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I drove back towards Noto to visit Villa Romana del Tellaro, which is a Roman Villa dating from the middle of the 4th century AD. I passed fertile fields with grapevines which I wasn’t sure were dormant (it is winter here) or withered by disease. The olive trees also looked withered so maybe both were dormant. The road was lined by the typical dry tufa stone walls of the region. There were patches of papyrus along the Tellaro River. Sicily has the largest natural colony of papyrus in Europe, said to have been brought to Sicily by the Egyptians
When I arrived at the site, the front door was open and no one was around. It was profoundly peaceful. I walked into the “museum” and the walls were that beautiful cream of the tufa stone and adorned with posters of the mosaics and information panels. Windows were open and you could look out on the excavations and surrounding countryside. I was able to wander on my own looking at the “artifacts and mosaics. There was a fireplace, almost identical to the one currently in Maria’s house and what looked like a bathtub. It even had a hole for the overflow valve. There were walls and slave quarters outside but the piece de resistance were the mosaics at the back of the building viewable by a skywalk. The villa is considered to be the “little sister” of the more famous Roman Villa di Casale near Piazze Armerina.
The mosaics are thought to have been made by the same African artisans and may have been as sumptuous. I love the geometric shapes that look like modern fabric and the “milling horses. The tiger is iconic, and on many posters and postcards of the villa. After spending several hours wandering through the site, I drove back to Portopalo looking at the colourful sky and dreaming of purchasing and restoring some of the abandoned houses along the way.
I stayed in Portopalo because it was too stormy and cold. However, I went for a walk along the seashore to see the huge incoming waves. There used to be a tuna factory here but it was shut down to protect a rare species of small palms found on Isola di Capo Passero. However, most of the fish processing is now carried out on ships at sea. You can see them out there all the time. There are abandoned old fish processing plants all along the coast here (some dating from the Greeks). It is too bad that they are not “recycled” for other uses; but they are probably haunted by the cries of the slaughtered tuna. I was told it was a brutal process.
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It was too stormy even for the men fishing in the surf. Maria explained to me that there are fish farms in large tanks in the ocean off Portopalo. When it is very windy, the fish escape and local men fish in the surf for them. It is a free meal. However, they were not out there today.
The sun came out in the afternoon; but it was still very windy. I went beachcombing by several seaside cottages a few minutes from where I am staying. It is surprising for me to see cacti growing so close to the high tide mark. I found broken pottery, sponges, but little else. No one else was on the seashore – empty beaches for kilometers! I believe it is quite different in summer when the hordes descend to the seaside and to walk and sunbathe along the paths lining the lungomare. The beaches in Portopalo are narrow and rocky (i.e., not sandy). Nothing between here and Africa.
I tried to leave early for Eloro (formerly called Helorus) but only got out at 10:00. Eloro was founded by Syracuse in the 7th century B.C. at the mouth of the Tellaro River at the top of a hill facing the ocean. The road going there also goes to the Lido di Noto, an upscale beach property. So the dry stone walls lining the road are being rebuilt. Except for the clothing, you could be back in Greek times with the road builders using the same techniques and tools. Again I met no one both on the way there and at the site. There was only an open gate leading to this large field scattered with artifacts and overlooking the ocean.
The fields were overgrown with wild thyme and so I was surrounded by the smell of the sea and thyme. Amongst the remains of old houses and walls. There were remains of the entrance to a sacred sanctuary dedicated to Demeter and Kore between the road and the sea. The sanctuary has not been excavated and is still buried under Byzantine remains. By the river are the damaged remains of the theater (the fascists dug a drainage channel through it). In addition, there is the base of the temple dedicated to Asciepius (son of Apollo) god of medicine and healing. I could sit in the silence and imagine the pilgrims lining up to seek solace (much more conducive to healing than a doctor’s office). I took the opportunity to add my offerings of wild flowers. Maybe my knee will get better. At least it is more pleasant than the medication.
I then visited Noto Antica (abandoned since the earthquake of 1683). It lies stretched along the Monte Alveria ridge between two deep gorges. Because of its easily defended location it was a historically significant stronghold. It was one of the few towns to resist looting by the Roman praetor Verres and the last bastion of Arabic Sicily before the Norman Conquest. The road (S24) winds between steep gorges with views of the ocean and orchards lining the sides of the mountain sides.
Sometimes, it dwindles to a track (negotiable in the SMART car). This is one of the spots I will look for a house, not far from the sea, panoramic views, and close to a city (Noto); however, it may be too expensive to renovate.
You enter Noto Antico through a Norman gate guarding the Castello Reale occupied from the 11th century and enter an evocative ghost town. There is a medieval castle with graffiti from the prisoners still visible, sumptuous seventeenth century buildings falling apart, boundary walls from every epoch, altars, niches, former hospitals, caves, churches, Hellenistic burial chambers, and even a Jewish necropolis.
Noto Antica (called Netum by the Romans) was a city of Sicel origin (6th century B.C.), as evidenced by Sicel tombs that you can see on the slopes of Mount Alveria. Netum was conquered in 866 by the Arabs and lasted to 1091 when it fell to the Normans. It was a cultural and artistic center under the Normans in the late-gothic period, the Renaissance and in the 17th century. The city (population around 12,000) was completely destroyed by an earthquake that altered the landscape of SE Sicily on December 11, 1693. Here s a quote by an eyewitness: “Then came an earthquake so horrible and ghastly that the soil undulated like the waves of a stormy sea, and the mountains danced as if drunk, and the city collapsed in one miserable moment killing more than a thousand people." Now it is considered the Pompei of Sicily and a prime example of Sicilian naturalistic-archeology (where the countryside and works of man triumph). That is why I love the archeological sites in Sicily, they are often in fields with nature (sheep, wildflowers, lizards not excluded.
I then took the winding road through Testa dell’ Acqua to Pallazollo Acreide which is the site of the first inland Greek colony of Akrai (founded in 664 BC). It flourished in the third century BC, declined under the Romans, and re-emerged under Byzantine rule until destroyed by the Arabs.
The site was deserted with only a ticket taker at the gate who just waved me through. There was no one there except hundreds of rabbits hopping in the midst of the Greek, Roman, and Byzantine runes and the swallows sweeping in the sky.
There are the remains of two temples, the Greek Tempio di Aphrodite (6th or 5th entury B.C.) and a later Roman Tempio di Persefone. Both are badly fragmented.
However, there is a lovely intimate Teatro Greco. I believe it is still used to hold performances in the summer. Although it is not as impressive as the Greek Theater in Syracusa, I found it much more evocative.
​Christians converted the Greek quarries next to the theater into catacombs and troglodyte dwellings, some with bas reliefs. There are artifacts scattered through the site, some with discernable inscriptions. Akrai is also on a ridge and there are spectacular views of the gorges on all sides. I took my time and wandered around trying to take pictures of the rabbits and swallows. But no luck.
I then left for the long drive back through the narrow, steep, mountain roads to Portopalo. When I got back, I took a walk along the causeway by the beach towards Isola delle Correnti. Apparently, you can ask a fisherman to row you to the island. But there was no one there (since it was winter!)
I stayed home and planned my trip to Piazza Armerina. I tried to use the gas oven to heat a pizza but blew the electric power. I had to call Salvatore (Maria’s husband) to rescue me because, without electricity, I could not open or close the gate and leave the house. He came right away and tried to open the gate with the keys but no luck. He finally explained (through the closed gate and in Italian) where to find the electric panel and explained what to do. So I tripped the switch and voila, I was no longer trapped. Salvatore determined that the ignition switch operating the gas pilot light was defective (so it wasn’t my fault). I just won’t be able to use the oven for the rest of my stay – no big deal. I then went to the café and used wifi to book a room for two days at Piazza Armerina since it is too far, and there is too much to see there. So tomorrow I plan to leave at 7:00 AM for the long drive back through the mountains.
Well I was on the road by 8:00 AM – not bad. When I booked my stay at the B&B in Piazza Armerina I said that I would be there between 3 and 4 so I will have lots of time to visit the Hyblaean Mountains called Iblei by the Italians. These like the other mountain ranges (Nebrodi, Madonie, and Sicanian) are extensions of the Apennines and continue under the Mediterranean to Tunisia. This is an interactive map where you can learn about the mountain ranges in Sicily.
These are all touched by fairly frequent earthquakes which have made the soil extremely workable and fertile. The Iblei Mountains are made from “softish” limestone so it is riddled with caves used for homes, burial sites, etc. and have been used since the first settlers arrived (around 10,000 BC). I plan to visit each of the mountain ranges, since I have discovered that (like many of the invaders) I am attracted to the heights rather than the beaches
I took the smaller unmarked roads going up the mountains towards Caltagirone, a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2002. It had begun to rain and I kept on getting lost on the small roads through farms with livestock running free on the roads.
However, there were many abandoned houses along the way, some of which would be relatively easy to repair.
The roads were deserted except for the many dogs that were either in the yards or free on the road. Sicilians appear to be very casual about their pets or they consider them to be independent working “partners” since many were herding dogs
It was great to see the almond trees in bloom in February and the rich fertile soil already sprouting wild flowers, daffodils, and poppies.
There are road signs requiring snow tires and chains. If you don't have any, you have to get off the autostrada. They also have temporary signs when the road conditions are dangerous due to snow and ice. As you get, higher on the mountain, they are more frequent.
I finally arrived at Caltagirone, one of the most ancient Sicilian towns, deriving its name from the Arabic kalat (castle) and gerun (caves). The Arabs introduced the art of glazing ceramics (especially the use of blues and yellows). These have now become typical of Sicilian ceramics. The town was rebuilt after the 1693 earthquake in the Baroque style decorated with ceramics everywhere. The pride of Caltagirone is the 142 step staircase (Scala) which cuts up through three hills connecting the city center to the church Santa Maria del Monte. The risers are decorated with ceramic tiles, no two the same. I did not walk up all the steps, only far enough to be able to get a view of the rooftops.
The old town contains many fine municipal buildings, churches, and small “medieval” streets. I saw many churches and palaces that I liked but was not able to identify - more work to do on the internet when I have wifi. Caltagirone is a great place for an art-lover to visit – it has great visual impact. But after a while the richness and abundance of the Baroque buildings gives you a sensation of over-indulgence of eye-candy. Noto did not have this effect – maybe because the buildings are separated with green spaces and they are a soft white colour.
I was glad to leave Caltagirone and head back to the mountains following the small roads towards Mirabella. Boy, did I get lost following my GPS lady. She would say, turn left on strada....but there were no street signs. She often had me take goat tracks through farms navigable to tractors or jeeps; but not cars.
The temperature dropped and the vegetation reminded me of the Laurentians with many conifers. I finally got to the top of the mountain where there was a reserve. There are not many forests in the Iblei Mountains so those that are present are fenced in. One can only walk or drive in the forest in designated places. The scenery was both wild and cultivated. You could see towns in the distance at the top of the next mountain; but how to get there! Somehow (I don’t know how). I stumbled into Piazza Armerina at 3:30 PM.
​However, my adventures were not over. When I got to my B&B there was no one there and there was a for sale sign on the door. I called Bookings.com and they connected me with the owner who told me that she had never received the booking from Booking.com. She said she would call me back in 10 minutes. After 30 minutes, when I called her back, I only got voice-mail. This is all in Italian. I was glad that I was parked behind the cathedral – having visions that I could always sleep under a pew. However, I took a walk in the old town around the cathedral and saw a sign for an upscale B&B. At this time I did not care how much it would cost, I only wanted a bed. Boy did I luck out. The owner, Rita, said she would come to the B&B right away. She had a beautiful place: A bedroom with a king-side bed with a duvet, a bathroom, a sitting room, and a dining room. It even had wifi and central heating.
Her husband would come in the morning to make me breakfast (freshly squeezed orange juice, freshly baked croissants, café latte). I did not ask the price – I only hope it will not be extravagant. She also recommended a taverna, around the corner for dinner. I had the best octopus in my life. Michele, the cook, made me a plate of marinated anchovies, marinated salmon, mussels and clams a la marinara, and octopus. And that was only the appetizer. He then brought me a plate of fried squid, eggplant and a side order of fennel salad. The dinner included bread and wine (1/4 litre). All this for 20 Euro.
After breakfast I wandered around the historical quarter of Piazza Armerina. It is mostly 17th and 18th century in appearance with narrow cobbled streets that end in steps leading to skinny alleyways. I love the “natural” green roofs and drying laundry. All surrounded by fading churches, mansions and palazzzi. Many have been converted to apartments and B&B’s. I tried to drive through to get to the main road; but the GPS was useless, the alleyways are so close together that the GPS cannot locate position accurately. Moreover, many are impassable to cars, even the SMART car (however, the GPS lady doesn’t know it).
Again, there are many churches from very elaborate (the Duomo) on the bottom left to more simple churches to the right of the image of the Duomo. My B&B was just behind the Duomo. After a while all the cathedrals look the same. I still cannot easily distinguish the Duomo in Carltagirone from that in Piazza Armerina.
The history of Piazza Armerina goes back to Roman times, as evidenced by the Villa Romana di Casale (3rd and 4th century AD). In 1166 the city (an important agricultural, commercial, and military center) was sacked by William I. It was later rebuilt on top of the hill where it now stands. It has a medieval atmosphere with a medieval festival in August celebrating the defeat of the Saracens in the late 13th century.
I found my way through the narrow streets to the “main” road leading to the Villa Romana del Casale. Finally, there were other tourists, a bus load of 18 American, French, and German tourists all taking pictures although there were prominent signs forbidding cameras. At least, I only discretely used my cell phone. The Villa Romana del Casale is the #1 in the Top 10 Tourist sites in Sicily. The Villa built between the 3rd and 4th century AD supposedly by Maximian, one of the tetrarchs who jointly ruled the Empire. It was inhabited until the 11th century when it was destroyed by fire and buried by floods. It was rediscovered at the end of the 19th century and systematically excavated at the end of the 1950’s. The Romans viewed Sicily as a granary to supply the Roman legion and as a buffer against Carthage. The Villa Romana de Casabile is an example of latifundiae system which saw great tracts of land in the hands of a few wealthy individuals who reaped profits while their slaves reaped crops. The Romans brought in slaves and criminals to work these estates and they eventually reduced a good part of Sicily's inhabitants to slavery.
The large (3,500 sq meters) country estate was built on several levels. The main entrance, surrounded by columns (1), led into a polygonal courtyard which provided access to a large peristyle (2). The owner’s private quarters, guest rooms, kitchens, and servants’ quarters were in the upper level overlooking the peristyle. The owner’s private quarters were divided into two by a large basilica (3) for meetings and banquets. There were several large latrines (4), including one reserved for the family. On the western side of the complex are the baths including the external caldaria and iaconicum and the internal tepidarium and frigidarium, (shown on the right), the aqueduct bringing water to the complex, the latrine used by the servants, and large furnaces heating the water to steam which was then circulated under the floors to heat the complex. Sounds quite modern. There were “chapels”, music rooms, ball rooms, rooms for anointing with oil, etc.- all with lavish mosaics, surprisingly intact and vivid. These can easily be seen on the web, so I will only put some of my favorite including as much of the rooms as possible for context.
These are the latrines, looking amazingly modern and the peristilium surrounding the kitchen.
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The mosaics are fantastic-really complex and still vivid. There is a famous one of a slew of bikini-clad athletes, another one of the port with men fishing from beautiful boats with many fish in the water. There is another series of men collecting animals in Africa and loading them on a barge. There’s another one of a man beating a servant and another man beating an ox. They give a very clear picture of what life was on a wealth estate.
In the afternoon I went to Enna, the provincial capital at the highest elevation in Europe, affording a panoramic view overlooking the scenic valleys of Sicily's rugged interior. It was named the “navel” of Sicily by the Romans because it is at the very center of the island. It is also the only city in Sicily that was not founded by foreign invaders. Rather it was founded by the Sicels (or Siculi) and has been continuously inhabited from at least 1200 BC. The Greeks arriving a bit before 700 BC were able to describe the little history that exists of the Siculi before extensive contact by outsiders influenced their culture.
Diodorus Siculus reported that around 800 BC an accord was drawn up between the Siculi and the non-Indo-European Sicani (possibly direct descendants of the earliest humans present in Sicily) establishing Enna as the boundary between the Siculi territory to the East and the Sicani territory to the West. I intend to visit as many of the Neolithic sites as possible including the megalithic temples in Malta that were built by the ancestors of the Sicani around 3,800 BC. These structures are older than Stonehenge and the pyramids of Egypt. The Siculi readily became Hellenised and were highly respected by the Greeks.
Enna (the city) as well as the province has been an extremely important military and agricultural center for thousands of years to many peoples (Siculi, Greeks, Phoenicians, Byzantine Greeks, Arabs, Normans, Spanish, French to name just a few). It has a rich history (too much for me to take in at this time). Enna's position makes it a natural strategic defensive position; any army that sought to control Sicily's interior would have to hold Enna. It is at the top of sheer cliffs making it extremely difficult to capture; it is said that whenever it exchanged hands it was inevitably through treachery not force.
Even today, it is difficult to enter the city – you drive up a very narrow steep road, with many switchbacks hoping no one is coming the other way. At times my GPS lady would tell me to take a side alley that ended in a staircase. I would have to back up – no room to turn. Some of the alleys (and not one-way alleys) were so narrow, that my side mirrors scraped the houses (I will have to pay a fee for damages). I was so focused on driving that I did not take any pictures.
I finally exited the old part of town at the Castello di Lombardi, one of the most important examples of military architecture in Sicily. Although only six of its original twenty towers remain, it is none the less impressive as it dominates part of the town. Eleanor of Aquitaine laid one of the foundation stones. You can walk to the top of one of the towers and on a clear day see all of Sicily. However, the tower was closed so I could only take pictures from the base of the fort.
The drive back was through spectacular countryside. I took the smaller roads and was the only person on the road. The interior of Sicily is surprisingly empty and very green (at least in February). It must have looked very different when the Greeks arrived – it was heavily forested and was prized by the Greeks who needed the lumber for their ships. Thus, began the deforestation that was responsible for the drying up of the rivers and streams.
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