Acropolis of Lipari at Dawn
Lipari Island, Sicily, Italy
Painting #34 – November 17, 2021
acrylic on canvas 18"W x 24"H
gallery wrapped/painted on edges
$425.00
In October 2017, my husband Russell and I took a Mediterranean cruise with two of our favorite travel companions, his brother Ethan and Ethan’s wife Brenda. We visited several ports in Italy, including Lipari, the largest of the Aeolian Islands, a UNESCO World Heritage site that is a volcanic archipelago off the coast of Sicily. Our ship was towed slowly into the harbor at dawn while the rising sun cast a pale orange glow onto the buildings and rocks that already had a reddish hue.
The view in this painting depicts the cliffs on which the medieval fortifications for the island stand. To the right and out of view of this painting are Castle Lipari, which now houses a world-class archeological museum containing many of the outstanding findings from the area. Lipari has quite a colorful and turbulent history.
The island has been inhabited for about 4,000 years beginning in the Neolithic period, which is the final part of the Stone Age. In the late 5th century BC, Lipari was colonized by the Greeks, who built encompassing walls creating a nearly impregnable fortress. However, after several unsuccessful
attempts, the Romans successfully conquered Lipari in 252 BC, killing most of its inhabitants. When the Roman Empire fell in the 5th century AD, Arabs began invading and they gradually succeeded in conquering all of Sicily including Lipari at the end of the 10th century AD. Reconstruction in the area began in the 11th century with the arrival of the Normans. Beginning in the 13th century, Lipari was ruled by Charles I of the Kingdom of Anjou and, during that period, several nearby kingdoms fought over control of Lipari. In 1544, an Ottoman Empire attack destroyed the city and its almost 8,000 inhabitants were enslaved. In 1556, Charles V (Holy Roman Emperor, King of Spain, etc.,1500-1558) sent Spanish colonists to repopulate and rebuild Lipari. The colonists restored the castle and surrounded it with imposing fortified walls, protecting the town from future incursions. In the 17th century, Lipari was annexed to the Kingdom of Sicily and it remains part of Sicily to this day.