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Sacri Monti of Piedmont and Lombardy
| Site number: | 1068 |
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| Type of site: | Cultural | |
| Date: | 16-17th century | |
| Date of Inscription: | 2003 | |
| Location: | Europe, Italy, Regions of Lombardy and Piedmont | |
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| Description: | Created in the late 16th and 17th centuries, northern Italy’s nine Sacri Monti (Sacred Mountains) are groups of chapels and other architectural features devoted to various aspects of the Christian faith. Deep with spiritually symbolic meaning, the monuments are incredibly beautiful owing to the skill with which they were integrated into the neighboring natural landscape of hills, forests and lakes. They also contain various significant artistic materials, such as wall paintings and statuary. --WHMNet paraphrase from the description at WHC Site, where additional information is available. | |
| Val di Noto (English: Vallum of Noto) is a geographical area of south east Sicily; it is dominated by the limestone Iblean plateau. In 1693 the entire area was decimated by an enormous earthquake. The area's towns were rebuilt in what came to be known as the Sicilian Baroque style; most notable the town of Noto itself, which is now a tourist attraction on account of its fine Baroque architecture. The ancient town of Akrai (Palazzolo Acreide) was founded in 664 BCE: it was the first colony of the Corinthian settlement at Syracuse. The Syracusans were currently expanding their power over the Sicilian interior. Little recorded the ruined town was rediscovered by the historian Tommaso Fazello at the end of 16th century. Further excavations in the early 19th century by Baron Gabriele Iudica, unearthed important facts concerning the early history of eastern Sicily. In June 2002, UNESCO inscribed eight old towns of the Val di Noto on the World Heritage List as "representing the culmination and final flowering of Baroque art in Europe". The towns inscribed are Caltagirone, Militello in Val di Catania, Catania, Modica, Noto, Palazzolo Acreide, Ragusa, and Scicli. --Wikipedia. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. | ||
| Source: | http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1068 | |
| Source2: | http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1068/video | |
| Reference: | 1. UNESCO World Heritage Center, Site Page. | |