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Val Di Noto
Val di Noto () is a historical and geographical area encompassing the south-eastern third of Sicily; it is dominated by the limestone Hyblaean plateau. Historically, it was one of the three valli of Sicily. History The oldest recorded settlement in the Val di Noto was the ancient town of '' Akrai'', near Palazzolo Acreide, founded in 664 BC. It was the first colony of the Corinthian settlement at Syracuse. The settlements of the Val di Noto were completely destroyed by the enormous 1693 Sicily earthquake. Following the earthquake, many towns were rebuilt on entirely new sites, such as Noto and Grammichele. The rulers of the time, the kings of Spain, granted the nobleman Giuseppe Lanza special authority to redesign the damaged towns, which he achieved by sympathetically designing the new towns in a baroque and renaissance style. The newly established settlements underwent a redesign, featuring a central town square from which streets extended outwards in a radial manner. Key ... [...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] |
Calque
In linguistics, a calque () or loan translation is a word or phrase borrowed from another language by literal word-for-word or root-for-root translation. When used as a verb, "to calque" means to borrow a word or phrase from another language while translating its components, so as to create a new word or phrase ( lexeme) in the target language. For instance, the English word ''skyscraper'' has been calqued in dozens of other languages, combining words for "sky" and "scrape" in each language, as for example in German, in Portuguese, in Dutch, in Spanish, in Italian, in Turkish, and ''matenrō'' in Japanese. Calques, like direct borrowings, often function as linguistic gap-fillers, emerging when a language lacks existing vocabulary to express new ideas, technologies, or objects. This phenomenon is widespread and is often attributed to the shared conceptual frameworks across human languages. Speakers of different languages tend to perceive the world through common categori ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Baroque Architecture
Baroque architecture is a highly decorative and theatrical style which appeared in Italy in the late 16th century and gradually spread across Europe. It was originally introduced by the Catholic Church, particularly by the Jesuits, as a means to combat the Reformation and the Protestantism, Protestant church with a new architecture that inspired surprise and awe. It reached its peak in the High Baroque (1625–1675), when it was used in churches and palaces in Italy, Spain, Portugal, France, Bavaria and Austria. In the Late Baroque period (1675–1750), it reached as far as Russia, the Ottoman Baroque architecture, Ottoman Empire and the Spanish colonization of the Americas, Spanish and Portuguese colonization of the Americas, Portuguese colonies in Latin America. In about 1730, an even more elaborately decorative variant called Rococo appeared and flourished in Central Europe. Baroque architects took the basic elements of Renaissance architecture, including domes and colonnades, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Giuseppe Lanza
Giuseppe Lanza, Duke of Camastra, was a 17th-century Sicilian nobleman who oversaw the reconstruction of many Sicilian towns and cities following the earthquake of 1693. He was created 1st Duke of Camastra, and Prince of Santo Stefano. He married twice, his first wife, whom he married in Palermo in 1668 was Maria Gomez de Sylveira, Principessa di Santo Stefano, the daughter of Luigi Gomez de Sylveira and Giovanna Ferreri, she died in 1675. His second wife was Melchiorra Castello, daughter of Gregorio Castello, Principe di Castelferrato and Anna Marchese. His daughter Giovanna Lanza, Duchessa di Camastra married her kinsman Ignazio Lanza, the 4th Prince of Trabia. The surname is today Lanza Branciforte. Sources *''Genealogisches Handbuch des Adels Fuerstliche Haeuser'' Giuseppe Giuseppe is the Italian form of the given name Joseph, from Latin Josephus, Iōsēphus from Ancient Greek Ἰωσήφ (Iōsḗph), from Hebrew יוסף. The feminine form of the name is Giuseppa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Grammichele
Grammichele (, Greek: ''Echetle'' (meaning "plowshare"); Latin: ''Echetla'', ''Ochula''; Medieval: ''Occhiolà'') is a town and ''comune'' in the Metropolitan City of Catania in Sicily, southern Italy. It is located at the feet of the Hyblaean Mountains, some from Caltagirone. History The town was built in 1693, after the old town of Occhiolà, located to the north of the modern Grammichele, was destroyed by an earthquake. Occhiolà, on account of the similarity of name, is generally identified with Echetla, a frontier city between Syracusan and Carthaginian territory in the time of Hiero II, which appears to have been originally a Sicel city in which Greek civilization prevailed from the 5th century onwards. The devastation of the old town was so severe that the feudal landlord of the town, Carlo Maria Carafa Branciforte, Prince of Butari, commissioned construction of a new town, with plans aided by Michele da Ferla. Supposedly the Prince himself sketched out the initial h ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1693 Sicily Earthquake
The 1693 Sicily earthquake was a natural disaster that struck parts of southern Italy near Sicily, then a territory part of the Crown of Aragon by the Kings of Spain Calabria and Malta, on 11 January at around 21:00 local time. This earthquake was preceded by a damaging foreshock on 9 January. The main quake had an estimated magnitude of 7.4 on the moment magnitude scale, the most powerful in recorded Italian history, and a maximum intensity of XI (''Extreme'') on the Mercalli intensity scale, destroying at least 70 towns and cities, seriously affecting an area of and causing the death of about 60,000 people. The earthquake was followed by a number of tsunamis that devastated the coastal villages on the Ionian Sea and in the Straits of Messina. Almost two-thirds of the entire population of Catania were killed. The Epicenter, epicentre of the disaster was probably close to the coast, possibly offshore, although the exact position remains unknown. The extent and level of destruction ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Syracuse, Italy
Syracuse ( ; ; ) is a historic city on the Italy, Italian island of Sicily, the capital of the Italian province of Syracuse. The city is notable for its rich Greek and Roman history, Greek culture, culture, amphitheatres, architecture, and as the birthplace and home of the pre-eminent mathematician and engineer Archimedes. This 2,700-year-old city played a key role in ancient times, when it was one of the major powers of the Mediterranean world. Syracuse is located in the southeast corner of the island of Sicily, next to the Gulf of Syracuse beside the Ionian Sea. It is situated in a drastic rise of land with depths being close to the city offshore although the city itself is generally not so hilly in comparison. The city was founded by Ancient Greece, Ancient Greek Ancient Corinth, Corinthians and Teneans and became a very powerful city-state. Syracuse was allied with History of Sparta, Sparta and Ancient Corinth, Corinth and exerted influence over the entirety of Magna ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Corinth
Corinth ( ; , ) is a municipality in Corinthia in Greece. The successor to the ancient Corinth, ancient city of Corinth, it is a former municipality in Corinthia, Peloponnese (region), Peloponnese, which is located in south-central Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform, it has been part of the Corinth (municipality), municipality of Corinth, of which it is the seat and a municipal unit. It is the capital of Corinthia. It was founded as Nea Korinthos (), or New Corinth, in 1858 after an earthquake destroyed the existing settlement of Corinth, which had developed in and around the site of the ancient city. History Corinth derives its name from Ancient Corinth, a city-state of antiquity. The site was occupied from before 3000 BC. Ancient Greece Historical references begin with the early 8th century BC, when ancient Corinth began to develop as a commercial center. Between the 8th and 7th centuries, the Bacchiad family ruled Corinth. Cypselus overthrew the Bacchiad f ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Akrai
Akrai (; ) was a Greek colony of Magna Graecia founded in Sicily by the Syracusans in 663 BC. It was located near the modern Palazzolo Acreide. Location It was founded on a spectacular and strategic site, on the Acremonte plateau of the Hyblaean Mountains, difficult to attack and with a clear view of the surrounding area, which explains its establishment as a guard post at Syracuse's borders. The top of the hill at 770m is on its south–eastern edge, on which later was placed the acropolis. History Akrai was among the first colonies of Syracuse founded by Corinthian colonists arriving in Sicilian territory in 663 BC. It was on the road to the great city of Gela, along with the Necropolis of Pantalica, Kasmene (military outpost on Monte Lauro), Akrillai and Kamarina (the most distant of the colonies, founded 598 BC). Akrai and Kasmene were founded by the Syracusans: Akrai, seventy years after Syracuse, Kasmenae about twenty years later (c.640 BC). The original ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Noto San Domenico
Noto (; ) is a city and in the Province of Syracuse, Sicily, Italy. It is southwest of the city of Syracuse at the foot of the Iblean Mountains. It lends its name to the surrounding area Val di Noto. In 2002 Noto and its church were declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Etymology Noto is regarded as having a possible Ancient Greek etymology. Likely, the name is derived from "south" (Greek: Νότιο ''Notio''), as in Notion. History The old town, Noto Antica, lies directly north on Mount Alveria. A city of Sicel origin, it was known as Netum in ancient times. In 263 BCE the city was granted to Hiero II by the Romans. According to legend, Daedalus stayed in the city after his flight over the Ionian Sea, as did Hercules after his seventh task. During the Roman era, it opposed the magistrate Verres. In 866, the Muslims conquered the city and named it ''Nawṭis'', elevating it to the capital of one of Sicily’s three districts, the Val di Noto. It remained an importa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Three Valli Of Sicily
During the Muslim rule on Sicily, the island was divided into three different administrative regions: the '' Val di Noto'' in the southeast, the '' Val Demone'' in the northeast and the '' Val di Mazara'' in the west. Each zone has a noticeably different agriculture and topography and they converged near Enna (Castrogiovanni). There are many Arab-derived names in the Val di Mazara (and more Christians converted to Islam from this region), are more mixed in the Vallo di Noto, while Christian (particularly Greek) identities survived strongest in the Vallo di Demone (with the least Arab-derived names), which was the last to fall to the Muslims, where Christian refugees from other parts of Sicily had assembled, and which furthermore remained in contact with Byzantine southern Italy. Even in 21st century Sicily, differences between the east and west of the island are often explained by locals as being due to the Greek and Arab descent of the populations, respectively. Later Christi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Plateau
In geology and physical geography, a plateau (; ; : plateaus or plateaux), also called a high plain or a tableland, is an area of a highland consisting of flat terrain that is raised sharply above the surrounding area on at least one side. Often one or more sides have deep hills or escarpments. Plateaus can be formed by a number of processes, including upwelling of volcanic magma, extrusion of lava, and erosion by water and glaciers. Plateaus are classified according to their surrounding environment as intermontane, piedmont, or continental. A few plateaus may have a small flat top while others have wider ones. Formation Plateaus can be formed by a number of processes, including upwelling of volcanic magma, extrusion of lava, plate tectonics movements, and erosion by water and glaciers. Volcanic Volcanic plateaus are produced by volcanic activity. They may be formed by upwelling of volcanic magma or extrusion of lava. The underlining mechanism in forming p ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
