It is quite natural that on an island, no locality of which is more than forty miles from the sea, all great towns should be met with on the coast, where there are greater facilities for commerce. Still a few centres of population sprang up in the interior, either in the midst of the most fertile districts or at the crossings of the most-frequented lines of communication. Nicosia, the Lombard city, is thus a natural place of passage between Catania and the northern coast of the island. Corleone occupies a similar position with respect to Palermo and the African slope {327} of the island. Castro Giovanni, the ancient Enna, likewise occupies a privileged position, for it stands on an elevated plateau in the very centre of the island: a large stone near it is said by the inhabitants to be an ancient altar of Ceres. Piazza Armerina l’opulentissime, and Caltagirone, surnamed la gratissima on account of the fertility of its fields, are both populous towns, which carry on a considerable commerce through Terranova, in the building of which the stones of the old temples of Gela have been utilised. Caltanissetta, farther to the west, and its neighbour Canicatti, export their produce through the port of Licata.

In the south-eastern corner of Sicily there are likewise several inland towns of some importance, amongst which Ragusa and Modica are the most considerable. Comiso, an industrious place, lies farther to the west, and is surrounded by cotton plantations. The valley of the Hipparis, sung by Pindar, separates it from Vittoria, the saline plains of which furnish much of the soda exported to Marseilles. Noto, like most towns in that part of Sicily, is at some distance from the coast, but its twin city, Avola, stands upon the shore of the Ionian Sea. Noto and Avola were both overthrown by the earthquake of 1693, and have been rebuilt with geometrical regularity near their former sites. The fields of Avola, though not very fertile by nature, are amongst the best cultivated of the island, and it is there only that the production of the sugar-cane has attained to any importance.

On the northern slope of the hills forming the back-bone of the island there are several other towns inhabited by the agricultural population. Lentini, the ancient Leontini, which boasts of being the oldest city in the island, is at present only a poor place, having been wholly rebuilt since the earthquake of 1693. Militello has been restored since the same epoch, and Grammicheli was founded in the eighteenth century to afford a shelter for the inhabitants of Occhiala, which was destroyed by an earthquake. Vizzini and Licodia di Vizzini are remarkable on account of the beds of lava near them, which alternate with layers of marine fossils, and Mineo stands near a small crater of the swamp of Palici. The popular songs of Mineo are famous throughout Sicily. The marvellous “stone of poetry” is shown near it, and all those who kiss it are said to become poets.

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Fig. 120.—SYRACUSE.

Scale 1 : 100,000.

Southern Sicily is poor in natural ports, and formerly, along the whole of that part of the coast which faces Africa, there were only open roadsteads and beaches. On the Ionian coast, however, two excellent harbours are met with, viz. those of Agosta and Syracuse, which are very much like each other in outline and general features. Agosta, or Augusta, the successor of the Greek city of Megara Hyblæa, is now nothing more than a fortress besieged by fever. Syracuse, the ancient city of the Dorians, and at one time the most populous and wealthy city of the Me­di­ter­ra­nean, has been reduced to a simple provincial capital. That city, whose inhabitants even during the last century celebrated their great victory over the Athenians, is now hardly more than a heap of ruins. Its “marble port,” formerly surrounded by statues, is now frequented only by small boats, and its great harbour, large enough for contending squadrons, lies deserted. All that remains of it is contained in the small island of Ortygia, {328} separated from the mainland by fortifications, a ditch, and the swamps of Syraca. The vast peninsula of limestone formerly occupied by the city is at present inhabited only by a few farmers, whose houses stand near the canals of irrigation. The grand edifices erected by the inhabitants of ancient Syracuse are now represented by the ruins of columns on the banks of the Anapo rising from the “azure” fountain of Cyane; by the fortifications of the Epipolæ and Euryelum erected by Archimedes, and now known as Belvedere; by the remains of baths, an enormous altar large enough for hecatombs of sacrifices, an amphitheatre, and an admirable theatre for 25,000 spectators, who were able to see at a glance from their {329} seats the whole of the ancient city, with its temples and fleets of merchantmen. Nothing, however, is better calculated to convey an idea of the ancient grandeur of the city than the vast quarries or lautumiæ and the subterranean catacombs, more extensive than those of Naples, and not yet wholly explored. In former times the summit of the island of Ortygia was occupied by an acropolis, in which stood a temple of Minerva, a rival of the Parthenon of Athens. Sailors, on leaving the port, were bound to look towards this temple, holding in their hands a vase of burning charcoal taken from the altar of Juno, which they flung into the sea when they lost sight of it. Portions of the temple still exist, but its beautiful columns have been covered with plaster and incorporated in an ugly church.

Fig. 121.—TEMPLE OF CONCORD AT GIRGENTI.