Pantelleria: a dream in the heart of the Mediterranean sea
This text was taken from the website:
http://www.idammusidipantelleria.com/
The isle of Pantelleria, the largest of all the Sicilian isles, is situated at 120 Km from Sicily and at 78 Km from Tunisia. Its origins are volcanic and this can be seen everywhere, beginning from the typical houses made of lava stone (the famous “Dammusi”), going to its very fertile cultivations,thanks to a land which is very rich with nutritive substances and also with hot-springs flowing everywhere. The isle is characterized by a heterogeneous landscape: a wonderful sea rich with foreshortenings, creeks and caves which take your breath away for their lights and crystal-clear colours, high and indented coasts created by the cooling of the lava flows in contact with the sea, a hinterland so much rich with a variety of vegetables to have been considered as a natural reserve.
The climate, hot and temperate, is characterized by a constant wind which freshens the summer temperatures and justifies the appellative of “Wind’s daughter”, that was given to Pantelleria by the Arabians during their domination. The isle is formed by 24 lava cons, called “Cuddie”, which surround the Great Mountain. It is the heart of the Oriented Natural Reserve of the isle of Pantelleria and here you can find Ilex and Pine forests, but also a very great quantity of unique botanic species.
The isle, whose surface is of 83 Km² , is articulated in a series of small fractions. Some of them are situated along a perimetrical street which consents the periplus, the others can be found in the hinterland.
The isle seems to have been inhabited since the ancient years thanks to its epicentric location in the Mediterranean Sea and above all thanks to its endless source of obsidian, a vitreous rock used for the realization of the most different primitive cutting-tools. There are many traces left by the Sesioti, one of the “ Sea populations” of the Bronze Age, which gives us a strong testimony of themselves through the strong defensive walls, common houses and “Sesi”, which are tombs made of dried lava stone, with an almost circular shape and a planimetrical “cul de sac” plant.
Later on, the Punics arrived, of which you can still admire some tombs, many tanks and some terracotta sculptures,and then there were the Romans, the Arabians, the Normans, the Aragoneses, and finally the Turks; all of them left traces of their presence, both in architectonic and cultural terms.
The isle, which is considered in a strategic geographic location, during the Second World War suffered very serious damages, but it succeeded in time to raise again, strong with a naturalistic heritage that the bombardments weren’t able to attack.
Today, Pantelleria is the real isle of the Famous. Huge, very green, wild and sweet, Pantelleria has been chosen by as a holiday place by numerous jet-set personalities, like for example the stylist Giorgio Armani, the singers Sting, Madonna, Ramazzotti, actors like Depardieu, Bouquet, Rossellini, top-models like Erzigova and Naomi Campbell, many of them spend their holiday in their own “Dammusi”, having found in the isle of Pantelleria the ideal place for their glamorous vacation.
The isle of Pantelleria presents an extremely singular landscape, in its heterogeneity. Along the indented coasts, of lava origins, beautiful quarries, deep caves, and impressive stacks alternate. The sea, sometimes green, sometimes azure, and sometimes blue, reserves soundings incomparable for their flora and fauna, on one side, but it offers the surprise of great hot water blows in many spots, on the other side, due to the presence of submarine sulphureous springs with important therapeutic properties. The hinterland landscape offers a rich and fertile vegetation, also, thanks to man’s help. The Natural Oriented Reserve, of a dazzling green, opposes the numberless and very coloured terraces, cultivated to vines, cappers and lentils of excellent quality. Man’s architectures are integrant part of natural landscapes: little dry walls, typical gardens, and finally, the so-called “Dammusi”. The little dry walls, made in order to delimit properties, even today, have the duty of containing the cultivated land and keeping it fertile through the use of the existing lava stone. The gardens of Pantelleria are necessary to eliminate the stones from the cultivable land and also to protect the fruit trees from the wind and the saltiness; these gardens also present a very particular and unique conformation. In fact, they are real architectures with a circular plant and with a little entrance door and they are made of dry arranged lava stone. Nowadays, the gardens of Pantelleria are requested inside a property, because they are symbols of a chic classy house and anti-stress places. The “Dammusi”, particular and unique architectures, are characterized by load-bearing walls, also made of dry arranged lava stone, openings with pointed arch shape, and roofs made as domes, whose white extrados reflects the sun’s rays and, at the same time, makes possible to save the rain-water. Inside there is always the alcove, a space that contains a double bed, which is separated from the rest of the room by drapes and curtains. With its strong exotic effect, the alcove creates a magical and sensual space inside the “Dammuso”.
Pantelleria Charmante - accommodation in holiday house. Charming dwelling in a typical old dammuso in Pantelleria, Trapani, Sicily.
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