Author Archives: nnichols

Today we visited Eurialo, the great fort outside of Syracuse, probably built initially by Dionysius I as part of his strategy to enclose the whole ridge with a wall in order to prevent an attacker occupying the ridge and… Continue reading →

On Friday 14th we went to Morgantina, a Sicel settlement in inland Sicily — we had moved the day forward about 2 weeks to avoid bad weather, but in the event, it was another glorious day. More pictures of the… Continue reading →

On Sunday those who wanted to took a trip to Catania's Serie A team. Their opponents were Cagliari, Sardinia, who lay 3 points behind them in the table. Catania had started well, but had recently begun its familiar slide… Continue reading →

On Friday, as part of a larger examination of the politics of theater in both Athens and Syracuse, we visited the impressive theater in Syracuse. Most of the visible remains date from the renovations of Hieron II in the… Continue reading →

On Sunday, we were all lucky enough to be invited to the house of the excellent parents of our excellent Italian instructor, Rocco. The house was just outside Lentini, the site of the early Chalcidian colony of Leontini — not… Continue reading →

All returned safely from our long field trip to western Sicily and Tunisia — incredible sites, fine weather, and not too rough a crossing to Africa (though getting through passport control was another matter)…Acragas:Selinunte (where we finally mastered double-angle contraction):Segesta:Dougga,… Continue reading →

Today we had a temple day visiting the two Doric temples in Ortygia. Here we are outside the Temple of Apollo, just inside the city gateAnd with our trusty driverFor the temple of Athena, and the spring of Arethusa, which… Continue reading →

Or Catina, as it was known. Last week students also spent a day piecing together the bits of Roman Catania — for pictures see the page for Catina in the photos section to the right of the page.Megara Hyblaia, one… Continue reading →

Just to the North of Catania, you can find a small, but very pleasant town called Acireale. Its highlight is a fine Norman castle, on an island for around the first century of its life, but then connected to the… Continue reading →

Pictures from the opening week orientation trip to Mt Etna: students, faculty, faculty families, our resident director and our vulcanologist guide.[My son with hotel crushed by 2002 eruption]… Continue reading →