Taormina: This is a hill town on a cliff. Situated on a steep hill. On one end is the supposed Greek end, and the other the Norman end. Because yes, there is a Greek amphitheater, which the Romans decided to….modify by obscuring the fabulous view of Mama Etna with a 3 story wall to act as a backdrop of the stage. Here is the view:
And there are the requisite churches, one of which was the Chiesa San. Guiseppe, but more commonly known as the Purgatory Church, where the skulls on the edifice reminded you to pray your relatives out of purgatory. And was the town ossuary.
In the 17th Century and moving forward, it became fashionable to do a European Grand Tour. Young wealthy nobles did a tour to witness antiquities, great artistic, architectural and cultural sites across Europe. This was also the time that some of the earlier excavations of Greek and Roman sites were starting, and there was a bit of a circuit that was done: Florence, Venice, and so on. Perhaps we can say that is what we are doing as well. AFTER ALL, we are related to the Danish Royalty.
Needless to say, Taormina was on the Grand Tour portion of Sicily, as well as Siracusa. One of such early folks was an English gal, Florence Trevelyan, who was so taken with with the area that she stayed put and built a house on the island at the water (Isola Bella) where she spent the summers, and her town home up on the hill for the winter.
Guess that is privilege for you.
There she had a huge garden with imported botanical specimens and built a series of ‘follies,’ which is a British fad of building fanciful faux ancient buildings. Odd but strangely charming.
Comments
Post a Comment