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Tauromenium
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 ...
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Catania
Catania (, , , Sicilian and ) is the second-largest municipality on Sicily, after Palermo, both by area and by population. Despite being the second city of the island, Catania is the center of the most densely populated Sicilian conurbation, which is among the largest in Italy. It has important road and rail transport infrastructures, and hosts Catania Airport, the main airport of Sicily (fifth-largest in Italy). The city is located on Sicily's east coast, facing the Ionian Sea at the base of the active volcano Mount Etna. It is the capital of the 58-municipality province known as the Metropolitan City of Catania, which is the seventh-largest metropolitan area in Italy. The population of the city proper is 297,517, while the population of the metropolitan city is 1,068,563. Catania was founded in the 8th century BC by Chalcidian Greeks in Magna Graecia. The city has weathered multiple geologic catastrophes: it was almost completely destroyed by a catastrophic earthquake in 1169 ...
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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 ...
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Giardini Naxos
Giardini NaxosSometimes spelled as Giardini-Naxos. However, the official form as used in the statuto comunale'' is not hyphenated. (; English translation: Naxos Gardens) is a ''comune'' in the Metropolitan City of Messina on the island of Sicily in southern Italy. It is situated on the coast of the Ionian Sea on a bay which lies between Cape Taormina and Cape Schisò. Since the 1970s it has become a seaside-resort, a popular tourist destination and cruise ship stop. History Founded by Thucles the Chalcidian in 734 BC in Magna Graecia, Naxos was never a powerful city, but its temple of Apollo Archegetes, protecting deity of all the Greek colonies, gave it prominence in religious affairs. Leontini and Catania were both colonized from here. Hippocrates, tyrant of Gela, captured it in 494 BC. Its opposition to Syracuse ultimately led to its capture and destruction in 403 BC at the hands of Dionysius the tyrant, after it had supported Athens during that city's disastrous Si ...
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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 ...
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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 ...
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Cavea
The ''cavea'' (Latin language, Latin for "enclosure") are the seating sections of Theatre of ancient Greece, Greek and Roman theatre (structure), Roman theatres and Roman amphitheatre, amphitheatres. In Roman theatres, the ''cavea'' is traditionally organised in three horizontal sections, corresponding to the social class of the spectators: * the ''ima cavea'' is the lowest part of the ''cavea'' and the one directly surrounding the arena. It was usually reserved for the upper echelons of society. * the ''media cavea'' directly follows the ''ima cavea'' and was open to the general public, though mostly reserved for men. * the ''summa cavea'' is the highest section and was usually open to women and children. Similarly, the front row was called the ''prima cavea'' and the last row was called the ''cavea ultima''. The ''cavea'' was further divided vertically into ''cunei''. A ''cuneus'' (Latin for "wedge"; plural, ''cunei'') was a wedge-shaped division separated by the ''scalae'' or ...
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Corinthian Order
The Corinthian order (, ''Korinthiakós rythmós''; ) is the last developed and most ornate of the three principal classical orders of Ancient Greek architecture and Ancient Roman architecture, Roman architecture. The other two are the Doric order, which was the earliest, followed by the Ionic order. In Ancient Greek architecture, the Corinthian order follows the Ionic in almost all respects, other than the capitals of the columns, though this changed in Roman architecture. A Corinthian capital may be seen as an enriched development of the Ionic capital, though one may have to look closely at a Corinthian capital to see the Ionic volutes ("helices"), at the corners, perhaps reduced in size and importance, scrolling out above the two ranks of Acanthus (ornament), stylized acanthus leaves and stalks ("cauliculi" or ''caulicoles''), eight in all, and to notice that smaller volutes scroll inwards to meet each other on each side. The leaves may be quite stiff, schematic and dry, or t ...
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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 ...
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Baroque
The Baroque ( , , ) is a Western Style (visual arts), style of Baroque architecture, architecture, Baroque music, music, Baroque dance, dance, Baroque painting, painting, Baroque sculpture, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished from the early 17th century until the 1750s. It followed Renaissance art and Mannerism and preceded the Rococo (in the past often referred to as "late Baroque") and Neoclassicism, Neoclassical styles. It was encouraged by the Catholic Church as a means to counter the simplicity and austerity of Protestant architecture, art, and music, though Lutheran art#Baroque period, Lutheran Baroque art developed in parts of Europe as well. The Baroque style used contrast, movement, exuberant detail, deep color, grandeur, and surprise to achieve a sense of awe. The style began at the start of the 17th century in Rome, then spread rapidly to the rest of Italy, France, Spain, and Portugal, then to Austria, southern Germany, Poland and Russia. By the 1730s, i ...
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Saint George
Saint George (;Geʽez: ጊዮርጊስ, , ka, გიორგი, , , died 23 April 303), also George of Lydda, was an early Christian martyr who is venerated as a saint in Christianity. According to holy tradition, he was a soldier in the Roman army. Of Cappadocian Greek origin, he became a member of the Praetorian Guard for Roman emperor Diocletian, but was sentenced to death for refusing to recant his Christian faith. He became one of the most venerated saints, heroes, and megalomartyrs in Christianity, and he has been especially venerated as a military saint since the Crusades. He is respected by Christians, Druze, as well as some Muslims as a martyr of monotheistic faith. In hagiography, he is immortalised in the legend of Saint George and the Dragon and as one of the most prominent military saints. In Roman Catholicism, he is also venerated as one of the Fourteen Holy Helpers. His feast day, Saint George's Day, is traditionally celebrated on 23 April. Historic ...
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Gothic Architecture
Gothic architecture is an architectural style that was prevalent in Europe from the late 12th to the 16th century, during the High Middle Ages, High and Late Middle Ages, surviving into the 17th and 18th centuries in some areas. It evolved from Romanesque architecture and was succeeded by Renaissance architecture. It originated in the Île-de-France and Picardy regions of northern France. The style at the time was sometimes known as ''opus Francigenum'' (); the term ''Gothic'' was first applied contemptuously during the later Renaissance, by those ambitious to revive the Classical architecture, architecture of classical antiquity. The defining design element of Gothic architecture is the Pointed arch (architecture), pointed arch. The use of the pointed arch in turn led to the development of the pointed rib vault and flying buttresses, combined with elaborate tracery and stained glass windows. At the Abbey of Basilica of Saint-Denis, Saint-Denis, near Paris, the choir was rec ...
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