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Castel Di Iudica
Castel di Iudica ( Sicilian: ''Castel di Jùdica'') is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Metropolitan City of Catania in the Italian region Sicily, located about southeast of Palermo and about west of Catania. Castel di Judica borders the following municipalities: Agira, Catenanuova, Centuripe, Paternò, Ramacca. History On the nearby Mount Iudica, there are traces of an ancient settlement (8th-3rd century BC), while on Mount Turcisi are found the remains of a phrourion. Under Islamic rule, it was called "Zotica" and was home to a castle, which was conquered by Roger I of Sicily around 1076, according to the account of the Norman chronicler Goffredo Malaterra, and was given to the city of Caltagirone. According to Arab geographer al-Idrisi, it was a thriving agricultural village in the early 12th century. At the mountain's summit, a small church dedicated to Michael the Archangel was built in the 17th century, of which only the bell tower ("Campanaro") remains today. Bet ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sicily
Sicily (Italian language, Italian and ), officially the Sicilian Region (), is an island in the central Mediterranean Sea, south of the Italian Peninsula in continental Europe and is one of the 20 regions of Italy, regions of Italy. With 4.7 million inhabitants, including 1.2 million in and around the capital city of Palermo, it is both the largest and most populous island in the Mediterranean Sea. Sicily is named after the Sicels, who inhabited the eastern part of the island during the Iron Age. Sicily has a rich and unique culture in #Art and architecture, arts, Music of Sicily, music, #Literature, literature, Sicilian cuisine, cuisine, and Sicilian Baroque, architecture. Its most prominent landmark is Mount Etna, the tallest active volcano in Europe, and one of the most active in the world, currently high. The island has a typical Mediterranean climate. It is separated from Calabria by the Strait of Messina. It is one of the five Regions of Italy#Autonomous regions with s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Paternò
Paternò () is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Metropolitan City of Catania, in the Italy, Italian region of Sicily. With a population (2016) of 48,009, it is the third municipality of the province after Catania and Acireale. Geography Paternò borders with the municipalities of Belpasso, Biancavilla, Catenanuova (Province of Enna, EN), Centuripe (EN), Ragalna, Ramacca and Santa Maria di Licodia. Its only hamlet (''frazione'') is the village of Sferro. Within Paterno there is a geologic feature named ''Salinelle'', a place where small mud volcanoes emerge from cracks in the ground. This area in which the Salinelle surfaces includes an archeological site currently uncovering evidence of Roman baths previously built on and thought to have used the Salinelle mud. History The site of Paternò was settled before 3500 BC. Its inhabitants were probably the Sicanians, although it was located in mainly Sicels, Sicel territory. The modern name derives form the Greek ''Paeter Aitna ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Norman Conquest Of Southern Italy
The Norman conquest of southern Italy lasted from 999 to 1194, involving many battles and independent conquerors. In 1130, the territories in southern Italy united as the Kingdom of Sicily, which included the island of Sicily, the southern third of the Italian Peninsula (including Benevento, which was briefly held twice), the archipelago of Malta, and parts of North Africa. Itinerant Norman forces arrived in southern Italy as mercenaries in the service of Lombard and Byzantine factions, communicating swiftly back home news about opportunities in the Mediterranean. These groups gathered in several places, establishing fiefdoms and states of their own, uniting and elevating their status to ''de facto'' independence within 50 years of their arrival. Unlike the Norman Conquest of England (1066), which took a few years after one decisive battle, the conquest of southern Italy was the product of decades and a number of battles, few decisive. Many territories were conquered indep ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bell Tower
A bell tower is a tower that contains one or more bells, or that is designed to hold bells even if it has none. Such a tower commonly serves as part of a Christian church, and will contain church bells, but there are also many secular bell towers, often part of a municipal building, an educational establishment, or a tower built specifically to house a carillon. Church bell towers often incorporate clocks, and secular towers usually do, as a public service. The term campanile (, also , ), from the Italian ''campanile'', which in turn derives from ''campana'', meaning "bell", is synonymous with ''bell tower''; though in English usage campanile tends to be used to refer to a free standing bell tower. A bell tower may also in some traditions be called a belfry, though this term may also refer specifically to the substructure that houses the bells and the ringers rather than the complete tower. The tallest free-standing bell tower in the world, high, is the Mortegliano Bell To ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Michael (archangel)
Michael, also called Saint Michael the Archangel, Archangel Michael and Saint Michael the Taxiarch is an archangel and the warrior of God in Christianity, Judaism, and Islam. The earliest surviving mentions of his name are in third- and second-century BC Jewish works, often but not always apocalyptic, where he is the chief of the angels and archangels, and he is the guardian prince of Israel and is responsible for the care of the Israelites, people of Biblical Israel, Israel. Christianity conserved nearly all the Jewish traditions concerning him, and he is mentioned explicitly in Revelation 12:7–12, where he does battle with Satan, and in the Epistle of Jude, where the archangel and the devil dispute over the body of Moses. Old Testament and Apocrypha The Book of Enoch lists him as one of seven archangels (the remaining names are Uriel, Raguel (angel), Raguel, Raphael (archangel), Raphael, Sariel, Gabriel, and Remiel), who, in the Book of Tobit, “stand ready and ente ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Muhammad Al-Idrisi
Abu Abdullah Muhammad al-Idrisi al-Qurtubi al-Hasani as-Sabti, or simply al-Idrisi (; ; 1100–1165), was an Arab Muslim geographer and cartographer who served in the court of King Roger II at Palermo, Sicily. Muhammad al-Idrisi was born in Ceuta, then belonging to the Almoravid dynasty. He created the , one of the most advanced medieval world maps. Early life Al-Idrisi hailed from the Hammudid dynasty of North Africa and Al-Andalus, which was descended from Muhammad through the powerful Idrisid dynasty. Al-Idrisi was believed to be born the city of Ceuta in 1100, at the time controlled by the Almoravids, where his great-grandfather had been forced to settle after the fall of Hammudid Málaga to the Zirids of Granada. He spent much of his early life travelling through North Africa and Al-Andalus (Muslim Spain and Portugal of the times) and seems to have acquired detailed information on both regions. He visited Anatolia when he was barely 16. He studied in the universit ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Caltagirone
Caltagirone (; or ; ) is an inland city and municipality () in the Metropolitan City of Catania, on the island (and region) of Sicily, Southern Italy, about southwest of Catania. It is the fifth most populous municipality of the Metropolitan City, behind Catania, Acireale, Misterbianco and Paternò. Alongside Catania, it is the only town that has a tribunal seat in the former province. Since 1987, the comune has obtained the City title, through a presidential act. After Caltanissetta, it is the second-most populous in Central Sicily. The town is a production center of pottery, particularly maiolica and terra-cotta wares. Contemporary production is more and more oriented to artistic production of ceramics and terra-cotta sculptures. Other activities are mainly related to agriculture (production of grapes, olives, peaches), third-sector activities, light industry and tourism. History The city's name derives from the Arabic (, "castle of otteryjars") – a name that att ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Goffredo Malaterra
Gaufredo (or Geoffrey, or Goffredo) Malaterra () was an eleventh-century Benedictine monk and historian, possibly of Norman origin. He travelled to the southern Italian peninsula, passing some time in Apulia before entering the monastery of Sant'Agata at Catania, on the isle of Sicily. Malaterra indicates that, prior to his arrival in Catania, he had spent an undefined period away from monastic life, in the worldly service of " Martha". Background Little is known of Geoffrey before he became a monk in Sicily. He writes in the dedication of his history that he previously served the clergy in some secular capacity, and that he came from "a region on the other side of the mountains," which is generally seen as a reference to the Alps. While many historians have cited this as evidence for Geoffrey's Norman heritage and historians Ernesto Pontieri and Marjorie Chibnall have gone so far as to place him in the monastery of St. Evroul before his arrival in Italy. Kenneth Baxter Wolf a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Roger I Of Sicily
Roger I (; ; ; Norse: ''Rogeirr''; 1031 – 22 June 1101), nicknamed "Roger Bosso" and "Grand Count Roger", was a Norman nobleman who became the first Grand Count of Sicily from 1071 to 1101. As a member of the House of Hauteville, he participated in several military expeditions against the Emirate of Sicily (beginning in 1061). He was later invested with part of Sicily by his brother, Robert Guiscard, Duke of Apulia, in 1071. By 1090, he had conquered the entire island. In 1091, he conquered Malta. The state he created was merged with the Duchy of Apulia in 1127 and became the Kingdom of Sicily in 1130. His descendants in the male line continued to rule Sicily down to 1194. Early life Roger was born in Normandy, probably in the village of Hauteville-la-Guichard, of which his father was ''seigneur''. He was the youngest son of Tancred de Hauteville and his second wife Fressenda. Through his mother he was possibly grandson of Richard the Fearless. Little is known abou ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Emirate Of Sicily
The island of SicilyIn Arabic, the island was known as (). was under Islam, Islamic rule from the late ninth to the late eleventh centuries. It became a prosperous and influential commercial power in the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean, with its capital of Palermo serving as a major cultural and political center of the Muslim world. Sicily was a peripheral part of the Byzantine Empire when Muslim forces from Ifriqiya (roughly present-day Tunisia) began launching raids in 652. During the reign of the Aghlabid dynasty of Ifriqiya, a Muslim conquest of Sicily, prolonged series of conflicts from 827 to 902 resulted in the gradual conquest of the entire island, with only the stronghold of Rometta, in the far northeast, Siege of Rometta, holding out until 965. The Fatimid Caliphate replaced Aghlabid rule after 909. From 948 onwards, the island was governed by the Kalbid dynasty, who ruled as autonomous emirs while formally acknowledging Fatimid authority. Under Muslim rule, Sicily ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ramacca
Ramacca is a ''comune'' (municipality) in a mountainous area in the Metropolitan City of Catania in the Italian region of Sicily, located about southeast of Palermo and about southwest of Catania. It lies west of the Plain of Catania. Ramacca borders the following municipalities: Agira, Aidone, Assoro, Belpasso, Castel di Judica, Lentini, Mineo, Palagonia, Paternò, Raddusa. Its name derives from the Arabic Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ... ''Rahal Mohac'', which means ''Hamlet of Mohac''. Ramacca is home to the ''Sagra del Carciofo'', an artichoke festival held every April. The city's economy is largely based on the cultivation of artichokes. References Cities and towns in Sicily {{Sicily-geo-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Centuripe
Centuripe (Latin: Centuripae; Sicilian: Centorbi) is a town and ''comune'' in the province of Enna (Sicily, southern Italy). The city is from Enna in the hill country between the Rivers Dittaìno and Salso. The economy is mostly based on agriculture. There are caves for sulphur and salt mineral, and water springs. History Thucydides mentions ''Kentoripa'' (Κεντόριπα) (also called ''Kentoripai'') as a city of the Sicels that was Hellenized in the 5th century BC. It became an ally of the Athenians at the time of their expedition against Syracuse, and maintained its independence almost uninterruptedly (though it fell under the power of Agathocles) until the First Punic War when it immediately submitted to the Romans. It was thus granted Latin Rights before the rest of Sicily and was a (free city exempted from tax). In the 3rd and 2nd centuries BC Centuripe Ware was a distinctive class of Sicilian vase painting, with the unusual feature of fully coloured painting ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
