Boats at the old harbour of Aci Trezza on the island of Sicily by Silva Wischeropp

About "Boats at the old harbour of Aci Trezza on the island of Sicily"

by Silva Wischeropp

About the artwork

I discovered these old, abandoned shipwrecks at the old harbour of Aci Trezza. This colourful and mysterious photo was taken on 17 July 2015 in the late afternoon hours with the NIKON D90 ( lens: 18.0-50.0 mm f/2.8 ).

Aci Trezza is located just under 10 kilometres north of Catania on the so-called Cyclops Coast. Once a small fishing village, it is now a popular excursion destination. The small town of approx. 5,000 inhabitants has a picturesque harbour, and the Cyclops Islands, which are probably the main attraction, lie directly off the coast.

I Faraglioni - The Cyclops Islands

The archipelago off Aci Trezza is around 560,000 years old and consists of the larger islands of Lachea, Faraglione Grande and Faraglione di Mezzo and a few smaller rocks. The islands date back to the early period of Etna's formation and consist of columnar basalt. You can also marvel at these 5- or 6-sided lava columns in the harbour of Aci Trezza. You can find out exactly how the islands were formed here: The lava tunnels of Etna I

The Faraglioni were already colonised in Greco-Roman times. They were declared a nature reserve in 1998 and have been looked after by the University of Catania ever since.

Faraglione, by the way, means cliff.

According to the story, the Cyclops Islands were formed when Polyphemus, a Cyclops, threw huge boulders at Odysseus and his companions after they had escaped from Polyphemus' captivity by gouging out his eye.