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Castello Normanno (Paternò)
240px, The Castello normanno. The Castello normanno ("Norman Castle") is a castle in Paternò, in the Province of Catania, Sicily, southern Italy. History The castle was built in 1072 by Count Roger I of Sicily to protect the Simeto valley from Islamic raids. Under Henry VI it was made the seat of the Count of Paternò, assigned to his fellow Swabian Bartholomew of Luci. Later the castle housed kings and queens, such as Henry's son Emperor Frederick II, Eleanor of Anjou and Blanche I of Navarre, as the castle had been included in the so-called ''Camera Reginale'' estates ("Queen's Chamber") by King Frederick III of Sicily. The Chamber was abolished in the 15th century, and in 1431 the castle was acquired by the Speciale family; until 1456 it was owned by the Moncada family. Used as a jail, in the following centuries it became increasingly decayed, until restoration work begun in the 19th century brought it back to its ancient prominence. Description The castle has a rectangula ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Castello Normanno Paterno
Castello may refer to: Places *Municipalities of San Marino, known as Castello in Italian *Castello, Venice, the largest of the six ''sestieri'' of Venice *''Castello'', the old town center of Giudicato of Cagliari in Sardinia *''Castello'', a neighbourhood in Florence *Castello, Hong Kong, a private housing estate in Hong Kong *A locality in the town of Monteggio in Switzerland *Cittadella (Gozo), a citadel in Gozo, Malta *Short name of Castellón de la Plana, a city in the Valencian Community, Spain *Città di Castello, a town in Umbria, Italy Other *Roman Catholic Diocese of Castello, a former diocese based in Venice *Castello (surname) *Castello cheeses See also *Castell (other) *Castella (other) *Castelli (other) *Castellón (other) *Castells (other) {{disambiguation, geo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Merlon
A merlon is the solid, upright section of a battlement (a crenellated parapet) in medieval architecture or fortifications. Merlons are sometimes pierced by narrow, vertical embrasures, or tooth-like slits designed for observation and fire. The space between two merlons is called a crenel, and a succession of merlons and crenels is a crenellation. Crenels designed in later eras for use by cannons were also called embrasures. Etymology The term ''merlon'' comes from French 704 adapted from the Italian , possibly a shortened form of , perhaps connected to Latin ("two-pronged pitchfork"), or from a diminutive , from or (a wall). An alternative etymology suggests that the medieval Latin (mentioned from the end of the 10th century) functioned as a diminutive of Latin , " blackbird", expressing an image of this bird sitting on a wall. As part of battlements As an essential part of battlements, merlons were used in fortifications for millennia. The best-known examples appear on m ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Buildings And Structures In The Metropolitan City Of Catania
A building or edifice is an enclosed structure with a roof, walls and windows, usually standing permanently in one place, such as a house or factory. Buildings come in a variety of sizes, shapes, and functions, and have been adapted throughout history for numerous factors, from building materials available, to weather conditions, land prices, ground conditions, specific uses, prestige, and aesthetic reasons. To better understand the concept, see ''Nonbuilding structure'' for contrast. Buildings serve several societal needs – occupancy, primarily as shelter from weather, security, living space, privacy, to store belongings, and to comfortably live and work. A building as a shelter represents a physical separation of the human habitat (a place of comfort and safety) from the ''outside'' (a place that may be harsh and harmful at times). buildings have been objects or canvasses of much artistic expression. In recent years, interest in sustainable planning and building practi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tourist Attractions In Sicily
Tourism is travel for pleasure, and the commercial activity of providing and supporting such travel. UN Tourism defines tourism more generally, in terms which go "beyond the common perception of tourism as being limited to holiday activity only", as people "travelling to and staying in places outside their usual environment for not more than one consecutive year for leisure and not less than 24 hours, business and other purposes". Tourism can be domestic (within the traveller's own country) or international. International tourism has both incoming and outgoing implications on a country's balance of payments. Between the second half of 2008 and the end of 2009, tourism numbers declined due to a severe economic slowdown (see Great Recession) and the outbreak of the 2009 H1N1 influenza virus. These numbers, however, recovered until the COVID-19 pandemic put an abrupt end to the growth. The United Nations World Tourism Organization has estimated that global international tourist a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Norman Castles
Norman or Normans may refer to: Ethnic and cultural identity * The Normans, a people partly descended from Norse Vikings who settled in the territory of Normandy in France in the 9th and 10th centuries ** People or things connected with the Norman conquest of southern Italy in the 11th and 12th centuries ** Normanist theory (also known as Normanism) and anti-Normanism, historical disagreement regarding the origin of Russia, Ukraine, Belarus and their historic predecessor, Kievan Rus' ** Norman dynasty, a series of monarchs in England and Normandy ** Norman architecture, romanesque architecture in England and elsewhere ** Norman language, spoken in Normandy ** People or things connected with the French region of Normandy Arts and entertainment * ''Norman'' (2010 film), a 2010 drama film * ''Norman'' (2016 film), a 2016 drama film * ''Norman'' (TV series), a 1970 British sitcom starring Norman Wisdom * ''The Normans'' (TV series), a documentary * "Norman" (song), a 1962 song w ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Castles In Sicily
A castle is a type of fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by military orders. Scholars usually consider a ''castle'' to be the private fortified residence of a lord or noble. This is distinct from a mansion, palace, and villa, whose main purpose was exclusively for ''pleasance'' and are not primarily fortresses but may be fortified. Use of the term has varied over time and, sometimes, has also been applied to structures such as hill forts and 19th- and 20th-century homes built to resemble castles. Over the Middle Ages, when genuine castles were built, they took on a great many forms with many different features, although some, such as curtain walls, arrowslits, and portcullises, were commonplace. European-style castles originated in the 9th and 10th centuries after the fall of the Carolingian Empire, which resulted in its territory being divided among individual lords and princes. These nobles built castles ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Piano Nobile
( Italian for "noble floor" or "noble level", also sometimes referred to by the corresponding French term, ) is the architectural term for the principal floor of a '' palazzo''. This floor contains the main reception and bedrooms of the house. The German term is (meaning "beautiful storey", from the French ). Both date to the 17th century. Characteristics The ''piano nobile'' is usually the first floor (in European terminology; second floor in American terms) or sometimes the second storey and contains major rooms, located above the rusticated ground floor containing the minor rooms and service rooms. The reasons were so that the rooms above the ground floor would have finer views and to avoid the dampness and odours of the street level. That is especially true in Venice, where the ''piano nobile'' of the many '' palazzi'' is especially obvious from the exterior by virtue of its larger windows and balconies and open loggias. Examples are Ca' Foscari, Ca' d'Oro, Ca' Vend ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Limestone
Limestone is a type of carbonate rock, carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material Lime (material), lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different Polymorphism (materials science), crystal forms of calcium carbonate . Limestone forms when these minerals Precipitation (chemistry), precipitate out of water containing dissolved calcium. This can take place through both biological and nonbiological processes, though biological processes, such as the accumulation of corals and shells in the sea, have likely been more important for the last 540 million years. Limestone often contains fossils which provide scientists with information on ancient environments and on the evolution of life. About 20% to 25% of sedimentary rock is carbonate rock, and most of this is limestone. The remaining carbonate rock is mostly Dolomite (rock), dolomite, a closely related rock, which contains a high percentage of the mineral Dolomite (mine ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mullioned Window
A mullion is a vertical element that forms a division between units of a window or screen, or is used decoratively. It is also often used as a division between double doors. When dividing adjacent window units its primary purpose is a rigid support to the glazing of the window. Its secondary purpose is to provide structural support to an arch or lintel above the window opening. Horizontal elements separating the head of a door from a window above are called transoms. History Stone mullions were used in Armenian, Saxon and Islamic architecture prior to the 10th century. They became a common and fashionable architectural feature across Europe in Romanesque architecture, with paired windows divided by a mullion, set beneath a single arch. The same structural form was used for open arcades as well as windows, and is found in galleries and cloisters. In Gothic architecture, windows became larger and arrangements of multiple mullions and openings were used, both for structure and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Frederick III Of Sicily
Frederick III (also Frederick II, ', ', '); 13 December 1272 – 25 June 1337) was the regent of the Kingdom of Sicily from 1291 until 1295 and subsequently King of Sicily from 1295 until his death. He was the third son of Peter III of Aragon and served in the War of the Sicilian Vespers on behalf of his father and brothers, Alfonso ΙΙΙ and James ΙΙ. He was confirmed as king by the Peace of Caltabellotta in 1302. His reign saw important constitutional reforms: the ''Constitutiones regales'', ''Capitula alia'', and ''Ordinationes generales''. Name Although the second Frederick of Sicily, he chose to call himself "Frederick III" (being one of the rare medieval monarchs who actually used a regnal number) – presumably because only some fifty years before, his well-known and remembered great-grandfather had ruled Sicily and also used an official ordinal: '' Fridericus secundus, imperator etc.''. Thus, ''Fridericus tertius'' was better in line with the precede ... [...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] |
