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Procession Of Sant'Agata
The Festival of Saint Agatha is the most important religious festival of Catania, Sicily, commemorating the life of the city's patron saint, Agatha of Sicily. It takes place annually from 3 to 5 February and on 17 August. The earlier dates commemorate the martyrdom of the Catanaian saint, while the latter date celebrates the return to Catania of her remains, after these had been transferred to Constantinople by the Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantin ... general George Maniaces as war booty and remained there for 86 years. Sicilians celebrate Saint Agatha for her purported intercession to avert danger during eruptions of Mount Etna, earthquakes, and some epidemics that had affected Catania. There is also an underlying theme of Sicilian resistance to Roman op ...
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Festa Di Sant&
Festa may refer to: * Feast day for a Christian saint, in Italian, Portuguese, Galician, and Maltese *Festa della Repubblica, the Italian National Day and Republic Day Music * ''Festa'' (album), by Ivete Sangalo, or the title song, 2001 * "Festa" (song), by MAX, 2003 People *Alberto Festa (born 1939), Portuguese footballer *Chris Festa (born 1985), American race car driver *Costanzo Festa (1495–1545), Italian composer *Gianluca Festa (born 1969), Italian football manager *Gianluca Festa (politician) (born 1974), Italian politician and basketball player *Giorgio Festa (1860-1940), Italian physician *Marco Festa (born 1992), Italian footballer *Matthew Festa (born 1993), American baseball player * Mike Festa (born 1954), American lawyer *Paul Festa Paul Festa is an American writer, filmmaker, and violinist. Born and raised in San Francisco, he currently resides there with his husband James Harker. Writing Festa's essays have appeared in ''The New York Times Book Review'', ''Th ...
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Culture Of Sicily
Sicily ( it, Sicilia , ) is the list of islands in the Mediterranean, largest island in the Mediterranean Sea and one of the 20 regions of Italy, regions of Italy. The Strait of Messina divides it from the region of Calabria in Southern Italy. It is one of the five Regions of Italy#Autonomous regions with special statute, Italian autonomous regions and is officially referred to as ''Regione Siciliana''. The region has 5 million inhabitants. Its capital city is Palermo. Sicily is in the central Mediterranean Sea, south of the Italian Peninsula in continental Europe, from which it is separated by the narrow Strait of Messina. Its most prominent landmark is Mount Etna, the tallest active volcano in Europe, and one of the most active in the world, currently high. The island has a typical Mediterranean climate. The earliest archaeological record, archaeological evidence of human activity on the island dates from as early as 12,000 BC. By around 750 BC, Sicily had three Phoenician an ...
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Santa Agueda - Zurbarán (detalle)
Santa Claus, also known as Father Christmas, Saint Nicholas, Saint Nick, Kris Kringle, or simply Santa, is a Legend, legendary figure originating in Western Christianity, Western Christian culture who is said to Christmas gift-bringer, bring children gifts during the late evening and overnight hours on Christmas Eve of toys and candy or coal or nothing, depending on whether they are "naughty or nice". In the legend, he accomplishes this with the aid of Christmas elf, Christmas elves, who make the toys in Santa's workshop, his workshop, often said to be at the North Pole, and Santa Claus's reindeer, flying reindeer who pull his sleigh through the air. The modern figure of Santa is based on folklore traditions surrounding Saint Nicholas (European folklore), Saint Nicholas, the English figure of Father Christmas and the Folklore of the Low Countries, Dutch figure of ''Sinterklaas''. Santa is generally depicted as a portly, jolly, white-bearded man, often with spectacles, wearing ...
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Piazza Del Duomo, Catania
Piazza del Duomo is the main city square in Catania, Italy, flanked by both the centers of civic (city hall at Palazzo degli Elefanti) and religious power ( Duomo or Cathedral of Saint Agatha). The square The ''Duomo di Catania'' or ''Cattedrale di Sant'Agata'' stands on the east side of the square. Originally constructed in 1078–1093, on the ruins of an ancient Roman Thermae (''Achillean Baths''), like nearly all of Catania, the devastating 1693 earthquake, leveled most of the structure, and Giovanni Battista Vaccarini designed a Baroque structure and façade in 1711. Three streets enter the square: via Etnea, the historical Cardo maximus or north–south artery of the Ancient Roman City; the via Giuseppe Garibaldi, and the via Vittorio Emanuele II that crosses it from east to west. On the north side is the Palazzo degli Elefanti or the Town Hall. In front of this building stands a fountain designed by Vaccarini, consisting of an obelisk on the back of the elephant ''u Lio ...
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Catania Cathedral
Catania Cathedral ( it, Duomo di Catania; Cattedrale di Sant'Agata), dedicated to Saint Agatha, is a Roman Catholic cathedral in Catania, Sicily, southern Italy. It was the seat of the Bishops of Catania until 1859, when the diocese was elevated to an archdiocese, and since then has been the seat of the Archbishops of Catania. History The cathedral has been destroyed and rebuilt several times because of earthquakes and eruptions of the nearby Mount Etna. It was originally constructed in 1078–1093, on the ruins of the ancient Roman Achillean Baths, by order of Roger I of Sicily, who had conquered the city from the Islamic emirate of Sicily. At the time it had the appearance of a fortified church (''ecclesia munita''). In 1169 it was almost entirely destroyed by an earthquake, leaving only the apse area intact. Further damage was caused by a fire in 1169, but the most catastrophic event was the 1693 earthquake, which again left it mostly in ruins. It was subsequently rebuilt i ...
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San Biagio, Catania
San Biagio, previously called Sant'Agata alla Fornace or ''La Fornace'' or ''Carcara'' is a Neoclassical architecture, Roman Catholic parish church located at the western edge of the Piazza Stesicoro in the quartiere San Biagio della Calcarella, of Catania, Sicily, southern Italy. The church overlooks a portion of the ruins of the former Ancient Roman amphitheater, while behind the apse in succession are two other churches venerating St Agatha of Sicily: the church of Sant'Agata al Carcere and two blocks west facing the opposite direction is Sant'Agata la Vetere. History and Description Originally there were two churches in this area, one dedicated to St Blaise (Biagio) and a church putatively built atop the furnace from which saint Agatha miraculously escaped. The church dedicated to Sant'Agata was here since the 11th-century. After the 1693 earthquake The 1693 Sicily earthquake struck parts of southern Italy near Sicily, Calabria, and Malta on January 11 at around 21 ...
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George Maniaces
George Maniakes (, transliterated as Georgios Maniaces, Maniakis, or Maniaches, , ; died 1043) was a prominent general of the Byzantine Empire of Byzantine Greek origin during the 11th century. He was the catepan of Italy in 1042. He is known as Gyrgir in Scandinavian sagas. He is popularly said to have been extremely tall and well built, almost a giant. Biography Maniakes was a Greek general of the Byzantine Empire who first became prominent during a campaign in 1030–1031, when the Byzantine Empire was defeated at Aleppo but went on to capture Edessa from the Arabs. His greatest achievement was the partial reconquest of Sicily from the Arabs beginning in 1038. Here, he was assisted by the Varangian Guard, which was at that time led by Harald Hardrada, who later became king of Norway. There were also Norman mercenaries with him, under William de Hauteville, who won his nickname ''Iron Arm'' by defeating t ...
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Catania
Catania (, , Sicilian and ) is the second largest municipality in Sicily, after Palermo. Despite its reputation as the second city of the island, Catania is the largest Sicilian conurbation, among the largest in Italy, as evidenced also by the presence of important road and rail transport infrastructures as well as by the main airport in Sicily, fifth in Italy. It is located on Sicily's east coast, at the base of the active volcano, Mount Etna, and it faces the Ionian Sea. It is the capital of the 58-municipality region known as the Metropolitan City of Catania, which is the seventh-largest metropolitan city in Italy. The population of the city proper is 311,584, while the population of the Metropolitan City of Catania is 1,107,702. Catania was founded in the 8th century BC by Chalcidian Greeks. The city has weathered multiple geologic catastrophes: it was almost completely destroyed by a catastrophic earthquake in 1169. A major eruption and lava flow from nearby Mount Etna ...
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Byzantium
Byzantium () or Byzantion ( grc, Βυζάντιον) was an ancient Greek city in classical antiquity that became known as Constantinople in late antiquity and Istanbul today. The Greek name ''Byzantion'' and its Latinization ''Byzantium'' continued to be used as a name of Constantinople sporadically and to varying degrees during the thousand year existence of the Byzantine Empire. Byzantium was colonized by Greeks from Megara in the 7th century BC and remained primarily Greek-speaking until its conquest by the Ottoman Empire in AD 1453. Etymology The etymology of ''Byzantium'' is unknown. It has been suggested that the name is of Thracian origin. It may be derived from the Thracian personal name Byzas which means "he-goat". Ancient Greek legend refers to the Greek king Byzas, the leader of the Megarian colonists and founder of the city. The name '' Lygos'' for the city, which likely corresponds to an earlier Thracian settlement, is mentioned by Pliny the Elder in hi ...
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Constantinople
la, Constantinopolis ota, قسطنطينيه , alternate_name = Byzantion (earlier Greek name), Nova Roma ("New Rome"), Miklagard/Miklagarth ( Old Norse), Tsargrad ( Slavic), Qustantiniya (Arabic), Basileuousa ("Queen of Cities"), Megalopolis ("the Great City"), Πόλις ("the City"), Kostantiniyye or Konstantinopolis (Turkish) , image = Byzantine Constantinople-en.png , alt = , caption = Map of Constantinople in the Byzantine period, corresponding to the modern-day Fatih district of Istanbul , map_type = Istanbul#Turkey Marmara#Turkey , map_alt = A map of Byzantine Istanbul. , map_size = 275 , map_caption = Constantinople was founded on the former site of the Greek colony of Byzantion, which today is known as Istanbul in Turkey. , coordinates = , location = Fatih, İstanbul, Turkey , region = Marmara Region , type = Imperial city , part_of = , length = , width ...
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