HAPPY in Sicilia or Italia

Lately I have been thinking of Palermo and how much I enjoyed traveling in Sicily. Then I saw this on YouTube, the song Happy in Catania that city which is built on the slope of Mount Etna an active volcano which dominates the whole area. Catania is an old city, founded by Greek settlers from the Island of Naxos 2800 years ago. The symbol of the City is the elephant named Liotru. I remember what a beautiful city it was, the wines and the food, what I would call new Sicilian cuisine just great. Well worth visiting and then how about Siracusa.

Mount Etna and Catania

  

Siracusa another Sicilian City founded by Greek settlers from Corinth 2700 years ago. Cicero use to say that it was the most beautiful of Greek cities. The Temple of Athena built 2400 years ago is today the Cathedral of the city. Also in Siracusa is the famous Greek theatre built 2300 years ago where every summer a festival of ancient Greek plays take place.

The ancient Greek amphitheatre of Siracusa seats 20,000 spectators.

Siracusa Piazza Maggiore

Festa di Santa Lucia a Siracusa

December 13 is the Feast day of Santa Lucia a Siracusa in Sicily. A famous Saint of the Christian Church this Santa Lucia. On her Feast Day her silver statue is processed through the streets of Siracusa in Sicily. She is represented holding in her hand a plate containing a pair of eyes, hers, the story goes that she plucked them out herself because being a Virgin a Roman suitor had said he was captivated by her eyes. Santa Lucia is the Patron Saint of Sight and a little sweet pastry is made to look like a pair of eyes, it is called Gli Occhi di Santa Lucia, it is a sort of Biscotti.

Lucia a Christian Virgin, a concept not well understood in ancient Rome, was condemned to work as a prostitute in a brothel. She refused and was stabbed in the throat by her captors. This is why her statue shows her with a dagger in her throat.

Santa Lucia in a museum in Palermo, statue is made of papier maché and painted cork wood.

The silver statue of Santa Lucia from the Cathedral of Siracusa in Sicily being paraded in the streets of the City on 13 December.

She is also the Saint who provides food for the hungry and many miracles through out the ages are attributed to her, such as the one of 1582 in Siracusa when a boat filled with wheat appeared in the Port of the City during a great famine.

Great bonfires are lighted in Sicily on the 13 December in her honour and a dessert called Cuccia to rhyme with Lucia is made. It is composed of whole wheat berries cooked in water mixed in with sweetened ricotta and decorated with candied orange bits and shavings of chocolate.

The name ''Santa Lucia'' is famous for a different reason in Italy -as a traditional Neapolitan song written in praise of the picturesque waterfront district, Borgo Santa Lucia on the Bay of Naples. In 1849 Santa Lucia became the first Neapolitan song to the given Italian lyrics and sung as a barcarola (gondolier's song) in the early stages of the Risorgimento, the fight for the Unification of Italy.




Here is the celebrated and famous Enrico Caruso singing the song, he made famous, Santa Lucia from a recording of March 1916.

The boys from Siracusa and Santa Lucia

You probably all know the Broadway musical ‘’The boys from Siracuse’’ by Rogers and Hart set in antiquity in old Siracusa under the Greeks in Sicily. Today Siracusa has a lot to show for itself including the only ancient Greek language theatre school outside of Athens. There is a Classical Greek theatre Season in Siracuse in May and June, many of the more famous Greek drama plays were first performed here in Siracuse before being seen in Athens.

The ancient Greek theatre with the set of Andromacus by Euripides. SOLD OUT!

Poster for this season's Greek tragedies in Siracuse

Siracuse is a lovely city by the sea and the island of Ortigia is connected to the mainland part of the city by two short bridges, this was and remains an important city of about 120,000 people. The numerous ancient and more contemporary buildings attest to its greatness, Santa Lucia Patron Saint of the City lived and died here, she is also the patron Saint of Eye doctors.

Inside the Cathedral of Siracuse formely the Temple of the Goddess Athena, look at those beautiful Doric columns.

We visited the archaeological park which has a large antique theatre with a capacity of 60,000 seats. The largest sacrificial Altar to Zeus in the ancient world can also be seen, it is quite amazing in size, it was built by King Hiero 2700 years ago in marble, it is the size of a football field. White bulls where brought there and 100 of them would be sacrificed each day during a 30 day period in the summer, prayers and a strict religious ritual had to be observed. Because the bulls throat was slit you can imagine there was a lot of blood and this is why priests wore red leather shoes, this tradition comes down to us today with the Pope wearing red shoes. The entrails were offered to Zeus and burnt and the rest of the meat was roasted and given to worshippers, somewhat like a giant bar-b-q.

The cave known as the Ear of Dionysius.

The other site to be seen is the quarry, today this is a lovely park full of lemon and orange trees and beautiful flowers everywhere, in Antiquity though it was a concentration camp were prisoners of the Siracusans went to work to quarry the stone for all public buildings. Those who survived were then sold off into slavery. The most amazing place in this quarry is called the ear of  Dionysius, not the God but an infamous ruled of Siracuse. This enormous cave with a height of 25 meters and a depth of 65 meters, looks like a human ear canal, Caravaggio named it that after seeing it. It was use to house the inmate-workers and the ruler of Siracuse could spy on them by listening to their conversations at night. The acoustics are so good that even a whisper can clearly be heard.

The other sites are in Siracuse itself, Piazza del Duomo where the Cathedral is housed in what was obviously the Temple of the Goddess Athena, I say obviously because from the outside you clearly see the Doric columns and inside you can see the Chapel that once was the main body of the Temple, the Altar is the same as the one used when it was the Temple to Athena. So you see it is very simple, Athena is the Virgin Mary, Zeus is God the Father, Jesus is Apollo.

We also went to see the famous Piccolo Teatro dei Pupi (puppet theatre) it is quite famous in Italy and the family Mauceri operates the facilities, gives the performances, makes the puppets, etc. The shows last only about 40 minutes but are highly entertaining. The story is based on the Chanson de Roland or Orlando Furioso or Jerusalem Liberata, from the times of the Crusades, its about the cruel Tartars, the bad Saracens, the Noble if a little daft Knights saving a Princess in distress and about some giant or Cyclops or dragon. Great fun and a beautiful show for children but also for adults. In fact there were about 30 adults attending and only 6 kids, the piccolo theatre was full, you can see their website at www.pupari.com. The show is in Italian but the story is very simple to follow, everyone knows what a Princess is distress looks like and about the knight on his white steed.  We also visited the atelier where they make the puppets it was fascinating. We had seen the puppet theatre in Bangkok where 3 people are required to articulate the puppets, here 2 people are required.

                              The fountain of Diana

Siracuse has many wonderful sights, the wonderful restaurants, the great Enotecas. It is well worth spending 3 days here to simply walk in the old streets, enjoy its beaches or rent a boat. The people are friendly and welcoming.