Escursioni Etna

The ancient theatre which at the beginning was Greek (hellenistic period) has been transformed and enlarged during the Roman period.

The Greek theatre obeys to the classic designs, with a semi-circular space for the musicians, the choir and dancers. The Romans removed the first line of steps to transform the orchestra in arena, and  added a hallway for the entrance of gladiators and ferocious beasts. From the cavea we can sea the stunning Etna landscape.

Umberto I Avenue is pleasant for walking, a bit uphill, very quiet, full of restaurants, cafès and fashionable shops. Sideways tiny streets where you can feel the fragrances of bread and almonds.

Communal villa gardens. A large range of flowers and plants are grown in this park, which once was private and where the owners built exotic buildings.

The Duomo square. At the middle of the square a baroque fountain made of Taormina rocks, with a circular base, opens to east. On it the emblem of the city, a centauro, designed in a female version, which  has instead of four feet, two arms holding a ball and a wand, symbols of the power.

Fortezza cathedral, the name given to the cathedral dome, built around 400 on the wrecks of a middle age small church  dedicated to Saint Nicola of Bari.

The gothic architecture of the old abbey belongs to the 4th century. It is supposed that the name of the building is Old Abbey, because in the past it was an abbey.

 Corvaja palace. The name comes from the Corvajas, one of the most patrician and old families in Taormina, who owned it from 1538 to 1945. It has a combined arabian, gothic and norman style, as a result of many transformations brought by the various rules.

S. Stefano dukedome. Built at the end of 1300 and at the begining of 1400, it was an included part of the second surrounding wall of the city. It’s a masterpiece of the sicilian gothic art, but part of the arabian-norman experience.

The clock tower is the entrance to that part of the city used as a 4th century suburb.

San Giuseppe church, built during the second part of the 17th century, is the only baroque church of Taormina.

Santa Caterina church , built during 1600 on a place that was once a little Roman theatre, the Odeon. On the portal, made of pink marble, there is an architrave reproducing a triangle gable of a Greek temple.

Piazza IX Aprile. It is the elegant parlour of Taormina, full of bars and with “the most charming landscape of the world”.

The Odeon. It is smaller than the ancient Theatre. It is thought that Odeon was a place for plays and musicals reserved for very important persons.

The Naumachie are the most important  Roman monuments of the island.

The San Domenico. It was a domenican cloister, today it is the San Domenico Palace hotel, one of the most famous Italian hotel, it was the first palace-castle, and the third nunnery built in Taormina.

Castelmola castle. Castelmola is a village at the top of mountTauro. Originally built to defend Taormina, this place now contains the Acropolis of Tauromnion. The Castle is on the highest point of the city and thanks to this isolate position and visual dominance at the same time, we can appreciate an amazing natural landscape.