CARINI
Set on a hill overlooking its very own bay, Carini claims to have legendarary origins. Maybe founded by Daedalus who called it Hyccara, in memory of his son Icarus, it was destroyed by the Athenians in 415 BC, then it was rebuilt by the Phoenicians and, under Romans, became a stipendiary town of the Empire. In the Feudal age, it was assimilated into the feudal holdings of the powerful Chiaramonte, then passing to the Moncada, in the 15th century, and, finally, to the La Grua-Talamanca who ruled over until nowadays.
Up along a road marked by broad bends, you
reach a nice belvedere with enchanting views over the coast; here begins Corso
Umberto I, Carini’s main street. Further along, a horse-shoe shaped flight of
shallow steps makes its way up past the town’s medieval water fountain, to a
1100’s archway and beyond to the old part of the town, threaded by narrow
streets, and the castle.
Castello – The town’s castle was the setting of
a tragic episode involving the Baronessa di Carini, killed by his father in
1563 for having a secret affair while already betrothed to another man. Built
as a fortress in the Norman epoch, it was extensively remodelled, mainly by the
La Grua-Talamanca family. On the ground floor is the Salone delle Derrate
(Victuals Hall), later converted into a library, with two fine 1400’s stone
arches supported by a solid pilaster. On the upper floor, the Salone delle
Feste has a fine 1400’s coffered wooden ceiling with typical Catalan-Gothic
decorations. The square tower beyond is graced by a two-light window and topped
by decorated corbels.
Return to Corso Umberto I. In front of the fountain is the Chiesa
di San Vincenzo, with a wrought-irongrille (segregating the area reserved
for the nuns from the adjacent convent) and decorated with white and gold
neo-Classical stucco festoons, cherubs and grotesques. Corso Umberto I opens
out into Piazza del Duomo, with, on the right, the Chiesa di S. Vito,
and, left, the Chiesa Madre.
Chiesa Madre – Extensively altered in the 18th
century, it preserves on its right side a loggia and a series of majolica
panels depicting The Crucifixion, the Assumption, St. Rosalie and
St. Vitus (1715). Inside, is a precios canvas depicting The
Adoration of the Magi, by Alessando Allori (1578), who was an eminent Tuscan
painter come to prominence at the Medici court; in the chapel dedicated to the
Crucifixion, sits an exquisite 1600’s wooden Crucified Christ with a silver
crown on cross of agate, set above a grandiose altar flanked by expressive
stucco statues by Procopio Serpotta.
Oratorio del SS. Sacramento – Standing beside the Chiesa
Madre, it was built towards the mid-1500’s. Its interior is a profusion of
wonderful stucco decoration (18th century), by Trapani artist
Vincenzo Messina, populated by life-size allegories (Faith, Charity, Strenght,
and Penitence on the left; Hope,
Justice, Divine Grace and the Roman Catholic Church on the right) and a crowd
of smaller figures leaning on parapets below the windows, or engaged in scenes
from the Mysteries of the Eucharist. Elsewhere, surfaces are encrusted
with other Serpotta-like elements: cherubs, garlands of flowers and fruit,
heraldic coats of arms and grotesques. The ceiling is frescoed with the Triumph
of Faith.
Chiesa di S. Maria degli Angeli – Behind the Chiesa
Madre, on via Curreri. Once
belonging to the Capuchin Convent, it has a single nave with fine side-chapels
embellished with intricate intarsia. It contains a wonderful wooden Crucifix by
Capuchin Frà Benedetto Valenza (1737), who also worked on the overall decor.
Chiesa degli Agonizzanti – On Via Roma. Completed in 1643, it is richly decorated with white and gilded stuccoes featuring cherubs, eagles, garlands of flowers and fruit encircling frescoes depicting scenes from the life of the Virgin, culminating in the celing (Apotheosis of the Virgin). Half-way along the side-walls, two small stucco scenes below the frescoes represent the Death of Joseph and the Madonna.
EXCURION
Terrasini – 15km to the west. It is a lovely
seaside resort overlooking the sea, closed-in behind by a lofty red cliff which
intermittently shelters little beaches and sweet little rocky creeks.
It harbours
an interesting Museum, although the display has not definitively been arranged
yet (it is expected to migrate to Palazzo D’Aumalle on the seafront). It
comprises three departments: the most important is the natural-history section
(at 8 Via Cala Rossa), including the well-endowed Orlando collection of birds
with species ranging from crows, nocturnal birds, storks, raptors and species
approaching extinction or considered rare like the Griffon Vulture, Golden
Eagle and Capercaille. The archaeological deparment (next to the Town Hall in
Piazza Falcone e Borsellino) displays marine artefacts retrieved from wrecks
found off Terrasini – mainly fragments of amphorae from the 3rd
century BC and objects from a 1st century AD Roman ship. The
ethnological section (at 42 Via Dalla Chiesa) provides a small but excellent
display of Sicilian carts among which are some truly remarkable examples from
Palermo and Trapani.
TOURISM
La festa di li schietti – On Saturday before
Easter, all the eligible young men (so-called schietti) of the town go
out and cut a bitter-orange tree. They trim and tidy the top into a round shape
and decorate it with coloured ribbons and bells of all shapes and sizes (ciancianeddi).
The dressed result, which must weigh at least 50k, is then carried into the
town ready for Sunday morning, when each tree is blessed in the piazza before
the main church. After the service and urged on by the local populace, each
young man bears his tree to the house of his chosen love; there he must
demonstrate his strength by balancing the tree on the palm of his hand for as
long as possible. This local festival has lost much of its importance today,
for once it constituted a veritable test of virility; if the young man should
fail to lift his heavy offering, or indeed, should fail to hold it up long
enough, the engagement might, literally, be broken off.