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Discover here some of the best monuments in Taormina

monuments in Taormina
badia vecchia
palazzo corvaja
antiquarium taormina
the odeon taormina
palazzo duchi s.stefano
palazzo ciampoli taormina
monuments in Taormina

TAORMINA

MONUMENTS OF TAORMINA

 

Taormina is a small jewel of Sicily, set between a transparent sea of a thousand shades and Mount Etna that dominates the whole territory from above.

The historic monuments of Taormina allow you to take a dip in the past of this wonderful town, among wonderful buildings and splendid churches. The whole ancient village deserves to be visited and in everywhere you will see a detail worthy of note.

They are exposed here not in order of their importance:

  1. THE GREEK-ROMAN THEATER
  2. BADIA VECCHIA
  3. PALAZZO CORVAJA
  4. THE ANTIQUARIUM
  5. THE ODEON
  6. PALAZZO DUCHI OF S. STEFANO
  7. PALAZZO CIAMPOLI
  8. THE CATHEDRAL OF TAORMINA
monuments
monuments taormina

MONUMENTS IN TAORMINA

THE GREEK-ROMAN THEATRE

 

Is it Greek or Roman? This is a question that has always been open to debate among experts and critics. All their disputes would end if they remembered Taormina’s origins as a Greek “Polis” and the fact that each and every ancient Greek town had its own Theatre where they performed tragedies by Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides and comedies by Aristophanes, just to name the most famous authors.

 

The Theatre in Taormina is the second-largest in Sicily after the one in Siracusa. All the Romans did later, in accordance with their well-known ostentatious nature, was enlarge the theatre as it was very small and it apparently took decades to build.

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TAORMINA

BADIA VECCHIA

 

Armando Dillon, a Neopolitan architect, is of the opinion that this building was called Badia Vecchia due to the fact that it was at one stage the home of Mother Abbess Euphemia, who was a regent of the Kingdom of Sicily from 1355 in the name of her younger brother Frederic IV, known as “the Simple”. But this is only a theory, even though it is a suggestive one.

 

It does seem, however, that the mansion is called Badia Vecchia because it once was an abbey. This theory is based on the discovery of a sacred painting at the bottom of a rain-water well and it seems that the painting was hidden there so as to save it from one of the many invasions on Taormina.

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monuments taormina badia vecchia

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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MONUMENTS IN TAORMINA

PALAZZO CORVAJA

 

Among the historical monuments of Taormina certainly not to be missed is the Palazzo Corvaja, originally built in the period in which the Arabs ruled in Sicily. To this tower in Arab style went to add the real Palace, made in different styles.

 

Even today, one can appreciate the fifteenth-century hall where the meetings of the Sicilian Parliament, held in the Norman period, or the Gothic-style windows that embellish the facades were held. Today the building is owned by the Municipality of Taormina and is used as a Civic Library, as well as the seat of the Dramatic Mediterranean Center.

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monuments in Taormina
monuments taormina antiquarium

TAORMINA

THE ANTIQUARIUM

 

The Antiquarium is a small archeological museum on show in two rooms of the Antique Theatre guardian’s house, once called the House of the Englishmen because it was supposedly inhabited by English families during the first days of tourism in Taormina.

 

Few archaeological specimens remain in this house-museum since most of them are now in Naples, Messina and Siracusa. One of the most interesting things is a large square block of Taormina marble, formerly the base of a statue.

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TAORMINA

THE ODEON

 

There are no doubts as to the origins of the Odeon, or “small theatre”. It was built directly by the Romans when Taormina became a military colony in the year 21 B.C. under Caesar Augustus Octavian, the first Roman emperor.

 

Much smaller than the other theatre, it is evidence of how important culture was to Taormina in those days. The small theatre is just behind a hill named after St. Catherine of Alexandria in Egypt, near Palazzo Corvaja. lt was found accidentally on June 5th 1892 and until that moment no one had even suspected it existed. The story of its discovery is an unusual one.

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monuments taormina odeon
monuments in Taormina

MONUMENTS IN TAORMINA

PALAZZO DUCHI DI S. STEFANO

 

Palazzo Duchi di S. Stefano is surely one of the masterpieces of Sicilian Gothic art, in which the elements of Arabian and Norman art merge. Arabian reminiscences are aroused by the decoration on the top part of the palace: a wide frieze runs along the east and north facades formed by a wavy decoration in lavic stone alternated with rhombus-shaped inlays in white Siracusa stone, together forming a magnificent lace of marquetry.

 

Norman art instead is recalled by its square tower-like plan and by what remains of the swallow-tailed merlons on the top of the building. The Palace is made up of three-square overlapping sections. The entrance to the ground floor is an ogival arch constructed with squared bricks of black basalt, lavic stone and white granite, Taormina stone.

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MONUMENTS IN TAORMINA

PALAZZO CIAMPOLI

 

Palazzo Ciampoli is the most recent of the mediaeval mansions in Taormina, since its origin dates back to the beginning of the 15th century.

The year in which this splendid mansion was built was 1412 and the coat-of-arms above its main entrance portal bears this date. In 1926 the “Palazzo Vecchio” Hotel was built in the gardens of Palazzo Ciampoli and architecturally the hotel vaguely recalled the famous “Palazzo Vecchio” or “Palazzo della Signoria” in Florence.

Until a few years ago, Palazzo Ciampoli housed one of Taormina’s most famous night clubs, “Sesto Acuto”, named after the ogival arches which ornate the building according to the Gothic style that it recalls

Since two coats-of-arms, one with a shield and a flag, the other with a shield and three stars, can be found in both Palazzo Ciampoli and Palazzo Corvaja, the former is thought to have been owned by the Corvaja family before being passed on to the Ciampoli family.

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churches taormina
monuments in Taormina

MONUMENTS IN TAORMINA

THE CATHDRAL OF TAORMINA

 

The cathedral of Taormina is dedicated to St. Nicholas, with its austere stone façade, the battlements crowning and the massive bell tower that make it resemble a fortress, stands in the charming Piazza del Duomo. The Cathedral of Taormina, is part of the medieval buildings of Taormina and in its external appearance, it maintains the characteristics of Sicilian Romanesque-Gothic architecture.

 

The building that is that of the ecclesia munita, the church-fortress, can be dated between the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, certainly built on a previous medieval basilica. The name of the cathedral was attributed to it because of the importance that Taormina had in the ecclesiastical sphere as the seat of the bishopric and the consecration to San Nicolò di Bari, it is typical of a use in force because of the cult of the saint who was bishop of Mira, in Lycia, today’s Turkey.

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