25 Feb 2020

Nobel Prize

The Nobel Prize is an important award given to those who have carried out exceptional research, invented revolutionary techniques or equipment or made exceptional contributions to society. Each year prizes are awarded in the following areas: chemistry, economics, physics, literature, medicine and ...
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25 Feb 2020

Who was Salvatore Quasimodo?

He was the second son of Gaetano Quasimodo, a station master, and Clotilde Ragusa. He had three siblings: Enzo, Ettore and Rosina. The great poet travelled on business throughout Italy from Messina, to Florence, Reggio Calabria, Milan and Imperia. When he moved from the Sicilian island he changed ...
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25 Feb 2020

The art of dry stone walls

To reach Modica you cross the hills of the Hyblaean countryside. Between one prickly pear plant and another, you can spot dry stone walls. In 2018 they were added to the List of Intangible Cultural Heritage by the UNESCO Committee for the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage. The art of dr...
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25 Feb 2020

The green quarries

The Cava di Ispica (Ispica Canyon) is a valley that extends between Modica and Ispica. It preserves and houses incredible treasures: prehistoric necropolises, Christian catacombs, places of worship, ancient monastic buildings and residential centres dating from prehistoric times until the earthquake...
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25 Feb 2020

Modica

These words were used by Gesualdo Bufalino to describe the city of Modica:  "... a town similar to a broken pomegranate. It was near the seaside but rural; one half was condensed on a rocky spur, the other half spread at its feet. There were many stairs between the two halves, like peacekeepers. An...
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25 Feb 2020

Telamon

Telamons are mythological figures used in architecture as supports. In Greek culture, they held up the sky and were depicted standing or kneeling....
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25 Feb 2020

The importance of a palace

The aristocratic family's town house was used as a representative palace and would have demonstrated the family's wealth and social status. These immense and important palaces were built from the end of the 17th century, thanks to large sums of money from farming. The grand Sicilian lords were own...
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25 Feb 2020

The four altars

The four splendid altars, two on one side and two on the other in four small chapels, were made of stone and decorated with painted glass using a special process to make them look like marble. To elevate and complete the four chapels, Tommaso Polluce was commissioned to paint three of the four spl...
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24 Feb 2020

Pilaster

A pilaster is an architectural element required to support a building's structure. It is a pillar inserted into a wall, where it protrudes a few centimetres....
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24 Feb 2020

Free-standing column

A column is a vertical architectural element with a circular shape that supports the upper structure. A column is free standing when it is not inserted into the depth of the wall and its roundness emerges completely....
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