Churches of Sicily
Italy and its churches... It is considered that of all the European nations Italy has made the greatest contribution to painting and sculpture. The Italian renaissance left a magnificent legacy of painting and sculpture that decorates Italian museums, buildings and churches throughout the country (it’s said that Italy is a home to a half of the world’s great art). Well known artists, like Bellini, Botticelli, da Vinci, Donatello, Giacometti, Giotto, Michelangelo, Palladio, Raphael, Tintoretto, Titian, relied heavily on the Catholic Church for patronage, therefore most of Italian churches are ‘art galleries’ per se and you may be amazed to discover the treasures inside even the smallest and most insignificant-looking church.
My husband and I are traveling together for 6 years now. And our first destination was Rome. I believe that trip made me a kind of traveler I'm today. Whenever I go to a new city I always try to visit there as many churches as possible. Why? I think religion and its fine art say a lot about the culture, about the people, about the country itself. And Italy, with it's fragmented political and religious history has led to a very rich diversity in the arts, that we were lucky enough to witness in Rome, Vatican, Florence, Venice, Pisa, Milan, Genoa and other places. And then we went to Sicily.
Imagine this. There were some ancient tribes (which arrived from the Iberian Peninsula) living on the island, when Greek came along. They established some important settlements, Syracuse among all, and started to build temples, as they always did. Then Romans came, and Greek-Punic war erupted. Romans also liked to build, by the way. Few centuries passed and there were Germanic tribes known as the Vandals, then Byzantines, then Berbers and Arabs for the next 250 years. They built too, a lot. The Normans conquered Sicily in the 11th century, and these guys started to build where it was already built by their predecessors. Anyway, after them there were Germans from Swabia, then Sicily became French, then Austrian, and finally, in 1861 it became part of the Kingdom of Italy. A lot of temples, mosques, churches, cloisters etc. were built throughout rich history of the island. And all those buildings look just amazing nowadays.
Did you know that there are 237 churches only in Palermo? Here are some of them.
Definitely the most epic among them is Palermo Cathedral, that due to a long history of additions, alterations and restorations is characterized by the presence of different styles - Arabic and Norman, Gothic and Baroque - the architectural complex of the Cathedral combines them all. You'd say it has to look ridiculous, but on the contrary, the elements introduced by the architects of different nations and centuries complement each other in a very harmonious way. I can surely say that this is the most unusual and beautiful church I've ever seen.
Cefalu Cathedral is 884 years old. A small area inside is decorated with mosaics - huge and beautiful, and very gold.The dominant figure of the decorative scheme is the bust of the Christ Pantokrator - very popular motive in the area. But the biggest impression was a view from the La Rocca cliff - the fortress-like character of the church, when seen from a distance, rises as a huge bulk above its medieval town, and a gorgeous blue sea around... magnificent!
And of course, the Cathedral of Monreale. It is one of the greatest extant examples of Norman architecture in the world. They say, if you went to Palermo and didn't see the Cathedral of Monreale, you remain to be the same "donkey" as you used to be. I myself was wondering around the dome with my eyes opened wide. The impression of all of it was truly great. Literally everything - floor, ceiling, walls, columns, mosaics and paintings - is a work of a magnificent art. Again, gold and colorful. And the bust of the Christ Pantokrator is so huge one cannot even imagine - the head of the Сhrist with the beard has a height of more than 3 meters, right arm extends to 7 meters, and the whole image has a height of 7 meters and a maximum width - 13.30 meters. The main attraction of the Cathedral of Monreale are 130 mosaics covering almost all the interior walls of the cathedral on the area of about 10 000 m². Plus a wonderful cloister courtyard fills you with such a sense of beauty that you are willing to stay there forever (Guy de Maupassant's words, not mine). I think you got it. It's marvelous.
About sightseeing with a baby. I noticed my little girl was amazed by those churches. Maybe not as much as I was, but still, she was looking around a lot when inside and didn't make a sound. Maybe only for 5 minutes, but I consider it as a small victory. My 15-month old has already seen beautiful things in her life, and it's pretty cool.
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