Page 191 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - Sicily

NOR THEASTERN SICIL Y  189

in the same room, a Madonna
and Child sculpture attributed
to Francesco Laurana and a
15th-century oil on panel by
an unknown Flemish artist.
Room 10 has two of the
“pearls” of the museum, two
masterpieces by Caravaggio,
executed in 1608–1609: The
Raising of Lazarus and The
Nativity. This great artist’s
sojourn in Messina exerted
an influence on other
artists, giving rise to a local
Caravaggesque school, as can
be seen in the canvases by
Alonso Rodriguez, St Peter and
St Paul and Doubting Thomas,
on view in room 7.
Environs
Proceeding northwards along
the coastline of the Straits, past
the Museo Regionale, you will
come to Grotta and then, about
7 km (4 miles) from Messina, the
turn-off to Ganzirri. A short
drive along the coastal road
takes you to the Pantano
Grande (or Lago Grande), a The Pantano Grande lake at Ganzirri, used for shellfish farming
lagoon that measures 30 ha
(74 acres) and is at most and electric power cable that R Santa Maria di Mili
7 m (23 ft) deep. One side of crosses the Straits of Messina for If you head southwards from
the lagoon consists of a long 3,646 m (11,959 ft) in a single Messina for about 12 km
sandbar and it is connected to span, from the power stations in (7 miles), you will reach the
the sea by an artificial canal. The Calabria. Capo Peloro, a short villages of Mili San Marco and,
Pantano Grande is supplied with distance from Torre Faro, is higher up in the Peloritani
fresh water from underground crowned by a 16th-century Mountains, Mili San Pietro. Not
streams and it is used for tower that has been used for far from the latter, in an area of
shellfish farming on a large centuries as a lighthouse. wild landscape characterized
scale. This point is quite close Further along the coastal road by the deep Forra di Mili ravine,
to the easternmost tip of Sicily: you will come to the second, is the Santa Maria di Mili
3 km (2 miles) away is Torre smaller lagoon of Ganzirri, Sanctuary. The church is in a
Faro, a fishing village known for known as the Pantano Piccolo. convent. It has been rebuilt
its excellent swordfish, facing the The lake is a stone’s throw away several times and now has a
coast of Calabria. The panorama from the Tyrrhenian Sea and is 17th-century appearance. It
here is dominated by the pylon linked to the Pantano Grande. was founded in 1090 by Roger I
as proof of his recovered
religious faith after taking Sicily
from the Arabs. The Norman
king later chose it as the burial
site for his son.
The splendid 16th-century
marble portal is crowned by a
sculpture of the Madonna and
Child. Above the two-aisle nave
is a finely wrought wooden
ceiling that dates from 1411.
Once past the three arches
marking off the apse area, this
ceiling becomes a series of
small domes, a characteristic
feature of religious architecture
The church of San Pietro e Paolo in Itala (see p185) of the Norman period.

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