My god: Sicily! I've studied it for years, taught its history (antiquity to the late middle ages, anyway) at least 3 dozen times. But nothing prepared me for this. Sicily is AMAZING. Gorgeous, mysterious, alien, and comfortingly familiar all at once.
Our trip through Sicily lasted a week, and --let's be honest-- I groaned more than a few times at the thought of getting up and dragging my suitcase back to the bus, every day, moving on. 2 or 3 historic sites a day (and not always the ones I would have chosen to see myself). But, man! What an education this trip was. I saw so many Doric temples built during the period when Sicily was part of Magna Graecia (Great Greece), I still can't keep them straight. Several of these were built in the 5th century BCE, when Syracusa rivaled Athens as a seat of power and glory. One can see why the Athenian Navy came to grief here: the Sicilian Debacle. This land has conquered me, too.
The views from the bus windows, especially in the interior, were almost as stunning as the "sites" to which all the tourists flock (our group among them). The interior between Piazza Armerina and Agrigento consisted of rolling cultivated hills, as far as the eye could see. Few roads. Almost no fences and no trees. Pure gold, that soil: the breadbasket of the Roman dominion (until they got hungrier, and needed Egypt as well). And the Normans loved it just as much; with Sicily's riches, they were transformed from petty knights traveling out from chilly Normandy to rich Orientalizing KINGS.
Here's what Ibn Jubayr, a Muslim traveler from Spain, had to say about Palermo in 1184-5:
"Al-Madinah [Palermo]...is the metropolis of these islands, combining the benefits of wealth and splendour, and having all that you could wish of beauty, real or apparent, and all the needs of subsistence, mature and fresh. It is an ancient and elegant city, magnificent and gracious, and seductive to look upon...it dazzles the eye with its perfection....The King's palaces are disposed around the higher parts, like pearls encircling a woman's full throat. The King roams through the gardens and courts for amusement and pleasure. How many--may they not long be his--palaces, constructions, watchtowers and belvederes [pavilions with magnificent views] he has, how many fine monasteries whose monks he has put in comfort by grants of large fiefs, and how many churches with crosses of gold and silver!" (transl. R. Broadhurst, p. 348).
Of the allure of oriental culture, he notes "the Christian women of this city follow the fashion of Muslim women, are fluent of speech, wrap their cloaks about them, and are veiled. They go forth on this Feast Day dressed in robes of gold-embroidered silk, wrapped in elegant cloaks, concealed by coloured veils, and shod with gilt slippers....Thus they parade in their churches...bearing all the ornaments of Muslim women, including jewellery, henna on the fingers, and perfumes" (p. 349-50).
A few of my favorite shots of Sicily are given here, including one of me at Segesta (above), taken by my colleague at the Academy, John Hopkins, a Classicist from UTAustin. (And yes, I think that's called "gawping".)
In Segesta, Sicily
This 5th century BCE Greek temple is HUGE!
About Me
The American Academy in Rome: an 11-Acre compound for competitive artists & scholars
(founded by philanthropists like JP Morgan, John D. Rockefeller, Jr, and Henry Clay Frick.)
Yes, that's a person standing on the ruins of Temple G at Selinunte!
In fact, it's Adam Chapman, from the American Academy (about 7 ' tall in his socks). John Hopkins, to the left, peeks over the top of the ruins. So: note the size of the DRUMS of those fallen columns!! The white thing carpeting the ground is Sweet Alyssum, which I pay big bucks for back in the garden-centers at home....
King William II's "La Cuba", a Summer Pavilion in the Muslim Style
(see description from Ibn Jubayr above). In recent centuries, the Palace has served as a plague hospital, an army barracks, and a police department structure. Imagine that weedy parking lot covered with water, the scent of jasmine from the gardens, and zitar music floating in from a distance....You can see why the Normans fell for Sicily in a very big way.
La Cuba, artist's reconstruction
William II's Inscription, in Arabic, announcing that he built the Cuba and why
Only in the 19th century was this terracotta inscription deciphered; before that, scholars thought the Cuba had been built by the Muslims before the Normans even arrived.
Looking up at Segesta, as the fog pours down over the mountain: what atmosphere!!
photo courtesy of John N. Hopkins
Greek Doric Temple, Syracusa; an early Christian Church literally enshrouded it
now the Doric columns decorate the inside of the Church's walls
Selinunte
Where the air smelled like honey from all the Sweet Alyssum carpeting the fields.
Salt fields at Trapani, en route to the island of Mozia (an old Carthaginian colony)
the white mounds in the background are salt; when it rains, they run out and cover the mounds with those stacks of terra-cotta tiles.
The Gulf of Palermo, from Monreale
From the Norman king, William II's, Royal Cathedral and monastery, high above the 'Conca d'Oro', the Valley of the Golden Shell (so named in the 12th century for its many orange groves, a Muslim territory.)
Golden mosaics in the Palatine Chapel, Palace of the Normans, Palermo
In reality, the chapel interior was shrouded in scaffolding, the mosaics being restored & cleaned. So I cheated: this is a photo of a photo. Picture the King's throne sitting on that dais, and all the court gathered 'round in spectacularly decorated costume.
Monreale Cathedral, first glimpse
An unrecognized flowering tree, blooming outside the Palazzo dei Normanni, Palermo
Monreale (waiting for the Cloister and Cathedral to reopen after lunch)
And keeping in mind that "lunch" in Sicily lasts from 1:00 to 4:00. These palms look Biblical, don't they?
Pranzo! The "fritto misto"
The Atlantes at Porta Nuova
Palermo's "new gate," built in 1583 to honor the Emperor Charles V
Pulling into the Gulf of Naples, our trip to Sicily ended. (But a nice shot of Vesuvius at dawn.)
Il Chiostro, at the Villa Rufolo, Ravello (Amalfi Coast)
The dark stone is volcanic lava stone, especially popular during the Norman period. We saw it all over Sicily (land of Aetna), as well as the region from Naples south to Salerno (all within Vesuvius' orbit). These flamboyant arabesques are the most fanciful and ornate I've seen so far.