I know you may be thinking about shopping. It’s impossible not to when your inbox is full of special deals. Well, we at Experience Sicily during this time of year always offer early registration incentive discounts of up to $300 for most of our next season’s small group tours. Just visit our 2024 Tour Page…
Tag: museo orsi
Three Irresistible Sisters In Ancient Sicily
Years ago, when I first saw a photo of this terracotta Gorgon, I thought it was Mayan! But no, it’s ancient Greek-Sicilian, from the 6th century BC, and it was found in Siracusa. Archaeologists know it was part of a relief–not much more is known about it; however, it gives me a chance to tell…
Dress Like A Goddess
These terracotta figurines from the 3rd and 4th centuries B.C.E. are goddesses. Scholars know they are deities because they are wearing a polos. A polos is a headdress that collects the woman’s hair into a column of sorts, which prompts her hair upward and then to cascade from the top. Images of mortal women from…
An Enthroned Goddess’ Ancestor
Annually on September 6, 7, and 8 the town of Grammichele in Catania Province pays homage to Our Lady of the Plan, or the Madonna del Piano. Today, Grammichele is a baroque town with a fascinating hexagonal central piazza that was built after the devastating earthquake of 1693. Its history, however, runs deep. One of…
Sicily’s Modest Venus
Found in the Acradina quarter of Siracusa in 1804, the Venus Landolina is named for the archeologist, Saverio Landolina (1743-1814), who discovered the statue. Made from Greek marble in the 2nd century AD, the Roman era work is a copy of a Greek era work from the 2nd century BC. Because it is an unclothed…
Look History in the Eyes
This theatrical mask (with wig originally fixed to the holes) from the beginning of the 5th century BC is on display at the archaeological museum in Siracusa, the Museo Orsi. This and thousands of other artifacts in this outstanding museum tell Sicily’s 3000 years of human history.
Early Bronze Age Sicily
From the Museo Archeologico Paolo Orsi in Siracusa, this door slab with carved spiral, anthropomorphic motifs is from the early Bronze Age. It’s dated to be from sometime between the 22nd and 15th century B.C. and was collected from a tomb in Castelluccio, an archaeological area between Noto and Palazzolo Acreida in southeastern Sicily. Yes,…
Happy Valentine’s Day with a Kiss
Happy Valentine’s Day! Terracotta statuette of a reclining couple from the first century AD, excavated in 1967 in the Akradina district of Siracusa (Museo Orsi, Siracusa)
Bronze Champion
During antiquity, bronze was not a material that sculptors in Sicily used often, so when I come across a bronze statuette like this one of an athlete in Siracusa’s Museo Orsi, I take note. This statuette is from c. 460 B.C., and according to the information in the museum, it is called “The Youth (Ephebe)…
A Crown and a Dove
Clay statuette of Persephone-Aphrodite; On the goddess’ chest is the winged god Eros, who is holding a dove and a crown. This piece is dated to be from 460 B.C.E. I photographed it in Siracusa’s Museo Orsi.