Sicily Trip
Italian 3008 – Latin 3311 – Spring 2018
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 2018 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.

My Dad

17/3
Il 17 siamo andati al paese di Noto, che è caratterizzato dalle sue tre chiese barocche che sono state costruite dopo un grande … [Read More...]

Pirandello’s funerals
Each of the authors’ sites we’ve visited over the trip have memorialized their legacy in a different way. While Lampedusa’s home … [Read More...]

Pirandello 15/3
Oggi siamo andati alla tomba di Luigi Pirandello. Dopo aver arrivato, abbiamo letto ad alta voce le ultime voglie di lui. Non … [Read More...]

18/3
Il 18 abbiamo viaggiato da Syracusa a Catania. Ad ogni modo, prima di arrivare a Catania, siamo andati in montagna per vedere … [Read More...]
Il Cattedrale di a Palermo
Il Cattedrale di Palermo si composta di molti stili architettonici diversi. Ci sono aspetti arabi, romani, normanni e barocchi. … [Read More...]

Erice
By Sarah Austin
On our third day in Sicily, we visited Erice, an important site in Virgil's Aeneid. During the 5th Book of the Aeneid, Aeneas and … [Read More...]

Day 8
It was exhilarating to visit Mount Etna on the last day of the trip! After a steep climb in the bus, we arrived at the first set … [Read More...]

Catania e le chiese
By John Medina
Catania and the surrounding region had been plagued by earthquakes that had destroyed the many different architectural sites of … [Read More...]

Agrigento
By Sarah Austin
On our fifth day, we travelled to Agrigento, a city on the southern coast of Sicily. Here we visited more temple ruins; in … [Read More...]

2nd Day in Palermo
By Sofia Trogu
3/12/18 Today, was another well packed day. Our group headed to the Capella Palatina and the Palazzo dei Normani (royal … [Read More...]

Calcio

Fotografia.mp3
By Cesar Varela
Fotografia - Nicolò Carnesi (Bellissima Noia, 2016) 12 Marzo 2018 "E do un altro sguardo al futuro che anche se non mi sorride … [Read More...]

Mt. Etna
By Louisa Moore
3/18/19: On our final day in Sicily, we ascended Mt. Etna by bus. The landscape was unlike anything I had seen before, as the … [Read More...]

Come amare Il mare
By John Medina
It’s sad that this journey of trying to understand Sicily through the bits of pieces we’ve seen of its history, has come to an … [Read More...]

La felicità.mp3
By Cesar Varela
La felicità - Canova (Avete ragione tutti, 2016) 16 Marzo 2018 "L'hai mai provata, la felicità? L'hai mai provata, la felicità? … [Read More...]

Day 2
Upon our visit to La Zisa, I was struck by the palace's intricate fountain system. I particularly liked the open room with a part … [Read More...]

March 17.
Here in the heart of Syracuse lies a statue of the great Archimedes who is considered among the greatest mathematicians of all … [Read More...]
Trip Participants Individual Photo Diaries
- Rachael Allen (9)
- Sarah Austin (8)
- Emily Beaulieu (8)
- Professor Barbara Boyd (1)
- Cooper Hemphill (8)
- John Medina (9)
- Justin Miller (9)
- Louisa Moore (8)
- Eliza Nitzan (1)
- Francesco Pappalardo (12)
- Sofia Trogu (9)
- Cesar Varela (9)
- Dean Zucconi (11)