Experience Sicily

Tag: statua

  • It’s All About that Bass Viol

    Statue of bass viola da gamba player, Villa Palagonia, Bagheria.   Listen live to my music duo Villa Palagonia on Chicago’s WFMT.com at 8PM CST tonight, 7 February 2015. It’s a one-hour concert of our brand of Sicilian inspired acoustic world folk music.

  • Hit and Myth

    Galatea was a beautiful nymph with milky-white skin. A character in Greek Mythology, she was one of 50 sea nymphs called the Nereidi. Together, this clan of nymphs lived at the bottom of the sea and made it their business to assist the sailors on their journeys. Polyphemus, the cyclops who lived on a nearby…

  • She’s Finally Home

    At Aidone, finally, is one of the most magnificent statues of a goddess from the ancient Greek era. Dated to be from 410 BC, the figure’s torso was carved using limestone from a quarry near Ragusa and her head and arms from imported Parian marbel. It was produced using a pseudo-acrolithic technique, giving her chiton…

  • Giacomo’s Stucco

    The Church of Saint Francis of Assisi in Palermo houses sculptor Giacomo Serpotta’s (1656-1732) stucco statues, each depicting one of ten of the 16 Franciscan Virtues–Humility, Compassion, Prayer, Faithfulness, Peacemaking, Modesty, Theology, Charity, Truth, Hospitality. Using a technique called allustsratura, Serpotta sculpted the statues in 1723. Can you guess which Virtue this statue represents?

  • She was Immovable

    It was the dawn of the 4th century, and practicing Christianity in the Roman-ruled city of Siracusa was illegal. Already though, inspired by nearby Catania’s Patron Saint, Sant’Agatha, young and beautiful Lucia devoted herself to Christianity. She planned to give her dowry to the poor, yet her widowed and sick mother had already arranged Lucia…

  • An Offering to the Goddess

    This terracotta figure from Siracusa’s archaeological museum is one of hundreds of examples of statuettes found around the island of Ortigia that is attributed to the cult of Demeter and Kore (Persephone). I find this divine figure especially interesting because more recent images of Santa Lucia, the patron saint of Siracusa who is celebrated in…

  • Villa Palagonia: Guitarist

    Statue of musician with a Spanish Guitar, Villa Palagonia, 18th century.

  • The Youth of Motya (Mozia)

    The world-renowned “Youth of Motya” is a mid-5th century BC statue made of Parian marble. It was uncovered on the Island of Motya (or Mozia) in 1979 under a mound of dirt and rubble thought to have been created as a barricade during an ancient siege. It has finally returned to Motya after touring the…

  • It was 1624, and Palermo was Under Siege

    During the late spring and summer of 1624, Palermo was under siege, but it wasn’t another foreign invader that was the perpetrator. This time it was a plague that afflicted more than 10,000 inhabitants. Things were looking pretty bleak until in early July, when a lost hunter had a vision: Santa Rosalia appeared to him…