MAZARA DEL VALLO

Mazara del Vallo is an old town. Mazara was founded by the Phonecians in the 9th century BC, with the name of Mazar (the Rock). It was occupied by Greeks, Carthaginians, Vandals, Ostrogoths, Byzantines and Arabs. The city centre (the kasbah ) is reminescent of that period , probably the most prosperous of the history of Mazara .With the passing of time the centre of Mazara changed and it became a religious centre for Christians and for Muslims.

In 1072 , Mazara was conquered by Normans (Roger 1 was the leader of them), during that period the Roman Catholic Diocese of Mazara del Vallo was instituted. The city passed under the control of Angiovins and Spaniards of Aragon in 1282 and of Savoy in 1713.In 1860 it was finally conquered by Giuseppe Garibaldi and the Mille. Three religious groups (christians, muslims and judes ) lived peacefully in the past .Mazara del Vallo is among the Italian cities with the highest percentage of immigrants.

Mazara is an important fishing centre and Mazara fishing port is the biggest fishing port in Italy .The fishers go and stay on the boat for a month because the boats are very well tech equipped .they’ve got a radar, freezers and the fishers can live there for a month. In Mazara port there are a lot of fishing boats and they are the biggest

boats in Italy . Mazara fleet has 466 boats. They can reach 40

metres length. They usually fish crayfish ,prawns ,shrimps ,sword fish ,cod , sardines, grouper, and sole. The fish is sold or taken to other ciTIES.

Farming in Mazara

One important activity in Mazara is farming. People farm citrus and olives.

People take the olives to oil factory. A machine cleans the olive, remove the leafs, squeezes the olives and creates the extra-virgin olive oil.

1st stage 2nd stage 3rd stage 4thstage 5thstage

There are no citrus factories. People farm and sell the citrus at the fruit market.

SEA, BEACHES, LAKES AND RIVERS IN MAZARA

My town is small and it is on the sea. Mazara is a fishing port , most boats stay on the river Mazaro and other boats stay in the “new port”. In Mazara there are two rivers “arena”

and “mazaro”

And 2 beaches: Tonnarella

and Quarara ”, Tonnarella is a sandy beach and Quarara is a rocky beach. People can practise some sports:

sailing , kite surf ,

fishing ,

snorkelling

water ski just to say the most attractive.

Along the beach there are some bathing establishments and free shores where people can sunbathe, swim, relax and play beach games. the lakes in mazare are “gorghi tondi”

and “preola” They are very small.

Monuments and churches

My town is small and it is a sea town. Tourists can see a lot of monuments, churches, museums and natural beauties.

“arco normanno” a long time ago was a castle, after was a prison, now we can see an arch.

The cathedral “santissimo salvatore” is a very beautiful and big church. This is the most important church in Mazara. Ruggero the Ist built it in 1093.

This is on the main entrance door of the cathedral. It represents Ruggero II driving away the Muslims.

This is Palazzo Vescovile. It was founded during in the 15th century. Mazara is a “diocesi”. the bishop of mazara is “bartolomeo castelli”. it is in the west of the Republic square. In front of Palazzo Vescovile, there is the Palazzo del Seminario.

this is ”palazzo del seminario”. It is beautiful and big. It was a college for boys who wanted to become priests.

Touristic attractions in my town In my town you can see many museums and Touristic attractions. The Satyr museum is the most important in Mazara. There you can see many amphora that the old roman used to carry wine and water and the Satyr, A dancing statue.

before being restored

now

The Diocesan museum is another important museum in Mazara Del Vallo. There you can see many church ornaments,

ostensory

cruses

pictures

FESTIVALS IN MAZARA

The most important religious festivals of mazara are: ”the festino of san vito “ and “madonna del paradiso”. San Vito is on 15 June, but people in Mazara celebrate it also on the last week of August. The statue of San Vito is brought from the Cathedral to San Vito church where it is welcome

at Dawn with wonderful pyrotechnical plays. During the the festival many kids wear typical clothes of this age. San Vito is the patron Saint of Mazara.

Another religious festival of Mazara is

the Madonna of Paradiso. People in Mazara are devoted because some centuries ago “madonna del paradiso” moved her eyes while a Peasant was praying. The sacred image is moved from one church to another in July with a big procession some people walk barefoot.

There are many plants, typical of the Mediterranean scrub, like

phoenix canariensis palms,

date palms, Ficus Benjamin, maritime pine,

orange, lemon fig-trees,

Vineyards Carob trees

Dwarf palms In the town there are many canariensis palms in the streets.

In 2006 the red punch arrived in Sicily ; it is a beetle but it eats the heart’s palm killing it.

There are many reds punches in the town so many palms died, in the streets and in the summer houses.

In these photos you can see a terrible landscape. The methods to save palms are expensive and most people don’t use them

When a palm in the street dies the municipality must cut the infected palm , so there are a lot of cut palms in the streets.

The red punch kills the palm in less than one week so there isn’t time to save the palm and people must cut it

The typical sweets of Mazara are: cassata, cannoli. Sfinci, pignoccata, mustazzoli, mandorlata, frutta martorana.

Cassata, it is made with ricotta cheese

Cannoli They are filled with ricotta cheese and

sprinkled with icing sugar, pistachio green, and orange peel

Sfinci It is made with flour they are fried and filled with ricotta and sprinkled with

icing sugar . People eat them for san Giuseppe on 19 marches

pignoccata It is made fried pieces of flour cooked with

honey. People eat this on Easter Monday

Mandorlata it is made with almonds

Frutta martorana it is made with almonds flour and shaped as real fruit. People eat this on 2 November. My favourites are frutta martorana and mandorlata. They are delicious. My mum make their

The Shops

The shops in Mazara del Vallo are big and

beautiful. They are very fully equipped and very

pleasant.

The shops are in the city centre. There are many

supermarkets in the town.

People usually go shopping on Saturday.

The carnival sweets in Mazara

In Mazara on carnival you can eat lot of sweets.

The typical carnival sweets are:

Chiacchiere. It is one of the easiest recipe to

prepare.

It is a typical sweet in every Italian region, but

people eat them with very different liqueurs ;

Struffoli is a Neapolitan typical sweet ;

Castagnole are typical Italian sweets;

Bugie ;

Frittelle .