Online Encyclopedia
Taormina
Taormina is a town on the island of Sicily in Italy and in ancient times a Greek colony (Tauromenium), dating from ca. 400 BC, that submitted to Roman authority in 212 BCE. It has been popular with tourists since the 19th century.
From a tourists point of view Taormina is a veritable paradise. With beautiful beach areas (accessible via a Funicular) along the coastline, the warm Ionian sea awaits with a high salt content and a remarkably warm temperature. Grotto tours are readily available, though over-priced and quite disapointing. Taormina exists along an extremely hilly coastline, and is about 3/4 of an hours drive away from Europe's largest active volcano, Mt. Etna. The countryside is spotted with small traditional hamlets, filled with gelato shops, unique churches and friendly townspeople. Taormina is also blessed with a large outdoor amphitheatre, which to this day hosts large concerts with contemporary artists, such as Peter Gabriel and Alanis Morisette. Taormina is quite accessible from the larger cities of Messina and Catania via highways of a sort called autostradas.
Wilhelm von Gloeden worked here most of his life as photographer of mainly male Censored pages.
See also
External link
- Historical sketch of Tauromenium http://www.taormina-network.it/english/roman.htm