Taormina [antikvár]

History There are many and varied supposition as to the origin of the name of Taormina and its foundation. Accrediting the words of the great Greek historian Diodours in his book Universal History,Taormina was founded by the Sicilians in XI B.C. This pelasgyc tribe, originating in the East, arrived in Sicily and founded cities on high ground which could afford natural protection. Thus at the hand of the Sicilians Taormina came into being on Mount Taurus, from which it took its original name of Tauromenion, becoming Taurominium during the Imperial rule and then the actual Taormina. The specific shape of the mountain, with a plateau in the middle, protected from behind by the steep sides of the edge of a precipice down to the sea, gave thouse colonizers an ideal place to raise a cityfortress. And such it remained, whilst it still stood. To that given to the city in contraction by a generous Mother Nature - a well-positioned terrace, protection from the rear and inaccessability from the front - could be added the work of Man, who closed the two weak spots to the North and South, which were the ways of access to the montain. Thus all unknowingly the city gained considerable strategic importance because the obligatory route for travellers going from the North of the Island (Messina) to the South (Catania and Syracuse) was barred, and travvellers had to go up the mountain, cross the city and descend again on the far side, or viceversa.