Sicily and her art treasures [antikvár]

SICILYWe are aware of the fact that it is impossible to offer a complete image of Sicily just by means of an illustrated guide-book. What we can do for our readers is to give them a good idea of the most interesting and pic-turesque places of this island. We intend only to help them to admire, understand and love its beautiful temples and museums, its mild climate, charming landscapes, its kind and hospitable people. Sicily is the largest (25.708 square kilometres) and the most densely populated one of the Italian regions (about 6 millión people). It has the shape of a triangle, hence probably its ancient name of Trinacria. The island came out of the sea somé 200 millión years ago and it was farther away from Italy than it is now - only 3 kilometres at the nearest points. The insularity is certainly the characteristic of Sicily easiest to understand from the topographic point of view, because it makes this island a physical unit of precise features. From a generál point of view, how-ever, even if one considers only its geographical situation, it is clear that this island is very important in the Mediterranean world. Sicily is practically a bridge between Europe and Africa, from which is only 150 kilometres far away in correspondence with Tunisia. It is üke a platform between the eastern and western Mediterranean Sea. Sicily is in the linchpin of the main lines meeting in the Mediterranean Sea and in various historical moments has been very important from the economical and political points of view. During those periods of time Sicily has efficaci-ously played its role as crucial area, point of convergence for various interests, hinge of the Mediterranean Sea. The importance of the situation of the island, however, has varied through the centuries. It was right in the centre of the classical world, when it was made famous by renowned politicians and legislators, poets and playwrights, philosophers and historians. It was a sort of melting-pot of various political, religious and cultural experiences during the Arab domination, when it became the bridge between the Christian and Muslim worlds. It was very active and in the forefront of culture during the Norman period. But suddenly Sicily was far from the centre of the world for many centuries. The reason was that the discovery of America had shifted the axis of the world history out of the Mediterranean Sea, moving the European centre of gravity from the Mediterranean Sea to the countries of Western Europe. Since that time Sicily has been cut out of the political world, the main international shipping lines and just situated at the ex-treme end of the Italian peninsula. It has found itself alsó isolated from the Continental Italy, far from the regions where the industrial and trad-ing activities have flourished. And so the insular nature of Sicily has prevailed again. The Strait of Messina, through not very large and ani-mated by ships, ferry-boats and hydrofoil-boats, stresses the isolation of this region. The projected bridge which should connect Sicily with Ca-labria, could become the means and symbol of a new change in the re-