SicilianWorldHeritage The Sicilian patrimony made UNESCO World Heritage 1 The Valley of Temples
2 Syracuse and the Pantalica rock necropolis
4 The Val di Noto
5 The Roman Villa of Casale
6 Puppet theatre
Museum Oratory of Phalaris
Hellenistic-Roman district
Temple of Vulcano Tempio dei Dioscuri Temple of Zeus
Temple of Juno
Temple of Concordia
Temple of Aesculapius Temple of Theron Temple of Hercules
cultural patrimony The VALLEY Agrigento of TEMPLES
9 The rediscovery of Akragas was set going towards the end of the eighteenth century, when the first European travellers came here. They ventured into Sicily discovering unexpected and immense artistic and archaeological riches, despite those who, like the com- pilers of the Encyclopaedia, thought that on the island there was nothing interesting, apart from the villainous activity of the inquisition. What the travellers observed more than two centuries ago is still offered today to the eyes of visitors, and their descrip- tions are in many respects still topical: the temples, today as then, are lined up on the crest of a hill, and are the most evident sym- bol of a city, once among the most powerful in the world, whose richness and beauty were sung of by the greatest poets of the 5th century. Indeed, that was the period of greatest splendour for Akragas, which was founded in 528 BC by settlers from Gela and in the space of a century became one of the richest and most powerful cities in the Mediterranean, a cradle of arts and sciences, a city whose citizens, according to the philosopher Empedocles' happy definition, lived as if they were going to die the next day and built as if they were going to live for ever. Of this constructive fervour, the temples, built in the 6th and 5th centuries BC, are the most evident monumental expression, little remaining, unfortunately, of the Greek city, destroyed by the Carthaginians in 406 BC. Agrigento, though enjoying other moments of ephemeral splendour, never again returned to the ancient splendours and gradually became a provincial town like so many others - if it were not, precisely, for the temples. They afford an extraordinary sight, enchanting every visitor, especially at sunset, when the sinking sun seems to set them on fire and really very little is required to return with the imagination to the splendid city sung of by Pindar.
Proclaimed World Heritage by earthquakes, in the eighteenth UNESCO in 1997, they are in the century it became a sort of stone valley below the modern city, quarry: Agrigento workmen used which maintains the medieval lay- the gigantic tufa blocks for the out, constituting a remarkable construction of a dock at Porto archaeological walk. Empedocle. Near the temple there To the right of the Golden Gate, was a gigantic altar for sacrifices, toward the south and the sea, a on which up to one hundred oxen path leads to the imposing ruins could be sacrificed at one time, of the Temple of Olympic Zeus, and there was room for two thou- which (together with temple G at sand believers to watch. Selinunte), was the most imposing Around the temple of Zeus there one in the west (the surface area is is a big sacred area, constructed in almost 7000 square metres, bigger the 6th century BC and filled with than that of the Roman basilica of buildings for worship but also pri- St. Peter's). Its construction was vate residences and shops. Here undertaken in 480 BC and was the temples proper are four but characterized by the presence of the only one immediately distin- Telamons, huge statues about guishable from the non-religious eight metres high, which symbol- buildings is the one referred to as ized the force of nature subjugated that of Castor and Pollux, four by Zeus. Among the columns sup- corner columns of which are porting the entablature, they were extant, raised in 1836; it is a very all destroyed except one, kept at picturesque complex, so much the Agrigento Archaeological that this temple is used as a sym- Museum (among the ruins there bol of Agrigento (480-460 BC). In lies a cast). Ruined because of a depression to the north of this abandonment, bad weather and temple there has been identified
10 the Kolymbetra, a swimming pool that preserved in the Greek world together fire that was started in the building by with its waters made it possible to irrigate with the Theseion in Athens and the the Carthaginians in 406, during the sack the most fertile garden in the valley. The Posidonion at Paestum, owes its integrity of Akragas. East of the temple, the area, entrusted to the Italian to a fortunate circumstance: unlike the remains of the usual altar for sacrifices Environmental Fund in 2001, has been other pagan temples more or less demol- are found and a stretch of street deeply restored from by the point of view of ished by the Christians, this was convert- furrowed by carts. vegetation and fitted out with explanatory ed into a church in the 6th century. So If these are the essential stages of the panels. the structure remained intact and in 1748 visit, there are also a great many other In the opposite direction, on the ridge of the temple, which was exquisitely built in remains of the ancient city to be seen: a low hill, three temples stand in a line. the 5th century in the Doric manner, was from the Temple of Aesculapius to the The Temple of Hercules is believed to be restored in its original forms (apart from tomb of Theron and the Hellenistic- the oldest (6th century BC); it has nine some arches in the walls of the cell). Roman district with the oratory of columns standing, on some of which the The road of temples - flanked by Phalaris, the ekklesiasterion and the purple plaster with which the temple was Christian-Byzantine hypogea - goes to bouleuterion, and finally the interesting painted is just visible. the Temple of Hera Lacinia or Juno, at Archaeological Museum at which pre- Further on in all its beauty there stands the extremity of the ridge, in a charming cious items from Akragas are kept, like the Temple of Concordia, one of the position. Its look is like that of the tem- the lion's head gutters that adorned most perfect from the stylistic point of ple of Concordia: it was built more or some of the temples to the splendidly view in the whole Greek world, “inex- less at the same time as the latter, and is painted vases, but also panels and mod- pressibly beautiful and picturesque” (F. a little smaller. On the walls of the cell els that give a more precise idea of the Münther). The temple, which is the best you can still remarkably see traces of the city and its monuments. Akragas Archaeological Neapolis Museum “P. Orsi”
Temple of Apollo
P. z z a D u o m o
Fonte Aretusa
Maniace Castle
cultural patrimony SYRACUSE and the Syracuse Pantalica rock necropolis
17 Syracuseand the Pantalica rock Certainly there are monuments, from different epochs and in different styles, bearing witness to a glorious past, attempts being made to recover the memory of it and respect for it. But also sea, clear and rich in flora and fauna, luxuriant papyri, more and more intense cultural life, craft activities and artists' studios, and gastronomy. There are so many things that are interesting about Syracuse, the last place, chronologically, to be declared World Heritage by UNESCO. This is undoubtedly a recognition of the historical prestige of this city that for a long time was one of the capitals of the Mediterranean. But it is also a recognition of its determination to once again play a major role in the Mediterranean today, also, indeed above all, through the recovery and val- orisation of the signs of the past. Which means not only Magna Graecia, but also Swabian and Baroque, art nouveau and modern architectures. A ferment of rebirth is running through Ortygia, the oldest part of the city, where prehistoric peoples set- tled well before the Greeks. On this islet that, at the centre of the water on which the city looks out, was once the stronghold of the tyrant Dionysius I, one of the most important characters in ancient Sicilian history, roads, piazzas, houses, churches and build- ings are being restructured, transformed and opened to the public, and hotels, pubs, eating and drinking places of every kind are multiplying. All this is for a night life that is a worthy conclusion to a day spent visiting monuments: the Neapolis, with the imposing Greek theatre where every year classical performances are done, the altar of Hiero, the latomias with the famous “Dionysius' Ear.” Then there is the area of the Epipolis, with the little San Giovanni Evangelista church, over an immense net- work of palaeo-Christian catacombs, and the modern sanctuary devoted to the miraculous Madonna of Tears. There are the museums, including the archae- ological one, the biggest in Sicily and one of the most important in Italy, and the Regional Gallery, at which there are authentic treasures like the Annunciation by Antonello da Messina and the Burial of Saint Lucy by Caravaggio.
18 necropolis And last but not least there is Ortygia, with irregu- From Syracuse you can also get to another impor- lar little medieval streets gathered around the ele- tant place which was declared World Heritage in gant cathedral square, one of the most beautiful in 2005: the Pantalica necropolis. This is a place of Italy, all surrounded by splendid buildings and wild beauty, at the confluence of the rivers Anapo dominated by the cathedral, whose Baroque façade and the Calcinara, which in addition to the archaeo- hides the structure of an ancient Greek temple. logical interest is also interesting in terms of nature Here the cult of the virgin martyr St. Lucy, the and landscape thanks to the richness and variety of highly venerated patron saint, replaced that of the the plant and animal species that live on the banks goddess Athena, and the traces of the ancient archi- of the watercourse. Here the rocky bastion of tecture are placed side by side with the more mod- Pantalica rises high over the deep valley hewn out by ern architecture in splendid syncretism. On the islet the water, in the shade of plane trees and oleanders, one walks very slowly, looking up to admire the in its millennial flow. Here in the stone, the Siculi, stone volutes and the wrought iron balconies of the the prehistoric people that lived in Sicily before the Baroque buildings, but also allowing the gaze to advent of Greek colonization, dug out almost five wander on the sea, which appears every now and thousand graves. It is not known for certain how then, sparkling like a mirror. One visits Maniace they succeeded in doing so, since in the Bronze Age, Castle and the Jewish miqwe (tubs for purification from which the necropolis dates, the Siculi did not baths), the oldest in Europe, and one halts at the know iron, and therefore they had to use axes or spring of Arethusa, which according to legend is a ancient systems that combined water and fire. The nymph who was turned into a spring to escape too workers were suspended in the air, tied to ropes by ardent a suitor. One goes shopping and one stops the waist, or astride a beam, on tottering scaffolding. for lunch, an ice cream or a snack. One can also go The corpses, in turn, were pulled up or lowered with swimming, taking advantage of the little flights of ropes, “a grisly spectacle seen from afar and from the steps that go down to the surface of the sea from opposite slopes” (Paolo Orsi). the bastions, the sea now being clean thanks to the With the passing of the centuries, the graves sewerage having been redone, and one sunbathes became a refuge for persecuted Christians, a her- comfortably stretched out on the solariums reaching mitage and then a residence for Arabs and Norman. out over the sea. From Ortygia one can set out in a Then, gradually, the site was abandoned. wooden fishing boat to go to visit the caves on the A mysterious people remained, that of the Siculi, Maddalena peninsula, whose extremity for some swallowed up by the history of other much more time now has been protected through the daring and therefore more famous people. But the Plemmirio marine reserve; here you can go scuba Pantalica graves, though mute, hand down the diving or snorkelling to discover splendid seabeds. memory of them, together with the scattered ruins Not far away there are the boats that go up the river of the mysterious Anaktoron, the prince's palace, a Ciane, a pleasant and relaxing trip, but also one of perfect geometry of walls of stone whose splendours great botanical interest, allowing you to observe the the imagination can only guess at. This is all that is only wild colony of papyruses in Europe, as these left of a city that must have existed, and who knows grow along the banks of this river. what it was like.
19 Stromboli
Panarea
Filicudi Salina
Alicudi
Lipari
Vulcano
naturalistic patrimony AEOLIAN Messina ISLANDS
25 In winter, to the traveller going along the sinuous coast road that flanks the Tyrrhenian Sea, the Aeolian Islands (which became World Heritage in 2000) appear in the motionless and clear air like certain drawings by children, with the outlines of the islands floating between sea and turquoise sky. On warm days, instead, when haze settles on the horizon, the uncertain blue outlines of the islands look like those of an ancient fleet that has run aground, hopefully awaiting rescue. But in either season, they accompany the traveller for long stretches, and it is difficult to resist their call, as if new sirens intoned their bewitching songs from the coasts that seem so near. The Aeolians are almost magic islands, and fabulous ones: the ancient Greeks, fascinated by their changing appearance - indeed, they appear and disappear according to the whim of the clouds and the winds, changing their colour and, it would seem, even their positions - set more than one of their myths here. It is not difficult to understand this even today, though our souls are now accustomed to every form of technology, from the moment when you reach Vulcano, the first landing place of the sailor coming from the Sicilian coasts. With its dark look and the smell of sulphur floating around, it might seem indeed like the antechamber of hell... and in some respects it was hell, for the hosts of damned that, up to the end of the nineteenth century, were forced in a state of inhuman imprisonment to extract sulphur and alum from the bowels of the earth. Today of those poor wretches only the memory remains, and the island is instead a destination of tourists and vulcanologists. The former come in search of the emotion of a bath in the heated by the volcano (which has therapeutic valid- ity for the treatment of some skin diseases) and of an ascent to the volcano cloaked in dust and sulphur crystals; the latter are attracted by the possibility of observing and studying volcanic phenomena close up, the only trace, at least for the time being, of eruptive activity that provoked huge cataclysms in the past, described by historians from the epoch of Pliny the Elder on with abundance of dreadful details. It was really an eruption that detached Vulcano from its neigh- bour Lipari, the pulsating heart of the archipelago, its capital since the most remote epochs, when the islands were at the centre of the flourishing trade in obsidian, the volcanic glass sought even in the most distant lands in the Mediterranean for its properties: it was not only a very sharp stone, but it also had a reputation for being thaumaturgic, magic. The village is all around two landing and in effect its two main products are of the prehistoric villages that are most places and in it there is the Aeolian linked to nature: capers and Malvasia, a important for the history of the archi- Archaeological Museum, one of the sweet liqueur known since antiquity. pelago, but also the splendid Cala most important in Italy, set in the area On Salina you can visit the village of Junco, one of the most beautiful in the of the castle, the fortified zone where Pollara, with a beach at the foot of a Aeolian Islands. And we must also the successive inhabitants of the island Cyclopic sheer part, and you can look speak of the two most secluded and settled. In addition to finds testifying to for traces of Massimo Troisi, who here solitary sisters, Alicudi and Filicudi. the ancient history of the archipelago, made Il Postino, his last film. The archi- The former, more to the west, is not an the museum also has a vulcanological pelago, besides, can boast of a long cin- island for everybody: you need only section in which the particular geology ema history: on Stromboli, for instance, know that there is not even one road of the islands is illustrated. After a visit Roberto Rossellini made his film but only paths up which you climb on to the museum you can visit the church Stromboli with Ingrid Bergman, giving foot or on a mule's back. dedicated to the patron saint, St. the public black and bare images of the The houses are few and tiny, concen- Bartholomew, which has a beautiful island. It is nothing but the peak of a trated in the western part, and it is only ceiling; you can also see the excavations huge submarine volcano, whose activity, for a few years that they have had elec- that have brought to light residences documented since the remotest times, tric energy. Filicudi is also very distant from different epochs, some prehistoric, never ceases, so much so that eruptions, from mass tourism, although less wild and look out from the belvedere near at almost regular intervals of 15-20 min- than its neighbour. A must is a bathe in the theatre, to enjoy the magnificent utes, even acted as a lighthouse for peo- the gigantic Sea Ox cave, as well as panorama of Marina Corta, the pictur- ple who crossed the low Tyrrhenian. excursions to the Perciato and the esque harbour that is one of the hearts Today nighttime excursions are organ- Canna spit, a basaltic rock-stack that of social life on Lipari. ized to see the eruptions reddening rises over seventy metres from the sur- After you get back onto the sea a must against the black velvet of the sky. face of the sea. is to sail round the island, which will Now we must speak of Panarea, a pic- And as we are talking about islands and allow sailors to admire caves, little bays turesque mix of sea, archaeology and sea, your luggage must include a mask and cliffs, before setting off for Salina, social life. This island for some years and nozzle: in this way even less expert the next stage. Dominated by the mas- has been distinguished by exclusive people can explore the magnificent sive shape of two mountains, this island tourism, being preferred by the best- seabeds, observing on the water's sur- is known as “the green one” because of known members of the international jet face Gorgonia grasslands and the rapid the quantity of vegetation that covers it, set. Near Punta Milazzese there is one flashes of every sort of fish.
27 monumental patrimony The VAL Catania Caltagirone di NOTO Militello Val di Catania Palazzolo Acreide Noto Ragusa Ibla Modica Scicli
35 The earthquake of 11 January 1693 was ered by young people, artists and cultural Caltagirone, well known for ceramics pro- one of the most catastrophic events in personalities. Here you can admire the duction since remote times. The quality of Italy in historic times. The earthquake - to line of churches and monastic buildings the production can be observed more or which experts today assign an intensity in Via dei Crociferi, the gigantic San less everywhere, in the municipal park as equal to the eleventh degree of the Nicola church and the refined backdrops on the risers of the monumental flight of Mercalli scale - destroyed an area of hun- of Piazza Duomo, with the building of the steps of Santa Maria del Monte, which dreds and hundreds of square kilometres: town hall, the seminary and the Elephant since 1608 has connected the lower and practically all south-eastern Sicily. and Amenano fountains framing the upper parts of the town. This is one of the Yet, despite death and desolation, never Cathedral, dedicated to the beloved best-known attractions in Caltagirone, and has it been truer than in this case that “it's patron saint, St. Agatha, and the sumptu- also the protagonist of numerous events an ill wind that blows nobody good”: the ous Benedictine monastery, which has like the flower procession in May, and the reconstruction, undertaken with heroic nothing to envy a royal castle. The night-time illumination with coloured oil fervour, gave rise to what is now defined Benedictines were also among the protag- lamps in July. Below it there is the as the “Val di Noto Baroque”, an ines- onists of the reconstruction, as can be Baroque San Giuseppe church, but also timable patrimony of art and architecture seen at Militello Val di Catania, a town worth seeing is the beautiful San Giacomo that in 2001 UNESCO proclaimed World that, in spite of its limited size, can boast church, with an original bell tower on top Heritage. of a quantity of Baroque buildings of of which there sit the four evangelists, St. The towns and villages chosen to make up merit: from the monastery, precisely, that Claire and the Most Holy Saviour. this treasure are eight in number: Catania reprises the structure of the one in The other provincial capital, Ragusa, in and, in its province, Caltagirone and Catania, with the attached San Benedetto addition to a profusion of churches - Militello Val di Catania; Ragusa with church, to the buildings of the nobility - including the beautiful San Giorgio Modica and Scicli; Palazzolo Acreide and including Palazzo Baldanza-Denaro and Cathedral, at the extremity of the oblong Noto, in Syracuse province. Palazzo Liggieri - and a large number of plaza in the heart of the Ibla district - also Catania may not be the most beautiful sacred buildings like the cathedral church, has quite a big quantity of noble man- Sicilian city, but certainly it has a splen- the Madonna della Catena church and the sions. With curious harmony, the new dour of its own, in addition to an environ- Sanctuary of Santa Maria La Stella. Baroque buildings done at the behest of ment of great vivacity, joyfully rediscov- In Catania province we also find the local aristocracy were grafted onto a street texture that was still markedly toward Scicli, allowing itself, at the end of church, one of the most important, its medieval, creating that authentic jewel a straight road along which there are the façade framed by the palm trees in a neat that is Ibla. Walking around looking up, dry-stone walls typical of the Iblei coun- little garden, and San Carlo. Then we the visitor will discover decorations with tryside, big bends as far as the village. If have Palazzo Ducezio, which is the town overflowing pomp, for instance on Palazzo you arrive in the evening, the houses, the hall, and Palazzo Villadorata, an old and Cosentini and Palazzo La Rocca. church and the buildings appear to be very beautiful abode with a long façade Not far from Ragusa we meet the illuminated by warm gilded light, a adorned with balconies supported by dec- enchanting Modica, a town with ancient charming spectacle preluding so many orated stone brackets, which dominates a history and prestige, the chief place in a decorations in stone on the buildings. whole street and in May acts as a back- county that once was considered a king- There are flowers, carvings and geome- drop to the preparation of a flowery sce- dom in the kingdom, because of the tries, but also grotesque representations nario. Palazzolo Acreide is the last stage - wealth and influence of its seignior. like the two Moors' heads supporting the but certainly not the least important - of Here the most famous monument is cer- coat of arms of the owners on a corner- our itinerary. Here there are a lot of richly tainly the big San Giorgio church, with a stone of Palazzo Beneventano, one of the adorned palazzos: they include the abode long flight of two hundred and fifty steps most beautiful. Not to mention Palazzo of Baron Gabriele Judica, who made him- preceding a high façade, as if it wanted to Fava, the long succession of churches and self poor in his efforts to bring to light the challenge the sky. San Giorgio is one of palazzos in Via Mormino Penna, and the remains of ancient Akrai, as well as the most beautiful Baroque works in Carmelite church and monastery. Palazzo Zacco and Palazzo Ferla. And the southern Italy, but there are other splen- Churches and monastic buildings are churches are very beautiful: San did churches in the town, like the beauti- extremely well represented at Noto, which Sebastiano, in the piazza of the town hall, ful San Pietro, Santa Maria di Betlem has always been considered the “capital” and that of the rival saint Paul, both (inside which there is a the magnificent of the Baroque. They go from the enchanting Baroque buildings, and the sixteenth-century Sacrament Chapel), and Salvatore monastery to the Cathedral, an Annunziata, with a stately portal of twisted San Nicolò inferiore. There is also the imposing and elegant building that at last, columns around which turgid augural birthplace of Salvatore Quasimodo, to after laborious restoration, will reopen to vine-branches wind. whom a literary park is dedicated. believers and visitors in the spring of A narrow little road goes down from here 2006. Then there is the San Domenico Praefurnia rooms
Calidaria Tepidarium Frigidarium
Salon Cortile Big Peristyle Big room with apse Cortile Vestibule
room Atrium Ambulatory with big hunting scene hunting big with Ambulatory
monumental entrance Room with apse Elliptical peristyle rooms Triclinium
Cistern
cultural patrimony The VILLA Piazza Armerina of CASALE
49 The Female gymnasts (which everyone, complete with all appurtenances. And, in the absence of the furnishings and because of their modern “two-piece” what is even more extraordinary, there frescoes that indubitably must have attire, refers to as the “bikini girls”) are were hundreds of square metres of covered the walls, now demolished, by perhaps the most famous, but the Great mosaics. There was a mosaic cycle of the mosaics, an uninterrupted mosaic hunt, with its profusion of wild animals excellent quality, preserved intact by a covering of inestimable artistic and and hunters, is not inferior. thick covering of mud that had buried scientific value, with scenes of hunting, Polyphemus appears vigorous and fier- them during a flood. This was a cata- private life, mythological characters and ce, while the young woman of the strophic natural event that had com- geometric decorations. The decorations Erotic scene that adorns the floor of a pleted the destruction by man at the were done with all probability by cubicle in the private apartments is villa, but had left the mosaics intact, so African craftsmen, who infused great sensual and mischievous. These are the that were delivered once again, after vitality and vigour in their work, crea- mosaics of the Roman Villa of Casale at seven centuries of oblivion, to our ting one of the most important works of Piazza Armerina, one of the most pre- admiring eyes. Roman art that has come down to us. cious and famous Roman treasures in The villa was built between the 3rd and An incomparable testimony not only to Sicily, proclaimed World Heritage by 4th centuries AD, in the heart of a vast the magnificence of the empire, but UNESCO in 1996. and fertile agricultural estate near the also a graphic representation of the life The first explorations were made in statio philosophiana, a very important and customs of a people: from hunting this area towards the end of the 19th station on the road that connected the techniques, an activity to which there is century, but it was only in the 1930s eastern coast with the southern coast of devoted the stately mosaic that adorns that systematic exploration of the area the island. It belonged to an unknown the ambulatory that gave access to the began, while the most important exca- personage of the Roman aristocracy, big room for audiences, to sports, from vations were made between 1950 and who according to some historians the activities of every day like a visit to 1960. Before the amazed eyes of the might even have been related to the the baths, to those linked to agriculture, archaeologists, three big groups of imperial family, a personage of whom for instance the harvest, which then, as rooms emerged, connected by galleries all we know for certain is that he was today, was among the economic activi- and courtyards - a villa of stupefying very rich and that he loved to surround ties of the Sicilian countryside. splendour, with private thermal baths, himself with luxury. This is testified to,
51
immaterial patrimony The ART of puppet theatre ANIMATING THINGS
55 The Paladins are actual idols, a great deal more than Coppi or Bartali, we are glad of their victories, we cry at their death.
Carlo Levi Words are stones
56 Once, and it was not so long ago, the the world, all characterized by strong these subjects there are also other more Puppet Theatre was a daily show for the specificities. fanciful ones, for instance Greek myths, Sicilians. One evening after the other, The Opra dei Pupi, as a representation of which are represented at a little theatre people gathered at the little theatre to the clashes between the knights of in Syracuse. follow the stories of Orlando, Rinaldo, Charlemagne and the "wicked" Moors, Each family of puppeteers has its own Bradamante and Angelica, siding with came into being in the second half of the preferences and traditions, its own tech- one or the other and hitting out at the nineteenth century: the chivalrous mari- niques for manoeuvring the puppets baddies. onettes, with their typical characters, (which vary a great deal in size, depending Today the place of those little theatres served to represent the thirst for justice on the area of Sicily), scenery and back- has been taken by TV and other forms of of the less fortunate social classes. At the drops, which are painted by hand, reli- entertainment, but the puppets preserve same time, epic stories were narrated by giously guarded and handed down. The their charm, and even though there are the cuntisti, itinerant balladeers that day making of the marionettes and the differ- few puppeteers their shows do not fail to after day performed in front of a public ent components of the scenery are also a attract attention and curiosity. This is of fond listeners. The fortune of the form of art in themselves, with particular probably because thanks to their genre is also strongly linked to its prox- specialization, tricks and skills. Each pup- absolutely original stylistic and figurative imity to certain codes of behaviour root- pet must be strongly characterized. structure the Sicilian puppets succeed in ed in the Sicilians, from the sense of Today, besides the puppeteers still active representing in an excellent way the epic honour to the struggle for justice, values on the island, there are also some muse- and chivalrous spirit, values that, in spite that, though in the simple form of the ums that preserve the old tradition of the of all technology, still belong to Sicilian Opra, were transmitted and consolidated Opra: among them there is the big culture. in theatrical narration. Marionette Museum in Palermo (MiMa), Because of the extraordinary cultural The stories were mainly based on chival- the Museum of Sicilian Puppets in richness of the Opra, in 2001 it was rous subjects, first of all the Chansons de Caltagirone and the Museum of the placed on UNESCO's list of Immaterial Geste, but there were also other themes, Puppet Theatre at Sortino. At some of Heritages of Humanity, a recognition that from that of bandits to the stories - these museums there are also short and sets this traditional art form alongside strongly tied to Catania - of the aristo- simple performances for a first experi- other artistic expressions from all over cratic Uzeda family. Today, alongside ence of this particular theatrical form.