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Taormina
Taormina ( , , also , ; ) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Metropolitan City of Messina, on the east coast of the island of Sicily, Italy. Taormina has been a tourist destination since the 19th century. Its beaches on the Ionian Sea, including that of Isola Bella, are accessible via an aerial tramway built in 1992, and via highways from Messina in the north and Catania in the south. On 26–27 May 2017 Taormina hosted the 43rd G7 summit. History The history of Taormina dates back to before Ancient Greece established its first colony on Sicily in 734 BCE in Magna Graecia. After the fall of the Western Roman Empire, Taormina continued to rank as one of the more important towns of the island. Taormina followed the history of Sicily in being ruled by successive foreign monarchs. After the Italian unification, Taormina began to attract well-off tourists from northern Europe, and it became known as a welcoming haven for gay men and artists. Main sights The present town ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ancient Theatre Of Taormina
The ancient theatre of Taormina () is an ancient Greek theatre in Taormina, Sicily, built in the third century BC. History A Hellenistic theatre stood at Taormina from around the third century BC. The remains of another Hellenistic building have been found under the Roman cavea. Under Roman rule, the theatre was rebuilt, probably around the time of Hadrian or Trajan. It was remodelled in the third century AD, with the orchestra turned into an arena and the stage removed. Description The ancient theatre had a diameter of and could hold around 10,000 spectators. It is one of the oldest theatres in Magna Graecia to have curved ''cavea'', rather than the older trapezoidal design. The ''cavea'' were divided into nine sections. On either side of the ''skene'' was a basilica. Today, the theatre is used as a venue for the annual Taormina Film Festival. In popular culture The ancient theatre of Taormina is featured extensively in the 1995 film ''Mighty Aphrodite'', starring Woody Alle ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
San Pancrazio Di Taormina
Pancras or Pancratius (Greek: , ''Pankratios''; ) is an Italian saint associated with Taormina and venerated as a Christian martyr. His surviving hagiography is purely legendary. He is, however, recorded in some early martyrologies. Evidence Pancras is commemorated on 8 July and 3 April in the ''Martyrologium Hieronymianum'' (5th century). He is also listed for 8 July in the Neapolitan marble calendar (9th century, but dependent on lost early material). In 591, a church at Messina was dedicated to Saints Stephen, Pankratios and Euplus, which probably refers to Pancras of Taormina and Euplius of Catania. Legend According to the legendary ''Life of Saint Pankratios of Taormina'', he was born in Antioch in Cilicia (the modern Adana). He travelled to Jerusalem with his parents during the earthly ministry of Jesus; later the entire family was baptized in Antioch. Pancras withdrew to a cave in Pontus where he was discovered by Saint Peter and was sent to Sicily in the year 40 to be t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cateno De Luca
Cateno Roberto Salvatore De Luca (born 18 March 1972) is an Italian politician who has been the mayor of Messina from 2018 to 2022 and the mayor of Taormina since 2023. He was also the mayor of Fiumedinisi, his hometown, from 2003 to 2011 and of Santa Teresa di Riva from 2012 to 2017. De Luca began his career at the age of 18 in Christian Democracy (DC), the ruling party of post-war Italy. He often changed political parties, and switched between the DC's successors and other Christian-democratic parties, such as the Christian Democratic Centre (CCD) and the Union of the Centre (UdC), and regionalist ones, such as the Movement for Autonomy (MpA) and True Sicily (VS), which he founded as a split from the MpA in 2007. He also switched political alliances, at times allying with the centre-right coalition and at other times supporting the centre-left coalition or neither of the two largest blocs. In 2022, De Luca founded his own national political party, South calls North (S ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
43rd G7 Summit
The 43rd G7 summit was held on 26–27 May 2017 in Taormina ( ME), Sicily, Italy. In March 2014, the G7 declared that a meaningful discussion was currently not possible with Russia in the context of the G8. Since then, meetings have continued within the G7 process. It was the first time since 1987 that the G7 summit held in Italy was not hosted by Silvio Berlusconi. The participation of Angela Merkel and Theresa May made it the first time two G7 female leaders were principals in the G7 summit. The choice of Taormina as the headquarters of the G7 was announced by then Prime Minister Matteo Renzi on 4 July 2016. The summit was initially scheduled to take place in Florence. Among the reasons for the change of choice, Renzi cited the words of an international leader at a previous summit that with a joke had highlighted his prejudice against Sicily pointing out as the land of the Mafia and claimed that those words had convinced him to fix the G7 in Sicily. Leaders at the summit ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Corvaja Palace
Palazzo Corvaja (sometimes spelt Palazzo Corvaia) is a medieval palace in Taormina, Sicily, Italy. It was principally built at the end of the 14th century and is named after one of the oldest and most prominent families of Taormina, which owned it from 1538 to 1945. On four main floors and constructed around a courtyard, the Catalonia, Catalan Gothic architecture, Gothic palazzo is Crenellation, crenellated. The principal floor has fenestration of pairs of lancet windows divided by columns. The courtyard walls are decorated by reliefs illustrating Genesis creation myth, The Creation. Arab Tower in the Palazzo Corvaja: The tower was incorporated into other parts of the building from the end of the AD 13th century. Today the palazzo is used as an exhibition centre. History Corvaja Palace, which is located in Piazza Badia at right angles to the church of Saint Catherine of Alexandria, The origins of the palazzo incorporate an early Norman fortress dating from the 12th-14th c ... [...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] |
Isola Bella (Sicily)
Isola Bella (Sicilian language, Sicilian: ''Ìsula Bedda'') is a small island near Taormina, Sicily, southern Italy. Also known as the Pearl of the Ionian Sea, it is located within a small bay on the Ionian Sea; it was a private property, for a time owned by Florence Trevelyan, until 1990, when it was bought by the Region of Sicily, being turned into a nature reserve, administered by the Italian branch of the World Wide Fund for Nature. There is a narrow path that often connects the island to the mainland beach. The island is surrounded by sea grottos and has a small and rather rocky beach which is a popular destination for sunbathers. History King Ferdinand I of the Two Sicilies gifted the island to the nearby town of Taormina in 1806. The island was in 1890 bought from the town by Trevelyan, who built a small house facing the sea and imported exotic plants, which thrived in the Mediterranean climate. Subsequent owners kept up the island, until the owner went bankrupt, and auc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Magna Graecia
Magna Graecia refers to the Greek-speaking areas of southern Italy, encompassing the modern Regions of Italy, Italian regions of Calabria, Apulia, Basilicata, Campania, and Sicily. These regions were Greek colonisation, extensively settled by Greeks beginning in the 8th century BC. Initially founded by their ''metropoleis'' (mother cities), the settlements evolved into independent and powerful Greek city-states (''poleis''). The settlers brought with them Ancient Greece, Hellenic civilization, which over time developed distinct local forms due to both their distance from Greece and the influence of the indigenous peoples of southern Italy. This interaction left a lasting imprint on Italy, including on Ancient Rome, Roman culture. The Greek settlers also influenced native groups such as the Sicels and the Oenotrians, many of whom adopted Greek culture and became Hellenization, Hellenized. In areas like architecture and urban planning, the colonies sometimes surpassed the achievem ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Metropolitan City Of Messina
The Metropolitan City of Messina () is a metropolitan city in Sicily, Italy. Its capital is the city of Messina. It replaced the province of Messina and comprises Messina and 107 other ''comuni'' (: ''comune''). It has 595,948 inhabitants as of 2025. According to Eurostat in 2014, the FUA of the metropolitan area of Messina had 277,584 inhabitants. The nearby archipelago of Aeolian Islands is also administratively a part of the Metropolitan City of Messina. History It was first created by the reform of local authorities (Law 142/1990) and then established on 15 August 2015. Geography The metropolitan city borders with the Metropolitan City of Palermo (the former province of Palermo), the Metropolitan City of Catania (the former province of Catania) and the province of Enna. Part of its territory includes the Metropolitan area of the Strait of Messina, shared with Reggio Calabria. It had an area of , which amounts to 12.6 percent of total area of the island, and a to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Messina
Messina ( , ; ; ; ) is a harbour city and the capital city, capital of the Italian Metropolitan City of Messina. It is the third largest city on the island of Sicily, and the 13th largest city in Italy, with a population of 216,918 inhabitants in the city proper and about 595,948 in the metropolitan city as of 2025. It is located near the northeast corner of Sicily, at the Strait of Messina and it is an important access terminal to Calabria region, Villa San Giovanni, Reggio Calabria on the mainland. Founded by the Sicels with the name of ''Zancle'' in 757 BC, which in Siculian, their language meant sickle, it was repopulated by Greek colonisation, Greek colonists of Magna Graecia and renamed ''Messana''. The city was renamed ''Messina'' in the Byzantine Empire, Byzantine age. It was an important Roman Empire, Roman, and then Byzantine Empire, Greek-Byzantine city, but in 843 it was completely destroyed by the Arabs. Almost abandoned during the Islamic period, it rose again i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cape Pelorus
Faro Point () or Peloro Cape (; ) is the northeastern promontory of Sicily situated in Messina district at northeast of the city. The village is connected to the city center by two ATM bus lines: line 32 (Ponte Gallo–Mortelle–Terminal Museo) and shuttle line 1 ( Giampilieri Superiore– Torre Faro). In antiquity it was considered a possible dwelling place of the mythological Sirens, along with a few other mediterranean locations, like the islands of Sirenuse or Capri. Historical significance As the ancient Pelorus, Punta del Faro is one of the most celebrated promontories of Sicily, forming the northeastern extremity of the whole island, and one of the three promontories which were considered to give to it the triangular form from which it derived the name of Trinacria. It was at the same time the point which projected farthest towards the opposite coast of Italy; so that the narrowest part of the Sicilian straits was that which lay between Cape Pelorus and the coast adjoi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
