Page 113 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - Sicily

NOR THWESTERN SICIL Y  111

g Mazara del Vallo
Road map A3. * 51,000. @ 50 km
(31 miles) from Trapani, 124 km
(77 miles) from Palermo. n Via XX
Settembre (0923-944 610). ( Wed.
_ Festino di San Vito (Aug).
Facing the Canale di Sicilia, at
the mouth of the Mazarò river,
the town, a colony of Selinunte,
was destroyed in 409 BC by
the Carthaginians, passed to
the Romans and then became a
prosperous city under the Arabs,
The Collegio dei Gesuiti at Mazara del Vallo, home to the Museo Civico who made it the capital of one
of the three “valleys” into which
The dimensions of Temple G f Castelvetrano they split Sicily (see p36). In
must have exceeded 110 by 1073 Mazara was conquered
50 m (350 by 150 ft). It was Road map B3. * 31,000. @ 73 km by Roger I; he convened the first
begun in the 6th century BC (45 miles) from Trapani, 110 km Norman Parliament of Sicily here.
(68 miles) from Palermo. n Town
and took another 100 years to hall, Piazza Aragona E Tagliavia (0924- In Piazza Mokarta remains of
complete. It was considered the 902 004). ( Tue. _ Funzione the castle can be seen. Behind
city’s main religious building. dell’Aurora (Easter). this is the Cathedral, of medieval
Today it is only a huge mass of origin but rebuilt in 1694. It
stones, in the middle of which The centre consists of three houses the Transfiguration, a
stands a column, which was linked squares. The main one is sculpture group by Antonello
restored in 1832. It was probably Piazza Garibaldi, where the Gagini. The left side of the
dedicated to Zeus, but its con- mainly 16th-century Chiesa Cathedral closes off Piazza della
struction was never completed. Madre has an interesting Repubblica, with the façade
medieval portal. Inside are of the Seminario dei Chierici
T The Ancient City stuccoes by Ferraro and and the Palazzo Vescovile. On
Set on the Collina di Manuzza Serpotta, and a Madonna by the Lungomare Mazzini you will
hill north of the Acropolis, the Gagini School. By the church are see the Collegio dei Gesuiti,
ancient city only became the Municipio (Town Hall), the seat of the Museo Civico, and
the subject of archaeological Campanile and the Mannerist can enter the old Arab town.
excavations late in the 20th Fontana della Ninfa. Nearby is
century. After the destruction the Chiesa del Purgatorio, built E Museo del Satiro
of Selinunte in 409 BC, this in 1624–64, its façade filled with Danzante
ancient part was used as a statues, and the Neo-Doric Piazza Plebiscito. Tel 0923-933 917.
necropolis by those inhabi tants Teatro Selinus (1873). Open 9am–6:30pm daily. &
who remained. There are several interesting
Environs artifacts on display here, but
R Malophoros Sanctuary At Delia, 3.5 km (2 miles) from the highlight is the statue of a
Situated west of the Modione town, is Santa Trinità, a church dancing satyr, which is a rare
river, about a kilometre (half a built in the Norman period. example of a Greek bronze.
mile) away from the Acropolis,
the Malophoros Sanctuary is
extremely old and perhaps
was founded even before the
city itself.
The main building in this
sanctuary is enclosed by
walls and was dedicated to a
female divinity, Malophoros
(meaning “bearer of
pomegranate”), the goddess
of fertility, many statuettes
of whom have been found in
the vicinity. According to
experts, the sanctuary was a
stopping point on the long,
impressive funeral processions
making their way to the
Manicalunga necropolis. Mazara del Vallo, one of the most important fishing harbours in Italy

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