Sicily: A Cultural History - Softcover

Farrell, Joseph

Softcover

ISBN 10: 190849364X ISBN 13: 9781908493644

Publisher: Signal Books Ltd, 2012

Synopsis

Long before it became an Italian offshore island, Sicily was the land in the centre of the Mediterranean where the great civilizations of Europe and Northern Africa met. In ancient times it was the scene of conflicts between Carthaginians, Greeks and Romans and there are still more, better preserved Greek temples in Sicily than in the whole of mainland Greece. An Arab invasion in 827 made Sicily home to an Islamic culture, and through Sicily the Arabs introduced to Europe a range of products from sugar to pasta. Other conquering forces included the Catalan-Aragonese, the Spanish, the French, the Austrians and even the British who invented Marsala wine. Sicily today is familiar and unfamiliar, modernized and unchanging. Visitors will find in an out-of-the-way town an Aragonese castle, will stumble across a Norman church by the side of a lesser travelled road, will see red Muslim-styles domes over a Christian shrine, will find a Baroque church of breathtaking beauty in a village, will catch a glimpse from the motorway of a solitary Greek temple on the horizon and will happen on a the celebrations of the patron saint of a run-down district of a city, and will stop and wonder. There is more to Sicily than the Godfather and the mafia. Land of Myth and Religious Feast: the myth of Persephone at the lake of Pergusa: the Holy Week processions in Enna and Erice; the festivities for St. Rosalia in Palermo, St. Agatha in Catania, St. James in Caltagirone. History in Stone: the Valley of the Temples in Agrigento; Norman cathedrals in Palermo, Monreale and Cefalu; Saracen and Aragonese castles; Arab-Norman-Byzantine mosaics in the Palace of the Normans in Palermo, Islands and Cities: the Aeolian Islands with their volcanoes at Stromboli and Vulcano; the hauntingly beautiful cities of Taormina and Cefalu; Mount Etna; the eighteenth-century Baroque towns of Ragusa and Noto.

About this title

About the Author:

Joseph Farrell is Professor of Italian at the University of Strathclyde. He is author of a biography of Dario Fo and has translated several Italian playwrights in addition to various novels.

Review:

This volume is one of a series of guidebooks that focuses more on exploring the history and culture of the world s greatest cities, and less on where to stay and what to eat. The book focuses on the lengthy and paradoxical history of Sicily. Sicily has been home to and conquered by the Greeks, the Romans, the Arabians, the Spanish, the French, and even the Austrians. Its architecture includes Christian churches, some of the best examples of Greek temples outside of Greece, as well as Muslim domes. So while many envision Sicily as being quintessentially Italian, it is really made up of the traditions and customs of most of the world s greatest cultures. And while the book does spend one or two chapters discussing the Mafia and its origins, sixteen other chapters discuss everything from the Arabian caliphate established in the ninth century to the Val di Noto and its stunning Baroque architecture. The book also includes an in-depth section on further reading. This is not a guidebook that will tell one how to travel on a budget or where the best night life is; however, for those who want a guidebook that pithily explains a vast history in 300 pages while outlining the best historical sites to visit in support of this history, look no further. --ProtoView

About this edition

• Publisher: Signal Books Ltd
• Publication date: 2012
• ISBN 10: 190849364X
• ISBN 13: 9781908493644
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 256