Noto Fotos, 2

Continuing our afternoon and evening at Noto's Infiorata...

Noto very certainly has more churches than bars; maybe even pizzerias

All of them Baroque

Helpful model of the cathedral

If it ain't Baroque...

National emblem: Sicily is a triangle with three points; sort
of

This what it's all about: the Corrado Nicolaci paved in floral mosaics; the
wait to enter line was about 30 minutes; we decided to see it next morning

Another church; might have been the cathedral; Baroques all look alike to me;
this one is notable for our having FaceTimed with Rebecca and Penelope from
the nave

Another Sicilian icon; sort of a Pedro y Inez thing, I gather

Floral mosaics notwithstanding, Noto has some other
beautiful displays

Aromatic too

Us at the top of the Corrado Nicolaci

Looking back

They do other staircases too, though not in floral mosaic

With helpful illustrations

Looking at floral mosaics makes you really hungry, so we stopped for dinner;
above, a shared bruschetta; her calzone was not photogenic

But my grilled seafood was; except I don't think I want to know what the thing
on the right was

Walking back through the food market, we stopped and bought some pistachio
brittle; yum

Noto Fotos, 1

We had never been to Noto before, nor even heard of it. Normally we would not go out of our way to see anything Baroque, even a town known for  it. One can hardly avoid Baroque in this part of the world. But Noto is another World Heritage Site, it gets three stars for its architecture, according to some guides, its story reminded us a bit of Napier, North Island, and, most important, we had read that Noto's flower festival, going on that very weekend, was one of Sicily's big shows. One of the highlights of our 2011 Sicilian campaign was happening on to Sciacca's Carnival--Sicily's second largest--and we were hoping Noto's flower festival might be another stroke of such good luck. It was.

The original Noto, an important site from prehistoric times, was leveled by an earthquake in 1693. The new town was located some miles closer to the sea, the Ionian Sea, and, being a regional capital, had enough wealth to rebuild itself in the architectural fashion of the day, Baroque. Students of this blog will recall our visits to Napier, North Island, which had a similar experience, sort of, only in the 1930s and in Art Deco.

Anyhow, we spent the best parts of two days at Noto, and took lots of fotos.

That's the flower festival event sign; this year's theme--the
festival has been going on for decades--was China [sic]

Traffic was so choked--scores (hundreds?) of turbusses--so the campground
shuttle let us out still a mile from the centro storico

We could have spent the rest of the day at the large flea market in a park on
the way to town

Need any philosophy books? Maybe Feyerabend's Against Method, in Italiano,
of course

Maybe a Klimt?

Maybe some material for an alligator purse? And matching belt
and shoes?

A souvenir of your visit to Sicily

A wood-burned portrait of Lenin ("I am the walrus" "Shut
the fuck up, Donny")

Here demonstrating a phone case so strong you can not
drill through it, even with a kryptonite bit

But after only a few tables of the market, we joined the throng heading to the
flower thing

It's an up-hill kind of place

We found it expedient, as did others, to cut through a
church here or there, rather than battle through the crowd;
this one a rather muted Baroque

Former palace, now city hall

Baroque dress-up at the height of the festivities

Villa Romana del Casale, 2

Rarely does one walk away from something so impressed. We have seen mosaics of the Roman world from England to Morocco, Spain to Turkey, many of them superb, whether in museums or churches or in situ. But this one is head and shoulders above all the others. Do check out other images, by professionals, on the web. If you like mosaics, ancient or Medieval, don't miss Sicily!

Among the basilicas

The most impressive piece at the Villa Romana is the 200 foot long ambulatory
known as The Great Hunt, where a variety of African animals are hunted and
captured for transport to Rome and the amusements there

Including elephants

The interpretive signage is extensive, informative, and in English too

More of the Great Hunt

The Great Hunt, plus a couple depictions of the Circus Maximus have led some
scholars to suggest that the owner of the villa was one Lucius Aradius Valerius
Proculus, governor of Sicily and later a Roman consul; as praetor, earlier in
his career, he had organized some of the most spectacular games and other
amusements the City had ever seen; perhaps the scenes at the villa celebrate
them...

Among some--count me in--the most memorable scene in the Villa is the floor
of a large room now thought to have been the ladies' gym; thus the ten, well,
nine, Bikini Girls that are the Villa Romana's main emblem

Running a deep pattern...

OK, back to The Great Hunt

The guy with the funny hat is said by some to be the Master

Still more Hunt

Helpful model #...well, locked off in a room, it actually wasn't that helpful

Satire (?) on the Circus Maximus--indeed there are the Red, Blue, Green, and
White teams

Another huge seafood scene

All 200 feet of The Great Hunt

Dionysan cult, Pan, maenads, satyrs, and such; oh my

Detail of an interesting marine scene with assorted sea divinities including
nereids, tritons, mermaids, and a stray dragon and panther

And now for something completely different: an
Ichthyocentaur...human torso, horse's front legs, and fish
tale

More of said marine scene

According to Vicki, the most memorable and emblematic scene: Cupid and Psyche

Lastly, Ulysses telling Polyphemous to have another...

Also at the Villa that day, a touring group of vintage Jags