Experience Sicily

Tag: statue

  • Palermo’s Quattro Canti: She Represents Summer

    At the center of Palermo, the intersection of Corso Vittorio Emanuele and Via Maqueda is called Quattro Canti, or Four Corners. Quattro Canti is octagonal in shape, and it is flanked by four 18th century Baroque facades, each with a fountain and a series of statues. On the first level–the street level–are images representing the…

  • Go Figurines

    The mixing of cultures throughout the Mediterranean, especially in coastal cities and towns, is evident throughout Sicily. Record of such are these “ushabti” housed in the G. Whitaker Museum on Mozia near Marsala. Ushabti are funerary figurines that were common in Ancient Egypt. Buried with the dead, they represent servants or serfs for the deceased…

  • Bronze Treasure

    This bronze statue of a young man was found in the Contrada Galera necropolis of Sicily’s southwestern archaeological site Selinunte. It is dated to be from c. 460-450 BC. I was thrilled that I was able to see it in Castelvetrano’s Museo Civico because I’d only read about it and saw photos of it in…

  • Spring in Palermo

    This statue represents spring or “primavera.” At the center of Palermo, the intersection of Corso Vittorio Emanuele and Via Maqueda is called Quattro Canti, or Four Corners. Quattro Canti is octagonal in shape, and it is flanked by four 18th century Baroque facades, each with a fountain and a series of statues. On the first…

  • We’re Waiting for Her

    Terracotta statuette of Persephone, Queen of the Underworld, from Morgantina’s North Sanctuary, c.300 BC.

  • Hail Demeter, Hail Kore

    Demeter and Kore-Persephone were fervently venerated in Sicily in ancient times. This exhibit from the Regional Archaeological Museum at Aidone features two acroliths (That is, sculptures that have been constructed of stone, such as marble, and other materials, such as, in this case, iron, and draped with fabric) most likely depicting the mother goddess and…

  • 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…