The Mask of Solunto 

This image is of a 1st century B.C. wall painting of theatrical mask with garland and fruit from the House of the Masks in Solunto, an ancient city on top of Mount Catalfano in Santa Flavia. The precious fresco is now housed at the Regional Archaeological Museum Antonio Salinas in Palermo.  Fun fact: my grandfather…

Rejoice! Progress in Palermo!

Palermo’s archaeological museum, Il Museo Archeologico Regionale “Antonio Salinas,” houses one of the world’s most robust collections of ancient Punic and Greek art and artifacts. Priceless pieces from sites across Sicily are represented; however, for the past 5-6 years, the museum has been closed for renovation and its collection has remained behind the locked doors….

Collecting Water

The ruins of the ancient city of Solunto high up on the slope of Mount Catalfano show a sophisticated use of gravity for water collection, as illustrated here by what is left of a large public cistern that sits at the end of the main street. Founded by the Phoenicians circa 700 BC and then…

Unknown Star

This six-pointed star is an inlay in the terracotta pavement of the principal street at Solunto on the summit of Mount Catalfano in Santa Flavia. Scholars don’t know the sigificance of it. Solunto was originally a Pheonician settlement that was established between the 8th and 7th centuries BC. The Greeks conquered it in the 4th…