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###MAZARA DEL VALLO | SICILIA | 4K DRONE FOOTAGE###
Mazara del Vallo (spelt Mazzara until the Second World War) was founded in the 9th century BC by the Phoenicians, who used it as a strategic emporium for their trans-Mediterranean trading interests. Floating along on the familiar tide of Sicilian history, Mazara soon became part of Magna Graecia, when it served as a port for nearby Selinunte, and then to the Romans, during whose dominance, in the 3rd century AD, the town's most famous son, San Vito, was born. After a life of miracles, including curing Diocletian’s son of epilepsy, San Vito was martyred in Rome in 303 AD by the same, ungrateful Emperor.
It was under the Arabs, who invaded in 827, however, that Mazara's potential was fully realised. Under their rule the town assumed an importance on the island second only to Palermo. Still today Meghrebian influences course through the town's streets, not least in the historic Kasbah quarter, where around 3,000 (mainly) Tunisians live, work and study. The Arabs developed the traditional maritime and commercial activities of Mazara, but also made it an important administrative, cultural and juridical centre.
After the Arabs? The Normans, of course! They arrived in 1027, led by King Roger I. A cathedral was built on the site of a mosque and many other churches soon followed, including a couple that can still be seen today: the Chiesa di San Nicol ò Regale, built in 1124, and the 11th century Chiesa della Madonna delle Giummare. While researching his famous 'Book of Roger', commissioned by the Norman King Roger II, the great explorer, traveller, geographer and cartographer Ibn Idrisi visited Mazara and concluded that it was "a superb and sublime city".
Following the reign of Emperor Frederick II 'Stupor Mundi', Mazara del Vallo fell into a gentle decline and provincial anonymity. Passing quietly through all the hoops, trials and tribulations of Aragonese, Bourbon and Habsburg rule, it was eventually 'liberated' by Garibaldi in 1860 to become part of the new united Italy.
The next truly big event in Mazara del Vallo's history came on the night of 4th March 1998. Captain Francesco Adragna and his crew set out on their regular nightly trip, heading to their preferred fishing grounds off the coast of western Sicily. Everything was business as usual and the catch was satisfactory. But then, while pulling up one of the nets, the crew got the surprise of their lives: rising out of the sea, head first, was a remarkable, 7-foot tall bronze statue of a dancing satyr! The only thing more incredible than this, was that a few months earlier, the same Captain Adragna had fished out a bronze leg belonging, as it would later turn out, to the very same statue!
The Dancing Satyr is a superb work of art, full of vigour, delight and motion. The head is flung back in Bacchanalian glee, the caprine ears delimit a sweep of flowing locks and the eyes, remarkably intact, are piercing and slightly crazed. The perfect torso is pushed forward in mid-leap, balanced by a rounded buttock and an air-born trailing leg. Little is known of the statue's exact provenance or period of manufacture, though experts believe that it dates back to some time between the 4th and 1st centuries BC.
After five years of restoration the Dancing Satyr was exhibited for a few months at Palazzo Montecitorio, home of the Italian parliament in Rome. Since then, when not on tour (it has been a guest of honour at the National Museum in Tokyo, at the Louvre in Paris and, in 2012, was part of the Royal Academy of Arts 'Bronze' Exhibition in London), the statue resides at the Museo della Satira Danzante in the centre of Mazara del Vallo.
Apart from the Dancing Satyr, Mazara del Vallo offers a really good day out. Its old town centre, flanking the banks of the Mazaro river, has much to see, including a variety of churches, the beautiful Piazza delle Repubblica with its cathedral and Spanish baroque seminary, a fascinating, bustling fishing harbour and, thanks to the presence of so many Tunisians, some excellent fish couscous!
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Music: Melodic Deep House EP 03 2022 - Ben Bohmer, Tinlicker, King Henry, Sultan + Shepard...
Video Link: • ###SELINUNTE | SICILIA...
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Nice video 📹 ❤