It’s not lost on me (or my friend, tour guide Rosa Rizza) that when they broke ground in 1973 at Piazza della Vittoria in Siracusa to build the Sanctuary for the Madonna of the Tears, that where they intended to place the church, they discovered the foundation of the late 5th/early 4th century BCE Sanctuary…
Category: divine feminine
They Looked To Venus For Love
In ancient times, if you were looking for love and passion, western Sicily was the place to go. I’ve written about Erice in the past, where for centuries there was a temple to Venus, the Roman goddess of love, and before that, it was a temple to the Carthaginians’ and Phoenicians’ goddess of love. Well,…
Devoted Cittadini! Cittadini!
Even though this year’s feast for Sant’Agata will not be on the streets because of the Coronavirus pandemic, it is in the hearts of devotees in Catania. If you close your eyes, in your mind’s eye you can hear the thousands in their call and response: “Semu tutti devoti tutti? Cittadini, Cittadini!” “Certo! Certo!” (“Are we…
W Sant’Agata!
Viva Sant’Agata! Word spread throughout Sicily about the brutality that Agatha endured and how she stood strong in her Christian faith through it all (as recounted in yesterdays’ post). Over time, her cult grew. That brings us to contemporary Catanian’s devotion to the virgin martyr that reaches a fever pitch during the annual feast from…
The Sanctuary Of Malophoros, Part 2
Unlike many of the other temple ruins that one can visit throughout Sicily at Agrigento, Segesta, and on the acropolis of Selinunte, the sacred area of the Santuario della Malophoros (at Selinunte) was not a single rectangular building with Doric-style columns. It was an enclosed, walled, complex (a temenos) with a regal entranceway (called a…
Tonight: Wintertime, Sicily-Inspired Yoga
Could it be Warrior II?! Join us Friday at 5:30PM (Eastern) for Sicily-Inspired Yoga: Embrace Winter’s Inner Wisdom. Clio Mallin, host of Experience Sicily’s future Yoga in Sicily tour, will led us in a wintertime practice aimed to create balance in your body, mind, and heart. You’ll feel grounded as you nurture your seeds of…
The Sanctuary of Demeter Malophoros, Selinunte (Part I)
The ancient Greek community of Selinunte was founded as a sub-colony of Megara Iblea in 651-650 BCE. One of the first sacred sites in the western Sicilian city, which is considered one of the world’s largest archaeological zones, is the Santuario della Malophoros or the Sanctuary of the Fruit Bearer. “Malophoros” implies pomegranates or apples,…
The Mystery Of The Madonna of Custonaci, Sicily
The Madonna of Custonaci is a cherished, sacred painting in the towns of Erice and Custonaci, where her sanctuary is located. It has a fascinating legend of its origins “from the east.” I’ll discuss its story and more on Tuesday, January 19 at 7:30PM Eastern on Zoom. To register and attend this complimentary presentation, visit…
Myths and Mysteries of Sicily: Temple E at Selinunte
Selinunte was a Greek city built on the southwestern coast of Sicily by colonists from the eastern Sicilian Greek outpost of Megara Hyblea. Founded around 651 BCE, it displayed its power by building massive temples dedicated to the gods, like this one pictured, Temple E, which scholars believe was dedicated to Hera. The Doric-style temple…
Giuseppe “Peppino” Impastato, Organized-Crime Fighter
January 5 is Giuseppe “Peppino” Impastato’s birthday. Impastato was a political activist who vociferously exposed and confronted the mafia in his hometown of Cinisi. After his uncle Cesare Manzella was brutally killed in a car bomb in 1963, when Impastato was 15 years old, his outlook on the Cosa Nostra, of which his father was…