Back up in the South side of Glasgow in Nithsdale Road this time.

I’ve included two photographs of Sherbrooke – St. Gilbert’s church to show how a small difference in the angle and the light can make to the look of a building change. The actual church isn’t that old – about 110 years.

The third photograph is looking up to the Sherbrooke Castle Hotel, from where the first photograph was taken.

On the way home from Sicily, we spent one day and one night in Rome.

A few photographs.

The ancient …

… and the modern Wedding Cake.

The Pantheon.

As with any city, you get traffic jams.

The Spanish Steps.

Last, but not least, the excellent restaurant we ate in that night.

We only had a few hours to spend in Palermo, waiting to catch the sleeper train back to Rome.

These are of the Palermo Cathedral – erected in 1185 by Walter Ophamil (or Walter of the Mill), the Anglo-Norman archbishop of Palermo and King William II’s minister, on the area of an earlier Byzantine basilica. By all accounts this earlier church was founded by St. Gregory and was later turned into a mosque by the Saracens after their conquest of the city in the 9th century. Ophamil is buried in a sarcophagus in the church’s crypt. The medieval edifice had a basilica plan with three apses, of which only some minor architectural elements survive today.

The upper orders of the corner towers were built between the 14th and the 15th centuries, while in the early Renaissance period the southern porch was added. The present neoclassical appearance dates from the work carried out over the two decades 1781 to 1801, and supervised by Ferdinando Fuga. During this period the great retable by Gagini, decorated with statues, friezes and reliefs, was destroyed and the sculptures moved to different parts of the basilica. Also by Fuga are the great dome emerging from the main body of the building, and the smaller domes covering the aisles’ ceilings.

We stopped here on our way back from Petralia. It was slightly more open!

Parrocchia S.Maria Maggiore – Chiesa Madre; from the Via Vittorio Emanuele.

There appeared to be no horizontal streets, only slopes everywhere.

Castello dei Ventimiglia. For further information look here.

How do you fancy this as your front door?

Chiesa di S. Stefano with its characteristic bell tower with polychrome CONCI. It is shaped like an irregular Greek cross and it was made in the first part of the 17th century. It preserves a prestigious wooden structure made by an unknown artist representing Saint Stephen (16th century) and a painting attributed to Giuseppe Salerno (1609).

We went to Petralia Soprana (high Petralia) as opposed to Petralia Sottana (low Petralia) because, at 3761 feet, it is the highest town in the Madonie. It was closed or so it seemed! It is said to be one of the finest preserved examples of a 17th century Sicilian town, developed in the Middle Ages.

Two views from the top.

Chiesa Madre – dedicated to Saint Peter and Paul.

The view from outside our room in the Villa Levante through an arch in the wall and showing the old town and the tower of Chiesa Parrocchia Maria Ss. Assunta.

Duomo of Novara di Sicilia.

Etna.

Taormina feels very much as if it is geared to the tourist.

Teatro Greco….founded by the Greeks in the third century BC but rebuilt by the Romans in 1AD .

SHRINE TO OUR LADY OF THE FORTRESS – the Santuario Madonna della Rocca is situated on the top of Mount Tauro, overlooking Taormina (but note the even higher village behind it!)

A flight of steps, enlivened by flower pots.

The Duomo – The fortress cathedral, which is what Taormina’s main cathedral is called, was built around the year 1400 on the ruins of a small mediaeval church.

In front of it is the Barocco style fountain, built in 1635, in Taormina marble with three concentric steps as its base. On each of the fountain’s four sides there are some small columns supporting basins; mythological ponies overlook the basins and fountain water flows out of their mouths. The eastern base of this large fountain contains a fourth basin, larger than the others but no longer used since it was a watering-place for animals. There is a smaller octagonal basin in the middie of the fountain base with four putti resting on it; on the east side, two of these putti hold two smaller putti each, forming the base of an octagonal basin decorated with three seals showing their heads and tails.

Three mythological characters resembling Tritons stands in the middle of this latter basin with their arms crossed over their heads so as to support another basin decorated in low-relief; a round base inside this basin holds a basket of fruit on the top of which stands Taormina’s coat-of-arms. The city’s coat-of-arms normally pictures a male centaur but in this case it was turned into a female centaur and a two-footed one at that.

Back hunting “The Godfather” locations, we went to Savoca.

“The Godfather” cafe…unchanged since scenes with Al Pacino were shot in it.

Church of St Nicolo where Michael and Apollonia (the Godfather) were married.

Chiesa Madre (Mother Church) dates back to the time of the Norman domination. It is consecrated to S. Maria in Cielo Assunta (S. Mary Taken up into Heaven). The current facade was partially remade at the end of 1400.

These photographs were taken up at the Castello Arabo-Normanno di Calatabiano which I showed you in my posting on 12th July.

This is the view looking south towards Etna.

The Church of SS. Crocifisso (sec. XV) beside the Castello is currently not visitable. Calatabiano is laid out below it.

This is the main front wall of the Castello.

This is the view looking north from the Castello.