Jim Schroder's Travel

Sicily

Shrimping is big in the waters off of Mazara.

El Museo del Satiro is the resting place of the famous Satiro Damzante, Dancing Satyr, a mysterious Greek bronze statue brought up by local fishermen in 1998 after resting on the seabed for 2,000 years.

The torso was recovered from the sea floor at a depth of 1600 ft. off the southwestern coast of Sicily, on the night of March 4, 1998, by Captain Francesco Adragna and his crew, in the nets of the same fishing boat that had in the previous year recovered the sculpture's left leg.

$Though the satyr is missing both arms, one leg and its separately-cast tail its head and torso are remarkably well-preserved despite millennia spent at the bottom of the sea. The satyr is depicted in mid-leap, head thrown back ecstatically and back arched, his hair swinging with the movement of his head. The fracture is highly refined; the whites of his eyes are inlays of white alabaster.$

First, there was a leg a left leg, bent at the knee, made of bronze -- brought up from the sea in a fishing net lin June 1997. Francesco Adragna and his crew on the Capitan Ciccio went back to the same fishing grounds about 50 miles out to sea, they wondered what else lay on the bottom 1,600 feet below.

The body of the statue is larger than life, eyes wide open, hair flung back, shown halfway through an exuberant pirouette.

The statue is just over 6 feet .

Captain Fancesco Adragna who discovered the statue in the open ocean 50 miles off shore could have kept the statue for himself or sold it. Instead he made sure that it will remain in Mazara forever.

Captain Francesco Adragna and his grandson who found the Dancing Satyr.

We were very fortunate to meet Captain Fancesco Adragna while in Mazara during our visit. I remember reading about this find in the 1998 time period. Never did I think I would be able to meet the person that found it on the ocean floor.

Lunch with a host family in Mazara. The wife was one of the first woman to get a Captains license on a fishing boat.

Museo del Sale - Salt Museum located in an old wind mill building. Inside you learn about the age old Trapani tradition of salt production and refining.

The museum displays ancient work tools of the salt workers, black and white photos, and original finds such as tumbles , cathedrals , the wooden shovels of the mills , the spire to suck the water from the tank, the strips of wood to measure the salt, and a heavy mill.

The salt fields of water

The famous Salt Museum of Trapani is located in the middle of the Saline Nature Reserve of Trapani. It is a private business, run by the Culcasi family, situated along the route known as the Salt Road, a tourist and cultural project created with the intent of enhancing the coastal area of West Sicily, with its particular moist environment, salt pits and mills.

Thanks to a guided tour, visitors can discover the stages of processing salt as it has developed over the centuries and admire the exhibition of original artifacts, all accompanied by detailed data sheets and panels illustrating the different work cycle phases.

As we came out of the Museum of Salt the sky looked like it was ready to open up and blow. We were getting on a small boat to Mothya Island.

Approaching the private island of Mothya.

On the island of Motya , 2,700 years ago, the Phoenicians built a settlement. .The island of Mozia, as it is called today, is owned and operated by the Whitaker Foundation of Palermo,, famous for Marsala wines.

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