2008-07-25
2009-03-29
Considered Sicily's "Baroque City," Noto is located about 35 kilometers southwest of the city of Syracuse and is famous for the beautiful 18th Century baroque buildings and churches. The town of Old Noto was completely destroyed in the extremely violent earthquake that struck Eastern Sicily in 1693. The present Noto was rebuilt from scratch, and almost entirely in the Baroque style which is the prevailing style of building in Sicily at the time. From the town's gate, known as Porta Reale, built in 1838 depart Noto's grand main street, Corso Vittorio Emanuele, which offers an architectonic overview that is unique in the world for the unity and harmony of Baroque style that is truly splendid, the emphasis being the natural beauty of the rose color of the stone used to build the town.
Then we lower ourselves in a north-African atmosphere on the extreme edge of Europe. Marzamemi is a small town of fishermen with a metaphysical beauty, built around an old tuna fishery. A plaza surrounded by fisherman's houses, and the little church of Francesco, built by the Princes of Villadorata. The little harbor of balata with warehouses full of fishing nets and scieri (barges used for the fishing tuna), long golden beach is what you will see today at beautiful Marzamemi.
