Experience Sicily

Tag: UNESCO world heritage site

  • Baroque in Scicli

    Part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site “The Late Baroque Towns of Val di Noto,” the town of Scicli boasts breathtaking Baroque architecture from the 17th century.

  • They are Still Finding Stuff!

    When grants support archaeological work, more excavations take place. This is true all over Italy. I was surprised this summer when I was at Agrigento’s Valley of the Temples (during 3 different visits) and I learned that various parts of the UNESCO World Heritage site were still subjects of research projects. For example, this statue…

  • Conservationists at Work

    Conservationists photographed while working in the cloisters of the Cathedral at Monreale. Each of the 228 columns of the cloister are unique, and their restoration requires painstaking detail in order to maintain the integrity of the designs from the early 1200s when the peaceful, square colonnade was constructed.

  • Modica Bassa in the Morning Sun

    The city of Modica is divided into two parts: Modica Alta and Modica Bassa (pictured here). Modica Bassa is a shorter hillside division than Modica Alta (i.e., a taller hillside). These opposite hills, once dotted with cave dwellings, are now seas of ivory-colored, Baroque buildings. Outfitted with pedestrian staircases and alleyways, Modica is not automobile-friendly.…

  • Uh, Luxury “Palace,” not Villa

    You might consider the Villa Romana del Casale in Piazza Armerina the “dark horse” of Sicily’s UNESCO sites. It’s not as well-known as others in Sicily, but once you have seen it, its magnificence and historical significance overshadows your memories of other sites. First off, calling it a villa is really a misnomer because it…

  • Rooms with a View

    Baroque balconies, Caltagirone. 

  • Temple of Harmony

    The magnificent Temple of Concordia is named for a Latin inscription that was found on a dedication marker unearthed in the vicinity of the Valley of the Temples archaeological site–i.e., a marker not associated with the temple; however spirited archaeologists took the text on the marker that said something to the effect of “dedicated to…

  • Innocent and Majestic

    This scene of Original Sin, that is, Adam and Eve with the snake from the Old Testament, is one of dozens of scenes that cover the walls of the Cathedral at Monreale. The Byzantine-style mosaic designs tell Biblical stories without words; however with incredible majesty–using glass, semiprecious stones, and hundreds of gold leaf tiles. Such…

  • About 885 Years Old

    King Roger II commissioned Palermo’s San Giovanni degli Eremiti (Saint John of the Hermits) in 1130. Completed in 1148, its red domes rise above a garden of citrus trees, roses, fichi d’india, and jasmine that was once flanked the city’s ancient Kemonia River. There is evidence that on its site was once a pagan building,…