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There should be a volcano over there...
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| [Note Guidelines] Photographer's Note |
A tentative to take one of the most famous "italian postcards" roday, but the weather wasn't my friend that day.
This is the view from Taormina ancient theater, usually an unbelievable landscape where millenary details frame the Etna volcano and a large sea gulf.
Anyway, let's say that this allowed me to take a different one ;). We had 2 weeks of sun except two or three days, we can't say we were unlucky.
Infos from www.taormina-ol.it:
Is it Greek or Roman?
This is a question that has always been open to debate among experts and critics. All their disputes would end if they remembered Taormina's origins as a Greek "Polis" and the fact that each and every ancient Greek city had its own Theatre where they performed tragedies by Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides and comedies by Aristophanes, just to name the most famous authors.
The Theatre in Taormina is the second-largest in Sicily after the one in Siracusa. All the Romans did later, in accordance with their well-known ostentatious nature, was enlarge the theatre as it was very small. And it apparently took decades to build. It is fifty metres wide, one hundred and twenty metres long and twenty metres high, which means that about 100,000 cubic metres of stone had to be removed.
Further evidence that the Theatre is of Greek origin is in the well-cut biocks of Taormina stone (similar to marble) below the scene of the Theatre; these are a typical example of the ancient Greek building technique.
The theatre is divided into three main sections: the scene, the orchestra and the cavea. The scene is opposite the cavea and is obviously where the actors used to perform.
There is now a large ten-metre long portion missing in the centre of the scene, supposedly caused by attacks during the wars. This serious damage to the theatre makes it nevertheless even more evocative due to the magnificent panorama (the bay of Naxos and Mount Etna) which can now be seen.
According to reconstructions by experts, the scene was decorated with two series of columns of the Corinthian order, recognizable due to the shape of the capitals and their acanthus leaf design; the acanthus is a wild Mediterranean plant. The orchestra of the theatre was the flat clearing in the centre which separated the scene from the cavea. This area was for the musicians, but the choruses and dancers also performed there. The word "orchestra", nowadays meaning a musical band, comes from this part of the Greek theatre. The cavea on the other hand is the series of steps, from the lowest to the highest ones at the top, where the spectators were seated. The first and last semicircular steps were 62 and 147.34 metres long respectively. The steps were carved out of the rock and, in places where there was none, they were built in masonry. The cavea was divided into five areas called "diazòmata" by the Greeks and "praecinctiones" by the Romans, both meaning enclosed zones. And these were where the audience used to sit. The theatre is thought to have been able to seat about 5,400 spectators.
No one is sure of when the Theatre was actually erected. Those who believe it was built by the Greeks say it must have been around the middle of the third century B.C., when Hiero was the tyrant of Siracusa. But due to the theatre's structural characteristics, some say it was erected by Roman engineers to be used exclusively by the Greeks. This wouid explain all the Greek inscriptions inside the theatre. Nowadays the ancient
Theatre is still one of Taormina's main attractions. As it is still practicable, the theatre seated the audiences of the most important Italian cinematographic event, the "David di Donatello" award, for many years; now an international festival entitled "Taormina Art", lasting the whole summer period, is held there with cinema, theatre, ballet and symphonic music reviews. |
zmey, Charo, lucasgalodoido has marked this note useful
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- Paolo
![Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 4704 W: 146 N: 9096]](http://i1.trekearth.com/misc/g-g-g.gif)
(40013) - [2008-01-20 3:20]
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Ciao Giorgio, bella vista di Taormina, con il teatro e la vista giù verso il mare, con un cielo drammatico, bella luce e buoan qualità.
ciao
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- Corry
![Silver Star Critiquer/Gold Note Writer [C: 20 W: 0 N: 58]](http://i1.trekearth.com/misc/s-n-g.gif)
(457) - [2008-01-20 6:10]
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Malgré les nuages dans le ciel, il s'agit d'une belle photo de ce théâtre. Le point de vue est superbbe. Bonne netteté.
Bien fait.
Yvon
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- zmey
(5190)
- [2008-01-20 7:51]
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bongiorno giorgio
nicely composed shot of this beautiful theater. the view onto the water is breath-taking too. and i know what you mean about that "there should be a volcano over there" all too well... ecuadorian volcanoes preferred to hide behind thick cloud cover most of the time revealing themselves usually right at the moment when we are already leaving the scene :)
thanks for sharing
kristaps
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- dip
![Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Note Writer [C: 1881 W: 0 N: 957]](http://i1.trekearth.com/misc/g-n-g.gif)
(9026) - [2008-01-20 9:41]
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Hi Giorgio,
excellent POV and lighting,
very beautiful and interesting view,
Ciao,
Dimitris.
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- Charo
![Gold Star Critiquer/Silver Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 2591 W: 22 N: 4955]](http://i1.trekearth.com/misc/g-s-g.gif)
(19072) - [2008-01-20 13:00]
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Hola Giorgio,
Estupenda perspectiva del teatro mirando al mar.
Muy buena luz en penumbra y excelente encuadre y profundidad.
Cordialmente
Charo
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- lousat
(5384)
- [2008-01-20 14:44]
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Ma l'hai fatta il 12 settembre e la tiri fuori adesso? E' stupenda,una composizione esagerata,le nuvole,la luce e la quasi totale assenza di persone,un capolavoro. Non lo dico perche' sei tu (quando c'e' da criticare non mi tiro indietro..ehehe) ma e' veramente stupenda,ciao e grazie,Luciano
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- clio
(10879)
- [2008-01-20 15:02]
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Ciao Giorgio,
Quel giorno, uno non giocò un spettacolo comico!
Ma quest tempo dà un'intensità più forte alla tua fotografia.
Io sono affascinato dalla bellezza dei luoghi scelta degli anziani per costruire il loro teatro sempre.
Almeno, se il spettacolo fosse cattivo, uno aveva un secondo spettacolo!
Ciao
Diane
ciao Giorgio ,
bellissimo il teatro con vista sul mare ,
per il tempo magari la prossima volta sarai piu' fortunato.
Giorgio
Hello Gio,
This is a site I've always enjoyed. Among the 8-10 times I've visited the theater, always in the summer, I've seen so many different moods presented by the volcano. In your image it is hiding, in my image posted some weeks ago, it is lightly puffing. i read in your Intro that you are a graduate of the University of Siena, one of the oldest universities in the world. That is very impressive. I know that along with Padua and Bologna, anatomical studies were allowed at the great university of Sienna. I want very much to see it some day. I writing my book recently on Leonardo (for the National Geographic Society), I mentioned these three ancient universities.
Warm regards,
Bulent
Ola Giorgio ,
Que bonito este anfi-teatro romano ,são umas belissimas ruinas , gostei muito do ceu ficou bem dramatico , bom contraste de cores, parabens!!!
Um abraço Gonçalo
Olá Giorgio,
bem interessante essa contruão e o contraste entro o antigo em mderno que existe nela, gostei esse POV alto mostra bem isso.
Parabéns e Abraço!
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- chpp
(3115)
- [2008-01-21 7:29]
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Hi giorgio
I like this image, wide, with nice depth and showing a nice mix of old and new.
May be I would try to increase colour saturation a little
cheers
chris
