Mozia Island description and photos - Italy: Sicily Island (Topic)

Mozia Island description and photos - Italy: Sicily Island. Detailed information about the attraction. Description, photographs and a map showing the nearest significant objects. The title in English is Mozia.

Photo and description

Mozia is a small island with an area of only 45 hectares, part of the protected archipelago Stagnone in the province of Trapani. Back in the 12th century BC. Mozia became an important trading point for Phoenician merchants and sailors, as well as their commercial base and a kind of unloading pier. In 397 BC. the settlements of the island were destroyed by Dionysius of Syracuse, and the next year Mozia was conquered by the Carthaginians. But by that time, the island had already lost its significance and, with the exception of isolated settlements during the Hellenic and ancient Roman periods, remained abandoned. Traces of those settlements have come down to us in the form of the ruins of several villas.

In the 17-18th centuries, archaeological excavations were carried out on the territory of Mozia, and at the beginning of the 20th century, the entire island was acquired by Joseph Whitaker, archaeologist and heir to a British family who lived permanently in Sicily and made a fortune in the wine trade. Whitaker during his excavations discovered the Phoenician-Punic sanctuary of Cappidazzu, part of the ancient necropolis, the so-called House of the Mosaics and the fortifications of the North and South Gate. By his order, a museum was built on the island, divided today into two parts: the old section contains items collected by Whitaker himself, and the modern section contains the latest finds. Here you can see terracotta products, vases, pottery, a sculptural composition representing two lions tormenting a bull, and a white marble statue of Apollo, created in the 5th century BC.

Sanctuary of Cappidazzu, which is translated from Sicilian dialect means "big hat", originally used for animal sacrifices, and later it was rebuilt with the addition of a certain sacral building.

On the northern bank of the Mozia there is an ancient necropolis - a vast rocky area with small pits, in which urns with the ashes of the dead were once kept. From the 7th century BC for storing urns, a temple was used - the so-called Tophet Mozia. Later, it contained donated terracotta products.

The central part of the island was inhabited - here were discovered traces of a perpendicular road network and the House of Mosaics, which is a two-storey building with a spacious rectangular courtyard surrounded by a covered gallery. A mosaic of black, white and gray stones was laid out on the floor of the gallery - a small part of it can be seen today.

Also worth mentioning is Casermetta - a building built opposite a fortified tower, of which only the southern part has survived. It stood between the House of Mosaics and the South Gate. The casermetta was split in two, flanked by an open corridor, at the end of which was a staircase leading to the upper floors.

You can get to Mozia only through two private berths, where ferries and boats from Sicily come. From the same berths you can go to other islands of the Stagnone archipelago.

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Topic: Mozia Island description and photos - Italy: Sicily Island.