Here’s the view of the small valley below the path that cuts from Pirandello’s childhood house to the garden and boulder where … [Read More...]
Sicily Trip
Italian 3008 – Latin 3311 - Spring 2016
Professors Barbara Weiden Boyd and Davida Gavioli
la spedizione siciliana
This faculty-led study trip, “Sicily: Mediterranean Pasts, Presents, and Futures,” has guided students to an in-depth understanding of the historical, social, and cultural complexities of the island of Sicily, now a part of the nation of Italy but, in the course of its long history as cultural crossroads, home to several early indigenous peoples of the western Mediterranean as well as colonizing Phoenicians, Greeks, Romans, Spanish, French, and Arabs over the course of more than 3000 years. Because of its strategic location, long history, and a new appreciation for its cultural riches, Sicily is the perfect vantage-point from which to consider the Mediterranean world as a whole, through both historical and contemporary lenses.
In the spring 2016 semester, two Bowdoin faculty members, Davida Gavioli (Italian) and Barbara Weiden Boyd (Classics), offered upper-level courses focusing of various aspects of Sicilian history and culture. Gavioli’s course, Italian 3008 (Of Gods, Leopards, and ‘Picciotti’: Literary Representations of Sicily Between Reality and Metaphor) was organized around literary texts written by Sicilian writers and/or located in the Sicilian landscape, drawn from 20th and 21st century authors; central themes of the course included issues of cultural identity long a part of Sicilian discourse (e.g., is Sicily “truly” Italian? is Sicily really part of Europe, or should it be considered fundamentally Other? etc.) as well as major contemporary social and political issues (the economy; the Mafia; immigration and asylum; etc.). Boyd’s course, Latin 33 (Sicily in the Roman Imagination), was organized around the literary texts commemorating the appropriation of Sicily first by the Greeks and subsequently by the Romans between the 5th and 1st centuries BC. Students read several significant ancient texts in Latin concerning Rome’s occupation and colonization of Sicily, supplemented by readings in English drawn from the many Greek poets and historians who were active in ancient Sicily.
Blog Posts

Pirandello and Sheep
By dvargas

Day 4: theater in Racalmuto
By aglynn
Towards the end of our evening in Racalmuto, where Leonardo Sciascia grew up, we ran into a jolly man who wanted to show us around … [Read More...]

Day 3 – Church: Mission or Magnificence?
By jhartley
Hidden in the "chiostro" (cloister), on the capital of a column, was an image of William II gifting the beautiful Cathedral of … [Read More...]

Day 6 – Circolo di Conversazione: Contrast of Classes
By jhartley
As we stumbled through the winding streets of Ragusa Ibla, we came across the building that once housed a high society club … [Read More...]

Latin Students Excited for the 10 Hour Flight to Sicily!: All boarded on the plane to Fiumicino, Rome
By jglewis
Excitement was in the air as all eighteen of us (sixteen students and two professors) boarded the international flight to Italy. … [Read More...]

Greek Vase at Pirandello’s House
By kgilmore
On the way to Porto Empedocle, we stopped at the House-Museum of Luigi Pirandello. Born in 1867, Pirandello was a famous Sicilian … [Read More...]

Noto and the Use of the Orders
By dbanks
All of the classical temples that we saw on our trip across the island were of the Doric order. Only in the remaining two columns … [Read More...]

Day 4 – Looking for lizards in Monreale
By mkim
Going to Monreale, seeing the cathedral and the cloister a second time did not take away from the beauty of each site. I … [Read More...]

The Lunch that Wasn’t
By alamont
After a wonderful morning exploring the temples of Selinunte, the gang was hungry for some grub. We converged on a beachside … [Read More...]

The Most Important Mosaic (Selinunte)
By vwu
As Professor Boyd declared, this mosaic of the goddess Tanit was the most important mosaic of the trip. While it may only be a … [Read More...]

Theater, Segesta
By gmaslak
In Segesta we also visited the remains of an ancient theater, situated on the hilltop just beyond the unfinished temple. … [Read More...]

Che chiesa! (3/19)
By dvargas
Although this picture does not do justice to the most proportionally beautiful proportional church façade I’ve seen, it does show … [Read More...]

The Mosaic at Selinunte
By dbanks
At the acropolis at Selinunte, we were able to see a mosaic of the Carthaginian goddess Tanit, who was in charge of fertility and, … [Read More...]

Cyclops on Mount Etna
By kgilmore
On our last full day in Sicily, we visited the awe-inspiring Mount Etna, the largest active volcano in Europe. The contrast of … [Read More...]

Post #1: Palermo,Monreale Cathedral
By kvise
Hey guys! Hope you're having an awesome time, eating lots of gelato, and hopefully got some great cannoli too. Just thought I'd … [Read More...]

The Cyclops Itself
By djohnso
This marks our final full day of touring Sicily. As our bus approaches the ominous, pulchritudinous shadows of Mount … [Read More...]

The Spring of Arethusa
By jglewis
The Spring of Arethusa, Ortigia, Siracusa Coming into this trip with a previous knowledge of Sicily (Syracuse especially) via … [Read More...]

Modica 3.18.16
By cdewet
Modica is delightful little town nestled in the Hyblaean Mountains in southern Sicily. It is known for producing … [Read More...]