Flag courtesy of ITA's Flags of All Countries used with permission.
Sicily
Flag courtesy of
ITA's
Flags of All Countries used with
permission.
The flag of Sicily (formally adopted in February 2002) is dominated by a “trinacria” (triangle) made up of three human legs and featuring a Gorgon's head whose hair is made from snakes holding ears of wheat. The “trinacria” is displayed on a background of red and yellow. According to Greek legend, the Gorgon was a terrible creature made up, in part, of three daughters of the Gods of the sea. In addition to a hairdo of snakes the creature possessed bronze hands, gold wings and wild boar's tusks. It lived at the ends of the earth and could petrify a man with its glance, being part Medusa. In the “trinacria” of Sicily, the grain represents the fertility of the island and the three legs the extreme points of Sicily, i.e. Capo Palloro in the province of Messina, Capo Passero near Siracusa and Capo Lille west of Marsala. The symbol of a man's leg bent at the knee was popular with Spartan warriors and represented power or force.
In September 2006, Nancy and I took a trip to Sicily, a part of Italy that we had not visited previously. Our traveling companions were Donna Fisher and Bob Nemmers, friends from the Washington, DC area. The four of us met in Rome for dinner and left the next morning for Catania, the second largest city in Sicily, located on the East coast in the shadow of Mt. Etna. From there, we traveled by bus to Siracusa (Syracuse) and our "home" for the next four days - L'Approdo delle Sirene, a delightful B&B run by delightful people.
(NOTE: Rather than repeat what others (much more knowledgeable than I) have written about the sites we visited, I have included web site links for them whenever possible. Follow these links, like the ones in the paragraph above, to learn more about the places depicted in our photos.)
The photographs contained on the pages that follow, have been organized around the major sights that we visited. Choose from the selections listed below and travel with us!
Siracusa
Ortigia (the Historical "heart" of Siracusa)
Naples (a family visit before heading home)
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