Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Architecture
Ancient Legacies
One word describes the buildings of ancient southern Italy: monumental. The Greeks in-
vented the architectural orders (Doric, Ionic and Corinthian) and used them to great effect
in once-mighty cities like Akragas (modern-day Agrigento), Catania and Syracuse. More
than two millennia later, the soaring temples of Segesta, Selinunte, the Valley of the
Temples and Paestum confirm not only the ancient Greeks' power, but also their penchant
for harmonious proportion. This skill is also underscored in their sweeping theatres, the
finest of which still stand in Syracuse, Taormina and Segesta.
Having learned a few valuable lessons from the Greeks, the Romans refined architecture
to such a degree that their building techniques, designs and mastery of harmonious propor-
tion underpin most of the world's architecture and urban design to this day. In Brindisi, a
brilliant white column marks one end of the Via Appia - the ancient cross-country road
connecting Rome to the east coast. In Pozzuoli, they erected the Anfiteatro Flavio, the em-
pire's third-largest arena and the very spot where Roman authorities had planned to feed
San Gennaro to hungry bears. (In the end, they opted to behead the Christian at the nearby
Solfatara Crater.)
One of the few well-known female artists of the Italian Renaissance was Artemisia Gentileschi
(1593-1652), whose style is reminiscent of Caravaggio's. One of her most famous paintings,
Judith and Ho-
lofernes,
is in Naples' Museo Nazionale di Capodimonte.
Medieval Fusion
Following on from Byzantine architecture and its mosaic-encrusted churches was
Romanesque, a style that found four regional forms in Italy: Lombard, Pisan, Florentine
and Sicilian Norman. All displayed an emphasis on width and the horizontal lines of a
building rather than height, and featured church groupings with
campaniles
(bell towers)
and baptisteries that were separate to the church. Surfacing in the 11th century, the Sicilian
Norman style encompassed an exotic mix of Norman, Saracen and Byzantine influences,
from marble columns to Islamic-inspired pointed arches to glass tesserae detailing. Clearly
visible in the two-toned masonry and 13th-century bell tower of Amalfi's Cattedrale di
