{"id":294,"date":"2016-03-24T10:22:35","date_gmt":"2016-03-24T14:22:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/courses.bowdoin.edu\/italian-3008-spring-2016\/?p=294"},"modified":"2016-03-31T19:04:10","modified_gmt":"2016-03-31T23:04:10","slug":"la-zisa-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/courses.bowdoin.edu\/italian-3008-spring-2016\/sicily\/la-zisa-2\/","title":{"rendered":"La Zisa"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Jet-lagged, hungry, and\u00a0admittedly a bit cranky, our first day in Sicily was doubtlessly a daze for all. The architectural wonder that is La Zisa certainly did not subtract from\u00a0our conviction that this trip was but a dream and Sicily a fantasy land.<\/p>\n<p>Derived from\u00a0the Arabic term &#8220;al-aziza&#8221; meaning &#8220;the gorgeous,&#8221; La Zisa was built in the twelfth century and designed to serve as a summer retreat for the Norman Kings\u00a0ruling Sicily at that time. The partnership between the Norman King William I, who financed the construction, and the Arab architects responsible for the Islamic\u00a0architecture demonstrates\u00a0how eagerly the Normans appropriated the style of the pre-existing\u00a0Arabic culture. An example of such Moorish decoration\u00a0can be seen in the\u00a0main hall. Throughout the palace but notable here in the main hall are cavities in the wall filled with Arabic stalactite work, a typical Islamic ornamental design known as moc\u00e1rabe.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-297  aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/courses.bowdoin.edu\/italian-3008-spring-2016\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/114\/2016\/03\/20160313_082419-e1458826027226-169x300.jpg\" alt=\"20160313_082419\" width=\"318\" height=\"564\" srcset=\"https:\/\/courses.bowdoin.edu\/italian-3008-spring-2016\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/114\/2016\/03\/20160313_082419-e1458826027226-169x300.jpg 169w, https:\/\/courses.bowdoin.edu\/italian-3008-spring-2016\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/114\/2016\/03\/20160313_082419-e1458826027226-84x150.jpg 84w, https:\/\/courses.bowdoin.edu\/italian-3008-spring-2016\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/114\/2016\/03\/20160313_082419-e1458826027226-576x1024.jpg 576w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 318px) 100vw, 318px\" \/>Interestingly, on the ceiling of the main hall was a painting\u00a0featuring several\u00a0Classical gods, demonstrating the eclectic design of the palace due to the many rulers throughout Sicily&#8217;s history. Some of the gods and goddesses painted on the fresco can be recognized by their famous attributes: Poseidon brandishing his trident, Phoebus\u00a0with his lyre, Mercury with his caduceus, winged sandals, and winged cap, Minerva\u00a0dressed in her warrior garb, Hercules with his club and lion skin, the nude Venus with her naked son Cupid, and the blacksmith Vulcan\u00a0with his hammer.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Jet-lagged, hungry, and\u00a0admittedly a bit cranky, our first day in Sicily was doubtlessly a daze for all. The architectural wonder that is La Zisa certainly did not subtract from\u00a0our conviction that this trip was but a dream and Sicily a fantasy land. Derived from\u00a0the Arabic term &#8220;al-aziza&#8221; meaning &#8220;the gorgeous,&#8221; La Zisa was built in [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":179,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-294","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-sicily","7":"entry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.bowdoin.edu\/italian-3008-spring-2016\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/294","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.bowdoin.edu\/italian-3008-spring-2016\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.bowdoin.edu\/italian-3008-spring-2016\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.bowdoin.edu\/italian-3008-spring-2016\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/179"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.bowdoin.edu\/italian-3008-spring-2016\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=294"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/courses.bowdoin.edu\/italian-3008-spring-2016\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/294\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.bowdoin.edu\/italian-3008-spring-2016\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=294"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.bowdoin.edu\/italian-3008-spring-2016\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=294"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.bowdoin.edu\/italian-3008-spring-2016\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=294"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}