AGRIGENTO
True to the promises of the travel posters, the fabulous Greek temples of Agrigento were silhouetted against clouds of almond blossoms. The five astonishing temples which are aligned along the walls of the ancient city need no such flowery embellishment. They are superlative in themselves. How well the Greeks understood the art of picking a site! Along a dramatic ridge they stand, overlooking the sea. Put them all together and you have truly Homeric experience, and enough Doric architecture to last a lifetime. Not that the Agrigento temples could outdo the Parthenon. They are carved from the rough, porous local stone, in contrast to the Parthenon's gleaming marble, and were covered with stucco, many traces of which remain. High above the temple ridge is the modern city of Agrigento, occupying the ancient Acropolis. It lacks interest, except for a Grecian sarcophagus in the cathedral, and the fact that it is the birthplace of Pirandello.
The hotel situation is better in Agrigento today than in the past, when Goethe, for example, searched in vain for even a simple locanda. The author of Faust finally found refuge in a spaghetti factory Today's traveler finds a wide, sprawling establishment half way between the temples and the citadels, called the HOTEL DDI TDMPLI. It has seen better days, but its southern rooms have a magnificent view of the temples and the sea. Its tropical garden is pleasant, if its echoing salons arc somewhat barren. The cuisine maintains a respectable standard, and the rooms are furnished in precisely the same way they were when Baedeker was a boy. It's the best place in Agrigento, however, and has a most cosmopolitan clientele, including at the moment some Texas oil nun with flowery neckties and friendly ways, who are drilling for liquid treasure in the nearby hills.
Herds of sheep and goats form a traffic hazard here. The goats, whose flat spiral horns are highly picturesque, come straight from the grazing hills to the villages, where they are milked in front of the housewife's door. No middleman here, except the shepherd. The yellow and orange Sicilian donkey carts which have escaped the antique dealers rattle along these southern roads. Every inch of these carts is covered with decorative painting. The donkey wears a plumeddunce tap, and another feather duster bounces from his harness. If the day is festive, he is further bedecked with velvet and lace, and his harness is hung with colored streamers of ribbon. You can't sublimate a donkey much more. The burro, the donkey, the mule, the jackass (or is this getting redundant?), these are still the elemental means of transport in Sicily. Except, of course, for the women, who carry everything from a jug of water to a load of wood on their heads. The Sicilian youth may slouch, but not the maiden; she has a fine erect hearing, and for good reason!
SYRACUSE
Two dramatic hill towns, Ragusa and Modica, lie along the highway before the land becomes flat and fertile, and the island silhouette of Syracuse comes into view. It is hard to believe that this was once one of the most powerful Hellenic cities. It boasted half a million inhabitants at a time when Rome was little more than a village. Now its population has dwindled, and most of the ancient city has disappeared completely. What remains, however, is impressive-a superlative Greek theater hewn in the rocky hillside during the fourth century B.C., a Roman amphitheatre in fine preservation, and some very spooky quarries with lurid legends attached. A much later curiosity worth visiting is the little Romanesque church of San Giovanni, and its immense catacombs. Visitors who stay at Syracuse's leading hotel, the VILLA POLITI, will be within walking distance of all these, and will be assured of comfortable rooms and good food.
The present city of Syracuse is concentrated some distance away on the hook-shaped promontory of Ortigia, extending into the sea. Close-packed and animated, it has a museum of immense interest to historians and numismatists. But the sublime marble statue of Aphrodite, discovered just 150 years ago. is its most obvious treasure. It is headless. alas, and one forearm is missing, but the attributes which remain arouse considerable enthusiasm with the public. There is a strong Spanish flavor to the ornate facades on Syracuse's cathedral square, and it is more than a surprise to discover that the cathedral's flashy front masks a converted Greek temple. All archaeologist would probably want to stay here for a month, but most travelers will do Syracuse in a day or two. The HOTEL DES ETRANGERS, overlooking the port and the famous fountain of Arethusa, will prove a satisfactory place for an overnight stop.
Pinterest
