The city was founded by Ancient Greeks Corinthians and Teneans becoming a very powerful city state.  Syracuse was allied with Sparta and had influence over the entirety of Magna Graecia, of which it was the most important city. Described by Cicero as “the greatest Greek city and the most beautiful of them all, it may have equaled…

  Legend says that Archimedes, born in Siracusa m so focused on his search for understanding that he was unaware that his city was being overrun by Romans just before his death.  When finally he awoke from his concentration as a soldier was about to strike him dead,  he asked for a few minutes more…

yay

Established around 582–580 BC by Greek colonists from Gela who named it “Akragas”. The modern city today is not the most pleasant but in its day Akragas grew rapidly, becoming one of the richest and most famous of the Greek colonies of Magna Graeci with a population of exceeding 100,000 The city was not the prime arena for…

Segesta, as previously discussed in the blog of conflict with Selinunte, was also a site with a history dating back to last millennium BC. Legend, and assumed factual by some historians, is that the founders were surviving Trojans who fled after their historic defeat. The city is referred to in this context by a number…

Selinunte has been an significant area/city occupied since at least 600 BC and was known to be important to early Greeks as the most western site in Sicily. But it’s position also made it a point of contact with other ancient Greek powers such as Athens as well the Phoenicians and Carthaginians. Also it was…

Within the main city of Palermo it seems every district and more has a church. A small listing can be found at https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Churches_in_Palermo . We did not visit all of them (although it felt like it 😀) but here are a few of the highlights. Although each has its own story, returning to the Norman…

Although we seem to walk 8-10 KM a day, it never seems enough to offset the Italian food that you can sample in other posts. So it was with some excitement that we set our sites on Cefalu, an hour train ride outside of Palermo. The town is home to one of those areas that…

Walking in the old town near our hotel, you come across evidence of previous wealth and prosperity.  An example is the four corners – Quattro Campi – two shown here. Built to the wealth of the Campi or districts,  each corner represents one of the four seasons topped with the usual statues of princes and…

One of our guides, Angelo, was wise beyond his perceived age.  Along with amusing and informative discourse, which was continuous, he shared his views on the hard history lessons and current problems faced by Siciliano people.  Intermixed were some anecdotes that perfectly captured different ideas.  One that rings true for us… “Sicily has many problems,…

In researching our adventure to Scicily,  you learn so much about the history of this little piece of earth that has been inhabited for thousands of years.  Even more interesting is how it’s position made it unique in being conquered, colonized or just used as a convenient interim port by so many cultures – from pirates…

No matter what the status of the eateries, the real measure of a city’s food is their markets. What is fresh. What is unique. How active – is there a buzz from both the vendors and the people streaming through. In London, we found one lauding proclaiming its right to be heard , seen, smelt…