Sicily trip: Dec 24, Selinunte

Selinunte is a Greek settlement site located in a picturesque spot on the coast, only a few kilometers from our agriturismo. The colony was founded in 628 BC. The location is spectacular and the ruins of the temples are quite impressive.



Here you can walk on them all you want.



One of the temples is in "good" shape...



... only pieces remain from the others:



The colony was sacked in 409 BC by Segesta (see Dec 28) aligned with Carthage (the guidebook says: "In one of the most terrible massacres of the ancient world").



M saw this magpie...



("сорока" in Russian, gazza in Italian) and got nostalgic -- haven't seen one in years. She asked to add it to the blog. Why not?

We stopped at a bar in Selinunte for a Marsala tasting. It turns out Marsala, a local sweet wine, was "discovered" in 1773 by a Brit, John Woodhouse, and he made it popular.

From Selinunte, up to the hills to Castelvetrano. A picnic lunch near Chiesa della Santissima Trinita di Delia, named after the river Delia below. This is a cute 12th century church in Arab-Norman style...


-- now a private chapel for the family that owns the surrounding land.

From there up to Gibbelina Nuova. The old town was completely destroyed by the Bèlice earthquake in 1968. In a kind of social experiment, it was decided to abandon it and build nearby a new town from scratch. The result is Gibellina Nuova, built in a planned manner (or one might say, contrived, depending on one's taste). It has a "system" of piazzas, reminiscent of an ancient Greek or Roman town, a big theater, lots of outdoor statues commissioned to famous artists. It is conceived as a sort of monument and outdoor museum. In other words, "the whole production," a little incongruous. This is the "entrance" on the main highway:



I wouldn't want to live there!