Andante Travels

Introduction

When Greek colonists first arrived in Sicily soon after the turn of the 1st millennium BC they found a fertile and beautiful land with natural harbours, and a flourishing native culture with a fine artistic tradition. They left behind them a rich legacy of temples to their gods, Doric in tradition but with a variety in their architecture and decoration which is particular to Magna Graecia.

One reason could be the fertile fusion of traditions where cultures meet - islands in the Mediterranean are by their very nature destined to be influenced by all passing trade and much new settlement, and Sicily is a spectacular example of this. At a later date the Normans used Byzantine and Arab artists and craftsmen to create glowing gold-in-glass mosaics in ornate cathedrals and palaces - very different from the austere grey castles we usually associate with them in the north-west.

This tour will leave memories of vistas over beautiful bays from ruinous ancient cities, honey-coloured columns against a clear blue sky, exquisite Roman and Norman mosaics, of  mighty Etna behind the classical theatre at Taormina, and of picnicking in the wild, amongst the romantic honeycombed hills of Pantalica.

Itinerary

 Day One
Arrive in Catania and drive to Palermo.

Day Two
All day in Palermo: Archaeological Museum, housing, amongst other fine collections, the carved stone metopes from the Selinunte temples which illustrate the development of Greek figurative art. Other treasures include Punic funerary stones, underwater finds, and some unusual twinheaded votive stones from the sanctuary of Demeter Malophorous (the apple-bearer) at Selinunte. The Cappella Palatina of Roger II, a glittering jewel of Norman architecture, with cosmatesque inlays in the lower walls, glistening gold-in-glass mosaics above, and an exquisite stalactite ceiling of wood.

Day Three
Explore the beautiful hillside ruins of Roman Solus (Solunto), with fine views across the coast. The town was constructed on a series of terraces cut into the hillside, and hillwash has preserved some fine opus signinum mosaics and patches of figurative wall painting. Afternoon visit to the magnificent Norman cathedral and abbey founded by William II in 1174 at Monreale. The gold mosaics are full of life and colour, and the cloisters are decorated with some of the finest Romanesque sculpture anywhere in the world.

Day Four
The famous unfinished Doric temple at Segesta, is set amongst rolling hills. It provides much information about how these huge temples were constructed, since the masons never completed the finishing touches to the stones. There is also a fine theatre on the hilltop above (access by minibus). Continue to see the remains of a Punic boat at Marsala, sunk on its maiden voyage during the first Punic War; cross by boat, past the salt-pans, to the island stronghold of Phoenician Motya, where excavations were first started by Joseph Whitaker, a wealthy British marsala wine merchant who bought the island and lived there with his family.

Day Five
Ancient quarries at Cava di Cusa, from which came the stone for the temples at Selinunte - unfinished column drums still lie abandoned here.
The site of Selinunte has many temples, now rather unromantically labelled A-G (and more!), since their original dedications are usually unknown. They have been much shaken by earthquakes, and now impressively ruinous and overgrown with flowers, lie overlooking the sea. There are also well-preserved Greek walls and gates.

Day Six
Agrigento - there is a whole line of temples along the southern ridge of the ancient city here, built to impress all those approaching. The Temple of Concord was turned into a church and is one of the best-preserved; the largest temple (to Olympian Zeus) was one of the most ambitious and innovative ever attempted, and was never finished. We see architectural pieces, and the other finds such as votive offerings from these temples in the museum.

Day Seven
The ancient settlement of Morgantina, laid out over two hilltops; the palatial Roman villa with exceptionally fine mosaics at Piazza Armerina. These have been left in situ and can be veiwed from raised walkways.

Day Eight
Euryalus fort, constructed at the beginning of the 4th century BC by Dionysius the Elder, and one of the few Greek fortifications surviving from this date. Remarkable prehistoric tombs at Pantalica with stunning views across a series of gorges.

Day Nine
Syracuse: Archaeological Museum; Roman amphitheatre; Greek theatre; Altar of Hieron II and the ancient quarries. Early evening stroll around Ortygia where the cathedral  encapsulates a standing Greek temple - with Doric columns bursting from the cathedral walls and arches cut out of the cella to form the nave.

Day Ten
The earliest Greek colony in Sicily, the settlement at Giardini Naxos, and the Graeco-Roman theatre at Taormina, with amazing back-drop which includes Mount Etna.

Day Eleven
Return flight from Catania.

Included

WHAT’S INCLUDED

• Flights Scheduled flights London to Catania
• Transfers private coach provided to coincide with group flights
• Local Travel Private a/c coach.
• Meals All meals included (dinners with wine & water) except dinner on Day 9 and lunch Day 11.
• Guide Lecturer (also local guides where these are compulsory) Not to be confused with "guest lecturers"!  The guide lecturer will be with you from breakfast to supper, and probably even a drink in the bar afterwards.  There is the occasional site where they may not be allowed to guide because of local regulations (we normally manage to circumnavigate these) but otherwise the guides are just that. They will have been chosen because of specialist knowledge and their ability to communicate and interest you.  After 22 years of making tours worldwide, we are highly appreciative of the attributes of a good guide, and intensely critical of people who do not possess them.  If you would like to know more about Dr Gillian Shepherd, Alan French, or Dr Eireann Marshall, please click their names.
• Tour Manager We never know how best to call the very special people whom we choose to accompany you on your tour.  They are usually employed in this capacity only by us, and have been trained to do things in the Andante way - unobtrusive, friendly and quietly efficient.
• Fieldnotes written for the tour
• Entry & tips Entry to all sites in programme; tips included.

Flights & Visa

Airline: British Airways
BA2574            London Gatwick / Catania            08:00/12:05
BA2595            Catania/ London Gatwick              12:50/15:10
Please note these flights are an indication of what the flights are likely to be. Please contact the office for exact details.

Visa and Passport Requirements (for British passport holders only)*

Hotels

Hotels
3 nights in a hotel in the heart of Palermo;
2 nights in a hotel in the simple resort of Selinunte;
1 night in a hotel overlooking the temples in Agrigento;
4 nights in a lovely hotel in Ortygia, Syracuse.

Comments

What Did You Enjoy Most About This Tour?

This tour was one of the best if not the best I have done

Reading List

This list is no more than a guide to some books that you may find useful to read in advance of the tour. Talks given on the tour will attempt to fill in the background to what we are seeing, so no prior knowledge or pre-tour cramming is expected or needed. In many cases, we expect that you will find some of these books even more interesting and useful to read once the tour is over.  Unfortunately, not all the books listed below are in print and the archaeological ones in particular tend to be very expensive.  They should, however, be available in libraries.

Guide Lecturer's Choice: (if you only want to read one or two books)

Ellen Grady (2006) The Blue Guide to Sicily, 7th edition

Sicily's most famous novel, The Leopard, by Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa.

General reading:

L Bernabo Brea (1957) Sicily, Thames and Hudson.  Good, well illustrated account of the prehistoric archaeology of the island.

J Boardman (1980) The Greeks Overseas, Penguin.  A very readable account of Greek colonisation throughout the Mediterranean.

T J Dunbabin (1948) The Western Greeks, Oxford.  Do try to dip into this if you can get hold of a copy.  It is now very old and a lot of new material has appeared since it was published, but it is still the best general account of the ancient Greek settlement of Sicily and Italy.

M I Finley, D Mack Smith and C J H Duggan (1986) A History of Sicily, London.  This is probably the most useful general history of Sicily.  It is a revised and abridged edition of the original three-volume History of Sicily published in 1968 under the following titles: M I Finley, Ancient Sicily and D Mack Smith, Medieval Sicily: 800-1713 and Modern Sicily: After 1713.  The latter are obviously more detailed but not as up-to-date.

R Ross Holloway (1991) The Archaeology of Ancient Sicily, London Routledge.  This is the most recent general account in English of the archaeology of Sicily.  It is obviously more up-to-date than Dunbabin and also has a wider chronological range.  The coverage is at times uneven both in quantity and quality, but it is still worth reading.

J J Norwich The Normans in Sicily.  A very readable and well-researched account of the Norman presence in Sicily and the brilliant medieval court they created there.  Full of fascinating anecdotes and background information.

G Pugliese Caratelli (1996) The Western Greeks.  This costs approximately £55, but is in fact good value given the size of the book and the number of excellent colour plates.  It is based on an exhibition held in Venice, and contains a number of survey articles dealing with different aspects of Greek settlement in Italy and Sicily, and written by internationally renowned scholars.

R J A Wilson (1990) Sicily under the Roman Empire, Warminster.  By far the best account of the Romans in Sicily and one of the very few in English - very comprehensive and well illustrated.

R. Leighton (1998) Sicily before History, Duckworth, London.  This is a comprehensive survey of the prehistory and the early period of Greek and Phoenician colonisation.

Art & Architecture:

R Cormack (2000) Byzantine Art, Oxford.  An up-to-date readable introduction to Byzantine Art, with short section specifically on the Norman mosaics of Sicily.  It is readily available and contains numerous black and white and colour plates.

D P Crouch (1993) Water Management in Ancient Greek Cities, Oxford.  Based on her work at Morgantina, her theme is the excellence of the water supply arrangements in ancient Greek cities.  ISBN 0-19-507208-4

O Demus (1949) The Mosaics of Norman Sicily, London.  Although rather old, Demus' book is still a fundamental study of Norman Sicilian mosaic decoration.  The plates are rather few and only in black and white, but the text provides in-depth analysis and useful comparisons between monuments.

G Servadio (2001) Motya, Phoenix.  A very readable account of the research undertaken on this important Phoenician site.

A W Lawrence (Rev.ed R A Tomlinson, 1996) Greek Architecture, Yale.  A good basic introduction to ancient Greek architecture.  Well, illustrated, it outlines the orders, early development of temple building and the specific features of Greek temples in Italy and Sicily.

D Talbot Rice (1963) Art of the Byzantine Era, World of Art Paperbacks, London.  A useful general account of Byzantine art, providing the artistic background to the Norman mosaics of Sicily as well as a concise analysis of the Capella Palatina and Monreale.

R J A Wilson (1983) Piazza Armerina, London.  A concise, very readable analysis of one of the most spectacular Roman villas in the Mediterranean.

Tour guides:

M Guido (1977) Sicily: an archaeological guide, 2nd edition London.  This is one of the best guides in English, despite being a little out of date.  It is, however, comprehensive and has good site plans.

R Trevelyan (1999) The Companion Guide to Sicily, Boydell & Brewer

The above two are also excellent guides, with wider if less detailed coverage.

Michelin Green Guide to Sicily

Sicily in the Eighteenth Century:

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Italian Journey, 1786-1788 (Trans.by W.H. Auden, and Elizabeth Mayer) Available in paperback.  It includes a fascinating account of Goethe's travels in Sicily.

Flora & Fauna:

L Jonsson The Birds of Britain and Europe with North Africa and the Middle East, published by Christopher Helm. Streets ahead of the rest, we are advised, excellent for beginners and non-beginners alike, and now also available in paperback.

I & P Schonfelder & C J King (1990), Collins Photoguide to the Wildflowers of the Mediterranean, London

O Polunin and A Huxley 1992, Flowers of the Mediterranean, London 3rd edition

Maps:

One of the best and most detailed maps is the Lascelles Sicily: Large Scale Regional Map

The Italian Touring Club Map Sicilia/Sardegna - an excellent detailed map

And for after the tour...

Do read Midnight in Sicily by Australian writer Peter Robb, an evocative account of recent and present-day Sicily combining history, art, culture and food.

L Durrell (1977), A Sicilian Carousel, Faber & Faber

B Cavan (1980) Dionysus I, Yale.  An authoritative study of the great tyrant and war leader of Syracuse.

Travel books
We recommend to you a publishing company with a mission to keep the classic works of travel literature in print. Eland and Sickle Moon Books produce an excellent catalogue of travellers' literature, old and new.

0207 833 0762 - www.travelbooks.co.uk - This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Archaeology books
Oxbow Books, based in Oxford, are suppliers of probably the biggest range of archaeology and history books. They produce a quarterly catalogue, and can be contacted on 01865 241 249 - www.oxbowbooks.com - This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Booking