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TAORMINA ARTS, MUSEUMS AND MONUMENTS

Churches
The most charming Catholic churches in Taormina are in Gothic style, even if they show also the Arabic influence. The most important ones are the Cathedral and the Church of St. Pancrazio.
The Cathedral – the Church of St. Nicola – was built around 1400 A.D. on the ruins of an ancient church. The Gothic style makes the Cathedral look similar to a fortress.
The Church of St. Pancrazio - patron saint of Taormina – stood on the ruins of the Greek temple dedicated to Serapis. It was built around the middle of the sixteenth century and its interior is filled with multi-coloured marble and Taormina stone, with fantastic frescoes of the martyrdom of St. Pancrazio.
Unfortunately, this beautiful church is often closed to the public.

Museums
In Taormina there are also many interesting museums to visit, such as the Regional Archaeological Museum, housed in the Badia Vecchia. It contains some archaeological findings that were found recently, between 1984 and 1998. The exhibition route is divided between two floors and includes objects such as sculptures, ceramics, artifacts from the Ancient Theater, earthenware, an alabaster urn and a Byzantine sword found on the sea bed near Isola Bella.
The Antiquarium is a small exhibition area kept in the house of the ancient theater’s custodian. The most notable objects are some marble statue bases with ancient inscriptions, carved pillars and a marble sarcophagus.
The Sicilian Museum of art and folk traditions housed in Palazzo Corvaja, characterized by figurative art and some examples of Sicilian craftsmanship created in the period from the 16th to the 20th century. The exhibit includes wooden sculptures, ceramics, Sicilian carts (Carretti siciliani), and posters of puppet shows (pupi siciliani).


Ancient Buildings and Monuments
The historical buildings and most attractive monuments in Taormina are above all ancient fortresses and aristocratic palaces:
- Palazzo Corvaja is a wonderful medieval palace built by the Arabs during their period of rule. It was a cube-shaped tower used for defending the town. Later, Palazzo Corvaja, the seat of the Sicilian Parliament, was added to the tower and was extended over the years. After a period in which it was abandoned, the building was renovated after the 2nd World War, maintaining the characteristic mix of styles: Arabic (the tower), Norman (the fifteenth-century hall where the Parliamentary meetings were held), and Gothic (the shape of the façade windows).
- Badia Vecchia - An antique abbey, Badia Vecchia was built in the fourteenth century in Gothic style and was recently recovered by the Taormina Municipal Council. Like “Palazzo del Duca di Santo Stefano”, the Badia looks like a fortress, an aspect that is further accentuated by the battlements built on top of the building.
- Palazzo del Duca di Santo Stefano - A fourteenth century building in Gothic-Sicilian style with Arabic-Norman influences.
- Villa Comunale - Towards the end of the nineteenth century, this was the private garden of the English aristocrat Florence Trevelyan, a woman who was a botany and ornithology lover. The property was donated to the Taormina Municipal Council in the nineteen twenties. Villa Comunale still has some rare plants and eccentric constructions, known as “Victorian follies”, that are similar to Chinese Pagodas, built in the garden according to the original creative ideas of this aristocratic woman.
The most interesting monuments, proof of the ancient cultures are above all:
- Ancient Greek-Roman Theater - From this site, which is extremely precious in architectural terms, there is a wonderful view of all the beautiful places surrounding Taormina: Etna, the Bay of Naxos, the crystal clear sea and the small town of “Castelmola”.
The Theater, which is probably of Greek origin, was renovated and extended by the Romans: today it is one of the largest theaters in Sicily, second only to the one in Syracuse. This wonderful monument is now the seat of Taormina Arte, the International Film, Theater and Dance Festival.
- Odeon - This was built by the Roman Emperor Octavian and was only discovered at the end of the nineteenth century. It is a small theater built with clay bricks.
- Naumachie - After the Ancient Theater, this is the oldest building in the city. This imposing wall, that dates back to the first century B.C., is about 130 meters long and has several niches that once held statues of the ancient gods.

Natural beauties
- The Isola Bella Nature Reserve is well known as the “Pearl of the Ionian Sea” thanks to its wild but unspoilt beauty. It is protected by the WWF and it was recently declared a Nature Reserve. Isola Bella is a magical place that cannot be missed: it is a small island connected to the land by a thin strip of sand that can be reached from the town along some groups of staircases and lanes, crossing over the National highway, 200 meters below Monte Tauro.
The luxuriant vegetation on Isola Bella is a fantastic mixture of Mediterranean scrub and rare exotic plants, imported by its original owner, the eccentric Miss Travelyan. This stretch of sea is home to multitudes of organisms, various species of seaweed, multi-coloured fish, all sizes of crustaceans and other living beings.
- Alcantara River Park is an extremely attractive place about 25 km from Taormina. It is famous for all its Goles, or gorges, fashioned into the rock by geological phenomena whose origins are lost in the mists of time.
All this took place long ago when a small volcano erupted and spurted out a mass of lava that formed a huge fissure. In the part of its path where there was most clay, the lava sunk to a depth that formed two large black columns of basalt 50 meters high. This fissure is now run along by the Alcantara River, whose name comes from the Arabic Al Qantarah. A visit to the Gole dell’Alcantara, walking along a small stretch of the river bed, is a truly unique experience. The sight before you is amazing: the gorges, so black and prismatic, create wonderful reflections of light and shadows as soon as the sun hits their surface.
- Castelmola is a tiny and picturesque village built to defend Taormina from the attacks of potential invaders located some 500 meters above sea level, with a fantastic view looking out over the sea. In fact, there is still an atmosphere of “old times” that transmits a feeling of going back in time.
Castelmola is famous for its almond wine and for the medieval castle ruins.

Cooking
Taormina, this heavenly holiday place, makes you want to “take it easy”, and slowly taking in the beauties of the city and the intense flavours of the place.
Your breakfast will begin with a tasty, energizing iced coffee with whipped cream granite al caffé con panna, and a typically Sicilian sweetmeat filled,if you want, with ricotta cheese.
Going for a meal in one of the restaurants in Taormina is a real pleasure, on account of the taste of the Sicilian food and the surroundings you will find yourself in. Many restaurants in fact have a garden with citrus fruit trees, and the perfume blends perfectly with the aroma of the food you are eating.
There is a wide choice of first courses in Taormina and we suggest you try a simple pasta sauce that is often used here on pasta, and is made from tomatoes, capers, basil and anchovies.
Taormina, which has an ideal geographical position between land and sea, allows you to choose both meat, which you must try in one of the several typical restaurants, and fish. Fish is the real protagonist at the dinner table, especially swordfish and smaller fish like tuna, mackerel, sardines and anchovies that are always extra fresh, and that are prepared in various ways, according to the traditional Sicilian cooking recipes and served in all the restaurants in Taormina.
A typical white wine of the area around Taormina, from Castelmola, is almond wine, served cool to accompany desserts.

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