Pompeii

Here is our group during our visit to the city of Pompeii - We found it really fascinating!!

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Ancient city of Campania, Italy, 14 near miles south west of Naples near Mt. Vesuvius, built on a spur formed by prehistoric lava flow to the north of mouth of the Sarnus river. 

Pompeii was destroyed, together with Herculaneum and Stabie, by the violent eruption of Mt. Vesuvius in AD 79; the circumstances of their preservation make their remains a unique document of Greco- Roman life.

The pool shows the reflection of the Basilica

 The modern town of Pompeii ( pop.1981 prelim. 22.896) lies to the east it contains the basilica of Santa Maria del Rosario, a pilgrimage centre.

Ramon, Pablo and Tomás prepared this text about this old city

A house in Pompeii - A man was painting little pictures there

My New Year's Resolutions.

 "My new year's resolutions."

In this post I'm going to tell you my New Year's Resolutions.

There are  some resolutions but I'm going to try to achieve all of them.

• I'm going to study more and every day.
• I'm going to help my mother in her housework.
• I'm going to learn to speak French because I think it is an amazing language.

The French flag.

• I'm going to go to Italy in a cruise with my friends and teachers.

• Finally I'm going to try to fall in love, because life is short and I want to enjoy it.

This is my tattoo.

Segesta

Greek `Egesta´, ancient city of Sicily, located about two miles, (Three Kilometers) northwest of modern Calathafimi. It was the chief city of the Elymi a people for whom thucydides claimed a Trojan origin. They are archaeologically indistinguishable in the Early Iron Age( c.1000-c.500BC) from their Sicanian neighbours. Culturally Segesta was Greek but it generally took the Cartrhaginian side against his Greek neighbours, boundary disputes with Selenius, for instance were frequent from 580n BC. onward. When in 409 Hannibal, son of Gisgo, sacked Selenius Segesta became a Carthaginian ally.

Early in the First Punic War, however, the inhabitants massacred the Carthaginian Sarrison and allied themselves with Rome . Segesta was favourably detracted under Roman rule; it became a free city and the territory of Eryx may have been assigned to it.

On a hill just outside the site of the ancient city of Segesta lies an unusually well preserved Doric temple. It was built sometime in the late 5th century BC and has 6×14 columns on a base measuring 21×56m, on a platform three steps high.

 Several things suggest that the temple was never actually finished. The columns have not been fluted as they normally would have been in a Doric temple and there are still tabs present in the blocks of the base (used for lifting the blocks into place but then normally removed).

 It also lacks a cella and was never roofed over. The temple is also unusual for being a Hellenic temple in a city not mainly populated by Greeks.
The information about this temple in Segesta was found in Encyclopaedia Britannica by Alvaro, Jose ManuelSan and MariaQ - Thanks!

Bus 32

Maximo explains the temple

 

02- Erice - Sicily

Erice is a small town in the province of Trapani. Erice is in the north west of Sicily, in Italy. Erice is located on top of Mount Erice, or Monte de San Guiliano, which lies at 751 m above the sea level. 

The town originated as a settlement of an ancient Sicilian tribe – The Elyrir – and was fortified by the Phoenicians and contested by the Carthaginians and Romans. 

A rest and a sandwich in Erice

Our group in Erice

Almond sweets

Lemons from Erice

Erice is famous for its temple dedicated to the nature deity Venus Erycina. The principal church is the Chiesa Matrice (1314). 

The views of Trapani from the old little town of Erice are really overwhelming 

 This information about Erice was found in Encyclopaedia Britannica by Alfonso, Luis R and Sara. Thanks!!

04 - Strait of Messina

The Strait of Messina

Strait of Messina, Italian Stretto di Messina, ancient (Latin) Fretum Siculum, channel in the Mediterranean Sea separating Sicily (west) and Italy (east) and linking the Tyrrhenian and Ionian seas. The strait is 20 miles (32 km) long, 2 miles (3 km) wide in the north (between Faro Point and the Rock of Scylla), and 10 miles (16 km)wide in the south (between capes Alì and Pellaro); it is 300 feet(90 m) deep at the northern end.

The Trinacria, the symbol of Sicily

The strait was greatly feared by sailors in antiquity, mainly because of the rocks and whirlpools known as Scylla and Charybdis, which were personified as female monsters in Greek mythology. The strait’s currents do, in fact, present considerable difficulties. The main current runs from south to north, but a subsidiary current flows in the reverse direction. These usually alternate every six hours, and the water falls 6 to 8 inches (150 to 200 mm) during the main current; especially strong currents tear seaweed from the bottom and sometimes throw up fish with atrophied or abnormal eyes and with organs for the production of phosphorescence. The frequent sighting of a mirage, called Fata Morgana (see Morgan le Fay),consisting of an apparent vertical elongation of an object on the shore, helped maintain the legends of the strait.

“Vos et ipsam civitatem benedicimus”

The major ports along the strait’s scenic banks are Messina and Reggio di Calabria. The coastal regions are noted for archaeological remains and resorts, and the strait is rich in fish and plankton.

 

This information was found in Encyclopaedia Britannica

by Ramiro, Carlos and Jose M Ruiz

Italy =)

ITALY

Hello, my country is Italy and of course I’m Italian. Here we speak Italian, it’s a Romance language similar to French or Spanish.

Italy is a southern European country situated in the Italian peninsula, where there are two smaller independent states: the Vatican City and the Republic of San Marino. Sicily and Sardinia are part of Italy too.

It shares its borders with France, Switzerland, Austria, Slovenia and the Adriatic and Mediterranean seas. About 60 million people live in Italy and its area is about 300.000 square kilometres.

(Florence)

After long time of conflicts, wars and different political systems now we have a Republic with a two-chamber parliament: the Senate or upper house and the Chamber of Deputies or lower house. Our president is Berlusconi, a very controversial politician. Italy is a founding-member of European Union, so our currency is the Euro.

Italy’s capital city is Rome, but there are many other important cities like Bologna, Verona, Florence, Milan, Turin, Genoa, Bari, Naples or Palermo.

Italy was the centre of the Roman Empire, which left a huge archaeological, cultural and literary heritage, the Italian peninsula saw the birth of the Humanism and Renaissance and during the Second World War we participated by Hitler side because we lived in a dictatorship with Mussoinli.

(Genoa)

(Venice)

There are many important Italians artists, writers, musicians, scientists or philosophers, for example Dante, Galileo, da Vinci, Caravaggio, Raphael, Paganini, Verdi, Puccini, Botticelli, Donatello, Rossini, Monteverdi, Scarlatti, Vivaldi, Pavarotti, Bocelli, Fellini…

Our typical dishes are varied. However, people just know pizza and pasta. We have foods like risotto (with rice) and lots of types of cheeses.

I really like living in Italy, it's a beautiful country. I must discover each corner and smell :)