Doors open to History and Architecture

Beginning with Palermo’s magnificent skyline we learned what remarkable architecture the millennia of marauding cultures left on this beautiful island. What epigenetics the Sicilian people have been given!

Vikings, Normans, Greeks, Romans, Carthaginians, Turks, Byzantines, Arabs, Berbers, Saracens, French, and Spanish each had their victories and defeats in Sicily. And what battles those must have been! Sicily is mountainous! It lies in the path of three divergent seas: Mediterranean, Tyrrhenian, and Ionian. Just imagine navigating around such a rock and bringing horses in your boat!

Look at the finely crafted, and sometimes playful, doors and entryways that open to this history and you’ll see such diverse cultural influences.

Roman mosaic design is most impressive at the Villa Romana del Casale outside Siracusa. It is one of the few surviving Roman sites in Sicily. Thought to have been built by a Roman senator and exotic animal importer it has 37,000 square feet of mosaics. The famous “bikini girls” reside there! There were rooms for toddlers, a spa, a library, a court room (for working from home!), and a Basilica with original sculptures.

Shhhh…it is with reverence that we enter the Capucin Catacombs! These were suggested in Rick Steves’ tour guide, but not on the official tour, so we took ourselves to these tombs. No flash, please!

Crypts of saints are quite elaborate. Then there’s Bellini!

The architecture in Sicily is surprising. The island is filled with former temples, pallaces, museums, theatres, and all means of elaborate gathering places (including of course churches). See for yourself:

Agrigento Valley—the Valley of the Temples, created by the Romans.

Pietro Griffo Archeological Museum—this terra cotta donkey was an ancient baby bottle; the tail is the spout.

And the art…breathtaking!