I PARCHI LETTERARI "IN THE DIMENSION OF THE JOURNEY" - THE SEA: MEDITERRANEAN NATURE AND THE LANDSCAPE

Another immediate cause for “amazement” consisted in the view of the luxuriant and multi-faceted Mediterranean nature, which rendered travellers giddy with its colours and perfumes.

Goethe underscores how the “queen of the islands” welcomed them “words are not sufficient to describe the fresh vegetation of mulberries, oleanders that are always verdant, lemon trees... large beds of buttercups and anemones...”

“Indeed, landscape artists should not be discouraged by the etchings from the Journey of the abbot of Saint Non, nor by that of Houel; they come to Girgenti without believing in the refinement of the small English etchings and of all of those others who were unable to capture the beautiful places of Sicily.
At each step of the way, they shall find the most noble of lessons, robust and varied vegetation, ruins of admirable colours, backdrops that with their nuances will teach them of harmony; in the end, when they will have abandoned Sicily they will find themselves to be painters and poets at the same time.”

Auguste De Forbii, Memories of Sicily,1823

”This land abounds with fountains and streams; it is fertile with wheat and barley, planted in vegetable patches and gardens.”

Beniamino da Tudela, Book of Travels (12th Century)