Authors
The authors of SiracusaCulture
Giuseppe Voza
Born in Campania, he moved to Sicily in 1965 to work at the “Soprintendenza alle Antichità della Sicilia Orientale” where, covering all roles, he undertakes numerous archeological research projects and projects of conservation and enhancement of cultural heritage. He was “Soprintendente dei Beni Culturali di Siracusa” from 1979 to 2004 and today is “Soprintendente emerito”. He curated and directed the new displays of the “Museo Archeologico Regionale Paolo Orsi di Siracusa”, which was transferred from its historic home in Piazza Duomo and inaugurated in 1988. He was nominated by François Mitterand as “Cavaliere dell’Ordre National du Merite”. Torri del Vento Edizioni has recently published the volume, Siracusa, la Sicilia, l’Europa. Scritti in onore di Giuseppe Voza.
Muriel Mayette-Holtz
Artist, actress, director, Muriel Mayette-Holtz was general administrator for the Comédie-Française and chair of the Accademia di Francia a Roma -Villa Medici, the first woman to direct these two prestigious institutions. She is chair of the Thèatre National de Nice and in 2019, during the 55th season of the Greek Theatre of Siracusa, she curated the production of Le Troiane by Euripides.
Lucia Trigilia
Associate professor of History of Modern Architecture at the “Scuola di Architettura dell’Università di Catania” and scientific Director for the “Centro Internazionale di Studi sul Barocco”, of which she is the founder. She coordinated the scientific dossier for the inclusion of the cities of the Val di Noto in the Unesco World Heritage List, and numerous editorial initiatives aimed at improving the knowledge and understanding the value of the heritage of the 1600s and 1700s. Author of many essays and volumes, she directs “Annali del Barocco in Sicilia”.
Chiara Pota
Born in Milan but adoptive to Siracusa, she is a collaborator of the Cooperativa Sociale L’Arcolaio, where her interests in sustainable living and her passion for cooking and storytelling have found a home. She loves the outdoors, travelling by bike and everything that she does with her two kids.
Antonino Attardo
Agronomist and landscaper, he is specialised in agricultural divulgation. Designer and director of work for re-greening public parks and private gardens, and of various natural areas and reforestation efforts in the Hyblean area. Founding member of the Sicilian Section of the Associazione Italiana di Architettura del Paesaggio, currently he is a member of the Special Committee “Osservatorio Regionale per la qualità del paesaggio in Sicilia”. Winner of the National Prize “Città per il verde” in 2000 and in 2013, he received a special mention from the Minister of Cultural Heritage in the nomination of the V Premio del Paesaggio del Consiglio d’Europa for the project for the recovery of ancient trails and enhancement of the landscape and quarries in the Val di Noto.
Francesca Gringeri Pantano
Director of the Museo dei Viaggiatori in Sicilia in Palazzolo Acreide and of the “Accademia di Belle Arti Mario Minniti” in Siracusa, then in Noto, her research and studies focus on the reconstruction of the late baroque cities of the Val di Noto and on the artistic aspects of the odeporic literature of Sicily. On the subject of Travel, she has curated events in Malta, Paris and Melbourne.
She is author of numerous publications such as Jean Hoüel, Voyage a Siracusa for Sellerio, Sicily and Malta: The Island of the Grand Tour, L'Isola del Viaggio, Il Viaggio di Paolo Orsi negli Iblei.
Her latest work is Il Marchesato di Avola nel Cinquecento. I conventi. i feudatari. Santa Maria di Gesù dalla fondazione alla ricostruzione.
Carmelo Scandurra
A graduate in Cultural heritage and with a Master in Tourism, his field is Christian and Medieval archeology and the promotion of the cultural heritage of his territory. He has taken part in numerous archeological excavations and the preparation of the paleo-christian display in the “Museo Archeologico Paolo Orsi” in Siracusa. He studies the catacombs, the testimonies of early Christianity, the origins and the history of Siracusa and of South-Eastern Sicily in late antiquity. He is co-director of the Museo dei Viaggiatori in Sicilia in Palazzolo Acreide.
Fausto Carmelo Nigrelli
Author of over a hundred literary essays and volumes, he is a Professor of Tecnica e Pianificazione Urbanistica at the University of Catania, SDS in Architecture based in Siracusa of which he is currently the President. He is Directeur d’Etudes Associées at the Fondation Maison des Sciences de l’Homme of Paris for the subject of Projet urbain. He is director of the Special School Emilio Sereni on History and Management of the landscape in rural areas organised by the University of Catania and the Istituto Cervi of Reggio Emilia.
Francesco Ortisi
He teaches Literature at the Liceo “Quintiliano” of Siracusa. He published the essay Siracusa, si gira! for Emanuele Romeo Editore on movies filmed in the Siracusa area from the post war period to 2000, and the Movie map Sicilia, a guide to the cinematographic sets of the Island. He focuses on cinematographic language in teaching. He was “Assessore ai Servizi culturali del Comune di Siracusa” from 1994 to 1998.
Alessandra Trigilia
Agronomist and landscaper, she is a member of the Associazione Italiana di Architettura del Paesaggio. As Head of the Soprintendenza Beni Culturali di Siracusa, she has coordinated the techno-scientific aspects of the landscape plan of the province and has collaborated with the defining of the Archeological Parks of Siracusa, Eloro and Lentini. She has planned and directed the works of enhancement of the historic garden of the Museo Archeologico Paolo Orsi in Siracusa. She has done research on the local vegetation in the archeological area of the Neapolis and worked on the environmental recovery plan for Priolo and Augusta.
Marco Rosario Nobile
PhD in History of Architecture and Urban Planning from the Politecnico di Torino, he is a professor of History of Architecture in the Department of Architecture of the University of Palermo. In 2015 he was a visiting professor at the I Tatti "Harvard University Center for Italian Renaissance Studies". Author of numerous non-fiction books, articles on magazines and monographs on architecture of the modern age, from 2014 to 2017 he was chairman of the Associazione Italiana degli Storici dell'Architettura (AISTARCH).
Cettina Voza
Essay writer and author, her works include Archimede. Siracusa e il suo genio. She studied Classical Literature with a focus on Archeology. She has worked on numerous cultural heritage promotion projects in Sicily, and on the texts and contexts of audiovisual material regarding the history of the archeology of Siracusa.
Simona Gatto
BA in Architecture and Researcher in Aesthetics, she coordinates and collaborates in research activity and organisation of exhibitions and events at the Centro Internazionale di studi sul Barocco. She is author of texts on the cultural heritage of the Val di Noto Area and particularly on the ephemeral architecture in Sicily. She was professor of History of Architecture at the University of Catania and research fellow at the SDS of Architecture in Siracusa.
Ludovico Fulci
Throughout his long career which began in the Ufficio studi dell’Istituto per il Commercio Estero, he directed the trade offices for the Italian embassies in Budapest, Tokyo, Moscow and Brussels and the office of Italian representation in the European Union. He has led many international trade missions.
Ghiselda Pennisi
Calabrian-Sicilian Archeologist with a feisty character and a passion for defending her profession which led her to become the Director of the Associazione Nazionale Archeologi. Specialised in Aerial Topography at the Università del Salento, with previous studies in Numismatics and Greek Ceramography at the Università di Catania, she led excavations in Cyprus for many years. After a Master’s degree in Preventive Archeology and Management of Archeological Risk at the Luiss Guido Carli University of Rome, she deals with project design and preventive archaeology as a freelancer. She studies the smuggling of cultural heritage and curates projects of academic archeology.
Luca Ambrosio
President of the Orchestra Barocca Siciliana, a graduate in both piano and harpsichord, he completed his education at the “Scuola di Alto Perfezionamento Musicale di Saluzzo” and the “Schola Cantorum Basiliensis” in Switzerland. With a degree in Musicology and in research of Literary and Musical Text sciences from the University of Pavia, he has collaborated for years with different groups specialised in the execution on original instruments. In 2016 he won the “VII Premio Internazionale di Studi Musicologici “F. M. Ruspoli” award.
Maria Irene Messina
Born in a small town in the province of Siracusa, she grew up running through the streets of the Greek city where she moved to live in 1996. Ambitious but careful, she studies and studies because she feels the need to “know how to do things”. A clinical pedagogist, specialised in phenomenological-relational Psycho-pathology, she is a teacher at the University of Catania, “re-educator” of life, and aims to teach pedagogical empowerment, that is, becoming the master of oneself.
Elena Servito
Responsible for the scientific and artistic heritage of the Fondazione Inda, she is a graduate in History of Performance and in Conservation of Cultural Heritage. She was assistant director at the Dipartimento Scuola Educazione for RAI. She curated the organisation of art exhibitions at the Teatro Bellini in Catania and was the artistic director of the Medfest in Buccheri for various editions.
Natale Giordano
He takes on managerial roles in complex projects on a Euromediterranean scale, curates reports with the main Euromed networks, is responsible for the organisation of the “Forum delle Città Euro-Arabe” and was part of the technical committee of “Istanbul European Culture Capital 2010”. Manager of the fourth Committee of Coppem - International Euromediterranean Organisation - “Culture, Tourism and sustainable development”. Since 2018 he has been Project Manager of the “Mediterranean Diet - When brands meet people” project, for the enhancement of the Mediterranean Diet, an Intangible UNESCO Heritage.
Alessandro Ferro
An architect specialised in Housing and Building Recuperation, he has a strong interest in the technological aspects and the dynamics that flow between social innovation and architecture. He graduated in Rome where he also completed a Master in Housing; since 2013 he has been working in Sicily on themes of recovery and projectual experimentation in contemporary living, and he collaborates with public administrations on programs of urban regeneration and artistic enhancement projects using contemporary languages.
Bernardette La Rosa
Born in Siracusa on women’s day, her name is Bernardette with an extra r because it is more original. She has a degree in the Science of Cultural Heritage and is specialised in Art History; she is passionate about English literature and cats. She adores films and TV series, writes (rialways with pen and paper) children’s stories which she may publish some day, and in the meantime she enjoys talking about art, culture, the environment, tourism and anything that could make the world a better place.
Cinzia Vittorio
She studied history and conservation of architectural and environmental heritage and specialised in cultural tourism for the development of territories. She has a great passion for Archimedes, the history of science and technology, and for Siracusa. She founded and directs the Tecnoparco Archimede.
Dario Bottaro
He studied at the Istituto Statale d’Arte, specialising in Painting and Visual Arts at the Accademia di Belle Arti of Noto. He then completed his studies on artistic heritage at the Istituto di Scienze Religiose S. M. in Monte Berico. He studies the cult of St. Lucy and has published various volumes, most recently, Santa Lucia nella pittura aretusea. Pale d’altare e dipinti devozionali nelle chiese della provincia di Siracusa. He has catalogued the precious endowments of the silver simulacrum of the Saint and directed the editorial column of the Deputazione della Cappella di S.Lucia di Siracusa. For Morlacchi editore, he contributed to the text Lux in tenebris lucet.
Egle Palazzolo
Writing has traversed her entire life, as a journalist of written press and television, and as an author of novels and poems. Critic of literature, theatre and television for the Giornale di Sicilia, Director of one of the first local TVs in Palermo and of the magazine for the Centro Nazionale di Studi Pirandelliani, she is currently president of the Centro di Ricerca per la Narrativa e il CInema of the Festival Cinematografico Efebo d’oro.
Salvatore Adorno
He focuses on urban and environmental history and history of the South of Italy. Teacher of contemporary history, he also teaches History of the environment and Teaching of History at the University of Catania. He was president of the “Società Siracusana di Storia Patria” and member of the Italian Society for the Study of Contemporary History. Currently he is part of the editorial committee of “Italia Contemporanea” and of “Meridiana”. WIth the editor Marsilio, he published La produzione di uno spazio urbano. Siracusa tra Ottocento e Novecento.
Fabio Cilea
A graduate in Environmental Biology, he is a naturalist and director of the Riserva Naturale Saline di Priolo for the Lipu association. He is interested in problems regarding the conservation of different species of birds with special attention for a small tern known as the Fraticello. He is provincial coordinator for ISPRA’s Progetto di Censimento degli Uccelli Svernanti - Progetto IWC. He is also a member of the IUCN SSC Flamingo Specialist Group. He has written various publications regarding the territory of Siracusa and the faunistic aspects of the humid coastal areas of Sicily with texts of both scientific and informative value.
Eleonora Aimone
She loves conceptual art, linguistics, philosophy and everything that makes one think about knowledge. She has collaborated with galleries of Contemporary Art and Photographic Art in Milan, written for magazines in this sector, curated events and exhibitions in Sicily and teaches History of Art.
Matteo Basilé
Matteo Basilé was one of the first artists in Europe to mix art and technology, his research makes seemingly un-combinable ideas mix; beautiful and grotesque, real and surreal, natural and artificial. His images are meticulous, realistic but also permeated by a strong, sometimes idealised imagination, which takes us back to classical history, while still transmitting the spirit of our time. His photographs have been used for the graphics of the three theatrical productions done by INDA in 2019 at the Greek Theatre of Siracusa.