Opus reticulatum (reticulated work) is a Roman building technique used to create the face of a concrete wall. Initially, the stones that formed the wall cladding were prepared before installation in an irregular pyramid shape with a square base, then arranged with the base visible while the tip was ...

“Il Postino” (The Postman) (1994) is the final masterpiece by Massimo Troisi, who died in his sleep only a few hours after shooting ended. The film is set in 1952, when the poet Pablo Neruda took refuge in exile in Italy to escape the dictatorship in his country, Chile. Though the plot is s...

Salina is an island worthy of a boat tour, where 70% of the coast that is otherwise not visible can be admired this way. Starting counter-clockwise from the bay of Pollara, towards the village of Rinella, you immediately come across a cliff around 300 metres high, completely overlooking the sea: thi...

The Perciato rock arch is a product of marine erosion over time. In fact, the arch was part of a lava flow over 25 metres high, emitted shortly before the birth of the Pollara eruptive centre. The lava flow is perpendicular to the direction of the dominant winds and seas in this part of the Tyrrhen...

The island of Salina is the right environment for the caper to grow and develop. The volcanic soil with high potassium content and the constant sea breeze have made the caper plant, a perennial shrub of likely tropical origins and existing in different varieties, very widespread and absolutely int...

Pumice has been widely used in Aeolian architecture because of its very low weight and its very high insulating power. In the form of small stones it was used in traditional Aeolian architecture to cover the cannizze of attics, which in turn were supported by strong chestnut beams. A layer of lim...

Pumice is a magmatic rock caused by very violent explosive eruptions. If you look closely at a small pumice stone you will see very small round holes that are not connected to each other and therefore do not allow water to penetrate the rock. This makes it a rock with a lower density than water, w...

The capital is the upper element of a column with a decorative and load-bearing function. It is the connecting point between the vertical and horizontal parts of the structure. ...

The cloister is a part of a convent, monastery or abbey, consisting of a central open area surrounded by covered corridors, from which the main convent rooms can be accessed. The first examples of cloisters are found in buildings used by monks of the order of St. Benedict during the Middle Ages. ...

The term “Normans” refers to a population of northern Europe, which lived around 1000 years ago. They landed in Messina, Sicily in 1061, when Sicily was ruled by the Arabs. They built several castles and fortresses throughout Sicily, and their rule ended in 1198 with the death of the last memb...