CENTURIPE
The little town which today seems
rather off the beaten track, was at one time in the dark and distant
past a strategic outpost on the main link-line between the plain
of Catania and the mountains inland. This explains why, particularly
in the Roman age, Centuripe enjoyed a great economic prosperity
(in 70 BC Cicero described it as one of the most prosperous town
in Sicily).
Many of the town’s attractive
monuments dates back to that time. The Tempio degli Augustali, dating
from between the 1st and the 2nd century AD is a rectangular building
raised above a colonnaded street onto which it faced (alongside
the new archaeological museum). The two monumental tombs with towers
are known as “la Dogana” (with only the upper floor
visible) and the Castle of Conradin. Down a stone-cobbled side street
on the far north-western side of the town, in the contrada of Bagni,
sit the ruins of what must once have been a spectacular nymphaeum
hanging above the ravine of the river, with fountains designed to
delight visitors approaching the town. A brick wall containing five
niches, the remains of a cistern in which water was collected and
parts of the aqueduct are still visible.
Finally, the vast majority of artefacts
recovered from the 8th century BC to the Middle Ages and destined
to be displayed in the modern building that will accomodate the
Museo Archeologico, are, for the time being, “in storage”
somewhere in the Town Hall, a limited selection is however open
to the public. Of particular interest are the statues from the Tempio
degli Augustali representing various emperors and members of their
families; a fine head of the Emperor Hadrian which, given its size,
must have belonged to a statue of at least 4m; two splendid funerary
urns belonging to the Scribonii family (almost certainly imported
from Rome); locally produced pottery (3rd –1st century BC)
and an impressive collection of theatrical masks.
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Enna
Agira
Aidone
Assoro
Barrafranca
Calascibetta
Catenanuova
Centuripe
Cerami
Gagliano Castelferrato
Leonforte
Nicosia
Nissoria
Piazza Armerina
Pietraperzia
Regalbuto
Sperlinga
Troina
Valguarnera Caropepe
Villarosa
Monti
Erei
Morgantina
Pergusa
Villa Romana Del Casale
Testi
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Scivoletto e Michelin Italia. Le foto sono di proprietà
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