fiogf49gjkf0d MAZARA DEL VALLO
THE SPLENDID SMALL TOWN OF MAZARA DEL VALLO, ONE
OF THE MAIN AGRICULTURAL CENTERS IN THE PROVINCE
OF TRAPANI, IS ALSO ONE OF THE BEST EQUIPPED
FISHING PORTS IN ITALY.
THE AGRICULTURAL LAND IN THE MAZARA AREA HAS BEEN
INHABITED SINCE PREHISTORIC TIMES, WITNESSED BY
FINDS FROM THE UPPER PALAEOLITHIC PERIOD, ABOVE
ALL FROM ALONG THE COURSE OF THE RIVER MAZARO -
YIELDING STONE ARMS AND UTENSILS FROM THE
EPIGRAVETTIAN PHASE, MADE FROM BELICE FLINT,
MESOLITHIC FUNERARY GOODS, AND EARLY BRONZE AGE
SETTLEMENTS AND NECROPOLI.
MAZARA, ITS PLACE NAME PROBABLY PHOENICIAN IN
ORIGIN, WAS CONTENDED FOR ITS STRATEGIC POSITION,
A BRIDGEHEAD TO AFRICA AND ALMOST A FRONTIER POST
BETWEEN GREEK SICILY TO THE EAST AND
PHOENICIAN-PUNIC SICILY TO THE WEST.
ALREADY A TRADING EMPORIUM OF CONSIDERABLE
IMPORTANCE FROM THE SIXTH CENTURY BC ONWARDS, THE
TOWN WAS THEN CONQUERED BY THE ROMANS DURING THE
FIRST PUNIC WAR.
THE REMAINS FROM THE ROMAN PERIOD ARE SUPERB,
INCLUDING THE NECROPOLI AND PATRICIAN HOUSES,
DATING FROM THE THIRD AND FOURTH CENTURY AD.
THE ARAB CONQUEST OF SICILY BEGAN HERE AND THE
TOWN BECAME POWERFUL AND FLOURISHING UNDER THEIR
DOMINATION.
INDEED MAZARA WAS FOREMOST IN THE THREE
DISTRICTS, CALLED THE *VALLI*, THAT THE ISLAND
WAS DIVIDED INTO.
THE TOWN*S HISTORIC CENTER IS A TYPICALLY ISLAMIC
LABYRINTH OF LANES, COURTYARDS AND ALLEYWAYS.
WITH THE ARRIVAL OF THE NORMANS, THE TOWN BECAME
A BISHOPRIC AND WAS FORTIFIED BY THE ERECTION OF
DEFENSIVE WALLS AND THE CASTLE.
THE DUOMO AND THE CHURCHES OF S. NICOL REGALE
AND SANTA MARIA DELLA GIUMMARE ARE ALSO FROM THE
NORMAN PERIOD.
FINALLY, BETWEEN THE SEVENTEENTH AND EIGHTEENTH
CENTURY MAZARA CHANGED APPEARANCE, WITH THE
RESTRUCTURING OF SQUARES, CHURCHES AND MANSIONS
ACCORDING TO THE THEN DOMINANT BAROQUE TASTE.
THE TOWN*S ECONOMY IS BASED ON AGRICULTURE,
FISHING AND TOURISM.
THE HOTEL IS LOCATED AT 122 KM FROM AGRIGENTO.
AGRIGENTO, *THE MOST BEAUTIFUL CITY OF MORTALS,
SEAT OF PERSEPHONE* AS THE GREEK POET PINDAR
DEFINED IT, STANDS ON A HILL OVERLOOKING THE SEA.
INTENSE LIGHT, A MILD CLIMATE THROUGHOUT THE
YEAR, AND THE ANCIENT CHARM OF ALMONDS BLOOMING
IN THE SPRING AND CLOAKING THE TOWN IN COLOR AND
SCENT, MAKE AGRIGENTO ONE OF THE MOST FASCINATING
PLACES IN THE REGION.
FOUNDED IN 580 BC BY THE GELESI ORIGINATING FROM
CRETE AND RHODES AND BY GREEKS FROM RHODES ON THE
LAND LYING BETWEEN THE RIVERS AKRAGAS AND HYPSAS,
AGRIGENTO WAS A GREAT ECONOMIC AND MILITARY
POWER.
IN THE SIXTH CENTURY BC UNDER THE TYRANT
PHALARIS, IN THE FIFTH CENTURY UNDER THERON, AND
LATER STILL UNDER A DEMOCRATIC GOVERNMENT, THE
TOWN WITH A HIPPODAMEAN LAYOUT, WAS MANTLED, BOTH
IN THE UPPER AND IN THE VALLEY PART BELOW, IN
SPLENDID DORIC SANCTUARIES AND TEMPLES.
REFERRING TO THIS THE AGRIGENTO PHILOSOPHER
EMPEDOCLES, WROTE THAT HIS FELLOW CITIZENS
*CONSTRUCT BUILDINGS AS IF THEY COULD LIVE
FOREVER.*
OCCUPIED BY THE ROMANS IN 210 BC, THEN ABANDONED
IN THE BYZANTINE PERIOD, IT WAS CONQUERED BY THE
ARABS IN 828 AD, TAKING THE NAME GIRGENTI.
THE TOWN KEPT ITS CENTRAL ECONOMIC POSITION ALSO
UNDER THE NORMANS AND SWABIANS, BUT EXPERIENCED
GREAT BUILDING DEVELOPMENT DURING THE EIGHTEENTH
CENTURY, FINALLY, IN 1927 THE TOWN TOOK ON ITS
PRESENT NAME OF AGRIGENTO.
AGRIGENTO, ITS ECONOMY NOWADAYS IS BASED ON
TOURISM AND SERVICE INDUSTRY, HAS STILL PRESERVED
ITS OLD CRAFT AND FOLKLORE TRADITIONS, AND OFFERS
A VARIED, RICH RANGE OF CUISINE.
THE HOTEL IS LOCATED AT ABOUT 43 KM FROM
SELINUNTE.
IN THE PROVINCE OF TRAPANI, IN THE AREA OF
CASTELVETRANO STANDS ONE OF THE BEST PRESERVED
AND MOST FASCINATING MAGNA GRAECIAN CITIES OF THE
WHOLE REGION SELINUNTE, THE FAVORITE PLACE OF
THE GODS.
THE MOST WESTERLY GREEK COLONY OF SICILY WAS
FOUNDED, ACCORDING TO STATEMENTS BY DIODORUS
SICULUS AND BY THUCYDIDES, IN 650 OR 628 BC BY
COLONISTS FROM THE DORIC MEGARA HYBLEA.
ITS EIGHT SUPERB TEMPLES, FIVE OF THEM BUILT ON
THE ACROPOLIS, THREE ON THE HILL FACING THE SEA,
ADMIRABLE EXAMPLES OF THE DORIC STYLE, IS ONE OF
THE BEST TESTIMONIES TO WESTERN HELLENIC CULTURE.
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