Sicilia

Flowered Scala

(Third Sunday in May First Sunday in June)

For several years in May, dedicated to the Devotion of the Virgin Mary, the steps (known as the Scala) offer another particular show when they are embellished with flowers or ˝Infiorata˝.

Thousands of vases with plants and flowers in various colors and shades make up a unique design to honor the Madonna of Conadomini, which is also the namesake of the very old church located at the summit of the Scala, whose folklore festival includes a traditional parade called ˝A Rusedda˝

( a wild plant from the near Saint Peter˝s Wood used to be both harvested by peasants to be offered to the Madonna and by ceramic crafters to feed their furnaces in exchange for a little donation to the church) that concludes the festivities on May 31st. www.siciliasud.it

The origin of Noto disappears in the midst of millenniums. It is older than Rome and its history resembles very much to the Eternal City's; many legends flourished about this history.
Literature and sentimentalism created a certain confusion and only archaeology offered irrefutable data. However, as only some excavations have been acted, consequently we have only some exact news.
During the last years of the nineteenth century, it was Paolo Orsi that would clearly look at it. So, he began a systematic exploration in all the territory around the town. At once he found himself in the bronze age, as the discoveries of Mount Finocchito, of Castelluccio and of Mount Alveria, led him to an age vacillating between 1900 and 1000 before Christ.
Anyway, he wrote a great deal of things on his explorations in the territory of Noto and his works let us know that on Fi¬nocchito, on the spurs of Castelluccio, on Mount Alveria and along all the valley of the Tellaro river, there are many traces of inhabited centres of a remarkable importance.
It seems that there was a town of about sixty thousand inhabitants, a residence of kings and of princes, on Finocchito. The defence walls, contemporary and identic to Troy's are still visible.
A civilization ramified from Castelluccio; it arrived at Taormina on the one hand and at Agrigento on the other hand.
It seems that there was the capital of the Sicilian Kingdom on Mount Alveria; it was protected by the inhabited centres of Pantalica, Cava d'lspica, Finocchito, Castelluccio and Cassibile.
This capital had Ducezio as a king, who was an audacious and valiant young man. He defended his kingdom by means of a Sicilian revolt against the Greek invaders In 488 before Christ, he abandoned Neas, whose exact location we don't know until now. — perhaps on Finocchito, perhaps at Castelluccio. perhaps on the plateau of Aguglia. He castled on Mount Alveria, where a town already existed, as the numerous necropolises of the previous age testify.
Here, defence was easier than elsewhere for the steep slopes which surround all the mount.
The vicissitudes of king Ducezio are very uncertain. We see him victorious and vanquished, prisoner of the Greeks in Corinth. Run away from captivity, he came back Home and, in the attempt of a revolt, he founded a new town in northern Sicily, Calacta, where he died in 436 before Christ.
Neas, become Neathon, fell under the rule of Syracuse and followed its destiny. The Sicilians' capital played a part of a slight importance. After losing the king and the kingdom, it underwent a process of hellenization. But the civilization of the Sicilian people, Latin in their origin, had not to be inferior than the Hellenic one if the Greeks erected the town to a Gymnasium residence. It was a high dignity for the culture of Neathon, which other towns had not.
In 212 before Christ, having to choose between Syracuse and Rome, Neathon is near its natural ally, but it falls with Syracuse under the pressing force of Marcellus's armies.
Neathon became Netum under the Romans; so, the old Sicilian, anti-Greek and Latin spirit appeared again. The town was a very faithfull Rome ally. It was confederated to the Eternal City and became a town of « Latin law » with Messana and Tauromenium.
This special condition put the town on the same level of Rome and caused it many considerable privileges, first to be allowed to rule itself by its peculiar laws. Exemption from taxes was another privilege.
When Roman Consul Caius Verres claimed them, he paid his pretension at a high price. The Netum notables had their complaint heard in Rome, where they found the unconditional assistance and defence of Marcus Tullius Cicero.
Netum remained seven centuries with Rome, that is. tillthe fall of the Empire, in 476 A.D.. From this date to 804, it was the turn of the Byzantines who strewed this region with hypogea, basilicas, christian oratories. Indeed, Netum had adopted the new christian religion from its first apparition.
In 804, the town was conquered by a Saracen army, guided by Emir Calagh Ben Sofian.
Under the Arabs, Sicily was divided into three administrative valleys and Netum was the capital of one of the three valleys. Under Arab rule, the town had a considerable growth and, owing to its geographic situation, which rendered it inexpugnable, it was fortified and chosen as Prince's seat.
In 1060, the Normans took possession of Sicily except Noto, which surrendered to Robert Guiscard and to Roger on very honourable terms, in February 1090, after thirty years of siege. The Normans gave the town rule to the Swabians, to whom the Angevins followed.
During the Easter of 1282, Noto, as Palermo, rebelled against the Angevin domination and was among the protagonists of the famous Sicilian Vespers.
All through the XlVth century, it was tormented by civil wars between the Chiaramonte, Alagona, Rossi, Landolina, Cappello, Collaro families. In that period, the bright figure of Hermit Cor-rado Confalonieri, native of Piacenza, appears; he will give a marked impression of franciscan holiness to the town. At the end of the XlVth century, King Martin divided Sicily into four Valleys adding Agrigento's to the primeval ones. Noto preserved its integrity remaining the head of one of them. With Martin II, the Aragonese dynasty died out. The Castilians with Ferdinand of Castile and Magnanimous Alphonso followed them. In that period, Nicolo Speciale, native of Noto, who enriched his town with many privileges, was the viceroy of Sicily.
All through the period that goes from 1420 to 1679, Noto was tormented by wars, famines, epidemics, earthquakes, rebellions. The relative peace, appeared towards 1680, was broken off, after a decade, by the disaster of January 11, 1693, for which the town was nearly destroyed by a series of earthquakes and abandoned by its inhabitants.After having risen again on Plain Meti, after many disa¬greements between the feudatories who ruled there, it had new privileges under Charles III and Ferdinand I.
After the Sicilian rebellion against the Bourbons, in 1837, Noto was raised to chief town of province and in 1844 it had a bishop's chair too, at which it had aimed since the Xllth century. It was among the first towns to rebell in 1848 and again in 1860. In the May of that year, it hoisted the first flag of the Italian Unity. In 1865, the town was degraded from province to subprefecture.
During this last century, it has accomplished its task of an industrious town of intellectuals and artisans with dignity, always awakening respect and admiration for the men given to the government of the public affairs and of the Church and for the numerous sons offered to the Country in all wars.
The group of Noto citizens, who distinguished themselves in Arts, in Science and in Phylosophy, is endless. Not wrongly, people affirm that Noto still retains its degree of town-guide in Sicilian culture.
www.siciliasud.it

The origin of the name derives from its Donnalucata ancient source. A traveler Arabic, Al Idris (later latinizzato in Odrisi) sent it to the Sultan Saladin a report which said that he found a source that sgorgava five times a day, for hours and very precise matching at Muslim prayers. He said that he found "Ayn-Al-Awqat", or the source of hours, latinizzato became Donnalucata. The name of the source then passed to indicate the place. It was felt in the past that they can identify the source (which no longer protected by the Sea would have lost its characteristics) in "Ugghie" (freshwater springs) on the beach of Micenci. As regards the then alleged "miracle", it is plausible that the source in question sgorgasse all day, but it was only visible during low tide at sunset, and coinciding with the time of prayer. www.siciliasud.it

Cirica and Punta Castellazzo Among Punta el Castellazzo 'island of Porto Current is Ulysses. Cited by Cicero, Pliny and Ptolemy, consists of a sandy bounded by rocky peak tufaceous Castellazzo. Archaeologists have identified Apolline, a Roman station in which it was possible to pull dry boats. Several artefacts found, including fragments of a ship in its Byzantine. The presence dell'insediamento is also documented by historians medieval and modern.

The first construction of the castle seems to be due to Chiaramonte, accounts Modica in the XIV century. In the fifteenth century it became the residence of Bernardo Cabrera at large giustiziere the Kingdom of Sicily. Later, the building was purchased by Francesco Maria De Spucches Arezzo, of Donnafugata baron who made a campaign casina. Most of the construction, however, it must be his son, the baron Conrad Arezzo, a man of eclectic and political studies. Through several generations, came to Clementina Paternò Castle, widow of Viscount Gaetano Combes de Lestrade. Finally, after years of neglect and abandonment, was purchased in 1982 from the town of Ragusa, long after restoration work made him again fruibile.Il castle, divided over three floors, has more than 120 rooms of which twenty are now available to visitors. Visiting rooms that still contain the furniture and furnishings of the original, seems to make a leap in the past, during the recent "gattopardi". Each room was furnished with taste different and had a different function. Not to forget the music room with beautiful painted trompe-l'oeil), the great hall of badges with blazons of all the noble families of Sicily and two ancient armor, the hall of mirrors (decorated with stucco), the art gallery with paintings neoclassical school of Luca Giordano. Remarkable, then, the c.d. The bishop apartment with splendid furniture Boulle, reserved exclusively top prelate (a family member Arezzo in the eighteenth century). Around the castle is a large and monumental park of 8 hectares. Contava over 1500 species of plants and various "distractions" that had to cheer and entertain guests, as the circular temple and Coffee House (to rest) or the labyrinth of stone and some "caves" artificial equipped with fake stalactites (below temple ). www.siciliasud.it

The temple, of Doric was built in the fifth century BC The tyrant Gelone following the victory against the Carthaginians in the battle of Imera. The Athenaion was hexastyle (six columns in front) periptero (columns cell surrounded on all four sides), with 14 columns on the long sides. According to the University pediment bore the great shield of golden goddess bronze. From Cicero, which lists ornaments depretati from Verre, we know that had decorations ivory, gold studs on the door and a series of painted panels that raffiguravano a cavalry fighting between Agatocle and Carthaginians and 27 portraits of tyrants City. Currently there are visible on the left side of the cathedral, some columns and stilobate on which they rested in local limestone, while others remain (marble tiles and drip caps in the shape of a lion's head) are kept in the Regional Archaeological Museum Paolo Orsi. Inside the dome are also clearly visible 9 columns of the right side of the periptero and two in front of the cell. The temple was preceded by a place of worship dating all'VIII century BC, with an altar brought to light during the excavations the start of the twentieth century, and a temple of the first half of the sixth century BC. www.siciliasud.it