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From the family of
SAMUEL W. BARNUM
1928

SICILY

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{.liicoi'pora

CAPPELLA PALATINA
PALERMO

SICILY

BY

THE LATE AUGUSTUS J. C. HARE

ST. CLAIR BADDELEY
AUTHOR OF
KING ROBBRT THE WISE, AND HIS HEIRS '

Al-rva i>ehrr)0 ifia iro\v84v5peos Mrva

WITH MAP, PLANS
AND
THIRTY-SIX ILLUSTRATIONS

NEW YORK
E. P. DUTTON AND CO.
!9°5

Printed in England

All rights reserved.

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
CAPPELLA PALATINA, PALERMO  Frontispiece
THE DUOMO, PALERMO  To face page 20
SOUTH PORCH, DUOMO, PALERMO •••»>, 22
SAN GIOVANNI DEGLI EREMITI, PALERMO . . , , ,, 26
FOUNTAIN IN PIAZZA PRETORIA, PALERMO . . ,, „ 28
LA MARINA, PALERMO  ,, ,, 32
S. MARIA DELLA CATENA, PALERMO . . . „ ,, 34
BRONZE RAM, PALERMO  ,, ,, 36
LA CUBOLA  page 37
monreale  To face page 38
CHOIR IN THE DUOMO, MONREALE ...,,,,40
CLOISTERS, MONREALE  page 40
FROM S. MARIA DI GESU . .... ,, 44
solunto  To face page 44
solunto  page 46
solunto (another view) ... . To face page 46
THE TEMPLE, SEGESTA  ,, ,, 48
GREEK THEATRE, SEGESTA  „ ,, 50
RUINS AT SELINUNTE  ,, ,, 52
CEFALU  „S6
THE DUOMO, CEFALU  , 60
TAORMINA  , ,, 70
LA BADIA  , ,, 76

VI

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

FOUNTAIN, TAORMINA .
CATANIA 
CLOISTERS, S. BENEDETTO, CATANIA
ROCKS OF THE CYCLOPS
FONS ARETHUSAE, SYRACUSE
AMPHITHEATRE, SYRACUSE .
ANAPO 
CASTRO GIOVANNI (ENNA) .
GIRGENTI 
TOMB OF THERON, GIRGENTI
TEMPLE OF CONCORDIA, GIRGENTI
TEMPLE OF JUNO LACINIA, GIRGENTI
TEMPLE OF CASTOR AND POLLUX, GIRGENTI

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130
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MAPS AND PLANS
PALERMO . 
CEFALU (SO-CALLED TEMPIO D'DIANA)
TAORMINA 
SYRACUSE 
GIRGENTI 
SICILY 
12
64 72
IO4132142
SICILY
INTRODUCTI ON
PART I
" E la bella Trinacria, che caliga,
Tra Pachino e Peloro, sopra '1 golfo,
Che riceve da Euro maggior briga."
— Parad. viii. 67.
T3 Y natural endowment one of the most beautiful islands in the
world, by her geographical position Sicily was fated to be
come 'the fell incensed point twixt mighty opposites.' Separated
from the mainland by the Straits of Messina, anciently 'Fretum
Siculum] and forming the nexus of the two greater basins of the
Mediterranean, Sicily presents one face to Italy, one to Greece,
and a third to Africa — as if inviting settlement or conquest from
every one of the ancient European civilisations. East and
west and south were bound to contend in turn for its possession.
It has the form of a wedge, or triangle, whence its name
'Trinacria,' the three world-famous angles, or promontories, of
which Cape Passaro (Pachynos), Torre di Faro (Pelorus), and
Boeo (Lilybaeum), enclose 9,800 square miles, of great fertility
and some mineral wealth. This area is everywhere moun
tainous, though distinct and sustained ranges occur only along
the northern and central eastern portions of the island. The
chief of these, springing from behind Pelorus and Messina,
were called the Neptunian, and their continuation westward
the Nebrodian; while the range running south-east towards
Pachynos, and forming an important watershed, were called the
Heraian Mountains. Behind this triangular rampart, walled in
by it, Etna rises like a lofty citadel of snow to the height
of 10,835 feet- The western and southern coast scenery having
no such heights and a good many small gradual slopes, is
therefore less picturesque ; but it is only tame when contrasted
with other and grander portions of the island.
Naturally, the rivers, although numerous, bear the character A

2 SICILY
of mountain-torrents (fiumare), and have their dry seasons.
The chief are the Salso (Himeras), Platani (Halykos), and
Belici (Selinos) on the south coast ; the Anapo, Giarretta
(Symathos), and Alcantara (Akesines), on the east ; and on
the north, the Fiume Grande (Himerus). Their historic
associations give them an importance out of all proportion to
their size ; and the same is true of their lakes, chief among
which is Pergusa, near Castrogiovanni, otherwise the celebrated
Enna, where Pluto is related to have captured Proserpina.
The earliest inhabitants of whom we hear were those found
in Sicily by the first colonists from Greece, and they are called
by names as similar almost as Breton and Briton, Sikel and
Sican (SixeXoi : Sucapot), to whom the name of the island
is due.
To the Sicans, who claimed to be aborigines, the Dorian
Greeks attributed a Spanish origin ; the Sikels, however, came
from Italy, at some period antedating the first Greek settle
ment. Thucydides states that Italy still contained Sikels in his
day. They had, in fact, been pushed out of Italy by new-
coming races, and in like manner they pushed the Sicans
towards the western half of the island. The latter, however,
held their own fairly well in certain parts of it until the fourth
century B.C.
We have the pottery of both peoples in the excellent museums
of Syracuse and Palermo ; and of the Sikels we possess besides
not a few words of their language, from which it has been
deduced that they were a people of the Latin stock. But it
may be that early trade relations between Sicilian Greeks and
the Romans were responsible for the apparent identities. In
any case, neither the Sicans nor the Sikels were able to hold
their own, but gradually came under Greek domination and
took on the Greek dialects.
In addition to these there was another people settled in
Sicily, called the Elymians, whose towns were situated in the
extreme N.W. of the island, namely, Egesta (Segesta) and
Eryx. Their most celebrated shrine was in the latter moun
tain (Monte S. Giuliano, 2184 ft, near Trapani), and it was
erected to a goddess, the equivalent of Astaroth, Aphrodite,
or Venus. Like the Romans and other peoples, the Elymians
claimed a. Trojan origin ; and probably, like that of the Sikels,
the Elymian religion was centred by the powers of nature,
represented by gods and goddesses of the nether world, who
produced for man the abundant and fruitful grain.
The great cult of the Sikels, however, was that of the Palici,
twin-brethren, whose temple stood near Menaenum, now Mineo.
Here in ancient days were two small volcanic pools which

GREEK COLONIES 3
bubbled up, by which was situated an oracle, and here it was
the custom to take the most solemn oaths in the matter of
deciding quarrels ; and the altars of these gods were stained
with human sacrifices. The Greeks, who were expert in
celestial genealogy, gave for their parents .(Etna and Zeus. (Cf.
Macrobius Saturn, 5. c. 19.)
Thirty miles north-west of Mineo, near Castrogiovanni
(HENNA, 'Ewaios), the Greeks found firmly seated another Sikel
cult of under-world goddesses, with which they dealt poetically,
just as Shakespeare dealt with Italian stories, and elaborated
the lively legend of Persephone and Demeter, with Enna for its
background. The Greek fable is imported, and by the power
of Greek genius the Sikel cult and story is absorbed into the
greater divinity of the new-comer. The same process occurred
wherever the Greeks wandered ; but it occurred more naturally
where, as in the case of the Sikels, the peoples among whom they
wandered were, however remotely, related to them. In the
present instance the Greeks not merely absorbed and trans
formed the legends of this people, but the people themselves.
The earliest Greek settlement (B.C. 735) in the island was made
by Theokles, of Chalkis, with fellow-townsmen and other Ionians,
from the Island of Naxos, from which latter they named the
town they now founded on the promontory, to-day called Capo
Schisd, south of Taormina. Here they set up an altar to
Apollo ArchegetSs, the Leader, which in time assumed the
character of a federal Shrine for all Sicilian Greeks.
In the following year a Dorian-Corinthian settlement and
foundation was made by Archias, at Syracuse ; and this again
was situated beside, in fact, in, the sea, on a small island called
Ortygia, as we should expect from a seafaring folk. In con
sequence of this the settlers at Naxos, to be beforehand with
their future rivals, threw out Katane (Catania), and Leontinoi
(Lentini), the coins of which, stamped with a lion, tell us the
origin of the name. Here the colonists and the Sikels appear
to have lived together.
Other Greek colonies rapidly followed to this chosen land,
founding Megara (726) dangerously near Syracuse, and Zancle,
otherwise Messina ; thus completing their possession of the
entire eastern coast of the island. The other coasts were in
vaded in the following century, Gela, at the mouth of the
stream of that name (now Rio Terranuova), being settled by
Rhodians (B.C. 690). The Syracusans vigorously pushed inland
as well as to the southern coast towards Gela, where they
founded Kamarina ; while the Zancleans pushed colonies along
the north coast at Cephalcedium (Cefalii), and at Himera (Ther
mae). Meanwhile, however, the Megareans, in B.C. 638, had

4 SICILY
sailed round the south coast and founded Selinous (Seliniinto),
the westernmost point yet reached, bringing them into close
contact with the Sicans, and perhaps the Phoenicians who traded
with them, as well as with the aforesaid Elymians. In 579 the
Rhodian Greeks of Gela seized a point of vantage near the coast
half-way toward Selinous, and founded Akragas, near Girgenti.
The Sikels, driven in upon their inland towns, maintained their
independence for some time. Lastly, a fresh group of Rhodians
under Pentathlos endeavoured to effect a settlement near
Lilybaeum, the westernmost cape, where Marsala now stands ;
but entering, perhaps necessarily, into a quarrel proceeding
between the Elymians of Segesta and the Greeks of Selinous,
they were worsted with the latter, their leader was slain, and
the would-be colony sailed off to Lipara, which became their
home. Thus in a century and a half, Sicily, excepting its
extreme western portion, became encircled with a chain of
Greek settlements or oligarchies. That western portion became
the nucleus of Phoenician power, looking to its sister colony at
Carthage, on the African coast, for help in view of future
developments. Among these Greek cities of Dorian and Ionic origins rivalries
soon sprang up that led to petty wars, in which hired Sikels and
Sicans probably bore the brunt under Greek captains. The
latter rose into military tyrants, whose successes in turn begat
more serious ambitions and further rivalries and alliances.
Moreover, the Sikels themselves later on (perhaps more than
once) attempted a confederacy directed at overthrowing their
Greek masters. But the more formidable antagonist was to be
found in the Phoenicians, who could attack from without as well
as from within the island.
For the value of the Phoenician hold upon the western region
of Sicily became duly understood at Carthage, a city-state
after its own kind. Forthwith she strengthened her fleets and
her understanding with the Persians, foes to all Greeks. The
next move was to rightly select both the moment and the
place for attack. After full consideration Hamilkar was de
spatched to Panormos on the north coast, whence he marched
with an army, supported by a large fleet, to Himera, which
Theron held. The desperate situation was, however, saved by
the timely aid brought from Syracuse overland by Gelon, who
inflicted a far-reaching defeat on the Carthaginian host and
killed their general, and this inaugurated a period of golden
freedom in Greek Sicily, and at Syracuse the statue of Zeus
Eleutherios, the Free-er, was erected, B.C. 463.
A little later than this the Sicilian Greeks took occasion to
harry the Etruscan coast and chastise its inhabitants for acts

SYRACUSE 5
of exasperating piracy. Syracuse grew stronger and stronger,
and the relations of the colonies in Sicily to the motherland in
Greece and the islands became entangled. This, Carthage was
carefully watching, so as to find fresh occasion for a trial of
strength when Syracuse might be deeply involving her strength
away from Sicily.
For it so happened that the conditions at this period obtain
ing between Athens and Sparta caused each of them to press
for influence in the Mediterranean beyond their borders. This
meant the creating of alliances among the colonial settlements
of Italy and Sicily. Athens, had she but realised it, was
fatally putting her neck into the noose. She made pacts with
Rhegium, on one side, and with the Elymians of Segeste, at
the other end of Sicily ; more perilously still, with Leontinoi,
at which Syracuse had long been casting a jealous eye. For
Syracuse, the Dorian colony, looked askance at Chalkidian
Naxos and Leontinoi. Moreover, Syracuse was adumbrating
a Monroe doctrine in her heart of hearts : ' Sicily for the
Sicilian Greeks, especially for Syracuse. Outsiders, beware ! '
The aggressive interference of Athens developed into the
fatal war with Syracuse. Then followed the magnificent
deception practised on the Athenian envoys in 415 at Segesta,
the recall of Alcibiades, and his desertion to the Spartans,
the astute delivery of Syracuse by Gylippus and the defeat of
Nikias next year : then the coming of the Corinthian allies and
the Thespians : the sea-fight and victory of the Syracusans ; the
subsequent slaughter and capture of the Athenian army in the
rocky river-bed of the Assinaros, near Noto ; and the tragedy of
the enslaved soldiers in the glowing quarries of Syracuse ; — and
all these startling events led on to the still more startling second
Carthaginian invasion of Sicily, with the terrible revenge of
Hannibal, the grandson of the formerly defeated and slain
Hamilkar, at Himera (B.C. 409)— where he offered up 3000 of
the Greeks to the manes of his grandfather. This incident,
however, was but a great stepping-stone to the autocracy of
Syracuse, in the person of Dionysios, the brilliant tyrant, who
through dexterous treachery, by means of a monstrous com
promise with Carthage, consolidated his power at the expense
of all the other Sicilian-Greek Colonies (B.C. 406-7).
The successes of Dionysios, as well as those of the Cartha
ginians, presently led to a fresh Punic war and an attack as
usual on the Phoenician west end of Sicily. Being hated by
the revolted Greeks less than these hated their Phoenician
masters, his forces were swelled to vast numbers, and after
various extreme vicissitudes Dionysios by arms and diplomacy
carried through his long campaign with success. It was now

6 SICILY
(398 ? B.C.) that Tauros or Taormina became founded by Andro-
machos as a Sikel settlement on the hillside beyond destroyed
Naxos, and soon got into critical relations with the tyrant, who
presently attacked in person and was defeated.
When in B.C. 367 Dionysios died, he had actually succeeded
in making Syracuse a great European force, and had altered
the entire balance of power in the Mediterranean. His son,
the younger, proceeded to lose much of his father's possessions,
in spite of calling to his side as a sapient counsellor the philoso
pher Plato. There soon rose up against his tyranny his uncle
by marriage, Dion ; who in turn became tyrant and was slain,
and the confusion and chaos which followed, under the restored
Dionysios II., led to the coming of the Corinthian Timoleon,
who landed at Tauromenion, and after a series of surprising suc
cesses made himself master of Syracuse, and presently at the
Krimisos freed Sicily from both the Greek and Punic despots.
Under Agathokl£s, the Sicilian power carried war into Punic
Africa, though without ultimate success. Wonderful individuals
pass over the romantic scene playing wonderful parts on this
ceaseless colonial drama, but outshining them all stands out
that of the Greek Prince, PyrrllUS, of Epeiros, who was called in
by the Sicilians to help them against their tyrants and their
Carthaginian foes, being at that moment engaged in fighting
for the Greeks of Lower Italy against the ever-increasing
Roman power which threatened their colonies with absorption.
Syracuse received him gladly after he had landed at Tauro
menion. Akragas drove out its Punic garrison and assured
him of hearty support, while a number of other towns rapidly
followed suit, even Selinous and its chief joining adhesion.
Inspired by the brilliant magic of his success, Pyrrhus dared
to undertake the storming of Carthaginian Eryx above Marsala,
and is said to have been the first of his forces to stand trium
phant upon its summit. After this splendid achievement he
took Panormos and Herkte (Monte Pellegrino), and for the
first time completely dominated the Semitic power. In fact,
little was left to the latter save Lilybaion, but this he vainly
besieged for two months. Messana, at the other extremity,
likewise defied him with its pirate garrison, calling themselves
Mamertines. But all' his kingdom so rapidly acquired was not destined to
become consolidated under him. In B.C. 276 he was recalled
(and gladly responded) to Italy, where he renewed his successes
against the Romans until defeated by them at Beneventum, the
following year.
The most important result of this championship of the Greek
Colonies showed itself in the fraternising of the Romans with

SIEGE OF SYRACUSE 7
the Carthaginians. At this time rose up one more would-be
saviour and consolidator of Sicily in the person of Hiero,
under whom Rome first, through a friendly act of his, became
an ally as against the ever-menacing Carthaginians. His
reign lasted fifty years, but during the latter half of it the
Romans entered Sicily with a powerful army, and finally re
duced Hiero into a dependent ally, and the island into a
veritable Province of Rome ; the crowning of which was the
triumphant siege and reduction of Akragas with its Punic
garrison, the turning it into Roman Agrigentum, in B.C. 261.
This was followed by the glorious sea-fight of Myte (C. Milazzo),
(in which Gaius Duilius defeated the Carthaginians), and the
consequent beleaguerment of Panormos both by land and sea.
What the Roman took he held ; but the war cost him ten years
to bring it to conclusion. This, however, went so absolutely in
his favour that Carthage was compelled to renounce all claims
to Sicily and the isles, including even Sardinia and Corsica.
So died all dreams of further Sicilian independence, before even
reliable cohesion had been secured.
Marcellus, the Roman commander, soon found reason to
regard Syracuse as a place divided against itself, with Cartha
ginian trade-interest running too high for Roman equanimity, or
to please the Roman party within her gates. This soon led to
friction, and the gates being shut in the face of the generaPs
envoys, he promptly besieged the city with fleet and army, while
his subordinate, Lucius Pinarius, struck terror at Henna, the
holiest place in the island, by a wholesale massacre of the in
habitants. Help against the besiegers came to the mixed garri
son from Carthage in B.C. 212 ; but a pestilence decimated the
Punic forces in their camp by the Anapus and carried off their
two commanders. Meanwhile, Marcellus had made considerable
progress, albeit frequently foiled by the science and dexterity
of the famous Archimedes within the city. At last what skill
could not effect was achieved by treachery. Marcellus was let
in by an Iberian captain, and Syracuse became, not, it is true,
the scene of another appalling massacre (for the lives and
houses of most of the inhabitants were conceded) — but, the first
Art-quarry for the looting Romans ; and the arch-kingdom of
Hieron, the wealthiest emperor of the Mediterranean, the home
of Art and Science, went with the blood, unintentionally shed,
of Archimedes, to appease the now insatiable appetite of Rome.
Marcellus despatched captured elephants, statues and pictures
by the score, together with the engines of Archimedes, to adorn
his hoped-for triumph and enrich the Forum. His family
became hereditary patrons of Syracuse.
The further realisation of Roman ambition set in sharply

8 SICILY
under Laevinus ; and Sicily, without loss of time, became the
grand base for Roman attacks upon Carthaginian Power in
the Mediterranean. From it, in B.C. 205, Scipio set forth to
subdue Carthage and Hannibal. It was the first territory over
sea possessed by the Latin nation ; and forthwifh the altars of
Jove, Juno, and Minerva usurped the place of those of Baal,
Melcart, and the Greek divinities. The battle-field that
Pyrrhus had left to Carthage and Rome but seventy years
before, had become an appanage of the latter, which she
was destined to rule, and whence she was to draw her supplies
of corn and wine for well-nigh a thousand years.

PART II
In a.d. 440, Sicily was invaded by the Vandals under
Genseric, who took Lilybaeum. Afterwards it passed into the
hands of the Goths who remained its masters till the island
was conquered in A.D. 535 by Belisarius, who surprised
Syracuse and Catania. From this time Sicily continued to be
a dependency of the Byzantine empire, until it was subdued by
the Saracens in the ninth century (827).
The chief remains of the Greek rule in Sicily are to be found
in the temples of Girgenti, Segeste, and Selinus ; the theatre of
Syracuse, and the sculptures from Himera and Solunto. The
principal remains of the Roman government are the amphi
theatre of Syracuse and the theatre of Taormina. The mosaics
of Monreale and Cefalu bear solid witness to the Byzantine art
and its influences.
The Saracens occupied Sicily for more than 200 years,
developing the resources of the island, adorning with noble
buildings their capital of Bulirma (Palermo), which now took
the place of Syracuse as the principal city of the island, and
holding a rule which in the main was liberal, though oppressive
to the Christian population in some of its details.
With the 1 1 th century began the most interesting period of
Sicilian history. The rulers of Southern Italy, whilst acknow
ledging the supremacy of the Greek emperors, had practically
asserted their own independence. This roused the jealousy of
the popes, and led them to invite the Normans to the invasion
of South Italy. The chief of those Norman adventurers who
obeyed the summons were ten in turn out of the twelve sons of
Tancred de Hauteville, a Norman squire residing near Cout-
ances ; and of these, two, Robert (Guiscard), Duke of Apulia
and Calabria, and the youngest brother Roger, invaded Sicily
in 1 061, with banners blessed by the Pope, and with 700 men, and

PALERMO 9
gained a great battle against 1 5,000 Saracens beneath the walls
of Castrogiovanni. Eleven years later the brothers took
Palermo (Roger had slain its Emir with his own hand), and
then Robert returned to Italy, leaving his brother Roger, 'the
Great Count,' possessor of the whole island except Palermo,
which he retained for himself. Upon Robert's death in 1085
Roger became ruling Count, as Feof to the Dukedom of Apulia.
Roger I. (Count) made Traina the first Roman Catholic See
under his brother-in-law Robert of Evroult, filling the other
Sicilian Sees with Norman bishops, and doing all he could to
re-establish Christianity. But under his beneficent rule the in
habitants of Sicily continued to be governed by their own respec
tive laws — the Saracens by the Koran ; the Normans by the
Coutoumier de Normandie; and the Greeks by the code of
Justinian. He died (a.d. iioi) aged 70, lamented by all his
various subjects.
Roger was twice married, first to Eremberga de Grente-
mesnil, sister of the prior of S. Evroult in Normandy, and
secondly to Adelaide of Montferrat.
Roger IL, who was only four years old at the time of his
father's death, grew up to consolidate his father's conquests
by his wise, temperate, and unselfish rule, and when his
cousin William, Duke of Calabria, died without children, he
became master of Apulia and Calabria. Being already Count,
Great Count, and Duke of Sicily, he presently was enabled to
take the title of king. He was crowned with great magnifi
cence at Palermo on Christmas Day, 11 30, by the four arch
bishops of Palermo, Salerno, Capua, and Beneventum, assum
ing the title of 'Rex Siciliae, Ducatus Apuliae, Principatus
Capuae.' For having taken arms against Pope Innocent 1 1.,
and captured his person in 11 39, the Pontiff was compelled to
acknowledge his sovereignty of Sicily. Edrisi, the court-
geographer, records that King Roger ' did more while sleeping
than any other man waking.' He formulated admirable laws,
derived from a careful study of the legal system in other
countries, and devoted fifteen years to a treatise on universal
geography, which was drawn up by Edrisi, and entitled, The
Book of Roger, or the Delight of whoso loves to make the Circuit
of the World. He was of a regal presence, of gigantic stature
and lion-like face.1 At his death, in 1154, he was esteemed the
wisest, most renowned, wealthy, and fortunate prince of his
time. He left only one surviving son, William, by his first wife
Elvira, and a daughter Constantia, born after his death, by his
second wife Beatrix of Rieti. The magnificent cathedral of
• " Statura grandis, corpulentus, facie leonina."— Romualdi Guam, Salernitani
Chron.

io SICILY
Cefalu is due to a vow which Roger II. made when caught
in a storm at sea while on an expedition against his brother-in-
law Raynulfus, Count of Alife. The Cappella Palatina and
Church of S. Giovanni degli Eremiti at Palermo, the remains
of the Villa della Favara (Maredolce), and of that of Altarello di
Baida and the Martorana are splendid memorials of his reign.
These are probably the earliest buildings in the island not
Roman or Greek, for there are no Christian remains above-
ground earlier than the Arab invasion, and no real Saracenic
remains ; the buildings which we see in the Moresque style
being of Norman origin, for the Norman invaders, being a mere
handful of warriors, naturally brought no architects with them,~
but employed those whom they found established in the island.
Roger died in 1 1 54, after a reign of 24 years.
William I., or ' The Bad,' was morose and indolent, and
ruled by favourites. He dismissed the wise counsellors of his
father, and appointed Majone, the unscrupulous son of an oil-
merchant at Bari, as his prime minister. The insolence and
extortions of Majone infuriated the Sicilian nobles, who dis
covered proofs of his treason to the king. Yet the influence of
the favourite remained unimpaired, and the vengeance which
he was permitted to take upon his accusers, especially Everard,
Count of Squillace, whom he deprived of his eyes and his
tongue, led to his murder by Matteo Bonello, a young noble
who had been engaged to his daughter. William the Bad was
imprisoned for a time, and his son, the Duke of Apulia, pro
claimed as his successor, but the will of the people led to the
king being released on his promise of amendment, and once
free, he inveigled Bonello to the palace, and put out his eyes.
The Duke of Apulia soon afterwards died, with a suspicion of
murder. Then, having punished all his opponents, William
shut himself up in indolence and vice till his death. His
manners and habits were those of an Arabian emir, and when
he died, his decease was wildly lamented by the Saracen
women, who rushed about the streets clothed in sackcloth,
with dishevelled hair, and uttering loud cries, or funeral songs,
which they accompanied with their tambourines. The Moresque
palace of La Zisa (o.v.) is a relic of the reign of William the Bad.
After the king's death in 11 66, a regency was proclaimed
under the queen-mother, Margaret of Navarre, who called in
her relation, Stephen of Perche, as her adviser, and made him
Archbishop of Palermo. His just and vigorous plans soon
reformed the main abuses of the State, but after two years the
fury of his enemies forced him to take refuge in the still existing
belfry of the cathedral, and eventually drove him out of the
kingdom.

PALERMO n
William IL, or ' The Good? came of age in the following
year, and appointed his late tutor, an Englishman, Walter of
the Mill, Dean of Agrigentum, his prime minister and made
him Archbishop of Palermo. He was crowned in the Duomo.
The virtues which this tutor encouraged in his royal pupil led to
a happy reign, in which King William promoted peace, but at
the same time he took part in the Crusades and kept faith with
the Pope (Alexander III.) in his quarrels with the Emperor
Frederick Barbarossa. He was so beloved, that his chronicler
says, ' In the time of William II. there was more security in the
thickets of Sicily than in the cities of other kingdoms.' William
II. was the builder of the Cathedral of Monreale, and of the
Palace of La Cuba. He freed Tripoli and Antioch from the
Moslem. William the Good (i 177) married Joan of England, daughter
of Henry II., but died without children in 11 89, and lies at
Monreale. The Sicilian Parliament was then divided : one
faction, under Walter of the Mill, espoused the cause of Con-
stantia, daughter of Roger II. and half-sister of William I., who
had married Henry, son of Frederick Barbarossa ; the other,
under the Kaid or Chancellor Matteo d'Ajello, at the head of the
Saracen or national party, upheld the claims of Tancred, illegiti
mate son of Roger, Duke of Apulia, and grandson of Roger II.
Tancred, Count of Lecce (who had been'imprisoned in the
palace of Palermo under William I., restored to favour under
William II., and married to Sibylla, daughter of the Count of
Acerra), was crowned in Palermo, December 1190. He was
noble-hearted and chivalrous, but his reign was embittered by
perpetual warfare with Henry VI., husband of his aunt Con-
stantia, who had received the imperial crown from Celestine
III., and in four years he died at Palermo, in 1 194, of grief for
the loss of his eldest son, another Roger, Duke of Apulia,
leaving his widow Sibylla regent and guardian of his only
remaining child, William III.
Henry VI., hearing that Tancred and his eldest son were dead,
traversed Calabria at the head of his army of Germans, taking
one city after another, and crossing the straits, entered Palermo
in triumph, causing Sibylla with her remaining son William,
and her three daughters, Aleria, Constantia, and Mandonia, to
fly to the Castle of Caltabellota. Henry then promised Queen
Sibylla the county of Lecce and principality of Taranto for her
son if she would resign the crown, and, having no alternative,
she complied, upon which the Emperor immediately broke
faith with her, mutilated and put out the eyes of the young
William IP/., who died soon afterwards at Homburg, im
prisoned the rest of his family, and massacred their adher-

12 SICILY
ents. He caused himself to be crowned 1194. A general
rising of the Sicilian Feudal nobility followed, and a civil war,
during which Henry, aged only thirty-two, died of a fever,
in 1 197, whilst besieging Castrogiovanni. He was buried in
a beautiful porphyry sarcophagus in the Cathedral of Palermo.
Frederick II. was at once proclaimed at Palermo, being the
three-year-old son of Henry VI. and of Constantia, who imme
diately proved the pain which her husband's treatment of her
family and fellow-countrymen had given her, by ordering all
Germans to leave the island, and by doing all she could to soothe
the wounded spirits of the Sicilians. Dying in a year, she left
her son under the regency of Pope Innocent III., who appointed
four national bishops as his guardians. Although of a German
family, Frederick II. was Italian in his language, character,
and affections. As warrior, troubadour, and philosopher, he
became by far the most remarkable man of his age. Some of
the earliest Italian poetry is by Frederick himself and his sons
Manfred and Enzio. His appreciation of beauty made his
country a centre for Art. He instituted the universities of
Padua and Naples, and made an amended code of laws — the
' Constitutiones Siciliae,' chiefly by the advice of his great
chancellor Piero delle Vigne, to whom refer the lines of Dante —
1 Io son colui che tenni ambo le chiavi
Del cor di Federigo, e che le volsi,
Serrando e disserando, si soavi,
Che dal segreto suo quasi ogni uom tolsi.' — Inp. xiii. 58.
He established the third estate, or commons in Sicily, calling
two ' prudhommes ' or ' wise men ' to sit in the Sicilian Parlia
ment for every demesne town. He took away the right of
criminal jurisdiction from the barons and gave it to the king's
judges, and he established a municipal body in every commune.
He founded S. Stefano in Calabria and Aquila in the Abruzzi,
and built the palaces Apricena near Monte Gargano and the
grand Castel del Monte near Barletta. But his most remark
able foundation was Nocera in Apulia, whither, having observed
their fidelity in Sicily, he placed a garrison of 20,000 Saracens
to be a check upon his enemies on the mainland. His later
life became harassed by a long struggle with Gregory IX.
and Innocent IV., and, though he was victorious over the
secular power of the Guelphs, the papal anathemas proved
to be too much for him, as in such an age they alienated his
people from one who was excommunicated. Leaving a mar
vellous reputation for energy, magnanimity, and wisdom, he
died at Castel Fiorentino in 1250, broken-hearted at the defec-

SCaji/brcils Gcog^ E$fMb% London^

BENEVENTUM 13
tion of his friends, and the refusal of the Bolognese to set at
liberty his beloved natural son Enzio, whom they had made
prisoner in 1249.
Frederick II. was first married (by Innocent III.) to Con
stance of Aragon, who was ten years his senior, and was widow
of Emmerich, King of Hungary. By her he was the father of
a son Henry, who died in 1235. Secondly, he married, 1227,
Iolanthe de Lusignan, daughter of King John De Brienne
of Jerusalem, and rightful heiress of that nebulous kingdom
through her mother, from whom the kings of Naples afterwards
claimed that title. The Empress Iolanthe died in 1235 in her
seventeenth year, ten days after giving birth to her only child,
afterwards Conrad IV. Thirdly, Frederick married Isabella,
daughter of Henry III. of England, by whom he was the
father of a second Prince Henry, and who died in childbirth
in 1 24 1. Fourthly, Frederick II. was married upon his death
bed to his mistress, Bianca Lancia, by whom he had been the
father of Manfred.1
Manfred, son of Frederick II. and Bianca Lancia (having
been first regent in consequence of the absence of the rightful
heir Conrad IV. who died in 1254, and of the infancy of his
successor Conradin), was crowned King of Sicily and Calabria
in 1258. He inherited the qualities of his father as warrior,
poet, and sage. He founded Manfredonia and had his chief
residence at Barletta. But bitter hostility to the Norman
sovereigns had been aroused in the popes by the opposition
of Frederick II. to their worldly claims, and Urban IV., after
excommunicating Manfred as a usurper, offered the crown of
Sicily first to the King of England, who declined it, and then
to Charles of Anjou, who accepted it and at his command
invaded the south of Italy. The papal fury had been roused
most of all by the foundation of Saracenic Nocera — ' Tell the
Sultan of Nocera,' said Charles, when Manfred sent to ask the
conditions of peace, 'that he shall either send me to paradise,
or I will send him to hell.' The armies met at Beneventum,
where, owing to the valour of the Normans, the battle was
going well for Manfred, when the barons of Apulia deserted
him with their forces. Then, rushing into the thick of the
combat, and performing prodigies of heroism, King Manfred
fell as became the last of the Normans, and. being denied
Christian burial by the popes and a monument by his enemies,
he was immortalised in the verses of Dante. The massacre
1 The other (bastard) sons of Frederick II. were King Enzio, Frederick of Antioch,
and Richard, Vicar General of Romagna. His daughters were Selvaggia, lolanihe,
Catherine, the Countesses of Acerra and Caretto, and Blanchefleur, who died a nun
at Montargis in T278.

14 SICILY
known as the Sicilian Vespers released the Sicilians, in 1282,
from their twenty-four years of oppression by the hated Angevin
sovereigns, and after the slaughter of about 4000 Frenchmen,
they called in as their ruler Peter of Aragon (who had married
Constance, the daughter of Manfred), to whom the young
Conradin, grandson of Frederick II., murdered by Charles at
Naples in 1268, had bequeathed his rights upon the scaffold.
As Charles of Anjou retained the continental territories, the usage
began at this time of calling the island Sicily ' ultra pharum,'
and the kingdom on the mainland Sicily ' citra pharum.'
The Aragonese dynasty was destined to last above 430 years.
Sicily became a dependency of the Spanish crown in 1479,
through the accession of Ferdinand II. ('the Catholic'), son
of John of Aragon, to the throne of Spain. During this long
period the affairs of the island were chiefly administered by
Viceroys, to whose taste and care the chief towns owe much
of their embellishment, but by whom the judicial system was
deteriorated, the country neglected, and its resources wasted.
By the Peace of Utrecht, Sicily was given to Vittorio
Amadeo of Savoy, who held it for four years, after which it
was exchanged for Sardinia, and united to Naples under the
Emperor Charles V. In 1734 it was conquered by Don
Carlos, son of Philip V. of Spain, who, as Charles III., King
of the Two Sicilies, proved a wise and able sovereign, reform
ing the abuses which had sprung up under the viceroys and
been fostered by years of warfare. Henceforward the island
followed the fortunes of the kingdom on the mainland, to which
it was united. Its official appellation being ' Domini al di la
del Faro,' as that of the part of the kingdom on the mainland
was ' Domini al di qua del Faro.' In i860 the criminal mis-
government of the later Bourbons gave a substantial excuse
for the invasion of the island by Garibaldi, whose successes
were followed by the expulsion of King Francis II. in 1861, and
the seizure of his dominions by his maternal uncle, Victor
Emmanuel 1 1., afterwards King of United Italy.
The want of roads, which is still so remarkable in the island,
long left it far behind Italy in civilisation and commerce ; but
now railways have opened out its resources, and its trade in sul
phur, corn, oil, wine (especially Marsala), and other products, is
steadily increasing. Besides the vines, olives, and oranges of
Sicily, the liquorice, carouba, manna, almond, and sumach
trees are of value. The flowers are indescribably beautiful, and
there are twenty-five plants whose specific name, Siculus, is
taken from Sicily.
There are three archbishoprics — Palermo, Monreale, and
Messina ; and eleven bishoprics— Syracuse, Mazzara, Cefalii,

THEOCRITUS 15
Patti, Nicosia, Piazza, Gerace, Girgenti, Caltagirone, Catania,
and Lipari. But the extreme ignorance of the people has made
them even more superstitious than the Italians of the main
land, and till recently the horrible ceremonies connected with the
car of the Madonna at Messina, and of S. Rosalia at Palermo,
were rather worthy of the worship of Juggernaut than of
Christianity. Travellers will still be struck by ' Viva la Divina
Providenza' — Long life to the Divine Providence — as a frequent
sign of public-houses near Palermo ; but on the whole, since
the Sardinian occupation and the abolition of convents, re
ligion and superstition have been alike tending to extinction.
The new laws relating to the division of property have also
brought many of the old palaces and their owners to equal
ruin ; and the aristocratic Bagaria now presents a melancholy
picture of fallen splendour.
There is not a little merit to be found in the modern literature
of the island, including of course the poems of Giovanni Melt
(1815), which are descriptive of Sicilian scenery and manners,
and in the learned archaeological works of the Duke of Serra-
difalco and the Prince of Torremuzza ; but those anxious to
gain intimate knowledge of Sicilian History should read
Michele Amari's noble War of the Sicilian Vespers, the various
works of E. A. Freeman (Fisher Unwin & Co.), and, above all,
Usi e Costume, Credenze e Pregiudizi and La Vita in Palermo
cento e f>iu annifa, both by Giuseppe Pitre (A. Reber, Palermo),
a delightful writer.
Travellers on the island will do well to study the Idylls of
Theocritus, a series of exquisite word-pictures, the result of
life amid Sicilian scenery. They may also read the famous
elegy of Moschus over Bion (which so filled and stimulated the
Adonais of Shelley), a poet of Syracuse in the third century B.C.
"Th^ocrite est le peintre en miniature de la Sicile. Ses idylles se
composent d'une foule de petits tableaux champ£tres peints d'apres nature.
Dans cette po£sie insulaire, on aperpoit sans cesse la rner a l'horizon.
Tant6t c'est un berger qui, appuyg contre un pin, joue de la flute, tandis
que les belles vagues a peine murmurantes r^flechissent l'image mobile de
son chien qui court en jappant sur le rivage, tant8t ce sont de vieux
pecheurs conversant la nuit sur une couche d'algues, pendant que la mer
vient battre mollement leur cabane de fertilise." — /. /. Ampere.
" Child of the mountains, among shepherds reared,
I learned to dream of Sicily ; and lo !
A pleasant promise, wafted from her shores,
Comes o'er my heart : in fancy I behold
Her seas yet smiling, her once happy vales ;
Nor can my tongue give utterance to a name
Of note belonging to that honoured isle,
That doth not yield a solace to my grief." — Wordsworth.

1 6 SICILY
In his enthusiasm, almost as if referring to its being a frag
ment of the Apennine range, Goethe wrote to his friends, ' With
out Sicily, Italy is incomplete.' And yet under former Govern
ments, the wretchedness of the inns, the difficulty of locomotion,
and the chronic insecurity of the roads made thousands of
would-be foreign visitors forego the satisfaction of their
curiosity. Nowadays, however, and especially since the
organisation of Egyptian travel and the increased general
prosperity of Italy, this loveliest island of the Mediterranean is
intersected by railways, and the hotels in all the large towns
vie with those in capital cities, and there are larger towns on
the mainland than Palermo, which yet have much to learn
from it. At the same time it is necessary to warn the traveller
not to take the same liberties in the suburbs that he may take
with impunity at Florence or Rome : though, for that matter,
the lonely or the rash visitor may find himself victimised un
pleasantly in those of any large town. Messina, Palermo,
Cefalu, Trapani, Girgenti, Syracuse, Catania, and Taormina
may be each enjoyed with reasonable safety and great comfort.
By arrangement with local agents such as Messrs. Thomas
Cook, Solinus, Segeste, and Selinunto, and Castrogiovanni
(Henna), and Etna may all be visited with perfect security ;
though even all of these will not exhaust the over-abundant
beauty spots of this second Greece.
The more usual route to Sicily is by sea from Naples to Palermo,
though many travellers prefer the ten-hours railway to Reggio,
thence the crossing to Messina is made in half-an-hour,
occasionally a very wet one. The latter, however, is preferable
for those who intend to make exclusive or predominant stay at
Taormina, which is reached thence by train in an hour and a
half. But travellers suffer much at the hands of railway
officials, who by night thrust emigrants into first and second
class carriages. The steamers from Naples are comfortable, and
usually accomplish their journey by night in fifteen hours.
They profess to do it in twelve. They usually leave the dock
at 8 p.m. punctually, and reach Palermo Harbour at 10.30 A.M.
The principal steamers are the Galileo, Elettrica, and Marco
Polo. Luggage is briefly examined at the Dogana, and omni
buses and carriages meet the passengers. Carriages to the
town cost 1 lira 50 cent, and pour-boire. Electric tramways
circulate freely in and out of the town. H. Igiea, originally a
thermal speculation, has been converted into a suburban grand
hotel, with excellent cuisine, and every luxury except good
walks. The other hotels are H. Trinacria on the Marina
between Porta Felice and the Villa Giulia ; H. de France
(Piazza Marina), near San Domenico ; H. des Palmes, with

PALERMO 17
garden of palm-trees, near the English Church : H. Milano
(Via Emerico Amari), new ; H. D' 'Italia (near Giardino
Garibaldi, and Cook's office, in Corso Vittorio Emmanuele) ;
H. Centrale, Corso. As with all hotels, they vary under
successive managers ; and the best fame is often severely dis
counted by experience of inferior management. Hence, it is
safest not to recommend any especially. Terms had better be
settled at once. Pensione Panormus, Via Cavour, 8-10 lire a
day ; Pensione Suisse, Via Monteleone (baths), 7-8 lire ; Pen
sione Tersenghi, Via Lincoln, 83 (Italian). Apartments (pla
carded) and their proprietors should be minutely scrutinised, and
any agreement should be drawn up by a competent native busi
ness man, as if one were in an Oriental country. The prices vary
from 65-100 a month for small suites. Scarcity of single rooms.
Caffes and Trattorie. — Umberto, Corso V. E. 192 ; Restaurant Lin
coln, Piazza Marina ; Napoli, Corso V. E, 265 ; Calfish, Via Maqueda
250 ; Firenze, Via Maqueda 264.
Clubs. — Alfino Siciliano, Via Maqueda 282; Circolo Artistico, Via
Isnella 7 ; Casino Nuovo, Corso V. E. 411. Tea rooms and Circulating
Library, Piazza Marina.
Post Office. — Piazza Bologni. Telegraph. — Via Maqueda 222.
Cabs. — One horse, within walls, 50 c. ; two horses, 80 c. ; for the hour,
1.80, 2.20. Box, 20 c.
Cook's Office. — Via Stabile 2 (Pernull) ; Corso V. E. 93 (for excursions
to Segesta, Selinunto, and Guna).
Bankers. — Banco di Sicilia and Banco D'ltalia, in Palazzo delle Finanze.
Wedekind, Via Cintorinai 48.
Doctors. — Berlin, Via Emerico Amari 104.
Chemist. — Corso V. E. 27 and 299.
E. Church, Via Stabile. Service at n A.M. Presbyterian, Via del
Bosco 73. Sailors' Rest, Via Borgo 380.
Baths. — Nettuno, Vicolo Paterno, and Stabilimento Idroterapico, Via 4,
Aprile 7.
Festival of Sta. Rosalia, July 11. Her pilgrimage at Monte Pellegrino,
Sept. 3 (night).
Library. — A. Reber, Corso V. E. 360.
Theatres. — T. Bellini, Piazza della Martorana. Politeama Garibaldi,
Piazza Ruggiero S£ttimo. Teatro Massimo, Porta Maqueda.
British Consulate. — Sidney J. A. Churchill.
American Consulate. — James Johnston, Via E. Amari, 130.
Special Sights for three days' stay —
ist day. — Duomo (tombs), San Giovanni degli Eremiti; Cappella
Palatlna Museum.
2nd day. — Monreale (morning). La Martorana (afternoon). San
Domenico, Sta. Maria della Catena, San Cataldo.
3rd day. — Monte Pellegrino, or to Cefalu.
PALERMO
As the traveller approaches Palermo, he finds Monte Pelle
grino with stupendous limestone cliffs towering along the palest
B

1 8 SICILY ,
of blue skies on his right, and perhaps dove-coloured clouds
pouring from over it towards the calm sea, throwing patches of
it into shadow, so that the beautiful grey and orange tones of it
scarcely show. That is Herkte, which Pyrrhus stormed, driving
out its Carthaginian garrison. After this, Palermo and the
magnificent Conca dOro, with its theatre of lofty mountains,
comes full into view, with possibly snow silvering the remotest
ridges. All the valley breathes of lemon-blossom and gives the
impression of being a paradise, a land, at any rate, flowing with
milk and honey. No wonder Palermo became called 'La Felice.'
Without recounting here the chronological vicissitudes of the
city, it is well to remark that five hundred years ago even, it
presented an entirely different aspect to that which we now see.
It was all harbour. The sea, which penetrated the town by two
gulfs divided by a peninsula, almost reached the Cathedral, now
three-quarters of a mile inland, and the city was divided into
three ' wards,' each defended by its own wall. Gradually the
two harbours became choked with deposit brought down from
the rich highlands by the Oreto and Papireto ; so that much of
the sea-front of Palermo to-day, and behind that, are built upon
the former harbours.
If, however, we would quickly transport ourselves back to
Palermo of the eighteenth century, it is only needful to look up
at such an old yellow and white-stuccoed, many-balconied
mansion as that (now including 1 5-22) in Piazza Marina, with
its fluted vases along the cornice and its 'stemma' over the
door. For it must have witnessed a great deal when this was
the fashionable centre. What meetings and partings, excite
ments and divertissements in those Bourbon times — when Goethe
was here, when Nelson, and Bentinck. Many Englishmen
enjoyed Palermitan hospitality there, and no Southern people
are more delightfully given to it than the Palermitans, who unite
at once the dignity of Spanish manners (without their exaggera
tions) and the geniality of the best Milanese (without a touch of
provincialism), and, to English people, are the kindest possible.
But if these folk of old could but return for a day, and look
around this once familiar centre of their lives, they would find
it difficult to recognise, with its flourishing trees, well-railed
fountains and gardens : the well-paved streets leading into it,
the 'trams,' the carriages, and 'motors.' And what would they
think of the mere title over yonder house, — 'Navigazione
Generale ' ? For, in their time, voyages were but rarely under
taken, and very perilous. If one told them that a steamer leaves
for Naples every day without a gun on board loaded and primed
against pirates, their hair would stand on end. Only less would
they be astonished if one were to assure them that one can go
to Monreale and back in the morning without being stuck fast

PALERMO 19
in knee-deep mud, or dust, or attacked by robbers or brigands
on the way. They would, however, say, ' Your improvements,
were most of them begun in our day, after our expulsion of the
Jesuits and the abolition of the Holy Inquisition, with the en
lightened anti-feudal and anti-ecclesiastical Viceroys— especi
ally so, were the good pavements and the general cleanliness
everywhere remarkable.' But as to the insecurity of sea and
land, they would vividly recall a State circular dated April 19,
1797, in which the Secretary of the Viceroy attributes the great
losses suffered by the merchant service to the fact that holding
close to the shores as they sail, at the very sight of a pirate-
vessel, the entire equipage hurries to the land without a thought
of making resistance, thus losing the ship and its cargo, as well
as strengthening the audacity of the general enemy. He re
commends the crew at least to burn or sink their vessel. The
fact was that there were pirates of all nations in the Mediter
ranean ; but above all the French and Algerine corsairs had an
understanding between them greatly to the damage of Sicily,
and especially of Palermo.
As to the ladies who dwelt in many of the houses, a German
traveller, who enjoyed excellent opportunities of observing,
wrote : ' Their walking, their dancing, their every movement,
is charming beyond analysis ; they strongly remind me of
RehbergJs portraits of Lady Hamilton in various attitudes.
Their talk is lively, their expressions interesting, now dreamy,
now smiling humorously and making fun. Their voices also
are naturally sweet, and they put every one at ease.' — f. Hager.
Brydone, an English traveller of exceptional merit, relates how
in summer the Palermitans necessarily turn night into day,
music beginning at midnight. The servants awaited their
masters and mistresses at the Porta Felice while the latter went
to listen to the music, and to walk and meet their friends by the
light of the moon at the Marina. No other lights were allowed ;
and the ladies, owing to their muslins, would have been in danger
otherwise. Some ladies wore masks, but the most part did not.
But it is time to glance once more at the noble situation of
the town before we take its principal monuments in tum. It is
soon seen to be surrounded by a vast garden of orange and olive
trees which fills the Conca d'Oro, the lovely shell-like plain
which is bounded by the red crags of Monte Pellegrino on the
west, with the wooded Capo Zafferano on the east, and backed
by Monte Griffone and other dark mountains of rugged outline.
' Perhaps there are few spots upon the surface of the globe more beauti
ful than Palermo. The hills on either hand descend upon the sea with
long-drawn delicately-broken outlines, so exquisitely tinted with aerial hues
that at early dawn or beneath the blue light of a full moon the panorama

20 SICILY
seems to be some fabric of the fancy, that must fade away " like shapes of
cloud we form " to nothing. Within the cradle of these hills, and close
upon the tideless water, lies the city. Behind and around on every side
stretches the famous Conca d'Oro or golden shell, a plain of marvellous
fertility, so called because of its richness and also because of its shape ;
for it tapers to a fine point where the mountains meet, and spreads abroad ,
where they diverge, like a cornucopia toward the sea. The whole of this
long vega is a garden, thick with olive-groves and orange-trees, with
orchards of nespole and palms and almonds, with fig-trees and locust-trees,
with Judas-trees that blush in spring, and with flowers as multitudinously
brilliant as the fretwork of sunset clouds. It was here that in the days of
the Kelbite dynasty, the sugar-cane and cotton-tree and mulberry supplied
both East and West with produce for the banquet and the paper-mill and
the silk-loom ; and though these industries are now neglected, vast gar
dens of cactuses still give a strangely Oriental character to the scenery of
Palermo, while the land flows with honey-sweet wine instead of sugar.'' —
/. A. Symonds.
' Bornee a ses deux extremity, d'un c6W par le mont Pellegrino, de
l'autre par le mont Catalfano, comme la baie de Naples l'est par Ischia et
Capr£e, la baie de Palerme le cede a cette derniere pour la grandeur et la
varied ; mais elle a une simplicity de ligne.s qui charme. A droite et a
gauche, deux redoubtables masses arides, termixant une sorte de ligne
d'or, formee par des constructions 6blouissantes ; derriere la ville, une
precinction de verdure et de vegetation tout Egyptienne ; a l'horizon, les
plus arides sommets que j'aie vu depuis l'Antilliban, voila Palerme 1 ' —
E. Renan.
Two main streets, the Via Maqueda and the Corso Vittorio
Emmanuele, intersecting at right angles at the Quattro Canti,
conveniently divide the town into four regions. The railway to
Messina is east of the town beyond the Corso Lincoln, while
the new quarter, or fifth region, called Giardino Inglese, lies
beyond the opposite side of it (i.e. west). This makes Palermo
an unusually easy town to master. Almost all the interesting
buildings, however, lie behind these main central lines, yet not
far from them. If the traveller alights at the following hotels
or pensions, his main thoroughfare will continually be Via
Maqueda — Hotel des Palmes, Hotel Oliva, Hotel Milano, Pen
sion Panormus, Pension Suisse ; while, if at these others —
Hotel Trinacria, Italia, De France, Central, and Pension Ter-
senghi — it will be the Corso Vittorio Emmanuele (formerly
Cassaro- Alcazar).
The houses, for the most part, are stately, with bold cornices
and innumerable iron balconies, recalling the former Toledo of
Naples. The ground-floors are almost always used for the
mean-looking shops, of which the fronts in the minor streets,
Eastern fashion, generally consist of an open arch. The first
floor is the ' piano nobile ' or family residence ; the second and
third floors are usually let as lodgings ; and above all, wooden
lattices are often seen, belonging to convents frequently far in
the background, but arranged to allow the nuns, themselves

os
o DQ
aXH

PALERMO 21
unseen, to look down on all that is going on. Here and there
a church breaks the line of houses, plain enough externally,
but covered internally with Sicilian jaspers, of which there are
fifty-four varieties — overdecorated to a fault.
In whatever part of the city he may have chosen to lodge,
we recommend the visitor to walk straight up the Corso V. E.
until he reaches the open square on his right, which is flanked
by the Cathedral, to which adjoins the Archiepiscopal Palace j
and then examine that building from as many points of view
as are possible, minding little the crowd of statues of popes,
martyrs, and doctors which adorn the piazza. Leaving the
elaborate triple-arched Southern Porch until later (and, if pos
sible, forgetting Fuga and his dome), let us pass to the west
end and stand facing the west front, at our backs rising the
great clock-tower of the Palace. The two graceful towers are
of the late fourteenth century, and rise in six sections, with
angle-columns and biforate pointed arches, decreasing in size
as they ascend. All the masonry has toned into rich ochre, to
which the drip from the string-courses has given increased
interest. The door, with Madonna enniched above the crown
of it, is pointed, fourfold, recessed ; while the side portals are
square-shouldered (like our Edwardian ones), and enclosed in
richly arcaded pointed arches. Above each is a trefoil-headed
window, framed with zigzag and acanthus mouldings. Per
haps the biforate window high over these is the gem of the
exterior. Across the street above us are thrown two light-pointed
arches (1450-60), serving the function of buttresses apparently
between the Palazzo Arcivescovile and the Cathedral ; but in
reality they served as means of communication. A passage-
door can be seen above one.
The Archbishop's Palace, with its twelfth century (rebuilt)
campanile, with much later additions, was rebuilt in 1465, and
again in the sixteenth century. Ask, on entering the adjoining
Seminario Arcivescovile (1 59 1 ), to be permitted to go upstairs and
obtain the vie w of the details of the W. front from thence. That
is the best point to see it from. The Loggia is by the sculptor
Villareale, imitatorof the excellent Gagini ( 1478-1 536), who made
the beautiful marble one at the angle of Via Matteo Bonello,
hard by. The finest traceried original window in Palermo is
seen towards the south angle of the Palace, toward the Corso.
On the door of entrance is seen nailed the haft of a sword :
traditionally, it is held to be that with which Matteo Bonello
slew the infamous Admiral Majone, Minister of William the
Bad. Others attribute it to indicate the right of the Arch
bishop of Palermo to " merum et mixtum imperium," granted
by the Holy Roman Empire.

22 SICILY
The older parts of the Cathedral (of S. Rosalia) were built
in 1 169 by the English archbishop, Walter of the Mill
(Gualterius Offamilius), who pulled down an earlier church
(A.D. 592) which had been used as a mosque (Garni = Friday).
But only the crypt and considerable portions of the south and
east walls are of Walter's time, the rest has been rebuilt at
different dates. The south door is of 1426, but the beautiful 5.
porch was added, under Archbishop Simon of Bologna, in 1450 ;
it is Saracenic in character, and the outer pillars, relics from
the mosque, bear Cufic texts from the Koran. Within is the
proud inscription : ' Prima sedes, corona regis, et regni caput,'
bearing testimony to the Norman choice of Palermo as their
capital of Sicily.
The facade of the Portico is extremely ornate, albeit its
effect remains beautiful. The central arch, resting like its com
panions on marble columns, with rich capitals, exceeds them in
height and span. The capital of the left-hand column bears a
Cufic inscription : 'God made the day to be followed by the
night. The moon and stars are at his command. Has he not
created all things ? Is he not Lord of all ? Blessed be the
everlasting God.' The Porch is flanked by two short turrets
(thirteenth century) in three sections. From the cornices of
these rises the classic (1450) pediment and highly-enriched
tympanum : ' intarsiato a vero.' Among the adornments are
seen figures of God, the father, angels, ' Madonna Annunziata,'
saints, prophets, and apostles, and the shields of Aragon.
Within the Portico are seen two modern reliefs representing the
coronation of Vittorio Amadeo II. and Carlo III. The decora
tive woodwork of the door entering the church is by Francesco
Miranda, 1432. The interior, horribly modernised by Fuga of
Florence (1782-1801) (who likewise added the cupola), is
specially interesting only for the Tombs of the Kings and
Emperors ; though two holy-water stoups, the silver Shrine of
Sta. Rosalia, and the Statues by Antonio Gagini in the
Tribune are worth inspection ; also, visit the Crypt under the
choir (\ lira), wherein are to be seen sarcophagi of the various
archbishops. Here, among the latter, lies Walter of the
Mill (d. 1 190), and Frederick of Antioch (d. 1305). The
Sacristy at end of S. aisle contains a richly-wrought Spanish
Pallium (£ lira), and the cap of Constance of Aragon (taken
from her tomb in the sixteenth century).
The Tombs are in the chapels of the south aisle, therefore,
turn to L. on entering the church by .J. porch-door. In the
furthest L. (or ist) chapel is seen the tomb of Roger, son of
him who captured the island from the Saracens by a coup-de-
main. He became king 11 30, and died at Palermo, Feb. 11 54,

Photo']

SOUTH PORCH, DUOMO
PALERMO

iBrogi

PALERMO 23
and though he had intended to be interred at Cefalii, his
sarcophagus was brought here. It is of porphyry, carried by
crouching Saracens, and covered by a canopy raised on six
Corinthian columns, and having a decorative frieze of Mosaic.
In line with him is the tomb of his daughter, Constantia, Empress
of Henry VI. (d. 1198), having similar character. In front of
them is that of the Emperor, Henry VI., who died under ex
communication at Messina in 1 197 : the hated and cruel, accord
ing to his sacerdotal foes. The ind chapel contains the nobler
sarcophagus of the great Emperor Frederick IL, their son, who
died at Castel Fiorentino, in Apulia, 1250 ; likewise under the
ban. This rests upon four lions standing above their victims.
Upon the lid are sculptured the Virgin and Child ; Christ, in
the attitude of benediction, with the emblems of the four
evangelists framed in circular plaques. The columns and
canopy are likewise of porphyry (thirteenth century). The
remaining tombs are those of William, Duke of Athens, son of
Frederick, King of Aragon. Note : the eagles of Aragon on
the shields beside the cowled effigy. On the opposite wall is a
Roman sarcophagus sculptured with the subject of a lion-hunt.
In it lie the remains of Constantia, one of the Empresses of
Frederick 1 1., and widow of Emmerich, King of Hungary (d.
1222). In 1781 these tombs were opened by command of
Ferdinand I. In the tomb of Frederick were found the remains
of Peter II. of Aragon and his nephew, William. Upon the
head of Frederick his massive crown remained ; his orb lay
beside his pillow, and his sword beside him. Henry VI. was
likewise found in a good state of preservation, wrapped in
yellow silk, with his imperial diadem at his feet. The epitaph
of Frederick II. is by Manfred, his ill-fated son.
' On dit que Constance porta le patriotisme jusqu'a l'homicide. Henri
VI. mourut a Messine a l'age de trente-deux ans, maudit par les Italiens,
regrette- par les Allemands. Lorsqu'a la chute du jour, au dernier rayon
de soleil perdu sous les voutes de la cathgdrale de Palerme, on circule
autour des sombres mausolfes de porphyre oil Henri dort a c6tc5 de
Constance, on voudrait leur arracher le secret d'une vie si troublee et d'une
mort si mysterieuse. Viotee deux fois, la tombe n'a jamais repondu. En
ouvrant celle de Henri VI. , on a trouv^ sur son cadavre de longues tresses
de cheveux blonds ; mais nul ne peut dire si c'est le dernier sacrifice d'une
femme devouee, ou l'hommage ironique d'une reine contrainte a choisir
entre deux devoirs ; placee entre son £poux et son peuple, entre sa famille
et sa patrie. '— Alexis de Saint Priest (Hist, de la ConquHe de Naples, i. 121).
' Very sombre and stately are these porphyry resting-places of princes
born in the purple, assembled here from lands so distant, from the craggy
heights of Hohenstaufen, from the green orchards of Cotentin, from the
dry hills of Aragon. They sleep and the centuries pass by. Rude hands
break open the granite lids of their sepulchres to find tresses of yellow hair
and fragments of imperial mantles embroidered with the hawks and stags

24 SICILY
the royal hunter loved. The church in which they lie changes with the
change of taste and architecture and the manners of successive ages ; but
the huge stone arks remain unmoved, guarding their freight of moulder
ing dust beneath gloomy canopies of stone, that tempers the sunlight as
it streams from the chapel windows.' — /. A. Symonds.
Next the northern side of the Duomo stands the ruined
chapel of the Incoronata, in which Peter of Aragon was
crowned (1282), after the Sicilian Vespers had ended the
French domination of Charles of Anjou. The Government
thinks of restoring it. It derived its name from the coronation
in it of King Roger, 11 30. On the Loggia next it used to
appear the sovereigns after their coronations. It was ruined
by bombs during the Bourbon plight in i860. The Badia
Nuova close by has no interest except that the site was once
that of the Archiepiscopal Palace.
Beyond the Piazza del Duomo continuing southward down
the Corso, we reach the Porta Nuova, on the site of the more
ancient Porta lei Sole, built by Gasparo Quercia to com
memorate the return of Charles V. from the reduction of Tunis
in 1535. It was destroyed by lightning in 1667. Facing the
sunburnt Piazza Vittoria (formerly Reale), which recalls the
victory of 1848, stands the Palazzo Reale. The lofty mountains
are dreamy in haze out to our left, and near by there are grey-
blue aloes all around.
We enter what appears to be a" common-place building,
occupying that which has in all ages been the most command
ing site in the city. For it has succeeded to a Saracenic castle,
Al Kasr (Cassaro). It was transformed by Roger II. and his
successors, the two Williams, in such a manner as to greatly
impress the traveller Ibn Giobair. It has since those times
lost most of its towers, and only that called Santa Ninfa, upon
which the present observatory stands, remains. Here Piazzi
discovered in 1 800 the first of the asteroids. This was the
palace and stronghold of the Norman and Suabian rulers of
Sicily : later, of the Holy Inquisition and the Viceroys. We
now enter a courtyard six bays square and ascend a grand stair
of red marble, made in 1735 for Carlo III. Turning to the R.,
on the first floor we reach the Cappella Palatina (S. Pietro),
built circa 1130 by Roger II. It consists of a nave and aisles
of five bays ; a raised choir and three terminal apsides. In the
5th bay R. stands a square inlaid marble pulpit and beside it
the Paschal candlestick (14J feet high, twelfth century). The
roof of the nave is fretty ' alia Saracinesca,' and painted with
Cufic legends. Above the choir rises the cupola, 75 feet in height,
pierced by eight lights. The pavement is inlaid with mosaic.
The entire length of the building is but 108 feet by 42 feet.

PALERMO 25
No words can fully convey the effect of solemn beauty which
pervades every part of this unique chapel. The marble pave
ment, the arcades of semi-Saracenic pointed arches, the per
forated and inlaid screens, the cross - vaulting and walls
resplendent with golden mosaic as if moulded in metal, the
doubled choir arch, the spiral-moulded columns, are each and
all of intense interest and loveliness ; but the rich light falling
in silvery shafts from the deep clerestory of the transepts aslant
and across that dim golden choir and the rising incense, is a
never-to-be-forgotten delight. The mosaics, so splendid in
their general effect, are in detail inferior to those at Cefalii,
and have suffered more from the restorer's hands ; but they play
foremost part in the effect here, and contribute largely to pro
duce a religious coup d'oeil, which cannot be surpassed, if
equalled. ' Some of the Ravenna churches are historically move interesting perhaps
than this little masterpiece of the mosaic art ; but none is so rich in detail
and lustrous in effect.' — /. A. Symonds.
It was in this chapel that Marie Amelie, daughter of Ferdi
nand IV. and Maria Carolina, was married, during their exile
from Naples, to Louis Philippe, Duke of Orleans, afterwards
King of France. Here also her eldest son, afterwards Duke of
Orleans, was baptized. Bas-reliefs representing these incidents
are to be seen in the ante-sacristy. In the sacristy itself is the
' Tabulario' or 'Archivio? the door of which is of bronze and of
Norman date. In it are the original charters and deeds in
reference to the building, some in Greek, some in Greek and
Arabic, but, after the time of Frederick II., in Latin. The act
of foundation of King Roger is written in letters of gold on
purple silk, after the fashion of the imperial edicts of the
Byzantine emperors.
There is also a very precious ivory alms-box with Cufic in
scription. The crypt is entered by stairs leading from L. aisle. Tradi
tion favours this being the primitive church where S. Peter
preached on arriving from Africa. The crucifix above the altar
here formerly adorned the Hall of the Inquisition. The entire
cappella is girdled with a dado of grey marble and porphyry.
The mosaics are distributed as follows : —
In R. terminal Apse. — S. Paul and S. Anna between S.
Stephen and S. Philip.
In Central Apse. — Christ. Below Him, the Madonna between
SS. Peter and Mary Magdalene. SS. Thomas and James.
At sides, SS. Gregory and Sylvester.
In Central Dome. — Christ surrounded with Archangels.
Below him, David and the Prophets.

26 SICILY
In L. terminal Apse. — S. Joseph, between S. Barnabas and
S. Stephen. Above, S. Andrew.
On flank of Choir-Aisle R. — Four sections of mosaic display
the Magi and the birth of Christ : the flight into Egypt, and
the Transfiguration.
On the faces of all the arches are seen medallions of saints
and prophets between conventional flower-scrolls.
At West Wall.— Christ enthroned between SS. Peter and Paul.
It was this chapel which gave Wagner his first notions of
that of the ' Holy Grail ' ; the writer used to see him here morn
ing after morning admiring the effects.
An inscription of 1 142 on the wall outside the chapel records
the erection of a clock made by a Maltese for King Roger at a
time when clocks were great rarities. The three languages, in
equal use at the time — Greek, Arabic, and Latin — are employed.
' Palerme 6tait appelee alors la ville trilingue. Le latin, l'arabe y'&aient
partes egalement, et l'idiome italien, \&javella volgare, naquit a la cour de
Frederic Roger sous les arceaux moresques de ses palais de Palerme et de
Catane.' — Alexis de Saint Priest.
The palace is now the residence of the Prefect of Palermo.
Its more remarkable apartments are shown (1 lira). The great
Sala Nobile, on the first floor, decorated with red Sicilian
marble, was built, 1735, by Charles III. of Bourbon. The
Parliament Hall and the neighbouring chambers have paint
ings by Sicilian artists. On the second floor in the Norman
tower (La Ninfa or La Specola) is the Sala di Ruggiero or
Sala Normanna, of which the angles are decorated by small
Norman pillars, and the coved ceiling and walls blaze with
mosaics, representing, on the walls, Norman hunters with
crossbows and stags ; on the ceiling, leopards, griffins, and
other animals.
The official reception-rooms are only worth a visit for sake
of the beautiful views over the city and the ' Conca d'Oro.'
It is, however, a striking drop from, say, the king's bedroom
and other ugly chambers into the mosaic halls of King Roger.
The quaint little domes which rise in the hollow below the
palace on the south-west belong to the Church ofS. Giovanni
degli Eremiti (properly S. Giovanni ed Ermete), which was
built (1131) by King Roger, on the site of a monastery dating
from the days of Pope Gregory. In his diploma of 1148 he
grants the buildings to the monastery (Sancti Johannis) 'for
the love of God, and the salvation of our mother ; and our
father, the great Count Roger ; of the most serene Duke
Robert Guiscard, our uncle of most blessed memory ; and also
for the welfare of our consort, Queen Elvira.' The plan ob
serves the form of the letter T. The entrance is from the

Photo]

\Incorpora

S. GIOVANNI DEGLI EREMITI
PALERMO

PALERMO 27
chancel. Custode (garrulous) lives here. The nave is divided
into two sections by an ogival arch ; above it, as well as above
the three terminal apses, are small cupolas. The S. and N.
aisles have been destroyed. Adjoining the church are the
beautiful remains of a fourteenth century cloister, 12 by 8 bays,
carried on coupled columns.
The opposite side of the Piazza is occupied to some extent
by the Palazzo Sclafani, and retains on its south and west sides
(in Via Biscodari) nine bays, with finely foliate - moulded
entrance, in the crown of which an eagle holds a lamb.
Matteo di Sclafani is said to have reared this magnificent
palace in order to outshine the Steri (Hosterium) of the
Chiaramonte, to which we shall come in Piazza Marina, quite
at the opposite side of the city. In 1430 it was sold to the
Senate and turned into a hospital. Such it continued until
1853, when it was transformed and ruined by conversion into
barracks. Many interesting frescoes once adorned it by
Antonio Crescenzio and Pietro Novelli. The design of the
' Paradiso ' by the latter is in the Museum. The ' Triumph of
Death ' by Crescenzio to some extent remains, despite restora
tion. This can be seen in the Cortile. It is considered a
masterpiece of the fifteenth century. Death is portrayed lord
ing it over popes and kings and young people of both sexes.
The destruction of much of the mediaeval defences near the
neighbouring Porta Montalta (Piazza Benedettini) have re
vealed the mediaeval Porta Mazara, which was successfully
defended in 1325 against King Robert the Wise of Naples, by
the Chiaramonti. This Gate was portion of a more elaborate
building. It was restored by the Aragonese and bears their
' stemma.' But if we return to the Porta Nuova, and take the
Via Colonna Rotta, it will bring us in ten minutes to La Zisa,
the best preserved civil edifice of the twelfth century, owing its
origin not to the Arabs, as often is said, but to King William I.,
who gave it the Arabic name of El' Aziz or ' The Glorious,'
afterwards Italianised. An inscription proclaims that — ' Europe
is the glory of the world, Italy of Europe, Sicily of Italy, and
the adjacent garden the pride of Sicily.' It now belongs to
Marchese di S. Giovanni.
Artists will paint the building, with the noble pine which
stands by its side. It is a lofty square tower of large ashlar
stones, having no original windows on the outside (they are all
turned to the court within), but long pointed panels. Round
the parapet is an inscription in Cufic characters.
On the ground floor (custode, 50 c.) is a little open hall with
three recesses, and, in the central recess, a fountain, whose
waters stream through a channel across the floor. The recesses

28 SICILY
are covered with honeycomb decoration, formed by a series
of parallelograms and right-angled triangles, as at the Alhambra.
On the walls are mosaics of huntsmen and peacocks, as at the
Palazzo Reale, with a border of flowers from Saracenic designs.
The rest of the tower is not shown, but contains only one other
fragment of Arabian honeycomb work. The lovely gardens,
described by Leandro Alberti in his Viaggio in 1526, have
disappeared, and the road crosses their site.
A few minutes distant from La Zisa is the Convent of the
Cappuccini, containing a curious, horrible, and much-visited
museum of mummified monks !
' Qu'on se figure douze ou quinze cents cadavres recluits a l'£tat de
momies, grimacant a qui mieux mieux, les uns semblant rire, les autres
paraissant pleurer, ceux-ci ouvrant la bouche demeseur^ment, pour tirer une
langue noire entre deux machoires 6dent£es, ceux-la serrant les levres con-
vulsivement, allonges, rabourgris, tordus, lux£s, caricatures humaines,
cauchemars palpables, spectres mille fois plus hideux que les squelettes
pendus dans un cabinet d'anatomie, tous revetus de robe de capucins, que
trouent leurs membres disloqu£s, et portant aux mains une Etiquette sur
laquelle on lit leur nom, la date de leur naissance et celle de leur mort.
Parmi tous ces cadavres est celui d'un Francais nomm6 Jean d'Esachard,
mort le 4 Novembre 1831, age- de cent deux ans.
' Le cadavre les plus rapproch^ de la porte, et qui, de son vivant,
s'appelait Francesco Tollari, porte a la main un baton. Nous demandames
au gardien de nous expliquer ce symbole ; il nous rgpondit que, comme
le susdit Francesco Tollari £tait de plus pres de la porte, on l'avait 6lev6 a
la dignity de concierge, et qu'on lui avait mis un baton a la main pour
qu'il empechat les autres de sortir.' — Alexandre Lumas, Le Spdronare.
If we now turn back down the Corso just before reaching the
Quattro Canti, or crossways of the two main thoroughfares,
we shall find on our R. the Piazza Bologni, centred by a fine
bronze statue of Charles V., 1631, by G. B. Li Volsi da Tusa.
The Palazzo Ugo belonged to a noble Bolognese family, and
displays a beautiful central loggia, decorated with statues and
marble friezes. The victims of the Holy Office used to be
burned in this Piazza. On the east side is the Post Office.
The rich array of balconies, flowers, and brown shutters and
noble coats-of-arms renders this little Piazza very picturesque.
The Piazza Quattro Canti, which we shall pass every day, is
of octagonal form ; four sides of which are made up by the
ornate curved facades of houses built from one design by Giulio
Sasso (1608- 1 662), employing the classic orders (a la Romana)
superimposed, Doric, Ionic, and Composite. Fountains and
statues of the seasons and Kings of Spain adorn them. Life
is always abundant here ; loafers, rich and poor, threaded by
business men passing to and fro.
At the beginning of the Via Maqueda, on our left still, is

Photo]

FOUNTAIN IN PIAZZA PRETORIA
PALERMO

PALERMO 29
seen the immense circular Fountain which Goethe appreciated,
filling the Piazza Pretoria. It was originally intended for the
Villa of the great viceroy, Don Pedro da Toledo, being sculp
tured for him by Michelangelo Nacherini and Fra Angelo di
Montarsoli. It was bought by the Senate from his family in
1573. It rises in three tiers, and is divided into four sections,
decorated with symbolical statues and vases, wreathed with
tritons and sirens, and heads of animals. In this Piazza
Garibaldi had his headquarters in i860.
The Palazzo Municipale was built in 1463, when Pietro
Speciale was Prefect, as a Parliament House ; but it has
undergone considerable transformation. Passing to the rear of
St. Caterina (rich in misused marbles), which contains the last
work of G. Gagini, the statue of the Saint, we find in the
picturesque Piazza Bellini the Theatre of that name and the
famous church of La Martorana (or S. Maria dell' Ammiraglio)
(open 9-4, 1 fr.), built 1 143, by Georgios Antiochenus, emir or
admiral to King Roger, and first noble in Sicily — 'proto-
nobilissimus ' — but united in 1193 to a convent founded by
Aloisia Martorana, whence the name. It was given to the
Benedictines by Alfonso in 1435. This church exhibits the
mixed style of Byzantine, Saracenic, and Gothic architecture
which prevailed under the early Norman kings, though the
former in this instance predominates. The original plan was
rectangular, with three apses at the east end, and covered by a
central cupola supported by pillars. The church was gradually
enlarged by pulling down each end and making additions,
which have united it to a beautiful ancient belfry belonging to
the entrance to an atrium, or fore-court, of which the lower
storey is formed by a porch of two bays with pointed arches ;
the second storey Saracenic, with windows surrounded by billet
moulding ; the upper storey French-Norman. The latter, or
upper sections have rounded angles with arcading in three bays.
Within, the original square of the church is exactly marked
out by the opus-cosmatescum pavement. The columns are of
marble and Verde antico, taken from earlier buildings : the
upper part of the walls is covered with mosaics ; the lower,
or Dado, as at the Cappella Palatina, depends for its decoration
upon the slabs of marble and porphyry with which it is clothed.
Two of the mosaics, being of the date of the church, are very
curious. One represents Georgios Antiochenus at the feet of
the Virgin, with Christ in R. hand upper corner, crowning
Roger, the King. In the Dome, which is lit with two tiers of
openings, is seen Christ enthroned with Archangels, Prophets,
and Evangelists. The flanks of the aisle-walls reveal Greek
Saints and the Disciples. The mosaic of the central apse has

30 SICILY
disappeared. On the vault above presbitery, Gabriel and
Michael appear on a golden ground. On the face of the Arch
are SS. Gregory, Basil, John Chrysostom, Nicolas, and
S. Gregory (Theologus). Apse-vault on R. contains S. Anna ;
Apse-vault on L., S. Joachim ; windows with palm-trees. The
minor apses have porphyry columns.
On an alabaster column on entering the Church occur two
Arabic inscriptions. The doors of pine-wood carved in the
Arabic style are divided into 14 panels apiece ; and may have
belonged to a Mosque of the eleventh century. The Church
has now become the ' Monumento Nazionale.' In it was held
the first Parliamentary gathering of the people after the
Sicilian Vespers (1282).
The small Norman Chapel of San Cataldo (1 161) hard-by is
contemporary, and likewise has had to be dealt with by un-
pitying restorers. The plan is rectangular, with three hemi
spherical cupolas, the central one carried by 4 columns. The
Saracenic frieze (external) must have been effective in other days.
If we wish to reach the National Museum now, we must
follow the Via Maqueda westward until on the R. we find Via
Bandiera ; turning into which on our left we then take Via
Pattania, which will bring us direct into Piazza dell' Olivella,
containing the former monastery of the Phillipines, now MUSEO
Nazionale. (Director, Prof. Antonino. Salinas.)
ist Cortile. — (Ground floor) filled with relics of Mediaeval and Renais
sance Art. R. H. Gothic niche and Madonna, 1516, from La
Chiesa delle Repentite. Column from the Piazza della Croce dei
Vespri. Passing down 5 stairs, by pointed-arch door from Palazzo
Sclafani, we enter Sala di San Giorgio, called from the Equestrian
relief and altar, ascribed to Gagini. A splendid state-carriage,
eighteenth century ; Casts of Capitals, from Cefalu ; a Madonna,
from San Spirito, by A. Gagini.
2nd Cortile (9 bays x 5 bays). — Papyrus in the Fountain, with banana and
bamboo around. Contains inscriptions and fragments of sculpture.
To R. non-Sicilian; to L. Sicilian, Cybele, Selene and Eros.
Fragment from the Parthenon. Small Greek basso-rilievi. Pre
historic tombs. Half- column with sundial. Statue of Zeus from
Solunto.
Vestibule (and Sala delle Terre Cotte). — Casts from temples at Solinus,
and an ' Atlantid ' from the temple of Olympian Zeus at Girgenti.
Capital of temple of Apollo ; Selinunto, sixth century B.C. Votive
heads and terra-cottas, candelabri and sacrophagus of terra-cotta.
Sala dei Mosaici. — Mosaics (38xby 28 feet) found in Piazza Vittoria in
1869. Mythological subjects, with good heads of Apollo and
Neptune. Orpheus among the animals. Mural pictures from
Solunto. To the R. Sala del Fauno. Beautiful Faun from Torre
del Greco (restored R. arm). Marcus Aurelius sacrificing. Faus
tina (rest). Tufo Sarcophagus from Girgenti. Gargoyles, fifth
century B.C. (Himera). Head of Bacchus (bearded). Archaic
Aphrodite from Partinico.

PALERMO 31
Sala di Selinunte. — Contains the treasured Metopes from Sillnm, or
Selinunto, important in the evolutionary development of Greek
Art. They are worked in yellow tufo. Grotesque, stiff, and
exaggerated as these sculptures are, they are interesting as some of
the earliest attempts at composition, as well as for a striving
after life and movement. They are —
i. A Quadriga, with the horses in bold relief, beside the
charioteer.
•a. Perseus slaying Medusa, and Pegasus springing from her
blood. Athene behind.
3. Hercules Melampygos carrying op the Cecropian robber
brothers, Candalus and Atlas.
'The style of representation is extraordinarily severe, almost horrible ;
the Medusa is thoroughly distorted, the other figures are formless and
heavy, the faces are mask-life and stiff, with large staring eyes, projecting
and compressed lips, broad forehead, and prominent nose. Still more
awkward is the distortion of the group of figures, whose upper parts
present a front view, while the legs are seen in an advancing profile
position, a peculiarity which also marks ancient Oriental art. Neverthe
less, this remarkable work is not deficient in a just observation of life, and
in a correct, though somewhat exaggerated type of form ; indeed, in the
due filling of the space allotted, and in a certain bold freedom asserting
itself in spite of all the strict fetters of style, we cannot but perceive a
lively and artistic creative power. Old traces of polychromatic work, red
painting of the background and of the edge of the drapery, increase the
primitive character of the work.' — Liibke.
It is best before examining these precious fragments to cur
sorily study the excellent Plan in the room. The city of
Selinus was founded in B.C. 627, and destroyed in 429. Conse
quently the Art extends from its extremely archaic period to
that when it is about to attain perfection.
2. Metopes representing battle between the Gods and Giants, circa 490
B.C., from central temple.
The later Metopes, discovered 1831, in the southern temple (of Hercules?),
on the eastern hill, are probably of the fifth century. The tufaceous lime
stone has suffered much from the weather, but the heads, hands, and feet
of the female figures have been laid on in white marble, and are in good
preservation. The subjects are—
6. Hercules kills the Amazon Queen.
7. The Meeting of Zeus and Hera on Mount Ida.
8. Diana and Actaeon.
9. Athene and Enceladus.
10. Apollo and Daphne.
' These reliefs evidence great energy of representation, freedom of com
position, and, on the whole, an able understanding of the physical structure,
which is executed in an extremely life-like manner. The type of head is a
free development of those of the earlier works at Selinus ; a primitive
antiquity of style is plainly expressed in the regularly curled hair, rigid
lips, and heavy eyelids, yet the fresh and life-like expression of the heads
is decidedly superior to the stiffness of those at Aegina.' — Liibke.

32 SICILY
Near the windows are further fragments and traces of paint
ings ; some attributed to a shrine of Empedocles, and an inscrip
tion recording the triumphs of the Selinuntines, sixth century B.C.
The next Sala contains Etruscan urns and terra-cotta frag
ments and huge triglyphs. We may now turn back and con
tinue, if we will, along the Left side of the building. We shall
find many coats-of-arms, brought from the Municipio of
Palermo : carriages, fifteenth century door, with compartments
sculptured in relief, &c. Hence, on R. we go up to the first
floor to the Corridoio di Tramontana. Turning to the L. will
bring us at once to Sala del Medioevo, or now Sala Araba,
containing Saracenic objects of art. We may wander round
the many upper rooms, examining iron-work, keys and locks,
pottery, coins, majolica, enamels, vestments, beautiful early
glass, &c, until we reach the Sala dei Bronzi, which contains
the famous 'Ram' of Syracuse ; Hercules killing the stag, from
Pompeii (1805); arms, and aqueduct - pipes. Adjoining are
rooms containing the Greek vases from Gela, Selinunto, and
Magna Graecia.
The Picture Gallery occupies the floor above. Catalogues
given at entrance of each room. The Gabinetto Malvagna
(No. 59) contains the exquisite triptych of the Van Eyck School
(under glass). Some authorities attribute it to Mabeuse (1470-
1532). Madonna and Child with Saints.
Hence we may take Via Monteleone eastward, and find our
selves in the Piazza di S. Domenico, with a marble column
bearing a statue of Madonna Immacolata. The Palazzo
Pietratagliata on R. (at corner of Via Bandiera), with a lofty
square tower (restored fifteenth century), conceals within its
later masking a Norman fortress which originally belonged to
Matteo di Termini, the valiant captain of the Emperor
Frederick II., who died a Dominican monk.
S. Domenico boasts itself the largest, but by no means the
most attractive, church in the city. Its chief features of interest
are the mediaeval cloisters and the tombs of Giovanni Meli, the
Poet ; Piazzi, the Astronomer ; Amari, the Historian of the
Vespers, and the flowers of Palermitan intellect. Taking
the Via Giovanni Meli to R. of the church, it will bring us
past S. Maria Nuova down to the Fonderia, where cannon were
formerly made, and the site of an ancient arsenal ; beyond
which one reaches the picturesque Cala (KaXf}), with all its
shipping, emigrants, and painted country-carts. The latter
usually represent Scriptural subjects, such as the stories of
Esther, and of Joseph, or else stories out of the Carolingian Cycle.
If we would obtain a characteristic walk, full of colour and
detail, we can take Via Cassari (near Piazza Fonderia) and

<5<S
<

PALERMO 33
follow it up. No. 31 was the house of Antonio Gagini, the
excellent sculptor — 'vanto della Sicilia' (sixteenth century).
We presently reach Piazza del Garraffello, with a fountain ( 1 59 1).
Here were the Loggie dei Genovesi, or Exchange of the Genoese
merchants of the middle ages. The name of the street changes
to Argentieri, or silversmiths' street. The church of 5. Eulalia
belonged to the Catalan merchants, being the church of their
colony. Following on to Piazza Caracciolo, called locally
Vucciria (Boucherie), formerly the meat-market. In Via Roma,
which leads directly to the Corso V. E. again, stands, raised on
a stylobate, the church of S. Antonio (a.d. 1220), with Gothic
facade and rose window. At this spot was situated the mediae
val sea-gate of Palermo, Al Kassar. Many interesting
mediaeval houses are vanishing in this quarter. We may
either go into the Corso, or by continuing up Via Formari
reach Piazza Nuova (182 1) and the Via Maqueda.
As another centre in describing the town, we may start from
the Piazza S. Spirito (close to the Hotel Trinacria). Here
(whence the Corso V. E. commences), is the imposing Porta
Felice, built in 1583 by the Viceroy Marcantonio Colonna,
who named it from his wife Felice Orsini. The statues of
Flora and Pomona were added 1637. It has always been left
open at the top in order that the high-towered car of S. Rosalia
might pass through on her festival. Outside the gate, the
promenade of La Marina (now Foro Umberto) extends along
the shore, with noble views of Monte Pellegrino on one side
and Capo Zafferano on the other. Desolate and gloomy in
winter, it resounds with music far into the summer mornings,
when its walk is, and for centuries has been, crowded by the
townsfolk, and its road by carriages filled w^th the Sicilian
ladies, whose beauty is so greatly extolled —
' Gli occhi stellanti, e le serene ciglia,
La bella bocca angelica, di perle
Piena, e di rose, e di dolce parole.'
At the end of the drive, at the north-eastern angle of the city
is the little public garden of La Flora ( Villa Giulia), decorated
with busts and the group of the heroic brothers, Canaris, who
burned the Turkish Fleet in 1822. Adjoining it is the Orto
Botanico, with an avenue of palms. Turning south, however,
from Piazza S. Spirito, we find ourselves in the main street
of Palermo, which bore its name of Cassaro (derived from
Kasr, or Alcazar, because it led to the palace) till i860, but
which, like all main streets of Italian towns, is now Corso
Vittorio Emmanuele I
On R. where the street opens out to the harbour of La Cala
C

34 SICILY
(I tai. = the creek) stands on its high platform the church
of S. Maria della Catena, its name being derived from
the fact that the great chain which secured the harbour was
attached to the wall of the church, a chain which the Pisan
allies of Count Roger, against the Moslem, broke through in
1063. The earlier church is spoken of in documents of 1330,
in the time of the many fruitless invasions of the island by
King Robert the Wise, of Naples. The brown renaissance
triple portico is always fascinating from its beautiful propor
tions and graceful four-centred arches. This portion was
rebuilt about 1585 by the sons of Antonio Gagini, the sculptor.
The interior is perhaps as pleasing as any in Palermo, saving,
of course, that of the Cappella Palatina. It recalls the small
Perpendicular churches of York and Coventry. It consists of
nave and aisles, of four bays only, with depressed arches carried
by marble columns, having gilded capitals of several designs.
Between these are suspended very pretty chandeliers. Above
is a clear-storey and a groined vault of stone. The lateral
doors of the respective aisles are closed up. The choir is of
two bays. The apses and the side-chapels have their arches
carried on disengaged superimposed columns. Left transept
has an old sarcophagus with baccellatura panels. On the lid
are coats of arms, with an inscription of the Palici family on a
label. Also, the tomb of Giuseppe d'Orioli, 1551. The three
apsides unfortunately remain wretchedly concealed, and spoiled
by the abutments of the Archivio di Stato, in the former
Theatine Convent. In the latter in 1810 were lodged the
British troops. The Archivio is extraordinarily rich in docu
mentary treasures, and the directors are distinguished by their
courtesy as well as by their learning. At 12 Corso V. E.
opposite lodged Goethe in 1787, on the top floor. The hospital
hard-by is that of San Bartolommeo, to whom Normans in
England also dedicated several early ones.
Turning round to the left into Piazza Marina, toward the
Giardino Garibaldi, we reach the Hotel de France, formerly
the Circolo Inglese of Nelson's time. It should be recollected
that this Piazza Marina was not the Marina or passeggiata of
fashionable Palermo a hundred years ago. That extended from
Porta Felice to La Flora, or Villa Giulia, along the sea-front,
looking over the lovely Gulf of Palermo. This newer Piazza
Marina was, nevertheless, the Club centre, after having served
for tournaments, autos-da-fe, and executions. The Albergo
della Gran Bretagna of those days had balconies overlooking
Via Cassaro, nearly opposite S. Maria della Catena. Before
1800 the chief hotel was the Locanda of Madame da Mon
taigne, precisely that house No. 12, before-mentioned, where

Photo]

S. MARIA DELLA CATENA
PALERMO

[Incorf ora

PALERMO 35
Goethe and Brydone lodged, and from the balconies enjoyed
the view of M. Pellegrino.
At the south-west corner is the pretty Fontana del Garraffb,
a work of Paolo Amati, 1698. On the north is the Palazzo dei
Tribunali (1782), a grand rectangular building in three sections
and embattled, founded (probably on the site of the Moorish
palace of La Khalisa) by Manfredo di Chiaramonte, Count of
Modica, in 1307. The windows of the upper storey are tri-
forate and of noble design. Its popular name is Lo Steri
(Hosterium). Before a hundred years had elapsed, it was for
feited to the crown, when Andrea Chiaramonte was beheaded
(1392) in the piazza for high treason, and it became the residence
of Blanche, widow of King Martino, who was nearly carried off
from hence by her importunate lover, Bernardo Cabrera, but
escaped in her night-dress. After having been the residence
of the Viceroys from 1468 to 15 17, the palace, in 1600, became
the Tribunal of the Inquisition, and remained this until 1782.
It is a lofty square, with traces of a Saracenic parapet and with
pointed windows divided by slender shafts. From the roof the
mob once threw down the Judges of the High Court.
The interior is well worth a wander. Since 1890 have been
discovered grand painted beam-vaultings (in the Sala Grande),
panelled and intact, with beautiful corbels, together with
uncommonly rich examples of ' tortellati,' or spiral columns
with chevron-moulded windows. In the Cortile, of four bays,
are seen the stemme of Chiaramonte and Aragon. Thence,
also, open the gloomy prisons of the Holy Inquisition. The
place breathes of diabolical cruelty.
Next to this palace is the chapel of the Chiaramonte, S.
Antonio Abate, with a white marble pointed west door. Taking
the east side of the Piazza, we pass in front of the much-shut-in
older Palace of the Princes of San Cataldo (renaissance), to the
charming, but desecrated, little church of S. Maria dei Miracoli
(1547), by Fabio Gagini. Within it has nave and aisles ; over
the choir a small but graceful cupola.
If from here we take Via Lungarini, and turning left (5th
street) so as to cross Via Alloro, we shall soon reach La
Magione (Mansione), Piazza and Church, founded by Matteo
Aiello for Cistercians in 11 50, but given to Teutonic Hos
pitallers in 1 193 owing to the enmity of Henry VI. toward the
then rich Order of White Monks of S. Bernard. It remained
theirs until 1492, when it passed to the crown again. It pre
serves its original nave and aisles of the twelfth century,
and three terminal apses ; its mosaics, however, have entirely
vanished. Two or three effigies of the Teutonic knights (fif
teenth century) are of interest. If we return to Via dell' Alloro

36 SICILY
and turn R. down it, we reach Chiesa della Gancia (1430),
with a fine cloister, some fine reliefs by Gagini, good choir-
stalls; and in 2nd chapel R. 'Virgin of Monserrato,' by Antonio
da Palermo (1518). In the choir are ' Marriage of the Virgin '
and ' Nativity ' (with portrait of the painter), by Anemolo.
Here broke out the Revolution of 1860, and the convent was
brutally looted by the Bourbon soldiers. Riso, the leader, died
of his wounds, and many of his comrades were killed.
Just beyond rises the grand old Abatelli Palace (1495), in
remarkable preservation, with its embattled towers, Sara-
cenesque frieze. The same Via Alloro will bring us to the Pieta
Church (1680), where, turning R. down Via Torremuzza, is
found Piazza della Kalsa ('el Khalisa': the excellent) and
Porta dei Greci, with Palazzo Baucina above it. Here lived
the Greek traders in Norman times.
When Goethe was at Palermo (1787) La Flora was still in
the making, in the grounds of the Villa Chiaramonte, and after
the manner of Le Notre; and he considered it a real 'paradiso.'
' Here I have passed some delightful hours.' Yet here where
the flowers breathe so divinely in perfect air and sunshine, the
Inquisition used to offer human sacrifices as truly as did the
Phoenician Carthaginians of old. Adjoining is the Botanical
Garden, with an avenue of date palms, papyrus plants, Victoria
Regia, &c. The first encounter between the Garibaldian army
and the Bourbons (May 27, i860) took place at the Ponte delF
Ammiraglio, a little westward. This Norman bridge of seven
arches was built by Georgios Antiochenos, King Roger's
Admiral, in 1 113.
Electric trams run from Piazza Bologni to Monreale, through Porta
Nuova. Soon after leaving the Porta Nuova (built in 1535 to com
memorate the triumphal entry of Charles V. after the capture
of Tunis), we pass (left) the great Albergo de' Poveri, built by
Orazio Fioretto, 1746. Then we reach La Cuba (Koubba = a
dome), a Saracenesque villa erected by the Norman king,
William II., in 1182, as a place of pleasures. It is an oblong
building, decorated with pointed panels, and with a parapet at
the top surrounded by a Cufic inscription of that king's. Its
little court has a recess, with Moorish honeycomb work (Nuksh
Hadida). The greater part of the gardens, whose glories are
described by Fazello, have disappeared, with the kings who
enjoyed them, and the Cuba, like la Zisa (El-Aziza = the
beloved), is now a barrack. It was here that Gianni di Procida
surprised his lost love in the palace of Frederick II., as is
picturesquely told by Boccaccio. 1 Giorn. v. Nov. 6.

<
oiwN
o oica

PALERMO

37

On the right of the road the gardener of the Cavaliere di
Napoli will give sometimes admittance to an orange-garden,
containing the small vaulted pavilion called La Cubola, which
is the most perfect Saracenesque remnant in Sicily, standing in
what was once part of the gardens of La Cuba. Four pointed
arches of ashlar work support a small cupola. In the centre
was a fountain, now dry.
A winding road (constructed by the philanthropic Archbishop
Testa) bordered by aloes, with fountains and seats at intervals,
leads up from the Conca d'Oro to the little town of Monreale

LA CUBOLA

(1150 ft.), crowned by its cathedral (1174), the latest work of
the Norman kings, which, built in obedience to a vision (as the
cathedral of Cefalu in fulfilment of a vow), is the noblest
ecclesiastical building in Sicily, and in many respects
unrivalled in the world.
Monreale was made a cathedral by Pope Lucius III., who said
that ' the like of this church hath not been constructed by any
king even from ancient times, and it is such an one as must
compel all men to admiration.' Monreale was made an arch
bishopric at the instance of the Kaid or Chancellor Matteo
d'Ajello, who was anxious thus to indulge his spite against his
political rival, Walter of the Mill, Archbishop of Palermo.
The Duomo of Monreale is perhaps the most remarkable
example of the rich combination of styles which flourished
under the Norman kings. It observes the Latin form, with a
Roman colonnade, Byzantine-Greek mosaics, and sculpture, and

38 SICILY
Saracenic and Norman details. The exterior is exceedingly
plain, except the eastern apses, which are decorated with small
pillars and interlacing arches ; the north porch, which has
grand bronze doors of the twelfth century, by the same
Barisano di Irani who made the doors of Ravello and Trani ;
and the west porch (in a facade of 1770), which has bronze
doors decorated with subjects from Old Testament history by
Bonanno da Pisa, 'Bonnanus civis Pisanus,'the architect of the
Leaning Tower, 1186. One tower was struck by lightning and
the other ruined by an architect.
Truly glorious is the interior (314 ft. long; 130 wide), with
nave and aisles of eight bays, paved geometrically with black,
white, and purple marble. Single granite columns support
long lines of pointed arches, and the golden blaze of seventy
thousand feet of mosaics which adorn the walls above them,
is subdued by time into a mysterious haze.
' In arrangement and dimensions the cathedral of Monreale very much
resembles that of Messina, showing the same general influence in both ;
but all the details of the Palermitan example betray that admixture of
Greek and Saracenic feeling which is the peculiarity of Sicilian architecture.
There is scarcely a single form or detail in the whole building which can
strictly be called Gothic, or which points to any connection with Northern
arts or races. The plan of this, as of all Sicilian churches, is that of a
Roman basilica, far more than of a Gothic church. In none of them was
any vault ever either built or intended. The central is divided from the
side aisles by monolith pillars, generally borrowed from ancient temples,
but (in this instance at least) with capitals of great beauty, suited to their
position and to the load they have to support. The pier arches are pointed,
but not Gothic, having no successive planes of decoration, but being merely
square masses of masonry of simple but stilted forms. The windows, too,
though pointed, are undivided, and evidently never were meant for painted
glass. The roofs of the naves are generally of open framing, like those of
the basilicas, and ornamented in Saracenic taste. The aisles, the inter
section of the transepts and nave, and the first division of the sanctuary are
generally richer, and therefore more truly Moorish. The apse again is
Roman. Taken altogether, it is only the accident of the pointed arch hav
ing been borrowed from the Moors that led to the idea of Gothic feeling
existing in these edifices. It does exist at Messina and Cefalu, but at
Palermo is almost wholly wanting.
' It is evident that the architectural features in the buildings of which the
cathedral of Monreale is the type, were subordinate in the eyes of their
builders to the mosaic decorations which cover every part of the interior,
and are in fact the glory and pride of the edifice, by which alone it is en
titled to rank among the finest of mediaeval churches. All the principal
personages of the Bible are represented in the stiff but grand style of Greek
art, sometimes with Greek inscriptions, and accompanied by scenes illus
trating the Old and New Testaments. They are separated by and inter
mixed with arabesques and ornaments in colour and gold, making up a
decoration unrivalled in its class by anything — except, perhaps, S. Mark's
— the Middle Ages have produced. ' — Fergusson.
The entire walls are covered with three sections of mosaics,

[Incorpora

MONREALE

MUNKEALE 39
on a golden ground, verging to the Apse ruled by the colossal
figure of the Saviour and inscribed ''Ino-our xptoros 6 navTOKpartop.'
His right hand is raised in blessing, in His left He holds an
open book, on which ' I am the Light of the World' is written
in Greek and Latin. Thus His divine attributes are repre
sented : below, amid archangels, on a smaller scale, His
humanity is recalled by the Child on the knees of His mother.
S. Peter and S. Paul guard the side apses. The angles of the
choir are occupied by prophets and patriarchs, with scenes from
the New Testament below, relating to the life of our Saviour :
the transepts and aisles, above their lofty dado of grey
marble, are covered by New Testament history : between the
arches of the nave are medallions of saints. There is no
triforium. The royal and episcopal thrones in the choir are of
porphyry and marble, with bands of rich mosaic. Over the
king's seat is the figure of the Redeemer, laying His hand upon
the head of the royal founder, William II., who is attired in
the same dalmatica in which King Roger is portrayed at the
Martorana ; above the bishop's throne the Founder offers his
church to the Virgin.
In the R. transept are the Tombs of William I. (the Bad)
and William II. (the Good). Originally William I. was buried
with his family in S. Maria Maddalena at Palermo, but he was
removed hither by his son to the new foundation. His porphyry
sarcophagus had once a canopy like those of the royal tombs at
Palermo, but it was broken by a beam falling on it in the fire
of 1811. William II., the founder, who died 1189, aged thirty-
six, had only a miserable tomb of brick till 1575, when Arch
bishop Lodovico Torres removed his remains at his own expense
to the white marble sarcophagus which they now occupy. This
king was the best beloved of all the Norman race —
' Guiglielmo fu, cui quella terra plora
Che piange Carlo e Federigo vivo :
Ora conosce come s'innamora
Lo ciel del giusto rege, ed al sembiante
Del suo fulgore il fa vedere ancora.' — Dante, Par. xx. 62.
In the L. transept beneath the altar is a sarcophagus contain
ing the ' interiora ' of S. Louis (who died of the plague during
his disastrous Crusade at Tunis, 1270), erected by the Viceroy
Duca di Alcala, 'affinitate conjunctus, conjunctior religione.'1
1 The Sainte Chapelle at Paris disputes with Monreale the claim of possessing the
heart of S. Louis. But the original um here was inscribed ' Hic sunt tumulata
viscera et corpus Ludovici regis Franciae, qui obiit apud Tunisium anno Dominicae
incarnationis MCCLXX., mense augusto, xiii. indictionis.' — Luigi Lello, Storia
delta Chiesa di Monreale, 1698.

4o

SICILY

' Charles I. rendit les derniers honneurs au corps de Saint Louis. . . .
Ce nMtait plus un cadavre, c'etaient dgja des reliques. II fallut , en faire le
partage. Les os soigneusement sSpares du corps, furent enfermes dans un
cercueil de plomb. Philipe III. les mit dans son camp, se ^servant
de les rendre lui-meme a la patrie. Les chairs bouilhes dans le vin ne
pouvaient etre transporters au loin ; Charles d' Anjou les reclama comme
le plus digne prix de ses services. A force de prieres, il obtint de son neveti
les entrailles du saint roi ; et s'il faut en croire un temoin tres-important,
Charles I. recut aussi son coeur. II envoya imm<5diatement ce tr&or a
l'abbaye des Bengdictins de Monreal.'— Alexis de Saint Priest, Hist, de la
Conqutte de Naples.

^ '— ' ~. .'

CLOISTERS, MONREALE

It is notable that, after the Sicilian Vespers, when the island
was filled from end to end with hatred of Charles of Anjou and
the French, the relics of his saintly brother continued to be
venerated at Monreale.
Another sarcophagus, with baccellatura moulding and mosaic,
contains the remains of Margaret of Navarre, 1183, queen of
William the Bad, and regent during the infancy of William the
Good. A mosaic inscription under the window commemorates
two of her sons, Roger, Duke of Apulia, 11 60, and Henry,
Prince of Capua, 11 70.
The magnificent Byzantinesque cloister, 25 bays square

Incorpora

CHOIR IN THE DUOMO
MONREALE

5. MARTINO 41
(custode, 50 a), is surrounded by pointed arches, carried on
coupled columns, encrusted with mosaics in varying patterns,
with ever-changing capitals of marvellous beauty — 'all the
religion, all the poetry of their age, sculptured in stone.' At
the S. angle is a circular font, carved in relief with Verocchio-
like dancing children, within a little arcaded court, thoroughly
Moorish in character, 'as of a monastic Alhambra.' The
frieze has perished. The ruined Refectory has lost its vaulting.
In the Monastery, which was originally peopled by William
II. with monks from La Cava, is a fine picture of S. Benedict,
surrounded by the heads of the religious orders under his rule,
by Pietro Novelli.
A steep winding path (donkeys 3 lire) leads (1 hr. J) from
Monreale to the desolate unfinished Benedictine Convent of
S. Martino delle Scale (now a Reformatory), founded amid
barren mountains by Gregory the Great in 581, but with no
buildings older than the eighteenth century. The views over
the Conca d'Oro and tbe sea are magnificent. The Library
contains some literary treasures, especially the correspondence
of the Beato Giuliano Majoli with King Alfonso and the Vice
roy of Naples in the fifteenth century, which throws much light
on contemporary Sicilian history. 'After they had exhibited
to us all their treasures they led us into a small salon, from the
balcony of which we enjoyed a lovely prospect.' — Goethe. In
the refectory is a fresco of Novelli — ' II Monrealese,' Daniel in
the Den of Lions. From the ascent to the convent we see the
Castle of S. Benedetto, which, from being a Saracenic fortress,
was turned into a convent by William II. It is now the
property of the Club Alpino. The return from S. Martino may
be varied by passing through Altarello di Baida, with remains
of Mimnernum, a chateau of King Roger II. From Altarello
a good road to Boccadifalco, whence Baida (Arab., white) is
gained with a road direct to Passo di Rigano, and thence
(right) to Olivuzzo and Palermo.
An excursion should certainly be made for the ascent of Monte Pelle
grino (2065 ft. ), which Goethe justly calls the most beautiful promontory in
the world, and which King Pyrrhus stormed. A carriage (1 1. 50 c. ) may be
taken to the foot of the hill, or the tram from the Piazza Marina (25 c. ) as
far as Falde, or donkeys (2 lire) or horses (3 lire) for the whole distance.
Food is best carried with one.
Skirting the pretty little harbour La Cala, we pass through
the suburb of Castell'amare, which, till lately, contained the
Church of S. Pietro, a Bagnara, built, as an inscription (now in
the Museum) testifies, by Nicholas, son of Leo Parathalassitos
(harbour-master) of Palermo, in the time of Duke Robert and
his wife Sikelgeta.

43 SICILY
From the Piazza Ucciardone a road turns west to the royal
pseudo-Chinese villa of La Favorita (6 kil.), with bosky thickets
of flowering shrubs near the foot of Monte Pellegrino, pleasant
for walking or driving during a long stay at Palermo, but of no
especial beauty. The road east (right) leads to the suburb of
Acqua Santa by the sea and Casino Belmonte above it, with
a beautiful view, passing on the right the pretty arsenal and
mole (of 1569-90), and then at the Lazaretto, the Cimeterio
Vecchio dei Protestanti, which contains, amongst other tombs,
that of Francis George Hare, 1841, commemorated in the
Memorials of a Quiet Life and in the verses of Landor. The
tramway to Igiea goes to all of these.
The straight road from the Piazza leads to the foot of
Monte Pellegrino (i960 ft. in height), whence, from the
grassy platform, is a lovely view of Palermo. Hence the
ascent, impracticable for carriages, is by steep paved zigzags,
supported on arches. The path through grand precipices is
generally desolate ; only a few goats are looking for cytizus
among the rocks, and carbonieri are often sent from the foot of
the hill to follow strangers for their protection. After passing
a gate in the rock the view beyond the promontory soon opens
out, with the western sea framed in exquisite mountains. At
1474 ft. above the sea, jammed amongst the rocks under the
shoulder of the hill, are the Shrine and Hermitage ofS. Rosalia.
(Bell on upper floor.)
Beyond the church (of 1625) is the sacred grotto, hewn out
of the rock, where the noble maiden Rosalia, niece of King
William II., is said to have passed many years of her life in
devotion, and to have died in 1169. Here, on the site where
her bones were found in 1624, surrounded by a host of lamps,
is a beautiful marble recumbent figure of the sainted girl in a
golden robe, by the Florentine sculptor Gregorio Tedeschi. An
angel fans her with a lily ; all around are votive offerings of
jewels, &c. Water trickles out of the rocks on all sides, and
the network of bluish green tubes arranged to catch it gives, as
Goethe observes, the appearance of being overgrown by cactus,
to this wonderfully picturesque cavern. The festival of the
saint lasts from July 13 to 15, when the whole population of
Palermo swarm up the mountain to visit her grotto. At the
time of the festa the streets of Palermo have all the appearance
of pagan saturnalia, for Sicilians, not too careful about religion
in other respects, carry veneration of their patron saints to
wild excess.
The remains of a beacon-tower stand on the highest point of
Monte Pellegrino, the ancient Herkte, where, in the FirsbPunic
War (247-245), Hamilcar Barca established a camp, which he

LA FAVARA 43
was able to hold for three years in spite of all the efforts of the
Romans to dislodge him. Polybius has left an accurate de
scription of the mountain, with its rough and craggy precipices,
its three possible means of approach, and its wide spreading
view. In the distance the volcanic island of Ustica is visible,
37 miles distant, which derived its ancient name of Osteodes,
or the 'Bone Island,' from the Carthaginians having got rid
of a body of 6000 disaffected mercenaries, by landing them on
its barren shore and leaving them there to perish. The island
is now thickly inhabited, and may be reached from Palermo by
steamer on two Sundays in the month (fare, 7 lire 50 c.)
Another interesting excursion may be made on the south-east of Palermo
to La Favara and 5. Maria del Gesu. Tram from P. Rivoluzione to
Brancaccio. Less than half a mile from the Porta Garibaldi is the now
dry bridge of seven arches called Ponte, deW Ammiraglio from
its builder the great Emir or Admiral Giorgios Antiochenos,
in 1 1 13. It crosses the ancient bed of the Oreto (of which the
course is now changed), in which Goethe hunted for pebbles
with his artist-companion Kniep. It was between the river
and the city that (B.C. 250) L. Caecilius Metellus gained that
decisive battle over the army of Hasdrubal, which gave the
Metelli an elephant for their badge. The captured beasts
were shown in the Forum.
A short distance farther on the high road (left) is the little
Church of S. Giovanni dei Leprosi, built in 107 1 by Robert
Guiscard, on the spot where his victorious army first encamped
before Palermo. Its external walls and its cupola are original.
The name is derived from a hospital for lepers and lunatics
once united to the church, but now pulled down.
About a mile from hence (right), beyond Brancaccio, are the
remains of the Saracenic-Norman castle, La Favara, sometimes
called Mare Dolce, from the fresh-water lake, which has now
disappeared, but from which it once rose on an island covered
with orange-trees. The Moorish palace was occupied by
Roger I. (1071), and a tiny chapel with a cupola is of his time :
the Emperor Henry VI. (1190) and Charles of Anjou also
made it a residence. The most striking remains are the three
arches of the vaults for steam-baths, in which the ancient
conduits and the chimneys for letting off smoke and steam still
exist. Some Roman remains are near at hand. Nothing is
left of the lovely surroundings of La Favara, of which many
poetic descriptions are handed down to us, especially that of
the Sicilian Arab Abderrahman : —
' O how beautiful is the lakelet of the twin palms, and the island where
the spacious palace stands 1 The clear water of the double springs is like

44

SICILY

liquid pearls and their bason is a sea : you might say that the boughs of
the trees stretched down to look at the fishes in the pool and smile at
them. The great fishes swim in those transparent waters, and the birds
sing their songs amongst the gardens. The ripe oranges of the island are
like fire burning upon boughs of emerald ; the pale lemon recalls a lover
who has wept all night for his absent beloved one. The two palms are
like friends who have gained a retreat inaccessible to their enemies, or
stand erect proudly to confound the murmurs and calumnies of those who
envy them. O palms of the two lakelets of Palermo, may unceasing, un
disturbed, and plenteous dews ever refresh you 1 '
From Mare Dolce we shall reach the village of S. Maria di
Gesii, where a modern cemetery occupies the terraces near an

ancient church, founded, 1429, by the Blessed Matteo di Gir
genti, whose embalmed body reposes within, and, according to
an inscription, has been known to rise and adore the host
during mass. The ancient cypress avenue of the Minorite
convent which winds up the lower slope of Monte Grifone
(2777 ft.) has exquisite views of Palermo and Monte Pellegrino,
and, with its broken balustrades and remnants of monastic
statues, should on no account be neglected by artists. The
sculpture on the central door is worth a glance.
Returning as far as a ruined cross, we may take the way
back to the town by the left, passing near the Torre di Diavoli,
a picturesque castle of the Chiaramonte in the glen of the
Oreto, and the Church of S. Spirito founded by the English
Archbishop, Walter of the Mill, in 1 173, and given to the
Cistercian monks. The cloister has perished. As the church
bell was ringing here for vespers on Easter Tuesday, March
31, 1282, an insult offered to a Sicilian maiden during the

o HZ
O

BAGHERIA

45

popular file by one Drouet, a Frenchman, led to the general
massacre of the French, called the ' Sicilian Vespers.' The
foreigners, if there was any doubt about them, were detected
by observing their pronunciation of the word ciceri, ' vetches ' ;
a lest similar to that of ' Shibboleth ' instituted by Jephthah on
the slaughter of the Ephraimites.
' E la bella Trinacria, che callga
Tra Pachino e Peloro, sopra '1 golfo
Che riceve da Euro maggior briga,
Non per Tifeo, ma per nascente solfo,
Attesi avrebbe li suoi regi ancora
Nati per me di Carlo e di Ridolfo,
Se mala signoria che sempre accora
Li popoli suggetti, non avesse
Mosso Palermo a gridar — Mora, mora.'
— Dante, Par. viii. 67.
The excursion to Bagheria and Solunto may be accomplished by carriage,
or the railway (18 minutes) may be taken to Bagheria, or, for Solunto, to
the next station of 5. Flavia, which is close to the foot of the hill on which
the remains of the ancient city are situated. Leaving by the train at 9.15
A.M. and returning at 5.15 p.m. gives plenty of time for both places.
Carriage, 20 lire : 7 hours. Food should be taken.
The road to Bagheria (a very bad one) runs along the sea-
coast, passing an ancient machicolated tower picturesquely
situated in a thicket of canes.
Bagheria (19,000 inhab.), the Richmond of Palermo (Trattoria
Verdone), presents the most curious mixture of grandeur and
misery, the most lavish ornament having been expended on
buildings, afterwards left to decay. Grandly arched gateways
lead to neglected cypress avenues with roads hardly practicable
for a cart. The palaces of the nobility (with few exceptions
such as that of the Duchess S. Cataldo) have moss-grown
courts, dry fountains, barred-up windows, and falling roofs, and
this dilapidation is now likely to increase greatly, owing to the
equal division of property. Perhaps the most characteristic
villa is that of Principe Palagonia Grdvina (reached by a once
three-arched portal and a cypress avenue on the left beyond
the station), a climax of architectural eccentricity, possessing a
garden filled with hundreds of caricatures in sculpture, which
have been described in Sicilian verse by Giovanni Meli, and to
which Goethe, scornful as he was at them, has devoted one of
his longest letters from Sicily. Prince Palagonia used to de
clare that the originals of the figures upon his walls might be
met with in Egypt, where Diodorus Siculus tells us that the
rays of the sun act so powerfully upon the slime left by the
Nile that it engenders all kinds of uncouth and otherwise
unknown animals.1
1 See Henry Swinburne's Travels in the Two Sicilies, 1785.

46

SICILY

' Notre voiture s'arr&a en face du palais du Prince de Palagonia, que
nous reconnumes aussitot aux monstres sans nombre qui garnissent les
murailles, qui surmontent les portes, qui rampent dans le jardin ; ce sont
les bergers avec des tStes d'ane, de jeunes filles avec des t£tes de cheval,
des chats avec des figures de capucin, des enfants bioSphales, des hommes
a quatre jambes, des solipedes a quatre bras, une menagerie d'toes im
possibles, auxquels le prince, a chaque grossesse de sa femme, priait Dieu
de donner une reality en permettant que la princesse accouchat de quelque
animal pareil a ceux qu'il avait soin de lui mettre sous les yeux pour

amener cet heureux evenement. Un autre caprice du prince etait de se
procurer toutes les cornes qu'il pouvait trouver ; bois de cerf, bois de daim,
comes de boeufs, cornes de chevre, defenses d'elephant meme, tout ce
qui avait forme recourse et pointue 6tait bien venu au chateau, et achete'
par le prince presque sans marchander. Aussi, depuis l'antichambre
jusqu'au boudoir, depuis la cave jusqu'au grenier, le palais £tait heriss6 de
cornes; les cornes avaient remplaci les pateres, les porte-manteaux, les
pitons ; les lustres pendaient a des cornes, les rideaux s'accrochaient a des
cornes ; les buffets, les dels de lit, les bibliotheques, gtaient surmonuSs de
cornes. On aurait donn^ vingt-cinq louis d'une corne, que dans tout
Palerme on ne l'aurait pas trouvee.'— Alexandre Dumas, Le Spironare.
From the terrace of the Villa Valguarnera and the Villa
del Duca di Villarosa there are beautiful views.
Just beyond the great church and station of S. Flavia, a gate
on the left (custode, 50 c.) admits travellers to a private road
(Red House) leading up the heights to the ruins of Solunto or
Soloeis (600 ft.), a Phoenician colony which was afterwards a
dependency of Carthage, then a Roman ' colonia.' The exca
vations which have been made here have opened to view whole

oHZ
o 1/3

ALCAMO 47
streets of small houses like those of Pompeii, a so-called gym
nasium rather like the Temple of Castor and Pollux at Girgenti
in miniature and various other ruins. The situation is ex
quisitely beautiful, and the views, across the broad terraced
streets of ruined buildings, to the wild heights of Monte Grifone
and the varied windings of the coast, are scarcely surpassed by
anything in Sicily. Delightful walks through the prickly pears
and palmetto lead to the crest of the hill, below which the
farthest promontory of Capo Zafferano juts out boldly seawards.
The ruins of Solunto are guarded, and may always be visited
with safety.
An excursion of greater length and value (Trapani Line) may be made
from Palermo to Segesta. It is 3^ hours by rail via Lolli from Palermo
to Calatafimi, whence a carriage to Segeste costs 35 frs., not including the
buonamdno. Mules cost 3 frs. each, and take ij hours on the way. An
escort is necessary. If the earliest train from Palermo be taken, it is pos
sible to make this excursion in a day, and to avoid sleeping at the miser
able inn of Calatafimi. Consult Messrs. Thomas Cook & Son as to special
trains. SEGESTA
The route to Alcamo-Calatafimi passes through the Conca
d'Oro (33 miles) to Rartinico, 8 miles north of which is Carini
with a fourteenth century castle of the Chiaramonti. Three
and a half miles farther north are the remains of the Sicanian
town of Hykkara (on the great gulf of Castellamare, of which
no ancient name is preserved to us), which was taken and
plundered and its people sold by Nikias in B.C. 41 5,1 when the
famous Lais, then a child, was carried off amongst the captives,
and sold as a slave at Corinth. The site is now called Muro
di Carini. Going westward, we have M. Pellegrino on our R.,
presenting its mighty precipices of red limestone. Our path
lies through lemon and olive orchards, with hedges of prickly
pears and aloes. The Harbour of Rio de Janeiro alone compares
with the beautiful views here, with far-stretching Cape Gallo.
At Lo Zucco Montelepre (43 k.) there is usually a delay of 10
minutes or more at 10 A.M. Thence, among iris and marigold,
we travel slowly to Partinico, in view of all the spacious loveli
ness of the Golfo di Castellamare, with dreamy M. Speziale in
the (left) distance towards Cape San Vito. At Balestrate the
sea is gently surging at our feet, and hence we traverse tufted
sand-dunes with grass and dark juniper. The scenery never
fails of interest. At Castellamare station, 62 k., we find good
wine and Sicilian ' Biscotti.' Thence, the train turns south,
1 Thucydides, vi. 62.

48 SICILY
inland. This was the port of Segesta. At 11.30 we leave the
train, and carriages meet us, and perhaps ' carabinieri.' We
thence mount by a good winding road towards Segesta, wheat
and flax fields on both sides of us, abounding in flowers, such
as gladioli, borage, purple vetch, garlic, and rock-cystus.
Alcamo (Albergo della Fortuna possible : Caffe opposite the
Post Office), which derives its Saracenic name from the great
Moorish chief Adelkam, is a picturesque place, with 52,000
inhabitants, and occupies the site of Longaricum. The
Church of S. Tommaso has a good fourteenth century portal.
The earliest Sicilian poet, Ciullo d' Alcamo, was a native of the
town. Many travellers will go direct from Alcamo to Segeste,
crossing the Fiume Freddo, the ancient Crimissus, on whose
banks, in B.C. 339, Timoleon of Syracuse, with 11,000 troops,
totally defeated a Carthaginian army of 70,000 men. It is,
however, better to proceed to —
Calatafimi (Kalateufimi) (Albergo Samuel Butler, Locanda
Centrale), and to take mules from thence. The country is wild
in the extreme, but, long before reaching it, the grand ruins of
the forlorn temple are seen backed by the lonely hills.
1 At the highest end of a broad and long valley, the temple stands on
an isolated hill. Surrounded, however, on all sides by cliffs, it commands
a very distant and extensive view of the land, but takes in only just a
corner of the sea. The district reposes in a sort of melancholy fertility —
everywhere well cultivated, but scarce a dwelling to be seen. Flowering
thistles were swarming with countless butterflies, wild fennel stood here
from eight to nine feet high, dry and withered of the last year's growth,
but so rich and in such seeming order that one might almost take it to be
an old nursery-ground. A shrill wind whistled through the columns as if
through a wood, and screaming birds of prey hovered round the pedi
ments.' — Goethe.
Yellow, majestic, and solitary, the great travertine Temple
of Segesta stands upon a green eminence backed by loftier
mountains. Behind the temple the rock falls into a deep and
winding ravine ; but beyond that it re-arises to about 600 ft.
above the temple, the western portion and pediment of which
is the most complete. An artist will find favourable positions
to N.W. The Acropolis of Segesta crowned Monte Barbaro,
opposite, to which a good sheep-walk leads. The temple stands
in a wilderness of wheat-fields. It was evidently never com
pleted, but is 190 ft. in length, and 78 in breadth, and —
hexastyle-peripteral — is surrounded by Doric columns, without
fluting, six in each front, and fourteen on each side, rising from
a stylobate of three steps imperfectly finished. At the foot of
the hill runs the biumara Gdggera, a stream originally called
the Scamander in recollection of the famous stream near Troy,
for the city of Segesta, originally Egesta, claimed to have been

w_1SaHa H

SEGESTA

49

founded by Trojan fugitives. But few traces remain of the
town, whose relief, in its many quarrels with Selinous, was the
original cause of the disastrous Athenian expedition to Sicily
in B.C. 416, though this was almost forgotten in the more im
portant struggle which followed with Syracuse. The Segestans
sent envoys to Athens asking for help, and there Alcibiades
pleaded in their favour against Nikias, and Athenian envoys
were, in turn, sent to Segesta on purpose to ascertain how
matters really stood, and if Segesta was rich enough to
contribute costs.
' The story went that these envoys and the other Athenians who went
with them were taken in at Segesta in a strange way. The Segestans
took them to see the temple on Eryx and its wealth, where the envoys
were deceived by taking silver-gilt vessels for solid gold. Then they got
together all the gold and silver plate in their city, and all that they could
borrow anywhere else, and asked the Athenians to a series of banquets, at
which each man passed off all the plate as his own. So the envoys went
back, thinking that Segesta was a very rich city, and taking with them
sixty talents as an earnest. This was early in 415. And now, though
Nikias argued as strongly as he could against it, the expedition to Sicily
was decreed. Three generals were put in command, Nikias himself,
Alkibiad£s, and Lamachos. Lamachos was not a rich man or a political
leader like Nikias and Alkibiades ; so he had not the same influence.
But he was one of the two best soldiers in Athens. The other was Demos
thenes, of whom we shall presently hear.
' And now the greatest force that had ever sailed from any Greek haven
set forth to help Segesta and Leontinoi. Besides the force of Athens her
self and her subject allies, she had in this war several willing allies, speci
ally Argosi and Korkyra, ready to fight against her sister, Syracuse.
There were 136 ships of war, 5100 heavy-armed, 1300 light troops. But
where Syracuse was strongest, Athens was weakest. Only 30 horsemen
were sent to meet the famous cavalry of Syracuse.
' When men heard in Sicily that this great force was coming, the more
part disbelieved the story. But Hermokrates told the Syracusan assembly
that the news was true, and that they must make ready in every way to
meet the danger. They must make alliances in Sicily, Italy, and every
where, specially at Sparta, Corinth, and even Carthage. But they were
not without hopes. He knew that the most experienced of the Athenian
generals disliked his errand, and he said that the very greatness of the
force would frighten men, and hinder the Athenians from getting allies.' —
E. A. Freeman.
After the defeat of the Athenians, the people of Segesta had
recourse to the protection of the Carthaginians, and, after their
destruction of Selinous and Himera, for many years the town
occupied the position of a dependent ally of Carthage. After
Agathocles, in B.C. 307, had been received into the city as a
friend and ally, he put the whole of the inhabitants to the
sword, and changed the name of the place to Dicaeopolis, but
Segeste is again mentioned as a flourishing town in the time of
Cicero (when the corrupt Verres carried away the bronze statue
D

50 SICILY
of Demeter which Scipio had brought back from Carthage),
and was only finally abandoned, in consequence of the ravages of
the Saracens, in A.D. 900. The ruins of a finely placed Theatre,
205 ft. in diameter, have been excavated, and exhibit a prae-
cinctio and twenty rows in seven sections (cunei) of seats : it
was probably begun before 409 B.C., and altered in Roman
times. It looks N.N.E., confronting Monte Inici ; to N., M.
Sparagio ; N.W., Monte Guglianello and Trapani with the
western sea.
It is 1^ hours by rail from Calatafimi to Castelvetrano (18
miles) (Albergo Bixid), occupying a lofty situation with a wide
view. The principal church, 5. Giovanni, contains a good
statue of the Baptist by Ant. Gagini, 1522, and in the Church
of S. Domenico is a curious sarcophagus. Carriages from station
to town, 50 c. a place. Carriages (at Bascone's 10 to 20 lire for
four persons) often take 2 \ hours in accomplishing the 8 miles to
the colossal ruins of Selinunto or Selinous, which occupy the pal
metto-covered heights on either side of the little stream (Hypsas)
Gorgo di Cotone, a short distance before it flows into the sea.
Thucydides says that in B.C. 628 'the Megarians, who are
also called Hyblenses, a hundred years after their city Megara
(Hyblaea) was founded, sent hither Pammilos, and founded
Selinous.' The town was called after the river Selinus (now
Modione) which received its name from the quantity of wild
parsley (<rk\aiov) which grew along its banks. This figures on
the coins. It rose rapidly to power and prosperity, in rivalry
with Elymean Segesta, but was destroyed by the Carthaginians
called in by the people of Segesta in B.C. 409, little more than
two hundred years after its foundation.
' The only chance of the besieged Selinuntines was to hold out with the
courage of desperation, until they could receive aid from their Hellenic
brethren on the southern coast — Akragas, Gela, and especially Syracuse —
all of whom they had sent to warn and to supplicate. Their armed popu
lation crowded to man the walls, with a resolution worthy of Greeks and
citizens ; while the old men and the females, though oppressed with agony
from the fate which seemed to menace them, lent all the aid and encourage
ment in their power. Under the sound of trumpets, and every variety of
war-cry, the assailants approached the walls, encountering everywhere a
valiant resistance. They were repulsed again and again with the severest
loss. But fresh troops came up to relieve those who were slain or fatigued ;
and at length, after a murderous struggle, a body of Campanians forced
their way over the walls into the town. Yet in spite of such temporary
advantage , the heroic efforts of the besieged drove them out again or slew
them, so that night arrived without the capture being accomplished. For
nine successive days was the assault thus renewed with undiminished fury ;
for nine successive days did this heroic population maintain a successful
resistance, though their enemies were numerous enough to relieve each
other perpetually— though their own strength was every day failing — and
though not a single friend arrived to their aid. At length, on the tent

u
aih <
wXHWw OSo

SELINUNTO 51
day, and after terrible loss to the besiegers, a sufficient breach was made
in the weak part of the wall for the Iberians to force their way into the
city. Still, however, the Selinuntines, even after their walls were carried,
continued with unabated resolution to barricade and defend their narrow
streets, in which their women also assisted, by throwing down stones and
tiles upon the assailants from the housetops. All these barriers were suc
cessfully overthrown by the unexhausted numbers and increasing passion
of the barbaric host ; so that the defenders were driven back from all sides
into the agora, where most of them closed their defence by an honourable
death. A small minority, among whom was Empedion, escaped to
Akragas, where they received the warmest sympathy and the most
hospitable treatment.
' Sixteen thousand Selinuntines are said to have been slain, five thousand
to have been taken captive, while two thousand six hundred escaped to
Akragas. . . . Syracuse, Gela, and Akragas, sent a joint embassy to
Hannibal, entreating him to permit the ransom of the captives and to
spare the temples of the gods, while Empedion went at the same time to
sue for compassion on behalf of his own fugitive fellow-citizens. To the
former demand the victorious Carthaginian returned an answer at once
haughty and characteristic — '* The Selinuntines have not been able to pre
serve their freedom, and must now submit to a trial of slavery. 7'he gods
have become offended with them and have taken their departure from the
town." To Empedion, an ancient friend and pronounced partisan of the
Carthaginians, his reply was more indulgent. All the relatives of Empedion
found alive amongst the captives were at once given up ; moreover, per
mission was granted to the fugitive Selinuntines to return, if they pleased,
and re-occupy the town with its lands as tributary subjects of Carthage.
At the same time as he granted such permission, however, Hannibal at
once caused the walls to be razed. The temples were destroyed, however,
not by the conqueror, but by earthquake.' — Grote's Hist, of Greece, vol. x.
As a humble tributary, Selinous with its returned refugees,
continued to have an existence, and it gave a welcome to
Pyrrhus in B.C. 276, but was a second time destroyed by the
Carthaginians in B.C. 250, and the inhabitants were taken to
Lilybaeum. Under the Saracens it became known as Rahl-el-
Asnam, the ' Village of the Idols,' and it was one of the last
strongholds which they defended in Sicily. This led to its
being completely destroyed by the Normans, who gave it the
name of ' Terra delle Pulci,' or the ' Land of Fleas.'
There are two distinct groups of temples at Selinunto, each
occupying a planed elevation commanding the sea, and divided
by the marshy vale of Gorgo di Cotone. The western group
of three temples, with excavated main streets N.-E. by E.-W.,
was surrounded by a wall having circular bastions at its two
northern angles, before which externally stood a semicircular
tower guarded by a trench, the whole formed like the shape of
a pear. The Eastern Group lies on a terminal angle of a low hill ; and
the largest by far of all the temples, though never completed,
was the northernmost here. Professor Salinas (whose labours

52 SICILY
here have brought him fame second to that of no other Sicilian
archaeologist) has made excellent paths of access from, the
eastern side. This temple was of proportions so prodigious
that, if we except that of Zeus at Girgenti and that of Diana at
Ephesus, it had no known rival in antiquity. Its length was
371 ft., inclusive of the steps to stylobate, and its width 177 ft. ;
while the Cella measured 228 by 59 ft. The columns, which
were not fluted at the time of its destruction, had a diameter at
base of 1 1 J by (at crown) 7 ft. Height, with caps, 53J ft., and
intercolumniations of 9 J to iof ft. The triglyphi are 7 ft. long.
The building of it is considered to have been interrupted, per
haps more than once, portions having been raised in the sixth
and the rest in the fifth century B.C. It was octostyle-peripteral,
and perhaps dedicated to Apollo. No wonder that the ruins
have obtained the name locally of ' Pilieri dei Giganti.'
The third or seaward-most temple was hexastyle-peripteral,
with an eastern portico approached by eleven steps. Three
fragmentary columns remain in site at S.E. angle of stylobate.
Its length is 228 ft. by 91 ft. ; length of Cella, 135 ft. by 37^ ft. ;
diameter of columns, 7 ft. at base ; height, 33 ft. The capitals
of the antae display the moulding called becco di civetta, and
a dedicatory inscription found here (1865) procures this temple
its title as that of Hera. Four metopes (now at Palermo Museum)
were found here in 1831, one of which represents Zeus and
Hera on Mount Ida, and another Athene slaying Enceladus.
I n the middle temple, though mostly vanished, Messrs. Harris
and Angell found the halves of two metopes in 1822, from the
art of which the date of it is conjectured to be c. 550 B.C.
On the Acropolis, or western height, the temples likewise
face east ; the northernmost of them not being as ancient as that
next to it, which is also the largest, with a length of 230 ft. by
80 ft., and proportions resembling those of the southernmost on
the opposite hill. To this temple belonged the earliest metopes
found by Harris and Angell. It has been named, without suffi
cient evidence, the Temple of Hercules. Next to it is a small
temple which Benndorf considered to have been Doric-Ionic.
The columns were composed of six drums, excepting in one or
two cases, where they appear to have used monoliths. West
of the street is an ancient well.
Near the house, now called ' Messana,' or Manicalunga, lies
a necropolis, which has yielded abundance of vases, and ritual
and votive utensils have been excavated both here and over
the stream. Near Campobello are situated the quarries from
which the temples have been built ; and in them may be seen
drums corresponding with those used in the great temple of
the eastern group, and also the peculiarly interesting mode for

RUINS AT SELINUNTE

MARSALA 53
cutting columns in the living rock, which both Greeks and
Romans employed.
From Campobello we take train to Marsala, via Mazara, with
a castle in ruins rebuilt by Count Roger, a.d. 1073. This formed
a Selinuntine outpost, and Hannibal Giscon took it before he
advanced on Selinous. The town lies within a rectangle of four
hundred yards, encircled with high walls, with numerous towers.
San Vito, the patron-saint of the place, has a statue in the
piazza. Here the Arab invasion of Sicily commenced in A.D.
827. In the porch of the Duomo are some ancient sarcophagi.
We are now within the western portion of Sicily, which the
Phoenicians held fast to so long after they had to surrender the
remainder, first to Greek, and then to Roman, and yet which
was the first to receive anew the Semitic invader, a thousand
years after the fall of Carthage. The plain, so thickly planted
with vine, brings us past the station of Bambina to Marsala
and Lilybaeum — the dowry of the daughter of Theodorie when
married to the Vandal king of Carthage ; and the one fortress
that successfully defied Pyrrhus more than seven centuries
before. Capo Boeo, as it is now called, is the westernmost
point of the island, whose political triangulation proved insuper
able except to the Romans.
' Publius Cornelius Scipio, chosen consul for the year 205, made Sicily
the starting-point for his great enterprise. His plan was to go in the path
of Agathoklls, to carry the war into Africa, to draw Hannibal out of Italy
to the defence of Carthage. All his preparations were made in Sicily ; it
was from Lilybaeum that he set forth, and it was to Lilybaeum that he
came back. His plan had succeeded. Hannibal came back to Africa, to
meet Scipio in arms, to fight his last battle, and to undergo his first defeat.'
— E. A. Freeman.
In later days the romantic Victor of Lepanto made it his
point of departure against Tunis. The Duomo contains sixteen
columns of Marmo Bigio, belonging to some Roman building
in the 'Civitas splendidissima.' Thomas Becket is patron-
saint here (His skull is also shown), and on his festival the
costumes of the contadini are extremely picturesque. The
courtesy of the famous firms of Messrs. Whitaker, Florio, &
Woodhouse (1776) permits the visitor to see their 'fabbriche'
toward the south portion of the town.
Following the coast (N.) past Stazione di Spagnola, the
train brings us opposite S. Pantaleo, a small island given up to
salt-works and excellent wine, but once famous as Phoenician
Motya, the settlement nearest Africa, which became abandoned
in favour of Lilybaeum. In B.C. 397 the Lord of Syracuse,
Dionysios, having crossed the Mazaros with 3000 horse and

54 SICILY
80,000 foot, and keeping in touch with his fleet of 200 ships,
determined to besiege Motya.
' The distinctive thing at Motya was the tall houses. The engines of
Dionysios were made of vast height to reach them. Bridges were thrown
across, and men fought high in the air, many falling down from the height.
This went on for some days. Every evening Dionysios called off his men ,
and the defenders took rest. This suggested a night attack ; by that means
the Greeks entered, and the city was taken. The Motyans fought on with
true Semitic stubbornness ; but the city was in the hands of the besiegers.
Dionysios stopped the slaughter as soon as he could, that the people might
be sold as slaves. To the Greek traitors who had taken service with the
barbarians he was harsher. They were crucified, a piece of cruelty which
the Greeks now began to learn from the Carthaginians. The rich spoil of
the merchant city was given to the soldiers.
' This was the greatest success that any Greek had ever won in Phoeni
cian warfare. Yet in Sicily itself less came of the taking of Motya than
might have been looked for. It may be that Dionysios found that such
distant conquests could not really be kept. He left a garrison, chiefly of
Sikels, in Motya ; he left his brother Leptines with the fleet to watch the
coast, and he also left forces to go on with the sieges of Segesta and En-
tella. He himself went back to Syracuse for the winter. The next year
(396) Carthage began to put forth her full strength for the war. Himilkdn,
now Shophet, came with a vast army and won back all that Dionysios h 1
gained.' — E. A. Freeman.
Lilybaeum was built in its place, and the island has since only
been inhabited by a few fishermen. There are very few remains
of the city, whose beauty is extolled by Diodorus,1 beyond some
tombs and fragments of aqueduct, but the ancient mole remains
which connected the island with the mainland, and which was
cut by the inhabitants when they were preparing for the siege
by Dionysios.
It takes one hour by rail from Marsala to Trapani (Grand
Hotel, pension 10 lire, with wine. Trinacria in Piazza del
Teatro. Carriage to the town from railway, 80 cent. Mules
for Eryx (Monte San Giuliano), 2 lire, and 50 cent, for the boy.
A char-a-banc runs in three hours, daily), the ancient Drepanum
(i.e. a sickle), the port of Eryx, where Aeneas landed and lost
his father Anchises. ' Hinc Drepani me portus et illaetabilis ora
Accipit. Hic, pelagi tot tempestatibus actus,
Heu, genitorem, omnis curae casusque levamen,
Amitto Anchisen.' — Virgil, Aen. iii. 707.
In the following year Aeneas is represented as being again
driven hither by tempests, and offering sacrifices at the tomb
of his father, and founding a city and temple to Venus on the
summit of the neighbouring Mount Eryx. Hence the Cartha-
1 xiv. 48.

TRAP AN I 55
ginian general Hamilcar removed the inhabitants to Drepanum,
or Drepana. It long continued of importance to the Cartha
ginians from its proximity to Africa, and was one of the last
strongholds which remained to them in Sicily. It disappears
from history after the fatal defeat of the Carthaginian fleet, by
Catulus, off the islands of the Aegates in B.C. 242.
The coral fisheries and alabaster works are a great source of
wealth to modern Trapani. Most of the churches are modern,
but there are good details in many. The Cathedral of S.
Lorenzo is a handsome renaissance building, and has finely
carven choir-stalls, and a Crucifixion by Vandyke.
The palaces are more interesting, and in the Giudecca may
be seen ' Lo Spedatello,' a sixteenth century tower. A walk
down the Via della Cuba and in Strada Nuova will reward the
archaeologist. Via Serisso contains thirteenth and fourteenth
century houses. It is one of the cleanest of towns. Beyond
Porta dei Cappuccini is the public promenade ; the Marina,
beside the harbour, forms another.
San Giuliano has the reputation of being second in height of
,*')e Sicilian mountains, though its measurement is only 2465
tt. . the views are magnificent. The town of Giuliano (Albergo
Cordici) derives its name from the legend that, when, under
King Roger, it was besieged by the Saracens, S. Julian himself
appeared on the walls for its protection, and repulsed the enemy.
It occupies a portion of the ancient city on the summit, and the
Jebel-Hamed of the Saracens ; but it is rapidly losing its popu
lation. The road winds past Madonna di Trapani (with a
miraculous Madonna and bambino — a Pisan work of the four
teenth century), and thence turns left in order to strike the S.W.
angle of the town. The other sides are inaccessible, so that we
take the way Pyrrhus went. The orchards in blossom, the
groups of dark cypress, and the bare yellow limestone precipices
above them, help to form an interesting accompaniment to a
rather arduous climb, the view over Trapani and the islands
becoming more and more fascinating as we ascend, especially
the clear views of the .^Egatean cluster, the scene of the victory
of Catulus, B.C. 242, over the Carthaginians, which was followed
by their surrender of Drepanum. The nearest large one to us
is Phorbantia (Levanzo) ; beyond it lies Hiera (Maritimo), with
M. Falcone, abounding with sea-eagles, 2244 ft. ; while to the
left, and largest of them, is Aigousa (La Favignana), 1070 ft.—
all belonging to Cav. Florio. Off the latter point took place
the last naval fight of the Carthaginians for Sicily, B.C. 241,
after which they surrendered Lilybaeum and Eryx. To the
east are seen, grandly mounted up, the mountains we saw from
the theatre at Segesta, especially M. Sparagio (3640 ft.), and

56 SICILY
M. Speziale, a little less lofty. Far out in the S.W., if the
weather is exceptionally clear, may be seen Cape Bon and the
island of Pantellaria, famous for its Moschato wine.
Like Segeste, Eryx, or Herkte, belonged to the Elymians,
who boasted Trojan descent, and their chief shrine was the
most celebrated in Sicily, namely, the temple of Venus Erycina,
the site of which, at the eastern angle of Eryx, is now occupied
by ruins of the Castello. Hamilk6n took the town by treachery
in his war with Dionysios of Syracuse, and a little later Diony
sios recaptured it (B.C. 368), though it was not held long, and
when Pyrrhus in B.C. 277 attacked it so brilliantly, it was held
by Carthage.
' It was now a Punic stronghold, defended by the Punic wall which still
abides. The engines were brought up the mountain-side and set to play on
the defences ; but it was by the hand-to-hand fighting of the King himself
and his immediate companions that Eryx was won. Vowing games and
sacrifices to Herakles, Pyrrhos was the first man to plant his ladder against
the wall, and to stand victorious on its battlements. The soldiers of
Pyrrhos called their king the Eagle ; he had now soared to an eyrie worthy
of him; the descendant of Achuleus had won back the heritage of
Herakles. ' But there was a richer prize to win. From Eryx Pyrrhos marched on
into that garden of Sicily of which Hermokratgs alone had once for a
moment gathered the fruits. We read without details that he took
Panormos, that he took her guardian rock of Herkte. We can say no
more ; but, for the first time of three, the Semitic head of Sicily became
European ground. The Roman and the Norman were to come, each in
his turn; but it was the man of Epeiros that showed them the way.' —
E. A. Freeman.
The town and temple were engirdled by the massive Phoeni
cian ramparts studded with rectangular towers, which were
entered between Porta Spada and Porta Trapani. Under the
Castle, near the ' Arco del Diavolo ' are shown remains of the
temple ; but serious excavation is needed. A ' conserva
d'aqua,' or reservoir, is also to be seen in the garden. The
Temple was given by the Romans a guard of soldiers, and
Verres is said to have presented it with a silver Eros. (Cf.
Hyginus, Fab. 16 and 260 ; Pausan. 3, c. 16 ; and especially
AZneid, 5, v. 402). ' Turn vicina astris Erycino in vertice sedes
Fundatur Veneri Idaliae.' — Aen. v. 759.
H I MERA— CEFALU
Soon after leaving Palermo the. train approaches the glorious
mountain promontory of Cape Zafferano, and while above us so
much is merely green or very bare, below all is orange and lemon

HIMERA 57
and olive groves, between us and the bluest of seas. Trabia has
an old castle close to the water. Presently we reach Termini-
Imerese, a great white town, with harbour and breakwater,
several churches and a ruined castle on the cliff, which suc
cessfully stood the siege of King Robert the Wise, A.D. 1338.
Oil factories and tunny-fishery form its chief resources. The
female population, who can afford it, wear little black silk veils.
(Grande Albergo delle Terme.) The maccheroni here enjoys
a great repute. This was probably the Phoenician port of
Himera, which lay farther east.
After Hercules had been wearied by wrestlings at Eryx, the
" nymphs comforted him by throwing up warm springs — &cpp.a
wp.<pav Xovrpa (Pindar), while he was at this spot attending to
Geryon's cattle. These are known and used still, at Bagni di
Calogero (Albergo delle Terme), on the east side of the pro
montory. An exquisite view is to be obtained, if the haze does not too
much shorten the horizon, from the Piazza di S. Giovanni
above the town, where there are also remains of the Roman occu
pation in the form of an amphitheatre (late Republican period)
and mosaic pavements mostly of the early empire. In the
Ospedale dei Benfratelli will be found a considerable collection
of illustrative fragments, belonging to the five or six different
races, which have in turn dominated the fated island.
After crossing the Fiume Torto, an olive slope leads up half
a mile from the seashore to the site of Himera itself, which
drops, however, in fine cliffs to the Fiume Grande. This was
the native town of Stesichorus, the Doric poet (B.C. 550), who
wrote the fable of the horse and the stag, it was said, in order
to prevent his compatriots from allying themselves with Phalaris,
the tyrant of Akragas (Girgenti). Himera was founded by
people from Zankle (Messina), in B.C. 648.
Here the Syracusan army under Theron and Gelon, defeated
Hamilkar and decimated his forces. They also slew the general
himself while he was sacrificing, or according to another version,
when all was over he hurled himself upon the fiery altar and
perished. His death, however, was to be marked for ever by a
tragical revenge on the part of his grandson, Hannibal, son of
Giscon, in B.C. 409, a battle having been fought and won by
him here.
* Hannibal cunningly spread abroad a false report that he was going to
leave Himera, to march to Motya, to go on board his fleet, and to sail
straight for Syracuse. Both Diokl£s and the officers of the fleet fell into
this trap ; they thought their first duty was to save Syracuse. Diokles
marched back to Syracuse in such haste as to forget the sacred duty of
burying the dead. Himera was to be forsaken ; its inhabitants were to be

58 SICILY
taken by the ships in two parties to Messana. One party was taken safely ;
the rest kept up the defence for one day. The next morning, just as the
ships came within sight to save the second party, the barbarians broke
into the city, and all was over.
1 And now Hannibal had his own work to do. A massacre of course
began ; but a mere massacre was not what he wanted. He gave the spoil
to his soldiers ; the women and children were made slaves. Then all the
men who were left, about 3000, were taken to the place where Hamilkar
had died. There they were insulted, tortured, and at last put to death as
an offering to the ghost of Hamilkar. The walls of Himera were broken
down; the temples were plundered and burned; the city, in short, was
swept away. To this day there are mighty ruins at Selinous ; but the hill
of Himera stands empty.' — E. A. Freeman.
After this the city was never rebuilt, such of its inhabitants as
escaped establishing themselves at Thermae, whose inhabitants
continued to be called Himeraeans.
' Litora Thermarum, prisca dotata Camena,
Armavere suos, qua mergitur Himera ponto
Aeolio. Nam dividuas se scindit in oras ;
Nee minus occasus petit incita, quam petit ortus."
— Sit. Ital. Punica. xiv. 233.
The country between Buonfornello and Cefalu abounds in
the manna or amolleo-tree (Fraxinus ornus), from which the
manna or gum is extracted in summer, a gash being made in
the bark in the beginning of July, and renewed daily as long as
the gum exudes, each tree yielding about half a pound yearly.
43 m. Cefalu (Placentissima, Cicero) (Albergo d' 'Italia, on
the Piazza del Duomo, tolerable ; Alb. Concordia, as one enters
the town from the station, 10 minutes' walk), lies at the foot of a
colossal cliff upon a ledge of rocks which just lift it above the
sea. At the back of the town, immediately below the cliff,
stands the Cathedral, which is one of the most interesting and
beautiful ecclesiastical buildings in Sicily. It was founded in
1 131 by King Roger, who, when in danger of perishing by
shipwreck while returning from Calabria to Sicily, vowed that
he would build a church wherever he was permitted to land :
he came safely to shore at Cefalu, and began the cathedral on
the site of an earlier edifice in the following year.
Following the main street direct, a few minutes' walk brings
us vis-a-vis with the tall yellow towers tied together on the west
front of a triple-arched Portico. The towers are of four sections
ending in square turrets, capped by extinguishers. The upper
portion of the facade between these is decorated with relief-
arcading with chevron ; and a billet-moulded cornice above.
Below is a large pointed window centering a course of larger
interlaced arcading. The portico has a round urn flanked by
two pointed arches carried by cippolino and granite columns.

CEFALU 59
It was restored in 1484 by Giovanni Gatti, Bishop of Cefalu,
whose arms may be seen sculptured in the central capitals.
The West Door, formerly ' Porta dei Re' (Porta Regum), is
unique from the feature it possesses in having a round arch
within a foliated pedimental frame, an unpleasing combination.
Paintings representing the Saviour receiving the church from
King Roger, which adorned the walls above the door, existed
until after A.D. 1600.
Within, the Church (which measures 243 by 92 feet), poorly
looked after, presents the form of a Latin cross, with nave and
aisles, in three levels ; west door to the great arch at the cross
ing ; then three steps and level to choir, which rises in five
steps more. It will be observed that the said arch is woefully
cut into by the roof, which has been lowered in early times,
and thus loses about a third of its value architecturally. A
large wooden crucifix hangs from the crown of the arch. The
transepts once held the prophyry tombs of Henry VI. and
Frederick II., now at Palermo.
Entering the church, we find the nave, with a wooden roof,
originally erected by Manfred in 1263, but restored in 1559. It
is separated from its aisles by sixteen ancient granite
columns with white marble Corinthian capitals and bases :
there is a wide interval between the capitals and the spring of
the arches, the perpendicular line being destroyed in order to
gain elevation. The nave and transepts have a triforium, but
no clerestory. The choir and transepts are vaulted and groined,
though the vaulting is partially concealed by wood. The whole
apse is covered with mosaics. In the semidome is the Saviour
in benediction, with the inscription —
' Factus homo, factor hominis, factique redemptor,
Judico corporeus corpora corda Deus. '
Below, in the centre, is the figure of the Madonna ; saints,
angels, apostles, prophets, kings, judges, and warriors cover the
rest of the wall.
' In the apsis an inscription'declares that King Roger caused the mosaics
to be executed in the year 1148. The only parts of these that now remain
are in the semidome, apsis, and sanctuary ; in the first of which a colossal
bust of the Saviour was represented in glory and benediction between four
angels holding the labarum, and medallions of Melchizedek, Hosea, and
Moses (the latter now destroyed), on a level with Him in the side walls of
the sanctuary. In the second course in the apsis and sanctuary the twelve
apostles were placed ; in a third the Virgin in the centre, with the prophets
Joel, Amos, and Obadiah, and lower down a double row of prophets,
elders, and saints. In these mosaics a far higher class of art than the
Roman of the period was to be distinguished. The space was well
distributed, and the apostles by no means displayed that absence of design
or of form to which previous centuries had been accustomed. The

6o SICILY
draperies were good, and recalled by a certain breadth and elegance older
and more classic times ; although in the vestments of some angels their
close fit and lozenge or square shaped ornaments of gold still displayed an
Oriental taste. The features of the apostles were of traditional types,
those of the tall angels whose hair, bound by ribands, flowed down their
necks, were quiet, plump, and round, and though Byzantine in the
depression of the nose less than usually unpleasant in gaze.' — Crowe and
Cavalcaselle, vol. i.
On each side the head of the Nave is an organ carried upon
four granite columns. The second bay R. stands a shell-marble
(lumachello) Font, carved in relief with four lions. The Nave is
of seven bays, and the pointed arcades of it are borne on granite
and cipollino columns, the bases of which belong to divers
ancient buildings.
At the head of the R. aisle are seen sarcophagi ; the lower
one, Roman, and the upper, of the early thirteenth century. In
the former lie the remains of Euphemia, sister of Frederick of
Aragon ; at the last column of the L. aisle is a nearly obliterated
life-size fresco of a figure holding a vase on which are displayed
two heads. Locally, it is known as King Roger.
The transepts very strangely present a triforium-gallery
above the clear-storey. In left transept contains sarcophagi of
two bishops, 1576 and 1587.
On the face of R. Choir wall is the elaborate tomb, Marco
Antonio de Gussiis, Bishop of Catania ; and in a chapel
opposite will be seen other good tombs by Leonardo Pennino.
At the sides of the chancel-rails, which are beautifully inlaid
with mosaic, is inscribed L., ' Sedes Regia,' the King's throne ;
and R., ' Sedes Episcopalis,' the Bishop's throne.
The High. Altar is made up of rich marbles ; but less rich
than its fellow at Messina.
The mosaics are certainly the most splendid in Sicily. That
of the deep and lofty apse originally covered two entire groined
bays in addition. The head of the apse, completed in 1 148, as
an inscription records, displays the Saviour in demi-figure in
the act of Benediction, with Seraphim in the spandrels. Below,
follow the golden-grounded sections : (1) The Virgin, between
Archangels; (2) SS. Peter and Paul, and the four Evangelists ;
(3) SS. Philip, James, Andrew, Simon, Bartholomew, and
Thomas. Below this occurs ' Rogerius Rex Egregius plenis pietatis hoc
statuit templum motus zelo pietatis, &c, 1148.'
On R. Wall in four sections. Lowest, SS. Nicolas, Basilius,
Giorgios, Figofios. Next, Theodoros, Giorgios, Demetrios,
Nestor. 3rd, Jonas, Maccabeus, Nahum. Above, David and
Solomon. On L. Wall. Lowest section, Gregorios, Augustine, Sylvester,

oo?

CEFALU 61
Dionysios. Next, SS. Peter, Vincent, Laurence, Stephen. 3rd,
Job, Amos, Abias. 4th, Osea, Moses.
' The Saviour was dressed in a purple tunic shot with gold, and a blue
mantle draping the left arm and shoulder in angular and involved folds,
the mass of which seemed to impede rather than assist the development of
the form. The head, though apparently that of an ascetic — thin, bony,
and of sharp features — was surrounded by very heavy masses of hair over
lapping each other, hanging in a succession of curves on the shoulder, and
with the now usual double forelock on the wrinkled forehead. The brows
were regularly and naturally arched, and the eyes without gaze. The nose
was long and thin, the mouth small. A regular beard covered the lips,
cheeks, and lower part of the chin. The bare neck, muscularly developed,
was not without evident defects of anatomical form. Fine and even
majestic as this figure certainly was, it appeared inferior to those of the
apostles below it ; and it seems characteristic of the artists of this time
that , in the effort to make a Christian type whose features should not be
reminiscent of the antique, they produced nothing that indicated a creative
spirit. They imagined the Saviour lean from abstinence but by no means
of ideal form. . . . That the mosaics of Cefalu were the labour of more
than one hand is evident from the superiority of those parts which are
nearest the spectator over others that are more distant.' — Crowe and
Cavalcaselle, vol. i.
The most ancient Cephaloedium is believed to be a Sikel site.
It occupied the summit of the grand shell-stone rock towering
above the town. The lower town formed its harbour. It was
betrayed to Dionysios in B.C. 390. As the path up to it is steep,
but good, and the place is preserved, one must ask for the key
and custodian at the Municipio. It is always given with civility ;
and if only for the view, it is well worth the hour or so spent in
visiting it. But there are remains up there which cannot be
seen elsewhere in Sicily : especially the so-called ' Tempio
di Diana,' a polygonal work not earlier, in all probability,
than sixth century B.C. : but credited, locally and beyond,
with extravagant antiquity. It is built of large stones without
cement, with its principal front facing the sea, and measuring
m. 20 in length and m. 3.50 in height. Mediaeval remains
encumber portions of it. 'Qui abitava Diana,' interrupts a
local shepherd as we sit down to sketch and measure. The
chief door (and there are two) is to the right, and opens between
two stone panels ; the right one of which is monolith. The
caps are moulded, as likewise is the monolithic architrave.
The following sketch will give an idea of it. The only other
known polygonal walls in Sicily are near Collisano, eighteen
miles away.
On the way back, about 100 yards from this structure is
shown a magnificent Tholos, or cistern in the rock, 20 metres
deep by 12 metres wide; calculated to enable the. place to
stand lengthy siege. It is full of birds' nests. The view in-

62 SICILY
eludes everything from Cap Gallo beyond Palermo to Cape
Orlando, and the Lipari group of islands.
Cape Tindaro (920 ft.), after Patti, on tbe way to Messina,
marks the site of a colony of Messenians planted there by
(B.C. 396) Dionysios and called Tyndaris, after the divine twin
brothers of Peloponnesus. One of the two granite heights
which crown the headland was occupied by the city, fragments
of whose walls, following the cliffs, may be seen, and consider
able Roman remains, such as the theatre (custode, 50 c), on
the hill-side, and a so-called gymnasium. Pliny records a dis
astrous landslide by which a portion of the town subsided into
the sea. The view from above the theatre will compare with
that from Eryx.
After the expulsion of the Carthaginians, Tyndaris continued
long a faithful ally of Rome, and is spoken of as 'a most noble
city' by Cicero. Its admirable port made it play an important
part in the naval war between Octavianus and Sextus Pompeius.
It was the seat of a bishopric in Christian times, but seems to
have declined during the Norman government, probably from
the filling up of its port, which is now a sand-bed terribly pro
ductive of malaria. The highest part of the rock is crowned
by the picturesquely situated convent La Madonna del Tin
daro, a conspicuous sea-mark.
The little town of Patti (1 1,000 inhabitants), ' la Magnanima '
(Locanda Caldo, bad), climbs up a pyramidal hill backed by
high mountains. Narrow streets lead up to the cathedral,
which contains, in two antique sarcophagi, the remains of
the two wives of the great Count Roger — Giuditta of Mortain,
the faithful companion of his hardships and privations in
the conquest of Sicily, and the unhappy Andelasia of Mont-
ferrat, mother of Roger II. and foundress of many convents
and churches, who, when she lost her illustrious husband, was
persuaded to marry Baldwin, King of Jerusalem, and found
after a year had passed that he had another wife. She died
here in 11 18, in a convent which she founded after her return
from Jerusalem. The effigy of Andelasia is modern.
The castle-crowned promontory of Milazzo marks the position
of another Zanklaean settlement, the port and modern town
lying below it, which Garibaldi took by assault, July 20, i860,
from the Neapolitan commander. Between this and Naulochus
Agrippa in B.C. 36 put an end to the seven years' dominion of
Sextus Pompeius over Sicily in a sea-fight, which Sextus him
self witnessed from the shore. The obstructive triumphs of
Sextus had kept Sicilian corn from flowing to the state-stores
at Rome. Hence the importance of the victory.
Eight miles farther back are Barcellona and Pozzo di Gotto,

MESSINA 63
divided by the brook Castroreale, supposed to be the Longanus,
on whose banks Hiero II. defeated the Mamertines B.C. 270.
In front lie the Lipari Islands. Twelve miles eastward is
Messina (82,000 inhabitants), Zankle, the sickle (Braccio de
S. Rainieri), on the Straits looking across to Reggio (Rhegium)
rather indirectly, is backed by beautiful mountains, and has an
excellent climate.
Hotel*. — Trinacria in via Garibaldi ; Vittoria, same ; Continental,
near Duomo. f
Caffe Duilia; Palestro; Pasticceria Germanica, via San Camillo 34 ; Le
Chalet in Giardino a Mare ; Music.
Electric Tramways from the Marina to Faro, and Campo Santo.
Telegraph and Po9t Oince.— Via S. Camillo.
Until*. — Corso Cavour 299. Very good.
Ferry-boats to Reggio for Naples. As to luggage, the boys and men who
over-assist it to hotels are annoying, and the best thing to do is to put the
matter at once into the hotel-keeper's hands, and tell him to settle it.
Physicians. — Dr. Gabbi, Piazza Vittoria 2 ; Dr. Cammareri, Viale San
Martino. Consuls. — English, Gerald Lascelles, Esq. ; American, Mr. Charles M.
Caughy. Booksellers. — Several. Trimarchi, Corso Cavour 231.
Theatre. — Vittorio Emmanuele, 3 lire to 5 lire places.
Coming across the beautiful Straits, the houses and churches
of Messina — 'portus et porta ' Siciliae, as it was called by Charles
of Anjou — soon grow into individuality across the blue waters,
and the steamer glides through the currents of Charybdis,
where the Fata Morgana are often seen in calm, hot weather,
at high tides, in the sunrise. By the little fort of San Salvador,
where Count Roger built his first church after the Normans
landed in Sicily, we enter the harbour whose shape, resembling
a sickle, gave the place its early name of Zankle\
' Zankle or Messana has always been a prosperous city, but in Greek
times it never held at all a foremost place among the cities of Sicily.
' It seems to have been first settled in an irregular way by pirates from
KymS. This would not give their town the rights of a regular Greek
colony ; but it was afterwards founded again in a more orderly way from
KymS and Chalkis, with a founder from each. It was a wonderful site,
on the strait at the foot of the hills, with a noble harbour, fenced in by a
narrow strip of land in front of it. ZankU, or rather Danklon, is said to
have meant a reaping-hook in the Sikel tongue ; hence the name. The
settlers at Zankle- presently turned the north-east corner of Sicily, and made
themselves an outpost on the northern coast. This was on the peninsula
of Mylai or Milazzo, which one legend called the grazing-place of the oxen
of the sun in the time of Odysseus.' — E. A. Freeman.

It is a city —

1 Che al mar le sponde, il dorso ai monti
Occupa tutta e tutta a cerchio adorna ! '

64 SICILY
Yet Messina, ' La Nobile,' would be a dull town of featureless
houses if it were not for the exquisite glints of blue sea with
white sails skimming across it, and a background of roseate
Italian mountains, which may be seen down every steep street,
or through each of the high dark archways, which perforate the
seaward side of the Strada Ferdinanda (now called Strada
Garibaldi). Owing partly to the terrible earthquake of 1783,
which laid the greater part of the city in ruins, there are few
buildings of importance, and those few are for the most part
relics of the Norman sovereigns, who took an especial interest
in this city as the one which was the first to acknowledge their
rule. One whole day will probably suffice to ordinary travellers for
the sights of Messina, and a drive to the Faro. They will first
loiter along the Marina, which is the centre of Messinian life,
crowded with fishermen, and with porters lading and unlading
the closely-moored vessels. Here is the great octagonal
Fountain of Neptune, a noble work, for the most part by Fra
Giovanni Angelo Montorsoli, who was an associate of Michael
Angelo till 1563. The naked sea-god stands between figures of
Scylla and Charybdis struggling out of the chains by which
they are fettered. Two fine bronze fountains which stood near
this, and stately bronze statues of Charles III. and Francis I.
of Naples, were destroyed by the rebels in 1848.
Turning a few steps inland from hence, we find ourselves at
the south end of the Via Garibaldi, where, at the entrance of
the Via Cardines, is the curious Norman Church of the Nunzia-
tella or L'Annunziata dei Catalani, which was already an
ancient church in 1169, though it was never either a temple or
a mosque. It was originally called L'Annunziata del Castella
mare, as the sea-gate, with its fortified towers, then stood close
by ; but the name was changed when the Aragonese princes
conferred it upon their Spanish followers for their separate use.
The apse is decorated by two ranges of small stilted Norman
arches with ancient columns. The Arabic inscriptions on either
side of the entrance are fragments of a Saracenic building, and
allude to the glories of Messala, son of Haram, a Saracenic
chieftain. Close by, where the Via Primo Settembre crosses the Via
Cardines, are four marble fountains adorned with tritons and
sea-horses, from designs of Giacomo Calcagni, 1742.
Turning to the right, up the Via Primo Settembre, we reach
the Church of La Cattolica or the Madonna del Graffeo.
Only the west front is old, but it bears the pompous inscription
— ' Cattolica Ecclesiarum Graecarum Mater et Caput,' having
been in the hands of the Greek clergy ever since 11 68, when

Cefalu
(So-called Tempio d'Diana.;

MUSSINA 65
the present cathedral was taken away from them. The Greek
Protopapa here is nominated by the Pope, and approved by the
Archbishop of Messina.1 Under the high altar is a column
with a Greek inscription to ' Aesculapius and Hygeia, protectors
of the city.'
Hence we easily reach the Piazza del Duomo and the
Cathedral (S. Maria Nuova La Matrice) which was founded by
Count Roger in 1098 and finished by his son. Count Roger
built also the churches of S. Niccolo and S. Salvador, of which
nothing now remains. S. Niccolo was the first Cathedral, but
the Roman Catholic see was moved in 1168 to S. Maria Nuova,
which had hitherto belonged to the Greek Church, and the
Greek clergy were compelled to move to La Cattolica.
Owing to many catastrophes, such as fires, and earthquakes,
and restorers, there is little external beauty left in the cathedral,
except at the west end, which is built of alternate courses of red
and white marble, and combines well with a graceful allegorical
fountain by Montorsoli, erected 1547-51. The three Gothic
portals were added under the House of Anjou, and edited later
by the House of Aragon. That in the centre is a marvel of
delicate and varied sculpture in relief, with figures of saints by
Gio. Battista Mazzolo. The interior, 305 ft. in length, is de
signed as a Latin cross, with three aisles, separated by twenty-
six columns of Egyptian granite, said to have been taken from the
temple of Neptune at the Faro : they have gilded Corinthian
capitals. There is a dome over the crossing. The roof is of
timber, and is a restoration by King Manfred of an ancient roof
burned in 1254 at the funeral of Conrad, son of the Emperor
Frederick II., the canopy over the corpse having been so high,
that the lights by which it was crowned set fire to the rafters :
the body of the prince perished in the flames.
The three apses are filled with mosaics, added in 1322 by
Frederick of Aragon and Archbishop Guidotto de' Tabiatis,
who are introduced kneeling at the feet of the colossal figure
of the Saviour, with Peter II. , the son of Frederick. Hard by,
in a crimson velvet covered coffin, or rather trunk, on the right,
rest the ashes which, gathered up after the fire in the church,
were supposed to be those of Conrad, son of the great Emperor
Frederick II. and father of ill-fated Conradin, 1254. It bears
the inscription —
' Imperio praestans, forma Conradus, et armis,
Pro meritis cineres dat tibi, Zancla, suos. '
1 Those who follow the eastern ritual in Sicily, remains of Greek colonies which
migrated at the Turkish invasion of Greece, are almost confined to six places — Piano
de1 Greci near Palermo, Palazzo Adriano, Mezzojuso, Contessa, Santa Cristina, and
Messina. E

66 SICILY
Opposite, is the coffin of Alphonso the Magnanimous, 1458,
who abdicated in favour of his son Ferdinand, and passed the
last ten months of his life at Messina in penitence and prayer —
' Alphonsum Lybitina diu fugis arma gerentem,
Mox positis, quaenam gloria? fraude necas. '
In the round window at the back of the apse rests Antonia,
Queen of Frederick III. of Aragon —
' Hic regum suboles, Friderici Antonia conjux
Sicaniae regina jacet. Thus Zancla supremo
Dat cineri, et raptam florentibus ingemit annis.'
In the transept a beautiful Gothic monument with pillars and
trefoiled arches of coloured marbles marks the resting-place of
five early archbishops. In the south transept a noble tomb by
Gregorio da Siena commemorates Archbishop Guidotto de'
Tabiatis, 1333, and bears his effigy. The holy water stoup in
the L. aisle rests on an ancient pillar bearing a Greek inscrip
tion like that of La Cattolica. The marble pulpit is attributed
to Gagini, the font to Gaddo Gaddi of Florence. Of the
statues, we need only remark that of the Baptist to right of
the entrance, by the Sicilian sculptor Antonio Gagini, 1525.
The gorgeously encrusted shrine of the high altar contains
the famous pretended letter of the Virgin, the palladium of
Messina, which is said to have performed endless cures, to have
driven out devils, and which queens have thankfully worn round
their necks in their confinements. Yet the existing letter is
not affirmed to be more than a copy (the original having been
'destroyed through malice'), and is a translation of a transla
tion. S. Paul, to whom the Virgin at Jerusalem entrusted a
letter of congratulation to the Messinese on their conversion,
is said to have turned her Hebrew into Greek, and Constantine
Lascaris, in 1467, translated his Greek into Latin. In golden
letters at the back of the high altar, the letter thus appears : —
' Maria Virgo Joachim filia, Dei humillima, Christi Jesu crucifixi, mater,
ex tribu Juda stirpe David, Messanensibus omnibus salutem et Dei Patris
omnipotentis benedictionem.
' Vos omnes fide magna legatos et nuntios per publicum documentum ad
nos misisse constat : filium nostrum Dei genitum, Deum et Hominem esse
fatemini et in coelum post suam resurrectionem ascendisse, Pauli apostoli
electi praedicatione mediante, viam veritatis agnoscentes. Ob quod vos et
ipsam civitatem benedicimus, cujus perpetuam protectricem nos esse
volumus. Anno Filii nostri XLII. Indict I. Ill Nonas Junii. Luna
XXVII. Feria V. Ex Hierosolymis. Maria Virgo quae supra confirmat
praesens chirographum manu propria.'
On the 3rd of June, on which day the forged letter is dated,
the Madonna della Lettera, Protettrice della Citta, is carried

MESSINA 67
in triumph through the streets ; but her great festival is in
August, in honour of the Assumption, and is one of the most
extraordinary spectacles imaginable.
' The pomp commences with a train of nobles and city magistrates with
their insignia of office and decked in their most splendid habiliments ; then
follow the military, both cavalry and infantry, with banners flying, to the
sound of martial music : next come the fraternities of monks and friars,
a motley crew, black, white, and grey, bound round with knotted cords
and loaded with relics and crucifixes : these precede an immense car, equal
in height to the very tops of the houses, which totters as it is dragged along
with ropes by many hundreds of cattle in the shape of men. The crowds
that follow are innumerable, from town and country. The lower storey of
this movable tower is embellished with hangings of rich silk and velvet,
forming an imaginary sepulchre for the Virgin ; it is filled with a band of
musicians and a choir, who chant solemn dirges over the body of the
deceased. Twelve youths, with brazen glories on their heads, encircle this
tomb externally, to represent the twelve apostles : round them a circular
frame carries with an horizontal motion, from right to left, several little
children attached to it, in flowing robes and painted wings, to support the
character of angels. Upon the platform of the second storey stands a
company of prophets chanting the Madonna's praises; and in front of
this prophetical choir a large image of the sun, revolving with a vertical
motion, carries round six infants affixed to the ends of its principal rays,
and styled the cherubim; six more on the other side perform similar
revolutions upon a figure of the moon. The third storey is decorated with
a tribe of singing patriarchs, around whom a circular frame moves hori
zontally, from left to right, with a train of seraphim. Over the heads of
the patriarchal family is fixed a large sphere, painted sky-blue, and figured
with golden stars ; little winged infants flit around this, under the denomina
tion of " moving intelligences " or the " souls of the universe " : upon the
sphere itself stands a damsel fifteen or sixteen years old, decked in em
broidered robes glittering with spangles, in the character of our Saviour ;
and in her right hand, stretched out and supported by iron machinery, she
holds a beautiful child, who represents the soul of the blessed Virgin.
' At an appointed signal this well-freighted car begins to move, when it
is welcomed with reiterated shouts and vivas by the infatuated populace,
drums and trumpets play, the Dutch concert in the machine commences,
and thousands of pateraroes fired off by a train of gunpowder make even
the shores of Calabria re-echo with the sound; then angels, cherubim,
seraphim, and animated intelligences, all begin to revolve in such im
plicated orbits as to make even the spectators giddy with the sight ; but
alas for the unfortunate little actors in the pantomime 1 they in spite of
their heavenly characters are soon doomed to experience the infirmities of
mortality : angels droop, cherubim are scared out of their wits, seraphim
set up outrageous cries, souls of the universe faint away, and moving
intelligences are moved by the most terrible inversion of the peristaltic
motion ; then thrice happy are those to whom an upper station has been
allotted. Some of the young brats, in spite of the fracas, seem highly
delighted with their ride, and eat their gingerbread with the utmost com
posure as they perform their evolutions ; it not unfrequently happens that
one or more of these poor innocents fall victims to this revolutionary system
and earn the crown of martyrdom. But imagination can scarcely conceive
the violent gestures and frantic exclamations of the crowd below, beating
their breasts and tearing their hair, calling out the name of the Madonna

68 SICILY
in the most impassioned manner and trampling each other down in eager
haste to kiss the sacred car or touch it with wax tapers, which are thus im
pregnated with all the virtues of an apothecary's shop ; the scene can
be compared to nothing but Bedlam broke loose or a set of ancient
bacchanals in the celebration of their mystic orgies. At different stations
the pageant stops : then, whilst all is silent, the personage representing our
Saviour addresses the soul of His mother in Sicilian verse, and the soul of
the Virgin returns a poetic answer. This ended, they both make frequent
signs of the cross in the air and pronounce a benediction over the people,
who receive it even with tears of devotion. Then the tottering car again
moves forward, the pateraroes roar, and the sky is rent with reiterated
shouts. The pageant closes in the great square opposite the cathedral,
where two enormous equestrian statues are erected of pasteboard, re
presenting Cham and Rhea, the supposed founders of Messina : they are
called by the vulgar Madre and Griffone,1 and serve to frighten children
like our Gog and Magog.' — T. S. Hughes.
To the west of the Piazza del Duomo runs the Corso Cavour,
opening from which (right) is the Piazza Annunziata, contain
ing a fine bronze statue by Andrea Calamech, 1572, of Don
John of Austria, the victor of Lepanto, brother of Philip II. of
Spain, erected by the city in his honour. Amongst the many
steep narrow streets, recalling those of Genoa, which open on
the other side of the Corso, is the Salita di Gregorio, which, by
a succession of staircases, leads up to the fantastic conventual
Church of S. Gregorio, built in 1542, on the site of a temple of
Jupiter, from ridiculous designs of Andrea Calamech, whose
architecture was very inferior to his sculpture. The interior is
a Greek cross, and is perfectly covered with pietre dure, worth
seeing as one of the best specimens in Sicily of this extravagant
decoration. Most striking is the view from the platform in front of the
church, which overlooks the town (with its picturesque variety
of roofs and towers), and the deep blue straits, up which S. Paul
sailed in the Castor and Pollux — with the Faro on one side and
on the other the noble rock of Scilla, behind which Aspromonte
and the rest of the Calabrian mountains are bathed in the most
delicate amethystine hues. When brown monks are leaning
against the ancient balustrades, or women are resting their
huge red and green water-jars upon the parapet, an artist could
not possibly wish for happier opportunities. Truly does Cicero
describe the place as ' Messana situ, moenibus, portuque
ornata.' The convent is now a museum (fee 50 cent.), contain
ing, besides a beautiful Madonna and an Annunciation by
Antonello da Messina, many Roman, Byzantine, and Arabic
antiquities. 1 They really commemorate the defeat of the Saracens and the victory of Count
Roger over the Arab Prince Griffone. A camel is also dragged in the procession in
memory of that upon which Griffone rode in his final combat with the Christians.

MESSINA 69
A little to the south (in the Strada dei Monasteri) of S.
Gregorio is S. Agostino, of which the northern side is a
remnant of an ancient Norman church, rebuilt for the most
part in the fourteenth century, with an elaborate east door.
It is almost useless to ask one's way in Messina, or anywhere
else in Sicily. One is sure to be answered by ' Chi saccia ? ' —
'Who knows?' or with the assertion in reply to any remon
strance, that a housewife has no need to know the way any
where but to her church or her fountain. But if we continue a
little down the Strada, a picturesque winding path on our left
will lead up to the Villa Rocca Guelfonia, on the summit of
the hill, to which foreigners are generally admitted by the
kindness of the proprietors. Here, amid a wealth of the most
lovely flowers, stand the remains of the octagonal Torre Guel
fonia, built by Count Roger, after his capture of Messina, and
frequently used as a residence by the Aragonese kings. There
is a splendid view over the town and straits, as well as into the
recesses of the mountains, with the forts of Castellaccio and
Gandolfo on their lower spurs. Hence we may again descend
by the Torrente Boccetta, in which few nuns are left to peer out
of the heavy barred windows on either side of the street — to
the Church of L'Immacolata or S. Francesco d'Assisi, a
spacious Gothic building of the thirteenth century (restored
after fire in 1884), containing many pictures of the Messinese
school and several interesting monuments, including that (left
of west door) of Angelo Balsamo, Baron of S. Basilio, 1507,
and the gilt bronze sarcophagus of Francesca Cybo, the fifteen-
year old wife of Giovanni Lancia, 1618. The bones of Frederick
III. of Aragon and his mother Elizabeth rest in the apse, near
the high altar, upon an ancient sarcophagus adorned with a
relief of the Rape of Proserpine. The brass lectern was made
in Antwerp, 1545.
In returning down the Corso Garibaldi (notice the pretty
gold peasant ornaments in the shops), we may visit (near the
so-called English Garden, glowing in winter with scarlet
poinssettias) the Church of S. Andrea d'Avellino, which
contains a striking picture of Christ before Pilate, the chef
d'&uvre of Caravaggio. Many other pictures of Caravaggio
and Rodriguez are scattered through the numerous churches of
Messina, for the most part of little interest, though we may
notice S. Maria Alemanna, now a magazine, an Early Pointed
building belonging to the Hospice of the Teutonic knights,
which was open to all Germans visiting Sicily, especially to
those brought thither on their way to or from the Crusades.
The exact site where S. Placidus, the cherished pupil of S.
Benedict (so well known from the picture by Perugino in the

70 SICILY
Vatican), underwent martyrdom from the Saracens in 584,
together with two of his brothers and his young sister Flavia, is
not known.
' Les enfants de saint Benoit inauguraient ainsi la longue s£rie de leurs
luttes et de leurs victoires. Le sang de Placide arrosa les semailles de
l'Ordre en Sicile, ou sa moisson a 6t6 jusqu'a nos jours si abondante.' —
Montalembert, Moines D' Occident.
The Campo Santo outside Porta Imperiale is worth visiting
for the sake of its enchanting view. Some of the monuments
also have merit, or are interesting from their inscriptions. La
Farina, the patriot and writer, lies here (i860).
But the most popular drive from Messina is that along the
coast to the Faro on Cape Pelorus (7^ m.), passing close to the
sea through every variety of southern vegetation, with exquisite
views toward Calabria. In summer, when alone you can
become truly acquainted with the life of Italy and her people,
this road is crowded in the evening with carriages which all go
as far as La Grotta, and turn in the peristyle of its pretty
circular church. It is several miles farther to the cape, where
travellers are beset by the rough, noisy inhabitants' of the
village of Faro (tramway, 1 hr.), and a dirty begging crowd some
times accompanies them to the lighthouse, and prevents their
having any enjoyment. There is a good view from the latter of
the Lipari Isles, amongstwhichvolcanic Stromboli is conspicuous.
' Insula Sicanium juxta latus Aeoliamque
Erigitur Liparen, fumantibus ardua saxis;
Quam subter specus et Cyclopum exesa caminis
Antra Aetnaea tonant, validique incudibus ictus
Auditi referunt gemitum, striduntque cavernis
Stricturae Chalybum , et fornacibus ignis anhelat :
Vulcani domus, et Vulcania nomine tellus. '
— Virgil, Aen. viii. 416.
The old poets place the site of Charybdis, a whirlpool which
inspired extraordinary terror in mariners of ancient times,
immediately opposite Scilla, and it is supposed to have been
situated near the Faro point. There is no whirlpool here now,
and it may have been modified into imperceptibility by earth
quakes. It had ceased to have any importance in the time of
Strabo, who believed that the phenomenon alluded to by the
ancients was a still existing though slight whirlpool caused by
the fluctuations of the tides in the meeting of the two seas at
the point called Garofalo, just outside the port of Messina.
' Dextrum Scylla latus, laevum implacata Charybdis
Obsidet ; atque imo barathri ter gurgite vastos
Sorbet in abruptum fluctus, rursusque sub auras
Erigit alternos, et sidera verberat unda. '
— Virgil, Aen. iii. 420.

Photo']

[Bruno

TAORMINA

TAORMINA 71
' Ilium inter gemini nantem confinia montis
Nee Scyllae saevo conterruit impetus ore
Quin canibus rapidas inter freta curreret undas :
Nee violenta suo consumpsit more Charybdis ;
Vel si sublimis fluctu consurgeret imo,
Vel si interrupto nudaret gurgite pontum.'
— Tibullus, iv. 1, 70.
' Come fa l'onda la sovra Cariddi,
Che si frange con quella in cui s'intoppa ;
Cosi convien che qui la gente riddi.' — Dante, Inf. vii. 22.
' Next we began to sail up the narrow strait lamenting. For on the one
hand lay Scylla, and on the other mighty Chary lulls in terrible wise sucked
down the salt water. As often as she belched it forth, like a cauldron on a
great fire, she would seethe up through all her troubled deeps, and over
head the spray fell on the tops of either cliff. But oft as she gulped down
the salt sea water, within she was all plain to see through all her troubled
deep, and the rock around roared horribly and beneath the earth was
manifest swart with sand, and pale fear gat hold on my men. Toward
her, then, we looked, fearing destruction; but Scylla meanwhile caught
from out my hollow ship six of my company, the hardiest of their hands
and the chief in might. And looking into the swift ship to find my men,
even then I marked their feet and hands as they were lifted on high, and
they cried aloud in their agony, and called me by my name for that last
time of all. Even as when a fisher on some headland lets down with a
long rod his baits for a snare to the little fishes below, casting into the deep
the horn of an ox of the homestead, and as he catches each, flings it
struggling ashore, so struggling were they borne upward to the cliff. And
there she devoured them shrieking in her gates, they stretching forth their
hands to me in the dread death-struggle. And the most pitiful thing was
this that mine eyes have seen of all my travail in searching out the paths of
the sea.' — Homer's Odyssey, xii., Trans, by Butcher and Lang.
The journey to Taormina (Tauromenium Colonia Augusta
Tauromenitana) occupies but \\ hours, skirting the sea, and
the glowing orange orchards next to it, which more resembles
some grand river than the ocean, as beyond the Calabrian
mountains stretch their long lofty wall, here and there silver-
pointed with snows. Two especially picturesque spots occur
on the way — Scaletta Zanclea, with the old castle of its Principi
di Ruffo above it ; and lovely Capo S. Alessio, whose aban
doned fort upon a rock is seen jutting out into the sea. The
promontory of Taormina is soon reached, and beyond it the
station of Giardini, whence Garibaldi passed over to Calabria.
Taormina is throned on a platform among the rocky heights
nearly 700 ft. above the waves, and a winding, dusty road leads
thither in three miles.
1 horse vettura — 2 persons, 3 lire ; luggage, extra 50 c. If in difficulties
leave it to the hotel to settle. Hotels — Tlmeo (Peppino Foresta, proprietor),
close to the Theatre, with beautiful views; but usually besieged by its
patrons before Christmas, and held against all comers, except royalties,

72 SICILY
who have done so much to spoil Taormina. It has a ' dependence ' on the
Corso Umberto in the town. Castello-a-Marc, same view ; Victoria ;
San Domenico (former convent), at the other end of Taormina; and others
still more recent, and now building. The season lasts from December to
May, and there are about 10,000 visitors. Pension Giulio Reif (German),
Giuseppe Bruno, N. 154. Giuseppe Bambara, Corso Umberto, N. 68.
Laurent Fichera, N. 218. Post and Telegraph— Piazza del Municipio, N.
46 ; three times a day, 6, n, 5.30 p.m. Money-changer — Pagano, Corso
Umberto, N. 104. Chemist — Piazza del Duomo, Fr. Ragusa, N. 49.
Carlo Caccidla, Largo Nove Aprlle, N. 33. The Wine of Monte Venere
is very excellent.
There is a distinct tariff for driving down to Giardini (station). Bargain,
at any rate, before going ; for the hour, 1 person and 1 horse, 2 lire. For
boating excursions to the Grotte, 1 lira each person. There are many
boatmen. The embarkation takes place at Riviera Mazzar6 and Riviera
di Pagliara. Donkeys with saddle, Taormina to Castel-Mola above,
1.50 lire; Taormina to Monte Venere, above, 2.50 lire. Guides for the
day, 3 lire ; half a day, 1.50.
There is nothing sad about Taormina, except the process,
now rapidly advancing, of making it a fashionable loafing place.
The natives are pleasant and well-mannered. It consists of one
long, well-paved street and its adjuncts, and in the neighbour
ing valleys one may still hear the Pan-pipe ' well-touched/ as
Milton would say. It presents a series of pictures which never
become wearisome. The so-called palaces — the best is known
as Palazzo Corvaja — are small weather-beaten mansions with
fragments of Saraceno-Gothic sculpture, and wide, low, heavy
arches beneath, serving at once as door and window to the
shops now occupying their recesses. Here, winter and summer
alike, old women sit like immovable sibyls in the doorways,
spinning all the day long : otherwise, in the hot hours the
street is almost deserted, but in the early morning and evening
it is alive with noise and tumult, when all the bells are clang
ing, the children hurrying to school or benediction, and the
flocks of goats clattering in from the country to be milked.
The street ends in a little piazza with an old gateway, a church,
statues of souls frizzling in purgatory, and a terrace which is
the meeting-place for idleness or games of every sort. Outside
the old gateway (P. Catania, 1440) is the Hotel Etna, and then,
within, the picturesque building called Palazzo del Duca di San
Stefano. Then comes the Cathedral, opening upon a piazza
with a charming old fountain (1635) and palm-tree. The side
door is of the fourteenth century. Farther still another ancient
gateway occurs in the town wall, beyond which the road becomes
a rugged path in the mountain side. Amongst the charming
pictures which dwell in the minds of those who have often gone
down this street, many will remember a little side entry, filthy,
rugged, steep, and damp, overgrown with nettles, and ending

TAORMINA

TAORMINA 73
in a dirty stuccoed wall ; but in the upper part of this wall two
beautiful round arches, divided by a single column, above
which a coronet is sculptured, and through the open arches a
wealth of golden oranges and brilliant sunlit leaves, seen
against the bluest sky in Europe. A little above this stands
La Badia, a Gothic ruin, having three pointed arches filled
with tracery and a diapered wall, beautiful in form and
colour, and rising from a thicket of prickly pears. Below (R.)
the street (in the Largo 9 Aprile) is S. Agostino, a large
convent with deserted cloisters, a well with marvellous
echoes, and carving which, as its old sacristan says, is quite
' spaventoso.' Travellers will already have seen, from the windows of the
Hotel Tim6o, some red walls crowning the bare hill on the
right. They are those of the famous Theatre, which is reached
in a few minutes from the northern end of the street, by a stony
path. A little gate and an old custode are passed ; but visitors
are allowed to wander about unattended, and will probably
mount at once to the upper ranges of seats, to gaze upon one of
the most beautiful views in the world. The theatre has nothing
but Roman work left in it except its proportions, which may be
those of the original.
Hence the vast expanse of Etna (' Mongibello ') — ' the pillar
of heaven, the nurse of sharp, eternal snow,' as Pindar calls it,
is seen in all its majesty, forming the background of the scena,
the summit of the volcano appearing in the centre. There
are no terrible lava-streams in sight, with their painful
reminiscences, but the snow-fields reach upward gradually to
the highest peak (which throws a delicate whiff of smoke along
a turquoise sky), while below they melt softly into the lesser
mountains, clothed with forest and vineyard, and glowing
with every variety of roseate hue, till these lose themselves in
the hazy distance of the sea. On the nearer crags, the town
with its towers and arches and overhanging balconies, and
here and there a cypress, palm, or pine-tree, clings to a rocky
shelf, above gigantic purple rifts, which extend, covered with
cactus, spurge, and cystus, to Giardini in the far depth beside
the waves. On the right are tremendous rocks, crowned by
Siculo-Gothic walls and towers ; and the frame of the picture is
the ruined theatre, with its broken columns and its arches and
seats tufted with flowers — snapdragon, pink catchfly, balm,
basil, and a thousand other sweet herbs, while great acanthi
and aloes, with their mighty spikes of golden blossom alive
with bees, tell of semi-tropical sunshine. No wonder that
Sir Henry Holland, who had rambled all the world over, re
called, in his old age, the view from Taormina, with the Peak

74 SICILY
of Teneriffe and the first sight of Damascus, as the most beauti
ful in his recollection. John Henry Newman wrote —
' Say, hast thou tracked a traveller's round
Nor visions met thee there,
Thou couldst but marvel to have found
This blighted world so fair ?
' And feel an awe within thee rise,
That sinful man should see
Glories far worthier seraph's eyes
Than to be shared by thee ?
1 Store them in heart ! thou shalt not faint
'Mid coming pains and fears,
As the third heaven once nerved a saint
For fourteen trial years. '
— Lyra Apostolica, ' Tauromenium.'
The Greek Theatre (700 ft.), east of the town, itself is semi
circular, and is 357 ft. in diameter externally. The orchestra is
115 ft. Its perfection of structure was celebrated, for a voice
upon the stage could penetrate to every part of the building
when it was occupied by an audience of 30,000. The scena,
with its three gates and its intervening niches for statues, is in
wonderful preservation : the architecture is Roman-Corinthian.
The precise date of the building is unknown, but, both from the
style and from its material being brick, it is a Roman work,
erected upon the site of a Greek theatre, and in the Greek
form, probably in the second century a.d.
There are no other important remains of ancient Tauro
menium (from the hill of Tauros), that founded by the Greek
inhabitants of Naxos, B.C. 403, when they were expelled from
their own city by Dionysios, and which, from its position, was
so important as a fortress during the Roman wars in Sicily.
It became the last stronghold of the Byzantine empire in the
island, being only taken by the Saracens in A.D. 962. Cassar
was defeated at sea in front of it by Sextus Pompeius, whose
seven years' domination of Sicily and its corn-supply so vexed
Rome. The antiquary may visit the 'Naumachia' and the
' Piscina Mirabile,' and the Roman Odeon, at the Church of
S. Catherine, and all must go to see the sparse remains of a
small unknown temple (in opus quadratum) at the Church of 8.
Pancrazio (outside the Porta Messina, turning right from the
Palazzo Corvaja in descending from the Theatre), for the sake
of the exquisite sea and mountain view above the picturesque
arches of the loggia in front of the church. This is dedicated to
the first bishop of Taormina, and said to have been consecrated,
A.D. 40, by S. Peter himself, to whom he was a disciple. The
cella is distinctly preserved.

TAORMINA 75
' Laurel, and cypress tall, and ivy dun,
And vines of sumptuous foliage, all are there :
And a cold spring that pine-clad Aetna flings
Down from the white snow's midst, a draught for gods.'
— Theocritus, Id. xi., Calverley's Trans.
In ascending again from here to the town, a strange eyrie-like
hamlet, seen perched upon a rock on the right, will almost recall
scenes in the backgrounds of Raffaelle and Perugino. It is Mola,
and is reached by a winding path which ascends the hillside be
hind the Hotel Victoria. This is the direct approach to the little
rock-girt citadel, and by it Dionysios, in the winter of 394 B.C.,
climbed up and surprised the garrison. Near the summit the
path becomes a staircase, and ends in a picturesque gateway,
to the small trapezoidal castle, guarding the narrow pass, and
bearing the date of 1578. The views are glorious : one may
descend by tbe castle of Taormina.
The traveller will find himself frequently vis-d-vis with bits of
Siculo-Gothic work all over Taormina : in doorways, windows,
and kite-tailed battlements. Often coats of arms (stemme) catch
one's eye ; but usually these are of later date. The materials
used are local white-limestone, which is most usually employed ;
but for hood-mouldings, and as a geometrical decoration for
string-courses, a black tufo is often very effectively used. In
Piazza Vittoria Emmanuele (Forum) stands Palazzo Corvaia,
with picturesque battlements. It bears a band of inscriptions
around the middle cornice : relating to (S.) Prudence, Justice ;
(E.) Temperance, and Valour ; and (N.) Par Domus e Coelo
sed minore Domino. In the grand salone of the Palace met
the Parliament in 141 1, September 25, convened to settle the
succession to Martin of Aragon, and the discords among the
feudal nobles. In another chamber are seen frescoes decaying
(of c. 1650) — (1) Daniel in the Lions' Den, (2) Maccabees,
(3) Esther, (4) Flight into Egypt. The Cortile, with its stone
outside stair with parapet, and its heavy arches, bears the
strong impress of mediaeval days. In it is shown a fourteenth
century bas-relief representing the (1) Temptation, (2) Expul
sion from Eden, (3) Sacrifice of Abraham. More interesting is
a walled-up Gothic (biforate) window at the second turn of the
stairs, inscribed 'Esto michi in locum Refugii,' with a mystic
lamb and staff in its midst. The palace was built by the Longo
family, whose arms appear in stone on the wall and elsewhere
— the Corvaia shield with date 1508 on the keystone of the
arch of the court. The family occupied another palace within
the ruined Theatre, which used to be known as 'II Palazzo.'
In Via Montecitorio, the (thirteenth century) battlemented
Palazzo Ciampoli likewise was built by the Longo family, and

76 SICILY
is perhaps more ancient than any other here : the Gothic
windows and graceful cornice frieze, of black lava with wheel-
design. The battlements here are cinque-foil, and there is a
good fourteenth century door, and a marble well-head.
La Badia Vecchia (so-called), at the base of the castle-rock
surrounded by gardens, is the embattled remnant of a late
thirteenth century palace (25 cent.). It took its present name
only during the later half of sixteenth century. It appears to
have had a kitchen in its basement, and to have been destroyed
by fire. The biforate pointed windows in the upper floor are
beautiful examples.
San Domenico, now an hotel with an Austrian proprietor, is
at the opposite side of the town from the Theatre, and dates
from the late fourteenth century, but was reconstructed in 1670.
This was the burial-place of the local nobility. There can be
seen the monuments of some of the Corvaia family. From the
cloister are fine views.
The Naumachia (so called) lies under lemon-orchards south
of the Corso, and bounded (west) by Via Naumachia. It was
merely a great ' conserva d'aqua ' of late Roman times, supply
ing the baths and supplied by the aqueduct. It measures
130 m. by 12 m. There are remains of four other 'conservas,'
so that Taormina was well supplied. The Castle above like
wise was independently supplied against siege with four
cisterns. Another imagination on the part of local guides
is the pointing out of the remains of the ' Mint ' or ' Zecca.'
Certainly Tauromenion struck her own coins ; but no trace of
a building identifiable with a mint has been recognised.
With regard to the aqueducts, at least two brought in water,
one from Monte Venere and one from Monte Ziretto ; and
these may have had a Greek origin (for the supply of Naxos),
although the evidences subsisting are Roman.
The best tesselated pavement is that found in 1898 (4.30 m.
by 2.40 m.), behind Noce ; another is next the present ' Pretura '
(10.20 m. by 3.33 m.), with geometrical borders and intersecting
circles ; a third, larger one, is in a garden by the Porta Messina.
In his orations against Verres, Cicero refers to the Forum
of Taormina, in which was placed the statue of Verres, the
corrupt propraetor of Sicily, 73-70 B.C.; — ' Tauromenitani,
quorum est civitas foederata, homines quietissimi, qui maxime
ab injuria nostrorum magistratoriim remotissimi, consueverant
esse praesidio foederis. Hi tamen istius evertere statuam non
dubitarunt, qua oblata basim tamen in Foro manere voluerunt '
(iii. lib. 1 1, 7). Local tradition places this near Palazzo Corvaia.
The Saracens occupied Taormina in a.d. 962, if not earlier,
and their cemetery has been cut through, and is still exposed in

TAORMINA 77
the making of the main road winding up to Taormina from
Giardini. A local superstition declares that he who dares to
count their, tombs will die.
The ' Duomo ' (S. Nicola) does not date before the late four
teenth century. It has undergone frequent alterations, but
has a good side-door (N.). The south door has dog-tooth
mouldings. In the chapel R. of High Altar are the tables of
the Gymnasiarchs, or Greek magistrates who presided over the
games. The Fountain (1635) in front is octagonal, with boys,
sea-horses, and a minotaur — the badge of the town.
S. Antonio with a late fourteenth century door, is being
restored. Beyond this is the South Gate, P. Catania, and the
Grand Hotel ; then we obtain a superb view over the parapet
towards Etna, with, near us on R., an old and short turret with
bold-corbelled battlements, or Torre Saracena.
Similar interesting features are found in Palazzo S. Stefano,
in Via di Spucches, L. of the Corso. The family of Spucches
were from Majorca, in 1428. Guglielmo S. was Castellan of
Mola, up above. Under the palace is a vaulted reservoir, toward
the Piazza del Tocco. It was constructed by Marchese de
Spucches in 1857, but is shown as a Saracenic ' bain-de-Luxe.'
A tier of biforate gracefully-designed Gothic windows (c. 1320).
The names of the streets have a delightfully ancient sound
— Via Diodoro Siculo, Via Apollo Arcagetes, Via Cesare
Ottaviano ; but one never knows when one may wake up
and find them changed by a Circean wand into Cavour, Gari
baldi, &c.
Excursions —
1. The Castello ; easy in an hour from the town.
2. Castel Mola (2080 ft.), by Via di Coseni, or Via dei Cappuccini.
It was surprised with its French garrison by Spaniards, and
taken 19th December 1677. Osteria ; view from Castle.
3. Colle Mastrissa. From Porta Catania ; strong and rough, but
rewarding.
4. Monte Venere. Magnificent (2834 ft. ) ; in 3 hours ; windy.
5. Monte Ziretto. This is continued from Monte Venere.
6. L' Alcantara.
7. S. Antonio, by Porta S. Pancrazio.
8. Le Grotte and Isola Bella.
On a spring morning it would be difficult to find a scene
surpassing that which one surveys from Taormina. It is at
once of the nature of dreamland and reality. You see what
you may only have dreamed of, and you will certainly dream
long afterwards of that which you see. The genius of the spot
perfects both. There are gorges of red and grey rock ; there
are the green crags far above, and the sea, with islets girt with
foam, far below ; and then out beyond, west, everything is

78 SICILY
silvery ; for there are the gently descending ridges, one after
another, blossoming with fruit-trees, veil upon veil, fainter and
fainter, and with a pearl-white sky above, making one wide and
splendid frame, in which rises up grandly the silent, snow-
mantled Etna, pouring just a little white breath to the Gods of
the upper air.
' The whispering of the leaves, the murmuring of the waters, the falling
and rising of the breeze — everything stirs the innermost feelings and
inspires them.' — Meli.
Travellers' who delight in scenery may drive from Giardini,
via Calatabianco, across the Alcantara to Randazzo (Albergo
d'ltalia, in Piazza Nazionale), 2474 ft., and thence by rail to
Bronte, Aderno, Paterno, to Catania; otherwise, taking the
coast-line from Giardini, they pass Aci Reale.
Giarre Riposto (Stat.). Carriages to town, -f mile, 1 lira.
Locanda Venezia. Horses and mules (5 lire) may be procured
here for the ascent of 5 m., through lava-beds and fruit-gardens,
to II Castagno di Cento Cavalli, the grandfather of the forest
of Etna, reputed to be one of the oldest trees in the world. It
appears like a group of four magnificent old trees, but their
stems are all united at a short depth below the surface. It is
calculated that the common stem would be 180 ft. in circumfer
ence. The name is derived from a story that one of the queens
of Aragon, with a hundred mounted followers, took refuge
beneath its branches. Not far distant are two other equally-
astonishing trees, l.a Nave and L'Imperio, and i£ m. higher
up the mountain, // Castagno della Galea, which is 76 ft. in
girth at two feet from the ground.1 All these wonderful trees,
which seem to be on a scale to correspond with the Cyclopes
(i.e., round eyes), the traditional inhabitants of this district, are
believed to be at least a thousand years old, and are protected
by the Government. It was from these woods that Dionysios
of Syracuse cut down great part of the materials for the con
struction of his fleet in B.C. 399.2 In the forest-region of Etna,
a temple existed in ancient days, naturally dedicated to
Vulcan,3 the god of fire, but its exact site is unknown. The
whole air seems fragrant of mythology — one would scarcely be
surprised to see Pan playing under the monarchs of the forest ;
and, resting on the turfy slopes, we should read the descrip
tions of this forest-scenery in the verses of Theocritus, the
word-painter of eastern Sicily —
' There we reclined on deep beds of fragrant lentisk, lowly strewn, and
rejoicing we lay in new stript leaves of the vine. And high above our heads
waved many a poplar, many an elm-tree, while close at hand the sacred
1 Brydone. 2 Diodorus, xiv. 42. 3 Solinus, v. 9.

Photo]

FOUNTAIN TAORMINA

ACI REALE 79
water from the nymph's own cave welled forth with murmurs musical. On
shadowy boughs the burnt cicalis kept their chattering toil, far off the little
owl cried in the thick thorn brake, the larks and finches sang, the ring
dove moaned, the yellow bees were flitting round the springs. All breathed
the scent of the opulent summer, of the season of fruits, pears at our feet
and apples by our sides were rolling plentiful, the tender branches, with
wild plums laden, were earthward bound, and the four-year old pitch seal
was loosened from the mouth of the wine-jars.' — Idyll vii., Langs Trans.
Aci Reale (Albergo Trinacria, Piazza del Duomo ; Ruggiero,
Corso Vittorio Emmanuele).
Close to the station is the Grand Albergo dei Bagni, much frequented
for the sake of the mineral baths, comfortable in warm weather (pension,
io to 15 frs.), but cold and desolate in winter, when it is better to make an
excursion to Aci Reale from the Albergo Centrale at Catania.
Aci Reale is prettily situated amid the rich gardens of
orange and almond which flourish so abundantly upon the
older lava-streams, and the sunny town, with its iron-work
balconies, bright shutters, and latticed convent windows, has
an attractively southern aspect. The Chiesa di S. Sebastiano
has a picturesque campanile. A relic of the worship of Venus
still exists here in the adoration paid in the neighbourhood to
' Santa Venera.' The ' Sulphur King,' so named from being
enriched by the sulphur mines, has a splendid collection of
coins. From the piazza, a paved path called La Scalazza (im
possible for carriages) leads by a succession of zigzags to the
sea, where the beach is lined by the picturesque bathing-place
of La Scaletta^dosed during the winter months. Under the
cliffs, at the nearer end of the village, a stream, Acque Grandi,
tumbles out of a funnel in the wall and hurries to the sea, much
used by washerwomen during its short course. This is sup
posed to be the ' herbifer Acis ' of Ovid, the ' sacred water ' and
ambrosial drink of Theocritus, the stream into whose waters
the young Acis was changed that he might escape from Poly
phemus, who was wooing the beautiful Galatea —
' Our giant lived a life of ease,
Old Polyphemus, when, the down scarce seen
On lip and chin, he wooed his ocean nymph :
No curly-pated, rose-and-apple wooer,
But a fell madman, blind to all but love.
Oft from the green grass foldward faced his sheep
Unbid, while be upon the windy beach,
Singing his Galatea, sat and pined
From dawn to dusk, a torment at his heart :
Great Aphrodite's shaft had fixed it there.'
— Theocritus, Id. xi. , Calverley's Trans.
' This is the place for a child's story of the one-eyed giant Polyphemus,
who fed his flocks among the oak-woods of Etna, and, when strolling by

80 SICILY
the sea one summer evening, saw and loved the fair girl Galatea. She was
afraid of him, and could not bear his shaggy-browed round rolling eye.
But he forgot his sheep and goats, and sat upon the rock and piped to her.
Meanwhile she loved the beautiful boy Acis, who ran down from the copse
to play with her upon the sea-beach. They hid together from Polyphemus
in a fern-curtained cavern of the shore. But Polyphemus spied them out,
and heard them laughing together at their games. Then he grew wroth,
and stamped with his huge feet upon the earth, and made it shake and
quiver. He roared and bellowed in his rage, and tore up rocks and flung
them at the cavern where the children were in hiding, and his eye shot fire
beneath the grisly penthouse of his wrinkled brows. They, in their sore dis
tress, prayed to heaven ; and their prayers were heard : Galatea became a
mermaid, so that she might swim and sport like foam upon the crests of
the blue sea ; and Acis was changed into a stream that leapt from the hills
to play with her amid bright waters. But Polyphemus, in punishment for
his rage, and spite, and jealousy, was forced to live in the mid-furnaces of
Etna. There he growled and groaned, and shot forth flame in impotent
fury ; for though he remembered the gladness of those playfellows, and
sought to harm them by tossing red-hot rocks upon the shore, yet the
light sea ever laughed, and the radiant river found its way down the copse-
wood to the waves. ' — /. A. Symonds.
' Quique per Aetneos Acis petit aequora fines
Et dulci gratam Nereida perluit unda.' — Silius I tai., xiv. 221.
' Lucus erat prope flavum Acim, quem Candida praefert
Saepe mari, pulchroque secat Galatea natatu.'
— Claudian, De Raptu Proserp,, iii. 322.
Beyond the village of La Scaletta and its little pier we must
scramble over the rocks to visit some extraordinary basaltic
cliffs, whose columnar precipices will recall Staffa and the Giant's
Causeway. From the railway we now see the island rocks, called Scogli
de' Ciclopi, and the castle of Aci Castello.
1 On ne pehetre dans Catane qu'a travers des champs noirs a perte de
vue. La terre est semee de laves ; la mer elle-meme en est accablee. De
Messine a Syracuse la flamme condensee et durcie en tombant sur le
rivage a renvers^ des villes, encombr^ des ports, cree en un jour, maispour
les siecles, des rochers et des promontoires. On ne contemple qu'avec une
sorte d'efiroi ces torrents ou furieux, ou dess^ch^s jusqu'au vif de la pierre ;
ces cactus armes de pointes, ces nopals herissfe de dards, ces aloes glaives
luisants, polis et aigus, aupres desquels s'epanouissent des bouquets de
laurier-rose aux fleurs 6clantes, mais, empoisonnees ; et au-dessus de cette
nature menacante ou perfide, l'Etna, le volcan tragique, qui, dans lescroy-
ances du moyen age, Itait le soupirail de 1'enfer.' — Alexis de Saint Priest.
Catania. Central (Restaurant).
Inns. — Hotel Centrale della Corona, reasonable, and in the best situa
tion ; pension, 10 frs. Hotel Bristol ; Hotel San Giorgi.
Carriages. — The course, 1 horse, 50 c. ; 2 horses, 2 frs. 30 c. For the
excursion to Etna, Rizzone, Strada Lincoln.
Post Office, 1 ,,. „,
Telegraph, } Vla M*nzon,.

<<U

CATANIA 8 1
i
British Consul.— Mr. A. W. Elford.
Physicians.— Dr. Salvatore Tomaselli, Prof. Ughetti.
Warm Baths.— Piazza San Placido.
The prawns of Catania are celebrated.
Steamboat to Messina four times a week. Electric Tramways.
Sicilian red amber canbebought at A. Leone, Corso Vit. Emmanuele, 112.
Catania ' la chiarissima,' built on the utmost roots of Etna :
owes its existence to the material which has repeatedly proved
to be its destroyer, for houses and churches are built and the
streets are paven with lava : so that the town is literally as a
phoenix arisen from its own ashes. The Strada Etnea, hot and
glaring in summer, if m. in length, is perhaps the handsomest
street in the Italian kingdom, being a ceaseless source of pride
to the natives, not on account of its noble view of Etna — 'the
nurse of keen snow all the year round ' * — but for its capital
provision of lamps at night. The sights of Catania will be ex
hausted in a few hours, and the environs are for the most part
exceedingly bare and desolate. Catania, though one of the
warmest places in Sicily, is indescribably dull for a residence.
Few travellers will spend more than two nights in the town,
and will go the first day to Aci Castello by carriage, drive
towards Etna on the second, and on the third visit Aci Reale
or Giarre by rail : those who ascend Etna will of course require
a longer time.
, Close to the Albergo Centrale is a piazza, of which the
central ornament is an elephant — the badge of Catania — said
to have been placed in its present position from the idea that
here once stood a temple dedicated to Pallas, whose figure was
seated on an elephant, in allusion to victory over the Cartha
ginians. The elephant supports a small Egyptian obelisk
(mindful of Bernini at Rome, in Piazza Minerva), which once
adorned the gate of the Archbishop's Palace.
Facing one side of the piazza is the Duomo, dedicated to S.
Agatha after the earthquake of 1693, when her claims were
decided by lot to be superior to those of the Virgin. The first
cathedral was built by Count Roger in 1092, but this building
for the most part fell in the earthquake of 11 69, burying the
bishop and his congregation, after which the earlier parts of
the existing building, the east end, and transepts (though altered),
were probably built. The interior is a three-aisled Latin cross,
but is completely modernised. At the 2nd pier, R., is the
monument of Bellini (1802-1835). Raised high in the choir
are the unworthy tombs of several of the Aragonese princes.
On the right are Frederick II. of Aragon, 1337 ; his son,
Prince John of Randazzo ; his brother Frederick III., 1377;
1 Pindar, Pyth. i. 36.

82 SICILY
and his daughter, Queen Maria, wife of Martin I., with their
young son Prince Frederick. On the left is Constance, 1 363,
daughter of Pedro IV. of Aragon, queen of Frederick III. and
mother of Maria.
From the R. transept opens the chapel of the virgin martyr
S. Agatha, who suffered under the Emperor Decius in A.D. 251.
Having infuriated the prastor Quintianus by her contempt for
his advances, she was scourged, and it was only after she had
been saved by an earthquake occurring at the moment when
she was to be burned, that she was suffered to die in a dungeon.
The body of the martyr was carried off to "Constantinople by
the Byzantine general Maniaces when he conquered the
Sicilian Saracens in 1038, and it was brought back by Gislibert
and Goselin in 1127. Since then the veil of S. Agatha is
believed to have proved the best specific against the terrors
of Etna, and to have had the power of turning aside its
destroying lava-streams.
' Nee spes eos fefellit, simul ac enim sanctum illud vexillum furenti
flamma opponebatur, immobilis ea consistebat, nee amplius quassabatur.
O vim fidei ! O summam amoris potentiam 1 O immotum divinarum
promissionum robur ! ' — Guarnarius, Diss. iii.
' Ce prgcieux tissu, comme on dit dans les tragedies classiques, a le
privilege d'arreter les laves qui descendent de l'Etna; on n'a qu'a leur
presenter le voile, et le torrent s'arrgte, se refroidit et se coagule. Mal-
heureusement il faut que cette action soit accompagnee d'une foi tellement
forte, que presque jamais le miracle reussit completement ; mais alors ce
n'est pas la faute du voile, e'est la faute de celui qui le porte.' — Alexandre
Dumas, Le Spironare.
The Roman remains of Catania are none of them older than
the time of Augustus, and have long been buried under lava, or
churches. Those who are curious enough may visit by torch
light the obscure excavations of the Theatre 1 and Odeum (Via
S. Agostino) in the molten rock, which were for the most part
opened at the private expense of the antiquarian, Prince of
Biscani. Following the Strada Lincoln, which crosses the Strada
Etnea, up the hill to the right, we reach the great unfinished
Convent of S. Benedetto (now a school). The buildings,
though devoid of beauty, are palatial, and, at the time of the
suppression, the annual revenue of the convent was 500,000 lire.
The cloister, which encloses a Saracenic-looking pavilion, is
handsome. In the church is the famous organ constructed by
Donato del Piano, a Calabrian priest, which drew forth trans
ports from Goethe, when he and Kniep visited the abbey
with Prince Biscani's chaplain. The museum of unimportant
pictures and antiquities is of little interest. The convent was
1 Alcihiades in B.C. 415 addressed the Catanians in their theatre.

CLOISTER ; S. BENEDETTO
CATANIA

[Sommei

ACI CASTELLO 83
totally destroyed by the earthquake of 1693, after having
escaped the lava-stream of 1669, which, 'divided by the veil of
S. Agatha,' enclosed it like an island.
A little farther down Strada Etnea is the irregular Piazza
Stesicoro, built upon the buried ruins of the amphitheatre, and
named from the Dorian lyric poet Stesichorus of Himera, cele
brated by Cicero and Quintilian, who died at Catana (552 B.C.)
and was buried by one of the city gates, under a splendid monu
ment of which no traces remain. Turning hence to the right, a
little way up the hill, we find attached to the Church of the
Santo Carcere, which is built above the legendary prison of S.
Agatha, a splendid portal of mingled Greek and Norman archi
tecture, which originally belonged to the cathedral, perhaps to
the building of Count Roger, but, in 1734, when the west front
of the cathedral was modernised, was moved to the Palazzo
Pubblico, and thence, sixteen years later, to its present site.
At the festival of S. Agatha (February 5), the pagan saint
worship of the Sicilians is to be seen in full force.
It is only a few steps from the Santo Carcere to the upper
entrance of the Villa Bellini, an inferior Pincio, much fre
quented in the summer months. (Music.) The gardens,
which are of small extent, have their principal entrance near
the end of the Strada Etnea.
If the gritty lava-road was not so irritating, it would be a
irery pleasant drive of 6 m. from Catania to Aci Castello (car
riage with 2 horses for the whole day 1 5 lire). The road passes
through the village of Ognina, picturesquely situated on lava-
rocks. Its tiny bay is believed to be the Portus Ulixis of Virgil —
1 Portus ab accessu ventorum immotus, et ingens
Ipse ; sed horrificis juxta tonat Aetna ruinis.' — Aen. iii. 570.
The fertility which reigns wherever the country has escaped
the attacks of Etna, gives effect to the description of Aeschylus
of ' the rivers of fire, devouring with their fierce jaws the smooth
fields of the fertile Sicily.'
Aci Castello is gloriously picturesque. A great orange
rock is crowned by the ruins of an old castle, which, held by
Ruggiero di Loria, was found impregnable when besieged by
Frederick II. in 1297, till he built a wooden tower as high as
itself, with a flying bridge. Far off, where the white village of
Trezza sparkles, jewel-like, at the edge of the deep-blue sea, are
the seven basaltic islets — / Faraglioni, called / Scogli de'
Ciclopi — which, since the days of Pliny, have been said to be
the rocks which the blinded Polyphemus hurled after Ulysses
as he was putting out to sea. The foreground is covered with

84 SICILY
lava-rocks, twisted, contorted, black, but tinted by golden
lichen, and their interstices are radiant with such lovely
flowers, that it is difficult to realise the time when, as Pindar
describes — ' From forth the secret caves
Fountains pure of liquid flame
With rush and roaring came ;
And rivers rolling steep in fiery waves
In a stream of whitening smoke
On glowing ether broke :
And in the dark and dead of night
With pitchy-gathering cloud and glare of light
The volleying fire was heard to sweep
Masses of shiver'd rock with crashing sound
Dashed 'midst the sullen ocean's waters deep.'
— Pyth. ii. i, Elton's Trans.
A lovely view may also be obtained from the entrance to
Trezza, looking back through the stems of old olive-trees across
the bright corn to the castle-rock in its purple shadow, with a
single line of light quivering in the sea beneath it. At Mangano
one sees Etna well, and the beautiful headlands dropping down
to the sea, one after another ; while the dreamy highlands of
•Calabria loom through the golden haze far away.
It is 2 m. from Randazzo to Bronte1 (2605 ft.) (Locanda de :
Fratelli Cesare. Locanda del Real Collegio), a town situated in
the midst of the lavas of Etna, due W. of the great crater, and
a royal duchy, till it was granted in 1799 to Lord Nelson, who
ever after signed himself ' Nelson and Bronte.' The super
intendent of the rich vineyards of the Nelson property, now in
the hands of Lord Bridport,1 has a residence at Maniace, 7 m.
from Bronte, where there are some interesting remains of a
Norman church and convent built in 1174 by Queen Margaret,
mother of William the Good.
[Few travellers will venture to follow the rough mule-track
from Bronte (6 hrs.) to Troina (3640 ft.), 18 m. distant, the
home of S. Philaret, a desolate mountain stronghold, which
was taken by Count Roger de Hauteville soon after his
adventurous arrival in Sicily, and where he and his young wife
Giuditta established their first court in 1073. Here they under
went a terrible four months' siege by 5000 Saracens, and were
reduced to the greatest privations. ' Such was their want of
clothing,' says the chronicler Galfridus, 'that the count and coun
tess had only one cloak between them, which they wore alter
nately, as each had most need of it. The young countess, without
allowing a murmur to escape her, quenched her thirst with
1 Samuel, second Lord Bridport, having married Charlotte Mary, Duchess of
B route, only daughter of William, first Earl Nelson.

Photo]

ROCKS OF THE CYCLOPS
ACI CASTELLO

ADERNO 85
dirty water, and appeased her hunger with her tears.' At length,
however, the health of Giuditta began to fail, and when he saw
her fading day by day, Roger could not endure it, and making
a desperate sortie at the head of his men — ' lions excited by
hunger' — he was completely victorious. ' During this day,' says
Galfridus, ' the single hand of Roger, with the help of God, did
such execution, that the corpses of the enemy lay around him
on every side, like the branches of trees in a thick forest, when
strewn by a tempest.' Being afterwards called away by a rising
in Calabria, Roger left Giuditta here as the commandant, and
she made the round of the sentinels upon the walls every night
herself. Only a fragment of the east end and belfry remain
from the cathedral built by Roger, when, in 1078, he made
Troina the see of the first Roman Catholic bishop, Robert of
Evroult, brother of his wife Giuditta. The bishopric was
transferred to Messina as early as 1087.
Fifteen miles west of Troina is the mountain town of Nicosia,
' costantissima,' with a Norman cathedral, the inhabitants of
which are descended from a Lombard colony.]
It is about 11 m. from Bronte to Aderno (1905 ft.) (Inn,
Sicilid), where there is a fine Norman castle in the piazza, still
used as a prison. In its chapel are ruined frescoes relating the
story of the Countess Adelasia, granddaughter of Count Roger,
who, in 1 1 57, founded the convent of S. Lucia outside the walls.
The lava town of Aderno appropriately occupies the site of
the ancient Adranum, the chief seat of the worship of the
Sikelian divinity so called (supposed by some to have been the
Phoenician Adramelech), whose name was derived from Adar,
fire, and whose shrine was surrounded by iooo sacred dogs. —
the S. Bernard dogs of antiquity, who honoured honest men,
tore drunkards, and devoured thieves. Here Timoleon defeated
Hiketas, B.C. 345.
' He was gladly welcomed by the people of Hadranum ; and the tale
was told that, while the fight was going on, the doors of the innermost
shrine of Hadranos opened of themselves, and the god was seen sweating
and brandishing his spear, as having a share in the toil and the victory of
Timolefin.'— E. A. Freeman.
Here we touch the high road from Catania to Palermo, and
after 1 1 m. more through the lava-beds, the older portions of
which have given birth to luxuriant cultivation, the traveller
reaches Paternd (785 ft.) (Inn, Centrale), where the keep still
remains of a 14th cent, castle with a richly-frescoed chapel.
Passing near Motta S. Anastasia, where there is a castle of
Count Roger, in which the rebel Don Bernardo Cabrera was
long imprisoned during the fifteenth century, and through the
town of Misterbianco (destroyed 1669), whence there is a

86 SICILY
magnificent view of Etna, at 12 m. from Paternd, the road
reaches Catania.
The country round Catania, heated by internal fires, produces
some of the loveliest flowers in the world ; and one of the
commonest plants on the higher parts of Etna is Seneao
squalidus, 'the Oxford flower,' which, imported to England,
adorns the grey old college-walls with its golden blossoms.
Where the lava-rocks become pulverised, the soil is covered
with the most luxuriant vegetation. The flora comprises 477
species. The ascent of Etna cannot be made in winter, but
travellers will leave Catania without driving up the mountain in
2^ hrs. as far as Nicolosi (carriage 15 to 20 frs.). The road
passes through several villages built of lava, as is the earthquake-
riven village of Nicolosi itself (Albergo Liotta: bargain), at 2264
ft. above the sea-level. (Apply at once for Signor Capo-Guida,
Ufficio delle Guide, for Etna.)
Nicolosi has a miserable aspect (and the people not over-
civil), such as may be expected in a village which has repeatedly
' heaved and rolled ' in the eruptions of the mountain. The
views are magnificent across the brown-black lava-fields, with
oases of prickly pear, euphorbia, and fruit-trees, to the vast
snow-fields of Etna. The Hospice of S. Nicolo d' Arena may
be visited, which, founded by Simon, Count of Policastro, in
1 1 56, was the parent house of S. Benedetto in Catania. Mules
(3 lire) may be taken for an hour farther across the blackened
plain to the twin craters of Monti Centenario (thrown up on
the centenary of S. Agatha), thrown up during the eruption of
1852, when the great fiery river, which one can still trace
through its whole course, nearly destroyed Catania, and then,
fiercely contending with the water, buried itself in the sea.
In longer days than those of winter, another excursion may
be made by carriage (in 4 hrs.) to Zqfferana (A. Umberto
Primo, a tolerable but poor inn), whence mules may be taken
to the Valle del Bove, an extraordinary chasm in the mountain
side, 3 miles in diameter, with cliffs 4000 ft. high. It was over
run by the outburst of 1852, witnessed by a party of six English
who were quietly ascending from Nicolosi to see the sunrise.
' Let the reader picture to himself a large amphitheatre, five miles in
diameter and surrounded on three sides by precipices from two thousand
to three thousand feet in height. If he has beheld that most picturesque
scene in the Pyrenees, the celebrated " Cirque of Gavarnie," he may form
some conception of the magnificent circle of precipitous rocks which enclose
the great plain of the Val del Bove. This plain has been deluged by re
peated streams of lava, and though it appears almost level when viewed
from a distance, it is, in fact, more uneven than the surface of the most
tempestuous sea. Besides the minor irregularities of the lava, the valley is
in one part interrupted by a chain of rocks, two of which, Musara and

VALLE DEL BOVE 87
Capra, are very prominent. They are of gigantic dimensions, and appear
almost isolated as seen from many points. The face of the precipices al
ready mentioned is broken in the most picturesque manner by the vertical
walls of lava which traverse them. These masses usually stand out in
relief, are exceedingly diversified in form, and of immense altitude. In the
autumn their black outline may often be seen relieved by clouds of fleecy
vapour which settle behind them, and do not disperse until mid-day,
continuing to fill the valley while the sun is shining on every other part of
Sicily and on the higher regions of Etna. The strips of green herbage and
forest-land, which have here and there escaped the burning lavas, serve,
by contrast, to heighten the desolation of the scene. An unusual silence
prevails ; for there are no torrents dashing from the rocks, nor any move
ment of running water in the valley. Every drop of water that falls from
the heavens, or flows from the melting ice and snow, is instantly absorbed
by the porous lava ; and such is the dearth of springs that the herdsman is
compelled to supply his flocks, during the hot season, from stores of snow
laid up in the hollows of the mountain during winter. The stern and
severe grandeur of the scenery is not such as would be selected by a poet
for a vale of enchantment. The character of the scene would accord far
better with Milton's picture of the infernal world ; and if we imagine our
selves to behold in motion, in the darkness of the night, one of those fiery
currents which have so often traversed the great valley, we may well recall
' " yon dreary plain, forlorn and wild,
The seat of desolation, void of light,
Save what the glimmering of these livid flames
Casts pale and dreadful." ' — Sir C. Lyell.
' The Val del Bove — a vast chasm in the flank of Etna, where the very-
heart of the volcano has been riven and its entrails bared — is the most im
pressive spot of all this region. The road to it leads from Zafferana (so
called because of its crocus-flowers) along what looks like a series of black
moraines, where the lava torrents, pouring from the craters of Etna, have
spread out, and reared themselves in stiffened ridges against opposing
mountain buttresses. After toiling for about three hours over this dismal
waste, a point between the native rock of Etna and the dead sea of lava is
reached, which commands a prospect of the cone with its curling smoke,
surmounting a caldron of some four thousand feet in depth and seemingly
very wide. The whole of this space is filled with billows of blackness,
wave on wave, crest over crest, and dyke by dyke, precisely similar to a
gigantic glacier, swarthy and immovable. The resemblance of the lava
flood to a glacier is extraordinarily striking. One can fancy oneself stand
ing on the Belvidere at Macugnaga, or the Tacul point upon the Mer de
Glace, in some nightmare, and finding to one's horror that the radiant
snows and river-breeding ice-fields have been turned by a malignant deity
to sullen stationary cinders. It is a most hideous place, like a pit in Dante's
Hell, disused for some unexplained reason, and left untenanted by fiends.
The scenery of the moon, without atmosphere and without life, must be of
this sort ; and such, rolling round in space, may be some planet that has
survived its own combustion. When the clouds, which almost always
hang about the Val del Bove, are tumbling at their awful play around its
precipices, veiling the sweet suggestion of distant sea and happier hills that
should be visible, the horror of this view is aggravated. Breaking here and
there, the billows of mist disclose forlorn tracks of jet-black desolation.

88 SICILY
wicked, unutterable, hateful in their hideousness, with patches of smutty
snow above, and downward-rolling volumes of murky smoke. Shakspere,
when he imagined the damned spirits confined to ' ' thrilling regions of
thick-ribbed ice," divined the nature of a glacier ; but what line could he
have composed adequate to shadow forth the tortures of a soul condemned
to palpitate for ever between the ridges of this thirsty and intolerable sea of
dead fire?' — /. A. Symonds.
The natives call Etna 'Mongibello' from the Italian 'Monte'
and the Arabic ' Djebel,' both meaning the same thing, and,
far overtopping all other hills of Sicily, it is truly ' the moun
tain of mountain,' ' II Monte.' The Ascent, about 30 m. in
point of distance, is only possible in summer, and travellers
generally select one of the three full moons, in June, July,
or September. The start is usually made from Nicolosi,
where the inn is clean and tolerably comfortable. Here it
is necessary to procure the keys of the Casa del Bosco
(1 lira) and the Casa Inglese (2 lire) from the Capo-delle-
Guide. It is well to take plenty of provisions, also materials
for a fire and lights, and warm wraps for the night, as
visitors to Etna suffer more from cold than anything else.
These equipments will require an extra mule. Two guides
are usually taken. The general desire is to be at the summit
of Etna for sunrise, for which most travellers leave Nicolosi
after supper, at 7 p.m. Two hours will bring them to the Casa
del Bosco, where they rest half-an-hour, and reach the Casa
Inglese by 1 A.M. An hour's rest here for coffee, &c, will leave
plenty of time for reaching the summit before sunrise. Others
will prefer setting out early in the afternoon from Nicolosi, so
as to arrive at the Osservatorio in time for the sunset. In
returning, on leaving the Osservatorio, the way by the Torre
del Filosofo and Val del Bove may be taken, which will
bring the traveller to Nicolosi, and its stunted vines, by
midday. The general appearance of Etna is little changed since the
time of Strabo, who describes the lower slopes as covered with
forests and planted grounds, and tells how the destructive
volcanic ashes ultimately produce the most fertile soil, admir
ably adapted for the culture of vines, and then how the upper
mountain is bare and covered with ashes, which are overspread
with snow in winter.1
In leaving Nicolosi, travellers pass out of the cultivated
country into the desert zone which encircles Etna.
' Pars cetera frondet
Arboribus ; teritur nullo cultore cacumen. '
— Claudian, De Rapt. Pros. i. 160.
1 Strabo, vi. 269.

ASCENT OF ETNA 89
For some distance all is lava and ashes —
' the charr'd, blacken'd, melancholy waste,
Crown'd by the awful peak, Etna's great mouth,
Round which the sullen vapour rolls. '
— Matthew Arnold.
Then we reach a patch of scrubby wood, at the end of which,
about 8 m. from Nicolosi, is the Casa del Bosco (4715 feet),
a shed. It is an ascent of 2 hours from hence through the
desolate lava-land — devoid of vegetation or life — to the Osser
vatorio (9650), erected first of all of lava by the English officers
who were in Sicily in 181 1, and inscribed : ' Aetnam perlustran-
tibus has aedes Britanni in Sicilia, MDCCCXi.,' but rebuilt in
1887. Here the ascent of the cone (iooo feet) begins, and the
traveller must scramble as he can for the remaining hour to
the summit, struggling against the sulphuric vapours which
rise from the earth as he approaches the rim of the crater.
The deep ashes are very fatiguing, and most visitors are
grievously overwhelmed by sickness, induced more by the cold
than the noxious gases, before reaching the top, where the
guides will often cover them up in the warm ashes till they
revive. At the summit, travellers find themselves on the
narrow rim of the crater, which is 3 m. round, and, in parts
dangerous, especially when the wind is high. In summer there
is no snow here, only ashes of such extreme whiteness that
ascending travellers leave a brown mark visible for days after
wards, even from Nicolosi. In winter, ice and fire contend for
the victory ; and though Etna may be an insignificant volcano
as compared with Cotopaxi, Chimborazo, or Orizaba, no one
can wish for anything more weird than the scene from the
island-throne above the three seas — Ionian, African, and Italian
— looking down into the seething abyss of smoke and lava,
nearly iooo feet in depth, and which S. Gregory declared to be
one of the mouths of hell.
' Summo cana jugo cohibet (mirabile dictu !)
Vicinam flammis glaciem ; aeternoque rigore
Ardentes horrent scopuli ; stat vertice celsi
Collis hiems, calidaque nivem tegit atra favilla.'
— Sit. Ital. xiv. 66.
' Sed, quamvis nimio fervens exuberet aestu,
Seit nivibus servare (idem ; pariterque favillis
Durescit glacies, tanti secura vaporis,
Arcano defensa gelu : fumoque fideli
Lambit contiguas innoxia flamma pruinas.
— Claudian, De Rapt. Pros. i. 164.

oo SICILY
' Nee, quae sulfureis ardet fornacibus, Aetne
Ignea semper erit : neque enim fuit ignea semper.
Nam sive est animal tellus, et vivit, habetque
Spiramenta, locis flammam exhalantia inultis ;
Spirandi mutare vias, quotiesque movetur,
Has finire potest, Mas aperire cavernas ;
Sive leves imis venti cohibentur in antris ;
Saxaque cum saxis, et habentem semina flammae
Materiem jactant, ea concipit ictibus ignem ;
Antra relinquentur sedatis frigida ventis :
Sive bitumineae rapiunt incendia vires,
Luteave exiguis ardescunt sulfura fumis :
Nempe ubi terra cibos alimentaque pinguia flammae
Non dabit absumtis per longum viribus aevum,
Naturaeque suum nutrimen deerit edaci ;
Non feret ilia famem : desertaque deseret ignes.'
— Ovid, Met. xv. 340.
Hence many of the 78 eruptions of the mountain have taken
place, at least since the time of Pindar (B.C. 523), who describes
'the streams of fire that were vomited forth from its inmost
recesses, and the rivers (of lava) that gave forth only smoke in
the day-time, but in the darkness assumed the appearance of
sheets of crimson fire, rolling down into the deep sea.' The
agitations of Etna have always been ascribed by mythology to
the struggles of one of the rebellious giants — Typhoeus or
Enceladus, imprisoned by Jupiter in its recesses.
; ' Vasta giganteis injecta est insula membris
Trinacris ; et magnis subjectum molibus urget
Aetherias ausum sperare Typhoea sedes.
Nititur ille quidem , pugnatque resurgere saepe ;
Dextra sed Ausonio manus est subjecta Peloro ;
Laeva, Pachyne, tibi ; Lilybaeo crura premuntur ;
Degravat Aetna caput. Sub qua resupinus arenas
Ejectat, flammamque fero vomit ore Typhoeus.
Saepe remoliri luctatur pondera terrae,
Oppidaque, et magnos devolvere corpore montes
Inde tremit tellus.' — Ovid, Met. v. 346.
' Alta jacet vasti super ora Typhoe'os Aetne,
Cujus anhelatis ignibus ardet humus. '
— Ovid, Fast. iv. 491.
' Horrificis juxta tonat Aetna ruinis,
Interdumque atram prorumpit ad aethera nubem,
Turbine fumantem piceo et candente favilla ;
Adtollitque globos flammarum, etsidera lambit :
Interdum scopulos avulsaque viscera montis
Erigit eructans, liquefactaque saxa sub auras
Cum gemitu glomerat, fundoque exaestuat imo.

ASCENT OF ETNA 91
Fama est, Enceladi semiustum fulmine corpus
Urgeri mole hac, ingentemque insuper Aetnam
Impositam, ruptis flammam exspirare caminis ;
Et, fessum quoties mutet latus, intremere omnem
Murmure Trinacriam, et coelum subtexere fumo.'
— Virgil, Aen. iii. 571.
The desolation is supreme — all vegetation has long ceased :
there is no sound from beast, bird, or insect. In later times
Etna has been supposed to be a place of torment for Anne
Boleyn, perverter of the faith in the person of its ' Defender ! '
as well as the resting-place of King Arthur. To the religious
Sicilian mind its solitudes are consecrated by their association
with S. Vitalis — 'the Hermit of Etna.'
The view is unspeakably grand as peak after peak catches
the morning light, except where the mountain itself casts a
great purple triangular shadow, spreading for a hundred miles
over the west of the island. As Etna is the one great moun
tain in Sicily there is nothing anywhere to intercept the view,
and on a clear day the whole island can be seen spread
around like a map, while the Lipari Isles on the north,
Malta on the south, and the Aegadian Isles beyond Trapani
on the west, are visible. But the most interesting part of the
view is that which belongs to the mountain itself, 180 m. in
circuit, and the being able to follow the fitful paths of the
various lava-streams, descending through the different zones of
the mountain, first snow and ashes, then belts of forest, lastly
luxuriant cultivation.
The rarefied air as well as the icy cold will prevent a long
delay on the summit. In returning one may visit the ruined
Torre del Filosofo (9570 ft.), near the Osservatorio, which the
natives believe to have been built by the poet-wizard-philosopher
Empedocles of Agrigentum, who, having been regarded as
possessing supernatural powers during his lifetime, is said to
have thrown himself into the burning crater, that he might be
regarded as a god after his sudden disappearance. But the
mountain punished his pride by ejecting one of his bronze
sandals. ¦ Deus immortalis haberi
Dum cupit Empedocles, ardentem frigidus Aetnam
Insiluit. ' — Horace, Ars. Poet. 464.
Others say that the tower was built for the Emperor Hadrian,
when he ascended Etna to see the sunrise,1 but it is evidently
of Norman origin and was probably used as a hermitage.
Half a mile to the east brings us to the edge of the magnifi-
1 Cf. Spartianus, xiii.

92 SICILY
nect Valle del Bove already described. The shepherds with
their flocks of goats, whom we constantly meet on the lower
slopes of Etna, will recall the song of the shepherd Menalcas
in Theocritus —
' O Etna, mother mine ! A grotto fair,
Scooped in the rocks, have I : and there I keep
All that in dreams men picture ! Treasured there
Are multitudes of she-goats and of sheep,
Swathed in whose wool from top to toe I sleep.
The fire that boils my pot, with oak or beech
Is piled — dry beech-logs when the snow lies deep ;
And storm and sunshine, I disdain them each
As toothless sires a nut, when broth is in their reach. '
— Idyll, ix., Calverley s Trans.
The railway takes travellers in 3 hrs. across the malaria-tainted country
to Syracuse (which used to be wearisomely travelled over in a lettiga — a
kind of sedan chair carried between two mules).
After traversing the lava-stream of 1669, contorted, twisted,
snake -like, black, lichen - stained, the line enters the rich
country of corn and wine which Cicero calls 'caput res fru-
mentariae,' and ' uberrima Siciliae pars.'
' The soil untill'd a ready harvest yields,
With wheat and barley wave the golden fields ;
Spontaneous wines from weighty clusters pour,
And Jove descends in each prolific shower.'
— Pope's Odyssey, ix. 123.
Bicocca (junction for Girgenti and Palermo).
Passo Martino. Near this the railway crosses the Simeto,
the ancient Symaethos, which formed the boundary between
the territory of Leontini and that of Catana. It was one of the
most important rivers of the island in ancient times and is
mentioned by the poets Virgil, Ovid, and Silius Italicus. Near
its mouth, having joined the Gurnalunga, it is called La
Giarretta. From its bed came most of the red amber of old.
Valsavoia (junction for Caltagirone : 3 hrs.). After leaving
this, to the right, is the Lago or Biviere di Lentini (Herculeus
Lacus), the largest lake in Sicily, 9-12 miles in circumference,
abounding in fish and wild-fowl, and of interest to the ornitho
logist. It belongs to Prince Butera, and is productive of
malaria in warm weather.
Lentini (Albergo Centrale). Leontinoi, or Leontium, was a
Greek colony from Naxos, founded B.C. 730, which soon attained
to great prosperity from the fertility of its territory, but speedily
falling under the aggressive influence of Syracuse, had little
individual history, and had begun to decline before the time of
Cicero, who describes it as ' misera civitas et inanis.' The

LENTINI, AGOSTA 93
orator Gorgias, the tutor of Alcibiades, was born here B.C. 427,
and Hieronymos, the last native tyrant of Syracuse, was assassi
nated by Deinomenes in one of the narrow streets of the town
in B.C. 215. There are scarcely any remains extant of the
ancient city.
It may be interesting to read upon the spot the accurate
local description which Polybius has left of Leontinoi —
'The city of Leonuum, considered in its general position, is turned
towards the north. Through the middle of it runs a level valley, which
contains the public buildings allotted to the administration of government
and justice, and in a word, the whole that is called Forum. The two
sides of the valley are enclosed by two hills, which are rough and broken
along their whole extent. But the summit of these hills above the brows
is flat and plain, and is covered with temples and with houses. There are
also two gates to the city. One of them is in the southern extremity of
the valley and conducts to Syracuse. The other is on the opposite side
and leads to those lands, so famed for their fertility, and which are called
the Leontine fields. Below the hill, that stands on the western side of the
valley, flows the river Lissus ; and on the same side, likewise, there is a
row of houses built under the very precipice, and in a line parallel to the
river. Between these houses and the river lies the road which has been
mentioned.' — Hampton's Polybius, iii. 105.
, After passing the station of Agnone, on the left is the
picturesque headland Tauros or Xiphonia, now called Capo
S. Croce, from the tradition that S. Helena landed there with
the true cross. There are grand views across the green sea
and the brown flats to Etna, misty and mysterious, grey against
the afternoon sky, though covered with snow, before reaching —
Agosta. Agosta is a town founded by Frederick II. (1232)
which has suffered every possible misery from earthquakes,
sieges, and fires. For having been faithful to the family of
its founder, its whole population were stripped naked and
massacred by Guillaume L'Estendart, a Provengal captain under
Charles I. of Anjou, and not one stone of its buildings was left
upon another. The half-island and the pretty haven recall
those of Syracuse on a small scale, and the later town probably
occupies the site of Megara Hyblaea, founded B.C. 726 by
colonists from Megara in Greece. It was destroyed in B.C. 483
by Gelon of Syracuse, who removed its inhabitants, including
the comic poet Epicharmus, to Syracuse. It is supposed that
after the destruction of the first city, a second Megara or Hybla
existed on the other side of the bay — Sinus Megarensis — at the
mouth of the river Alabus, now called the Fiume Cantera.
The honey of Hybla — 'Audax Hybla'1 — is much extolled by
the poets — ' Thymo mini dulcior Hyblae.'
— Virgil, Eel. vii. 37.
1 Silius Italicus, xiv. 199,

94 SICILY
' Florida quam multas Hybla tuetur apes.'
—Ovid, Trist. v. 6, 38.
' Quot apes pascuntur in Hybla. '
— Ovid, Ars Amat. ii. 517.
' Africa quot segetes, quot Tmolia terra racemos,
Quot Sicyon baccas, quot parit Hybla favos. '
— Ovid, Ex. Pont. iv. 15, 9.
¦ Quum dederis Siculos mediae de collibus Hyblae,
Cecropios dicas tu licet esse favos.'
— Martial, Ep. xiii. 105.
The fact is, no land is so rich in sweet herbs as this part of
Sicily. Here one sees salt-fields embanked with stones.
Priolo. Here is the Isola di Magnisi connected by an
isthmus with the mainland, the ancient Thapsus,1 north of
which the Athenians stationed their fleet before taking posses
sion of the Great Harbour of Syracuse. One mile inland is an
ancient tomb consisting of a massive pedestal 20 ft. high,
formerly surmounted by a column, whence it is known as
L'Aguglia or 'the Needle.' It is probably sepulchral, but it is
asserted to have been erected by Marcellus to commemorate
his capture of Syracuse, and so is often called Torre di Mar
cello. After leaving Priolo the whole country is powdered with
Syracusan ruins, and, long before reaching the station, the yells
of a mob of carriage-drivers in their eagerness to pounce upon
a prey, announce the approach to Syracuse.
9IRACWSA.— Hotels.— Villa Achradina; Des Etrangers ; H. Pens; Villa
Politi (poor) ; Pensione Belle Vue, reasonable, simple and clean,
obliging landlord, but a trifle far from the town.
Carriages. — From the station, with 1 horse, 75 c. ; 2 horses, 1 1. 20 c.
Luggage, small, 20 c. ; large, 40 c. A 2-horse carriage for the day, 14
lire ; half day, 7 lire.
Post Office, Via Roma. B. Consul, Mr. Joseph Lobb. Steam
boats to Malta and Messina.
At least three whole days should be given by ordinary
travellers to Syracuse, and may be spent —
1. Morning, the sights of Ortygla. Afternoon , excursion by water to
the fountain of Cyane and the Olympeium.
2. Achradina and Neapolls. Museum (Curator : Prof. Orsi).
3. Eplpolae and the walls.
There is perhaps no site in Europe which has such a distinct
individuality as Syracuse. Without seeing the place, it is im
possible to understand its history, in which so many important
incidents arose out of its geographical peculiarities. Fourteen
miles in circuit, it enclosed four separate towns, ' quadruplices
Syracusae,' 2 and bore the name of Tetrapolis, before Dionysios
1 Virg. Aen. iii. 689. » Ausonius, CI. Vrb. 11,

SYRACUSE 95
I. added Epipolae, after which Strabo calls the city Pentapolis,
and it became 22 miles in circuit. The earlier towns on the
mainland— Achradina, Tycha, and Neapolis, occupied the rising
ground and tableland which lie between the sea on the east,
and the heights of Epipolae on the west ; facing them lay the
island of Ortygia, and to the south of this were the Great
Harbour and the marsh of Syraco, which gave the place its
name. But all these towns of the mainland are now barren
hillsides, powdered with masses of white limestone, and
sprinkled with scanty ruins ; only the parent island-city of
Ortygia remains, now connected with the mainland by an
artificial isthmus. ' Sicanio praetenta sinu jacet insula contra
Plemmyrium undosum ; nomen dixere priores
Ortygiam.' — Aen. iii. 692.
' Ortygia, thou all-hallowed breathing-place,
Where Alpheus lifts his weary head ;
Syracusa's bloomy grace ;
Delos' sister ; Dian'sbed.' — Pindar, Nem. 1, Carey's Trans.
With the exception of Naxos, Syracusa ' la fidele ' was the
oldest of the Greek colonies in Sicily, having been founded,
B.C. 734, by a body of Corinthians under Archias, who subdued
and drove out the Siculi or Sikels — the ancient inhabitants.
The colony used the name of Syracuse from the earliest times,
though at first it only occupied the island, called Ortygia, from
the birthplace of Artemis (near Ephesus), to whom it was dedi
cated. Rapidly rising in power and prosperity, it was soon in
a position to found offshoot colonies at Acrae, Casmenae, and
Camarina. In B.C. 485, Gelon, tyrant of the neighbouring
prosperous city of Gela, was summoned to Syracuse to settle
some internal commotions, and was soon recognised as its
despotic ruler : but under his government the town prospered
so greatly as to become easily the first Greek city in Sicily.
Under Gelon, the limits of Syracuse were extended to embrace
Achradina, which was called the ' outer city,' while Ortygia was
the 'inner city.' Gelon was succeeded by Hiero (478-467),
another wise and liberal ruler, who made Syracuse one of the
chief resorts of men of letters, and was the protector of Aeschy
lus and Pindar. Hiero was followed by his brother Thrasy-
bulos, whose tyrannical disposition soon led to his expulsion,
after which Syracuse attained its highest power under a free
popular government.
It was in B.C. 415 that Syracuse was invaded by the Athenians,
who entered the Great Harbour, and effected a landing on its

96 SICILY
inner shore, near the Olympeium, as well as at Leon, also on
the mainland, beyond the eastern walls of Achradina. The
Athenian general Nikias then occupied the heights of Epipolae,
and built the fort of Labdalon near its north-western extremity,
whence he attempted to blockade the city by a wall extending
from the seashore near Trogilos, north-east of Achradina, and
reaching down to the Great Harbour on the west. This work
the Syracusans for some time had vainly attempted to intercept
by cross walls, when Gylippos of Sparta came to their assist
ance, and took both the fort of Labdalon and those which
Nikias had erected at Plemmyrium, the point at the entrance
of the Great Harbour opposite the extremity of Ortygia. Vic
tory had also favoured the Syracusans in a sea-fight in the
Great Harbour, before reinforcements, arriving from Athens
under Demosthenes, for a time gave fresh hopes to their
assailants. After the failure, however, of a nocturnal attack
upon the hill of Euryelus, which had been fortified by Gylippos,
Demosthenes counselled the abandonment of the siege. To
this Nikias, whose superstitious fears were excited by an eclipse
of the moon, refused his consent. From that time the Syra
cusans became the besiegers. They attacked the Athenian fleet
in the Great Harbour, and having cut off the right wing under
Eurymedon, in the Bay of Dascon, began to blockade the
mouth of the harbour by mooring vessels across it. The
Athenians were then compelled to abandon the heights, and to
devote all their energies to attempting to break the blockade ;
but they entirely failed, and their fleet was totally defeated and
destroyed. The army of Nikias and Demosthenes now at
tempted to retreat by difterent land-routes, but all the survivors
of the Athenians were compelled to capitulate on the banks of
the Asinarus, and 7000 prisoners were brought back to Syra
cuse to languish through a long captivity in its terrible latomiae
or stone-quarries.
Only a few years elapsed before Syracuse became threatened
(B.C. 406) by the Carthaginians, who were flushed by the con
quest of Akragas (Agrigentum) and other Greek colonies in
Sicily. It was during the alarm which ensued that Dionysios
was raised to the chief power, and, as soon as he had concluded
a temporary peace, devoted himself to the strengthening and
fortifying of the city, girding the northern side of Epipolae with
mighty walls, and erecting a strong fortress called Pentapyla
at the end of Ortygia which was nearest to the mainland. The
importance of these defences was shown when hostilities with
Carthage recommenced in B.C. 397, and the Carthaginian
general Himilco succeeded in entering the Great Harbour
and establishing his headquarters at the Olympeium. Here

SYRACUSE 97
the poisonous marsh of Syraco proved the best friend of Syra
cuse, and so weakened the Carthaginians by pestilence that
Dionysios was completely victorious both by sea and land, and
Himilco was obliged to compound for a safe retreat for himself
and his Carthaginians, abandoning his allies and mercenaries
to their fate. In spite of his avarice and severity, these suc
cesses raised Dionysios to a degree of power which no despot
had ever attained before. His successor, Dionysios II., having
all his vices without his wisdom, was expelled by his uncle Dion
(B.C. 356), but, after ten years' exile, regained the city, whence
he was again expelled in B.C. 343 by the Corinthian Timoleon,
who restored the ancient republic, and with it the former pros
perity of Syracuse. After thirty years of peace and happiness,
Agathocles, a potter of Thermae, seized the supreme power,
which he was enabled to hold, though he ruled with extreme
cruelty, owing to his success over the Carthaginians, whose
general, Hamilcar, he took prisoner while the latter was attack
ing Euryelos. He was poisoned in B.C. 289, after which
Syracuse was governed by Hicetas, and then (B.C. 279) by the
brilliant Pyrrhus, King of Epirus, who had married a daughter
of Agathocles.
Syracuse once more rose to fame and prosperity under
Hiero II., who succeeded in B.C. 275, and did much to adorn
the city with noble public buildings, to extend its commercial
relations, and develop the resources of its territory. Hiero
II. was distinguished by his faithful alliance with Rome, which
his grandson and successor Hieronymos (soon afterwards mur
dered at Leontinoi) deserted for that of Carthage. This led to
the famous siege of Syracuse under Marcellus, who was at first
so completely repulsed by the engineering skill of Archimedes,
that he was compelled to have recourse to a blockade. This
lasted two years, but ended in his effecting an entrance to the
fortifications (B.C. 212) at the Portus Trogiliorum, or Scala
Greca, and taking Epipolae, with the outlying quarters of
Tyche and Neapolis. The Carthaginians then, after a vain
attempt to raise the blockade of the rest of the town, being
again attacked by pestilence, abandoned the city to its fate,
and it was soon after betrayed into the hands of Marcellus by
an Iberian mercenary.
In the words of Florus, ' all Sicily was conquered in Syracuse.'
The statues and pictures of the great Grecian city were carried
off by shiploads to lay a foundation for the lust for Greek art
in Rome, and Syracuse sank into the position of a Roman pro
vincial town, though it long continued to be the capital of Sicily,
and is mentioned by Cicero as ' the greatest of Greek cities,
and the most beautiful of all cities.' Its final destruction did

98 SICILY
not occur till all its buildings were burned, and its inhabitants
put to the sword, by the Saracens, in A.D. 878. After this, the
old divisions of the city on the mainland were never rebuilt,
though the island of Ortygia has always remained inhabited,
and its fortifications were partially restored by Charles V.
The pleasantest way of visiting the sights of Syracuse is to walk to the
few sights of Ortygia (i.e., the town), and to engage a carriage by the hour,
for the other parts of the ancient city, some of which are 5 miles distant.
Amongst the narrow streets of Ortygia, of which the balconies
and wooden-latticed windows of the many convents are decora
tive features, we must inquire for the Via Diana, which con
tains the ruins of the Temple of Diana, the 'protectress' of the
city, which is called by Pindar ' the couch of Artemis,' ' the
sister of Delos.' The remains, which are Doric, are not pictur
esque, but are evidently of great antiquity, and belong to one
of the temples spoken of by Cicero 1 as ' most highly adorned.'
Following the Via Dione to its southern extremity we reach
the Piazza Archimede, whence the Via Roma and the little Via
del Seminario (right) lead to the Piazza Minerva, close to the
Doric Temple of Athena, now the Cathedral of S. Maria
delle Colonne. The temple was built by the Geomori, rulers
in the sixth century B.C., and was of great magnificence. On its
summit was a brazen shield of great size and overlaid with gold,
which served as a landmark to sailors on entering the port. Its
folding doors of gold and ivory were further adorned with a
marvellous golden head of Medusa. Cicero describes it as
excelling all the other buildings of the city in its adornments
before Verres carried off its treasures, which the generosity of
Marcellus had spared. The porticoes of the temple have been
destroyed by earthquakes, but the fourteen massy Doric
columns of its sides, and a portion of the architrave and its
triglyphs are built into the walls of the cathedral.
' Quel temple savamment restaur^ vaut cette cathgdrale batie dans un
temple dorique des plus nobles proportions. . . . Le mur a 6t6 fait sur la
colonnade elle-meme. L'architrave est conserved ; a certains endroits, les
triglyphes font creneau sur l'architrave. J'ai vu peu d'effets d'un pittor-
esque aussi complet. Je me trouvai en disaccord avec de zeles archeb-
logues, dont l'admiration pour l'antiquit^ est parfaitement £clairee, mais
peut-6tre un peu exclusive. Faire voter des fonds pour batir a l'eveque
une nouvelle cath^drale et degager le temple antique gtait le voeu qui
j'entendais former autour de moi. Je ne pus le partager entierement. Le
temple se voit bien tel qu'il est, et le vide m£me de la cath^drale avec ses
trois nefs fait ressortir la grandeur de 1' edifice antique.' — Ernest Renan.
As we listen to the chatter at the church doors we may recall
Praxinoe and Gorgo, the ' Syracusan gossips' of Theocritus.
1 In Verrem, iv 12

ORTYGIA 99
The interior contains nothing of interest except the font, which-
was brought from the curious subterranean church of S. Mar-
ziano. It is a huge simple marble vase, supported on twelve
tiny lions, and bearing a Greek inscription with the name of
Bishop Zosimus, who converted the temple into a church. In
i ico the roof of the cathedral fell in during mass and buried
the congregation. Adjoining the Duomo is the Archiepiscopal
Palace, in the court of which are some ancient marble columns
said to have belonged to a Temple of Ceres.
At the opposite side of the Via del Seminario is the entrance
to the Museo Archeologico (open from 9 to 3 ; fee, 1 lira).
Director, Prof. Paolo Orsi, a most distinguished authority, who
has entirely re-created it. We may notice : —
The Venus Laiulolina, an exquisitely beautiful though headless Greek
statue, found in 1804 by the Cavaliere Landolina in a garden of Achradina.
It has been thought that this may be the identical statue to which the lines
of Theocritus relate :—
' Aphrodite stands here ; she of heavenly birth ;
Not that base one who's wooed by the children of earth.
'Tis a goddess ; bow down. And one blemishless all,
Chrysogene, placed her in Amphicles' hall :
Chrysogene's heart, as her children, was his,
And each year they knew better what happiness is.
For, Queen, at life's outset they made thee their friend ;
Religion is policy too in the end." — Epig. xvi. , Calverley's Trans.
Sala I. — Christian and Byzantine ornaments ; cases of lamps ; inscrip
tions. Sarcophagus of Adelphia.
,, XIV. — Terra-cottas and bronzes from the Artemision diScala Greca
and Camarina.
,, XV. — Votive offerings; lovely heads; S. XVI. painted vases;
Megara bronze urn (1901).
,, XVII. — Bronze period ; from Necropolis of Cozzo del Pantano and
Plemmyrio and Pantalica (1890).
,, XIX. — Spiral ornaments.
There was a shrine in Syracuse of Venus Callipygas, dedicated by two
poor girls, because, by their beauty of form, they had won two noble youths
in marriage.
Head of Neptune found near the Amphitheatre in 1839. It stands on a
marble cippus of the late empire (with reliefs on three sides), found in the
Greek Theatre.
A pedestal to the Roman Perpenna — 'a man by whose wise counsels
this city of the Syracusans breathed from its labours and saw the hour of
repose. '
A beautiful monumental figure of 1496, from the Church of S. Domenico.
Opposite the cathedral is the handsome Palace of the Barone
delle Targeia. The little Via Maniaci leads in two minutes
from hence to the ' Sacred Fountain ' x of Arethusa, which still
1 See Ovid, Met. v. 573.

100 SICILY
bubbles up with clear and abundant waters, though its pictur
esqueness is annihilated by a pit of modern masonry with which
it is encircled.
' In hac insula extrema est fons aquae dulcis, cui nomen Arethusa est,
incredibili magnitudine, plenissimus piscium ; qui fluctu totus operiretur,
nisi munitione ac mole lapidum a mari disjunctus esset.' — Cicero, In Verr.
Act. ii. Lib. iv.
Many stories are told of the nymph Arethusa, but the most
popular myth narrates that when she was bathing in the river
Alpheius in Arcadia, she was pursued by the river-god, and
that she prayed to Artemis, who took pity upon her and changed
her into a stream which flowed under the earth to Ortygia.
But some say that Alpheius was able to pursue her and mingle
his waters with hers, and others that he still bubbles up — ' coccis
mersa cavernis ' i — close outside the fountain, in a fresh- water
spring in the deep sea, bearing the inexplicable name of Occhio
della Zilica. ' Alpheum fama est hue Elidis amnem
Occultas egisse vias subter mare ; qui nunc
Ore, Arethusa, tuo Siculis confunditur undis.' — Aen. iii. 694.
' Hic Arethusa suo piscoso fonte receptat
Alpheum, sacrae portantem signa coronae.' — Sil. Ital. xiv. 53.
' And now from their fountains
In Enna's mountains,
Down one vale where the morning basks,
Like friends once parted
Grown single-hearted,
They ply their watery tasks.
At sunrise they leap
From their cradles steep
In the cave of the shelving hill ;
At noontide they flow
Through the woods below
And the meadows of asphodel ;
And at night they sleep
In the rocking deep
Beneath the Ortygian shore ;—
Like spirits that lie
In the azure sky
When they love but live no more.' — Shelley.
The traveller Hughes narrates how a woman, while scrambling
up the rocks, with much naivete" and vast variety of gesture
repeated to him a story of a lovely signorina of ancient times,
1 Ovid, Met. v. 639.

Photo]

FONS ARETHUSA
SYRACUSE

FOUNTAIN OF ARETHUSA 101
who, being persecuted by a terrible magician, fled to this spot
and drowned herself in the fountain, and that her pursuer,
coming up and finding only her dead body, changed the water
out of revenge from sweet to bitter and then threw himself
headlong into the sea, where the waters have been in a state of
perturbation ever since. The narrator then directed the tra
veller to look over the wall into the Great Harbour where he
might see the waters still boiling up from the efforts of that
wicked enchanter, endeavouring to escape from the pains of
purgatory. It used to be believed that a cup thrown into the Alpheius
in Arcadia would reappear in the Fountain of Arethusa at Syra
cuse.1 The waters have been spoiled for drinking since the
earthquake of 1170, which let in the sea, so that Nelson, before
the Battle of the Nile, must have written metaphorically to Lady
Hamilton — ' We have victualled and watered, and surely water
ing at the Fountain of Arethusa, we must have victory.' Papyrus
has been planted in the transparent water. The Passeggio
Arethusa is a pleasant walk on the sea-wall, planted with ger
anium, graceful pepper, convolvulus, Barbary aloes, and a
thousand other flowers. It overlooks the Great Harbour, the
' Sicanise sinus ' of Virgil, and is much frequented by the Syra-
cusan aristocracy on summer afternoons. But it is always a
favourite resort, and one may have plenty of opportunity here
of observing the decadence of the native character since the
description of Cicero : —
' Ea patentia virtus frugalitasque est ut proxime ad nostram disciplinam
" illam veterem, non ad banc quae incubuit, videantur accedere ; nihil
caeterorum simile Graecorum ; nulla desidia, nulla luxuria ; contra summus
labor in publicis privatisque rebus, summa parsimonia, summa diligentia.'
— In Verr. ii. 5.
Travellers will come to this spot to try and recall the terrible
scene during the last naval battle here between the Syracusans
and Athenians, after the Syracusans had blocked up the mouth
of the Great Harbour.
'The Athenian fleet made directly for that portion of the barrier where a
narrow opening (perhaps closed by a movable chain) had been left for
merchant-vessels. Their first impetuous attack broke through the
Syracusan squadron defending it, and they were already attempting to
sever its connecting bonds, when the enemy from all sides crowded in upon
them, and forced them to desist. Presently the battle became general, and
the combatants were distributed in various parts of the harbour. On both
sides a fierce and desperate courage was displayed, even greater than had
been shown on any of the former occasions. At the first onset the skill and
tactics of the steersmen shone conspicuous, well seconded by zeal on the
1 Strabo, vi. 270 ; viii. 343.

102 SICILY
part of the rowers and by their ready obedience to the voice of the
Keleustes. AsHhe vessels neared, the bowmen, slingers, and throwers on
the deck hurled clouds of missiles against the enemy — next was heard the
loud crash of the two impinging metallic fronts, resounding all along the
shore. When the vessels were once thus in contact, they were rarely
allowed to separate; a strenuous hand-fight then commenced by the
hoplites in each trying respectively to board and master their enemy's
deck. It was not always, however, that each trireme had its own single
and special enemy : sometimes one ship had two or three enemies to con
tend with at once — sometimes she fell aboard of one unsought, and became
entangled. After a certain time, the fight still obstinately continuing, all
sort of battle order became lost ; the skill of the steersmen was of little
avail, and the voice of the Keleustes was drowned amidst the universal din
and mingled cries from victors as well as vanquished. On both sides
emulous exhortations were poured forth, together with reproach and
sarcasm addressed to any ship which appeared flinching from the contest ;
though factitious stimulus of this sort was indeed but little needed.
'Such was the heroic courage on both sides, that for a long time victory
was altogether doubtful, and the whole harbour was a scene of partial
encounters, wherein sometimes Syracusans, sometimes Athenians, pre
vailed. According as success thus fluctuated, so followed the cheers or
wailings of the spectators ashore. At one and the same time, every variety
of human emotion might be witnessed ; according as attention was turned
towards a victorious or a defeated, ship. It was among the spectators in
the Athenian station, above all, whose life and liberty were staked in the
combat, that this emotion might be seen exaggerated into agony, and
overpassing the excitement even of the combatants themselves. Those
among them, who looked towards a portion of the harbour where their
friends seemed winning, were full of joy and thanksgiving to the gods :
such of their neighbours, who contemplated an Athenian ship in difficulty,
gave vent to their feelings in shrieks and lamentation ; while a third group,
with their eyes fixed on some portion of the combat still disputed, were
plunged in all the agitations of doubt, manifested even in the tremulous
swing of their bodies, as hope or fear alternately predominated. During
all the time that the combat remained undecided, the Athenians ashore
were distracted by all these manifold varieties of intense sympathy. But
at length the moment came, after a long-protracted struggle, when victory
began to declare in favour of the Syracusans, who, perceiving that their
enemies were slackening, redoubled their shouts as well as their efforts,
and pushed them all back towards the land. All the Athenian triremes,
abandoning further resistance, were thrust ashore like shipwrecked vessels
in or near their own station ; a few being even captured before they could
arrive there. The diverse manifestations of sympathy among the Athenians
in the station itself were now exchanged for one unanimous shriek of agony
and despair. The boldest of them rushed to rescue the ships and their
crews from pursuit, others to man their walls in case of attack from land :
many were even paralysed at the sight, and absorbed with the thoughts of
their own irretrievable ruin. Their souls were doubtless still further sub
dued by the wild and enthusiastic joy which burst forth in maddening
shouts from the hostile crowds around the harbour, in response to their own
victorious comrades on shipboard.
'Such was the close of this awful, heart-stirring, and decisive combat.
The modern historian strives in vain to convey the impression of it which
appears in the condensed and burning phrases of Thucydides.' — Grote's
Hist, of Greece, vii.

CASTLE 0F\MANIACES, PICCOLO PORTO 103
' The whole scene can be reproduced with wonderful distinctness ; for
the low shores of Plemmyrium, the city of Ortygia, the marsh of Lysi-
meleia, the hill above the Anapus, and the distant dome of Etna, are tbe
same as they were upon that memorable day. Nothing has disappeared
except the temple of Zeus Olympius, and the buildings of Temenitis.' —
— /. A. Symonds.
Beyond the fountain, at the southernmost point of the island,
opposite Plemmyrium, is the Castle of Gorgios Maniaces, the
last Byzantine general, who, after having for a time, with
the assistance of Normans, been successful over the Saracen
invaders, was eventually driven out by them (1038), but, being
allowed to retire and carry off to Constantinople what christian
relics he liked, took the body of S. Lucia from Syracuse, and
that of S. Agata from Catania, leaving those saintless cities
exposed to the furies of Etna. The existing remains are of
later date than the Byzantine general, but the building was
probably much altered for the Norman kings who resided here
when they were at Syracuse; a fine vaulted hall is of their
time. Over the castle gate stood the two bronze rams, which
were brought from Constantinople by Maniaces, and, turning
on pivots, served to show the direction of the wind, which,
pouring through their mouths, produced a sound like bleating.
King Alphonso of Aragon afterwards gave them to Giovanni
Ventimiglia, Marchese de Gerace, as a recompense for having
decoyed twenty disaffected nobles to a banquet and murdered
them there. After his death the rams were placed upon his
tomb, but were removed to the palace at Palermo when the
grandson of Ventimiglia was executed for rebellion.1
The castle occupies the site of a Temple of the Olympian
Juno, which had an altar whence sailors going to sea used to
take a cup full of ashes and throw them into the waves when
they lost sight of the shield on the temple of Minerva.
Returning hence by the eastern ramparts of Ortygia, we look
down upon the Little Harbour, Piccolo Porto, where Dionysios
established his lesser arsenal, and near which he built his
many-gated citadel of Pentapyla, afterwards replaced by the
Saracenic fortress called ' II Castello di Mahrietto.'
The fortifications of Ortygia are picturesque, and an artist
might find several good subjects in its heavy-towered gateways,
choked up with wains of white huge-horned oxen and by figures
in bright costumes, or in the salt canals which lap their base,
and are filled with boats brilliant in colour.

It is through several gates and bridges that we reach the
mainland and enter sea-girt Achradina, 'the outer city,' the
1 One ram still exists in the Museum at Palermo.

104 SICILY
most important and populous quarter of ancient Syracuse, built
entirely on the limestone rock. Now it is almost utterly
desolate : a solitary marble pillar standing on the green sward
not far from the gate of Ortygia being almost the only relic of
its forum or Agora, which was surrounded by Dionysios with
the ' pulcherrimae porticus ' which excited the admiration of
Cicero. Here, opposite to Ortygia, stood the magnificent
monument which Dionysios the younger erected to his father,
and which was destroyed after his own expulsion. Here also
were the Timoleonteum, the well-earned monument to the
honoured memory of Timoleon ; 1 the temple of Jupiter
Olympius, built by Hieron II.;2 and the Prytaneium, which
contained the famous statue of Sappho by Silanion which was
stolen by Verres. Now, beyond the pillar, washerwomen are
wringing out their clothes on the grassy bank of a little brook
which babbles under the poplar-trees, and the narrow lanes are
separated from the stony fields by low walls or hedges of
cactus interspersed still with the wild pear-trees (axpdSfs),
which are supposed to have given a name to this quarter of
the city
If we follow the high road not far from the seashore, a walk
or drive of nearly a mile will bring us to the fortified Convent of
the Cappuccini, picturesquely situated on a rocky eminence
whence there is a lovely view towards Ortygia, especially in the
sunset. There is nothing to see in the convent except mummi
fied monks, for the brethren here have always embalmed each
other, and, if truth be told, have been sometimes known to
pawn a dead brother when distressed for money. The convent
is confiscated now, but we must explore its cavernous recesses
to obtain the keys of the ominous Latomia dei Cappuccini,
into which we descend by a narrow path. It is an enormous
pit in the limestone rock nearly ioo ft. deep, and several acres
in extent. All around the cliffs rise in perpendicular walls,
often hollowed beneath into marvellous caves or rather halls in
the rock. Here and there vast masses of stone have been
detached by repeated earthquakes, or huge rocks have been
left standing, islandlike, amid the rich vegetation of oranges,
pomegranates, and cypresses, indescribably beautiful, and
which has given the place its modern name of La Selva.
The flowers are exquisitely lovely, and the whole scene on a
warm day in summer has an atmosphere of Paradise which ill
accords with its terrific associations, for there can be no doubt
that, though this and the other latomiae of Syracuse were
originally quarries for the limestone of which the city was built,
they were employed from early times as prisons, and were so
1 Plutarch, Titnol. 39. 3 Diodorus, xvi. 83.

IN ACHRADINA 105
used for the immense multitude of Athenian prisoners after the
raising of the blockade of Syracuse under' Nikias and Demos
thenes. In the same way the Mamertine prisons at Rome
were converted quarries.
' Lautumias Syracusanas omnes audistis, plerique nostis ; opus est
ingens, magnificum, regum ac tyrannorum. Totum est ex saxo in mir-
andam altitudinem depresso, et multorum operis penitus exciso : nihil tarn
clausum ad exitus, nihil tam septum undique, nihil tam tutum ad custodias,
nee fieri, nee cogitari potest.' — In Verr. Act. ii. 5, 27.
' The l.aloniia de' Cappuccini is a place which it is impossible to
describe in words, and of which no photographs give any notion. Sunk to
the depth of a hundred feet below the level of the soil, with sides per
pendicular and in many places as smooth as though the chisel had just
passed over them, these vast excavations produce the impression of some
huge subterranean gallery, widening here and there into spacious halls, the
whole of which has been unroofed and opened to the air of heaven. It is a
solemn and romantic labyrinth, where no wind blows rudely, and where
orange-trees shoot upward luxuriantly to meet the light. The wild fig
bursts from the living rock, mixed with lentisk shrubs and pendent caper-
plants. Old olives split the masses of fallen cliff with their tough, snake
like, slowly-corded, and compact roots. Thin- flames of pomegranate
flowers gleam amid foliage of lustrous green ; and lemons drop unheeded
from fragile branches. There too the ivy hangs in long festoons, waving
like tapestry to the breath of stealthy breezes ; while under foot is a tangle
of acanthus, thick curling leaves of glossiest green, surmounted by spikes
of dull lilac blossoms. Wedges and columns and sharp teeth of the native
rock rear themselves here and there in the midst of the open spaces to the
sky, worn fantastically into notches and saws by the action of scirocco. A
light yellow, calcined by the sun to white, is the prevailing colour of the
quarries. But in shady places the limestone takes a curious pink tone of
great beauty, like the interior of some sea-shells. The reflected lights too,
and half-shadows in the scooped-out chambers, make a wonderful natural
chiaroscuro. The whole scene is now more picturesque in a sublime and
grandiose style than forbidding. There is even one spot planted with
magenta-coloured mesembrianthemums of dazzling brightness, and the air
is loaded with the drowsy perfume of lemon blossoms. Yet this garden
was once the Gethsemane of a nation, where 9000 freemen of the proudest
city of Greece were brought by an unexampled stroke of fortune to slavery,
shame, and a miserable end. Here they dwindled away, worn out by
wounds, disease, thirst, hunger, heat by day and cold by night, heart-
sickness, and the insufferable stench ol putrefying corpses. The pupils of
Socrates, the admirers of Euripides, the orators of the Pnyx, the athletes of
the Lyceum, lovers and comrades and philosophers, died here like dogs :
and the dames of Syracuse stood, doubtless, on those parapets above, and
looked upon them like wild beasts. . . . The weary eyes turned upwards
found no change or respite, save what the frost of night brought to the fire
of day, and the burning sun to the pitless cold constellations.' — /. A.
Symonds. The story that some of the Athenian prisoners purchased
their release by repeating the verses of Euripides, and on
reaching their own country hastened to fling themselves at

106 SICILY
the feet of him whose words had redeemed them, gave rise
to the lines of Byron —
' When Athens' armies fell at Syracuse,
And fetter'd thousands bore the yoke of war,
Redemption rose up in the Attic Muse,
Her voice their only ransom from afar :
See ! as they chant the tragic hymn, the car
Of the o'ermaster'd victor stops ; the reins
Fall from his hands : his idle scimitar
Starts from his belt : he rends his captive's chains,
And bids him thank the bard for freedom and his strains. '
— Childe Harold, c. iv. 16.
[Beyond the Cappuccini, the heights of Achradina are bare
and desolate, powdered with fragments of ruin, which can
scarcely be distinguished from the masses of grey and white
limestone with which the fields are covered. There are some
curious caves in the cliffs along the coast. The western wall
of the city has been traced as far as the spot called Capo S.
Panagia, after the ' bien-heureuse pecheresse' of that name. A
short distance beyond this (most easily reached by the high
road to Messina) is the cove of Scala Greca, probably the
Portus Trogiliorum where Marcellus landed and effectually
stormed the Carthaginian fortifications.]
Narrow lanes lead from the Cappuccini to the large Convent
of S. Lucia. The church (eleventh century) has a handsome
tower, and the western entrance is a fine arch of the twelfth
century, with Norman capitals and lions ; above it is a round
window. Over the high altar is a great picture attributed to
Caravaggio of the burial of S. Lucia, who has taken the place
of Artemis as the protectress of Syracuse. Steps lead down to
a round chapel hewn out of the rock, containing a shrine in
honour of the saint ; but it is empty, as her bones were carried
off to Constantinople by Maniaces, and are now divided
between Venice and a side chapel in the cathedral of Syracuse,
whence they are brought once a year to visit her chapel in
Achradina, all the town escorting them to and fro. Here,
however, a pathetic marble figure of the saint lies in serene
repose, with lamps, like the vestal's fire, eternally burning
around her.
Lucia, whom Dante has introduced as the messenger from
the Virgin to Beatrice —
' Lucia, nimica di ciascun crudele,' '
is the gentle patroness of the labouring poor. The most ancient
legend tells that she was born in the reign of Diocletian, being
1 Inf. c. ii. 97. Purg. ix. 55. Par. xxxii. 137.

IN ACHRADINA 107
the daughter of Eutychia, a Syracusan widow, who, not know
ing that she had dedicated her virginity, betrothed her to a
pagan youth of her own city, noble, and very wealthy. Soon
afterwards, accompanying her mother to the shrine of S. Agata
at Catania, where she went to pray for cure from a grievous
disorder, the virgin-martyr appeared to her in a vision, hailing
her as a sister, and promising not only the restoration of her
mother, but that Syracuse should ever be defended and favoured
for her sake. After her return home she persuaded her mother
to permit her to sell all their possessions and give the price to
the poor, which so enraged the young man to whom she was
betrothed, that he denounced her as a Christian to the governor
Pascasius, who condemned her to death, and ordered his execu
tioners to drag her away. Her body, however, was immovable,
and neither men nor oxen had any power over it. Then
Pascasius ordered a great fire to be kindled around her ; but,
at her prayer, she remained unscathed in the midst of the
flames. Finally, she was pierced in the throat with a poniard.
A later legend tells that, when Lucia was wearied of the love
of her youthful admirer, who, by speech and in writing, declared
that he was enthralled by her beautiful eyes, she plucked out
her eyes and sent them to her lover in a dish, saying — ' Here
is that which thou hast so much desired, now leave me in
peace.' Her sight was afterwards fortunately restored by
miracle. It is from this legend that Lucia is always repre
sented bearing two eyes in a dish, and is invoked against
blindness and all disease of the eyes.
A pillar to which Lucia is said to have been bound at her
execution is shown in the upper church.
Passing the church of S. Maria di Gesu, with a square tower
(notice the curious tomb of the Fitz-Gibbons, 1728), we reach
the gates of the Villa Landolina (50 c.) containing a small
Latomia, used as a burial-place (Campi Elisi), and containing
the poetic grave of the poet, August, Count von Platen Haller-
miinde, who died in Syracuse, 5th December 1835. A little
north of this is the Latomia Casale, occupied by the lovely
garden of the Marchese Casale.
A few steps west from Villa Landolina, a cactus-fringed lane
leads to the Church of S. Giovanni, which has a beautiful
outer portico, with three richly-sculptured, round-headed arches,
dating from 1182, when the church was dedicated. From the
interior of the building steps lead into the wonderful picturesque
Crypt of S. Marziano (fourth century), a Greek cross cut
out of the solid rock, with an apse at each end except on
the west, where the staircase descends by which we enter.
No artist will fail to paint the splendid effects of shadow

108 SICILY
and colour in this most venerable of churches, whose walls
are covered with decaying frescoes, but are almost more full
of colour from the weather stains and mosses of eighteen
hundred years. The red stains are attributed to the blood of
the martyrs, for this is believed to be the church where the
missionary and first bishop of Syracuse, S. Marziano, the
contemporary of the apostles, received S. Paul, when he landed
at Syracuse, and 'tarried there three days,' i where S. Marcian
was martyred, and where S. Paul preached to the first christian
congregation. Several memorials of S. Marcian are pointed
out — an inverted Ionic column which served as his chair, a
column to which he was bound at his martyrdom, and the
empty tomb whence his body was carried off for safety to
Caeta, when Sicily was invaded by the Saracens.
From the little court at the back of the church a hermit
emerges from a hut beneath an orange-tree laden with golden
fruit, and, with a four-cornered lamp in his hand, held by a hook,
will conduct travellers into the exceedingly curious (4th cent.)
Catacombs — ' G-rotte di San Giovanni ' — attributed in turn to
Greeks, Romans, and Saracens, Pagans and Christians. All
that is really known about them is that they were intended for
burial-places, and that they are laid out on a much more regular
arrangement than the catacombs of Italy, and on a plan rather
resembling that of a city, with streets and piazzas. Wide pas
sages lead into circular chapels, which in several cases have an
opening at the top. All around are the dead ; the walls are
full of tombs, the floor is paved with them, even the pillars are
ornamented with the tiny tombs of babies. In the chapels the
graves are in rows, in other places they are arranged in patterns.
There are fragments of Greek inscriptions, one containing the
name of the lady commemorated, and here and there are re
mains of frescoes, one of the most perfect representing two
peacocks. ' The catacombs at Naples are more weird and monstrous, but neither
they nor those of Rome have such a symmetric plan. One suddenly finds
oneself in a regularly organised city of the dead, where whole peoples
appear to have slumbered in their stone coffins. Here are countless streets
and alleys, endless chambers, niches, spaces, and halls, once inhabited by
the dead in deepest peace, whilst above them raged the revolutions of the
living. One may judge by the existing Naples how many dead the life of
one great city ejects daily, how many then must the ancient Syracuse,
swarming with inhabitants, bave cast out day by day into this yawning
under world. This catacomb, like all others, was first a stone quarry, then
it was used as a Necropolis, and for centuries it was continually enlarged,
yet evidently upon a system, for all the galleries lead from time to time to
a middle hall, a great circular and vaulted room, surrounded by niches
and possessing either one, two, or three arched entrances. Here also the
1 Acts xxviii. 12.

TYCHE 109
style bears traces of Greek influence. Up to the present only four of these
centres have been excavated, but tradition says that there are three hun
dred and sixty in number. It is even asserted not only that the catacombs
reach as far as the river of Sebetos, but that they extend beneath the earth
as far as Catania. In comparison with this all the tunnels of the modern
world are as nothing. It is true that the greater part of these passages are
in ruins, but they are still practicable for an extent of several miles.
' Twenty years ago a professor, with six pupils, to whom he wished to
explain the wonders of the city of tombs, was lost there. They wandered
long and despairingly through the horrible labyrinth in search of the en
trance till they died of exhaustion, and they were found lying side by side,
four miles distant from the gate. Since that time holes for light and air
have been pierced in the galleries, through which the dubious daylight
shimmers mysteriously into this fearful Hades. ... All is hollow, empty,
and still as nothingness : time, which has destroyed every trace of the work
of life above in Achradina, has here below killed even the dead themselves.'
— Gregorovius, Wanderungen in Sicilien.

A little beyond S. Giovanni, the lane along which we have
come falls into the high road to Catania, which leads up the hill
of Neapolis into the high land of Tyche (Tixn\ 'he populous
quarter of the town, which grew up after Dionysios had erected
the great wall to secure it from attack along the northern heights.
It derived its name from a celebrated Temple of Fortune, and
contained the great fortress of Hexapylum, the capture of which
proved so important to Marcellus, after his soldiers had broken
through its drunken guard on the night of the festival of Diana ;
but, except some small fragments of aqueduct, no buildings of
antiquity remain.
' The whole is now a rocky common only frequented by a few sheep and
goats — nothing to remind you of the past except the grooves here and there
worn by the chariot wheels in the rock, indented lines that trace the foun
dations of houses and the occasional gurgling of water, when you hit upon
the course of the stream which is brought by the aqueduct. Here and
there, in the wide extent, are a few patches of cultivation and one or two
modern farms, but nothing ancient : and you puzzle your brains to con
ceive what can have become of the temples and palaces, the vast piles of
marble and stone, the materials, the very dust of the London of antiquity.'
— Gaily Knight.
A quarter of a mile up this road, the hillside between Tyche
and Neapolis is covered to the left with sepulchral ruins, almost
every rock being hewn into a tomb, some mere niches for urns
in the cliff, but others more imposing. The two most conspicu
ous monuments, which have remains of Doric pillars on their
facades, have received the names of the Tombs of Timoleon
and Archimedes, but without any authority ; indeed there is
every reason why the lower monument, called the tomb of
Archimedes, should not be that which Cicero sought with such
pains outside the Agragian gate, and which was marked by a

no SICILY
sphere and cylinder, carved on the sepulchral steld, in memory
of the great philosopher's invention.
' When I was quaestor I discovered the tomb of Archimedes surrounded
and overrun with brushwood and brambles and utterly unknown to the
Syracusans, who even denied its existence. For I possessed some verses
which I had heard were inscribed on his monument, and that a sphere and
cylinder were placed on the top of the tomb. But whilst I was examining
all the monuments (for there is a vast multitude of them at the Agragian
gates) I observed a little column peering above the brambles on which a
sphere and cylinder were carved : and I immediately declared to the Syra-
cusan nobles who were with me that I thought that must be what I was
seeking. A number of men sent in with sickles cleared and opened out
the place. When an approach was made we went up to the pedestal, on
the opposite side of which appeared the inscription, of which the latter
verses had perished. Thus would the noblest city of Greece, which was
once also the most learned, have remained in ignorance of the monument
of her most distinguished citizen, unless she had learned it from a man of
Arpinum.' — Tusc. Disp. v. 23.
¦* So Tully paused, amid the wrecks of Time,
On the rude stone to trace the truth sublime ;
When at his feet, in honoured dust disclosed,
The immortal sage of Syracuse reposed.'
— Rogers, Pleasures of Memory.
This spot is wonderfully beautiful, and unlike anything else.
Seated upon a crumbling tomb, one may look across a waste of
grey rocks, full of sepulchres, intersected by bright patches of
grass, and here and there overgrown by masses of pink silene
or tall graceful asphodels, to the deep-blue sea and the historic
Great Harbour, with Plemmyrion on one side, and Ortygia, girt
with walls and towers, on the other. To the left is the Little
Harbour, with a white sail or two skimming across its still
waters, intersected by tall cypress-spires, and nearer, amongst
the pear and orange groves, the old church of S. Giovanni, and
Santa Lucia, and the Cappuccini on its height. Goats, tinkling
their bells, caper across the common from their fields hedged
with cactus, and, in this transparent atmosphere, as in Spain,
the figures moving upon the highway cast pure blue shadows
upon the white ground.
[A Walk. — Leaving Hotel Achradina, take the road to E.
(due west), and we descend the hill to the aqueduct and amphi
theatre (Roman), passing the iron gate L. to Teatro Greco.
Immediately on our E. now we find the Quarries (Lautomia), and
following the path down the garden, we are taken in hand and
shown over them. The artificial precipices above us are lined
out against the sky with dense thickets of prickly pear (opuntia),
and we hear the voices echoing in the ancient caverns. The
soft nature of the rock here has left scarcely a trace of the axe.

[Somtnet

AMPHITHEATRE SYRACUSE

NEAPOLIS in
Immediately west of this the road mounts to the Theatre, facing
south across the harbour. Beyond that rises the great ridge by
which Demosthenes tried so vainly to escape, with his starving
forces. One is everywhere struck by the vast areas that exacted
defence on the part of the holders of Syracuse.]
Returning to the place where we entered the highway from
S. Giovanni, we should take the opposite lane to the right, into
the utterly deserted Neapolis. This was the last built of the
lower quarters of Syracuse, and is quite omitted in the descrip
tions of" Thucydides. It probably did not exist at the time of the
Athenian invasion, though it rose to splendour under Dionysios.
Cicero calls it the fourth city of Syracuse, and speaks of its vast
theatre, its temples of Ceres and Proserpine, and its beautiful
statue of Apollo called Temenites.
A few minutes will bring us to the Chapel of S. Niccol6, built
above a Roman reservoir. On the other side of the lane is the
Roman Amphitheatre (231 ft. by 132 ft. NW.-SE.), probably
built, or rather for the most part cut out of the rock, in the
time of Augustus, who, in B.C. 21, recolonised Ortygia and part
of Neapolis and Achradina. In the middle of the arena is a
cistern. This vast ruin overgrown with flowers, and with the
sea or mountain as a background, has the most desolate poetic
beauty. The head of Zeus in the Museum was found here.
The little lane, which runs up the hill opposite the Amphi
theatre, leads through a maze of fruit-abounding cactus to the
beautiful Latomia of Santa Venera, now the garden of the
Barone della Targeia, who owns the fine palace opposite the
cathedral, and who, in these depths, has made an earthly para
dise of oranges and pomegranates, daturas, salvias, camellias,
and poinzettias. Above all, huge Judas trees wave their pink
tresses, and masses of plumbago, jessamine, and different kinds
of cacti, scramble over the rocks, whilst geraniums and violets
flower in masses wherever they are allowed a foothold. Even
at Christmas these marvellous gardens are radiant with love
liness. A few steps beyond S. Niccold, passing under the arches of
an aqueduct, we reach (left) the Ara, a vast rectangular altar
mentioned by Diodorus as erected by Hiero II. It is raised
on steps, and is 606 ft. long, and 61 ft. broad, yet this enormous
size was not disproportioned for a people who could sacrifice
450 oxen to Zeus at once, as a thank-offering for the delivery
of their city from the tyranny of Thrasybulos.
On the right (opposite) is the astonishing Latomia del
Paradiso, perforated with caverns, which are hung with glorious
stalactites, and used in some instances as rope-walks. In this
Latomia is the extraordinary cavern called the Ear of Dionysios,

M2 SICILY
because the painter Caravaggio used to imagine that the tyrant
(who utilised some of these Latomiae as prisons) used to
conceal himself in a lofty chamber of the rock, and take ad
vantage of its echoes to learn what his prisoners were planning.
The cavern, which is really magnificent, winds like an S, is
210 ft. in length, about 30 ft. wide, and 70 ft. high. A whisper
against the rock is distinctly audible to any one putting his ear
to the rock at the entrance at the other end, the tearing of
paper produces a succession of volleys, and a shout, a hurricane
of echoes. The effect of singing in this cavern is also very
remarkable, a canon composed for two voices appearing to be
sung by four.1 Those who wish to visit the imaginary hiding-
place of Dionysios must be drawn up to it by ropes ; ordinary
conversation in the cavern below is audible there, but no
whispers. Passing under the arches of an aqueduct — by the little
Locanda where Hughes the traveller drank Vinum Pollianum,
the wine brought from Italy by Pollio, we reach, deeply sunken
in the slope, the Greek Theatre, hollowed out of the side of
the rock in the fifth century B.C. Its forty-six rows of seats
were separated by three broad walks or ambulatories. The
pit is divided by eight radiating flights of steps, and inscrip
tions survive, dedicating four of these divisions to the queens
Philistis and Nereis, Jupiter Olympius, and Hercules the
Benevolent. It is generally supposed that Philistis was the
daughter of Theron and wife of the tyrant Gelon, generally
known as Demarata ; her coins exist, bearing a very beautiful
female head, represented both in youth and age, but she lives
only by numismatic record. Nereis was daughter of Pyrrhus,
King of Epirus, and married Gelon, son of King Hiero, by
whom she was the mother of Hieronymus.
The Greek Theatre, in its utter solitude, with its grey stones
worn to the likeness of rocks and overgrown with candituft
and hawkweed, and its exquisitely lovely view, is perhaps the
most touching and attractive of all the Syracusan ruins.
Readers of Tacitus2 will recall the excellent Paetus Thrasea,
who was unjustly censured here by his detractors for countering
the proposal of Nero to allow the people of Syracuse a larger
number of gladiators than was generally permitted. But it is
difficult, indeed, to conjure up a picture of past scenes — of the
theatre crowded, as must frequently have been the case, by
24,000 persons, and of blind Timoleon receiving here the thanks
of the people for the restoration of their freedom. Now there
is no sound but the murmur of a brook which once brought
water to the busy city and turned the mills here (which gave
1 See Swinburne's Travels, ii. 341. ^Ann. xiii. 49.

IN NEAPOLIS 113
the ruin its modern name of / Molini di Galerme), and the
murmur of wild-bees in the flower-cups.
Above the theatre is a Nymphaeum caverned in the rock,
and close beside it on the left the entrance to the Petra-like
Street of Tombs, cut out of the solid rock, and with walls
entirely covered by monuments, some mere niches for urns,
and others sepulchral porticoes now overhung by masses of the
beautiful caper plant (Capparis spinosa) which is regarded as
the hyssop of Scripture. The marks of chariot wheels remain
as ruts in the rocky way, and it is interesting to remember that
down this hollow road the lectica of Timoleon must frequently
have been borne upon the shoulders of his fellow-citizens.1 Here
also, especially, it will be felt how the Greeks and Romans, by
thus bringing the dead amongst the living, must have kept
their remembrance ever-green and modified the feeling of
eternal separation.

Our next excursion from Ortygia must be to the heights of
Epipolae, about 4 m. distant by the carriage road.
Soon after passing the railway station we see on the right the
picturesque remains called the Baths of Diana, with broken
columns and an altar. Hence the road runs for several miles
between the sea and the heights of Neapolis and Epipolae —
through wastes of pink-grey limestone, gilded here and there
with lichen, and interspersed with great tufts of asphodel and
with lovely dwarf blue iris — and here rose (L.) the perished
Temples of Demeter and Persephone.
At the little hamlet of Tremiglia visitors may obtain access
to the lovely garden of a villa on the steep side of the hill
(C. Santoro), which is supposed to have been the retreat of
Timoleon, given to him by his grateful fellow-citizens. Hither
he is said to have brought his wife and family from Corinth, and
to have lived to a happy old age, when the people used to carry
him on their shoulders to the theatre, where all was interrupted
till the acclamations which arose on his appearance had ceased.
If strangers asked to see the greatest ornament of the city, they
were taken to visit Timoleon surrounded by his family. He
had made the Syracusans value and understand liberty by a
course of gradual reform, giving the people all the freedom they
were able to avail themselves of, but still holding the reins of
government sufficiently to allow of his rewarding the good and
punishing evil-doers. 1 T. Smart Hughes

114 SICILY
[Hence one may reach the Latomia del Filosofo, excavated
by Dionysios to obtain stone for his great works on Epipolae,
and afterwards used by him as a prison.
' In these quarries men were so long imprisoned that they married there
and begat children, which children, when they first went to Syracuse and
beheld the horses which drew the chariots, were so frightened that they
fled away screaming. The finest of the caverns was called after Philoxenos
the poet, because it is said that he wrote The Cyclops, the most beautiful of
his poems, while he was imprisoned there, esteeming as nothing the con
demnation and vengeance of Dionysius.' — Aelian.]
A winding road now ascends the hills of Epipolae (En-wroXou)
to the fortifications of Dionysios at Euryelus, called by the
peasants Mongibellisi, from the words 'monte' and 'ghibel,'
both meaning a hill. These are the westernmost heights which
Nikias took by a rapid movement and soon afterwards lost by
rashly advancing upon the lower city without leaving a garrison
behind him, and which Marcellus, on the other hand, so
strongly garrisoned before he attacked Achradina. Here
excavations have been made, disclosing rock - staircases,
mighty magazines hewn in the rock, and stabling, with the
rings for the horses still attached. Euryelus is, perhaps, the
finest known example of a great Greek fortress, and was the
most important point to besiegers and besieged in all attacks
upon the city.
' Euryelus is the key to Epipolae. It was here that Nikias himself
ascended in the first instance, and that afterwards he permitted Gylippos
to enter and raise the siege, and lastly that Demosthenes, by overpowering
the insufficient Syracusan guard, got at night within the lines of the
Spartan general. Thus the three most important movements of the siege
were made upon Euryelus. Dionysios, when he enclosed Epipolae with
walls, recognised the importance of the point, and fortified it with the
castle which remains, and to which, as Colonel Leake believes, Archi
medes, at the order of Hiero II., made subsequent additions. This castle
is one of the most interesting Greek ruins extant. A little repair would
make even now a substantial place of defence, according to Greek tactics.
Its deep foss is cut in the solid rock, and furnished with subterranean
magazines for the storage of provisions. The three piles of solid masonry,
on which the drawbridge rested, still stand in the centre of this ditch. The
oblique grand entrance to the foss descends by a flight of well-cut steps.
The rock itself, over which the fort was raised, is honeycombed with exca
vated passages for infantry and cavalry, of different width and height, so
that one sort can be assigned to mounted horsemen and another to foot
soldiers. The trap-doors, which led from these galleries into the fortress,
are provided with rests for ladders, that could be let down to help a sally
ing force, or drawn up to impede an advancing enemy. The inner court
for stabled horses and the stations for the catapults are still in tolerable
preservation. Thus the whole arrangement of the stronghold can be
traced not dimly but distinctly. Being placed on the left side of the chief
gate of Epipolae, the occupants of the fort could issue to attack a foe
advancing toward that gate in the rear. At the same time the subter-

EPIPOLAE 115
ranean galleries enabled them to pour out upon the other side, if the
enemy had forced an entrance, while the minor passages and trap-doors
provided a retreat in case the garrison were overpowered in one of their
offensive operations. ' — /. A. Symonds.
The view is most impressive from the summit of the broad
ridge which gave the place its name, where, as in the verses of
Theocritus, the goat still 'runs after cytizus'1 amongst the
great stones fallen from the wall, which is built of huge blocks
without cement. To the north is the curving bay, with the
cities of Priori and Agosta, and the rich plain sprinkled with
liquorice-trees (Glycyrrhiza glabra), while, above the mountains
of thymy Hybla, Etna soars with snowy shoulders into the pale
blue sky, though her lower lines are lost in mists —
' the sea of cloud
That heaves its white and billowy vapours up
To moat the isle of ashes from the world.' — Matthew Arnold.
To the south, we overlook, as in a map, the fever-bearing
marshes of the Anapus ; the hillsides once radiant with groves
and temples, but now only covered with rocks and ruins, abodes
of lizards, frogs, and serpents ; the Great Harbour with Plemmy
rium on one side, and on the other Ortygia, gleaming like a very
jewel on the face of the glittering blue. One cannot wonder
that the victorious Marcellus, as he stood upon these rock-built
walls, ' was moved to tears, partly by joy over the feat he had
accomplished, partly by the ancient renown of the city.' Yet in
no view have we a greater sense of the mutability of earthly
things than as we look upon the desolation of the city cele
brated in the verses of Pindar —
' O thou who sitt'st in tow'red state,
Proud Syracusa, shrine
Of Mars that loveth war's debate ;
Of steel-clad chivalry thou nurse divine. '
—Pyth. ii., Cary's Trans.
One mile and a half westward stands Belvidere, the highest
eminence of the ridge, a conspicuous object in every view, and
possessing a glorious outlook.
To the east one may follow the ancient walls as far as the
farm of Targia, the probable site of Labdalon, the fortress
which the Athenians built when they first took Epipolae, and
which was so soon taken from them by Gylippos. A kilometre
farther occur a gate and rock staircase, known as Scala della
Targetta. Hence good pedestrians may follow the walls of
Tyche to the Scala Greca, and return across Neapolis by the
high road from Catania. 1 Idyll, x.

116 SICILY
In their rambles near Syracuse travellers will frequently meet
with Spaniard-like peasants who offer coins for sale, and there
are none nobler than Syracusan coins. Perhaps the finest silver
coins are the medallion pieces of ten drachms, struck c. B.C. 400,
havingheads of Arethusa, or Persephone, with four dolphins, and,
reverse, Nike crowning the charioteer.

A boat for the day with three rowers, for the Anapus and the fountain
of Cyane, costs 6 lire ; the men may have 1 lira each for ' bottiglia ; ' it is
an excursion of from 5 to 7 hours.
We cross the Great Harbour to the mouth of the Anapus,
where the boatmen often have to jump into the water to help
the boat over the sandbank. Close to the mouth of the stream
stood the great mausoleum of Gelon and his wife Demarata,
daughter of Theron of Agrigentum, surrounded by towers which
were destroyed owing to the envy of Agathocles. The river
Anapus rises in the hills near the site' of the Greek Acrae, and,
flowing through lovely scenery, is for some distance transparent,
but becomes muddy on reaching the lowland. This is the marsh
of Syraco (now Palude Pantano), the 'Palus Lysimeleia' of
Thucydides, whose miasma proved so fatal to the Athenian
besiegers of Syracuse. In winter, however, it may be
visited with impunity. Passing under a modern bridge, we
soon reach the remains of an ancient one where the river
was crossed by the Via Helorina, by which the Athenians
vainly attempted to escape. On a fine day, nothing can be
more lovely than the colouring, the delicate pink of Epi
polae and Euryelus, in the transparent atmosphere, recalling
scenery of the East ; or more characteristic than the beautiful
water-plants, the Moresque buildings and palm-trees, the great
oxen and the figures on the bank looking as if they were en
graven upon the sky. ' The great stream of the river Anapus,'
as Theocritus calls it,i was worshipped by the ancient Syra
cusans under the form of a young man, who was regarded as
the husband of the nymph Cyane. Accordingly, about a mile
from its mouth, the muddy Anapus is joined by the clear, limpid
Cyane. ' Quaque suis Cyanen miscet Anapus aquis.'
— Ovid, Ex. Pont. ii. io, 26.
' Et me dilexit Anapus. ' — Ovid, Met. v. 417.
Now we leave the Anapus, and follow the smaller stream under
its modern name of Pisma. Its narrow silent windings are
1 Idyll, i.

o<<

ANAPUS 117
often almost filled up by masses of the graceful papyrus
(Cyperus papyrus), the plant of the Nile, where Clement of
Alexandria reminds us that the infant Moses was preserved in a
basket of papyrus-stalks. It grows wild nowhere else in Europe,
and was probably introduced from Egypt by the Syracusan
rulers, in the time of their intimate relations with the Ptolemies.
' The root of the papyrus is bulbous, sucking up moisture and nourish
ment by means of long thin fibres, which attach it slightly to the sides and
bottom of the river : from each separation of the bulb springs up a fine
triangular rush, of a bright green colour, to the height of eight or ten feet :
this is surmounted by a large flowing tuft, of the most delicate filaments,
and near the end of each filament the flowers burst forth. Denon, with
great probability, ascribes the introduction of this plant into the district of
Syracuse, to that intimate connection which subsisted between Hiero and
others of its tyrants with the sovereigns of Egypt. In that country the
papyrus seems to have been indigenous and to have attained to the highest
degree of perfection. Pliny's description of it and the manner of its growth
coincides accurately with what we observed ; but if that naturalist is to be
credited, not all the pages of history can exhibit an example of a plant
convertible to so many uses. The roots of the papyrus used to serve for
fuel and domestic utensils ; its stalk was twisted into canoes or boats ; its
bark into sails, ropes, mats, and even garments ; its juice afforded nourish
ment, either in a state of decoction or raw : as an article in the materia
medica, its virtue was celebrated in the cure of ulcers and tumours ; and,
by different preparations, it assumed the properties either of a* caustic or
an opiate ; the farina of its flowers produced the finest gluten in the world,
and best adapted to assist in the manufacture of that article to which it
owes its great celebrity — a composition which, though different in its
nature, has given its name to the paper of the moderns, which relieved
mankind from those inconvenient records of their ideas afforded by palm-
leaves, bark of trees, rolls of lead, linen, or waxen tablets, and which
must have produced an effect upon the ancient world, similar in kind,
though less in degree, to the great modern invention of printing : finally,
with the flowery tuft of this plant the Egyptians crowned the statues of
their gods, in recognising their benevolence and appropriately honouring
them from the source of their own peculiar bounty. '—7". S. Hughes.
Most exquisite in form and colour, the yellow plumes of the
papyrus, carried by bright green stalks, feather in masses far
overhead, and the boat soon seems lost in their thickets. Here
and there the papyrus gives place to beautiful oleanders
or palma Christi, or the river is choked by floating tangles
of ranunculus. Sportsmen are pursuing the water-birds
on the banks. The floating ranunculus becomes more solid
the papyrus grows more compactly, but the boatmen exclaim,
* Where we can go, we will go,' and, jumping into the shallows,
force the boat on with their arms, or tow it from the bank. At
length the river seems to disappear altogether in the glorious
thickets of green, but the boatmen struggle through, and we
suddenly find ourselves in a broad blue pool of transparent
water, with open country toward the roseate mountains of

nS SICILY
honied Hybla. Fifty feet below us, fish are swimming, and the
white sand sparkles. This is La Pisma, ' the dark blue spring,'
once the famous fountain of Cyane —
' Inter Sicelidas Cyane celeberrima nymphas.' — Ovid, Met. v. 412.
the daring nymph who tried to arrest Pluto, when he was carry
ing off Proserpina, and was changed by him into a fountain
which covered the entrance of Hades.
' Haud ultra tenuit Saturnius iram :
Terribilesque hortatus equos, in gurgitis ima
Contortum valido sceptrum regale lacerto
Condidit. Icta viam tellus in Tartara fecit,
Et pronos currus medio cratere recepit.
At Cyane, raptamque Deam, contemtaque fontis
Jura sui moerens, inconsolabile vulnus
Mente gerit tacita, lacrymisque absumitur omnis ;
Et, quarum fuerat magnum modo numen, in illas
Extenuatur aquas.' — Ovid, Met. v. 423.
Diodorus tells how the Syracusans held an annual festival
here in honour of Proserpine, and some ruins not far from the
fountain are pointed out as having belonged to a shrine of
Cyane. Bulls also used annually to be immersed here in honour
of Hercules, who established the custom when passing this way
with the herds of Geryon.1
In returning the boatmen will indicate the best point for
disembarking and walking over a little hill covered with blue
iris in winter, to the ruins of the Olympeion (60 ft. above sea),
the temple (hexastyle-peripteral) which is believed to have
been built by the Geomori (noble-landowners) in the sixth
century B.C. and dedicated to Zeus Olympius. It faced Epi
polae, and was little less in size than the Temple of Minerva
in Ortygia. The first mention of it occurs when Hippocrates,
tyrant of Gela, pitched his camp here in 493 B.C. Here Gelon,
480 B.C., dedicated the golden mantle from the spoils of the
Carthaginians at Himera, which Dionysios took away, saying
that ' gold was too heavy for the god in summer, and too cold
in winter, but that wool would be suitable for both.' Here also
were kept the public treasures and registers of the Syracusan
citizens according to their tribes, which fell into the hands of
the Athenians during the siege. In the portico was one of the
three finest known statues of Jupiter.2 Only two portions of
columns now remain, monoliths standing alone in the corn
fields ; their fluting does not extend to the base, but is separated
by plain narrow fascia. There are no remains of the hamlet
1 Diod. Sic. v. 2 Cicero, In Verr. ii. 4.

PALAZZOLO 119
of Polichne which stood close to this temple and which (as
commanding the passage of the river) was occupied successively
as a military post by Himilcon (396 B.C.), Hamilcar (310 B.C.),
and Marcellus (213 B.C.).

Those who wish to visit the remains of ancient Acrae will probably make
it the source of a two days' excursion from Syracuse itself. This excursion
may be extended so as to visit Ragusa and Modica and the curious Val
d'Ispica, returning to Syracuse by railway. The latter part of the way is
exceedingly beautiful.
Palazzolo - Acreide (Albergo Centrale, Via della Piazza
Superiore) occupies a very lofty position (2285 ft.) just beneath
Acremonte, the site of ancient Acrae.
' Non e tumulis glacialibus Acrae
Defuerunt.' — Sil. Hal. xiv. 206.
Acrae was a colony which Syracuse founded, 664 B.C., only
seventy years after its own creation, and the history of the off
shoot for the most part followed that of the parent city. The
situation is beautiful, and though the town was a small one, its
remains are many and important. Ascending the rock from
the north-east, we come to a group of sepulchres, one of them
bearing a Greek relief, and another, ' La Marciana,' being a
large chamber with ornaments and niches. A little south is
the Latomia, surrounded by tombs, and a short distance farther
a temple and remains of an aqueduct. Westwards, in the
town, is the Theatre, small, but, after the fashion of Greek
theatres, commanding a magnificent view, which here embraces
distant Etna.1 A little north of this are thirteen ancient cisterns,
and just south of these the Odeon. On Monte Pineta, to the
south of Acrae, at the spot called Acrocoro della Torre, are
multitudes of sepulchres, cut in the rock, from many of which
Baron Judica drew the vases and precious ornaments which
formed a great portion of his museum at Palazzolo, dispersed
since his death. Near this, opposite the Torre della Pineta, is
the Contrada dei Santicelli, containing, in the low cliffs, the
curious rock-hewn tombs called by the common people I
Santoni, arranged in two tiers, the upper range of niches being
occupied by figures in relief. Sometimes several figures are
sculptured, but in most cases only a single female figure, gener
ally seated in a chair, and supposed to be intended for Cybele.
Here, on June 27 and Aug. 8, takes place a festival of unique
1 ' Crater ejus patet amhitu stadia xx.' — Pliny, Nat. Hist. i. iii. u. 8.

120 SICILY
character, in which figure ' Cerauli,' or men born on the anni
versary of the conversion of S. Paul, and who manifest in his
honour their powers over venomous snakes and scorpions before
the throngs of picturesque people from the neighbouring com
munes. There is nothing better than a bridle-track from Palazzolo
to Ragusa, 18 m. Ragusa (Locanda di Buon Consiglio), though
finely situated on a high ridge (1630 ft.) between two valleys,
with an upper and lower town, has little to show except a few
rock-hewn tombs and some pictures in the Capuchin Church by
Pietro Novelli. It is conjectured that the ancient remains of
Ragusa belong to the city of Heraea or Hybla Minor. The
entire route to Modica is extremely beautiful, with the river
flowing deep in a winding valley.
Modica (Locanda Stella d' Italia j and Leone: tolerable), a
picturesquely-situated town (1445 ft.) on the Magro, with a
rock -built fortress above it, is the best centre for an excursion
to Val d'Ispica, about 5 m. distant, for which horses may be
obtained. The rocks abound with Cerintha, marigold and
prickly-pear, and Carouba. The road to Spaccaforno must be
followed for i\ m. to the Casa del Eco, whence it is about
3J m. to the deep glen called Val d'Ispica, in which the sand
stone cliffs are full of sepulchres (spoken of as habitations, in
stead of as the necropolis of the aborigines or Sicanians),
many of which bear Greek inscriptions, seldom legible. The
groups include Grotta del Vento, Grotta del Corvo, and
Spelonca Grossa. The tombs, which extend for about 2 m.,
end at the Castello d'Ispica. They will not be worth visiting
to those who are familiar with the sepulchral valleys of Etruria,
and they are inferior in interest to those of Palazzolo.
A drive from Modica takes 5 hrs. (6 lire) by Spaccaforno to
Noto (520 ft.) Tlngegnosa' (Acruila d'Oro), a handsome town
with well-built houses and churches, and a pretty fountain,
which was the successor, though it does not occupy the site, of
the ancient Neetum. Noto was the last stronghold of the
Saracens in Sicily, and was only given up to Count Roger in
1089 by the widow of an emir, who had been drowned at
Syracuse while trying to defend the town.
An excursion may be made hence to La Pizzuta (4 m.
distant), a Greek pillar, 33 ft. high, on a hill covered with
palmetto, near the site of the old Greek colony of Helorus. It
is supposed to have been erected by the Syracusans as a
memorial of that final defeat of the Athenians on the banks of
the Asinarus, in which Nikias and all the survivors of his army
were taken prisoners.
From Noto, the Railway occupies 1 hr. to Syracuse, passing

VITTORIA 121
among fruit orchards through Avola, a town which possesses
plantations of sugar-canes, used in the manufacture of rum.
The bridge over the Anapus is crossed before reaching
Syracuse. The Cassibile now crossed is probably the ancient Cacyparis
where the worsted Athenians had hoped to find their Sikelian
friends, but instead found the river-bed guarded by Syracusan
forces. These they put to flight, but next day they heard the
appalling news that Demosthenes and his 6000 had been com
pelled to surrender. Nikias in desperate plight proposed terms
for him and his army of Athenians, which, however, were
refused by Gylippos.
1 This was refused ; the Athenians tried in vain to escape in the night.
The next morning they set out, harassed as before, and driven wild by in
tolerable thirst. They at last reached the river Assinaros, which runs by
the present town of Noto. There was the end.
' The Athenians had doubtless meant to go up the bed of tbe river, and
they did not expect to find so distant a stream guarded by Syracusan
troops. But so it was. Yet the Athenians were so maddened by thirst
that, though men were falling under the darts and the water was getting
muddy and bloody, they thought of nothing but drinking. Then a body
of Peloponnesians were sent down to slay them in the river-bed. Nikias
then prayed Gylippos to deal with him as he pleased, but to spare the
slaughter of his men. No further terms were made ; most of the horse
men contrived to cut their way out ; the rest were made prisoners. Most
of them were embezzled by Syracusans as their private slaves ; but about
7000 men out of the two divisions were led prisoners into Syracuse. They
were shut up in the stone-quarries, with no further heed than to give each
man daily half a slave's allowance of food and drink. Many died; many
were sold; some escaped, or were set free; the rest were after a while
taken out of the quarries and set to" work. The generals had made no
terms for themselves. HermokratSs wished to keep them as hostages
against future Athenian attempts against Sicily. Gylippos wished to take
them in triumph to Sparta. The Corinthians were for putting them to
death ; and so it was done. So ended the Athenian invasion of Sicily, the
greatest attempt ever made by Greeks against Greeks, and that which
came to the most utter failure.' — E. A. Freeman.
At Comiso, in beautiful country, is a fountain, rising in the
market-place, supposed by Fazello to be identical with the
famous fountain of Diana, described by Priscian as possessing
peculiar powers, —
' Dianae fons est ; Camarina gignitur unda,
Quem si quis manibus non castis hauserit, unquam
Laetifico tristisnon miscet pocula Iiaccho.'
Vittoria, 880 ft. (Locanda Centrale), is a flourishing town of
the seventeenth century, built by Alfonso Enriquez, Count of
Modica, and named after his mother, the famous Vittoria

122 SICILY
Colonna. It is about 9 m. from Vittoria to the site of the
ancient Syracusan Greek colony of Camarina — 'the stone
town,' founded in 599 B.C., on a height near the sea, and
between the little rivers Oanus (Frascolari) and Hipparis
(Camarina). The site is now marked by the Chapel of S.
Maria di Camarana, near which some old walls, fragments of
buildings and rock-hewn graves, are visible, being all that
remains of ' fair Camarina,' the well-peopled town.
' Daughter of Ocean, rushy Camarine,
The flower of knightly worth and high renown.'
— Pindar, Olymp. v., Heber's Trans.
The inhabitants were rash enough to drain a marsh, contrary
to the advice of the local oracle, and thus rendered the town
accessible to its foes.
In the 18 m. ride from Vittoria to Terranova there is little of
interest. At about 14 m. the lake called Biviere di Terranova
is passed, abounding in fish and wild-fowl.
Terranova (22,677 inhab.) (Albergo Fenice in the Piazza
V. Em.) was founded by Frederick II. on the site of Gela, one of
the most important Dorian colonies in Sicily, founded, 690 B.C.,
at the mouth of the river from which it was named —
' Apparet Camarina procul, campique Geloi,
Immanisque Gela, fluvii cognomine dicta.'
— Virg. , Aen. iii. 702.
In 582 B.C. Gela was sufficiently powerful to found the great
colony of Agrigentum. It retained the oligarchical form of
government till Cleander raised himself to despotic power,
498 B.C., and transmitted it to his brother Hippocrates, under
whom the town attained great prosperity. In B.C. 491 Gelon,
the son of Hippocrates, became master of Syracuse, but this,
instead of increasing the prosperity of his native city, led
eventually to its decline, as the tyrant and his successors
henceforth devoted themselves to the new capital. Gela, how
ever, continued to flourish, till, having in vain applied to
Syracuse for protection, it was laid waste by the Carthaginians
in B.C. 406, a catastrophe from which it never recovered, and
after suffering repeated devastations from Agathocles, tyrant of
Syracuse, and Phintias, tyrant of Akragas, it disappears from
the page of history. Gela was the birthplace of the poet
Apollodorus, and the place where Aeschylus took refuge when
driven out of Athens, and where he was killed, it is related, by
the accident of an eagle mistaking his bald head for a stone,
and letting a tortoise drop on it to break the shell, thus fulfilling
a playful prophecy that he was to die by a blow from heaven.

LIC AT A 123
Outside the Porta Vittoria of Terranova lies the prostrate
Doric column of an ancient temple, the only noticeable relic of
the once magnificent Gela.
It is a dreary, featureless ride, except for the wild flowers, of
18 m. from Terranova to Licata, passing to the south of the
small town of Butera (1320 ft.), which has a castle built by the
Normans, and fording the rivers Faino and Manfria, between
which are the ' Campi Geloi ' of Virgil.
Licata or Alicata 'la Dilettissima ' (Locanda Bella Sicilia,
poor) occupies the site of Phintias, founded by Phintias, tyrant
of Agrigentum, 280 B.C., and peopled with the inhabitants of
Gela, the last of the Greek cities created in Sicily. It is situ
ated at the mouth of the Salso, which is the Himera Meridionalis
of ancient times, and which traverses nearly the whole breadth
of Sicily, as it rises in the Monte Madonia, only 15 m. from the
northern coast. The general aspect of the town, with its light
house and harbour, is beautiful, but it contains nothing of
interest. Here Marcellus, in a battle with Mutines the Cartha
ginian, captured eight elephants and went back triumphant to
Syracuse (B.C. 211).
Hence it is possible either to ride along the coast 23 m. by
Palma (where Hodierna the mathematician is buried) to Gir
genti, or the railway may be joined at Campobello.

Trains run from Catania to Girgenti in six hours. In winter,
the country, being entirely arable, is very bare and ugly, and
the towns and landscape alike colourless, sulphur being the
chief industry ; and although many of the places which the line
passes through have some classical interest, none are likely to
arrest the traveller. We pass —
Catenanuova (Stat.). 5 m. to the north above it lies Centorbi
(2380 ft.), the ancient Centuripa, an important city of the Siculi,
which was distinguished by the fidelity of its alliance with
Rome, and was one of the five Sicilian cities which enjoyed
freedom and immunity from taxation in the time of Cicero.1
Considerable remains of the ancient walls exist. Just be
low the town the Symeto (Symaethus), noted for the red
amber, is joined by the Fiume Salso, the Cyamosorus of
Polybius. San Filippo d'Agird. si m. north is the little town of
Agiro, with the ruins of a Norman castle, occupying the site of
Agyrium, a very ancient city of the Sikels, supposed to have
been visited by Hercules with Iolaus. Diodorus Siculus the
historian was born at Agyrium, and extols the magnificence of
1 Verr. ii. 67, 69.

124 SICILY
its temples, of which nothing remains. In the middle ages the
town gave to the church a saint, from whom it is now called
S. Filippo d'Agirb.
Assoro-Valguarnera. Assoros was another city of the
Sikels, mentioned by Diodorus as the only one of the Sikelian
cities which remained faithful to Dionysios of Syracuse
at the time of the great Carthaginian expedition under
Himilco. At the foot of the hill on which the town was
situated flowed the river Chrysas (now Dittaino), a tributary
of the Symaethos, to whose tutelary deity the inhabitants built
a temple, supposed to have occupied the site of the existing
church of S. Pietro.
Leonforte, beautifully placed ; high road to Nicosia and
Termini. Castrogiovanni. (Omnibus to town, I lira ; Albergo Centrale
in Via Roma.)
Castrogiovanni 'l'Inespugnabile' (2605 ft.; pop. 27,000) is
nobly situated on a rocky platform two miles from the railway,
and surrounded on all sides by precipices, which make it, like
Constantina, one of the most remarkable natural fortresses in
the world. Several of the deserted ecclesiastical buildings have
interesting architectural features, especially the collegiate church
of La Madonna della Visitazione, built by Queen Eleanora in the
fourteenth century, which contains several remnants of ancient
edifices, especially, in the south wall, a pillar from the temple
of Ceres. There is a magnificent view from the castle, erected
by Frederick II. of Aragon (at the end of the thirteenth
century), on the highest point of the hill.
Castrogiovanni, or Kasr-Jani (Castrum Ennae), occupies the
site of the ancient Sikelian city of Enna, whose position in the
centre of Sicily — ' Umbilicus Siciliae — and great natural
strength, made it a point of the utmost importance in the many
wars by which the island was ravaged. But it is chiefly cele
brated from mythological story as the spot near which Proserpine
was carried off by Pluto when she was gathering flowers by the
side of a lake — ' Enna, where Proserpine gathering flowers,
Herself a fairer flower, by gloomy Dis
Was gathered.' — Milton.
Hence the peculiar devotion of the city to Ceres, whose temple
Cicero describes to have been approached with as much awe
and reverence as if the worshippers were to visit the goddess
herself, rather than her shrine. The woods and meadows be
loved by Proserpine, and described by the poets, have long
since disappeared, and the country in winter is bare and deso-

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PERGUSA 125
late, for even ' the thistles are permitted to take possession of
nothing but the waysides, every other spot is sacred to Ceres.'
About 4 m. from the town is Lago Pergusa, supposed to have
been the Pergus of ancient times —
' There stands a broad lake near to Enna's walls,
Men call it Pergus :— not Cayster's wave
More musical with song of frequent swans.
The veiling woods o'erhang its face, and ward
1 The fires of baffled Phoebus. From the grove
Breathes coolness ; — from the turf a thousand flowers
Blush with the hues of Tyre. Perpetual spring
The spot invests. Beneath the happy shade
Proserpina was sporting : — now she culled
The violet's purple, now the lily's snow.
And still her basket heaped, and girl-like filled
Her bosom with the fragrant spoil, and mocked
Her mates who gathered less. Ah ! love is swift ! —
To see, — to burn, — to bear her thence, — for Dis
Was but a moment's work. The frighted maid
Shrieking, upon her mother and her mates
For succour called, — her mother most. Her robe
Was rent, and on the earth her treasured flowers
Were scattered, and her child-like innocence
Even for that loss, even in that hour, was fain to grieve.'
— Ovid, Met. v. 385, Henry King's Trans.
Caltanisetta (inhab. 44,000) (Albergo della Ferrovia, toler
able. Concordia). A large dull cathedral town, with wide and
grand views over the desolate sulphur country, of which it is the
chief centre. The picturesque mule-trappings of the country
may be purchased here.
Serradifalco. The town gives a ducal title to the family of
which Domenico Pietrasanta, the author of one of the best
works on Sicilian antiquities, was an illustrious representative
(1863). Canicatti (1475 ft.). Junction for Licata (with a yellow
Duomo ; oranges and nespoli), overbrowed by white ridges.
Eacalmuto. Fine view to left down a deep vale.
Aragona-Caldara. In grey country. We now see Girgenti
3 miles away to right.
Girgenti (720 ft.), 23,000 inhabitants.
Hotel des Temples (Ragusa) ; convenient and well kept, but too many
German waiters; reasonable. Grand Brelagne, Via Atenea; pension,
8-10 lire ; Restaurant near it. Palermo.
Post and Telegraph, Via Atenea.
Chemist, Bonfiglio.
British Consul at Palazzo Pancamo.
American Consular Agent, Signor F. Ciotta.
The great Greek city of, Akragas was founded by a colony

126 SICILY
from Gela, B.C. 579, and derived its name from the little river
Akragas (Fiume di S. Biagio) which washes its hill on the east
and south, and joins another stream, the Hypsas (Drago), which
flows from the west ; so that it lay south of the present town,
and had its sea-gate just below the temple of Hercules ; while
the Rupe Atenea of to-day as its citadel guarded it on the NE.
In 570 B.C. despotic power was obtained by one of its citizens,
Phalaris, who raised Akragas to be one of the most important
towns of Sicily, but himself received a proverbial reputation for
cruelty. ' Phalaris, with blood defiled,
His brazen bull, his torturing flame,
Hand o'er alike to evil fame
In every clime.' — Pindar, Pyth. i., Cary's Trans.
In B.C. 488 Theron became despot of Akragas, and after con
firming his influence by an alliance with Gela, and by annexing
Himera to his dominions, adorned his native city with many
magnificent buildings, and ruled with a wisdom and benefi
cence which is celebrated by Pindar —
' Theron, for his conquering car,
Shall spread a shout of triumph, far and wide ;
True to his friends, the people's pride ;
Stay of Akragas, and flower
Of many a noble ancestor :
They, long toils and perils past,
By the river built at last
Their sacred bower, and were an eye
To light the land of Sicily.
. . . And I will swear
That city, none, though she enroll
A cent'ry past, her radiant scroll,
Hath brought a mortal man to light,
Whose heart with love more genial glows,
Whose hand with larger bounty flows,
Than Theron's.' — Olymp. ii. , Cary's Trans.
Theron retained the sovereign power until his death (b.c.
472), but the tyranny of his son Thrasydaeos led to his expul
sion in the following year. After this, for sixty years, Akragas
had a democratic government, and its people spent their time
in the sumptuous adornment of their city, which became prover
bial for its wealth. Their own citizen, Empedocles, is reported
to have said that they built their houses as if they were to live
for ever, but gave themselves up to luxury as if they were to
die on the morrow. But their prosperity came to an end in
B.c. 406, when Akragas was besieged by the Carthaginians,

HZwool-

GIRGENTI 127
and its inhabitants reduced to such straits by famine that they
were compelled to migrate to the parent city of Gela, abandon
ing their own town to plunder and destruction. Timoleon re-
colonised Akragas in 340 B.C., and was regarded as its second
founder : in B.C. 289 it again fell under despotic rule, in the
person of Phintias. Espousing the Carthaginian cause in the
beginning of the First Punic War, it was besieged and taken
by the Romans, who carried off 25,000 of the inhabitants into
slavery. In the Second Punic War it was faithful to Rome,
but was captured by Himilco, and became the chief stronghold
of the Carthaginians, until betrayed in B.C. 210 to the Romans,
who again sold the inhabitants into slavery. From this date
Akragas ceased to exist as a Grecian town ; its name was
changed to Agrigentum, and it was permanently subject to
Rome. In the time of Cicero it was again one of the most
wealthy and populous cities of Sicily. In a.d. 827 it fell into
the hands of the Saracens, from whom it was wrested by the
Normans in 1086.
The principal figure handed down to us from ancient Akragas,
or (Roman) Agrigentum, is the poet-physician Empedocles, who
flourished in the time of Theron, and who, dressed in purple
robes, wearing a laurel crown, and shod with golden sandals,
was regarded as possessing divine powers, whilst he instructed
his fellow-citizens in Pythagorean philosophy, urged them to
redeem the heavenly birthright which they had forfeited by
their sins, taught his faith in a spiritual invisible God, and
expounded his strange theories as to the physical and natural
objects around him. His great poem was the K0.da.pp.0L, in
the beginning of which he describes the manner in which he
was regarded by his contemporaries —
' An immortal god, and no longer a mortal man, I wander among you,
honoured by all, adorned with priestly diadems and blooming wreaths.
Into whatever illustrious towns I enter, men and women pay me rever
ence, and I am accompanied by thousands, who thirst for their advantage,
some being desirous to know the future, and others, tormented by long
and terrible disease, waiting to hear the spells which will soothe suffering.'
Lucretius at a later day used Empedocles as his model.
Polybius describes Akragas as excelling almost all other
cities, not only in beauty, but in strength. On its fortified
rock, partly defended by art and partly by Nature, it was
nearly impregnable. It abounded in noble porticoes and temples,
amongst which the unfinished temple of Zeus Olympius was
equal in size and splendour to any of the temples of Greece.
The ancient city was 10 miles in circuit, and, like Syracuse, it
was divided into five parts — Mons Camicus, Rupis Athenea,
Agrigentum, Neapolis, and Agrigentum in Camico. The first

128 SICILY
symbol of the town was a crab, in reference to its maritime
position, but this was changed to two eagles (one tearing a hare)
after a victory over Messina.
Reduced to narrow limits, the modern Girgenti ' la magni-
fica,' is indeed alike glorious in its situation and surroundings.
No other Sicilian city has such a commanding position, and it is
a bath of winter sunshine, causing the most beautiful flowers to
bloom profusely at Christmas. Exquisite, too, is the view
from the hotel-windows to the wide expanse of glittering
sea, over billow on billow of purple-wooded hill, crowned by
the remains of the ancient temples.
' Observe with what care the site was chosen. Near to a well-sheltered
harbour there rises a range of calcareous hills running parallel with the
sea. The Greeks made the chain of hills the rampart of the city on the
side most exposed to attack. They shaped the summit into the form of
thick walls pierced with gateways. The rocky ridge was converted into a
wide rampart, on the top of which were several temples built parallel with
the walls, these presenting to strangers coming from the port a long line
of buildings of very various dimensions, resting upon an enormous base
ment of hewn rock. Between this natural rampart, thus turned to such
admirable account, and the Acropolis, which stands beyond and com
mands the surrounding country, lies a valley in which the city is built —
the dwelling-houses perfectly sheltered from the north and south-east
winds, both of which in Sicily are disagreeable. The Acropolis contained
temples, of which, however, very few traces remain. The city was bounded
on the south also by a long range of calcareous hills, whose summits were
shaped by the hand of man, and adorned with a girdle of temples standing
out in bold relief against the sky, and on the north by the Acropolis joined
to the other hills of less elevation, itself also crowned by noble monu
ments. ' — Viollet-le-Duc.
The town (of 26,600 inhabitants) consists of a single, long, well-
paved, and handsome street, following the winding terrace of
the hillside, from which many narrow rugged alleys lead to the
upper heights, and a winding road to the cathedral. The street
is gay and crowded. Children swarm everywhere. The in
habitants of Girgenti are among the most prolific in Italy.
Fazelli mentions an Agrigentine woman in his own time who
brought forth seventy-three children at thirty births. There is
perhaps a grain of Attic salt here ! A favourable point for
artists will be found at the bifurcation beside the Farmacia
Bonfigli, overlooking the church and tower of Madonna della
Lettera and the sea. Farther up the street we come to a church
with a fine 16th sixteenth-century door.
Hurried travellers will divide the sights of Girgenti into
two days.
1. Morning, the town, Duomo, &c. ; afternoon, the Rupe Atenea, S.
Biagio.

Photo]

TOMB OF THERON_(So-called)
GIRGENTI

GIRGENTI 129
2. In a carriage for the whole day to S. Nicola ; the Temples of Con
cord, Juno Lacinia, and Hercules ; Tomb of Theron ; Temples of
(Esculapius?) Jupiter, Castor and Pollux, and Vulcan.
In the ancient Akropolis — Mons Camicus — the highest part
of the modern town, stands the Cathedral of S. Gerlando (985 ft.).
It has a heavy square unfinished campanile, restored in 1487.
The interior is entirely modernised, but all travellers must see
the magnificent Roman sarcophagus (long used as a font) in the
sacristy, sculptured with the story of Hippolytus, which Goethe
describes as the best-preserved alto-relievo he had seen. The
nurse of Phaedra, delivering the letter to Hippolytus, is made
especially withered and dwarfish, to give more effect to the
noble youthful forms. The sacristan will also exhibit with
glee the curious church-echo — 'porta voce,' which tradition
declares to have revealed to a jealous husband the welcome
secrets of his wife's infidelity, as they were being poured into
the ear of her confessor. Certainly every word spoken at the
cornice behind the high altar is distinctly audible to a person
standing in the west door. Opening from the right aisle is
the chapel of S. Gerlando, containing a silver shrine (by
Michele Ricca de Palermo, 1639) in honour of the saint, who
was the first bishop of Girgenti.
Turning east from the cathedral door, the second side-street
on the right (opposite No. 24) leads to S. Maria dei Greci
(originally the temple of Zeus Athabyrios), the oldest church in
Girgenti, still used for Greek rites. Built into its walls are some
remains called those of the temple of Jupiter Polieus, ascribed
to Phalaris ; but they more probably belong to a temple of
Aphrodite. The Museum in Piazza San Sebastiano (Prof. Celi) contains
an interesting and increasing collection of vases, coins, and a
sarcophagus found by the shore in 1886.
Leaving Girgenti by the east gate, Porta Ponte, we find
against the hillside the so-called Giardino Inglese, a pretty
tangle of roses and cytizus. A terrace — La Villa Garibaldi,
much frequented on warm evenings as a garden promenade —
runs along the south side of the hill, and overlooks the sea.
Hence we may ascend by a long rocky path through gardens of
almonds to the summit of the Rupe Atenea (1 1 50 ft.). Nothing
remains here except the platform of a temple which is either
that of Jupiter Atabyrios or of Athene, which gave a name to
the height, and whither Gellias, the rich citizen of Akragas, fled
up the stony way when the city was taken by Hamilcar, and,
on finding himself pursued, and escape impossible, set fire to
the building, and perished in the flames.
By a lower road, or over the brow of the hill, overgrown with
1

130 SICILY
palmetto, wild iris, and asphodel, we may reach, in a desolate
but beautiful position, the curious Norman Church, of S. Biagio
(S. Blaise), built upon the remains of the small temple (' in antis ')
of Demeter and Persephone (Ceres and Proserpina), which led
Pindar, in his twelfth Pythian, to apostrophise Akragas as —
1 Fairest of mortal cities, seat divine
Of the lovely Proserpine.'
The little river Ruscello flows between the Rupe Atenea and
that part of the ancient town known as Neapolis, where now
there is nothing but tombs. Farther west is Agrigentum in
Camico, with a bridge over the Valle S. Leonardo.
Returning to the main road, which winds down the hill
through hedges of roses and scarlet geranium, we find above
us on the right, amongst groups of noble stone pines and
cypresses, the deserted Church and Convent of S. Nicola, with
a late Norman portal. Padre Maties Gallo in 1426 built the
convent out of the stones of the Temple of Olympian Zeus.
Artists will not fail to come here and sketch amidst the
exquisite combinations of arched bridge, sculptured terrace,
huge vases, and pines and aloes, in the ancient garden, in one
corner of which is a curious Roman temple (c. B.C. 150), turned
into a chapel in Norman times, and now a summer-house,
known by the natives as Oratorio di Falaride.
' Prythee take thy seat
'Neath this wild woodland olive ; thy tones will sound more sweet,
Here falls a cold rill drop by drop, and green grass blades uprear
Their heads, and fallen leaves are thick, and Ipcusts prattle here.'
— Theocritus, Battle of the Bards, Calverley's Trans.
Behind the Church of S. Nicola is the Giardino Panitteri,
containing remains of an ancient circular building, with Corin
thian decorations.
Descending the main road from the front of the church, with
a glorious view of the temples (which Diodorus describes as
having been built with money obtained by the sale of olive-oil
at Carthage), we reach in a few minutes the remains of the
Temple of Hercules, hexastyle-peripteral, once a grand Doric
building (241 by 90 ft.), resembling the Parthenon in size and
plan ; but now utterly ruined, with a single pillar out of forty-
two standing erect, surrounded by masses of fallen masonry,
and columns like the bones of great skeletons. This is believed
to be the temple of which Cicero tells : —
' There is in Agrigentum, not far from the forum, a temple of Hercules,
which is looked upon by the citizens as exceedingly sacred and holy. It
contains a bronze statue (than which I cannot say I have ever seen anything

Photo]

TEMPLE OF CONCORDIA
GIRGENTI

\Brogi

GIRGENTI 131
more beautiful), so much revered that its mouth and chin are somewhat
worn away, because, in their prayers and thanksgivings, the people are
acdustomed not only to worship but to kiss it. Upon this temple, while
Verres was at Agrigentum, a band of armed slaves under command of
Timarchides, made a sudden assault. An alarm was given by the watch
men and guards ; who, after attempting to resist and defend the shrine,
were driven back badly wounded with clubs and sticks. After this, having
burst the bolts and broken open the doors, the slaves endeavoured to weaken
the statue with levers and pull it down. Meantime, from the noise, a
report spread through the whole city that the gods of the country were
being attacked, not by the unexpected arrival of enemies, nor by the
sudden attack of robbers, but by an armed and disciplined band of slaves
from the house and attendants of the praetor himself. No one in Agri
gentum was so affected by age or so infirm in strength, as not rise up that
night at the news, and seize whatever weapon came to hand. Thus a rush
was soon made to the temple from every part of the city. For more than
an hour a number of men had been already working at the pulling down
of the statue, but it had not yielded in the least ; though some had
endeavoured to raise it by inserting levers underneath, and others to drag
it down by ropes fastened to all its limbs. Suddenly the natives of Agri
gentum rush in from all sides and stone the intruders, upon which the
nocturnal soldiers of that illustrious commander take to flight. They
carry off with them two very little images, lest they should return empty-
handed to that robber of sanctuaries. Things never go so badly with the
Sicilians that they cannot joke and be facetious. So on this occasion they
said that this most savage ' boar-pig ' (Verres) ought no less to be classed
amongst the labours of Hercules than the boar of Erymanthus.' — In Verr.
iv- 43-
A few minutes' walk up the long road to the east will bring
us to the glorious Temple of Concord, the best preserved Doric
temple in Italy or Sicily (138 ft. by 64^), standing on the edge
of the ridge-precipice which formed the natural rampart of
Akragas. This temple, like that of Hercules, is built of yellow
sand-stone full of shells, and is of the form called hexastyle-
peripteral, having six columns in each portico, and thirteen at
the sides. Its cella (94 by 30 ft.), after A.D. 591, was used
as the church of S. Gregorio delle Rape. The name by which
the temple is called rests on very slight foundations. A statue
of Esculapius, now in the museum, was found here. It is much
smaller than the temples of Paestum, but, as Goethe says, may
be compared to them ' as a god to a giant.'
The wayside beyond the temple of Concord is bordered by
the ancient fallen walls which Virgil saw from the sea —
' Arduus inde Akragas ostentat maxima longe
Moenia.' — Aen. iii. 703.
They are perforated by the tombs which caused the death of so
many of the Carthaginian soldiers by pestilence when they were
opened, and which the inhabitants of Agrigentum were in the

132 SICILY
habit of raising not only to their dead citizens, but to horses
which had won prizes in the games, and even to favourite birds.
A large dome-shaped sepulchre, called Grotto dei Frangipani,
is curious, and is overgrown with maidenhair, the dSidvrov of
Theocritus. On the highest part of the hill (the western angle of the
ancienty city), which is covered with venerable olives, rises the
beautiful ruin of the hexastyle-peripteral Temple (so-called) of
Juno Lacinia (134 by 64 ft.), of which sixteen entire columns
are standing erect, while many others lie prostrate. The situa
tion is utterly desolate now ; only the little Pasqualuccio, in a
peaked hat and sheepskin coat, with coins in his ears after the
old Greek fashion, plays on his reed pipe, whilst watching his
goats and preparing a ' colazione ' of acanthus leaves for each
of them, set out, like plates upon a dinner table, upon the fallen
columns of the temple. Earthquake and scirocco have been
the chief agents of destruction.
Having taken our repast amongst the asphodels and violets
in the shade of this temple, looking upon the unspeakably
splendid view of Girgenti, gleaming white on the hill above the
grey-green olives— <f>ikdy\o.os, as Pindar calls it — we may retrace
our steps as far as the temple of Hercules, beneath which are
remains of the ancient Porta Aurea — the sea-gate, where (B.C.
210) the Numidians, under Hanno, betrayed the city to the
Roman Laevinus. Just beyond the site of the gate, surrounded
by magnificent old olive-trees, is the picturesque rectangular
monument (Greco-Roman) miscalled the Tomb of Theron.
Unfortunately it does not correspond in any respect with the
description in Diodorus of the magnificent tomb of the despot,
which the lucky intervention of a thunderbolt saved from de
struction when Hannibal ordered the tombs in the neighbour
hood of the city to be destroyed, that he might use their
materials in his earthworks. Still, the name which for centuries
has been applied to it, will call up memories of the wise ruler of
Akragas, extolled by Pindar —
' Just, hospitable he :
Pillar of Agrigentum, the fair flower
Of a well-famed ancestry ;
Ruling the cities in his upright power,'
— Olymp. ii. 1, Elton's Trans.
About a quarter of a mile distant in the plain are thefremains
attributed to the Doric Temple of Asklepios (Esculapius) de
scribed by Polybius. It contained a famous statue of Apollo
by Myron, which was carried off by the Carthaginians, brought
back by Scipio Africanus, and afterwards stolen by Verres.

Photo']

TEMPLE OF JUNO LACINIA
GIRGENTI

\Brogi

GIRGENTI 133
The ruins, which are obscure, are built into the walls of a farm
house called Casa San Gregorio.
Returning by the Porta Aurea or Town-Gate, seaward, on
the left, is the entrance to the immense ruin of the Doric Temple
of Zeus (fifth century B.C.), which was pseudo-peripteral. It
measured 372 by 182 ft., and is described by Diodorus as having
been 120 ft. in height, exclusive of the basement. Nothing now
remains of the building but a confusion of prostrate fragments
and pillars, and huge blocks of stone. But in the centre lies a
gigantic Telamone in thirteen disjointed fragments. This figure,
(25 ft. long) with two others, stood erect till 1401, supporting
a portion of the entablature, and Girgenti took them for her
arms, with the motto —
' Signet Agrigentum mirabilis aula Gigantum.'
' The gigantic head, which storm and overthrow had rendered shapeless,
shows traces — Phrygian-fashion — of a berretta upon its curly hair. The
arms are raised, as if to support a weight, as is the way with Caryatides.
The figure, nearly thirty palms long, is in the severe style of Egypt. It
runs down to a point at the feet placed close together. It reminds one
throughout of the huge statues of Memphis and Thebes. And here,
stretched out, this brown and weird giant form appears like the god him
self who has laid himself down in the midst of the ruin of his temple for a
sleep of centuries, neither to be wakened by the earthquake and strife of
elements nor by any sound from the history of a little human race.' —
Gregorovius. Beyond (NW.) the Temple of Jupiter, in the most lovely
position — a thoroughly Greek landscape — backed by delicate
rose-coloured mountains, and surrounded by old olive and
almond trees, is the Doric hexastyle-peripteral Temple of
Castor and Pollux (111 by 93 ft.), the most picturesque ruin
in Sicily. It had once six columns in each front and thirteen
at the sides. Four columns have been erected by Sig. Caval-
lari ; many others lie prostrate amongst the palmetto and
smilax. Exquisitely beautiful are the wild flowers here in
spring — crocus, lilies, iris, asphodels, and a thousand others
which Persephone would have lingered to gather, but they pass
unheeded now : like Cometas in the fifth Idyll of Theocritus,
the natives still prefer cultivated roses to the eglantine and
anemone of the wayside.
Near the Temple of Castor and Pollux, a little to the north
east across the dip, are the remains of a great Piscina.
Near the river Drago, the ancient Hypsas, a column shoots
up amid the woods. It belongs to the so-called Temple of
Vulcan (reached by the ford below the Temple of Zeus, and
turning to the right along the line of the railway which leads
to Porto Empedocle). Here the ruins are only of Roman

134 SICILY
date, and are built up into a cottage, and partly used as an
apiary, overshadowed by an immense carouba-tree, but they
are very picturesque. Hence it is possible to drive back to
Girgenti by the road which leads into that from Porto Em-
pedocle, passing over the site of the Carthaginian camp, and
crossing the Hypsas again in a deep ravine, a much longer but
interesting route. Artists will certainly walk out from Girgenti
in this direction to sketch the exquisite windings of the rocky
way near the town in this direction, fringed with aloes — the
cactus of Theocritus and Tertullian, and backed by lovely
views of sea and mountain, unspeakably delicate and ethereal
in colour.
On a fine afternoon towards sunset, there are pictures not to
be forgotten, — modern Girgenti sits well on her height with
the Rupe Atenea, still loftier, to her right. To look up the
road to the Temple of Concordia, glowing in the low-shot light
with richest cinnamon, with its setting of dark-bright almond-
trees against the palest washed sky, is for the gods. And even
when Girgenti has gone grey, and the sun has set, the green
slopes remain green and the geraniums remain pink, and the
orange stone-quarries opposite us burn with their full colour,
while a soft, delicious breeze laden with lemon-blossom flows
like a river from out of the west.
Naturalists will make an excursion from Girgenti to the
mud-volcanoes of Maccaluba, about 4 m. north — a number of
little hillocks in perpetual volcanic motion, which throw up
mud and water with a low rumbling noise.

As the railway from Palermo to Trapani allows Selinunto to
be visited with ease and comfort from Castelvetrano, few
travellers will make their way through the wild country be
tween Girgenti and Selinunto, as one used to do, an excursion
which can only be made without heavy luggage. But with a
hired motor-car it is not difficult.
On leaving Porto Empedocle (whither one may take the
railway, which has two trains in the day), a mule-track passes
through a green valley to Siculiana, 6 m., a feudal town of the
former Chiaramonte with a Sicanian necropolis. Hence,
through dreary stony country, the path leads (leaving La Cat
tolica to the north) to Montallegro (8 m.), picturesque upper
and under towns built of alabaster, almost abandoned on account
of malaria. We now pass, on the right, Capo Bianco (100 ft.),
the site of Heraclea Minoa, a colony of Selinuntum, and cross
first the (often swollen) river Platani, the ancient Halycus,

Photo]

[Sommet

TEMPLE OF CASTOR AND POLLUX
GIRGENTI

GIRGENTI 135
which was the boundary between the Greek and Carthaginian
territories, and then the Malcasoli, the ancient Camicus, on
which Daedalus founded the city in which Minos, King of
Crete, was put to death.
Leaving Ribera on the right, we cross the Fiume della
Verdura to Caltabellotta (31 10 ft.), which gives a name to a
picturesque town and Norman castle a few miles north, occu
pying the site of the Sikelian town of Triocala, used as a fortress
during the Servile War B.C. 104.
36 m. Sciacca'la Degna' (Albergo della Pace, decent),
overhanging the sea (260 ft.) in a picturesque situation, derives
its Saracenic name from being the residence of sheik or
governor under the Arabian dominion. It has a cathedral
founded in 1090 by Giulietta de Hauteville, daughter of Roger I.
At the east end of the town are the ruined castles oiPerollo and
Luna, which gave a name to the counts, whose violent feuds,
known as the ' Casi di Sciacca,' beginning in their common love
for a beautiful Countess Peralta, caused the streets of their
native town to flow with blood in the fifteenth and sixteenth
centuries. Goethe found it a hard day's ride from Sciacca to
Girgenti. To the east of the town, near the foot of the Monte S.
Calogero (1273 ft.), are the hot springs known in classical times
as Thermae Selinuntinae. On the mountain (Mons Kronios),
near the summit, are the famous Stufe di S. Calogero, hot
caverned vapour baths, said to have been founded by Daedalus,
and still much frequented. A ruined hermitage on the top of
the mountain is shown as having been inhabited by the saint,
whose history is forgotten, but to whom all the cures in the
neighbourhood are ascribed. Pantellaria can be seen from
here. It is a ride of 6 or 8 hrs. from Sciacca to Castelvetrano.
The lonely path crosses the Cannitello, probably the Achates
of ancient times, whose clear waters were celebrated by Silius
Italicus — ' perlucentem splendenti gurgite Achaten,' — xiv. 228.
and in which the stones called 'lapis Achates,' or agate, were
first found. Next we cross the Gavarello, probably the ancient
Isburus, and reach the town of Menfrici (400 ft.) after which
the Belice, the ancient Hypsas, is crossed.
Castelvetrano (621 ft.) (Albergo Biazo). Selinunto is
described as an excursion from Palermo, from whence it is now
always visited. Museo Municipale contains terra - cottas,
pottery, and fragmentary statues from Selinunto. Chiesa di
San Giovanni has a statue by Antonio Gagini (1522).

CHRONOLOGY

Slcanl, pre-ARYAN aborigines.
Sikels, u. B.C. iooo, came from Italy.
Elymians at Segeste claim Trojan descent.
Phoenicians.
Dorian and Ionian Greeks, B.C. 735-579.
Naxos, 735.
Syracuse, 734.
Catana, 730.
Megara, 726.
Gela, 690.
Zankle, or Messana (not certain).
Selinus, 628.
Akragas (Agrigentum) 579.
Gelon, B.C. 491-478.
Hiero I., 478-467.
_. , , Empedocles, c. 490.
Dionysios I., 430-367. I _, .
_,, * J Theocritus, c. 305.
Timoleon, 344-337. 1 , „
' 3™ °3/ \ Archimedes, 287.
Sicilian War of Pyrrhos, 278-276.
Carthaginian Sicily becomes Roman, 246.
All Sicily Roman, 210 (Marcellus).
Slave War (i), 135-132.
Slave War (2), 73-71.
Vandal Conquest, A.D. 440 (Genseric).
Recovery to Byzantium, 535 (Belisarius).
Saracenic Conquest, 827-965.
Norman Conquest, 1071.
Roger (Count) I. , 1085-1101.
Roger (King) II., 1130-1154.
William, the Bad, 1154-1166.
William, the Good, 1166-1189.
Tancred,  1194.
Henry VI., 1194-1197.
Frederick II. , 1197-1250.
Manfred,  1266. 137

138 CHRONOLOGY
Charles of Anion, 1264.
Sicilian Vespers, 1282.
Peter of Aragon, 1283.
Frederick II., 1296-1337.
Louis of Taranto and Giovanna I. of Naples, 1355,
The Chiaramonte, 1320-1392.
Maria and Martino of Aragon, 1403.
House of Aragon,  1505.
Charles V. in Sicily, 1535.
Spanish Dominion,  1713.
House of Savoy, 1713-1720.
Charles III., 1734-1759.
Do. Caracclolo, Viceroy, 1781. (Abolished Inquisition.)
Ferdinand IV, took refuge on Nelson's ship, 1798,
or
(Ferdinand I. of the two Sicilies, after Treaty of Vienna).
Parliament In Palermo, 1812.
Ferdinand II., 1830-59.
Garibaldi took Palermo, nth May i860.

INDEX

A.
Achradina, 103
Aci Castello, 79, 83
Aci Reale, 78, 80
Acrae, 119
Aderno, 78, 85
Agatha, S., 81 , 103
Agosta, 93
Aeschylus, 122
Alcamo, 48
Alci blades, 5, 93
Altarello di Baida, 41
Anapus, 7, 103, 115
Anne Boleyn, 91
Archbishoprics, the, 14
Archimedes, 7, 109
Arethusa, fountain of, 99-102
Arthur, King, 91
Assoro, 124
Authorities, 15
Avola, 121 B.

_hena, 45
Barcellona, 62
Becket, Thomas, 53
Belici, 133
Belisarius, 8
Bellini, G., 81, 83
Bicocca, 92
Boe'o, C, 1
Bonello, M., io, 21
Bronte, 84
Butera, 123

Calogero, Bagni di, 57
Calogero, S., 135
Caltabellotta, 135
Caltanisetta, 125 .
Campobello, 53
Canicatti, 125
Capo Bianco, 134
Cappella Palatina,-'io
Carini, 47
Cassibile, R., 121
Castagno, II, 78
Castellamare, 47
Castelvetrano, 50
Castrogiovanni, 124
Catania, 78, 80, 82
Catenanuova, 123
Cefalu, 58, 61
Centenari, M. , 85
Charles of Anjou, 13, 43, 63, 93
Charybdis, 63, 70
Chiaramonte, 27, 35, 44
Ciclopi, Scogli dei, 80, 83
Colonies, Greek, 3
Comiso, 121
Conrad IV. , 13, 65
Conradin, 13, 65
Constantia, 23
Cuba, La, n, 36
Cubola, La, 36-7

D.
Dionysios I., 5,^53,861, 94, 96, 104,
in
Duilius, G. , 7

Cacyparis, 121
Cala, La, 41
Calatafimi, 47

E.
Ear of Dionysios, 112
Elephant, the, 81

140

INDEX

Elymians, 2, 50
Empedocles, 127
English officers, 34
Epipolae, 95, 96, 114
Eryx, M., 2, 6, 54, 56
Etna, 1, 86-91
Etruria, 4
Euryelus, 96, 114 F.
Faraglioni, I., 83
Fata Morgana, 63
Favara, La, 43-4
Favorita, La, 42
Filippo, San, 124
Frederick II. , n, 23, 59, 83, 93, 121
Frederick III. , 69, 81
Fretum Siculum, 1

Galatea, 79
Gela, 120, 125
Gelon, 95, 112
Genseric, 8
Georgios Antiochenos, 36
Giardini, 71
Giovanni dei Leprosi, S. , 43
Girgenti, 7, 125-135
Goethe, 16, 34, 36, 45,48, 127, 129
Goths, 8
Guiscard, R. , 8, 43
Gylippos, 5, 96, 121
H.
Hadrian, 91
Hannibal, 5, 8, 53, 57
Helena, S. , 93
Henna, 3
Henry VI., n, 23, 43, 59
Heraian, Mts., 1
Hiero I. , 7, 95
Hiero II., 63, 97, 114
Himera, 56-7
Hybla, 50, 93, 114, 119
Hykkara, 47

Lais, 47
La Pizzuta, 120
Latomia, 104, 107, in
Lentini, 92
Leonforte, 124
Letter of Virgin, 66
Licata, 123
Lilybaeum, 6, 8, 51, 55
Lipari Isles, 62, 91
L'ognina, 83
Loria, R. di, 83
Louis, S. (IX.), 39
Lo Zucco, 47
Lucia, S. , 106

M.

L.

Labdalon, 115
La Cala, 41

Maccaluba, 134
Majone, 10, 21
Manfred, 13, 23, 59, 65
Maniace, 84
Maniaces, Castle of, 82, 101, 103
Marcellus, 7, 97, 106, 115, 118, 123
Mare Dolce, 43
Maria di Gesit, S. , 44
Marina, La, 33-34
Martorana, La, 10, 29
Marsala, 53
Martino, S., 41
Megara, 50, 93
Meli, G., 45
Menfrici, 135
Messina, 63-70
Agostino, S., 69
Andrea, S., 69
Campo Santo, 70
Castellaccio, 69
Duomo, 65-6
Faro, 70
Fountain of Neptune, 64
Gregorio, S. , 68
Grotta, La, 70
L'Annunziata, 64
L' Immacolata, 69
Maria Alemmana, S. , 69
Milazzo, 7, 62, 63
Mineo, 2
Minos, 135
Misterbianco, 85
Modica, 120
Monreale, 11, 37, 40
Montallegro, 134
Monte Venere, 77

INDEX

141

N.
Naxos, 3, 95
Neapolis, in
Nelson, 34, 84
Newman, Card. , 74
Nicolosi, 86
Nikias, 5, 47, 49, 96, 105
Noto, 120

o.
Olympeion, the, 118
Orsi, Paolo, 99
Ortygia, 95, 98, 100

Pachynos, C, 1
Palazzolo-Acreide, 119
Palermo, 18-30
Antonio, S., Church, 33, 35
Archbishop's Palace, 21
Archivio di Stato, 34
Bellini, Piazza, 29
Bologni, Piazza, 28
Cala, La, 41
Cappuccini Convent, 28
Cassari, Via, 34
Cataldo, S.,30
Cathedral, 21
Chiaramonte, 27, 35
Circolo Inglese, 34
Corso, 33
Cuba, La, 36
Cubola, La, 37
Domenico, S., 32
Eulalia, S., 33
Favorita, La, 42
Flora, La, 33, 34
Fontana del Garraffo, 34
Giovanni, S. , 26
Incoronata, 24
La Ninfa, 26
Magione, La, 35
Maria dei Miracoli, S. , 35
Maria della Catena, S. , 33, 34
Marina, La, 33
Martorana, La, 29
Mazara, Porta, 27
Municipale, Palazzo, 29
Museum, 30

Palermo —
Orto Botanico, 33
Palazzo Reale, 24
Palatina, Cappella, 24
Pretoria, P., 29
Porta Felice, 33, 34
Porta Mazara, 27
Porta Montalta, 27
Porta Nuova, 27
Sala Normanna,£26
Sclafani, Palace, 27
Tombs, 22-24
Tribunali, 35
Via Cassari, 32
Via Roma, 33
Zisa, La, 27, 36
Palma, 123
Papyrus, 117
Partinico, 47
Passaro, C, 1
Passo Martino, 92
Paterno,78, 85
Patti, 62
Paul, S. , 108
Pellegrino, Mt. ,42, 47
Pelorus, 1
Pergusa, L. , 125
Peter, I., 14
Philip II. , 68
Phoenicians, 4, 62
Pisma, 116, 118
Pitre, G., 15
Pizzuta, 120
Platen, Count, 107
Plemmyrium, 115
Polyphemus, 79
Priolo, 94, 114
Pyrrhus, 6, 56, 97

R.
Racalmuto, 125
Ragusa, 120
Ram, the, 32
Randazzo, 78
Reggio, 63
Rhodians, the, 4
Ribera, 135
Robert Guiscard, 8, 43
Robert the Wise, 34
Roger I., 9, 53, 65, 69, 84, 83, 135
Roger II., 9, 22, 24, 26, 39, 60, 65
Rosalia, Sta., 42
Rupe Atenea, 126-9

142

INDEX

S. Alessio, Cape, 71
Saracens, the, 8, 22, 76, 125
Scala Greca, 106, 115
Scaletta, 71, 80
Sciacca, 135
Scipio, 8
Scylla, 70, 71
Segesta, 2, 4, 47, 49
Selinus (Selinunto) 31, 50-53
Serradifalco, 125
Sicans, the, 2
Siculiana, 134
Sikels, 2, 65, 95, 135
Simeto, the, 92, 122
S. Spirito, Chiesa di, 44
Solunto, 46
Sparagio, M., 55
Steri, 27
Stesichorus, 57
Syracuse, 94
Achradina, 103-6
Anapus, 114
Archbishop's Palace, 9g
Ara (altar), m
Arethusa, 99
Catacombs, 108
Cappuccini, 104
Castle, the, 103
Cathedral, g8
EpipoUe, 113
Euryelus, 96, 114
Giovanni, S., Church of, 107
Grotte di, 108
Labdalon, 96, 114
Landolina, Villa, 107
Latomia Casale, 107
del Filosofo, 112
del Paradiso (Ear of
Dionysios), 111
di Santa Venera, 111
ucia, Sta., 106
aarziano, S. , 107
Museum, 99
Niccolo, S. , in i
Olympeion, 117
Ortygia, 96, 98
Pentapolis, 95
Pisma, 115-6
Plemmyrium, 96, 103, no
Piccolo Porto, 103
Roman Amphitheatre, the, in

Mar

Syracuse —
Scala Greca, 97
Teatro Greco, no, 112
Temple of Minerva (Athena),
98
of Diana, 98
Timoleon, 108, 112
Tombs, log
Tremiglia, 112
Tyche, 97, 109 T.
Tancred, n
Taormina, 71-77
Targetta, 115
Termini-Imerese, 57
Terranova, 122
Theocritus, 15
Timoleon, 48, 85, 104, log, 112
Tindaro, C. , 62
Torre del Diavolo, 44
del Filosofo, 91
Trabia, 57
Trapani, 54, 91
Tremiglia, 113
Trezza, 83
Trinacria, 1
Troina, 84
Tyche, 109

Val D'Ispica, 118
Val del Bove, 86
Valsavoia, 92
Venus Landolina, 9g, 107
Vespers, The Sicilian, 40, 45
Viceroys, the, 14
Vittoria, 121 W.
Walter Offamilius, n, 22, 37, 44
William I., 10, 27, 3g
William II., n, 22, 3g

Zafferano, C. , 33, 47, 56
ZanklS, 63
Zisa, La, 10, 27, 36

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