the  Piazza  del  Duomo,  which  has  the  Fountain  of 
the  Four  Beasts  in  its  centre,  and  the  cathedral  on  its  east  end.  On  the  south 
there  is  the  charming  little  Casa  Floresta  with  its  Gothic  cortile,  and  pulpit, 
and  windows.  A  little  higher  up  on  the  right  is  the  Prefettura,  which  has 
some  old  features,  and  the  post  office.  A  turn  up  to  the  right  takes  you  to 
the  exquisite  Badia  Vecchia  (q.v.),  and  down  to  the  left,  just  inside  the 
Catania  Gate,  -is  the  magnificent  Palazzo  S.  Stefano.  The  Catania  Gate 
itself  is  fine,  and  is  simple  and  medieval.  Outside  it,  in  a  straight  line  from 
the  gate,  is  the  charming  little  desecrated  Gothic  church  of  S.  Antonio.  Just 
below  the^  Piazza  del  Duomo,  down  a  steep,  bumpy  lane,  is  the  convent  of 
S.^  Domenico,  with  the  tiny  chapel  of  S.  Michael  on  the  west  side,  and  a  garden 
with  some  charming  Gothic  arches  belonging  to  Signer  Marziano,  the 
photographer,  on  the  other  side.  There  are  two  or  three  photographers  and 
art-dealers  round  here. 

Cortili.  Taormina  is  not  rich  in  cortili.  The  Palazzo  Corvaja  has  a 
fourteenth-century  courtyard  with  an  outside  stairway  and  balcony,  orna 
mented  with  the  celebrated  Adam  and  Eve  reliefs,  leading  to  some  Gothic 
rooms  at  the  top.  The  S.  Caterina  (q.v.)  has  a  charming  Renaissance  cortile ; 
S.  Domenico  (q.v.)  has  three  cortili,  two  of  them  very  handsome.  The 
cortile  ^of  the  Casa  Floresta  is  very  small,  but  one  of  the  best  artists1  bits  in 
Taormina. 

S.  Croce,  Cape.  Half-way  between  Catania  and  Syracuse ;  is  the  south 
ward  limit  of  the  view  from  Taormina.  See  General  Index. 

Crupi.     See  under  Photographers. 

Curio-shops.    See  under  Antichita. 

Dionysius  at  Taormina.  In  396  B.C.  the  Naxians,  dispossessed  by 
Dionysius,  with  the  aid  of  the  Carthaginian  Himilco  had  founded  Tauro- 
menium  on  the  almost  impregnable  rock  above.  In  394  Dionysius  marched 
against  them  in  snow  time  and  took  an  acropolis,  probably  the  theatre  hill, 
not  the  castle.  But  the  people  rose  and  drove  the  invaders  helter-skelter 
down  the  hill,  Dionysius  being  badly  injured  by  being  rolled  down.  He  got 
possession  of  it  later,  in  391  B.C. 

Doctors.  There  is  no  permanent  English  doctor  at  Taormina3  though  they 
go  there  occasionally. 

Dress.  Owing  to  the  prevalence  of  artists,  Taormina  is  a  good  place  to  see 
native  dress.  Men  wear  in  festa  dress,  short  jackets,  and  breeches  of  pale 
blue,  and  stocking  caps.  Their  legs  are  swathed  and  thonged,  and  they  have 
raw-hide  shoes  with  the  hair  left  on,  roughly  stitched,  on  their  feet.  The 
women  have  shawls  with  a  Paisley-like  pattern  on  a  white  ground,  very  hand 
some.  The  little  girls  have  dresses  down  to  their  ankles  from  the  time  that 
they  are  a  few  years  old.  Nobody  goes  about  naked,  as  might  be  imagined 
from  the  photographs. 

Drives.  There  are  not  many  drives  round  Taormina ;  they  are  mostly 
through  uninteresting  scenery  for  the  bulk  of  the  way.  The  view  on  the 
drive  (down  to  the  station  is  not  so  good  as  you  can  get  from  various  points  in 
the  town.  It  is  not  possible  to  drive  to  the  Castle,  or  Mola,  or  Monte 
Venere.  The  short  drive  to  Naxos  should  be  taken  by  those  who  cannot 
walk  it.  The  cabs  are  dear,  and  it  is  not  a  very  formidable  walk.  From 
Naxo$  on  to  Qiarre  lies  between  lemon  groves  with  "high  walls ;  that  drive  is 


552         SICILY    THE    NEW    WINTER    KEbUKT 

not  worth  taking  except  to  avoid  waiting  for  the  Circum-^tnean  train.  The 
best  drive  is  to  Savoca,  making  a  short  digression  to  the  noble  Norman 
minster  of  S.  Pietro  e  S.  Paolo  at  Fiume  <T  Agro.  This  takes  you  along  a 
really  beautiful  road,  something  like  the  road  between  Nice  and  Monte  Carlo, 
and  the  Castle  of  S.  Alessio  rises  superbly  over  the  road,  but  it  is  not  worth 
going  inside,  as  it  is  a  steep  climb  and  there  is  nothing  to  see.  It  is  really 
comparatively  modern  and  only  looks  well  at  a  distance,  and  the  caretaker 
fleeces  ladies  if  they  are  unaccompanied. 
Duomo.  See  Cathedral. 

Etna.  The  view  of  Etna  from  Taormina  is  one  of  the  most  famous  and 
oftenest  depicted,  but  it  is  not,  to  my^mind,  nearly  so  beautiful  as  the  view 
from  the  south.  From  Syracuse  Etna  is  another  Fujiyama.  From  Taormina 
it  is  a  sort  of  staircase  of  the  gods,  climbing  in  a  long-drawn-out  slope  from  the 
sea  to  the  summit.  But  beyond  dispute,  Etna  makes  an  extraordinarily 
beautiful  and  dominant  feature  in  the  landscape  of  Taormina.  The  play  of 
light  and  cloud  round  its  summit  makes  a  drama  which  is  still  performed  in  the 
great  Gneco-Roman  theatre  as  it  was  when  it  had  Greek  protagonists  reciting 
the  words  of  -#Cschylus.  At  morning  and  evening  the  broad  snow-fields  that 
clothe  the  mountain-top  in  spring  take  on  most  gorgeous  hues.  There  is  no 
town  at  which  Etna  seems  more  with  you  than  Taormina,  because  it  stands 
on  high  ground  at  just  the  right  distance. 

Excursions  from  Taormina.  See  above,  under  Drives.  A  coach  goes 
every  day  to  Francavilla,  but  it  is  a  long  way,  and  you  only  get  another 
view  of  Etna.  It  is  quite  easy  to  go  by  train  in  the  day  to  Messina,  Catania, 
and  Acireale,  and  in  a  very  long  day  you  can  go  to  Castiglione  on  the  Circum- 
yEtnean,  one  of  the  finest  coups  tfvil  in  Sicily.  See  also  under  Walks. 

Fiume  d*  Agro.  Is  the  river  with  an  enormously  wide  Fiumara,  which  you 
cross  just  beyond  Capo  S.  Alessio  on  the  road  to  Savoca.  A  little  way  up  it 
is  the  magnificent  Norman  minster  of  S.  Pietro  e  S,  Paolo,  which,  after  the 
cathedrals  of  Monreale  and  Cefalu,  is  the  finest  Norman  church  in  the  island. 
It  was  built  by  King  Roger  himself,  and  though  abandoned  by  the  monks  in 
1794,  is  for  the  most  part  well  preserved.  It  has  a  very  beautiful  doorway 
over  which  is  written  in  Greek  the  name  of  the  architect  of  the  church — 
Gerardo  il  Franco.  The  whole  of  the  interior  is  pure  Arabo-Norman  and 
magnificent.  It  is  reached  by  carriage  from  Taormina  or  from  the  S.  Teresa 
Stat.  on  the  Messina-Catania  line. 
Floresta,  Casa.  See  above,  under  Cortili  and  Corso. 
Forza  d'Agro.  The  picturesque  little  town  on  the  serrated  mountain 
which  rises  above  Capo  S.  Alessio.  It  has  one  or  two  old  churches,  but  it  is 
a  stiff  climb. 

Fountains.  —Fountain  of  the  Four  Beasts.  A  quaint  baroque  fountain 
constructed  in  1635  by  Giuseppe  Mazza.  The  basin  is  antique.  The  whole 
is  surmounted  by  an  extraordinary  figure  of  a  saint.  It  stands  in  the  Piazza 
del  Duomo,  and  would  be  an  admirable  artists7  bit  even  if  it  were  not  the 
peasant  women's  club,  at  which  all  day  long  there  are  young  women  and 
asses  waiting  their  turn  for  their  jars  to  be  filled.  There  is  no  place  better 
than  Taormina  to  see  girls  carrying  huge  jars  of  water  on  their  heads.  The 
type  is  handsome  and  the  dress  picturesque,  and  they  know  how  strangers 
admire  them.  But  they  don't  like  being  kodaked  unless  they  are  paid 
for  it. 
Formerly  the  fountain  by  the  Messina  Gate,  fed  by  the  ancient  aqueduct, 


THINGS   OF  TAORMINA  553 

.  was  highly  picturesque,  but  it  has  now  been  replastered  out  of  recognition. 
This  also  is  a  good  place  to  see  the  grace  of  the  water-girls. 

Francavilla  di  Sicilia.    See  Excursions  and  General  Index. 

Gambling1,  Taormina  gambles  in  a  gentle  old-maidish  way.  One  or  two  of 
its  barbers  have  the  column  and  ball  or  roulette  or  petits  chevaux,  where  the 
gambling  is  for  very  petty  sums.  And  there  is,  of  course,  the  lottery. 

Gardens.  Taormina  is  not  rich  in  gardens,  though  it  has  some  very  beauti 
ful  ones.  There  is  no  public  garden,  but  the  Hotel  S.  Domenico  (q.v.) 
allows  visitors  to  go  into  its  charming  garden  and  to  buy  tea  there.  The 
Hotel  Victoria  has  a  lovely  garden  court,  one  of  the  prettiest  things  of  its  kind. 
The  Hon.  A.  Stopford  has  an  old  monastery  garden  smothered  in  roses 
adjoining  the  Cappuccini  Convent,  and  another  beautifully  laid-out  rose-garden 
rising  in  terraces  from  the  church  of  S.  Giuseppe  to  the  top  of  the  town.  It 
was  this  garden  which  gave  the  well-known  Albert  Stopford  Rose  its  name. 
The  lovely  garden  of  S.  Caterina  (q.v.),  with  its  rich  semi-tropical  growths,  is 
now  private,  and  there  are  other  private  gardens  along  the  road  to  Giardini, 
one  with  an  extraordinary  Chinese  pavilion.  Be  sure  to  see  the  lovely  little 
garden  with  the  Gothic  arches  belonging  to  Sig.  Marziani,  the  photographer, 
near  S.  Domenico. 

Giardini.  The  town  where  the  railway  station  of  Taormina  is  situated  is 
a  filthy  and  malarious  hole  inhabited  by  savages  who  molest  the  few  strangers 
who  pass  through  its  insanitary  streets,  and  possesses  no  features  of  interest 
except  a  bank  of  potters'  clay  at  the  Naxos  end  with  a  pottery  working  beside  it. 

Germans.  Taormina  is  flooded  with  Germans.  At  some  hotels  they  have 
separate  tables  for  them,  because  the  other  nations  do  not  like  sitting  with 
Germans,  At  one  of  the  best  hotels  Germans  are  not  admitted.  There  is  a 
German  guide-book  with  skeleton  letter-press,  but  very  well  illustrated  by 
Sig.  Giovanni  Marziani,  the  photographer,  and  his  charming  German  wife. 
There  is  a  German  photographer,  and  a  German  curio-shop,  but  at  present  no 
purely  German  hotel. 

Goats.  Taormina  has  a  great  many  goats.  The  local  breed  is  rather  large 
and  generally  pied  black  and  white. 

Goethe  was  at  Taormina  on  May  7th,  1787,  and  describes  it  thus :  "Now- 
sitting  at  the  spot  where  formerly  sat  the  uppermost  spectators,  you  confess  at 
once  that  never  did  any  audience,  in  any  theatre,  have  before  it  such  a 
spectacle  as  you  there  behold.  On  the  right,  and  on  high  rocks  at  the  side, 
castles  tower  in  the  air ;  farther  on,  the  city  lies  below  you,  and  although  its 
buildings  are  all  of  modern  date,  still  similar  ones,  no  doubt,  stood  of  old  on 
the  same  site.  After  this  the  eye  falls  on  the  whole  of  the  long  ridge  of  ^tna, 
then  on  the  left  it  catches  a  view  of  the  seashore  as  far  as  Catania,  and  even 
Syracuse,  and  then  the  wide  and  extensive  view  is  closed  by  the  immense 
smoking  volcano,  but  not  horribly,  for  the  atmosphere,  with  its  softening 
effect,  makes  it  look  more  distant  and  milder  than  it  really  is.  If  you  now 
turn  from  this  view  towards  the  passage  running  at  the  back  of  the  spectators, 
you  have  on  the  left  the  whole  wall  of  rock  between  which  and  the  sea  runs 
the  road  to  Messina.  And  then  again  you  behold  vast  groups  of  rocky  ridges 
in  the  sea  itself,  with  the  coast  of  Calabria  in  the  far  distance,  which  only  a 
fixed  and  attentive  gaze  can  distinguish  from  the  clouds  which  rise  rapidly 
from  it." 

While  at  Taormina  he  sketched  out  the  plan  of  a  tragedy  on  Nausicaa, 
which  never  came  to  anything.  And  apropos  of  this  he  gives  vent  to  one  of 
the  few  remarks  worthy  of  a  poet  that  he  made  on  his  Sicilian  tour.  ' '  It  was 


554        SICILY  THE   NEW   WINTER   RESORT 

this  that  made  me  care  little  for  all  the  inconvenience  and  discomfort  I  met 
with ;  for  on  this  classic  ground  a  poetic  vein  had  taken  possession  of  me, 
causing  all  that  I  saw,  experienced,  or  observed,  to  be  taken  and  regarded  in 
a  joyous  mood."  Goethe's  remarks  should  once  more  be  contrasted  with 
Newman's  (q.v.  below). 

Gloeben,  Von.     See  under  Photographers. 

Gothic  architecture.  Taormina  is  extremely  interesting  to  the  student  of 
Gothic  architecture.  In  the  Badia  it  possesses  one  of  the  gems,  and  the 
Palazzo  S.  Stefano  is  also  beautiful,  but  neither  of  them  are  typically  Sicilian. 
They  are  more  like  Northern  Gothic  built  with  glittering  marble  and  jet-black 
lava.  The  fifteenth- century  Palazzo  Corvaja,  which  has  a  staircase  and 
balcony  belonging  to  an  earlier  building,  is  typical  with  its  beautiful  masonry 
and  small  chaste  shafted  windows.  Taormina  is  very  much  of  a  Gothic 
village.  It  has  many  Gothic  palazzetti  and  several  little  Gothic  churches 
which  are  mere  chapels  in  dimensions.  It  is  the  builders'  Gothic  which 
affords  such  delightful  artists'  bits  rather  than  architects'  Gothic,  the  work 
of  the  good  craftsman  building  with  no  one  over  him.  The  walls  and  gates 
are  mostly  of  a  Moresco-Gothic,  built  in  this  way.  The  Corso  especially 
is  full  of  palazzetti  with  shafted  windows  or  hooded  late  Gothic  doorway?, 
such  as  the  Casa  Vincenzo  Cipolla,  126  Corso;  the  Casa  Giuseppe  Gulotta, 
178  Corso  ;  190  Corso  j  the  Casa  Francesco  Staiti,  in  the  Piazza  del  Duomo ; 
the  house  opposite  the  Chiesa  del  Varo ;  the  abandoned  Casa  dei  Turci,  under 
the  castle ;  the  Casa  Culoso ;  the  Casa  Galeani ;  the  Casa  delle  Monache 
'Cutrufelli ;  the  Casa  Zuccharo ;  the  Casa  Allegria  ;  the  Palazzo  Syrpi,  I  So 
Corso ;  the  Palazzo  Ciampoli,  in  the  Corso  ;  the  Casa  Francesco  Cacciola,  in 
the  Corso.  The  Gothic  churches  are  the  Cathedral,  S.  Agostino,  S.  Antonio, 
S.  Pietro  e  Paolo,  the  Cappuccini,  and  there  is  a  beautiful  Gothic  doorway  in 
the  courtyard  of  S.  Caterina. 

Guides.  You  are  pestered  with  guides  at  Taormina,  none  of  whom  are 
worth  more  than  a  franc  for  the  morning  or  afternoon.  But  if  you  are  going 
to  places  like  the  Naumachia,  or  the  Stagnone,  of  which  it  is  not  very  easy  to 
find  the  entrance,  it  is  worth  while  to  get  the  hotel  porter  to  hire  you  an  in 
telligent  youth  at  these  rates.  For  anything  in  the  town  which  you  cannot, 
find,  give  a  boy  a  soldo  or  two  to  show  you  the  way.  The  custode  of  the 
theatre,  who  is  also  the  custode  of  the  Stagnone,  is  the  only  person  upon 
-  whose  information  you  can  rely. 

Guide-books.  Rizzo,  Taormina  e  i  sui  Dintorni,  Storia,  Architettura, 
Paesaggio,  3  fr.  50  c.,  is  the  best  Italian  guide-book.  It  contains  a  good 
deal  of  valuable  and  uncommon  information,  but  it  is  not  well  arranged 
or  indexed.  It  is,  however,  better  in  this  respect  than  the  other  Italian  guide, 
Taormina  a  Traversa  i  Tempi,  by  Alfeo  Cali.  Marxian? $  Guide,  which  has 
a  good  plan  and  a  charming  panorama  of  Taormina,  is  in  German,  but 
the  information  is  a  mere  skeleton.  It  is  entitled  Fuhrer  durch  Taormina 
und  Umgebung,  price  i  fr.  25  c.  Much  the  fullest  account  of  Taormina  in 
English  is  In  Sicily,  by  Douglas  Sladen  (Sands  and  Co.,  ^3  31.  nett),  2  vols., 
400  illustrations.  One  ought  to  mention  the  one-franc  Guide  to  the  Theatre  in 
four  languages,  compiled  by  the  custode,  Sig.  Strazzeri.  It  is  a  good  guide, 
and  the  English  is  written  as  she  is  spoke. 

Heads.  Women  carry  burdens  on  their  heads  at  Taormina.  The  women 
carry  everything  else,  as  well  as  their  heavy  water-jars,  on  their  heads. 

Hermitage.  There  is  a  quaint  old  hermitage  called  the  Madonna  della  Rocca 
on  a  spur  of  rock  by  the  castle, 


THINGS   OF  TAORMINA  555 

Hotels,  The  principal  hotels  at  Taormina  are  the  "S.  Domenico," 
"Timeo,"  "  Castello-a-Mare,"  "Victoria"  (the  artists'  hotel,  with  a  beauti 
ful  garden  court),  "Naumachia,"  "Metropole,"  etc.,  and  pension  from  6  to  15 
francs  a  day, 

Ionian  Sea.   The  sea  which  washes  the  eastern  shore  of  Sicily. 
Irrigation.   A  great  deal  of  irrigation  goes  on  at  Taormina,  though  the 
water  has  often  to  be  carried  from  the  fountains. 


THE  HOTEL  S.   DOMENICO  AND  VIEW  OF  ETNA 

I  sola  Bella.  A  rocky  island  in  the  beautiful  bay  formed  by  Capo  S. 
Andrea,  below  the  Hotel  Castellammare..  It  belongs  to  an  English  lady. 

Kindergarten.  There  is  a  charming  little  class  of  tiny  dots  in  a  house 
between  the  Hotel  Metropole  and  the  cathedral. 

Kodaking1.  There  is  a  multitude  of  things  to  kodak  in  Taormina,  and  you 
can  get  them  well  developed  and  can  buy  films  at  Crupi's,  Marziani's,  etc. 
But  the  drawback  is  that  the  degenerate  inhabitants  are  tired  of  posing  except 
for  a  consideration.  There  must  be  people  at  Taormina  who  have  been 
photographed  thousands  of  times.  It  is  a  stagey  place,  but  strangers  don't 
mind  that  because  they  get  such  good  kodaks. 

Largo  Nove  Aprile.  This  is  a  little  piazza  bounded  by  S.  Agostino, 
S,  Giuseppe,  and  the  Orologio,  and  a  view  of  the  sea.  It  is  the  largo  al facto 
tum  of  Taormina,  where  the  band  plays  on  Sundays.  The  moriturus-te- 
saluto  tea-shop  and  cafl  ckantant  are  here. 

Lava  is  much  used  at  Taormina  for  pavements,  architectural  ornaments,  etc, 

S.  Leonardo,  Grotta  of.    A  cave  on  the  way  down  to  S.  Andrea. 

Letojanni.  See  General  Index.  The  first  town  along  the  Messina  road. 
Has  a  few  architectural  remains,  but  it  is  not  worth  seeing  in  itself. 

Lodgings  may  be  obtained  in  Taormina  more  easily  than  in  most  Sicilian 
towns,  clean  and  reasonable.  The  attendance  is  the  difficulty.  The  Villa 
Helene,  belonging  to  the  photographer  Marziani,  has  an  exquisite  subtropical 
garden  with  some  antique  Gothic  arches, 


556       SICILY  THE  NEW  WINTER  RESORT 

Lotteries.  Anyone  will  direct  a  stranger  to  the  office  of  the  State  Lotteries. 
The  drawings  take  place  once  a  week. 

Marziani.  See  under  "Photographers  and  Guide-books.  Sig.  Rosario 
Marziani,  father  of  the  photographer,  keeps  the  Victoria  Hotel  (q.v.). 

Messina  Gate.  By  this  all  wheeled  traffic  enters  Taormina.  Visitors  pay 
a  nominal  octroi  of  50  centimes  on  their  luggage  if  they  wish  to  save  the  delay 
of  examination.  Outside  it  are  the  Cappuccini  Convent  with  an  ancient 
garden  belonging  to  the  Hon.  A.  Stopforcl,  and  the  roads  to  Monte  Zirreto, 
the  Columbarium,  the  Stagnone,  the  Castle,  Mola,  and  Monte  Venere. 

Messina  Road.  The  zigzag  road  down  to  the  station  bifurcates  half-way 
down.  The  left-hand  part  is  the  Messina  Road.  Directly  after  leaving  the 
gate  there  are  interesting  objects  to  visit,  S.  Pancrazio  (q.v.),  with  a  curious 
antique  foundation  just  above  it.  As  the  road  runs  under  the  back  of  the 
theatre  it  passes  between  a  lofty  Roman  or  Saracenic  tomb  on  the  right 


CAPO  S.  ANDREA  AND  ISOLA  BELLA 


and  several  large  Roman  tombs  and  a  magnificent  stretch  of  polygonal  Sikel 
wall  and  the  little  Roman  belvedere  on  the  left.  The  Sikel  wall  ends  at  the 
Hotel  Castello-a-Mare.  The  caves  are  down  below  to  the  left.  After  turning 
the  corner,  the  road  passes  beautiful  Capo  S.  Andrea  and  the  lovely  little  bay 
containing  Isola  Bella.  It  passes  on  through  Letojanni,  and  is  lost  to  sight 
behind  Capo  S.  Alessio. 

Mola.  As  you  are  coming  down  from  the  Greece-Roman  theatre  you  see 
the  tiny  town  of  Mola  perched  on  a  precipice  more  than  two  thousand  feet 
above  the  sea.  It  has  a  beautiful  pointed  gateway  of  1578,  a  ruined  old  castle 
with  a  superb  view,  and  some  prehistoric  tombs  outside  the  Porta  Francese, 
It  has  been  identified  with  the  Mulai  of  Diodorus.  In  ancient  times  it  was  a 
sort  of  citadel  for  Taormina.  Dionysius  surprised  it  on  a  winter  night  of 
394  B.C.  The  first  march  of  Hiero  II.  against  the  Mamertines  was  directed 
against  the  Mulai  of  Tauromenium.  It  was  the  key  of  Taormina.  It  played 


THINGS   OF  TAORMINA  557 

a,  leading  part  in  the  siege  by  the  Saracens  in  902,  and  the  Spaniards  in  1677. 
To  get  to  Mola  you  take  the  road  up  to  the  castle,  and  take  the  higher  road  to 
the  right  just  before  you  come  to  the  castle. 

Money-changers.  There  is  a  money-changer  at  Taormina,  near  the 
Orologio,  a  cautious  and  exorbitant  person.  The  hotels  will  often  change 
cheques. 

Mongibello.  The  Sicilian  name  for  Etna,  It  means  Mount  Mountain. 
See  General  Index. 

Monte  Venere.  The  highest  peak  above  Taormina.  Nearly  3,000  feet. 
You  can  go  there  between  lunch  and  dinner,  and  the  view  is  one  of  the 
finest  in  the  world.  Donkeys  may  be  obtained  by  telling  the  hotel  porter. 

Museum.  There  is  a  small  museum  just  above  the  Greece-Roman  theatre. 

Naumachia.  The  Naumachia  is  a  Roman  building  in  a  large  garden  below 
the  hotel  of  that  name,  the  entrance  of  which  is  difficult  to  find  without  a 
guide.  It  consists  of  a  couple  of  large  roofed-in  Roman  cisterns,  and  a  long 
back  wall  adorned  with  two  stories  of  Roman  brickwork,  containing  orna 
mental  niches  at  intervals,  which  held  statues.  Probably  it  was  a  bath  or 
palaestra,  or  something  of  the  kind,  in  which  this  would  have  formed  a 
corridor.  There  is  a  subterranean  passage  leading  to  it  from  the  garden  by 
the  Palazzo  Corvaja.  The  four  great  Stagnoni  on  the  hill  above  were  prob 
ably  to  supply  this  with  water.  Give  a  few  coppers  to  the  woman  who  brings 
the  key.  There  are  seventeen  niches. 

Naxos.  See  General  Index.  The  oldest  Greek  city  in  Sicily  and  the 
metropolis  of  Taormina,  which  was  founded  in  consequence  of  the  in 
defensibility  of  the  older  town.  It  may  be  reached  by  carriage  from  the 
Messina  Gate,  or  on  foot  in  about  an  hour  from  the  Catania  Gate,  since  it  lies 
just  at  the  south  end  of  Giardini.  Ladies  will  do  well  to  drive,  because  the 
walk  is  rough,  and  the  people  of  Giardini  are  unmannerly  savages.  Along 
j:he  banks  of  the  river  there  is  a  splendid  piece  of  polygonal  Sikelian  wall,  and 
'across  the  river  there  is  a  necropolis,  in  which  a  good  many  things  have  been 
found. 

Orologio.  See  above,  under  Corso.  The  ancient  clock- tower  in  the 
Corso. 

Osservanti,  the  Convent  of.   Usually  known  as  S.  Caterina  (q.v.). 

Palaces.— The  JBadia  (q.v.). 

Ciampoli.  A  small  late  Gothic  and  Renaissance  palace  on  the  upper  side  of 
the  Corso,  just  before  you  come  to  the  post  office.  A  broad  and  picturesque 
flight  of  steps  leads  up  to  it.  There  are  some  charming  Gothic  details  on  its 
front,  and  it  has  a  Gothic  side-gate.  Its  best-known  feature  is  the  ruined 
Renaissance  arcade,  which  is  one  of  the  favourite  artists'  bits  in  all  Sicily. 
Parts  of  it  are  the  oldest  medieval  architecture  in  Taormina,  to  wit,  the 
window  on  the  north  side  resembling  the  Tesoro  of  Messina  and  the  side-gate 
alluded  to  above.  Notice  the  beautiful  resetted  architectural  braid  along  the 
top  of  the  fa9ade. 

Corvaja.  The  fine  fifteenth-century  Gothic  palace  at  the  corner  of  the 
Corso  and  the  street  leading  up  to  the  theatre.  Its  basement  is  now  occupied 
by  a  German  curio-shop.  It  has  a  number  of  chaste  shafted  Gothic  windows, 
and  a  fourteenth-century  cortile  quite  untouched,  which  has  a  processional 
staircase  and  balcony  adorned  with  curious  old  sculptures  of  Adam  and  Eve, 
Its  courtyard  has  a  noble  staircase  carried  round  two  of  its  sides  on  bold  half- 
arches,  with  a  little  gallery  at  the  top  faced  with  a  curious  relief.  It  is  one  of 


558        SICILY  THE   NEW  WINTER   RESORT 

the  most  beautiful  and  elegant  medieval  staircases  of  Sicily,  built  of  pietra 
nera.  On  the  side  towards  you  as  you  enter  you  see  a  bas-relief,  of  the  same 
stone,  divided  into  three  sections  representing  three  leading  biblical  events. 
The  middle  compartment  represents  the  original  sin,  with  the  usual  allegorical 
figure  of  the  serpent  coiled  round  the  tree  and  Eve  gathering  the  forbidden 
fruit.  That  on  the  right  is  said  to  represent  the  expulsion  from  the  Garden  of 
Eden  ;  that  on  the  left  the  sacrifice  of  Abraham.  As  the  Italian  guide-book 
observes,  the  sculptures  seem  to  belong  to  a  primitive  epoch  of  art.  The 


PALAZZO  CQRVAJA 

exterior  contains  these  inscriptions  in  Byzantine  characters :  on  the  south-west 
side,  "Deurn  diligere  prudencia  est — Eum  adorari  justicia";  on  the  front, 
*'  Nullis  in  adversis  ab  eo  extrai  fortitude  est— Nullis  illecebris  emoliri  temper- 
ancia  est — Et  in  his  sunt  actus  virtutum";  and  on  the  south-east  side  the 
following  :  t(  Par  domus  e  ccelo  sed  minori  domino." 

Palazzo  Giustizia.   A  fine  old  palace  near  the  post  office,  recently  done  "up. 

Palazzo  S.  Stefano,  the.  Is  one  of  the  most  beautiful  in  Sicily,  almost  equal 
to  the  Badia,  except  in  position.  It  is  garnished  with  marbles,  as  the  Badia  also 
must  have  been,  from  the  Grssco-Roman  theatre,  because  there  are  no  other 
Sicilian  palaces  adorned  in  this  way.  "It  is  strikingly  beautiful  outside,  with 
its  braided  machicolations  of  black  lava  and  white  marble,  and  its  cloven  Arab 
battlements ;  with  its  glorious  heavy-traceried  windows  of  Sicilian-Gothic  in 
its  upper  story,  and  its  pairs  of  loopholes  divided  by  a  slender  shaft  in  its  lower 
story,  to  which  access  is  given  by  a  broad  terraced  stairway  rising  very  gently, 
and  flanked  by  an  imposing  stone  parapet.  All  the  windows,  which  "are  of 
white  marble,  are  outlined  with  lava,  and,  after  the  Badia,  it  is  the  most 
striking  medieval  building  in  Taprmina. "  (Douglas  Sladen,  In  Sicily. )  The 
only  part  of  the  palace  which  is  shown  is  the  fine  medieval  chamber  in  the 


THINGS   OF  TAORMINA  559 

basement  with  a, column  in  the  centre  supporting  a  vault  of  four  bays.  The 
palace,  which  stands  near  the  Catania  Gate,  is  of  the  fourteenth  century.  It 
is  called  also  the  Palazzo  di  Spuches,  the  name  of  the  duke's  family. 

Palazzo  Syroi.  On  the  Corse  close  to  the  Hotel  Metropole.  Has  the  best 
Renaissance  facade  in  Taortnina  and  a  little  plain  Gothic  entrance-hall. 

See  also  the  Gothic  palazzctti  mentioned  under  Corso  and  Gothic  above. 

Patres  Urbis.  The  Municipal  Council  of  Taormina,  which  is  a  mere 
village,  are  entitled  Patres  Urbis,  or  Senators.  They  have  a  lovely  old  marble 
tribunal  in  the  cathedral  for  their  pew. 

Peddlers  outside  the  cathedral.  The  ledge  running  outside  the  cathedral 
is  a  great  place  for  peddlers, 

Pensions.  There  are  a  few  pensions  at  Taormina,  one  of  which  is  said  to 
be  very  well  kept,  but  most  people  prefer  cheap  hotels,  like  the  Victoria. 

Pergola  at  S.  Domenico.  There  is  a  beautiful  pergola  in  the  garden  of 
S.  Domenico,  covered  with  dark  evergreens  in  the  style  of  the  Italian  lakes. 

Photographers.  Taormina  has  splendid  photographers,  some  of  the  best 
in  Italy. 

Bruno )  Sig.  Is  a  very  old-established  and  most  artistic  photographer. 
He  is  the  photographer  to  the  family  of  Lord  Bridport,  Duke  of  Bronte,  and 
he  sells  prints  of  all  the  Hon.  A.  Nelson  Hood's  superb  photographs  of 
Maniace  and  the  surrounding  district,  by  the  generous  permission  of  Mr.  Hood. 
His  shop  is  in  the  Corso  Umberto  and  his  assistants  are  most  obliging  people. 

Crupi,  Sig.  In  the  Via  Teatro  Antico,  is  an  almost  unrivalled  photo 
grapher.  Some  of  his  views  of  the  theatre  and  landscapes  with  Etna  in  the 
background,  are  among  the  finest  pictures  produced  by  the  photographic  art. 
He  has  a  large  collection  of  photographs  taken  all  over  Sicily,  and  being  a 
man  of  fine  taste,  is  fond  of  photographing  little-known  gems  like  the  tiny 
Gothic  town  of  Savoca,  near  Taormina,  the  ancient  Greek  town  of  Tyndaris, 
Castrogiovanni,  the  Enna  of  the  ancients,  and  Randazzo,  the  medieval.  He 
also  has  very  good  types  and  postcards. 

Gloeden,  Herr.  The  German  photographer  in  the  Corso.  He  does  artistic 
pictures  of  "  types  and  costumes,"  but  is  not  quite  so  successful  with  his  views. 
He  is  dearer  than  the  native  photographers. 

Marziani)  Sig.  Giovanni.  Son  of  the  padrone  of  the  Hotel  Victoria, 
where  he  has  a  shop,  as  well  as  at  the  Villa  Helene.  He  has  a  great  stock  of 
photographs,  many  of  them  rare  bits,  and  does  a  very  large  business  in  kodak 
supplies  and  developing.  He  has  the  great  advantage  of  speaking  English  and 
German  fluently,  and  is  the  most  obliging  man  in  Taormina.  Strangers  who 
want  information  always  go  to  his  office  under  the  Hotel  Victoria,  which  is 
right  in  the  middle  of  the  Corso. 

Piazzas.  Taormina  is  such  a  small  town  that  the  piazzas  do  not  signify. 
The  square  in  front  of  the  Palazzo  Corvaja  is  called  the  Piazza  Margherita,  the 
oval  in  front  of  the  Orologio  is  called  the  Largo  Nove  Aprile  ;  the  dusty  waste 
place  outside  the  Hotel  S.  Domenico,  styled  the  Piazza  S.  Domenico,  has  now 
several  good  shops  round  it.  There  is  another  dusty  piazza  outside  the  Catania 
Gate,  and  the  small  Piazza  S.  Domenica  is  at  the  back  of  the  Hotel 
Naumachia. 

Post  Office.  On  the  Piazza  del  Duomo ;  is  a  disgrace  to  a  place  with  quanti 
ties  of  visitors.  The  people  may  mean  to  be  obliging,  but  they  are  short-handed 
and  have  to  work  in  a  dirty  draughty  little  kennel,  which  is  kept  closed  during 
all  the  convenient  hours  of  the  day.  Visitors  should  remember  to  buy  their 


560        SICILY  THE   NEW   WINTER   RESORT 

stamps  and  get  their  letters  weighed  at  the  Sale  e  Tabacchi  shops.  The  delays 
at  the  post  office  are  interminable,  and  there  is  always  a  queue. 

Prefettura.  Where  the  Patres  Urbis  deliberate  is  close  to  the  post  office. 
It  has  rather  a  nice  little  cortile. 

Roman  pavement.  There  is  a  good  Roman  mosaic  pavement  in  a  house 
on  the  side  street,  which  runs  past  the  end  of  the  garden  of  the  Hotel  Victoria. 

Roman  cisterns.  The  finest  in  the  island  are  at  Taormina,  viz.  the 
Stagnone  (q.v.)  on  the  hill  above  the  Messina  Gate  and  in  the  garden  of  the 
Hon.  A.  Stopford  above  S.  Giuseppe,  and  the  covered  cisterns  at  the  Naumachia 
(q.v, ),  which  are  full  of  water  still. 

Roman  house.     See  Zecca. 

Roman  tombs.  Along  the  road  between  the  Messina  Gate  and  the  Hotel 
Castellamraare  are  the  ruins  of  several  fine  Roman  tombs,  square  brick  towers, 
from  which  all  the  marble  has  been  removed.  The  larger  and  more  perfect 
one  on  the  upper  side  of  the  road  may  be  Saracenic. 

Rotondo.  The  curious  Roman  foundations  on  the  left  hand  of  the  road  as 
you  go  down  to  S.  Pancrazio. 

Salite.  The  salite  of  Taormina,  though  nothing  to  the  tremendous  streets 
of  steps  which  climb  the  hill  at  Genoa  and  Naples,  are  very  picturesque. 
They  are  only  a  couple  of  yards  wide,  climb  at  a  very  high  angle,  and  are 
spanned  with  flying  arches.  In  very  wet  weather  they  are  animated  water 
courses  with  sufficient  water  in  them  for  the  women  to  do  their  washing. 

Saracens.  Unless  it  be  the  tall  square  tomb  above  the  road  between  the 
Messina  Gate  and  the  Castellammare  Hotel,  there  are  no  Saracen  buildings  in 
Taormina  beyond  a  few  tomb-niches  driven  into  the  wall  near  S.  Caterina ; 
but  the  castle,  the  walls,  the  Badia,  and  S.  Stefano,  all  have  a  very  Saracen- 
esque  tone.  Taormina,  perched  on  its  almost  impregnable  heights,  resisted 
the  Saracens  until  902,  and  had  to  be  again  reduced  in  968.  It  was  taken  from 
the  Saracens  by  the  Normans  in  1078-1080. 

Savoca.  See  General  Index.  An  extremely  picturesque  mountain  town, 
with  some  ancient  Gothic  buildings,  about  three  hours'  drive  from  Taormina. 
It  may  also  be  approached  on  foot  from  the  S.  Teresa  Stat.  in  about  an  hour. 
It  has  superb  wild  views  as  well  as  interesting  buildings,  and  its  mountain  is 
covered  with  cistus  blossoms. 

Scenery.  In  scenery,  Taormina  is  generally  considered  one  of  the  first 
places  in  the  world,  not  without  reason,  for  the  seascape  from  Cape  S.  Alessio 
with  the  long  arm  of  Calabria  opposite  forms  one  of  the  loveliest  stretches  of 
shore  imaginable.  And  high  above  that  glorious  picture  of  blue  sea,  red 
rocks,  and  green  hills,  rises  the  white  crown  of  Etna,  the  monarch  of  moun 
tains.  The  climax  of  scenery  is,  of  course,  reached  in  the  Gneco-Roman 
theatre,  where  you  see  Etna  and  the  long-drawn  vista  of  that  exquisite  coast 
between  the  columns  of  African  marble  and  the  mighty  piers  of  the  stage. 
It  was  a  canon  of  Greek  art  to  build  a  theatre  where  the  finest  view  in  the 
neighbourhood  formed  the  background  of  the  stage,  and  in  this  respect 
Taormina  is  admitted  to  excel  any  known  Greek  theatre,  not  excluding 
Athens. 

Schiso,  Cape.  A  very  curious  promontory  of  jet-black  lava  jutting  sharply 
out  into  the  sea  opposite  the  ancient  Naxos. 

Shops.  See  Antichita-shops,  Chemists,  Photographers,  etc.  Taormina  has 
now  quite  a  number  of  shops.  That  they  are  none  of  them,  apart  from  the 
kinds  mentioned  above,  of  any  value,  is  immaterial ;  but  if  you  try  them  all 


THINGS    OF   TAORMINA  561 

the  way  down  and  are  not  looking  for  anything  more  ambitious  than  a  Huntley 
and  Palmer  biscuit  or  White  Horse  whisky,  you  may  get  it.  While  they  are 
well  nobody  wants  to  buy  anything  at  Taormma,  except  curios  and  photographs. 
There  are  stalls  for  rubbishy  pottery  and  knick-knacks  for  the  less  educated 
borne  of  the  Taormma  shops  have  the  curious  counters  mentioned  at  Eryx  and 
Kanclazzo,  built  out  from  each  side  of  the  doorway,  but  they  are  not  antique. 

Sicilian-Gothic.   See  above  under  Gothic.     Taormma  is  full  of  it. 

Sifone,  the.  Outside  the  Porta  Toca,  an  antique  building,  connected  with 
the  ancient  conduits. 

Sikelian  wall.  Below  the  road  from  the  Messina  Gate  to  the  Hotel  Castello- 
a-Mare.  There  is  another  one  at  Naxos,  near  Giardini. 

Sights  of  Taormma.  See  under  Theatres,  Greek,  and  Graco- Roman  : 
Churches,  Palaces,  Gates,  Walls,  Castle,  Mola,  Monte  Venere,  Monte  Zirreto ; 
Tombs,  Roman  and  Saracen;  Naumachia.  Stagnone,  Gardens,  Rotondo, 
-Belvedere,  Savoca,  Etna,  Fiume  d'  Agro,  Columbarium,  Caves,  Naxos  the 
Norman  Minster  at  Fiume  d'  Agro,  etc. 

Spanish  balconies.  See  under  General  Index.  There  are  very  few  in 
Taormina. 


Spinning.   One  of  the  stage  properties  of  Taormina.     The  women  are 

urotrt  e™™;™  ,«,*,,:;u   *W  J r   .!__:„  i ^  yQu   produce   &  kodak 

Penelope's  handmaids  in 


— r —      • "  o        v**x    v*     bMvi    db«,£v    jjxv/jjvi, LJ.UCJ    \ji     JL  <tuiii.ni.Jia,.        1  lie 

always  spinning  outside  the  doors  of  their  houses  until  you  produce  a  kodak 
(q.v.).     Their  methods  are  unchanged  from  those  of  Penelope's  h 


the  Odyssey. 

Stagnone.  The  Stagnoni  are  among  the  most  astonishing  remains  at 
Taormma.  Two  of  them  on  a  hill  above  the  Messina  Gate  are  great  aisled 
cisterns,  reminding  one  of  the  Hall  of  the  Thousand  Columns  at  Constanti 
nople  and  the  splendid  antique  cistern  near  Baise.  Hardly  anyone  goes  to 
see  them,  though  they  are  in  very  fine  condition  and  close  to  the  town.  They 
seem  to  have  supplied  the  bathing  establishment  in  the  Naumachia  as  well  as 
the  town  water,  for  communications  have  been  traced  between  the  two. 
There  are  two  more  large  cisterns  in  the  Naumachia,  and  the  remains  .of 
another  fine  vaulted  Stagnone  in  the  Hon.  A.  Stopford's  garden. 

Staircases,  processional.  There  are  fine  medieval  outside  staircases  lead 
ing  straight  up  to  the  piano  nobilc  in  the  Palazzo  Corvaja,  the  Palazzo 
S.  Stefano,  and  the  Casa  Floresta  at  Taormina. 

Streets.  There  are  only  two  streets  of  any  consequence,  the  Corso  (q.v.) 
and  the  Via  Teatro  Antico,  which  leads  from  the  Palazzo  Corvaja  to  the 
Grace-Roman  theatre  and  the  Hotel  Timeo.  The  Via  Bagnoli  Croci  is  the 
back  way  from  the  Naumachia  to  S.  Caterina.  There  are  a  good  many  little 
side-streets,  mostly  called  Salita  This  or  That  (q.v.).  The  two  streets  first 
named  contain  nearly  all  the  important  houses.  See  under  Gothic. 

Tauromenium.  The  ancient  name  of  Taormina.  The  city  has  had  a 
continuous  existence  since  Himilcon  helped  the  Naxians  to. remove  to  the 
present  site  in  396  B.C. 

Taurus,  Mount.  The  hill  on  which  the  Groeco-Roman  theatre  is  built 
Anciently,  apparently,  it  was  an  acropolis. 

Teatro  Regina  Margherita.     See  below,  Theatres. 

Temples.  There  is  the  stylobate  of  a  very  small  temple  above  the  Gneco- 
Roman  theatre  near  the  museum. 

The  church  of  S.  Pancrazio  is  built  out  of  -the  cella  of  an  ancient  temple. 
It  used  to  be  identified  with  that  of  Apollo  Archagetas  transferred  from  Naxos, 
but  Rizzo  claims  it  to  be  the  temple  of  Serapis  (Giove  Serapide). 

2    o 


562        SICILY  THE   NEW   WINTER   RESORT 

Theatre,  the  Graecp-Roman.  One  of  the  most  striking  monuments  of 
antiquity  on  account  of  its  matchless  position,  its  glorious  colour,  and  its  great 
height  and  size.  Nobody  knows  the  date  of  the  Greek  foundation,  though 
Strazxeri  hazards  358  B.C.,  when  Taormina  was  at  its  zenith  as  an  independent 
state.  It  was  converted  in  Roman  times/that  is  clear,  for  Greek  stages  were 


AUDITORIUM   OK   TI1K   CiK.l'XO-KOMAN   THKATKK 


low  built,  with  the, -design  of  allowing  the  view  to  form  the  background.  It 
is  the  rose-red  ruins  of  the  lofty  Roman  stage,  with  its  columns  of  African 
marble,  which  are  so  gloriously  picturesque.  Of  the  auditorium  nothing  re 
mains  but  the  turf  slopes  on  which  the  seats  were  built.  Unlike  most  Greek 
theatres,  it  had  not  seats  cut  out  of  the  rock.  Of  the  dressing-rooms,  traps 
tinder  the  stage,  and  the  like,  the  remains  are  unusually  complete/ as.  they  are 
of  the  great  covered  corridor  at  the  top.  The  custode,  Sig.  Strazzeri,  has 
prepared  a  very  elaborate  key  td  the  ruins.  But  most  people  only  go  to  look 
.at  the  view  or  see  the  new  arrivals. 

Theatre,  the  small  Greek.  Behind  the  church  of  St.  Agriese,  near  the 
Palazzo  Corvaja.  This  has  been  exhumed  from  the  house  which  covered  it, 
.and  reminds  you  rather  of  the  Greek  theatre  at  Catania.  It  is  in  fairly  perfect 
condition.  But  nothing  is  known  of  it.  There  are  some  traces  of  a  temple 
adjoining.  :  i 

Teatro  Regina  Margherita.  The  modern  theatre,  at  which  they  occa 
sionally  have  operatic  or  theatrical  performances,  is  formed  out  of  the  chapel 
of  the  Badia  Nuova  (q.v.)  which  stands  on  the  Piazza  Margherita. 

Toca,  Porta.  The  "down-there"  gate  is  a  wonderfully  picturesque  em« 
. battled  Gothic  gate.  One  of  the  best  artists'  bits  in  Taormina.  In  the 
outer  wall  beyond  the  Catania  Gate.  The  hospital  'above  it  has  a  picturesque 
garden.  !  •  •  •' 


THINGS   OF  TERMINI  563 

Tombs.  The  modern  Campo  Santo  is  beyond  S.  Pancrazio.  See  Roman 
or  Saracen  tombs.  There  are  some  prehistoric  tombs  outside  Mola. 

Venere,  Monte.  Nearly  3,000  feet  above  the  sea;  is  a  favourite  excursion. 
The  path  lies  past  Mola. 

Water-carriers.  Nearly  all  the  water  of  Taormina  is  carried  on  the  heads 
of  the  young  women.  An  idiot  carries  the  water  for  the  Hotel  Victoria. 

Zecca,  La.  This  is  a  two-storied  Roman  building  between  the  Messina 
Gate  and  the  theatre,  now  occupied  by  a  blacksmith.  Some  claim  that 
it  was  a  tomb.  If  so,  it  was  altered  to  a  house  in  remote  times.  Both 
,it  and  ^  the  whole  courtyard  in  which  it  is  situated  form  splendid  artists' 
bits,  with  the  fine  old  brickwork  and  outside  stairways.  The  colouring  is 
very  rich. 

Zirreto,  Monte,  and  its  valley,  with  a  brown  mountain  river,  form  one  of 
the  favourite  walks  from  Taormina.  Wild  cyclamens  and  oleanders  are 
plentiful 


THE  GM:CG-KOMAN  THEATRE  ANP  VIEW  OF  ETNA 


THINGS  OF   TERMINI 

TERMINI,  the  ancient  Him  era  and  Thermae  Himerse,  was  founded  in  648  B.C. 
by  colonists  from  Zancle  (Messina),  and  therefore  presumably  Ionian  Greeks. 
It  was  held  by  Theron,  tyrant  of  Acragas,  against  an  enormous  host  of 
Carthaginians  commanded  by  the  first  Hamilcar,  in  480  B.C.,  and  as  Gelon, 
tyrant  of  Syracuse,  marched  to  its  rescue  in  hot  haste  with  50,000  horse  and 
foot,  their  combined  forces  were  sufficient  to  destroy  the  army  of  Hamilcar, 
who  fell  in  the  battle,  which,  according  to  Herodotus,  was  fought  on  the  same 
day  as  that  of  Salamis.  To  avenge  his  grandfather's  death,  Hannibal,  the  son 
of  Gisco,  in  407  B.C.,  captured  Himera,  slaughtered  3,000  of  its  inhabitants 


564        SICILY  THE   NEW   WINTER   RESORT 

as  a  sacrifice  to  his  grandfather's  ghost,  and  razed  it  to  the  ground.  It  was 
never  rebuilt  on  the  same  site,  but  close  by,  in  the  city  of  Thermae 
Pindar  addressed  an  ode  to  its  citizens.  In  the  war  between  Athens  and 
Syracuse,  in  spite  of  its  Ionian  origin,  it  joined  Gylippus  in  preference  to  the 
Athenians. 

Diocles,  the  Syracusan,  was  holding  Himera  when  Hannibal  marched  on  it, 
but  he  left  it  to  its  fate,  not  even  stopping  to  gather  up  the  dead,  a  dire  con 
fession  of  defeat  for  a  Greek.  Hermocrates,  the  great  Syracusan,  who  saved 
his  city  from  Athens  when  exiled  from  his  ungrateful  city,  gathered  up  these 
bones  and  brought  them  reverently  to  Syracuse.  The  Thermae  of  Himera, 
not  those  of  Selinunte  (Termini,  and  not  Sciacca),  are  generally  held  to  be  the 
birthplace  of  the  mighty  Agathocles,  who  conquered  it  in  307  B.C.  Thermae 
fell  to  the  Romans  a  little  after  the  time  of  Pyrrhus,  and  in  due  time  became 
a  Roman  colony,  of  which  there  are  many  traces  left.  '  *  King  Robert  of 
Sicily,"  the  Neapolitan  monarch  who  was  the  island's  king  only  in  name, 
tried  in  vain  to  capture  the  strong  castle  of  Termini  in  1338.  The  great  Greek 
poet,  Stesichorus,  was  born  at  Himera,  632  B.C. 

Termini  embraces  both  the  ancient  Himera  destroyed  by  the  Carthaginians 
in  407  B.C.  and  the  ancient  Thermae  Himerenses  which  was  founded  to  receive 
the  exiles  of  Himera.  It  is  so  close  to  Palermo  that  foreigners  visit  it  in  the 
day  from  that  city  when  they  happen  to  be  there.  But  for  the  natives  it  has 
a  distinct  bathing  season  and  a  sort  of  hydropathic  establishment.  Termini 
has  a  station  which  is  the  junction  of  the  Palermo -Messina  line  and  the 
Palermo-Catania  line,  which  has  already  picked  up  the  Girgenti-Palermo  traffic 
at  Roccapalumba.  It  has  a  mail-vettura  to  Caccamo,  in  2j  hours. 

Aqueduct,  Cornelian.  The  Acqua  Cornelia  was  restored  by  the  Romans 
from  an  aqueduct  going  back  to  the  earliest  times.  It  begins  at  a  place  called 
Brucato.  It  was  5  kils.  long.  The  present  remains  are  the  receiver  at  the 
source,  various  long  stretches  of  unbroken  conduit,  some  arches,  and  other 
remains. 

Aqueduct  in  the  Buccone  della  Figurella.    A  Roman  aqueduct. 

Amphitheatre.  There  are  traces  in  the  villa  above  the  city  marked  by  the 
elliptical  form  in  which  the  houses  are  arranged,  they  having  been  built  on 
the  ruins  of  the  amphitheatre  so  distinctly  as  to  give  its  line  of  circumference. 

Basilica.  The  remains  of  a  Roman  basilica  have  been  discovered  above 
the  town  in  the  Villa. 

Baths.  Extolled  by  Pindar  early  in  the  fifth  century  B.C.  There  are 
three  principal  springs:  (i)  the  Aqua  dei  Bagni  di  Termini  (saline),  with  a 
temperature  of  437°  centigrade,  used  both  for  bathing  and  stufe;  (2)  the 
Acqua  del  Binuto  di  Termini,  or  Acque  Sante,  pure  saline  of  a  natural  tem 
perature,  used  for  drinking ;  (3)  an  acidulo-ferrugineous  spring  of  a  natural 
temperature  known  simply  as  the  Acque  di  Termini,  used  for  drinking.  The 
Acqua  del  Binuto  is  prescribed  for  arthritis,  rheumatic  and  cutaneous  affec 
tions,  obstructions,  and  hypertrophy  of  the  glands.  There  is  a  bathing  estab 
lishment.  Pindar  mentions  these  baths  as  a  place  where  Hercules  was  re 
freshed  by  the  nymphs  when  wearied  by  driving  the  cattle  of  Geryon. 

Carthaginians.  Himera  has  a  woeful  prominence  in  Siculo-Carthaginian 
history— at  first  glorious,  for  it  was  here  that  Gelon  of  Syracuse  and  Theron 
of  Acragas  destroyed  the  First  Hamilcar  with  300,000  men  on  the  day  of 
Salamis. 

Herodotus  says  that  they  were  invited  by  Terillus,  the  expelled  tyrant  of 


THINGS   OF  TERMINI  565 

Himera,  backed  by  his  son-in-law  Anaxilas  of  Rhegium,  His  account  of  the 
battle  must  be  quoted. 

t(  In  addition  to  this,  they  say,  that  it  happened  on  the  same  day  that  Gelon 
and  Theron  conquered  Amilcar  the  Carthaginian  in  Sicily,  and  the  Greeks 
conquered  the  Persians  at  Salamis.  I  am  informed  that  Amilcar,  who  was  a 
Carthaginian  by  his  father,  and  a  Syracusan  by  his  mother,  and  chosen  king 
of  Carthage  for  his  virtue,  when  the  engagement  took  place,  and  he  was 
defeated  in  battle,  vanished  out  of  sight ;  for  he  was  seen  nowhere  on  the 
earth  either  alive  or  dead,  though  Gelon  had  search  made  for  him  everywhere. 
The  following  story  is  also  related  by  the  Carthaginians  themselves,  who 
endeavour  to  give  a  probable  account  that  the  barbarians  fought  with  the 
Grecians  in  Sicily  from  the  morning  till  late  in  the  evening,  for  it  is  said  that  the 
conflict  lasted  so  long;  and  during  this  time,  Amilcar,  continuing  in  the  camp, 
offered  sacrifices,  and  observed  the  omens,  burning  whole  victims  upon  a  large 
pile ;  and  when  he  saw  the  defeat  of  his  own  army,  as  he  happened  to  be 
pouring  libations  on  the  victims,  he  threw  himself  into  the  flames,  and  thus, 
being  burnt  to  ashes,  disappeared.  But  whether  Amilcar  disappeared  in  such 
manner  as  the  Phoenicians  relate,  or  in  another  manner,  as  the  Syracusans, 
the  Carthaginians  in  the  first  place  offer  sacrifices  to  him,  and  in  the  next 
have  erected  monuments  to  his  memory  in  all  the  cities  inhabited  by  colonists, 
and  the  most  considerable  one  in  Carthage  itself.  So  much  for  the  affairs  of 
Sicily." 

To  revenge  his  country  and  his  grandfather,  Hannibal,  the  son  of  Gisco, 
marched  on  Himera  after  he  had  destroyed  Selinunte.  Diodes,  with  a  force 
of  several  thousand  Syracusans,  fought  a  doubtful  battle  with  him  under  the 
walls,  and  the  inhabitants  prepared  bravely  for  the  siege.  The  Greek  fleet 
came  in  from  Asia  at  the  same  time,  which  was  fatal  to  the  city,  for 
Hannibal,  by  a  feint,  tricked  Diocles  into  believing  that  he  was  going  straight 
to  Syracuse.  Diocles  thought  the  guarding  of  Syracuse  so  important  that  he 
marched  post-haste  back  again,  not  waiting  even  to  bury  the  dead.  The 
inhabitants  were  divided  into  two  parties  for  transportation  by  sea  to  Messana. 
The  first  arrived  there  safely  while  the  second  manned  the  walls.  Before  the 
second  could  embark  the  Carthaginians  broke  in,  and  ail  was  over.  The 
women  and  children  were  sold  into  slavery,  and  the  3,000  men  who  were 
captured  were  sacrificed  to  the  ghost  of  Hamilcar. 

The  great  Hermocrates,  when  he  was  exiled  by  ungrateful  Syracuse  after 
the  conquest  of  the  Athenians,  went  to  Himera  with  a  band  of  brave  men, 
and  collected  the  ashes  of  the  dead,  and  brought  them  piously  to  Syracuse. 
The  Carthaginians  razed  Himera  to  the  ground,  and  when  the  city  rose  to 
importance  again,  it  was  not  on  the  ancient  site,  but  at  the  neighbouring 
Thermae. 

Caccamo.  A  favourite  drive  from  Termini  (see  General  Index)  on  account 
of  its  beautiful  battlemented  Norman  castle,  whose  shafted  windows  are  a 
favourite  subject  with  artists.  The  Cucumum  of  the  ancients  and  Karches  of 
the  Saracens.  You  leave  by  the  Porta  Caccamo  and  pass  the  church  of 
S.  Antony  of  Padua  and  the  Cornelian  aqueduct,  The  mountain  views  are 
very  magnificent,  and  the  vegetation  extremely  rich. 

Casa  Communale.  Close  to  the  Chiesa  Maggiore.  In  the  Aula  del 
Consilia  are  frescoes  by  Vincenzo  Babera  relating  to  the  history  and  legends 
of  the  city. 

Castle.  "A  fine  pile  of  medieval  times,  on  the  brow  of  a  lofty  cliff,  con 
tains  some  curious  Arabic  inscriptions.  In  1338  this  stronghold  successfully 
resisted  a  siege  by  Robert  of  Naples,  but  it  was  destroyed  in  1860."  (Murray.) 


566        SICILY   THE   NEW   WINTER   RESORT 

Churches. — 5.  Caterina  has  frescoes  attributed  to  Nicolo  and  Giacomo 
Graffeo.  It  has  an  early  fourteenth-century  Gothic  doorway  with  quaint  bas- 
reliefs.  The  quaint  frescoes  relate  to  the  life  of  S.  Catherine  and  have 
inscriptions  in  Sicilian, 

S.  Domenico.  "  Has  a  marble  painted  statue  of  the  Virgin,  fifteenth  century, 
and  a  recumbent  effigy  of  1555."  (Murray.) 

S.  Francesco.  "Is  an  early  church  in  the  pointed  style,  with  dog-tooth  in 
the  labels."  (Murray.) 

S.  Giacomo.  Near  the  Chiesa  Maggiore,  has  an  early  campanile.  According 
to  Murray  the  foundation  is  Roman. 

S,  Giuseppe.    Has  a  picture  of  the  Virgin  painted  by  Monocolo  di  Racalmuto. 

S.  Giovanni  di  Dio.  "  Now  a  hospital,  has  a  Norman  gateway,  and  windows 
separated  by  slender  marble  columns."  (Murray.) 

La,  Nunziata  contains  a  singular  Presepio  in  marble.     (Murray.) 

Maggiore,  Ckiesa.  Crucifix  painted  on  both  sides  by  Ruzzolone.  Sculptures 
by  Marabitti. 

S.  Maria  di  Gesh.  Has  a  curious  Pieta  in  marble,  1480,  and  a  cross  with 
fourteenth- century  reliefs  in  the  piazza  in  front,  and  the  Ventimiglia  monument. 
(Murray.) 

S.  Maria  della  Misericordia.  Has  a  fine  triptych  of  1453  by  Gasparo  da 
Pesaro.  (Baedeker.) 

Monte,  CUesa  del  The  Pantheon  of  the  celebrities  of  Termini. 

S.  Or  sola.  Has  a  medieval  campanile,  which,  according  to  Murray,  stands 
on  a  Roman  foundation. 

Cicero  (Verres,  III.,  xxxv,  et '  sqq.}  has  much  to  say  about  Termini 
(Thermse),  describing  the  restoration  of  its  statues  by  Scipio  Africanus  and 
the  successful  resistance  against  their  removal  by  the  inhabitants  under  the 
leadership  of  Sthenius. 

Coins.  The  earliest  coins  of  Himera  bear  the  cock  of  ^Esculapius.  In  the 
fifth  century  B.C.  the  types  of  the  Himeroean  coins  were  very  picturesque,  but 
too  numerous  to  give  here.  Himera  was  destroyed  407  B.C.  The  coins 
struck  by  Thermse  after  the  destruction  of  Carthage  depict  the  statues  belong 
ing  to  ancient  Himera,  which  Scipio  restored  to  Thermo;.  (G.  F.  Hill.) 

Diocles.  The  commander  of  the  Syracusan  contingent  which  abandoned 
Himera  to  the  Carthaginians  in  407. 

Flora.  Is  behind  the  Chiesa  Matrice.    Commands  a  fine  view. 
Giancaniglia.   Outside  the  Palermo  Gate.    According  to  Murray  there  are 
some  ancient  Roman  tombs  here. 

Hamilcar.     See  above,  Carthaginians,  and  General  Index. 
Hannibal,  son  of  Gisco.    See  above,  under  Carthaginians  and   under 
General  Index. 

Himera.     Battle  of,  480 ;  and  destruction  of,  407  B.  c. 
Mail-vetture.     From  the  station  gets  to  Termini  Alta  in  J  hour ;  and  to 
Caccamo,  2j  hours. 

Mosaic  pavements  of  several  Roman  villas  have  been  found  on  the  hill  of 
S.  Lucia  east  of  the  town.  (Murray.) 

Museo  Communale.  In  the  Ospedale  dei  Benfratelli,  which  has  beautiful 
shafted  Gothic  windows  in  the  hall.  It  contains  a  collection  of  Greek  and 
Roman  inscriptions,  and  Arabic  inscriptions  taken  from  the  castle  demolished 
in  1860  ;  pictures  by  Vincenzo  Barbera,  Zoppo  di  Gangi,  and  Elisabetta 


THINGS   OF  TERMINI  567 

Siran  ;  some  fine  seventeenth-century  arras ;  a  sixteenth-century  marble 
cross  from  the  Piazza  S.  Maria  di  Gesh ;  numerous  prehistoric  and  Greek" 
and  Roman  fragments,  vases,  sarcophagi,  and  inscriptions,  including  a  statue- 
supposed  to  be  Sthenius.  See  below. 

Ospedale  dei  Benfratelli.    See  above,  under  Museo. 

Romans.  Termini  is  full  of  Roman  remains.  See  under  Aqueducts,, 
S.  Orsola,  S.  Giacomo,  Mosaics,  etc.  Cicero  calls  Thermae  one  of  the  first 
towns  of  Sicily  for  renown  and  for  beauty.  It  comes  much  into  his  Verres. 

Scaturagine  delle  donne.   Submarine  springs  off  Termini. 

Scipio  Africanus  the  Younger.  Cicero  says  (251-252) : — 

'*  Indeed  (that  you  may  learn  at  the  same  time  both  the  humanity  and  the 
justice  of  Publius  Africanus),  the  Carthaginians  had  formerly  taken  the  town  of 
Himera,  one  of  the  first  towns  in  Sicily  for  renown  and  for  beauty.  Scipio,  as 
he  thoxight  it  a  thing  worthy  of  the  Roman  people,  that,  after  the  war  was  over, 
our  allies  should  recover  their  property  in  consequence  of  our  victory,  took 
care,  after  Carthage  had  been  taken,  that  everything  which  he  could  manage 
should  be  restored  to  all  the  Sicilians.  As  Himera  had  been  destroyed,  those 
citizens  whom  the  disasters  of  the  war  had  spared  had  settled  at  Thermae,  on, 
the  border  of  the  same  district,  and  not  far  from  their  ancient  town.  •  They 
thought  that  they  were  recovering  the  fortune  and  dignity  of  their  fathers 
when  those  ornaments  of  their  ancestors  were  being  placed  in  the  town  of 
Thermrc.  There  were  many  statues  of  brass  ;  among  them  a  statue  of  Himera 
herself,  of  marvellous  beauty,  made  in  the  shape  and  dress  of  a  woman,  after 
the  name  of  the  town  and  of  the  river.  There  was  also  a  statue  of  the  poet 
Stesichorus,  aged,  stooping — made,,  as  men  think,  with  the  most  exceeding 
skill— who  was,  indeed,  a  citizen  of  Himera,  but  who  was  and  is  in  the  highest 
renown  and  estimation  over  all  Greece  for  his  genius.  These  things  he  coveted 
to  a  degree  of  madness.  There  is  also,  which  I  had  almost  passed  over,  a 
certain  she-goat  made,  as  even  we  who  are  unskilled  in  these  matters  can 
judge,  with  a  wonderful  skill  and  beauty.  These,  and  other  works  of  art, 
Scipio  had  not  thrown  away  like  a  fool,  in  order  that  an  intelligent  man  like 
Verres  might  have  an  opportunity  of  carrying  them  away,  but  he  had  restored 
them  to1  the  people  of  Thermae  ;  not  that  he  himself  had  not  gardens,  or  a 
suburban  villa,  or  some  place  where  he  could  put  them  ;  but  if  he  had  taken 
them  home,  they  would  not  long  have  been  called  Scipio's,  but  theirs  to  whom 
they  had  come  by  his  death.  Now  they  are  placed  in  such  places  that  it 
seems  to  me  they  will  always  seem  to  be  Scipio's,  and  so  they  are  called." 

Springs,  hot    See  under  Baths. 

Sthenius.  The  inhabitant  of  Thermse  who  led  the  resistance  against  the 
deprecations  of  Verres.  His  statue  is  shown  in  the  museum.  Cicero  says  :— 

*<  When  that  fellow  claimed  those  things,  and  the  subject  was  mooted  in 
the  senate,  Sthenius  resisted  his  claim  most  earnestly,  and  urged  many  argu 
ments,  for  he  is  among  the  first  men  in  all  Sicily  for  fluency  of  speech.  He  said 
that  it  was  more  honourable  for  the  men  of  Thermae  to  abandon  their  city  than 
to  allow  the  memorials  of  their  ancestors,  the  spoils  of  their  enemies,  the  gifts 
of  a  most  illustrious  man,  the  proofs  of  their  alliance  and  friendship  with  the 
Roman  people,  to  be  taken  away  out  of  their  city.  The  minds  of  all  ^were 
moved.  No  one  was  found  who  did  not  agree  that  it  was  better  to  die." 

Verres  sentenced  Sthenius  to  be  scourged  publicly,  and  when  he  escaped  to 
Rome  had  his  goods  distrained. 

Templet  There  are  ruins  of  a  Greek  temple  belonging  to  ancient  Himera 
at  Buonfornello,  near  Termini. 


568        SICILY  THE   NEW   WINTER   RESORT 

Terillus,  the  son  of  Crinippus.  The  expelled  tyrant  of  Himera,  who 
invited  Hamilcar  480  B.C.  His  daughter  Cydippe  married  the  famous  tyrant, 
Anaxilas  of  Rhegiutn,  the  founder  of  Messana,  See  General  Index. 

Tombs,  ancient.  "  At  a  spot  called  Giancaniglia,  outside  ^the  Palermo 
Gate,  and  at  the  Belvedere  on  the  W.,  are  remains  of  ancient  tombs." 
(Murray.) 

Walls.   There  are  considerable  remains  of  a  decaying  medieval  wall. 


THINGS   OF  TRAPANI 

TRAPANI,  the  ancient  Drepanum,  may  be  visited  at  almost  any  time^  being 
warm  in  winter  and  having  the  favourite  summer  station  of  Monte  S.  Giuliano 
within  only  two  or  three  hours'  drive  from  the  station.  Its  name  is  hardly 
changed.  It  is  a  flourishing  city  of  60,000  people,  the  capital  of  a  province, 
and  one  of  the  chief  seaports  of  Sicily.  Its  salt  industries  are  immensely 
important,  it  being  outside  the  Italian  Government's  salt  monopoly ;  ^  and 
a  great  deal  of  the  so-called  Marsala  wine  comes  now  from  the  baglio  at 
Trapani,  which  ranks  next  after  the  three  principal  baglios  of  Marsala. 

HISTORY. — Trapani,  or  Drepanum,  of  which  the  original  name  is  said  to  have 
been  Camasena,  the  seaport  of  the  Elymian  city  of  Eryx,  was  fortified  with  a 
citadel  on  the  isthmus,  one  of  the  strongest  fortresses  in  Sicily,  by  Hamilcar 
Barca  in  the  First  Punic  War,  about  260  B.C.  From  250  B.C.  it  and  Lilybseum 
were  the  only  two  points  held  by  the  Carthaginians  in  Sicily.  The  Romans 
besieged 'it  242  B.C.,  but  could  not  capture  it.  However,  after  C.  Lutatius 
Catulus,  the  Roman  commander,  had  destroyed  the  convoy  sent  to  relieve 
it  in  the  Battle  of  the  jEgatian  Islands,  241  B.C.,  Hamilcar  was  forced  to 
conclude  peace  and  abandon  all  Sicily  to  the  Romans.  Edward  I.  of  England 
was  here  twice  while  crusading.  Peter  of  Aragon  landed  at  Trapani  from 
Africa  A.D.  1288,  and  was  hailed  as  the  liberator  of  Sicily.  During  the 
Middle  Ages  it  was  a  royal  residence. 

^Egatian  Islands,  the.  See  General  Index.  Lie  off  Trapani.  The 
Battle  of  the  ^Egatian  Islands  was  fought  between  a  Roman  fleet  and  the 
Carthaginian  convoy  sent  to  relieve  Drepanum. 

Butler,  the  late  Samuel.  Wrote  a  book,  called  The  Authoress  of  th& 
Odyssey ',  to  prove  that  this  poem  was  written  by  a  woman  at  Trapani. 

>Eneid,  the  Fifth.  Almost  entirely  taken  up  with  Trapani  and  the  neigh 
bourhood.  See  above,  in  introduction  to  Trapani. 

Carthage,  connection  of  Trapani  with.  Drepanum  was  one  of  the  few- 
towns  founded  by  the  Carthaginians  themselves,  and  not  taken  over  from  their 
Phoenician  kinsmen  or  the  Greeks.  It  had  a  short  life  under  them,  having 
only  been  founded  about  260  B.C.  by  Hamilcar  Barca,  and  falling  to  the 
Romans  by  the  cession  of  Sicily  in  241  B.C.,  though  they  had  been  unable 
to  capture  it.  The  harbour  had  been  used  as  the  harbour  of  Eryx,  but  during 
this  twenty  years  it  and  Lilybseum  were  the  heart  of  Carthaginian  Sicily, 
See  above,  under  History. 

Catulus,  C.  Lutatius.  The  Roman  Consul  who  won,  in  241  B.C.,  the 
great  sea-fight  off  the  ^Egatian  Islands  which  terminated  the  First  Punic 
War,  and,  indeed,  was  the  decisive  battle  of  the  whole  struggle  between 
Rome  and  Carthage. 


THINGS   OF  TRAPANI  569 

Caves.    See  introductory  matter,  under  the  remarks  on  Butler's  Odyssey. 

Charles  of  Anjou  was  at  Trapani  when  the  Crusaders  brought  back  the 
remains  of  St.  Louis  from  Africa.  Though  he  was  the  brother  of  St.  Louis, 
he  wrecked  all  the  Crusader's  ships  he  could,  to  seize  their  valuables.  He  was 
the  King  of  Sicily,  driven  out  by  the  rising  of  the  Sicilian  Vespers.  See 
General  Index. 

Churches.— £  Agostino.  Church  of  the  fourteenth  century.  Once  a 
Templars'  church,  according  to  Baedeker. 

Annunziata,  SS.  In  the  Borgo  di  Trapani,  a  suburb  3  kils.  away  on  the 
way  to  Mount  Eryx.  A  famous  medieval  church.  The  sanctuary  of  the 
Annunziata  has  a  portal  of  the  fifteenth  century.  The  chapel  of  the  Risen 
Christ  (Cappella  del  Cristo  Risorto)  has  a  sixteenth- century  font  and  an  arch 
by  Gagini. 

S.  Giacomo.  Contains  the  celebrated  Biblioteca  Fardelliana,  24,000 
volumes, 

Collegio.  Has  pictures  by  Pietro  Novelli  and  sculptures  by  Marabitti. 
Formerly  Jesuit ;  rich  marble  decorations. 

S.  Maria  di  Gesh.  Contains  the  famous  Delia  Robbia  Madonna  attributed 
to  Luca  della  Robbia  himself.  One  of  the  best  in  Sicily. 

S.  Maria  di  Luce,   An  early  sixteenth-century  door. 

5*.  Michefa    Has  many  wood-carvings  by  Trapani  artists. 

S»  Nicola  di  3ari*  According  to  Baedeker,  contains  some  statues  of  the 
school  of  Gagini. 

Cicero  only  mentions  Drepanum  incidentally,  Verres  having  been  antici 
pated  by  a  local  rival,  Apollonius,  the  son  of  Nico,  who  took  the  name  of 
Aulus  Clodius. 

Colombara.  A  rock  in  the  harbour  anciently  known  as  Pelias.  Fortified 
and  conspicuous. 

"  The  island  of  Coliifnbara,  which  lies  off,  is  lovely,  while  on  a  spit  or  island 
there  is  a  very  effective  little  building  like  a  Greek  temple."  (Douglas  Sladen, 
In  Sicily.) 

Crusaders.  Trapani  plays  its  part  in  the  history  of  the  Crusades.  Our 
Edward  I.  of  England  was  there  twice :  once  sailing  from  Tunis,  where  he 
found  St.  Louis  dead,  and  once  on  his  way  back  from  his  victory  of  Acre  to 
become  King  of  England. 

Drepanum.  The  word  is  used  in  two  senses— first,  to  denote  the  sickle- 
shaped  harbour  of  the  immemorial  city  of  Eryx ;  second,  for  the  im 
pregnable  fortress  built  by  Hamilcar  Barca  at  the  end  of  the  sickle.  There 
is  a  pretty  Greek  legend  that  the  peninsula  wfcs  the  sickle  of  the  corn-goddess 
Ceres,  left  there  while  she  was  hunting  for  the  lost  Proserpine.  Others  say 
that  Saturn  left  the  sickle  there.  But  the  name  is  doubtless  due  to  the  shape. 
See  introduction  to  Trapani. 

Fardelliana.    See  under  Pinacoteca  and  S.  Giacomo. 

Favignana.   The  island  of  this  name  off  Trapani  (q.v.  in  General  Index). 

Florio's  tunny  fisheries,  the  most  important  in  Sicily,  are  situated  in  the 
^Egatian  Islands  (q.v.). 

Gagini.     See  under  Churches,  the  Annunziata,  and  S.  Nicola  di  Bari. 

Giudecca,  or  Ghetto.  The  Jews  were  driven  out  of  Sicily  in  1492  by 
Ferdinand  the  Catholic.  Only  a  few  towns  like  Trapani  and  Syracuse  have 


570        SICILY  THE   NEW   WINTER    RESORT 

any  traces  of  them.  In  the  Giudecca  at  Trapani  is  a  splendid  artists'  bit,  the 
old  towered  house  called  Lo  Spedaletto,  a  most  picturesque  mixture  of  fifteenth- 
century  Gothic  and  Renaissance. 

Homer.  See  introduction  to  Trapani,  under  Butler's  Authoress  of  the 
Odyssey, 

Leyanzo.  The  island  of  this  name  seen  from  Trapani  belongs  to  the 
/Egatian  group  (q.  v.  in  General  Index). 

Madonna  di  Trapani,    See  under  Churches,  Annunziata. 


THE  SI'EDALE  TN  THE  GIUDECCA 


Bftail-vetture  run  to  Borgo  Annunziata,  35  minutes;  Monte  S.  Giuliano, 
3  hours;  Paparella,  2  hours;  Custonaci,  4!  hours;  Castelluzzo,  6  hours; 
S.  Vito.lp  Capo,  7f  hours;  Napola,  ij  hours;  Fulgatore,  4^  hours;  and 
Calatafimi,  5  hours.  %  : 

Marina.  "The  palm-bordered  Marina  with  its  avenue  of  bella  sombra  trees, 
and  the  sunset,  and  the  cape  behind,  and  a  fringe  of  tall  feluccas  and  trampy- 
looking  English,  Italian,  and  Norwegian  steamers,  is  highly  picturesque," 
(Douglas  Sladen,  In  Sicily, ) 

Odyssey,  authoress  of.          "\  c      i  i     T>  ^ 

Odyssey  written  at  Trapani.  )See  above  tmder  Butler* 

Palaces.    See  Giudecca. 

Pinacpteca  Fardelliana.  The  picture-gallery  of  Trapani.  Presented  by 
Giovanni  Battista  Fardella,  who  died  at  Trapani  in  1837,  it  is  kept  in 
the  Liceo  Ximenes. ^  Contains  some  fourteenth-century  wbrk  taken  from 
S.  Agostino  and  paintings  by  various  artists,  chiefly  local. 


THINGS   OF   TYNDARIS  571 

Port.  The  harbour  of  Trapani  is  still  one  of  the  best  in  Sicily,  and-  when 
the  direct  railway  line  is  made  from  Trapani  to  Palermo,  it  will  doubtless 
develop  immensely  at  the  expense  of  the  port  of  Palermo,  which  is  unsafe  in 
certain  winds.  It  was  the  scene  of  the  boat-race  in  Virgil's  Fifth  /Eneid. 

Punic  Wars.  For  Trapani's  part  in  the  First  Punic  War,  see  above, 
under  introduction  to  Trapani. 

Robbia,  Luca  della.     See  under  Churches,  S.  Maria  di  Gesu. 

Salt-pans.  Between  Trapani  and  Marsala ;  are  a  great  source  of  its  wealth. 
They  look  "like  oyster-beds  if  it  were  not  for  limpet-like  heaps  of  salt,  some 
tiled  over,  some  glittering  in  the  sun.  In  days  gone  by  they  were  seized  from 
Marsala  by  Trapani,  and  their  possession  is  sorely  grudged,  because  it  has  made 
Trapani  the  most  prosperous  place  in  Sicily  for  its  size."  (Douglas  Sladen's 
In  Sicily  ^  ii.  p.  390. ) 

Virgil.     See  above,  under  introduction  to  Trapani. 

Walls.  Freeman,  Sicily  ^  vol.  i.,  p.  281,  says:  "Yet  in  the  walls  of 
modern  Trapani,  walls  now  fast  perishing,  amid  a  series  of  patchings  of  all 
ages  which  may  rival  those  of  the  walls  of  Rome  herself,  we  may  see  the 
jambs  of  ancient  gates,  bearing  arches  of  far  later  date,  jambs  whose  sloping 
sides  seem  to  carry  us  to  days  which  we  may  hope  were  older  than  Harnilkar 
Barka," 

Wine  trade.  The  wine  trade  is  becoming  very  important,  A  great  deal 
of  so-called  Marsala  comes  from  Trapani. 


THINGS  OF  TYNDARIS 

DIONYSIUS  I,,  the  Syracusan,  founded  Tyndaris  396  B.C.  for  the  600  exiles  of 
Messene  in  Old  Greece,  who  came  to  Sicily  after  their  country  had  been 
conquered  by  Sparta.  He  called  his  city  Tyndaris,  after  the  Great  Twin 
Brethren  of  the  Peloponnesus,  Castor  and  Pollux,  who  were  the  sons  of 
Tyndarus's  wife,  It  soon  had  5,000  citizens.  When  Timoleon  came  to 
Sicily  Tyndaris  voluntarily  joined  him.  In  254  in  the  First  Punic  War  the 
Romans  won  a  sea-victory  over  the  Carthaginians  off  Tyndaris.  Sextus 
Pompeius  occupied  it  43  B.C.,  and  it  afterwards  became  "the  seat  of  a  Roman 
colony,  Freeman  considers  the  Roman  palaestra  at  Tyndaris,  mentioned  by 
Cicero,  to  be  the  finest  piece  of  Roman  masonry  in  the  island.  It  was  called 
Colonia  Augusta  Tyndaritorum.  Pliny  describes  how  half  of  it  fell  into_the 
sea,  probably  from  an  earthquake.  But  the  itineraries  show  that  it  was  still  a 
considerable  place  in  the  fourth  century  A.D.  The  Church  of  the  Madonna  del 
Tindaro  is  said  to  occupy  the  site  of  a  church  founded  in  the  fifteenth  century. 
Tyndaris  has  two  objects  of  interest — the  ancient  Greek  and  Roman  city 
and  the  superbly  situated  pilgrimage  church  of  the  famous  Madonna  del 
Tindaro.  So  many  pilgrims  come  from  .America  as  well  as  the  Old  World, 
that  the  superior  of  the  Madonna  del  Tindaro  has  good  accommodation  for 
both  gentlemen  and  ladies  if  he  receives  two  days'  notice— nice  rooms,  spot 
lessly  clean,  and  situated  right  at  the  top  of  the  promontory.  _ Visitors  must 
stay  here.  Patti,  the  nearest  town,  looks  very  insanitary,  and  its  chief  hotel 
is  swarming  with  vermin  and  kept  by  people  who  starve  foreigners  and  charge 
them  more  highly  than  the  Igiea  at  Palermo— about  the  worst -kept  inn  in 
Sicily.  The  municipality  of  Patti  talks  speciously,  even  has  a  society  for 
encouraging  the  visits  of  foreigners,  but  it  is  quite  powerless  to  protect  them 


572        SICILY  THE   NEW   WINTER   RESORT 

from  the  extortions  of  the  inhabitants  of  this  filthy  town.  There  is  no  reason 
why  visitors  should  go  near  the  town  of  Patti.  They  can  get  a  carriage  at  the 
station  (bargain  necessary),  better  if  the  Superior  at  Tindaro  will  arrange  for 
this,  and  drive  in  an  hour  along  the  splendid  Messina  road,  which  rivals  the 
Corniche  in  beauty,  to  Tindaro.  The  views  of  the  Lipari  Islands,  which 
are  quite  close  and  off  the  promontory  of  Tyndaris  in  front,  are  superb,  and 
the  country  is  rich  in  vegetation  and  wild  flowers,  and  the  huge  river-bed, 
which  makes  Patti  so  malarious,  with  its  fine  containing  walls,  is  a  striking 
sight.  The  ancient  city  of  Tyndaris,  of  which  the  remains  already  ex 
cavated  are  so  superb,  has  a  situation  even  finer  than  Taormina,  for  it  stands 
on  the  top  of  a  glorious  promontory  jutting  out  into  the  sea  and  going  sheer 
down  to  it,  and  has  the  Lipari  Islands — the  y^Eolian  Islands  of  the  ancients — 
including  the  active  volcano  Stromboli,  right  at  its  base.  The  neighbouring 
city  of  Milazzo  is  the  port  for  Lipari.  The  view  from  the  Madonna  del 
Tindaro  to  Milazzo  is  inexpressibly  lovely  with  its  sweep  of  precipice  and 
sands  and  sea,  terminating  in  the  sickle-shaped  harbour  and  sea-girt  fortress 
of  ancient  Myloe.  And  though  there  is  no  Etna,  there  is  the  active  volcano 
of  Stromboli,  while  at  the  back  there  is  the  beautiful  Castello  della  Scala, 
with  its  superb  garden  and  the  forest  and  lofty  mountains. 

Carthaginians  at  Tyndaris.  In  the  First  Punic  War  the  Carthaginians 
got  hold  of  Tyndaris,  and  when  it  thought  of  revolting  to  the  Romans, 
alarmed  by  their  successes,  carried  off  its  chief  citizens  as  hostages.  The 
Roman  fleet,  under  C.  Atilius,  in  the  sea-fight  off  Tyndaris,  257  B.C.,  won  an 
indecisive  victory  over  the  Carthaginians,  and  after  the  fall  of  Panormus,  254 
B.C.,  Tyndaris  expelled  its  Carthaginian  garrison  and  joined  the  Romans. 

Castello  della  Scala.  A  modernised  fifteenth -century  building  very  attrac 
tively  built,  containing  a  museum  with  magnificent  jewellery,  etc.,  found  in 
the  excavations.  It  belongs  to  the  heirs  of  the  late  baron,  and  its  garden 
has  noble  palms  and  camellias,  the  latter  almost  unequalled  in  the  open  air. 
There  is  a  fine  piece  of  forest  belonging  to  the  castle. 

Caves.  Baedeker  mentions :  "  Below  the  extremity  of  Capo  Tindaro  is  the 
Stalactite  Grotta  of  Fata  Donnavilla,  popularly  supposed  to  be  haunted  by  a 
fairy,  who  kidnaps  brides  on  their  wedding  night,  and  to  be  identical  with  the 
Fata  (fairy)  Morgana.  The  curious  may  reach  the  entrance  by  being  lowered 
down  the  cliff  with  ropes."  And  Murray  mentions  another,  the  Grotta  di 
Minichello,  which  can  only  be  visited  by  boat. 

Cicero  has  a  good  deal  to  say  about  Tyndaris.  In  his  Verres  he  calls 
Tyndaris  " nobilissimam  cwitatem"  and  describes  the  torturing  of  a  man 
called  Sopater  in  order  to  make  the  Senate  of  Tyndaris  surrender  the  famous 
statue  of  Mercury  restored  to  the  city  by  Scipio  Africanus  after  he  had  taken 
Carthage.  He  had  Sopater,  the  chief  magistrate  of  the  city,  stripped  naked 
and  bound  to  the  statue  of  Caius  Marcellus,  a  family  whose  memory  he  lost 
no  opportunity  of  insulting,  till  the  syndic  consented  to  give  up  the  statue 
mentioned  as  standing  in  the  gymnasium.  (See  below,  under  Mercury. ) 

Coins.  There  is  a  beautiful  coin  of  Tyndaris-- bearing  the  head  of  Helen 
of  Troy,  the  sister  of  Castor  and  Pollux.  It  is  inscribed  "  Tyndaris,"  the  name 
she  often  bears  in  the  poets,  and  has  the  star  of  the  constellation  Gemini,  the 
"frates  Helense  lucida  sidera"  of  Horace;  the  bronze  coins  have  Castor 
on  horseback  for  their  reverse.  Other  coins  have  both  Castor  and  Pollux  on 
horseback  with  the  epithet  Soteres.  The  later  Greek  coins  and  the  Roman 
continued  to  use  the  Dioscuri  as  the  emblem  of  the  city. 


THINGS   OF  TYNDARIS 


573 


Covered  way.  Freeman  (vol.  i,  p.  154)  says:  u Under  the  shadow  of 
the  Acropolis  a  covered  way  led  up  to  one  of  the  gates  of  the  town." 

Cybele,  Temple  of.  Said  to  have  stood  on  the  site  of  the  Madonna  del 
Tindaro.  Freeman  suggests  that  the  temple  may  have  belonged  to  Castor 
and  Pollux,  the  patron  deities,  who  appear  on  all  the  coins  of  Tyndaris. 

Excavations.  There  is  not  much  excavation  going  on  now,  but  the 
excavations  already  made  have  yielded  unusually  fine  results,  for,  besides  the 
objects  from  Tynclaris  in  the  museums  at  Palermo  and  the  Castello  della 
Scala,  a  great  deal  of  the  magnificent  wall  of  the  city  has  been  exhumed,  with 
a  tower,  many  tombs,  the  fragments  of  a  temple  near  'the  convent,  the  site 
of  the  Temple  of  Jupiter,  the  great  Greek  theatre,  a  Roman  house  with 
mosaic  pavements,  and  the  Roman  palaestra,  which  Freeman  considers  the 
finest  piece  of  Roman  masonry  in  Sicily.  See  under  these  headings. 

Gates,  The  site  of  at  least  two  of  the  gates  can  be  told.  One  stands  plain 
to  all  men  on  the  ancient  street  which  leads  into  the  city  from  the  mainland. 
The  other  is  at  the  far  end  of  the  city,  between  the  Valle  del  Olmo  and  the 
Pizzo  di  Serricruci. 

Ginnasio  Romano.  The  most  perfect  of  the  ancient  buildings.  It  con 
sists  of  three  naves  terminating  in  apses  and  adorned  with  columns  and 
pilasters.  Freeman  says :  "  The  Roman  has  nowhere  left  a  worthier  monu 
ment  of  the  building  art  than  the  bold  and  massive  arches  of  the  building 
known  as  the  gymnasium.  The  local  antiquarian  mentions  that  it  was  the 
basilica  of  the  city." 

*' Earlier  Sicilian  antiquaries,  e.g.  Francisco  Ferrara,  called  this  building 


THE   ROMAN   BASILICA  OR  PALESTRA 


574        SICILY  THE  NEW   WINTER   RESORT 

'il  Ginnasio.'  Serradifalco,  Antichitti  di  Sicilia^  v.  55,  is  more  cautious.  In 
exploring  the  site  I  was  struck  by  the  fact  that  this  fine  building  with  its 
archways  and  triple  gangway  lies  on  a  line  of  cross  wall,  which  apparently 
represents  the  barrier  between  the  Agora  and  the  Akropolis  of  Tyndaris.  It 
looks  as  if,  in  part  at  least,  it  had  served  as  a  stately  portal  between  the  two — 
a  Temple  Bar  of  Roman  Tyndaris."  (Freeman,  iv.  155.) 

Harbour.  We  know  that  Tyndaris  had  a  harbour,  and  on  the  seaward  side 
of  the  city  there  are  traces  of  walls  a  considerable  way  down  the  slope. 
Freeman  sees  traces  of  it  in  the  extraordinary  deep  pool  at  the  foot  of  the  rock 
on  which  the  city  stands,  separated  by  a  stretch  of  land  from  the  sea, 
"There  is  also  a  sandy  tongue  running  eastward  from  the  northern  pro 
montory,  which  probably  formed  an  arm  of  the  original  haven,  now,  except 
for  a  few  pools  and  shallows,  entirely  silted  up.  The  access  to  the  city  above 
from  the  harbour  must  always  have  been  tedious,  as  the  site  can  only  be 
approached  from  the  seaside  by  a  path  which  zigzags  up  a  steep  ascent  of  600 
feet.  On  the  eastern  side,  where  the  wall  is  now  very  imperfectly  preserved 
and  the  cliffs  are  steepest,  must  have  taken  place  the  catastrophe  described  by 
Pliny  (ii.  92),  but  his  statement  that  half  Tyndaris  was  swallowed  up  by  the 
sea  is  obviously  an  exaggeration.  From  the  line  of  the  existing  fragments  of 
wall,  it  is  evident  that  no  very  considerable  part  of  the  ancient  site  can  have 
been  carried  away  by  landslips.  It  is  possible,  however,  that  part  of  the 
sandy  flats  and  shallows  below  were  covered  at  one  time  by  a  lower  town, 
which  was  invaded  by  the  sea."  (Freeman,  vol.  iv.,  p.  154.) 

Helen  of  Troy.  The  head  generally  used  on  the  coins  of  Tyndaris  is  that 
of  the  heroine  of  Tyndaris,  i.e.  Helen.  See  below,  Tyndaris. 

Landslip.  Pliny  (Book  II.,  chap.  xxii.  94)  says,  in  Sicily  also  the  half  of  the 
city  of  Tyndaris  has  been  absorbed  by  the  sea.  But  later  critics  point  out 
that  most  of  trie  Greek  wall  can  be  traced,  so  that  only  a  small  portion  of  the 
city  could  have  fallen.  Freeman  suggests  there  may  have  been  a  lower  city 
(see  Harbour)  by  the  sea,  as  there  is  at  Cefalu,  and  that  this  has  all  been 
swallowed  up.  The  truth  of  this  could  probably  be  tested  by  excavating  the 
sand  at  the  foot  of  the  rock.  There  is  no  trace  of  the  land-slide,  the  precipice 
is  uncommonly  clean  and  sheer. 

Lipari  Islands,  including  Stromboli,  which  is  a  volcano  constantly  in 
eruption,  are  more  clearly  seen  from  Tyndaris  than  anywhere, 

Madonna  del  Tindaro.  The  sanctuary  of  the  Madonna  del  Tindaro  stands 
on  the  finest  site  in  Sicily,  on  the  top"  of  a  precipice  going  down  sheer  600  feet 
to  the  sea,  overlooking  seaward  the  beautiful  Aolian  Islands  of  the  ancients 
with  the  active  volcano  of  Stromboli  and  the  noble  sickle-shaped  harbour  of 
Milazzo,  with  the  waters  on  which  Duilius  and  Agrippa  won  their  great  sea- 
fights  ;  and  commanding  a  view  landwards  of  Etna  rising  above  the  forests  and 
peaks  of  the  Nebrodian  chain.  Here  in  the  ancient  Acropolis  of  Tyndaris, 
on  the  site  of  a  heathen  temple,  there  has  for  centuries  stood  the  sanctuary  of 
the  miraculous  Madonna  of  Tyndaris.  The  priests  themselves  claim  400 
years ;  and  there  is  an  illusion  to  it  in  the  report  of  the  visit  of  Don  Giovanni 
di  Arnedo  in  1552.  He  says  that  the  sanctuary  in  his  time  was  decaying 
with  age  and  almost  abandoned  ;  but  the  Bishop  Sebastiani  of  Patti  (1549  to 
1568)  rebuilt  the  church  and  beautified  the  sanctuary  with  the  necessary 
decorations.  In  his  time  the  sanctuary  was  managed  by  two  priests  who  lived 
in  common  on  the  offerings  of  the  faithful  who  visited  it. 

Vincenzo  Napoli  left  20,000  lire  for  the  endowment  of  the  sanctuary. 

The  sacred*  image  is  black,  and  attracts  many  foreigners  from  all  parts  of  the 


THINGS   OF  TYNDARIS 


575 


world,  and  the  Superior,  as  I  have  said,  will,  at  two  days'  notice,  take  in 
boarders,  male  or  female,  whether  they  are  pilgrims  to  the  shrine  or  the  ruins. 
Museum.  The  museum,  which  contains  the  splendid  jewellery  and  other 
objects,  including  a  Roman  eagle,  which  have  not  been  sent  to  Palermo,  is  in 
the  Castello  della  Scala,  belonging  to  the  heirs  of  the  late  baron,  who  took 
his  title  from  the  Scala  del  Tindaro.  He  was  a  well-known  politician, 


CONVENT  OK  THE  MADONNA   DKL  TINDAKO 


Palace  of  Prince  Bartolomeo.  There  are  considerable  remains  of  this, 
built  in  1380.  He  was  a  brother  of  King  Martin  the  First. 

Mercury.   Freeman,  vol.  iv.,  p.  155,  says:  — 

"Its  great  art-  treasure,  a  statue  of  Hermes,  formerly  carried  off  by  the 
Carthaginians  and  restored  by  Scipio  Africanus  in  return  for  naval  assistance 
rendered  to  him,  was  seized  by  Verres," 
'  ,  '  And  Cicero  (  Verrest  V.  xxxix.  )  says  :  —  .  ,    , 

"What  !  Did  you  take  away  from  the  people  of  Tyndaris  an  image  of 
Mercury,  most  beautifully  made,!  and  placed  there  by  the  beneficence  of  the 
same  Scipio?  And  how?  *  0  ye  immortal  gods!  How  audaciously,  how 
infamously,  how  shamelessly  did  you  do  so!  You  have  lately,  O  judges, 
•heard  the  deputies,  from  Tyndaris,  most  honourable  men,  and  the  chief  men  of 
that  city,  say  that  the  Mercury,  which  in  their  sacred  anniversaries  was 
.worshipped  amonig  'them  with  the  extremest  religious  reverence,  which 
Publius  Africanus,  after  he  had  taken  Carthage,  had  given  to  the  Tyndaritans, 
not  only  as  a  monument  of  his  victory,  but  as  a  memorial  and  evidence  of 


576        SICILY  THE   NEW   WINTER   RESORT 

their  loyalty  to  and  alliance  with  the  Roman  people,  had  been  taken  away  by 
the  violence  and  wickedness  and  arbitrary  power  of  this  man  ;  who,  when  he 
first  came  to  their  city,  in  a  moment,  as  if  it  were  not  only  a  becoming,  but  an 
indispensable  thing  to  be  done,— as  if  the  Senate  had  ordered  it  and  the 
Roman  people  had  sanctioned  it,— in  a  moment,  I  say,  ordered  them  to  take 
the  statue  down  and  to  transport  it  to  Messana. " 

The  mention  that  this  statue  stood  in  the  ginnasio  is  the  principal  reason 
why  antiquaries  have  identified  the  building  now  so  known  with  this  name, 

Mosaics.  There  are  good  mosaic  floors  in  a  Roman  house  at  the  back  of 
the  Palaestra. 

Palaestra.     See  Ginnasio. 

Rampolla  del  Tindaro.  Cardinal  Rampolla,  a  Papal  secretary  under  Leo 
XIII. ,  is  a  Sicilian  from  this  district.  See  General  Index. 

Romans  at  Tyndaris.  Tyndaris  under  the  Romans,  for  whom  its  citizens 
expelled  the  Carthaginians  (q.v.),  254  B.C.,  was  a  flourishing  city.  "Cicero 
calls  it  nobilissima  civitas,  and  we  learn  from  him  that  the  inhabitants  have 
displayed  their  zeal  and  fidelity  towards  the  Romans  upon  many  occasions. 
Among  others  they  supplied  naval  forces  to  the  Younger'  Africanus,  for  which 
he  requited  them  by  restoring  the  statue  of  Mercury  carried  off  by  the 
Carthaginians,  an  object  of  great  veneration  in  the  city  till  it  was  carried  off 
by  Verres."  (Sir  W.  Smith,)  It  suffered  severely  under  Verres.  See  under 
Cicero,  Sopater,  Mercury,  etc,  Augustus  planted  a  Roman  colony  here, 
21  B.C.  Tyndaris  had  been  one  of  the  strongholds  of  Sextus  Pompeius. 
There  is  a  magnificent  Roman  building  claimed  variously  as  a  palaestra  or  a 
basilica,  besides  a  Romanised  Greek  theatre,  some  Roman  mosaic  floors,  etc. , 
at  Tyndaris.  Various  fine  Roman  statues  have  been  discovered  there,  but  are 
now  in  the  Museum  at  Palermo. 

Saracen  buildings.  Doctor  G.  Battista,  of  Patti,  nephew  of  the  late 
baron,  has  found  a  number  of  Saracenic  buildings  at  the  back  of  the  Castello 
della  Scala. 

Temples.  Local  antiquaries  believe  that  there  was  a  great  temple  of 
Jupiter  on  the  small,  low,  isolated  rock  at  the  Patti  end  of  the  promontory. 
The  remains  of  a  temple  have  been  excavated  half-way  between  the  gym 
nasium  and  the  Valle  del  Olmo.  There  are  the  remains  of  another  in  the  field 
below  the  sanctuary,  but  quite  inconsiderable. 

Theatre,  the  Graeco- Roman.  Built  in  the  ordinary  Greek  fashion  in  a 
horseshoe-shaped  hollow  in  a  hill.  The  remains  are  very  considerable  as 
well  as  picturesque.  There  are  nine  blocks  of  seats  with  27  rows  in  each. 
The  diameter  of  the  theatre  is  a  little  over  200  feet ;  and  of  the  orchestra  a 
little  under  80.  Several  fine  statues  were  found  in  it  which  are  now  in  the 
Museum  at  Palermo.  As  at  Syracuse,  there  are  considerable  remains  of  a 
Greek  stage  adapted  by  the  Romans,  though  not  so  perfect  as  Palazzolo. 

"  Of  the  scena  and  postscenium  the  substructions  alone  remain.  The  pro 
scenium,  which  was  of  brickwork,  was  of  very  large  size — another  Roman 
feature.  There  can  be  little  doubt  that  a  theatre  existed  on  this  spot  in  the 
Greek  days  of  Tyndaris,  but  the  extant  remains  indicate  that  the  Romans 
altered  and  perhaps  enlarged  the  structure  to  suit  their  own  views.'^  (Murray.) 
The  guide  of  the  Fratelli  Treves  gives  its  proofs  of  its  Greek  origin  clearly. 
The  theatre  of  Tyndaris  must  rank  next  to  those  of  Syracuse  and  Segesta  on 
account  of  its  size. 


THINGS   OF  TYNDARIS 


577 


Tombs.  There  are  plenty  of  fine  and  interesting  tombs  of  various  epochs 
outside  the  walls  near  the  principal  gateway. 

Towers.  The  walls  of  Tyndaris  are  studded  at  intervals  with  low  square 
towers  of  fine  uncemented  masonry. 

Treasure,  Many  beautiful  and  invaluable  objects  of  gold,  etc.,  have  been 
found  at  Tyndaris. 

Tyndaris.  The  name  of  Helen  of  Troy,  whose  head  appears  on  the  coins 
(q.v,)  of  the  city  of  Tyndaris. 

Verres,  Tyndaris  was  severely  handled  by  Verres.  lie  tied  its  chief 
magistrate  Sopater  to  the  statue  of  one  of  the  Marcelli  whom  he  loathed  so  as- 
protectors  of  the  natives,  until  the  Senate  agreed  to  give  up  the  beautiful  ancl 
sacred  image  of  Mercury  restored  to  the  city  by  the  Younger  Africanus.  And 
he  made  them  vote  the  money  for  sending  it  to  Messana  at  the  public  expense. 


REMAINS  OF   THE  GMCO-ROMAN  THEATRE 

Walls,  The  walls  of  Tyndaris  are  the  finest  Greek  walls  in  Sicily.  They 
are  built  of  large  particularly  well-cut  rectangular  blocks  of  a  fine  hard  stone, 
and  their  Greek  origin  is  shown  by  their  perfect  closeness  without  the  use  of 
cement.  Traces  of  them  run  all  round  the  top  of  the  promontory,  except  one 
place  on  the  seaside,  where  they  run  lower  down  the  slope.  Freeman  was  so 
struck  with  their  masonry  that  he  says  :  "  There  the  fortifier  of  Epipolai  again 
fenced  in  a  height  with  all  the  engineering  skill  of  his  age.  And  a  large  part 
of  his  work  still  abides  to  speak  for  itself.  Two  steep  and  lofty  spurs  jutting 
out  towards  the  sea  were  not  taken  within  the  fortified  circuit,  On  the  sea 
ward  side,  where  only  a  broad  beach  lies  between  the  water  and  the  foot  of  the 
hill,  the  wall  may  be  traced,  though  only  in  slight  remains,  at  a  point  a  con 
siderable  way  down  the  slope.  On  the  landward  side,  where  the  hill  is 

2  P 


SICILY   THE    NEW    WINTER    RESORT 


sheltered  by  one  of  the  seaward  spurs  of  the  height  on  which  it  stands,  The 
'wall  follows  the  shape  of  the  land.  There  is  a  magnificent  stretch  of  it  near 
the  principal  gateway. 


TYNDAK1S — THE  ANCIKNT   GKF,KK  WAU»S 


PART   III 

THE    ELENCO 

A  GUIDE  TO  THE  RAILWAY  SYSTEM  OF  SICILY,  SHOWING  UNDER 
THE  HEADING  OK  EACH  STATION  THE  MONUMENTS  SERVED 
BY  IT  EITHER  DIRECTLY  OR  BY  A  MAIL-VETTURA  (DILIGENCE) 
RUNNING  FROM  THE  STATION 

PALERMO 

I.   The  quarter  between  the  Corso  Vittorio  Emmanuele  and  the 

south  wall  of  the  city,  Corso  Tukery,  the  Via  Macqueda, 

and  the  Piazza  Independenza 

I.  The  Cappella  Reale,  or  Palatina.     A.D.  1132.     In  the  Royal  Palace. 
The  most  beautiful  chapel  in  the  world,  and  the  finest  mosaics. 

II.  The  Royal  Palace,  containing  state  rooms,  the  Norman  room  same  date 
as  chapel,  and  the  Norman  Torre  di  Ninfa,  with  observatory. 

III.  The  Porta  Nuova.     Striking  Spanish  gateway  adjoining  the  Palace. 

IV.  Subterranean  passage,    of   Roman   origin,   leading  from   the   Palace 
towards  the  Cathedral.     Keys  at  Museum. 

V.  Marble  monument  to  Philip  IV.,  1661.     Statue  altered  to  Philip  V. 
In  front  of  Palace. 

VI.  Villa  of  Duke  of  Orleans   (Parco  d'Aumale).     Behind  the   Palace. 
Ancient  garden  and  views  of  Monreale.     Sunken  lemon  grove.     In  Fossa 
clella  Garofala,  ancient  bed  of  harbour. 

VI T  Traces  of  sea  also  on  rocks  of  S.  Giovanni  degli  Eremiti,  twelfth 
century.  Remains  of  mosque,  loveliest  cloister  in  Palermo.  In  Via  Bene- 
dettini,  near  Palace. 

VIII.  Porta  Mazzara.     Elegant  fragment  of  wall  and  Arabo-Norman  gate. 
Just  beyond  the  Eremiti. 

IX.  Cappella  del  Solidad.     Opposite  Palace.     Interesting  and  picturesque. 
Contains  the  miraculous  image  carried  in  the  procession  of  the  Pieta. 

X  The  Palazzo  Sclafani.  A  few  doors  from  the  Solidad.  Contains  famous 
fifteenth-century  Flemish  fresco,  "The  Triumph  of  Death."  Rich  Sicilian- 
Gothic  mouldings  on  south  and  east  sides.  Keys  at  the  Martorana.  ^ 

XI.  The   Palazzo  S.  Ninfa.     Sixteenth   century.     Fine  cortile,  with   St. 
George  fountain.     In  the  Corso. 

XII.  Church  of  SS.  Salvatore.     Eighteenth  century.     In  the  Corso. 

XIII.  Sicilian-Gothic  fa?ade   of  Convent  of   SS.    Salvatore  in  the  Via 
Protonotaro.  .,. 

XIV.  In    the    Piazza    Bologni.     Palazzo   Villafranca,    where    Garibaldi 

rested. 

579 


58o        SICILY   THE   NEW   WINTER    RESORT 

XV.  Bronze  statue  of  Charles  V.  by  Li-Volsi.     In  Piazza  Bologni. 

XVI.  Palazzo  Rafladale,  or  Speciale.    In  Via  S,  Chiara,  leading  from  Piazza 
Bologni.     Late  Gothic  windows. 

XVII.  Church  of  S.  Chiara.     Quaint  fasadc,  Piela  by  P.  Novelli. 

XVIII.  Palazzo  Conte  Federigo.     Twelfth  and  fourteenth  centuries.     In 
Vicolo  Federigo  below  Palazzo  Sclafani, 

XIX.  Fourteenth-century  tower  of  S.  NicoltS  all'  Albergheria,  in  street  of 
same  name.     Fine  tower  and  other  Gothic  remains. 

XX.  Via  Albergheria  and  Via   Porta  di   Castro.     Typical  old   Palermo 
streets,  full  of  the  life  of  the  people. 

XXI.  Piazza  del  Carmine.     Church  of  1626.     Noticeable  dome.     Works 
of  Gagini,  Novelli,  and  Tommaso  de  Vigilia. 

XXII.  Porta  S.  Agata.     Near  the  Carmine.     Beautiful  old  Gothic  gate 
with  long  stretch  of  the  medieval  city  wall.     A  good  place  to  kodak  the  rope- 
spinners. 

XXIII.  The  Casa  Professa,  Jesuit  church,   seventeenth  century.     Rich 
coloured  marbles.     Pictures  of  Novelli. 

XXIV.  Biblioteca  Communale.    Library  of  150,000  volumes  in  picturesque 
cloister  of  S.  Michele  Arcangelo.     Behind  the  Casa  Professa. 

XXV.  Christian  catacombs  underneath  the  church  of  S.  Michele  Arcangelo. 

XXVI.  Interesting  fragment  and  turret  of  the  old  wall  (showing  the  line  of 
the  ancient  harbour).     Between  S.  Midhele  Arcangelo  and  queer  old  church' 
of  S.  Crispino,  which  has  a  good  picture. 

XXVII.  SS.  Quaranta  Martiri.     In  piazza  off  the  Via  Macqueda,  behind 
the  Casa  Professa.    Fine  Gothic  tower  and  remains  of  elegant  Gothic  cloister. 

XXVIII.  The  University,  Via  Macqueda.    In  the  convent  of  S.  Giuseppe, 
at  the  Quattro  Canti.     Interesting  museum  of  geology,  zoology,  etc. 

II.   Section  between  the  Marina  and  the  Via  Macqueda, 
the  Villa  Giulia  and  the  Corso 

XXIX.  S.    Nicola   di    Tolentino.     In  Via    Macqucda,    almost   opposite 
University.     Best  church  for  the  Sepolcri  of  Holy  Thursday.    Four  pictures 
by  Novelli. 

XXX.  Municipio.    Seat  of  the  Mayor.     Formerly  the  Palazzo  Marchesi. 
On  the  Piazza  Pretoria  in  the  Via  Macqueda. 

XXXI.  The   Fountain   of  the   Piazza   Pretoria.     Very  large  and  ornate. 
Marble  fountain  of  the  sixteenth  century. 

XXXII.  S.  Caterina.     On  the  Piazza  Pretoria.     Baroque  church,  with  ex 
travagantly  rich  marbles  and  a  fine  Vandyck. 

XXXIII.  Teatro  Bellini.     On  Piazza  Bellini,  behind  S,   Caterina.     One 
of  the  leading  theatres. 

XXXIV.  The  Martorana  (S.  Maria  del  Ammiraglio).     On  Piazza  Bellini. 
Founded  in  1143  by  King  Roger's  Admiral,  George  of  Antioch.     Mosaics  of 
the  same  period  as  the  Cappella  Reale.     Antique  wooden  door  of  Arabic 
workmanship.     Lapis -lazuli  altar.     Fourteenth-century  tower.     Arabic  in 
scriptions. 

XXXV.  Church  of  the  monastery  of  S.  Rosalia,     Frescoes  by  Martorana. 

XXXVI.  S.  Cataldo.     In  same  enclosure  as  the  Martorana,     Built  in  n8i 
by  the  Admiral  Majone  de  Bari  in  the  form  of  a  mosque,   A  marvel  of  elegance. 


THE  ELfiNCO  581 

XXXVII.  Via  Calderai.     Street  of  the  working  coppersmiths.     Off  Via 
Macqueda,  behind  the  Martorana. 

XXXVIII.  Porta  S,  Antonino.     End  of  the  Via  Macqueda.    The  Ferrovia 
Centrale,  the  principal  railway  stat.,  lies  between  it  and  the  Porta  Garibaldi. 

.  XXXIX.  Palazzo  Aiutamicristo.  Built  in  1490.  Imposing  Gothic  facade, 
much  damaged.  To  see  the  exquisite  cortile,  which  should  be  compared  with 
the  Bargello  at  Florence,  take  the  entrance  nearest  the  Porta  Garibaldi. 

XL.  Piazza  della  Rivoluzione.  Adjoins  the  Via  Garibaldi  and  the  Via 
Cintorinai.  Contains  the  fountain  with  the  popular  statue  called  the  Genius 
of  Palermo. 

XL  I.  Palazzo  Trigona.  On  the  Piazza  della  Rivoluzione.  A  picturesque 
semi-Gothic  palace,  with  one  of  the  best  street  shrines  of 'Palermo  oa  its  corner. 

XLII.  Piazza  S.  Croce  de'  Vespri.  Connected  with  the  Via  Cintorinai  by 
the  Piazza  Aragona.  Has  a  cross  (a  copy)  to  mark  the  spot  where  the  French 
were  buried  alter  the  massacre.  Close  by  the  old  house,  with  a  column  in 
the  outside  corner,  is  attributed  to  Jean  de  Saint- Remy,  the  French  Justiciar, 
whose  oppressions  caused  the  massacre.  The  splendid  baroque  palace  of 
Prince  Gangi  is  on  this  piazza. 

XLI 1 1.  Palazzo  Cattolica.  Partly  occupied  by  Wedekind's  Bank.  The  most 
superb  modern  Renaissance  cortile  in  Palermo.  Almost  opposite  the  Via 
Cintorinai,  There  are  some  Gothic  details  on  a  house  almost  opposite. 

XLIV.  S.  Francesco  d'  Assisi  (S.  Francesco  dei  Chiodari).  On  the  Via 
Cintorinai,  near  the  Corso.  Rebuilt  in  1254.  Notice  beautiful  west  portal 
and  rose- window,  Built  by  the  Chiaramonti  in  1302.  The  interior  has  stucco 
statues  by  Serpotta,  and  work  by  the  celebrated  Laurana.  Pictures  by 
Novelli.  Interior  full  of  things  to  s.ee.  This  church  has  two  cloisters,  one 
green  and  charming.  Entrance  a  long  way  from  the  church. 

XLV.  Oratory  of  S.  Lorenzo.  Adjoins  S.  Francesco  on  north  side. 
Founded  in  1564.  Fine  reliefs  in  stucco  by  Serpotta. 

XLVI.  S.  Maria  della  Grazie  (S.M.  delle  Ree _  Pentite).  In  the  Via 
Divisi,  between  S.  Francesco  and  the  Piazza  Marina.  Very  elegant  late 
Gothic  church,  with  beautiful  windows.  This  part  of  Palermo  is  full  of  fine 
old  palaces  occupied  by  poor  people. 

XLVI  I.  Piazza  Marina.  Contains  the  Giardini  Garibaldi,  standing  on  the 
site  of  the  dried-up  basin  of  the  old  harbour,  once  used  for  tournaments,  fairs, 
and  the  auto-da-ft!  of  the  Inquisition.  Round  it  are  the  palaces  of  the 
Inquisition  and  S.  Cataldo ;  the  church  of  S.  Antonio  Abate  and  the  Hotel 
de  France,  which  is  the  oldest  in  Palermo,  and  dates  from  the  English 
occupation,  and  the  fountain  of  GarrafTello. 

XLVIII.  Palace  of  the  Inquisition  (called  also  Palazzo  Cbiaramonte,  Palazzo 
Tribunale,  La  Dogana,  and  Lo  Steri).  The  finest  palace  in  Palermo.  Founded 
by  the  Arab  Emirs,  rebuilt  in  1307  by  Manfred  Chiaramonte.  Contains  the 
celebrated  painted  roof  of  1380,  which  is  in  the  style  of  the  Bayeux  tapestry, 
and  gives  court  life  of  the  fourteenth  century.  Contains  also  the  richest  Nor 
man-Gothic  windows  in  Sicily,  and  many  other  Gothic  windows  and  arches. 
Superb  view  from  the  roof.  Built  by  the  Chiaramonti  when  aspiring  to  the 
throne  of  Sicily. 

XLIX.  S.  Antonio  Abate.  Built  by  the  Chiararaonti,  connected  with  the 
above  palace.  Wonderfully  elegant  Norman-Gothic  chapel,  but  ruinous. 

L.  Palazzo  S.  Cataldo.  The  side  towards  the  Piazza  Marina  is  in  the 
Sicilian-Gothic  style.  A  beautiful  Renaissance  palace. 


582        SICILY  THE   NEW   WINTER    RESORT 

LI,  S.  Maria  dei  Miracoli.  Elegant  Renaissance  sixteenth-century  church 
at  south-west  corner  of  Piazza  Marina. 

LIT.  La  Gancia  (S.  Maria  dei  Angeli).  In  the  Via  Alloro,  south  of  the 
Piazza  Marina.  Built  in  1430.  The  people's  church,  lias  E  fine  but  spoiled 
cloister.  As  the  chief  Francisan  church,  is  full  of  ancient  tombs.  Contains 
fine  paintings  and  the  exquisite  Annunciation  of  Gagini.  Under  the  Gancia 
is  the  Bucca  della  Salvezza,  connected  with  the  escape  of  the  two  insurgents 
of  1860. 

LIII.  Palazzo  Abatelli.  Church  and  convent  of  La  Pieta.  Superb  Gothic 
tower  and  facade  of  the  fifteenth  century.  Interior  spoiled  by  the  nuns. 

LIV.  Palazzo  Bentinck.  In  the  Via  Torremuzza,  near  the  bottom  of  the 
Via  Alloro.  Residence  of  Lord  William  Bentinck  when  he  administered 
Sicily. 

LV.  Piazza  dell  Kalsa.  Between  the  Via  Torremuzza  and  the  Porta  dei 
Greci.  In  Saracen  times  a  quarter  of  Palermo  was  called  the  Khalesa.  It  is 
one  of  the  lowest  quarters  now. 

LVI.  Porta  dei  Greci.  Leading  from  the  Kalsa  to  the  Marina.  Built  in 
1553,  An  imposing  piece  of  architecture. 

LVII.  Palazzo  Baucina.  This  magnificent  palace,  belonging  to  Prince 
Baucina,  is  on  the  Foro  Italico,  adjoining  the  Porta  Greca,  and  contains  a 
superb  ballroom  copied  from  the  Royal  Palace.  The  palace  where  Nelson 
stayed  with  the  Hamiltons  stood  on  part  of  the  site  of  it 

LVIII.  The  Flora,  or  Villa  Giulia.  Separated  from  the  Palazzo  Baucina  by 
the  Via  Lincoln.  The  chief  public  garden  of  Palermo,  laid  out  on  the  site  of 
the  garden  of  the  Palace  of  the  Inquisition  (Palazzo  Chiaramonte)  in  1777. 
A  typical  Southern  garden.  Contains  the  melodramatic  statue  of  the  brothers 
Canaris,  the  Fountain  of  Marabitti,  with  the  Genius  of  Palermo,  and  the  cele 
brated  Trinacria,  which  he  designed  for  the  arms  of  Sicily.  Also  an  open-air 
Valhalla  of  famous  Sicilians. 

LIX.  Botanical  Gardens.  Adjoining  the  Villa  Giulia.  Separate  entrance 
from  Via  Lincoln.  Founded  in  1785.  Subtropical  garden,  containing 
glorious  bamboos,  palms,  yuccas,  euphorbias,  aloes,  bougamvilleas,  etc.  The 
gardeners  are  allowed  to  sell  cuttings  of  anything. 

LX.  Church  of  the  Magione.  Founded  1150.  Cloister,  tombs  of  the 
Teutonic  knights.  Valuable  fifteenth-century  Flemish  picture.  In  the  Piazza 
Magione. 

LXI,  Church  of  S.  Maria  dello  Spasimo.  Renaissance,  ruined,  magnificent 
arch.  Near  the  Magione. 

LXII.  Church  of  S.  Maria  della  Vittoria,  near  the  Spasimo.  Contains 
the  door  burnt  open  by  Robert  Guiscard  when  he  entered  the  city. 

LXIII.  The  Marina,  or  Foro  Italico.  Runs  from  the  Villa  Giulia  to  the 
Porta  Felice,  at  the  bottom  of  the  Corso.  Has  most  beautiful  bay-view  in 
Europe.  The  favourite  drive  and  lounge  of  Palermitans  on  warm  nights. 

LXIV.  The  Palazzo  Butera,  or  Trabia.  A  vast  palace  belonging  to  the 
prince  of  that  name.  Adjoins  the  Porta  Felice,  and  faces  bay.  South  part 
of  it  used  as  Hotel  Trinacria.  Can  only  be  visited  by  friends.  A  typical 
palace  of  a  Sicilian  grand  seigneur. 

LXV.  Mura  dei  Cattivi.  The  raised  promenade  between  the  Marina 
and  the  Trabia  Palace.  So  called  because  widowers  are  supposed  to  walk 
there. 


THE   ELENCO  583 

LXVI.  Porta  Felice.  Joins  bottom  of  Corso  to  the  Marina.  A  showy 
seventeenth-century  gate.  It  has  no  top,  because  otherwise  the  enormously 
high  car  of  S.  Rosalia  could  not  pass  through  it. 

LXVII.  Piazza  di  S.  Spirito.  Contains  a  beautiful  fountain  of  sculpture 
mixed  with  verdure. 

LXVIII.  The  House  of  the  Moor.  Overlooks  the  Piazza  of  S.  Spirito. 
May  be  distinguished  by  the  black  marble  head. 

LIX.  Church  of  S.  Giovanni  dei  Napolitani.  Sixteenth  century.  Near 
the  Piazza  Marina. 

III.   Section  of  the  city  between  the  sea,  the  Via  Macqueda, 
the  Corso,  and  the  Giardino  Inglese 

I.  S.  Maria  alia  Catena.     Renaissance-Gothic.     The  beautiful  porch  is  a 
gem  of  architecture.     Near  the  Cala. 

II.  S.  Maria  di  Porto  Salvo.     Sixteenth  century.     Corso,  near  the  Bourse. 

III.  S.  Maria  la   Nuova.      Sixteenth  century.     Built    1520.      Charming 
porch  like  S.   Maria  alia  Catena.     At  the  top  of  the  Fonderia. 

IV.  The  Bourse  (Palazzo  delle  Finanze).      In  the  Corso,  opposite  Piazza 
Marina. 

V.  Cala.     Last  remains  of  the  ancient  harbour  of  Panormus.     Near  the 
bottom  of  the  Corso. 

VI.  Church  of  S.  Antonio,  Via  Roma.     Same  style  as  the  Martorana,  but 
restored. 

VII.  In  street  opposite  side  of  Via  Roma,  in  first  palace  of  left  is  a  beauti 
ful  sixteenth -century  tiled  alcove  picture  after  Botticelli. 

VIII.  Norman  house  of  the  fourteenth  century.     Eight  very  rich  windows 
in  the  Salita  Sant'  Antonio,  behind  S.  Matteo. 

IX.  Church  of  S.  Matteo.     Eighteenth  century.     In  the  Corso.     Stucco 
statuary  by  Serpotta  and  pictures  by  Novelli. 

X.  Ch.  delle  Vergine.     Frescoes.     In  the  Piazza,  near  the  above. 

XI.  The  Piazza  Nuova  (Old  Market).      Very  picturesque.      Between  the 
Via  Macqueda  and  Via  Roma. 

XII.  Palazzo  Pietratagliata.     Square  Norman  tower  and  Gothic  windows. 
The  oldest  palace  in  Palermo.     In  Via  S.  Basilio,  near  S.  Domenico. 

XIII.  Two  other  houses  with  Gothic  windows  in  Via  S.  Basilio. 

XIV.  Church   of  S.   Domenico,  eighteenth   century.      The   Pantheon  of 
Sicily.     Piazza  of  S.  Domenico  is  one  of  the  centres  of  Palermo. 

XV.  Monument  to  the  Immacolata.     In  the  Piazza  S.  Domenico. 

XVI.  The  Argenteria.     Street  of  the  Silversmiths,  with  oldest  shops  in 
Palermo  ;  lies  between  S.  Domenico  and  the  Piazza  Garraffello. 

XVII.  The  Fountain  of  Garraffello  stood  formerly  in  the  Piazza  Garraffello  at 
the  end  of  Via  Cassari.     The  old  Mazzarino  Palace,  where  the  cardinal  was 
born,  is  here. 

XVIII.  S.  Eulalia  dei  Catalani.     Picturesque  Spanish-Renaissance  front 
in  the  Via  Cassari. 

XIX.  Piazza  del  Garraffo.    Opposite  S.  Eulalia.     The  fountain  has  another^ 
Genius  of  Palermo. 

XX.  Oratory  del  Rosario  di  S.  Domenico,  with  stuccoes  of  Serpotta  and 
pictures  by  Vandyck,  Novelli,  and  Luca  Giordano.     Behind  S.  Domenico. 


584        SICILY   THE   NEW   WINTER   RESORT 

XXI.  Cloister  of  S.   Domenico.     Fourteenth-century  Sicilian-Gothic.     Is 
entered  by  arch  just  beyond  the  Oratory  of  S.  Rosario. 

XXII.  Church    of   the    Valverde,    eighteenth    centutury.      On    the    Via 
Bambinai. 

XXIII.  Church  of  S.   Cita,  on  the  Via  Bambinai.     Contains  the   finest 
sculpture  in  Sicily  by  Gagini. 

XXIV.  Oratory  del    Rosario    di    S.    Cita.      Stucco    reliefs    by   Serpotta. 
Picture  by  Carlo  Maratta. 

XXV.  Church  of  the  Annunziata.   Via  Bambinai.    Inside  the  Conservatoire. 
Renaissance-Gothic.     Elegant  interior.    Roof  painted  by  Tommaso  di  Vigilia. 

XXVI.  Church  of  S.   Giorgio-Genovese.      In  Via  Bambinai,  near   Porta 
S.  Giorgio.     Most   elegant  Renaissance.     Pictures   by  Palma  Giovanni  and 
Paladino. 

XX VII.  Palazzo  Whitaker.     Via  Cavour,  above  Porta  S.  Giorgio.     In  the 
Venetian  style.     Finest  modern  palace  in  Palermo.     A  fine  specimen  of  the 
Arabic  water-tower,  loaded  with  maidenhair,  is  almost  opposite  the  Palazzo 
Whitaker. 

XXVIII.  City    wall.      Fine    fragment    in    Via    Cavour.    above    Palazzo 
Whitaker, 

XXIX.  Museum.     Two  exquisite  cortili  and  superb  collection  of  Greek 
antiquities.      In    the    Piazza    Olivella,    off   the  Via  Cavour    and    the    Via 
Macqueda. 

XXX.  Church  of  the  Olivella.     Adjoining  the  Museum.     Superb  picture 
by  Lorenzo  di  Credi.    Jewelled  shrine. 

XXXI.  Oratory  of  the  Filippini.     Adjoining  the  Olivella. 

XXXII.  Oratory  of  S.  Caterina  all5  Olivella. 

XXXIII.  Palazzo  Monteleone.      Vast  sixteenth-century  palace  belonging 
to  the  descendants  of  Cortez.     Enclosing  lemon  garden  of  two  acres. 

XXXIV.  Greek   church  for  the  people  of  one  of  the  fifteenth-century 
Albanian  colonies.     Near  the  back  entrance  of  the  Palazzo  Monteleone. 

XXXV.  Church  of  Piedigrotta.     Between  Piazza  del  Castello  and  Cala. 
Sixteenth  century.     Very  curious. 

XXXVI.  The  Castellammare.      Remains  of  fortress   destroyed   in  1850. 
It  has  a  curious  loggia  overlooking  the  Cala. 

XXXVII.  Anglican  church.     In  the  Via  Stabile. 

XXXVIII.  Hotel  des  Palmes.      Formerly  the  principal  hotel.      In  Via 
Stabile,  opposite  the  English  church. 

XXXIX.  Politeama.    An  opera-house  in  polychrome,  Pompeian- Greek  style. 
On  the  Piazza  del  Castelnuovo. 

XL.  The  passeggiata.  The  favourite  drive  of  Palermitans  is  between  the 
Piazza  del  Castelnuovo  and  the  Giardino  Inglese. 

XLI.  The  fifteenth-century  Palazzo  Cifuentes.  Now  an  orphanage.  Near 
the  Giardino  Inglese. 

IV.  Section  between  the  Piazza,  Ucciardone  and  Monte  Pellegrino. 

I.  The  prisons.     Built  in  1834.      Between  the  Giardino  Inglese  and  the 
Molo. 

II.  Palazzo  di   Gregorio.     On  the  Molo.      Occupied  by   Nelson.      Has 
medieval  remains  in  its  vast  lemon  garden. 

III.  Arsenal  on  the  Molo.     Built  1621. 


THE   ELENCO  585 

Igiea.     At  Acquasanta.     With  gardens  running  down  to  the  sea 

view  of  the  bay.     Inaugurated  by  M.  Ritz. 

^monte.      Near  the  Hotel  Igiea.      Magnificent  gardens  and 

VI  Favorita.     Royal  Villa  under  Monte  Pellegrino.     Chinese  pavilion. 

rtf  ^ ;  t      ^te  ?elle^ino-     Shrine  of  S.  Rosalia  in  cave.     Temple-like  ruin 
ot  sixteenth-century  church.     Colossal  statue  of  saint. 

V.   Section  between  the  Via  Macqueda,  the  Olivuzza,  the  Corso, 
the  Via  Lolli 

I.  The  Cathedral.      Tombs  of  the  Norman  kings.      Works  by  Ga^ini 
Laurana,  Quartaiaro,  and  Novelli.  *       *     > 

II.  Archbishop's  Palace.      Gothic  windows  and  superb  tower.      In  Via 
Bonella,  opposite  Cathedral. 

,  .  I11'.  Church  of  the  Maddalena.     Norman  of  twelfth  century.     In  the  Cara- 
bmien  Barracks  adjoining  the  Archbishop's  Palace. 

,    IV'  9hilrch  of  the  0sPedale  dei  Sacerdoti.     Stucco  reliefs  by  Serpotta  and 
beautiful  Renaissance  entrance. 

V.  Church  of  the  Incoronata.     Twelfth  century.     Behind  the  west  end  of 
the  Cathedral. 

VI.  Church  of  S.  Cristina  La  Vetera.     Small  Greek-cross  Norman  church 
of  twelfth  century,  disfigured  with  plaster. 

VII.  Church  of  S.  Maria  di  Oliveto.     Behind  the  Cathedral.     Frescoes  bv 
Novelli. 

VIII.  Fragments  of  the  Phoenician  wall  of  Palermo  in  the  Via  Candelai. 

IX.  Church  of  S.  Agata  La  Guilla.     Fifteenth-century  facade.     In  street 
of  same  name, 

X.  S.    Maria  del   Cancelliere.      Sixteenth  -  century   door.      Frescoes    by 
Novelh.     Picturesque  interior.     At  back  of  the  Biblioteca  Nazionale. 

XL  Church  of  the  Monastero  delle  Vergine.     Elegant  coloured  dome. 
Frescoes.     Near  the  back  of  the  Biblioteca  Nazionale. 

XII.  Biblioteca  Nazionale.     In  the  former  Jesuit  Collegio  in  the  Corso. 
Very  fine  cloister. 

XIII.  Palazzo  Geraci.     A  very  fine  palace  near  the  Biblioteca  Nazionale. 
On  the  Corso,  now  the  Nuovo  Casino  Club. 

XIV.  Palazzo    Belmonte.      Now    Palazzo    Riso.      Very   fine   palace  by 
Marvuglia.     Opposite  Reber's  Library, 

XV.  Via  del  Celso.     Near  the  Via  Macqueda.      Contains  two   Gothic 
palaces. 

XVI.  S.  Agostino,    In  Via  S.  Agostino.    Beautiful  portal  and  rose-window, 
fourteenth  century.     Elegant  Renaissance  side  door.     Fine  stucco-work  of 
Serpotta  inside. 

XVII.  Mercato  Aragonese.     In  Via  S.  Agostino. 

XVIII.  S.  Marco.    Sixteenth -century  church  of  the  Venetians.    In  Via  S. 
Agostino,  near  the  Mercato  Aragonese. 

XIX.  Hospital  of  the  Conception.     By  the  Porta  Carini.     Contains  the 
clinical  school  of  the  University.     A  church  with  rich  marbles.    Fifteenth- 
century  tower,  with  city  wall  and  the  splendid  stretch  of  the  old  fortifications 
seen  from  the  Teatro  Massimo. 


586        SICILY  THE   NEW  WINTER   RESORT 

XX.  SS.  Giovanni  e  Giacomo.     Sixteenth -century  church.     Near  Porta 
Carini. 

XXI.  Teatro  Massimo.     Largest  opera-house  in  the  world.     In  the  Via 
Macqueda,  just  outside  city  walls. 

XXII.  Bastions  of  the   city.      Some  fine  pieces  in  the   Corso  Alberto 
Amadeo,  near  the  Porta  d'Ossuna. 

XXIII.  Catacombs.     Near  Porta  d'Ossuna.     Closed. 


VI.     Environs  of  Palermo. 

I.  ZISA.    Arabo-Norman  palace  built  by  William  I.    Superb  Saracenic  hall 
with  mosaics.     Go  up  Via  <T  Ossuna. 

II.  Chapel  of  the  Zisa.     Adjoining,  has  remains  of  a  Saracenic  roof. 

III.  Villa  Florio.     Near  the  Zisa.     Includes  the  Villa  Butera,   with  the 
furniture  of  Maria  Carolina's  time  unchanged.     Splendid  palm  garden. 

IV.  Villa  Serradifalco.     Next  to  Villa  Florio.     Splendid  garden. 

V.  Malfitano.     Opposite  the   Serradifalco  Villa.      Residence  of  J.  J.  S. 
Whitaker,  Esq.     Finest  modern  villa  in  Palermo.     Has  a  famous  museum. 

VI.  Cappuccini  Convent.    Catacombs  full  of  mummies.    In  Via  Pindemonte, 
off  road  to  Monreale. 

VII.  La   Cuba.     Arabo-Norman  palace  built   by  William   II.      Curious 
Arabic  inscriptions.     On  road  to  Monreale. 

VIII.  La  Cubola.     Twelfth-century  Arabo-Norman  pavilion  in  the  garden 
which  belonged  to  La  Cuba.     In  the  Fondo  Napoli.     On  road  to  Monreale, 
opposite  side,  higher  up, 

IX.  Villa  Tasca.     Superb  ornamental  garden  of  palms,  etc. ,  on  road  to 
Monreale  above  the  Cuba.     One  of  the  finest  in  Europe. 

X.  MONREALE. 

(1)  Cathedral,  twelfth  century.     Glorious  mosaics.     Tombs  of  kings. 

Go  by  electric  tramway. 

(2)  Cloister.     One  of  the  finest  in  the  world.     Behind  the  cathedral. 

(3)  Benedictine  monastery.     Beautiful  ruins  of  the  tabulario.    Behind 

the  cloister.     Picture  by  Novelli. 

(4)  Conca  cT  Oro,  the  valley  full  of  lemon  groves  which  runs  past 

Monreale. 

(5)  Castel  of  S.  Benedetto,  called  Castellaccio,  on  mountain  just  above 

Monreale. 

XL  S.  Martino  della  Scala.  Above  Monreale ;  12  kils.  from  Palermo. 
Vast  seventeenth-century  monastery,  now  an  agricultural  institute.  Pictures 
by  Novelli. 

XII.  Arabo-Norman  Palace  of  Mimnerno.     In  the  Fondo  di  Cara.     Same 
date  as  the  Zisa.    Superb  view  of  Palermo.    At  Altarello  3  kils.  from  Palermo. 

XIII.  BAIDA.    Six  kils.  from  Palermo.    Splendid  fourteenth -century  church 
and  cloister  of  S.  Giovanni.     Fine  views. 

XIV.  BOCCAFALCONE.     On  road  to  Baida.     The  most  picturesque  village 
near  Palermo. 

XV.  PARCO.   Village  opposite  Monreale,  in  the  Conca  d'  Oro.   Fourteenth- 
century  bas-relief  in  church.     One  of  the  finest  views  in  Sicily. 


THE   ELENCO  587 

XVI.  PIANA  DEI  GRKCI.     Twenty-four  kils.  from  Palermo      Fifteenth- 
century  Albanian  colony.     On  festa  days  the  inhabitants  still  wear  the  Greek 
(Albanian)  costume. 

(1)  Church  of  S.  Demetrio.     Frescoes  of  Pietro  Novelli. 

(2)  Chiesa  dei  Cappuccini.     Frescoes  of  Pietro  Novelli. 

(3)  Chiesa  di  S.  Antonio.     Frescoes  of  Pietro  Novelli. 

XVII.  Church  of  the  Vespers.    Called  also  S.  Spirito  and  S.  Orsola.    The 
cemetery  of  Palermo.    Scene  of  the  Sicilian  Vespers.   Outside  Porta  S.  Agata. 

XVIII.  Torre  della  Guadagna,  or  Torre  dei  Dkvoli.     Fourteenth-century 
fortified  residence  of  the  Chiaramonti.   Outside  the  Porta  S.  Antonino  near  the 
ford  of  the  Oreto,  where  there  is  a  splendid  fern-covered  water-tower. 

XIX.  Medieval  roadside  cross,  between  Torre  della  Guadagna  and  S.  Maria 

XX.  S.   Maria  di  Gesu.     Outside  Porta  Garibaldi.     Beautiful  fifteenth- 
century_  church,  cloister,  and  fountain.     Cemetery  of  the  nobles  on  flowery 
mountain-side.     Fine  fresco  by  Lorenzo  da  Palermo. 

g    XXI.  Corso  dei  Mille.   Outside  Porta  Garibaldi.   Where  Garibaldi  marched 
in  with  his  Thousand  in  1860. 

XXII.  Ponte  del  Ammiraglio.     Splendid  Norman  bridge  built  by  the 
Admiral  George  of  Antioch  in  1113.     Picturesque  shrines  all  round. 

XXIII.  S,    Giovanni    Decollate.     Quaint    little    church   with    fresco    of 
boiling  martyrs,  where  criminals  and  political  martyrs  were  buried  close  to  the 
bridge. 

XXIV.  S.  Giovanni  dei  Lebbrosi.     Oldest  Norman  church  in  Sicily.     On 
the  road  beyond  the  bridge. 

XXV.  The  Favara,   or  Castello  di  Mar  Dolce.     Arabo-Norman  palace. 
Very  extensive  ruins.     At  Brancaccio  ;  3  kils.  from  Palermo. 

XXVI.  Three  Sicilian- Gothic  arches  on  Monte  Griffone  at  the  back  of  the 
Favara. 

XXVII.  Grotta  dei  Giganti.     Famous  caverns  on  Monte  Griffone.     Bones 
of  mammoths,  etc.    Nothing  worth  seeing. 

XXVIII.  Gibilrossa,   where  Garibaldi  bivouacked  the  night  before  he 
marched  into  Palermo,  is  beyond  Monte  Griffone. 


PALERMO  TO  MESSINA 

STATIONS 

Palermo.  .  Mail-coach  to  Vallagrazia,  ij  hours ;  Piana  dei  Greci, 

4!  hours  (see  page  255) ;  Pioppo,  3  hours ;  S.  Giuseppe- 
Jato,  5^  hours ;  Sancipirello,  5!  hours ;  Belmonte- 
Mezzagno,  3^  hours.  Parco,  2  hours.  (Fourteenth- 
century  bas-relief  in  the  church.  One  qfth&jinest  views 
in  Sicily* ) 

FICARAZZRLLI      .     Village  near  Palermo.     Wonderful  orchards. 

FICARAZZI  .  Jasper  and  marbles  found  here.  Near  Bagheria  is  the 

Villa  S.  Elia  with  splendid  outside  staircase. 

BAGHERIA  .  Villas  of  the  Bourbon  court—especially  Valguernera,  with 

splendid  gardens  and  Calvary ;  Palagonia,  with  monsters 
described  by  Goethe ;  Trabia,  with  a  Madame  Tussaud 
Certosa;  Cut6  ;  and  Cattolica. 


SICILY   THE   NEW  WINTER   RESORT 


STATIONS 


S.  FLAVIA 


CASTELDACCIA 
ALTAVILLA 
S.  NICOLA 
TRABIA 
TERMINI 


BDONFORNELLO 
CAMPOFELICE 


LASCARI 
CEFALU 


CASTELBUONO 


POLLINA 
TUSA 


(1)  Ruins  of  Solunto,  the  Sicilian  Pompeii,  on  Monte 
Catalfano. 

(2)  The  tombs  of  Solunto,  near  the  railway  stat. 

Remains  of  S.  Michele,  twelfth-century  church. 

Fifteenth-century  tower. 

Castle,  founded  in  1633.     It  has  a  tunny  fishery. 

Mail-coach  to  Caccamo,  2j  hours.  {Ancient  Cucumum. 
Said  to  have  been  founded  by  Ham  Hear.  Rtiins  of  a 
fine  castle.  Jasper,  agate,  and  marble  and  rock-crystal 
found  here.  Annunziata  church  with  medieval  towers. 
Badiola  church,  Norman  architecture  ;  Casa  Ceccola, 
•with  Norman  door.} 

TERMINI — 

1 i )  Chiesa  Maggiore. 

(2)  Town  Museum. 

(3)  S.  Caterina. 

(4)  Two  Roman  aqueducts. 

(5)  Hot  mineral  springs  and  bath  establishment. 

(6)  Scaturigini  delle  Donne  (submarine  springs). 
Termini  is  the  ancient  Himera. 

Ruins  of  Greek  temple  on  the  site  of  ancient  Himera. 

Mail-coach  to  Collesano,  2^  hours.  (Above  Collesano  is  a 
prehistoric  building  of  the  same  period  as  that  above 
Cefalu.  Porphyry,  quartz,  jasper,  and  agate  found 
here.  Sulphur  spring.  Church  tower  belonging  to 
ancient  castle,  1060.  Near  Collesano  are  the  highest 
peaks  of  Madonian  Mountains :  Monte  S.  Salvatore, 
6,255  feet ;  Pizzo- Antenna,  6,470*  Excursions  also  to 
Monte  Nebrodi,  or  Caronian  Mountains.}  Isnello 
(Asinello),  4^  hours. 

Excursion  to  Gibilmanna,  summer  station,  and  monastery. 

Cathedral  with  Norman  mosaics.  Prehistoric  wall  by 
the  shore.  Superb  prehistoric  house  in  the  castle. 
Medieval  houses  near  cathedral.  Medieval  edifice  called 
Lo  Steri  Magno.  Excursion  to  Gibilmanna,  summer 
station. 

Mail-coach  to  Castelbuono  (town),  2\  hours.  (Remains  of 
fine  feudal  castle.  Antique  Monastery  of  S.  Maria  del 
Parto] ;  Geraci-Siculo,  7^  hours  (remains  of  Count 
Rogers  castle.  Oldest  marquisate  in  Sicily] ;  Bivio- 
Geraci,  8J  hours ;  Gangi,  9^  hours  (tower  of  ancient 
castle.  Ancient  Engyum} ;  Petralia-Soprana,  9^  hours 
(remains  of  ancient  fortress.  Coal  found  near  here}  • 
Petralia-Sottana,  10  hours  (remains  of  Count  Roger's 
fortress  at  Polizzi.} 

The  ancient  Apollonia.  Remains  of  a  very  high  castle, 
used  by  Maurolyco  as  an  observatory. 

Near  the  site  of  the  ancient  Hakesa,  ancient  Sikelian 
city.  At  Halsesa  traces  of  walls  and  citadel  and  baths 
down  by  the  shore.  Walls  two  miles  in  circuit. 


THE    ELENCO 


589 


STATIONS 

S.  STEFANO-DI-CAMASTRA. 
CARONIA 


Near  Calacte,  the  city  of  Ducetius.     It  has  the  largest 

forest  in  Sicily. 

S.  FRATELLO-  Mail-coach  to  S.  Fratello  (town),  3  hours.    (Built  on  site  of 

ACQUEDOLCI  ancient  Aluntium,  plundered  by  Verres.     S.  Fratello 

is  probably  the  ancient   Aluntium.     Near  it   is   the 
Grotta  di  S.  Toledo ,  famous  bone  cavern.) 
Near  the  mouth  of  the  River  Rosmarino,  famous  for  its 
oleander  thickets  and  ruins  of  a  Roman  bridge. 
Has  a  castle  founded  in  1061. 


S.  AGATA-DI- 

MILITELLO 
S.  MARCO-D'ALUNZIO. 
ZAPPULLA 
NASO-CAPO- 

D'ORLANDO 


BROLO-FICARRA  , 
PIRAINO 

GlOJOSA-MAREA 

S.  GIORGIO 
PATTI-MARINA  . 
PATTI 


OLIVERI 


FALCONE 
CASTROREALE- 

NOVARA- 

FURNARI 


CASTROREALE- 
BAGNI 


Mail-coach  to  Naso  (town)5  2|  hours.  (Ancient  castle  and 
ferrugineous  spring) ;  Castel  Umberto,  5^  hours ; 
Ucria,  7  hours ;  Tortorici,  6J  hours. 

CAPO  D'  ORLANDO  has  ruins  of  a  castle. 

BROLO,  medieval  castle  overhanging  sea. 

Mail-coach  to  S.  Angelo-di-Brolo,  2j  hours.  Kas  a 
fortress  of  Saracen  period  and  a  baronial  palace. 


Port  of  Patti. 

Remains  of  medieval  wall.  Tomb  of  Roger's  mother 
hopelessly  modernised.  Good  road  to  ancient  Tyndaris 
(5  miles).  Visitors  sleep  at  Tyndaris.  Patti  is  a 
dirty,  uninteresting  toxvn,  out  of  the  way  of  people 
going  from  the  stat.  to  Tyndaris.  Mail-coach  to  S.  Piero 
Patti,  3  hours. 

Nearest  stat.  (3  miles)  from  the  ancient  Tyndaris. 

TYNDARIS  (Tindaro). 

(1)  Splendid  ruins  of  Greek  walls. 

(2)  Greek  theatre. 

(3)  Roman  gymnasium. 

(4)  Superbly  situated  church  of  Madonna  del  Tindaro. 

(5)  Ancient  tombs. 

(6)  Fragment  of  temple. 
Scenery  is  as  beautiful  as  Taormina. 

Mail-coach  to  S,  Biagio,  3*  hours;  Basico,  54  hours; 
Montalbano-Elicona,  7  hours.  (At  Montalbano  a 
medieval  castle  of  Frederick  II.) ;  Mazzara-Sant-Andrea, 
i'  hour ;  Novara-di-Sicilia,  34  hours  (the  ancient  Noae, 
mines  of  porphyry,  etc.) ;  Furnari  Town,  40  min.  (hot 
sulphur  springs  and  iron  springs). 
CASTROREALE. 

(i)  Frederick  II.  of  Aragon's  medieval  castle  of 
Crizina,  (2)  Chiesa  Maggiore,  sixteenth- century 
choir,  (3)  Churches  of  the  Annunziata  and  S. 
Francesco,  with  Gaginis. 

Or  Termini- Castroreale.  Bathing  establishment  and 
sulphur  and  iron  springs. 


SICILY   THE   NEW   WINTER   RESORT 


590 

STATIONS 

BARCELLONA 


MlLAZZO 


S.  FILIPPO- 

ARCHI 
S.  LUCIA 
VENETJCO- 

SPADAFORA 
S.  MARTINO 
ROMETTA- 

MAREA 


SAPONARA-BAUSO 

GESSO 

Messina 


Mail-coach  to  Castroreale,  ij  hours  (6  kils.,  see  above). 

Steam  tramway  to  Messina.     Near  battlefield  of  R. 

Longano. 
The  ancient  Mylse. 

(1)  Medieval  castle. 

(2)  Old  town  church. 

(3)  Daily  steamers  for  the  Lipari  Islands. 

(4)  Scene   of   Ducetius's  victory,    First   Punic  War; 
Agrippa's  victory  over  Sextus  Pompeius ;  and  Gari 
baldi's  victory. 

Mail-coach  to  S,  Fillippo-Mela,  i  hour ;  S.  Lucia-Mela, 
i^  hours. 


SPADAFORA,  founded  by  Prince  of  Malleto  and 
Venetico  in  1737. 

Mail-coach  to  Venetico,  i  hour  20  minutes;  Rometta 
(town),  2j  hours.  ROMETTA  was  the  last  place 
captured  by  the  Saracens,  A.D.  965,  Many  remains, 
vases,  coins,  lamps,  etc.  found  in  neighbourhood. 
Mineral  springs. 

Quarries  of  gesso,  alabaster,  and  serpentine. 


SIGHTS   OF  MESSINA 

I.  Ancient  cathedral. 
II.  Beautiful  fountain  in  Cathedral  Square. 

III.  Norman  church  of  S.    Cattolica.     Interesting  pictures.     Via   Primo 
Settembre,  near  Piazza  del  Duomo. 

IV.  Fourteenth-century  church  of  SS.  Annunziata  dei  Catalani.     Off  Via 
Primo  Settembre,  oldest  Norman  church  in  Messina,  remains  of  Temple  of 
Neptune. 

IVfl.  Via  dei  Monasteri,  full  of  Gothic  gateways  and  remains. 

V.  S.  pregorio,  very  curious  church  with  good  pictures.     Above  Via  dei 
Monasteri. 

VI.  Museum  in  monastery  of  S.  Gregorio.     Some  good  pictures.     Unique 
collection  of  Urbino  majolica. 

VII.  Monastery  of  Monte  Vergini,  church,  frescoes.  Above  Via  Monasteri. 

VIII.  Fourteenth-century    church    of  S.    Agostino.     In   Via   Monasteri. 
Cloister  detached.     Has  a  Gagini  and  a  good  picture. 

Villa.  Monte  della  Pieta. 

IX.  Fifteenth- century  church  of  S.  Maria  della  Scala.    Fine  Della  Robbia. 
Off  the  Torrente  Boccetta. 

IX#.  S.   Maria  degli  Alemanni — ruined   Gothic  church,    which   contains 
Montorsoli's  statue  of  Neptune. 

X.  Thirteenth-century  cloister  and  church  of  S.  Francesco  d'  Assisi.     Off 
Torrente  Boccetta.     Contains  a  Gagini  and  a  charming  Roman  relief — a  very 
interesting  church. 

XI.  Monument  to  Don  John  of  Austria  in  Corso  Cavour. 


THE    ELENCO  591 

XIL  Fontane  di  Nettuno  by  Montorsoli,  on  the  Marina. 
XII  I.   Municipal  fish-market,  to  see  swordfish. 

XIV.  The  Marina  (Corso  Vittorio  Emmarmele).     Uniform  row  of  palaces. 

XV.  Villa    Rocca    Guelfonia.     Ancient   citadel    of  the    Mamertines.     A 
delightful  garden.    At  top  of  Via  S.  Agostino. 

XVI.  Municipal  palace,  Via  Garibaldi. 

XVII.  Theatre.     Via  Garibaldi. 

XVIII.  Ruins  of  the  Badiazza— a  splendid  Norman  abbey,  7  kils.  from 
Messina,  up  the  Torrente  S.  Francesco  di  Paola. 

XIX.  Faro   of   Messina.     Lighthouse.     Take   steam   tramway,  see   boats 
harpooning  swordfish. 

MESSINA   TO   CATANIA 

STATIONS 

Messina  .     See  pages  358  and  590. 

TREMESTIERI 

MILI 

GALATI 

PONTE-S.  STEFANO 

PONTE  SCHIAVO 

GlAMPILIERi        .     Two  miles  from  fine  Benedictine  monastery  of  S.  Placido. 

SCALETTA  ZANCLEA    Picturesque  castle. 

AU  .     Has  hot  springs,  much  used  for  cutaneous  maladies. 

NIZZA-SICILIA     .     Emperor  Henry  VI.   died   in  the  neighbouring  forest. 

Silver  and  other  metals  abundant  near  here,  worked  by 

the  ancients. 
ROCCALUHERA-  .     Remains  of  aqueducts. 

MANDANICI 

S.  TEKESA-DI-          (i)  Magnificent  Norman  minister  of  S.  Pietro  e  Paolo  on 
f     RIVA  bank  of  the  river  Agro,  7  kils. 

(2)  Drive  up  to  Savoca  with  the  Two  Faces.     A  walled 

town  with  Gothic  churches  and  palace  on  the  mountain 

above.    Marvellous  view  from  castle  of  Savoca.    Cistus 

grows  here.     See  p.  276. 
S.  ALESSIO  .     The   lofty   castle  not  ancient  and  quite  uninteresting, 

though  it  is  a  fine  feature  in  the  landscape. 

LETOJANNI  .     (Or  Gallidoro.)     Remains  of  magnificent  baronial  palace. 

GiARDlNl-  Mail-veltura  to  Taormina  (town),  I  hour  (see  below,  page 

TAORMINA  544);  Kaggi,  ij hours;  Ponte-Graniti,  2 hours;  Biyio- 

Spatolo,   2  hours  35  minutes;    Francavilla-'di-Sicilia, 

3  hours.     (One  of  the  finest  mews  of  Etna.     Sutyhur 

springs. } 

SIGHTS   OF   TAORMINA 

I.  Superb  Roman  theatre. 

II.  Foundations  of  a  Greek  temple  above  theatre. 

III.  Two-storied  Roman  house  in  street  just  inside  Messina  Gate.     Called 
La  Zecca. 

IV.  Small  Roman  theatre  behind  S.  Agnese, 


592        SICILY   THE   NEW   WINTER    RESORT 

V.  Gothic  Palazzo  Corvaja,  fifteenth  century. 

VI.  Naumachia.      Ruins   of  a  large   Roman  building  at  back  of   Hotel 
Naumachia. 

VII.  Room  with  Mosaic  in  Via  Santippo. 

VIII.  Church  of  S.  Agostino.     Fifteenth-century  fa9ade. 

IX.  Orologio.     Watch  tower  at  foot  of  wall  dividing  the  town.     Gothic  on 
Greek  foundations. 

X.  Many  Gothic  archways  and  windows  along  the  main  street. 

XL    Palazzo   Ciampoli,    fifteenth -century.      Elegant   Renaissance    arcade 
behind. 

XII.  The    Duomo.      Gothic,     fifteenth-century    doorways ;    picturesque 
interior. 

XIII.  The  Fountain  of  the  Four  Beasts  in  the  Piazza  del  Duomo.    Quaint 
sixteenth-century  sculptures. 

XIV.  Casa  Floresta.    Just  below  the  Duomo.     Beautiful  Gothic  courtyard. 

XV.  Antique  garden  of  Don  Giovanni  Marziani,  opposite  San  Domenico. 

XVI.  Picturesque   cloisters  and  garden   of  S.   Domenico— now  a  hotel. 
In  the  church  sacristy  is  overrated  wood-carving  worth  a  visit. 

XVII.  Catania  Gate,  and  fourteenth-century  church  of  S.  Antonio  adjoining. 

XVIII.  Porta  Toca.     Most  picturesque  Gothic  gateway. 

XIX.  Palazzo  S.  Stefano,  fifteenth  century.     Elegant  fa$ade  and  terrace. 
Near  Catania  Gate. 

XX.  The  Badia  Vecchia,  fifteenth  century.     The  most  elegant  Gothic  ruin 
in  Sicily.     Exquisitely  beautiful. 

XXI.  Stagnone.     Magnificent  Roman  arched  reservoirs  like  the  Thousand 
and  One  Columns  at  Constantinople.    Near  Messina  Gate  and  in  the  Hon.  A. 
Stopford's  garden. 

XXII.  Cappuccini  convent  with   fifteenth-century  Gothic  details.     Near 
Messina  Gate. 

XXIII.  S.  Pancrazio,  built  out  of  cella  of  Greek  temple  (perhaps  Apollo 
Archagetas),  near  Messina  Gate. 

XXIV.  Splendid  fragment  of  Sikelian  wall   running  from  S.    Pancrazio 
to  Hotel  Cast ellam mare. 

XXV.  Fine  Roman  tombs  near  this  wall. 

XXVI.  Roman  foundations.     Building  called  Belvedere  right  over  the 
Sikelian  wall. 

XXVII.  Walk  up  Mount  Zirreto.      Beautiful  gorge  with  wild  oleanders 
and  cyclamens. 

XXVIII.  Walk  to  Saracenic  castle  by  path  outside  Messina  Gate. 

XXIX.  To  Mola  with  castle  and  fifteenth-century  gateway,  and  to  Monte 
Venere.     Path  branching  off  from  the  path  to  the  castle. 

XXX.  Convent  of  S.  Caterina,  now  Lady  Hill's  villa,  near  Hotel  Castel- 
lammare.     Beautiful  Renaissance  cloister  and  subtropical  garden.     Elegant 
Gothic  gateway  in  cloister. 

XXXI.  Honeycombed  Saracenic  tombs  on  the  road  below  S.  Caterina. 

XXXII.  Church  of  S.  Pietro  and  S.  Paolo.    Charming  Gothic  details.  Also 
below  S.  Caterina.     Key  at  Piazza  S.  Domenica  (not  S.  Domenico.) 

XXXIII.  NAXOS.    The  oldest  Greek  city  in  Sicily.    Walk  from  Taormina 
through   Giardini.     Ancient   Sikelian   wall   some   hundred  yards  along   the 
banks  of  the  river.     Lava  stream  jutting  out  into  the  sea  near  C,  Schizo. 


STATIONS 

TAORMINA-GIARDINI 
ALCANTARA 


THE    ELENCO 

See  p.  544. 


593 


CALATABIANO 

FlUMEFREDDO- 
SlCILlA 

MASCALA 


GlARRE-RlPOSTO 


CARRUBA 

MANAGNO 
ACIREALE 


ACI-CASTELLO 

CANNIZZARO 
Catania 


A  bridge  attributed  to  the  Saracens.     Near  the  ruins 

ofNaxos.     Seep.  in. 
Medieval  castle  on  a  lofty  rock. 
So  called  because  it  contains  a  vitriolic  acid  which  lowers 

its  temperature  (3^  degrees  centigrade). 
The  ancient   Gallipoli   (?),  founded  by  Athenians  from 

Naxos.      Has  an   old   Saracenic    castle  and   ancient 

remains.     Vino  del  Bosco,  a  light  wine,  is  grown  here. 
The  Circum-^Etnean  railway  runs  from  here  to  Catania 

(see  p.  1 86).    Seven  kils.  from  Giarre  is  the  Castagno  dei 

Cento  Cavalli,  the  famous  chestnut  tree  of  Etna,  180 

feet  round. 


Mail-coach  to  Aci-Catena,  I  hour.  (Cold  sulphur  spring]  ; 
Aci-S.  Antonio,  I J  hours ;  Viagrande,  2!  hours  ;  Tre- 
castagni,  2  hours  40  minutes. 

(1)  Cathedral. 

(2)  Ch.  of  S.  Sebastiano. 

(3)  Ch.  del  Suffragio,  with  frescoes  by  Vasta. 

(4)  From  Acireale  the  SEVEN  ISLES  OF  THE  CYCLOPS 

(or  Faraglioni),  hurled  by  Polyphemus  at  Ulyss-es. 
Medieval  castle  held  by  the  great  Catalan  Admiral,  Roger 
di  Loria,  1297.     The  Isles  of  the  Cyclops. 

Mail-coach  to  Barriera- del -Bosco,  I  hour ;  S-  Agata- 
Battiati,  if  hours ;  S.  Giovanni- Punta,  2  hours ; 
Ognina,  25  minutes;  Cibali,  30  minutes  ;  S.  Giovanni- 
Galermo,  \\  hours ;  Gravina-di-Catania,  i|  hours  ; 
Mascalucia,  2  hours.  (Favourite  villegiatura] ;  Mister- 
bianco,  ij  hours;  (Terraforte  wine  is  grown  round 
Mistei  bianco.  Destroyed  by  an  eruption  of  1669. 
Massive  Roman  remains  in  the  neighbo%trhood  at 
Erbi-BianchL  Antique  baths  known  as  Damusi} ; 
Motta-S.  Anastasia  2^  hours  ;  (has  a  castle  of  Norman 
period.  The  prison  of  Don  Bernardo  Cabrera  in 
fifteenth  centttry  built  on  wonderful  prismatic  lava 
rock}. 


SIGHTS   OF   CATANIA 

I.  Cathedral  :  notice  fifteenth-century  monument  of  D'Acuna,  and  tomb  of 
Bellini. 

II.  Roman  baths  underneath  the  Piazza  del  Duomo. 

III.  Antique  lava  elephant  in  the  Piazza  del  Duomo. 

IV.  Picturesque  market  near  cathedral. 

V.  Thirteenth-century  Castello  Ursino  with  lava  stream  (1669)  all  round  it. 

VI.  Roman  colonnade  in  Piazza  Mazzini. 

VII.  S.  Carcere  :  Graco-Roman  portal. 


594        SICILY  THE  NEW  WINTER   RESORT 

VIII.  Ancient  Roman  theatre,  half  buried  in  lava. 

IX.  Remains  of  Roman  odeon  close  to  the  theatre. 

X.  Ancient  Roman  bath,  now  church  of  S.  Maria  Rotonda. 
XL  Roman  amphitheatre. 

XII.  Remains  of  the  Roman  Forum  under  the  Casa  Stella. 

XIII.  Roman  baths  near  the  Carmelite  Chiesa  del  Indirizzo. 

XIV.  Fourteenth-century  gateway  of  S.  Giovanni  de'  Fieri. 

XV.  Tombs  near  S.  Maria  di  Gesii. 

XVI.  Church  of  S.  Maria  di  Gesu  contains  a  Gagini 

XVII.  Immense  convent  of  the  Benedettini— now  the  museum. 

XVIII.  Public  garden  called  the  Villa  Bellini.     Fine  views. 

CATANIA   TO    SYRACUSE 


Catania 

BICOCCA 

PASSOMARTINO 


See  pp.  325,  sqq. 

Junction  for  Palermo,  Syracuse,  and  Girgenti. 


VALSAVOIA 

LEONE 
SCORDIA 


VALSAVOIA  TO   CALTAGIRONE 

Stat.  for  the  Lake  of  Lentini.  Railway  washed  by  the 
Lake  of  Lentini.  Full  of  fish  and  game,  most  malarious 
lake  in  Sicily. 


FlLDIDONNA 
MlLlTELLO 

MINED 

VlZZINI-LlCODlA 


Mail-coach  to  Palagonia,  2  hours ;  Raniacca,  4  hours. 
Scordia  was  built  by  the  prince  in  1698. 

Church  of  S,  Maria  La  Vettere,  portal  with  rich  decora 
tion  of  1506.  Remains  of  a  castle  ruined  in  1693  by 
earthquake. 

Occupies  the  site  of  Ducetius's  Mense.  Three  kils. 
north  is  the  sacred  Lake  of  Palici,  the  home  of  the 
Dii  Palici.  PALICA,  another  city  of  Ducetius,  was  on 
a  neighbouring  height. 

Mail-coach  to  Licodia-Eubea,  i|  hours  ;  Licoaia  (i)  Ruins 
of  an  ancient  castle.  (2)  Remains  of  an  unknown 
ancient  city  near  it.  Vizzini  (town),  I  hour.  (Perhaps 
the  ancient  Bidis.  Good  pictures  and  a  Gagini  in  its 
churches.  Valuable  agates  found  in  neighbourhood) ; 
Buccheri,  3^  hours,  (i)  Very  picturesque  convent \ 

(2)  Immaco/ata    church    with   Byzantine  paintings, 

(3)  a  spring  of  milk-white  water.     (District  very  in 
teresting  to  geologists)-,  Ferla,  4  hours,     (i)   Chambers 
and  sepulchres  cut  into  the  rock  on  Monte  diS.  Martino, 
(2)  near  remains  of  another  ancient  place  destroyed  by 
earthquake  of   1693  5    Monte-Rosso-Almo,    3    hours. 
(  Under  Normans  was  called  Monte  Jahalmo.    Ruins  oj 
an  ancient  castle, ) 


THE   ELENCO 


STATIONS 

GRAMMICHELE 
CALTAGIRONE 


595 


VALSAVOIA 

LENTINI 


AGNONE 
BRUCCOLI 

AUGUSTA 


MEGARA-IBLEA 
PRIOLO 


S.  PANAGIA 


Near  the  ancient  Ocula  (Occhiala).  >  Founded  by  the 
Prince  of  Butera  after  the  earthquake  of  1693. 

Mail-coach  to  Mirabella-Imbaccare,  3  hours ;  S.  Michele 
(Di  Ganzeria),  if  hours.  (Saracen  Jameria^  also  called 
Casale  del  Greet  from  number  of  colonists  from 
Epirus] ;  Gigliotto,  2j  hours;  PIAZZA  ARMERINA,  5f 
hours,  (i.  On  mountain  near  by  is  AIDONE,  perhaps 
the  ancient  Herbita^  a  town  of  King  Roger's  Lombards  > 
see  p.  255.  2.  Sicilian- Gothic  in  two  churches  and 
several  houses.  3,  Castello.  4.  Cathedral,  Piazza- 
Armerina  is  one  of  the  Albanian  colonies.  Said  to  be 
the  original  site  of  Gela — ancient  name  was  Plutia,  or 
Plugia,  nicknamed  Opulentissima*  The  town  has 
charming  wooded  scenery.} 

CALTAGIRONE. 

(1)  Cathedral  with  Renaissance  sculptures  and  treasury. 

(2)  Church  of  S.  Maria  di  Gesu,  Gagini's  (?)  Madonna 

della  Catena. 

(3)  Old  castle. 

(4)  Most  important  potteries  in  Sicily. 
See  page  307. 

^/flzy-rt^/ztoCarlentini,  3^  hours.  (Founded  by  the  Viceroy 
Vega,  /#/,  in  honour  of  Charles  V.  On  the  mountain 
on  account  of  malaria  at  Lentini.  Remains  of  ancient 
fortress).  Franconfonte,  3  hours ;  Lentini  (town),  25 
minutes. 

LENTINI 

The  ancient   Leontini,  with  a  lake  about  ten  miles 
round.     Famous  for  eels  and  water-fowl. 

(1)  Drive  in  one  day  to  see  valley  of  prehistoric  tombs 

at  Pantalica. 

(2)  Remains  of  ancient  walls,  aqueducts,  etc. 

(3)  In  the  neighbourhood  are  vast  caves,  remains  of 

Xuthia  and  of  the  fortress  of  Bricinnia. 

(1)  Medieval  castle,  time  of  Queen  Johanna. 

(2)  Antique  trotylon  under  Mount  Gisira. 
Magnificent  harbour.     At  MOLINELLO,  3  kils.  from  stat., 

tombs  of  a  Siculan  village  and  Christian  catacombs. 
De  Ruyter  mortally  wounded  in  sea-fight  here. 

(1)  Ruins  of  wall,  towers,  and  gates. 

(2)  Necropolis  of  the  old  Greek  city. 

Mail-coach  to  Melilli,  2  hours  (the  town  of^the  Hybl(san 
honey.  Many  Sikdian  tombs  and  prehistoric  fortress 
above. ) 

(1)  Drive  to  peninsula  of  Thapsus  (many  Sikelian  tombs 

and  a  tunny  fishery). 

(2)  Torre  di   Marcello,  a  Roman  building,  probably  a 

tomb. 

(3)  Byzantine  church  of  S.  Foca, 
Tunny  fishery. 


Sg6        SICILY  THE   NEW   WINTER   RESORT 

STATIONS 

SIRACUSA  .     Mail-coach  to  Priolo,  2  hours  (see  above);  Melilli,  4  hours 

(see  above);  Sortino,  6  hours  40 minutes.  (Founded on 
ruins  of  Pentargia  destroyed  by  earthquake  in  1693. 
Various  ancient  rock-chambers.  People  sleep  here  to 
explore  the  famous  PantaUca  (see  above) ;  Ferla,  ioj 
hours  (see  page  175) ;  Cassaro,  nj  hours  (founded  by 
Alcassar,  a  Saracen  Emir) ;  Floridia,  I  hour  (founded 
1640  by  Giacomo  Bonnano^  near  the  Cava  di  Spam- 
pinatO)  the  gorge  where  the  destruction  of  the  Athenians 
began}',  Bagni-Canicattini,  4 hours;  Palazzolo-Acreide, 
7j  hours  (see  page  398)  ;  Buscemi,  8J  hours  (Abisama 
of  the  Saracens— remains  of  ancient  city  of  Casale) ; 
Buccheri,  9!  hours  (remains  of  an  ancient  castle,  rocks 
interesting  to  the  geologist ;  near  Monte  Lauro). 

SIGHTS   OF  SYRACUSE 

Modern  Syracuse  (all  in  the  ancient  quarter  of  Ortygia). 

I.  Castle    of  Maniace.      Fourteenth   century.       Furthest    point    of  city. 
Splendid  Gothic  doorway,  etc. 

II.  Fonte  di  S.  Giovanni.     Subterranean  spring  (now  a  washing  pool)  near 
the  castle. 

III.  Palazzo  Miliaccio  near  the  castle.     Gothic  terrace  above  the  gateway. 

IV.  Palazzo  Bellomo,  Gothic  fifteenth  century,  in  Via  Capodieci. 

V.  The  church  of  S.   Martino,    fifteenth -century  Gothic  portal  opposite 
Palazzo  Beilomo. 

VI.  Church   of  S.    Lucia ;    most    elegant    Renaissance   fa9ade  in   Sicily. 
Between  Palazzo  Bellomo  and  the  Duomo, 

VII.  Museum  in  Piazza  del  Duomo  contains  Landolina  Venus,  and  splendid 
•  ancient  Greek  collection. 

VIII.  The  Duomo,  embodying  a  perfect  Greek  temple  of  sixth  century  B.C., 
attributed  to  Minerva.     Font  is  an  ancient  Greek  cratera. 

IX.  Palazzo  Bosco.     In  Piazza  del  Duomo.     Elegant  Renaissance  palace 
with  charming  belvedere. 

X.  The  Marina.     Avenue  and  drive  round  the  shore  of  the  Great  Harbour. 

XI.  Fountain  of  Arethusa.     Most  celebrated  fountain  of  antiquity.     At  the 
end  of  the  Marina.     Still  contains  papyrus  and  sacred  fish. 

XII.  Fragment  of  the  medieval  wall  on  the  sea  from  the  Marina  to  the 
castle. 

XIII.  Porta  Marina.    Fine  fifteenth-century  gateway  at  end  of  the  Marina. 

XIV.  S.    Maria  dei  Miracoli.     Twelfth  -  century  doorway.    Near  Porta 
Messina. 

XV.  Church  of  S.  Pietro.     Fifteenth-century  Gothic. 

XVI.  Palazzo  Montalto.     Finest  Gothic  windows  in  Syracuse.     Fourteenth 
century.     Notice  small  fifteenth-century  building  opposite. 

XVII.  Piazza  Archimede.     Principal  square  of  the  town.     The  house  with 
the  clock  has  a  splendid  fourteenth- century  outside  staircase  and  Gothic 
windows. 

XVIII.  Palazzo  Lanza.  Elegant  Saracenic  windows.   Also  on  Piazza  Archi 
mede, 


THE   ELENCO  597 

XIX.  Palazzo  Daniele.     The  finest  hammered-iron  balcony  in  Syracuse. 
Gothic  fa9ade  and  Gothic  outside  stair  in  cortile.     Via  Maestranza. 

XX.  Via  Maestranza.      Notice  the  fine  courtyard  in  the  palace,  formerly 
the  Leon  d'  Oro  Hotel.     Artists'  bits  in  Ronco  Capobianco. 

XXI.  Palazzo  Lantieri.     At  end  of  the  Via  Roma.     Elegant  Renaissance 
sculptures  on  the  corner. 

XXII.  Via  Nizza.     Contains  several  old  palaces.     Notably  the  house  with 
the  cock  outside. 

XXIII.  Temple  of  Diana.     In  Via  Diana.    Ruins  of  seventh  century  B.C. 

XXIV.  S.  Maria  dei  Miracoli.     Sixteenth-century  church  with  a  portal. 

XXV.  Opera  Pia  Gargallo  in  the  Via  Gargallo.     Gothic  cortile  with  a  fine 
terrace. 

^  XXVI.    Palace   of  the   Archbishop,   with  antique   columns  and  Gagini's 
S.  Lucia  in  the  cortile. 

XXVII.  Aqueduct,  remains  of  the  ancient.     Opposite  the  prison. 

Ancient  Syracuse. 

XXVIII.  The  Marble  Harbour.     Small  harbour  named  from  the  moles  of 
Dionysius. 

XXIX.  The  Arsenal,  or  House  of  Agraticus.     Stone  slips  where  Dionysius 
built  his  triremes.     Near  S.  Lucia  al  Sepolcro. 

XXX.  Church  of  S.  Lucia.     Fourteenth  -  century  tower  and  west  front. 
Crypt  where  S.  Lucia  was  murdered.     Christian  catacombs. 

XXXI.  Convent  of  the  Cappuccini.    Fourteenth  century.    Now  a  lazzaretto, 
Christian  catacombs. 

XXXII.  Scala  of  the  Aqueduct  of  the  Hundred  Steps. 

XXXIII.  Latomia  dei  Cappuccini.     Prehistoric  quarry  where  the  Athenian 
prisoners  were  confined. 

XXXIV.  Achradina,  plateau  of.     Foundations  of  wall,  gates,  and  houses, 
Greek  period.     Greek  chariot  roads.     Tombs  and  niches  in  the  cliff  face. 

XXXV.  Latomia  Casale.     Another  prehistoric  quarry. 

XXXVI.  Latomia  di  S.  Venere.     The  prehistoric  quarry  containing  a  rich 
subtropical  garden. 

XXXVII.  Greek  Necropolis.    Between  the  Latomia  S.  Venere  and  Catania 
Road.     Contains  so-called  tombs  of  Archimedes  and  Timoleon,  and  numerous 
others.. 

XXXVIII.  Villa  Landolina.     Fine  subtropical  garden. 

XXXIX.  Church  of  S.  Giovanni.     Beautiful  Norman  portico  and  elegant 
rose-window.     Remains  of  Temple  of  Bacchus,  recently  excavated.     Church 
of  S.  Marziano,  in  the  crypt,  where  St.  Paul  preached.    Ancient  frescoes. 

XL.  Catacombs  of  S.  Giovanni :  largest  in  the  world. 
XLI.  Early  Christian  underground  building  near  entrance  to  S.  Giovanni. 
XLII.  Christian  catacomb  of  S.  Maria  di  Gesii  in  the  Proprieta  Zivillica. 
XLI II.  S.  Nicol6.     Disfigured  Norman  church  near  the  amphitheatre. 
XLIV.  Ancient  piscina,  or  reservoir.      Built  by  Romans  in  Greek  style 
under  this  church. 
XLV.  The  Roman  amphitheatre. 
XLVI.  The  Ara,  or  altar  of  the  hecatombs.     Below  the  theatre. 


598       SICILY  THE  NEW  WINTER  RESORT 

XLVII.  The  Ara,  or  altar  of  the  hecatombs,  Latomia  del^  Paradise,  con 
taining  the  Ear  of  Dionysius.  Stalactite  caves  used  by  rope-spinners. 

XLVIII.  The  Greek  theatre,  one  of  the  finest  of  antiquity.  Auditorium 
still  perfect. 

XLIX.  Streets  of  tombs  above  the  Greek  theatre. 

L.  The  Nymphseum.  Arch  formerly  containing  fountain,  and  it  is  alleged, 
the  Apollo  Belvedere.  Above  the  theatre. 

LI.  Foundations  of  the  Temple  of  Apollo,  on  the  rocks  above  the  theatre. 

LII.  Ginnasio,  or  Palsestra.  Very  beautiful  Roman  building  on  site  of 
Timoleon's  tomb  near  the  station. 

LTII.  Temple  of  Ceres  and  Proserpine.  A  splendid  piece  of  masonry  near 
the  Campo  Santo,  really  part  of  Dionysius's  fortifications. 

LIV.  Necropolis  del  Fusco.  A  gap  above  the  Campo  Santo,  where 
Agragian  Gate  (Girgenti  Gate)  and  tomb  of  Archimedes  stood. 

LV.  Roman  buildings  at  the  corner  of  the  Syracuse-Noto  road. 

LVI.  Castle  of  Euryalus,  constructed  by  Dionysius  I.  Finest  ancient  Greek 
fortress.  Five  miles  distant  from  Syracuse. 

LVII.  Latomia  del  Filosofo. 

LVIII.  Foundations  of  Labdalon,  the  first  fortress  of  the  Athenians.  Near 
Euryalus. 

LIX.  Zapylon  (so  called).  The  northern  outwork  of  Euryalus,  connected 
by  subterranean  passages. 

LX.  The  wall  and  gate  of  Dionysius.  Fine  fragment  between  Euryalus 
and  camp  of  Marcellus. 

LXI.  Site  of  camp  of  Marcellus,  and  other  Roman  buildings  in  Baron 
Targia's  olive  garden. 

LXII.  Belvedere.     Semaphore  station  on  the  hill  above  Euryalus. 

LXIII.  Ancient  aqueduct,  running  past  Euryalus. 

LXIV.  Scala  Greca.  A  Greek  road  cut  in  the  rock,  from  the  shore  up  to 
Euryalus. 

LXV.  The  Adytum  of  the  Furies,  a  cave-shrine  near  the  Scala  Greca. 

LXVI.  Leon,  a  little  harbour  between  Thapsus  and  Euryalus,  used  by  the 
Athenians. 

LXVII.  Trogilus,  a  little  harbour  between  Thapsus  and  Euryalus,  used  by 
the  Athenians. 

LXVIII.  Catania  Gate.  Site  of,  and  three  Greek  roads  at  top  of  descent 
wrongly  called  the  Scala  Greca. 

LXIX.  Plemmyrium.  The  other  headland  of  the  harbour.  Sikelian  tombs, 
ancient  Greek  potteries. 

LXX.  Ruins  of  the  temple  of  the  Olympian  Jove.  Seventh  century  B.C. 
Near  the  mouth  of  the  Anapo. 

LXXI.  River  Anapo.  Papyrus  groves ;  fountain  of  Cyane,  where  Pluto 
left  the  earth  with  Proserpine, 

LXXII.  Expedition.  Drive  to  PALAZZOLO,  45  kils.  from  Syracuse.  Theatre, 
Odeon,  the  finest  Greco- Roman  tombs  in  Sicily.  Rock  sculptures.  Sikelian 
tombs.  Palazzolo  is  the  Acrsean  Lepas,  which  was  the  site  of  the  three  days' 
battle  between  the  Syracusans  and  the  Athenians. 


THE   ELENCO 


599 


SYRACUSE  TO   LICATA 


STATIONS 

Siracusa 

S.  TERESA-LONGARINI 
CASSIBILR 


AVOLA 


NOTO 


S.  PAOLO 
ROSOLINI 

SPACCAFORNO 


POZZALLO 
SAMPIERI 
SCICLI 


The   river    Cassibile   is    the   ancient   Cacyparis,    where 
Demosthenes  and  6,000  Athenians  surrendered.    Monte 
Cassibile  contains  very  fine  Sikelian  tombs.     A  medie-   , 
val  castle  here. 

The  ancient  Hybla,  destroyed  in  1693  by  an  earthquake, 
and  rebuilt  near  old  site. 

Mail-coach  to  Palazzolo-Acreide,  4  hours  (see  page  398) ; 
Pachino,  34  hours  (24  kits,  from  Noto.  Founded  in 
1438.  Porto  d'  Ulisse  and  ancient  Helorus  and  Caps 
Passaro — one  of  the  three  capes  of  Sicily — in  the  neigh- 
boiirhood}. 

NOTO  ANTICA.  Twelve  kils.  above  is  a  medieval  Pompeii 
abandoned  after  an  earthquake  of  1693.  The  ancient 
Neetum,  founded  by  Ducetius  448  B.C.  The  Torre 
Maestra  was  built  by  Peter,  brother  of  King  Alfonso  in 
fourteenth  century. 

LA  PIZZUTA,  four  miles  south  of  Noto, on  the  river  Helorus, 
a  column  thirty  feet  high  belonging  to  the  monument 
erected  by  the  Syracusans  at  the  river  Assinarus,  where 
they  captured  Nicias  and  his  Athenian  army. 

FAVORITA,  remains  of  a  sepulchral  chamber  near  the  Villa 
Favorita. 

NACCARI,  remains  of  an  ancient  city  near  the  Lake  of 
Vendicari. 

On  the  river  Assinarus,  where  Nicias  was  defeated. 

Primitive  Christian  basilica  annexed  to  the  house  of  the 
prince.  Claims  to  be  the  site  of  the  ancient  Casmenos. 

Entrance  to  the  Val  d5  Ispica,  which  extends  to  Modica. 
Full  of  prehistoric  tombs  and  troglodyte  dwellings 
(Ispicae  Furnus).  Has  the  remains  of  a  baronial  palace 
on  the  ancient  site. 

Seaport  near  Cape  Passaro  (Pachynum). 

Ancient  Sicola,  founded  1350,  has  the  remains  of  two 
castles,  Castelaccio  and  Maggiore.  Tombs,  vases, 
lamps,  etc.,  are  found  here,  Carob  trees  very  fine  in 
this  district. 


SIGHTS   OF   MODICA   (THE  ANCIENT  MOTYCA) 

Modica. 

I  Church  of  S.  Giorgio  Grande,  tribuna  of  painted  panels,  fifteenth  century. 
Superb  nineteenth- century  church.  Approached  by  vast  flight  of  steps  like 
the  Spanish  steps  at  Rome. 

II.  S.  Pietro.  Superb  nineteenth-century  church.  Approached  by  vast 
flights  of  steps. 


6oo        SICILY  THE   NEW  WINTER   RESORT 

III.  S.  Giovanni.     Superb  nineteenth-century  church.     Approached  by 
vast  flights  of  steps. 

IV.  Carmine.     Sicilian-Gothic  doorway.     Ruined  fourteenth-century  rose- 
window. 

V.  S.  Maria  di  Betlem.     Rich  late  Gothic  chapel. 

VI.  S.  Maria  di  Gesu,  avenue  of  sixteenth-century  statues  leading  to. 

VII.  S.  Maria  di  Gesu,  rich  fifteenth-century  portal,  one  of  the  best  late 
Gothic  cloisters  in  Sicily. 

VIII.  Medieval  castle  of  the   Grimaldi,  now  convent-school.      Beautiful 
garden  and  view. 

IX.  Val   ds  Ispica,  8  kils.   from  Modica.     Prehistoric  tombs,  sepulchral 
chambers,  two  frescoed  chambers  cut  in  the  rocks,  used  as  churches  during  the 
Saracen  persecutions. 

X.  S.  Philip  of  the  Columns,  2  kils.  from  Modica.     Subterranean  frescoed 
church  used  during  the  Saracen  persecutions. 

XL  Floods.     The  river  which  caused  the  disasters  runs  down  the  main 
street  of  the  town. 
XII.  Casa  Leva,  Portone.     Beautiful  Sicilian-Norman  gateway. 


RAGUSA- 
INFERIORE 


RAGUSA- 
SUPERIORE 


DONNA  FUGATA 
COMISO 


VlTTORIA 


Mail-coach  to  Giarratana,  4  hours.  ( The  ancient  Cereta- 
mim.  Here  are  found  remains  of  ancient  temples ,  elegant 
baths >  mosaics )  sepulchres ',  terra-cottas,  coins] ;  Monte- 
rosso-Almo,  5^  hours  (see  p.  226. )  Mazzarelli,  5  hours. 

Ragusa  is  the  ancient  Hersea, 

**(i)  View  of  Ragusa  approaching  from  Modica;  finest 
panorama  in  Sicily. 

(2)  Rich  Gothic  portal  of  S.  Giorgio  Vecchio. 

(3)  Superb  nineteenth -century  church   of  S.  Giorgio 

Nuovo. 

Mail-coach  to  Chiaramonte-Gulfi,  3  hours  ;  Monterosso- 
Almo,  6  hours  (see  p.  226). 

(1)  Wonderfully  picturesque  Scala  leading  up    from 

lower  town. 

(2)  Relief  of  the  "  Flight  into  Egypt "  and  wonderfully 

picturesque  old  houses  half-way  up  the  Scala. 

(3)  S.  Maria  della  Scala.     Very  rich  Gothic  interior. 

Curious  terra- cottas.     Open-air  pulpit. 

(4)  S.    Giovanni  (the   Duomo).     Superb    nineteenth- 

century    church.      Handsome    steps    in    front. 
Ancient  tombs  of  the  Counts  of  Modica. 

(5)  Gothic  portal 

(6)  CHIARAMONTE,  drive  on  coach  to.     Fine  feudal 

castle  near  the  ancient  Gulfi. 

Mail-coach  to  S.  Croce-Camerina,  2  hours.  Near  ancient 
Casmenoe.  Remains  of  ancient  monuments  and  tombs. 
Church  of  S.  Francesco.  Fifteenth -century  tomb  by 
Gagini. 

Mail-coach  to  Biscari,  i  hour  50  minutes.  Founded  early 
in  seventeenth  century.  Visit  to  the  ruins  of  Camerina 
(8  miles),  near  Scoglitti,  the  port  of  Vittoria. 


THE   ELENCO 


60 1 


STATIONS 
BlSCARI 

DlRILLO 

TERRANOVA-DI- 
SICILIA 


BUTERA 


FALCONARA. 
Licata  (Alicata)  , 


Gave  his  title  to  the  prince  who  founded  the  famous 
museum  at  Catania, 

Mail-coach  to  Miscemi,  3  hours  ;  Caltagirone,  5J  hours. 

(1)  Site  of  the  ancient  Gela  temple,  etc. 

(2)  At  Cape  Soprano  ancient  necropolis.     Splendid 

sarcophagi  lately  found  there. 

(3)  Remains  of  a  temple  of  Apollo. 

(4)  Virgil's  Campi  Geloi  outside.     Principal  plain  of 

Sicily  after  Catania. 
Medieval  castle,  fifteenth  century.     Prince  of   Butera 

(Trabia)  is  one  of  the  principal  Sicilian  nobles.     Held 

by  Saracens. 
Nothing  of  importance. 
Site  of  the  ancient  Phintia.     The   Hill  of  Ecnomus, 

famous  in  the  story  of  Phalaris,  etc  ,  stands  above  the 

town, 


LICATA 
S.  OLIVA 
FAVAROTTA 
CAMPOBELLO 
RAVENUSA 

DELIA 
CANICATTI 


LICATA  TO   GIRGENTI 

See  p.  210. 


Mail-coach  to  Ravanusa  (town),  J-hour ;  Campobello-di- 
Licata,  ^-hour.  Campobello-di-Licata  has  a  sulphur 
spring,  not  used. 

Mail-coach  to  Delia,  ij  hours ;  Sommatino,  3  hours ; 
Trabia,  4  hours  (see  Station,  p.  302) ;  Riesi,  6  hours  ; 
Serra-Alongi,  2  hours,  20  minutes  ;  Camastra,  3!  hours. 
(Has  a  sulphur  spring,  not  used} ;  Palma-Montechiaro, 
5 J  hours  (has  a  sulphur  spring.,  not  used ;  also  reached 
by  sea  from  Licata  and  Porto  Empedocle.  The  women 
have  a  peculiar  costume.}  Tenaro,  2j  hours.  (From 
•Serra-Alongi  mail-coach  to  Naro,  10  minutes. 

At  Naro  (12  kils.  from  Canicatti)  is  ancient  town  church 
and  fourteenth-century  castle.  Many  classical  remains 
and  catacombs.  Norman  baptistery  in  Chiesa  Madre. 


CANICATTI  TO  S.   CATERINA-XIRBI 

Canicatti  .     See  above. 

SERRADIFALCO    .    Mail-coach  to  Monte  d'  Oro,  2  hours  (Sulphur  spring  and 

fine  baronial  palace}.      Gave  his  title  to  the  famous 

antiquary  the  Duke  of  Serradifalco. 
S.  CATALDO        .    Sulphur  mines. 


602        SICILY  THE  NEW  WINTER  RESORT 


STATIONS 

CALTANISETTA   . 


S.  Caterina-Xirbi 

CANICATTI 

CASTROFILIPPO 

RACALMUTO 

GROTTE 

Girgenti 


Mail-coach  to  Xiboli,  ^-hour ;  Capodarso,  2\  hours; 
Piazza- Armerina,  8  hours  (see  p.  255) ;  Pietra-perzia, 
3  hours  (see  p.  256) ;  20  kils.  from  Caltanisetta.  Im 
portant  and  superb  Norman  Castello  Barresi,  fifteenth 
and  sixteenth  century.  Chapel  and  courtyard,  and  other 
ruins.  Near  ancient  Himer a- Meridionalis.  Bivio-Mar- 
cato-Bianco.  Barrafranca,  4i  hours  (remains  of  the 
famous  Castle  Convicino.  Conmcino,  a  former  city,  on 
this  site.}  Mazzarino,  6|  hours  (remains  of  an  ancient 
castle  on  a  high  hill.  Large  and  conspicuous  baronial 
palace.  Perhaps  the  Macarinus  of  Ptolemy. )  Butera, 
10  hours  (held  by  Saracens,  853  to  1009.  Gave  the 
prince  his  title  in  1563.  Antique  Norman  castle  and 
other  medieval  ruins  (see  preceding  page.)  Terranova, 
13  hours  (see  p.  296.) 

(1)  Remains  of  Castle  of  Pietrarossa. 

(2)  Cathedral  (frescoes.) 

(3)  Church  of  S.    Maria    degli    Angeli,    fourteenth- 
century  portal. 

(4)  Church  of  S.  Spirito,  Norman  epoch,  in  the  district. 

(5)  Remains  of  an  ancient  city  on  Mount  Gibel-Gabib, 

with  Siculan  tombs  and  Grseco-Roman  Necro 
polis. 

(6)  PIETRAPERZIA  (see  above,  under  coach  routes). 

See  p.  141, 
See  above. 

Fine  fourteenth -century  castle. 

The -ancient  Erbessus  (?). 

Mail-coach  to  Raffadali,  3J  hours.  (Perhaps  the  important 
Saracen  town  of  Rojalfabar] ;  Porto  Empedocle, 
I  hour  20  minutes  (see  under  Girgenti] ;  Siculiana, 
5J  hours  (on  site  of  Sicanian  city  of  Camicus. 
Medieval  ca-stle  of  the  Chiaramonte^  1310)  ;  Ribera, 
lof  hours  (city  built  by  Ribera,  Prince  of  Paterno,  in 
1633) ;  Sciacca,  4|  hours  (two  castles  of  the  Luna  and 
Perolk)  wonderful  ancient  baths  on  Monte  S.  Calogero. 
See  under  Castelvetrano,  p.  611);  Montallegro,  7j 
hours  (the  Sicilian  Les  Baux,  a  city  of  red  alabaster. 
Deserted  for  want  of  water]  ;  Real  men  te,  4  hours 
(sulphur  and  marbles. ) 

Mail-coach  from  MONTALLEGRO  (ANGio)  to  Cattolica- 
Eraclea,  2  hours.  (Cattolica-Eraclea  is  3  miles  from 
the  ruins  of  Eraclea-Minoa  and  the  Sicanian  city^  of 
Macara.  City  itself  built  in  1642"  by  Prince  Cattolica. 

Mail-coach  from  SciACCA  to  Caltabelotta,  4^  hours. 
(Caltabelotta^  near  the  ruins  of  the  ancient  Triocala^ 
and  has  two  ancient  churches.] 


THE    ELENCO  60- 


SIGHTS   OF   GIRGENTI 

I.  The    Cathedral.     Splendid    Gothic    tower.     Phsedra   and   Hippolytus 
sarcophagus. 

II.  S.   Maria  dei  Greci.     Gothic  church  with   extensive  foundations  of 
Temple  of  Zeus  Polieus. 

III.  Church  of  S.  Vito  inside  the  prison. 

IV.  Church  and   monastery  of  S.   Spirito,  fifteenth-century  west  portal, 
cloister.     Interesting  plaster  work  in  the  church,  by  Serpotta. 

V.  The  Museum,  near  the  Hotel  Belvedere.    Splendid  Greek  vases  and 
sarcophagi. 

VI.  San  Francesco  dj  Assisi.     Vaulted  Gothic  chapel  with  the  fine  tomb 
and  rich  Gothic  facade  in  the  yard  of  the  adjoining  school.     1518.     Under 
the  crypt  is  a  Gothic  church  bricked  up. 

VII.  S.  Antonio  in  Via  S.  Antonio.     Three  very  rich  Gothic  windows. 

VIII.  S.  Giorgio.     Richest  Norman  gateway  in  Sicily. 

IX.  Carmine  church.     West  front.     Ancient  carvings  of  the  trades  guilds. 


SIGHTS   OUTSIDE  THE  CITY 

X.  Prehistoric  cave-dwellings  a  little  below  the  Carmine. 

XI.  Medieval  wall  of  Girgenti.     Long  stretch  with  pointed  gateways  below 
Hotel  Belvedere. 

XII.  A  catacomb  leading  from  the  town  to  the  temples. 

XIII.  Greek  aqueducts,  tunnelled  through  the  rocks  by  prisoners.     Seven 
feet  by  two  feet. 

XIV.  Ponte  dei  Morti.     Fragments  of  Greek  bridge  leading  to  the  old 
necropolis,  on  River  Acragas.     The  Carthaginian  camp  was  near  here. 

XV.  The  Necropolis.     By  the  Ponte  dei  Morti.     Tombs  very  numerous. 
Full  of  antiquities,  but  not  interesting  in  themselves. 

XVI.  Remains  of  Greek  houses  and  cisterns  in  field  above  the  railway. 

XVII.  Extensive  ancient  Greek  house  in  the  Giabertone  Farm  opposite 
convent  of  S.  Nicola. 

XVIII.  Arch  and   columns  of  ancient  aqueduct  outside  convent  of  S. 
Nicola. 

XIX.  Thirteenth-century   church   of  S.    Nicola.     Medieval  garden  with 
pergola.     Many  classical  fragments. 

XX.  Oratory  of  Phalaris.      A  small  Greek  temple,  altered  by  Romans 
and  Normans,  in  the  garden  of  S.  Nicola. 

XXI.  Temple  of  Juno  Lacinia.     At  south-east  corner  of  wall  enclosing 
temples.     One  of  the  finest  Greek  temples.     On  a  very  high  rock. 

XXII.  Grotta  di  Fragapane.     Extensive  Christian  catacomb  opening  out 
of  cistern. 


604        SICILY  THE   NEW  WINTER    RESORT 

XXIII.  City  wall  from  Temple  of  Juno  to  Temple  of  Concordia.     Honey 
combed  with  antique  sepulchres. 

XXIV.  Temple  of  Concordia ;  one  of  the  two  most  perfect  Greek  temples 
in  existence. 

XXV.  Ruins  of  the  large  Temple  of  Hercules. 

XXVI.  Ruins  of  the  vast  Temple  of  Jupiter  Olympius. 

XXVII.  Roman  tomb,  wrongly  attributed  to  Theron,   near  site   of  the 
Porta  Aurea,  between  Temples  of  Jupiter  and  Hercules. 

XXVIII.  Beautiful  angle  of  the  Temples  of  Castor  and  Pollux,  beyond  the 
Temple  of  Jupiter. 

XXIX.  Two  columns  of  the  Temple  of  Vulcan,  built  into  a  house,  a  little 
further  on. 

XXX.  Piscina.     Artificial  lake  formed  by  the  ancients  in  the  latomia  or 
prehistoric  quarry,  below  Castor  and  Pollux. 

XXXI.  Remains  of  the  Temple  of  ./Esculapius,  in  a  field  below  the  other 
temples. 

XXXII.  Porto  Empedocle.   The  harbour  of  Girgenti,  a  few  miles  below 
the  temples.     Has  a  mole  made  out  of  the  Temple  of  Zeus  (Jupiter). 

XXXIII.  In  the  cleft  between  the  Temple  of  Juno  and  the  Rupe  Atenea. 

XXXIV.  Temple  of  Ceres.     The  cella  remains  entire  and  forms  the  little 
church  of  S.  Biagio  on  the  Rupe  Atenea. 

XXXV.  Rupa  Atenea.     The  twin  rock  unoccupied  by  the  city. 

XXXVI.  The  Giardino  Garibaldi.     Fine  views.     At  city  end  of  the  Rupe 
Atenea. 

XXXVII.  Excursion  to  Favara,  20  kils.     Fine  fourteenth-century  feudal 
castle. 


STATIONS 

Girgenti 

ARAGONA- 

CALDARE 


COMITINI 

CAMPOFRANCO 

SUTERA 

ACQUAVIVA 

PLATANI 


CAMMARATA 


GIRGENTI   TO   PALERMO 

.     See  page  337. 

Mail-coach  to  Comitini,  I  hour ;  Aragona  (town),  |-hour. 
(Medieval  spring  of  Majarnca  and  small  volcano  called 
Maccalube] ;  Favara,  i  hour  20  minutes  (fine  feudal 
Castle  of  the  Chiaramonti.  Remains  of  a  Saracenic  town 
called  Rojalfabar.  Among  them,  the  Caltafaraci  tower. 
But  Rojalfabar  may  be  Rajfadali). 


The  Saracenic   Suter.      Has  ruins  of   an  impregnable 

castle. 
Mail-coach  to  Castel-Termini,  i  \  hours.    (Sulphur  centre  ; 

two  medicinal  springs  are  sulphureous,  other  saline,  not 

used] ;  Mussomeli,  3  hours  (8  kils.  from  station.     Fine 

medieval  castle  belonging  to  Prince  Scalea} ;  Acquaviva 

Platini  (town),  i  hour  20  minutes. 
Mail-coach  to  Cammarata  post  office,  i^hoursjS.  Giovanni 

Gemini,  2  hours.  ( Hot  sulphur  springs  of  great  medicinal 

value. ) 


THE   ELENCO 


605 


Cammarata  is  near  the  ancient  CAMICUS,  also  INICUS  ;  it 
is  of  Saracen  origin.  It  has  an  unused  sulphur  spring, 
and  round  Monte  Rosso  agate,  jasper,  etc.,  are  found. 

CASTRONOVO  .  Five  kils.  to  the  ancient  city  of  Castronovo  on  Monte 
Cassero.  Has  a  Pelasgian  wall,  many  remains  of  castles 
and  other  buildings.  Most  ancient  habitations.  Fine 
yellow  marble  found  here, 

LERCARA  .     Mail-coach  to  Lercara  post  office,  2  hours ;  Filaca,  5  hours  ; 

S.  Stefano-Quisquina,  7j  hours.  (Has  a  fourteenth- 
century  church,  and  belonged  to  Sinibald,  father  of 
S.  Rosalia.  Built  on  Monte  Quisquina) ;  Bivona,  9  hours 
(the  ancient  ffipponia.  Built  by  Gelo  to  commemorate 
his  victory  on  Himera*  Beautiful  Gothic  gateway]  ; 
Alessandria -della-Rocca,  ioj  hours;  Cianciana,  12 
hours;  Raffadali,  iyf  hours;  Vicari,  2j  hours  (the 
antique  Bicarus) ;  Bivio-Prizzi,  6  hours ;  Centa-Ver- 
naro,  6J  hours ;  Palazzo- Adriano,  8  hours  (one  of  the 
fifteenth-century  Albanian  settlements  like  Piana  del 
Greci)  \  Chiusa-Sclafani,  io|  hours  ;  Prizzi,  7  hours. 
Lercara  has  sulphur  mines. 


CATANIA-PALERMO  LINE 

ROCCAPALUMBA  .     Railway  junction  for  Palermo,  Girgenti,  and  Catania. 
MONTE-MAGGIORE   The  huge  mountain,  like  a  Trafalgar  Square  lion,  visible 

for  most  of  this  journey. 
CAUSO 

"SCIARA 

CERDA  Mail-coach  to  Cerda  (town),  i\  hours ;  La  Petra,  3!  hours ; 

Caltavuturo,  5 J  hours.  (Called 'by  the  Saracens,  Kal-at- 
Butur.  Famous  for  its  green  and  yellow  jasper) ; 
Donalegge,  8£  hours ;  Castellana,  9^  hours ;  Petralia- 
Sottana,  loj  hours  (see  page  253) ;  Petralia  Soprana, 
iij  hours  (see  page  252);  Gangi,  14  hours  (see  page 
183).  ( A  fine  castle,  of  which  only  one  tower  remains. ) 

Mail-coach  from  PETRALiA-SpTTANA  to  Bompietro,  2 
hours  ;  Locati,  3  hours ;  Alimena  (remains  of  a  very 
ancient  city  in  neighbourhood),  4k  hours). 

At  Polizzi  (40  kih.\  in  the  Chiesa  Maggiore,  the  arch  of 
S.  Gandolfo,  by  Domenico  Gagini.  Ch.  of  I).  Maria 
degli  Angeli,  a  fine  fifteenth-century  Flemish  picture. 

At  Monte  CASTELACCIO  (^kil.from  Cerda),  a  Pelasgic 
acropolis  with  a  megalithic  wall  on  the  north-east. 

For  Termini,  Trabia,  S.  Nicola,  Altavilla,  Casteldaccio,  S.  Flavia,  Bagheria, 
Ficarazzi,  Ficarazelli,  and  PALERMO  stations,  see  pages  587-8. 


6o6        SICILY  THE   NEW  WINTER   RESORT 


PALERMO  TO   CATANIA 

(For  stations  from  Palermo  to  Roccapahimba,  see  p.  270.) 

STATIONS 

Roccapalumba  .     Mail-coach  to   Alia,    li  hours,    Junction  for  Palermo, 

Girgenti,  and  Catania. 

VALLEDOLMO      .     On  the  site  of  Castello-Normanno. 
VALLELUUGA       .     Formerly  called  Pratameno. 
VILLALBA 
MARIANOPOLI     .     Has  a  fine  church  with  well-preserved  tower.     Sulphur 

springs  near.     Tunnel,  6J  kils. 

MIMIAMI-S.  CATALDO 

S.  CATERINA-  Mail-coach  to  Caterina  Villarmosa,  2  hours.     (Gives  its 

XIRBI  name  to  the  stat,} 

Junction  between  Palermo,  Catania,  and  Girgenti. 

IMBRA  •  Called  from  its  river  Himera  Meridionalis. 

VILLAROSA          .  Sulphur  mines. 

Castrogiovanni  Mail-coach  to  Calascibetta  (town),  50  minutes. 

CALASCIBETTA     .  Old  city  on  the  hill  opposite  Castrogiovanni. 


SIGHTS   OF   CASTROGIOVANNI, 
THE   ANCIENT  ENNA 

I.  Noble  isolated  rock  where  the  great  Temple  of  Ceres  stood. 

II.  Medieval  castle  close  to  it,  known  as  King  Manfred's  Castle. 

III.  The  Duomo,  fourteenth-century  apse.     Remarkable  sixteenth-century 
pulpit. 

IV.  Museum,  containing  huge  silver  altar  front,  1768,  of  the  Duomo,  and 
statue  of  Ceres  and  Proserpine  used  as  Virgin  and  Child  Jesus. 

V.  S.  Chiara.     Elegant  Renaissance  fa9ade.     Important  tile  picture  on  the 
floor.     Near  the  Duomo. 

VL  Medieval  palace,  fine  courtyard,  and  terraced  outside  stair.     Gothic 
windows  opposite  S.  Chiara. 

VII.  S.  Michele,  near  the  Duomo.     Important  tile  picture  on  the  floor. 
Elegant  Roman  facade. 

VIII.  S.  Giovanni.     Elegant  Sicilian-Gothic  tower. 

IX.  S.  Tommaso.    Fine  Gothic  tower  and  elegant  loggia. 


THE   ELENCO  607 

X.  La  Rocca,    Huge  tower  of  the  castle  built  by  Frederick  II.  of  Aragon. 

X0.  The  qmbilico— stone  marking  the  centre  of  Sicily.    Cicero  called  Enna 
the  navel  of  Sicily. 

XI.  Site  of  Temple  of  Proserpine  in  the  vineyard  of  monastery  of  Minorite 
Friars. 

XII.  Washing-pools  worth  visiting  below  S.  Maria  del  Popolo. 

XIII.  S.  Maria  del  Popolo,    Below  Frederick  II. 's  castle.    Contains  a 
Roman  arcade.    Very  picturesque.    Sepulchres  in  the  neighbouring  rocks. 

XIV.  S,  Spirito.    Near  the  ravine  between  the  two  hills.    Claims  to  have 
been  the  scene  of  the  Annunciation  of  the  Virgin  Mary,  and  shows  cave  used 
by  the  Twelve  Apostles. 

XV.  Visit  to  the  sacred  Lake  of  Pergusa.and  the  fields  of  Enna.    Inquire 
of  Carabinieri  if  escort  needed. 

XVI.  CALASCIBETTA.    A  picturesque  old  city  on  the  opposite  hill,  a 
favourite  residence  of  Peter  III.  of  Aragon. 

LEON  FORTE  Mail-coach  to  Assaro  (town),  I  hour.  (Ancient  Assorus>  one 

of  oldest  cities  in  Sicily;  traces  of  an  ancient  temple,  a 
Sikelian  town) ;  Ponte  Salso,  44  hours ;  Nicosia,  5! 
hours  (js  ktis>)  see  below,  said  to  be  the  most  medieval 
town  in  Sicily] ;  Mistretta,  3  hours  10  minutes  (ancient 
name  Mytistratus^  perhaps  also  Amestratus] ;  Reitano, 
4j  hours  (remains  of  ancient  Amestratus  are  near 
Reitano] ;  S.  Stefano-Camastra,  6J  hours ;  Leonforte 
(town),  \\  hours. 

In  the  Cappuccini  church  at  Leonforte  are  a  Raphael 
(school  of)  and  a  Pietro  Novel  li.  Near  the  site  of  the 
ancient  Tabas,  or  Tavi. 

Mail-coach  from  NICOSIA  to  Bivio-Ponte  Salso,  J-hour ; 
Sperlinga,  \\  hours.  (See  below,  has  a  castle  dating  from 
1132] ;  Gangi,  3^  hours  (see  p.  183) ;  Cerami,  4  hours 
(is  the  ancient  Ceramio  where  Roger  won  his  famous 
victory  over  the  Saracens ;  in  the  neighbourhood  are 
the  Heraei  Monies  of  the  ancients;  Battle  of  Cerami, 
1064 ;  Cerami  has  a  valuable  iron  spring) ;  Troina, 
6  hours  (highest  city  in  Sicily  (page  303) ;  (/)  Ch.  oj 
the  Assunta,  founded  by  Roger,  1078,  on  ruins  of 
fortress  where  he  had  been  besitg&d  by  Saracens;  site  oj 
the  ancient  Trajanopolis  and  probably  Sikelian  town 
of  Imachara;  often  mentioned  by  Cicero;  (2)  Fountain 
of  Arapina ;  (j)  remains  of  the  ancient  Pantheon ;  (4) 
Cave  of  the  Winds] ;  Capizzi,  4  hours. 


608        SICILY  THE   NEW  WINTER  RESORT 


SIGHTS  OF  NICOSIA 

L  Cathedral,  fourteenth-century  tower  and  west  front.  Notable  pulpit  and 
stalls. 

II.  Church  of  S.   Maria  Maggiore.     Gagini's  II  Cono,  35  feet  high  ;  60 
figures. 

III.  Chiesa  del  Carmine.    Gagini's  Annunciation. 

IV.  S.  Calogero.     Important  picture. 

V.  S.  Benedetto,  fourteenth-century  church. 

VI.  Casa  Speciale  of  fifteenth  century. 

VII.  Church  of  S.  Vincenzo  Ferrari,    Frescoes. 

VIII.  Church  of  the  Misericordia,  sixteenth  century. 

IX.  Ruins  of  ancient  Herbita. 

X.  Church  of  S.  Michele  Arcangelo,  fourteenth  century. 
XL  Medieval  castle  on  a  rock. 

XII.  At  Sperlinga  (40  kils.),  medieval  castle  on  steep  rock,  dating  from 
1132.  People  speak  a  dialect  of  French.  The  French  found  refuge  there  at 
the  massacres  of  the  Sicilian  Vespers, 

STATIONS 

ASSARO-  Mail-coach  to  Valguarnera  (town),  3  hours ;  Piazza- 

VALGUARNERA  Armerina,  6  hours.  See  page  255, 

RADDUSA  .  Mail-coach  to  Raddusa  (town),  2  hours;  Aidone,  4f  hours. 

(Perhaps  ancient  Herbita,  town  of  King  Roger's  Lom 
bards,  on  mountain  above  Piazza- Armerina)  j  Piazza- 
Armerina,  5  hours.  See  page  255. 


SIGHTS  OF  AGIRA 

AGIRA  .    (The  Sikelian  town  of  Agyrium,  where  Diodorus  Siculus 

was  born.     Formerly  called  S.  Filippo  d'Argiro. ) 

(1)  Tomb  of  St.  Philip  in  crypt  of  Realbatia. 

(2)  Churches:  S.  Maria,  S.  Salvatore,  the  Realbatia. 

(3)  Cell  of  the  Apostle  Philip  near  the  church. 

(4)  Castle  with  magnificent  view. 

(5)  Remains  of  a  Greek  fortress. 
CATENANUOVA    .    Mail-coach  to  Regalbuto,  3  hours  ;  Agira  (town),  3  hours 

(see  above  ;  Nissoria,  4^  hours  ;  Leonforte,  5}  hours 
(see  page  209) ;  Centuripe  (town),  3  houis  20  minutes. 
CENTURIPE 


THE    ELENCO 


609 


SIGHTS   OF  CENTURIPE 

(Formerly  Centorbi,  the  ancient  Centuripa.     A  Sikan  or  Sikel  city, 
very  important  under  the  Romans.) 

I.  Chiesa  Matrice,  with  broken  Roman  column. 

1 1.  S.  M.  Maddalena  with  fragments  of  Roman  cistern,  mosaic  pavement,  etc. 

III.  S.  Nicole,  with  remains  of  Roman  walls. 

IV.  The  Dogana,  a  Roman  vaulted  building. 

V.  In  Palazzo  di  Corrado,  ruins  of  small  Roman  temple. 
VI.   Remains  of  ancient  bath  with  five  large  chambers  (north  of  town). 
VII.  Tombs  in  which  many  terra-cottas,  bronzes,  and  coins  have  been  found. 
VIII.  Remains  of  the  Greek  city— houses,  baths,  sepulchral  chambers. 

STATIONS 
MUGLIA 

SFERRO 
GERBINI 
PORTIERE-STELLA 

SlMETO 
MOTTA-S. 

ANASTASIA 


BICOCCA 

ACQUICELLA 

Catania 


Castle   on  prismatic   rock   of  lava  (very  interesting   to 

teologists)  where  Bernardo  Cabrera  was  imprisoned  in 
fteenth  century. 


See  pages  324,  593. 


CATANIA  TO   GIARRE-RIPOSTO 


Catania  ( Central e) 
CATANIA  (Borgo) 
CIBALI 

MlSTERBIANCO     . 

BELPASSO 

VALCORRENTE 
GIACONIA 

PATERN6 


SCALILLI 


,     See  pages  324,  593. 
Stat.  on  the  Circum-^tnean  railway. 

Roman  ruins.     See  page  224. 

Near  ruins  of  ancient  Malpasso  destroyed  in  the  eruption 
of  1669. 


The  ancient   Hybla-Minor,  or  the  Galeatic  Hybla— a 
Sikelian  city. 

(1)  Feudal  castle  of  Count  Roger  on  the  site  of  the 

Acropolis. 

(2)  Church  of  S.  Francesco  d'Assisi,  fourteenth  century. 

(3)  Remains  of  Roman  bridge  across  the  Simeto. 

(4)  Numerous  tombs  at  Casteluzzo. 

(5)  Remains  of  mosaic  pavement  at  Lo  Spedali. 

(6)  Remains  of  baths  three  miles  north  at  Bella  Cortina. 

(7)  Grotla  del  Fracasso.  . 

(8)  Acqua    Grassa    Spring  (waters    much    used    in 

Catania). 


2   R 


6io        SICILY  THE    NEW  WINTER   RESORT 

STATIONS 

S.  MARIA-DI-  Site  of  city  of  ^Etna.     Numerous  arches  of  aqueduct. 

LICODIA 
BIANCAVILLA      .     Formerly  a  Greek    settlement    like    Piana    dei   Greci. 

Founded  in  1480  by  a  colony  of  pirates. 
ADERNO  .     (i)  Feudal  castle,  fourteenth  century. 

(2)  Vast  Renaissance  convent  of  S.  Lucia. 

(3)  Wall  of  the  ancient  city  of  Adranum. 

(4)  Remains  of  the  Temple  of  the  Thousand  Dogs. 

(5)  Few  churches  with  Gothic  features. 
PASSO-ZINGARO 

BRONTE  .     Mail-couch  to  Cesaro,  3!  hours  ;  Troina,   7^  hours  (see 

page  125). 

Bronte  is  the  chief  town  of  the  duchy  bestowed  on  Nelson 
in  1799.  It  gave  Nelson  his  title,  but  the  house  is  at 
Maniace.  Six  lava  streams  are  near  Bronte. 

MALETTO  .     Half-hour's  drive  to  the  former  convent  of  Maniace  (seat 

of  Lord  Bridport,  Duke  of  Bronte,  Norman  church  of 
1174,  etc.;  scene  of  victory  of  George  Maniaces  and 
Harold  Hardrada  over  the  Saracens). 
Maletto  has  a  castle,  and  is  the  watershed  between  the 
Simeto  and  the  Alcantara.     Near  Lake  Gurrita. 

RANDAZZO 

THE  SIGHTS   OF   RANDAZZO 

I.  Principal  church  of  S.  Maria.     Noble  Gothic  edifice  recently  restored, 
Choir  of  twelfth  century. 

II.  Church  of  S.  Martino.     Gothic,  exquisitely  rich  and  graceful,  fifteenth- 
century  tower. 

HI.  Church  of  S.  Nicolo.     Many  Gothic  features. 

IV.  Volta  di  S.  Nicolo.     One  of  the  most  beautiful  Gothic  ruins  in  Sicily. 

V.  Casa  Finocchiaro.     A  fifteenth-century  Gothic  palace. 

VI.  The  Albergo  d'  Italia  is  the  old  Fisauli  palace.     Many  Gothic  features 
at  the  back. 

VII.  Grim  ducal  castle,  fifteenth  century — still  has  the  spikes  for  heads. 

VIII.  Medieval  walls  and  gates. 

IX.  Medieval  ruins  outside. 

X.  Many  palaces,  fourteenth  and  fifteenth  century. 
XL  Village  in  the  lava  stream  outside. 

XII.  MALVAGNA,  a  few  miles  oft",  has  the  only  perfect  Byzantine  church 
in  Sicily. 

XIII.  Randazzo  is  the  nearest  stat.  for  the  ascent  of  ETNA  (5i  hours 
according  to  Baedeker). 

XIV.  Old  town  hall  where  Charles  V.  slept,  with  post  office  in  its  cloister. 

XV.  Unusually  fine  private  museum  belonging  to  Sig.  Vagliasindi  (p.  467). 

CALDERARA 

Mojo  .     Near  Mojo  is  Malvagna  with  the  only  perfect  Byzantine 

chapel  in  Sicily. 
SOLICCHIATA 


THE   ELENCO 


611 


STATIONS 

CASTIGLIONE 


LlNGUAGLOSSA 

TERREMORTE 

PlEDIMONTE 

S,  VENERA 
MASCALI 

CUTULA 

Giarre-Riposto 


Ruins  of  two  feudal  castles  on  rocks.  One  of  the  finest 
coups  tfail  in  all  Sicily.  Position  is  as  fine  as 
Durham  Castle.  Best  filberts  in  Sicily  come  from 
here. 


Old  castle. 

Very  important  wine  district,  gives  its  name  to  a  whole 
class  of  light  wines.     See  p.  219. 

Junction  with  the  Catania-Taormina  line, 


Palermo 

CORSARI 

VlLLABATE 
MlSILMERI 

BOLOGNETTA 
MULINAZZO 

BAUCINA 


VlLLAFRATI 

CEFALA  DIANA 
MEZZOJUSO 

GODRANO 
FICUZZA 

BlFARERA 
SCALILLI 

DONNA- 
BEATRICE 

CORLEONE 


PALERMO   TO   CORLEONE 

.     See  pp.  579-587,  401. 

Medieval  corsairs'  tower  near  the  sea  on  the  way  to 
Bagheria. 

Important  wine  district,  gives  its  name  to  a  whole  class  of 
wines.     The  Saracen  Mesilmeri  Normans  won  a  great 
victory  over  the  Saracens  here. 
.     Mail-coach  to  Marineo,  I  hour. 

Mail-coach  to  Baucina  (post  office),  I  hour;  Ciminna, 
3  hours.  ( Very  ruinous  castle] ;  Baucina-Paese,  J-hour ; 
Vcntimiglia-Sicilia,  2  hours. 

Baucina  gives  its  name  to  the  prince. 

Arab  baths.     Named  from  Niccolo  Diana  who  bought  it 

in  1620. 
Of  Arabic  origin.     An  Albanian  colony  founded  in  1467 

by  the  son  of  Scanderbeg. 

Ancient  hunting-lodge  of  Ferdinand  I.  and  IV, 


Mail-coach  to  Palazzo-Adriano,  6J  hours  (see  p.  244)  5 
Campo  Fiorito,  3  hours  ;  Bisacquino,  4$  hours.  (Agat& 
and  jasper  found  here,  Saracenic  name  Busekuin ; 
Chiusa-Sclafani,  54 hours  (see  p.  146);  S.  Carlo,  7  hours 
(present  terminus  of  the  Corleont  railway} ;  Burgio, 
o  hours;  Villafranca-Siciliana,  9  hours  10  minutes 
(founded  in  the  fifteenth  century.  Rich  in  beautiful 
marbles  and  agates]  ;  Lucca-Sicula,  9  hours  40 
minutes  :  Sambuca-Zabut,  8J  hours  (ruins  of  Sara 
cen  Castle,  called  Zabuth] ;  Sella-Misildesi,  lof  hours ; 


612        SICILY  THE   NEW   WINTER   RESORT 


Menfi,  13  hours  (near  remains  of  ancient  Inicus. 
At  Belice  is  the  ancient  Hypsas]  ;  Sciacca,  i6£  hours 
(seep.  469);  Conlessa,  6 hours.  (Contessa-Entellinais 
another  Albanian  colony,  founded  1450  on  the  hill  of 
Calatamauro.  Vestiges  of  a  castle.  Quarries  of  ala 
baster  and  gesso.  Eight  kils.  from  the  ruins  of  Entella, 
a  Sicanian  or  Elymian  city,  which  has  an  eponymous 
hero  in  Virgil 'j  fifth  sEneid.  It  fell  into  ruins  under 
the  Emperor  Frederick.}  Centavernaro,  4f  hours  ; 
Prizzi,  5J  hours  (a  ruined  castle  of  St.  George — temp. 
William  I.  ;  Corleone  post  office  J-hour. 

(1)  BIVONA  (40  kils.   from  Corleone.)    Town  church, 

fourteenth-century    medieval    castle ;    the    arch    at 
Bivona  is  one  of  the  favourite  photographs  of  Sicily. 

(2)  BISACQUINO.     Drive  five  miles  to  Bosco.     Church 
and  convent  of  S.  Maria  de  Bosco. 

The  line  has  recently  been  opened  as  far  as  S.  Carlo. 


Palermo 

PALERMO-LOLLI  . 

S.  LORENZO 

S.  TOMMASO- 

NATALE 

SFERRACAVALLO . 
ISOLA-DELLE 

FEMINE 
CAPACI 


CARINI 


CINISI  TERRASINI 
Zucco- 

MONTELEPRE 
PAUTINICO 


TRAPPETO 


PALERMO   TO   TRAPANI 

See  pages  579~587>  401. 

Station  of  the  Ferrovia  Sicula  Occidental  in  the  Via 
Lolli. 

Mail-coach  to  Resuttana,  35  minutes.  (A  favourite  resi 
dential  suburb  of  Palermo,  near  Monte  Pell'grino.} 

Suburb  of  Palermo, 

Called  from  its  sharp  stones,  "unshoe-a-horse." 

A  solitary  rock  near  Carini.     Antique  tower,     Remains 

of  a  building  said  to  be  Phoenician. 
Founded  in  the    sixteenth    century.      Has   a   baronial 

palace,  marble  quarries,  and  enormous  fossil  bones. 

Produces  good  manna. 

A  Sican  town,  the  ancient  Hyccara,  where  Lais  was 
born. 

(1)  Castello  della  Grua,  fifteenth  and  sixteenth  cen 

turies.      Built  by  the  Chiaramonti.      Medieval 
gates  and  wall. 

(2)  Christian  catacombs  near  the  village  of  GRAZIA 

VECCHIA. 

(3)  Antique  tombs  at  PIANO-DELLA  FORESTA. 


Property  of  the  Duke  of  Orleans. 

Mail-coach  to  Sancipirello,  2|  hours ;  Camporeale,  4  hrs. 

A  wine  centre.     Near  the  antique  Palamita,  a  Normal 

town. 


THE   ELENCO 


STATIONS 

BALESTRATE 


613 


Mail-coach  to  Balata-Baida,  3!  hours. 

The  Marsala  wine  is  largely  grown  here, 

CASTELAMMARE       Port  of  ancient  Segesta.    But  people  usually  visit  Segesta 
DEL-GOLFO  from  the  Alcamo  stat.     It  has  a  Saracenic  castle  and  a 

fortress  on  a  rock  bathed  by  the  sea,  with  a  vast 
baronial  palace.  Has  a  sulphur  spring  of  20  degrees 
centigrade,  which  constituted  the  ancient  Bagni  di 
Segesta. 

ALCAMO-  Mail-coach  to  Calatafimi  (town),  2  hours  (13  Mr.). 

CALATAFIMI  ALCAMO.  An  oriental-looking  town.  Originally  called 
Al-Kamuk,  after  a  Saracen  chief  of  the  name.  The 
original  town  was  on  Monte  Bonifato. 

(1)  Chiesa    Maggiore.      Frescoes.      Fifteenth-century 

tower. 

(2)  Small  church  of  S.  Nicolo  di  Bari,  fifteenth  century. 

(3)  Church  of  S.  Maria  del  Soccorso,  fifteenth  century. 

(4)  Church  of  S.  Chiara.     Stucco  reliefs  by  Serpotta. 

(5)  Church   of  Badia-Nuova.     Stucco  reliefs  by  Ser 

potta. 

(6)  Church    of    S.     Tommaso    Apostolo,    fourteenth 

century. 

(7)  Church  of  the  Carmine,  fourteenth  century. 

(8)  Church  of  S.  Oliva  ;  works  by  Gagini  and  Pietro 

Novelli. 

(9)  Medieval  castle,  fourteenth  century. 

(10)  Asulphu  rsaline  spring,  temperature  74  centigrade. 
Ciullo,  the  poet  (temp.  Emperor  Frederick  II.),  lived 
here. 

CALATAFIMI.  The  Calatafio  of  the  Saracens.  The  ancient 
Longaricus.  Has  some  picturesque  convents  ;  mostly 
visited  en  route  to  Segesta,  which  is  13  kils.  from  the 
stat.  Garibaldi  won  a  great  victory  here  May  1 5th, 
1860. 

SEGESTA.  The  Egesta  of  the  Greeks,  founded  by  Elymians. 
Agathocles  changed  its  name  to  Dicteopolis. 

(1)  Temple  of  Diana,  one  of  the  most  beautiful  Greek 

temples  in  existence.     • 

(2)  Splendid  Graco-Roman  theatre. 

(3)  Houses,  remains  of  ancient. 

(4)  The  wall  of  the  city. 

(5)  Medieval  remains  at. 

(6)  Baths  of  Segesta  are  some  kilometres  away,  and 

highly  medicinal. 
GlBELLiNA          .     Mail-coach  to  Salaparuta,  4  hours ;  Poggioreale,  4^  hours  ; 

Gibellina  (town),  3!  hours. 
Gibellina  is  an  ancient  town  with  a  fortress  of  the  Chiara- 

monti. 
S.  NINFA-SALEMI    Mail-coach  to  Vita,  2j  hours ;  Salemi  (town),  i  hour 

20  minutes. 

SALEMI.  Site  of  Sikel  town  of  Halicyse.  Ruins  of  an 
A rabo- Byzantine  castle,  and  a  suburb  with  the  Arabic 
name  of  Rabato.  Famous  for  its  pottery. 


614        SICILY  THE   NEW  WINTER   RESORT 

STATIONS 

CASTELVETRANO .  Mail-coach  to  Partanna,  \\  hours;  Montevago,  5  hours. 
(Sulphur  spring  used  for  rheumatism] ;  S.  Margherita- 
Belice,  5^  hours  (on  the  river  Belief) ;  Menfi,  4  hours 
(see  page  220.  Was  also  called  Borgetto)  ;  Sciacca, 
7  hours  (see  page  468). 

Mail-coach  from  S.  MARGHERITA-BELICE  to  Sella- 
Miselbesi,  I  hour. 

CASTELVETRANO,     Formerly  called  Castello-Entellino. 

(1)  Chiesa  Maggiore,  sixteenth  century. 

(2)  Church  of  S.  Domenico  ;  stucco  reliefs  of  Antonino 

Ferraro. 

(3)  Church  of  S.  Giovanni  Battista.    Contains  a  Gagini. 

(4)  A  Selinuntine  museum. 

(5)  Ancient  Gothic  palace. 

(6)  Remarkable  new  theatre  in  the  antique  style. 

(7)  Picturesque  convents. 

(8)  At  BIGINI.     Selinuntine  aqueduct. 

(9)  Remains  of  a  Roman  city  in  the  neighbourhood. 
SELINUNTE.     Ruins  of  the  fifth  and  sixth  centuries  B.C. 

(1)  Temple  (G)   of  the   Olympian  Jove,  or   Apollo. 

Near  Sig.  Florio's  baglio. 

(2)  Temple  (F)  of  Minerva.    Near  Sig.  Florio's  baglio. 

(3)  Temple  (E)  of  Juno,  where  the  glorious  metopes 

now  at   Palermo   were  discovered.      Near   Sig. 
Florio's  baglio. 

(4)  The  Acropolis  of  Selinunte.     Highly  fortified. 
Temples  in  the  Acropolis. 

(a)  Temple  C.     Temple  of  Hercules,  also  attri 

buted  to  Apollo.   The  older  metopes  of  the 
Palermo  Museum  were 'found  in  this  temple. 

(b)  Temple  B.     Contains  some  of  the  best  ex 

amples  of  Greek  temple  colouring. 

(c)  Temple  A. 

(d)  Temple  D. 

(5)  Byzantine  and  other  tombs  in  the  Acropolis. 

(6)  Main  street  in  the  Acropolis,  bordered  by  founda 

tions  of  houses  leading  to  splendid  gateway. 

(7)  Temple  H.   On  a  separated  hill  across  the  Madiuni. 

It   has   a  propylsea.     Thousands  of  terra-cotta 
statuettes,  etc. ,  have  been  found  in  this  temple. 
Probably  the  Temple  of  Hecate. 
(8)  The  fortifications  of  Hermocrates,    north  of  the 

Acropolis. 

SCIACCA  (38  kils.  from  Castelvetrano).  Famous  vapour 
baths.  Originally  started  by  Dsedalus.  The  ancient 
baths  are  still  visible  at  Monte  S.  Calogero,  and  many 
classical  remains  all  round. 

(1)  Chiesa  Maggiore,  fifteenth  century. 

(2)  S.  Salvatore,  fifteenth-century  portal. 

(3)  Spedale.     Portal  of  the  fifteenth  century. 

(4)  Church  of  S.  Margherita,  fifteenth  century. 

(5)  Palazzo  Steripinto.    Remarkable  Renaissance  palace. 

(6)  The  Castello  di  Luna. 

(7)  The  Castello  di  Perollo. 


THE    ELENCO 


STATIONS 

CAMPOBELLO-DI- 
MAZZARA 


MAZZARA  DEL 
VALLO 


615 


BAMBINA 
MARSALA 


SPAGNUOLA 
RAGATTISI 
MARAUSA 
PACECO 


A  rich  but  malarious  district,  near  the  ancient  Saracen 
Castle  of  Beribaida,  ^or  Perribaida.  At  KUSA  (8  kils.) 
the  Cave  Selinuntini  quarries,  from  which  the  temples 
at  Selinunte  were  built. 

(1)  Cathedral.     Fine  campanile  of  1654.     A  group  by 

Gagini.  A  classical  sarcophagus.  Medieval  s'ar- 
cophagi. 

(2)  Sixteenth-century  Church  of  S.  Egidius. 

(3)  Church  of  S.  Michele.     Stucco  reliefs,  school  of 

Serpotta, 

(4)  Norman  Church  of  S.  Nicolo  Lo  Reale. 

(5)  Remains  of  a  medieval  castle  in  Piazza  Mokarta. 

(6)  Saracenic  Norman  wall  of  the  city. 

(7)  Vicinity.     Church  of  S.  Maria  di  Gesu,  fifteenth- 

century  portal,  sixteenth-century  sculpture. 

(8)  Vicinity.  Church  of  S.  Maria  del  Alto.  Fourteenth- 

century  Madonna  del  Bambino  ;  del  Castagnola. 

Capital  of  the  wine  trade.  Built  by  the  Carthaginians. 
397  B.C.  Garibaldi  landed  here  with  his  Thousand. 
May  nth,  1860. 

(1)  Wine  baglio  of  Ingham,  Whitaker  and  Co. 

(2)  Wine  baglio  of  Woodhouse  and  Co. 

(3)  Wine  baglio  of  Sig.  Florio. 

(4)  Harbour,  where  Garibaldi  landed. 

(5)  Subterranean  city  in  the  catacombs  used  during 

the  Saracen  persecutions. 

(6)  Excursion  by  steamer  in  7  hours   to  Pantelleria, 

Italian  penal  colony,  with  a  volcano  2,000  feet 
high.  It  has  a  special  dialect.  It  was  the  Phoeni 
cian  colony  Cosyra.  Has  low  round  prehistoric 
towers  called  Sesi. 

(7)  Lofty  medieval  fortifications. 

(8)  Chiesa  Maggiore ;   sixteenth-century  tapestry  and 

the  celebrated  Marsala  antique  Greek  vase. 

(9)  Antique  wall  near  Cape  Boeo  (Carthaginian). 

(10)  Fifteenth-century  Church  of  the  Carmine.     Sarco 

phagus  of  Antonio  Grignano. 

( 1 1 )  Church  of  S.  Giovanni  a  Boeo. 

(12)  Small  medieval  palaces  of  the  lesser  nobles. 

(13)  The  Sybil's  well,  called  by  the  ancients  the  Spring 

of  Lilyba.     Byzantine  frescoes  are  in  the  crypt. 

(14)  Causeway  across  the  sea  to  Motya. 

BiRGl,  Carthaginian  necropolis  at,  the  Acithis  of  the 
ancients. 

MOTYA,  on  the  Island  of  S.  Pantaleo,  near  Marsala. 
Remains  of  Carthaginian  city  (the  earliest  in  Sicily) 
destroyed  by  Dionysius,  especially  the  sea-gate. 


6i6         SICILY   THE    NEW   WINTER    RESORT 

STATION 

Trapani  Mail-coach  to  Borgo-Annunziata,  35  minutes.    (Sul 

Trapani,  famous  medieval  church}  ;  Monte  S.  Gii 
3  hours  (see  below)  ;  Paparella,  2  hours  ;  Cust 
4f  hours  ;  Castelluzzo,  6  hours  ;  S.  Vito-lo-Ca^ 
hours;  Napola,  ij  hours;  Fulgatore,  4%  hours  ; 
tafimi,  5  hours  (see  page  128). 
TRAPANI. 

(i)  The  harbour,    scene   of  the   boat-race  in  \ 


(2)  Church  of  S.  Agostino,  fourteenth  century. 

(3)  Church  of  the  Collegio,  formerly  Jesuit,  rich  t 

decorations. 

(4)  Church  of  S.   Maria  della  Luce,  sixteenth-a 

side  door. 

(5)  Pinacoteca  Fardelliana  (pictures). 

(6)  The   Giudecca,   medieval   palace  in  the  str 

same  name* 

(7)  BORGO  DI  TRAPANI  (skils.  from  Trapani). 

tuary  del  Annunziata,  portal  of  fifteenth  cei; 
Chapel   of   the    Risen    Christ,  fifteenth   c« 
(Cappella  del  Cristo  Risorto),   has  a  sixtf 
century  font  and  arch  by  Gagini. 
MONTE  S.  GIULIANO,  or  ERYX  (14  kils.  from  stat. 

(1)  Grand  Phoenician  wall,  with  towers  and  posti 

(2)  Duomo  of  the  fifteenth  century.     Very  East! 

appearance. 

(3)  Church  of  S.  Giovanni  Battista.     Statue  attrl 

to  Gagini,  Antonello. 

(4)  Biblioteca    Communale,    with    Annnnciatio 

A.   Gagini. 

(5)  Castello  Pepoli  in  antique  style. 

(6)  Old  castle  used  as  prison  on  site  of  the  Tenq 

Venus.     Contains  well  belonging  to  the  ten 

(7)  Arco  di  Dedalo,  or  Del  Diavolo.    Below  the  c 

probably  part  of  the  Temple  of  Venus. 
(S)  The  ^Egatian    Islands,    opposite   Trapani,  ; 
Hamilcar  was   defeated  by   the  Romans  ; 
famous  for  their  tunny  establishments  and  ; 
favourite  route  of  migrating  birds. 


PLYMOUTH 
W.   BRENDON  AND  SON,   PRINTERS 


110094