Fabrizio Nicoletti | Regione Siciliana (original) (raw)

Books by Fabrizio Nicoletti

Fabrizio Nicoletti, Siracusa Antica. Nuove prospettive di Ricerca, 2022

Ancient Syracuse. New perspectives of research, is a miscellany of papers written by scholars who... more Ancient Syracuse. New perspectives of research, is a miscellany of papers written by scholars who have dealt with this topic, in various ways and according to different perspectives.
Alongside the archaeological writings, which outline the development of the city from Prehistory to the Islamic period, there are contributions that address the history of research, also through archival documentation, questions concerning the identity of the ancient city and the reflections of the ancient city inside the modern, both in its urban structure and in the collective imagination.
The volume brings together previous acquisitions re-examined through new perspectives and numerous hitherto unpublished data, including from recent research, which taken globally provide a certainly new image of ancient Syracuse and its important archaeological and monumental history

Sicily, understood as a vast archipelago comprising the major island, serving as a continent, and... more Sicily, understood as a vast archipelago comprising the major island, serving as a continent, and the smaller islands that surround it, and the continental masses next to it such as Calabria south of the Aspromonte or the Kelibia peninsula in Tunisia, constitutes the watershed between the two seas that make up the Mediterranean and a natural link between Europe and Africa. The nature of the "filter bridge" of this archipelago, sometimes defined as a "crossroads", has been archaeologically known since the 19th century, when Paolo Orsi was the first to set the terms of the relations between Sicily and the eastern Mediterranean during prehistoric times. But it was after the Second World War, with the excavation of the acropolis of Lipari by Luigi Bernabò Brea, that the archipelago fully demonstrated its role of mediation in the wide-ranging relations between the different parts of the Mediterranean. These reports were subsequently deepened, even in dedicated conferences, which nevertheless never focused on the topic in its chronological and geographical entirety.

Con la pubblicazione di questi atti giunge a conclusione il Convegno Internazionale di Studi La Sicilia Preistorica. Dinamiche interne e relazioni esterne, tenuto a Catania presso il Dipartimento universitario di Scienze Umanistiche il 7 e 8 ottobre e a Siracusa nel Museo Archeologico Regionale “Paolo Orsi” il 9 ottobre 2021.
Scopo del convegno è stato l’approfondimento delle conoscenze scientifiche e metodologiche, nonché l’aggiornamento dei dati sulla preistoria siciliana intesa come nodo centrale delle relazioni culturali e biologiche nel Mediterraneo, dalle origini del popolamento umano e animale al fenomeno della colonizzazione fenicia e greca.
La Sicilia, intesa come vasto arcipelago comprendente l’isola maggiore, con funzione di continente, e le isole minori che la circondano, e le masse continentali ad essa prossima come la Calabria a sud dell’Aspromonte o la penisola di Kelibia in Tunisia, costituisce lo spartiacque tra i due mari che com-pongono il Mediterraneo e un naturale collegamento tra Europa e Africa. La natura di “ponte filtrante” di questo arcipelago, talora definito “crocevia”, è archeologicamente nota dal XIX secolo, da quando cioè Paolo Orsi impostò per primo i termini delle relazioni tra Sicilia e Mediterraneo orientale durante la preistoria. Ma è nel Secondo dopoguerra, con lo scavo sull’acropoli di Lipari di Luigi Bernabò Brea, che l’arcipelago ha dimostrato appieno il suo ruolo di mediazione nelle relazioni ad ampio raggio tra le diverse parti del Mediterraneo. Tali relazioni sono state successivamente approfondite, anche in convegni dedicati, che tuttavia non hanno mai focalizzato il tema nella sua globalità cronologica e geografica.
Il convegno, che ha visto alternarsi circa 60 relazioni, ha puntato, pertanto, ad una analisi aggiornata e complessiva di queste relazioni, sia attraverso l’esame di aspetti generali, sia mediante la conoscenza di fenomeni puntuali e circoscritti, per cronologia, per tema o per territorio.
I giorni del convegno sono stati una importante occasione di dibattito e scambio di nuove informazio-ni, tanto più necessaria perché giunta al termine di una terribile pandemia che aveva limitato, o meglio azzerato, qualsivoglia occasione di confronto scientifico in presenza. Ed occorre essere fiduciosi che questi atti, oltre a costituire la fonte tangibile di tali informazioni, potranno costituire il punto di partenza per nuovi sviluppi scientifici, che vadano oltre le stesse pagine del volume.

Mesogheia. Studi di storia e archeologia della Sicilia antica, vol. 9, 2021

I depositi di musei, gallerie, soprintendenze e parchi archeologici traboccano di beni, molti di ... more I depositi di musei, gallerie, soprintendenze e parchi archeologici traboccano di beni, molti di inestimabile valore, che a causa della mancanza di fondi e di personale, giacciono dimenticati e in attesa di essere valorizzati.
Nonostante non manchi talora l’investimento per il recupero, il restauro e la conservazione, una sostanziale assenza di programmazione, e certamente anche di coscienza e mappatura dei luoghi in cui si trovano, relega la gran parte di questi beni a un sostanziale abbandono, deprivandone la collettività che ne è destinataria costituzionale.
Questo sistema danneggia due volte: perché i beni dimenticati vengono sottratti allo sviluppo scientifico, culturale ed economico, e perché ai fondi spesi per il loro mantenimento non consegue la fruizione pubblica, che è, o dovrebbe piuttosto essere, l’anello conclusivo di una catena ininterrotta che inizia con la scoperta del bene.
Il convegno di cui si pubblicano ora gli atti, si prefissava l’obiettivo di trattare tanto di casi virtuosi quanto di quelli critici, legando analisi e dibattito al tema della valorizzazione e promozione, anche sociale e turistica, aspetti che tanta parte hanno nello sviluppo dei nostri territori e della ricerca scientifica. Tra gli obiettivi di esso non era secondario quello di sensibilizzare l’opinione pubblica, soprattutto giovanile, sulla dispersione di un patrimonio che giace dimenticato e talora in situazione di oggettivo pericolo.
Gli atti del convegno descrivono una realtà principalmente siciliana, essendo questo il principale soggetto di riflessione, ma trattandosi di un tema invero centrale in molte altre realtà, e forse ovunque vi siano beni giacenti nei depositi, il lettore troverà materiale utile alla conoscenza di esperienze nazionali e internazionali.
Un tema così complesso e, riteniamo, ormai ineludibile nell’agenda delle necessità di chi si occupa di beni culturali, non si esaurisce certo nelle pagine di questo volume. Auspichiamo anzi che esso non rimanga confinato ad esso, e che tra gli addetti ai lavori, e soprattutto nella società civile più attenta, si discuta apertamente di un problema da molti anni negato. Ma è però significativo che questo volume contenga, oltre ad esperienze andate a buon esito oppure decisamente critiche, una proposta concreta per il futuro, nella forma di un decreto che prova a sfruttare in positivo le possibilità offerte dall’autonomia regionale siciliana.
Quel che appare chiaro dalle esperienze che si leggono in queste pagine, e da quelle, tante, che rimangono sottotraccia, è la necessità di ricucire un rapporto interrotto tra innumerevoli beni culturali dimenticati, in depositi spesso inadeguati al loro compito, è l’umanità, nella sua accezione più ampia, che è non soltanto proprietaria, ma destinataria ultima di essi.

The decades following the Second World War saw the affirmation of a new generation of archaeologi... more The decades following the Second World War saw the affirmation of a new generation of archaeologi-sts and were, among often unspeakable difficulties, a great opportunity for scientific and administrative renewal, also due to the bombings that propitiated discoveries, or to the need to rearrange the great museums of the island that had been turned upside down, and sometimes completely dismantled, due to the need to protect their masterpieces. The contributions in this volume outline these events, outli-ning events that are little known, if not completely unknown, which normally go as far as the years of the economic boom, and often much beyond, ending up asking us about the very meaning of the word "postwar" and its chronological limits.
Starting from Syracuse, whose historical archaeological superintendency came out of the war with the legacy of an immense institutional prestige, and touching counterclockwise the districts of the island, the volume outlines the roles and contributions of the individual actors, whether they are administrative or research institutions, Italians and foreigners, or simple scholars who in those years and in those territories completed or began their scientific research.
The topic is historically addressed for the first time, drawing on extensive archival documentation, so that the volume's contributions illuminate an organic light on the subject and lay the foundations for future debate.

ANCIENT CATANIA. NEW PERSPECTIVES OF RESEARCH is a miscellany of contributions written by scholar... more ANCIENT CATANIA. NEW PERSPECTIVES OF RESEARCH is a miscellany of contributions written by scholars who discussed this theme in various ways and from different perspectives.
In addition to traditional archaeological reports, outlining the urban development from prehistory to the late antiquity, there are writings dealing with the history of research, including through archival records, issues concerning the identity of the ancient city and the reverberations of antiquity within the modern city, both in its urban structure as in the collective imagination.
In the contributions are included numerous informations until now unpublished, even by recent researches, which taken as a whole provide a picture of Catania and its ancient monuments certainly new.
Born from a prehistoric eruption of Etna, the Montevergine hill on which stands Catania is strategically located between the sea, the volcano and the largest plain of Sicily. Upon it, starting from the Neolithic, there was a vast settlement. However, the area was perhaps already uninhabited when, in 729-728 BC, Greeks from Chalkis in Euboea, headed by Evarco founded Katàne.
The Greek city, site of an important sanctuary of Demeter, enjoyed its best season in the fifth century BC. In 476 Hieron I of Syracuse refounded it, replacing the original inhabitants and changing its name to Áitna. From this episode, which lasted fifteen years, chanted by Pindar and perhaps topic of a lost tragedy by Aeschylus, remain silver coins among the most refined of antiquity. Once back the old name and the original inhabitants, at the end of the century, during the Peloponnesian War, Katàne sided with Athens against Syracuse. Conquered by the Syracusans in 403 BC, dispersed its inhabitants and repopulated with Campanian mercenaries, for the city began a decline that ended with the Roman conquest in 263 B.C.
Càtina became Colonia Augustea in 21 BC. From that moment the city was endowed with large public buildings that will turn it into one of the most distinguished centers of the empire which in the following centuries, until today, will influence its urban development.
The city was the site of an early Christian community and by the fourth century, if not earlier, it had a bishop. To the Christianity are linked the transformations of some buildings and the abandonment of others, and the slow process of development from the ancient city to the Middle Ages.

A book on the sicilian prehistory

On the Phoenician Punic fortification wall at Eryx (Sicily)

Papers by Fabrizio Nicoletti

Fabrizio Nicoletti (ed.), Siracusa Antica. Nuove prospettive di ricerca, 2022

ARCHEOLOGY IN COVID TIME. EXCAVATIONS 2021-2022 IN THE UMBERTO I HOSPITAL IN SYRACUSE - Known in ... more ARCHEOLOGY IN COVID TIME. EXCAVATIONS 2021-2022 IN THE UMBERTO I HOSPITAL IN SYRACUSE - Known in the past as Giardino Spagna, from which the famous statue called Landolina Venus comes, the area of the “Umberto I” Hospital in Syracuse has been subjected to repeated archaeological excavations since the early 20th century. In winter of 2021-2022, on the occasion of the construction of a new hospital building, some archaeological excavations were carried out, which did not return traces of the Archaic necropolis found in past researches. The most ancient phase, dating back to the 3rd century BC, testifies to a cultic use of the area, with the deposition of thysiai to be connected to a nearby sanctuary. Date from Roman times a section of a paved decumanus, belonging to the orthogonal urban layout, and several buildings built with reused architectural elements, dating back to the 4th and 5th centuries AD. The frequentation of the area underwent a sharp decline in the Byzantine age, and the dispossession of ancient buildings began in the second half of the 8th century. There is no evidence of a subsequent use of the area, until the 19th century, a period to which date back numerous traces of agricultural activity and the remains of a building, which belonged to the former Giardino Spagna.

Fabrizio Nicoletti (ed.), Siracusa Antica. Nuove prospettive di ricerca, 2022

ORTIGIA IN PREHISTORY - Heart of the city founded by the Corinthians in 734 BC, Ortigia, which ov... more ORTIGIA IN PREHISTORY - Heart of the city founded by the Corinthians in 734 BC, Ortigia, which over time has been both an island and a peninsula, was already inhabited by Indigenous peoples remembered by Thucydides. The archaeological finds carried out on several occasions in different areas, show that a human settlement of much older origins than the one that must have preceded the Greek colony of Syracuse existed on the island. Few and uncertain evidences are dated to the Neolithic Age, but the first traces of sedentary life, attested by a curvilinear building, hearths, votive dimples and a well, date back to the Ancient Bronze Age, at least to the 17th century BC. This settlement, which initially was to be distributed in different areas of the island, in the Middle Bronze Age had to concentrate only in its central part, where rectilinear and curvilinear buildings are testified, not far from which there was, perhaps, also a rock-cut tombs necropolis overlooking on the vast lagoon of the Porto Grande. The absence of contexts and finds dating back to the Late Bronze Age could indicate a shrinkage in human presence in the 13th and 12th centuries BC. Starting from the Final Bronze Age and up to the Ancient Iron Age, between the 11th and 9th centuries BC, a vast inhabited area developed on the island, still characterized by curvili-near and rectilinear buildings, of which the relative necropolis is unknown. The archaeological data do not clarify whether this settlement was still existing around the half of the 8th century BC, when the Greeks founded Syracuse, but surely in the early life stages of the Corinthian colony numerous objects of local origin were still circulating in Ortigia, and probably also their indigenous producers, who moreover the ancient historians remember as subordinate elements of the Syracusan socie-ty of full historical age.

Sicilia Antiqua, 2023

The hypogeum and the Neolithic ditches of Stretto near Partanna. Excavations1994. Stretto is a ro... more The hypogeum and the Neolithic ditches of Stretto near Partanna. Excavations1994.
Stretto is a rocky hill not far from the town of Partanna (Trapani,
West Sicily), in a district very rich in water, known for two large ditches dug inside the calcarenite from where large quantities of refined
Neolithic wares come. Discovered in 1987 and partially investigated two
years later, the trenches were subjected to systematic excavation in 1994.
This excavation has clarified that the chronology of the two ditches dates
back between the Middle Neolithic of Stentinello/Kronio facies and the
final one of Diana facies. During this period the ditches have had important structural changes and in their use, passing from a primary function, for which they were excavated, linked to the lighting of fires, to diversified and alternating roles over time that included the discharge of residues, the temporary water flow, funeral use and even that of human or animal shelter. The two trenches, which have orthogonal orientations and are about 200 m apart, could be fragments of a single system surrounding a large area with a flat zone in the center, where there could be a built-up area or a space for outdoor activities. The most important discovery, however, was that of the oldest artificial hypogeum found so far in Sicily. Divided into four descending rooms, starting from a staircase at the entrance, the hypogeum ended on the vertical line of a small lake from which it originally drew water with a siphoning system that allowed the flooding of a room. Dated to the Middle Neolithic, and probably of a cult function, the hypogeum has comparisons in Puglia, with similar structures, also connected to Neolithic trenches.

P. Militello, F. Nicoletti, R. Panvini, La Sicilia Preistorica. Dinamiche interne e relazioni esterne, 2021

ARCHAEOMETRIC STUDY OF THE MINERALS FOUND IN THE PREHISTORIC NECROPOLIS OF MANFRIA (SICILY): PREL... more ARCHAEOMETRIC STUDY OF THE MINERALS FOUND IN THE PREHISTORIC NECROPOLIS OF MANFRIA (SICILY): PRELIMINARY RESULTS - This work presents the very preliminary results of analysis of some minerals found in the prehisto-ric necropolis of Manfria, dating back to the Sicilian Early Bronze Age, performed in order to have some information about their chemical composition. The sample have been analysed with X-Ray Fluorescence analysis, providing a semiquantitative information about chemical components of each sample, allowing in some case to confirm or deny the initial assumption based on autoptic analysis.

P. Militello, F. Nicoletti, R. Panvini, La Sicilia Preistorica. Dinamiche interne e relazioni esterne, 2021

THE ANCIENT BRONZE AGE NECROPOLIS OF MANFRIA, NEAR GELA (EXCAVATIONS OF 1997) - The paper outline... more THE ANCIENT BRONZE AGE NECROPOLIS OF MANFRIA, NEAR GELA (EXCAVATIONS OF 1997) - The paper outlines a preliminary framework on the excavations carried out in 1997 in a rock-cut chamber tombs necropolis dating back to the Early Bronze Age in Manfria (Gela), called Lotti. The tombs, which have from one to three chambers and concave fa-çades, in one case decorated with fake pilasters and in another with a portico with two all-round pillars, form small groups overlooking on a common open space, dug into the rock, where are testified ritual activities. Among the 40 tombs investi-gated, three, found still sealed, thus allowing the funeral ritual to be outlined, contained at least 26 buried persons, whose skeletal systems, except one, were devoid of anatomical connections, due to the post-mortem bodies treatment in dedicated areas. Among the elements of the grave goods, which date the tombs to the late period of the Castelluccio facies, and also include pottery of the Rodì-Tindari-Vallelunga style, we remark the frequency of non-worked iron-based minerals and cop-per-based metal objects, including a parure comprising a dagger belonging to the only one individual buried in anatomical connection, which is characterized as a prominent subject within a substantially egalitarian community, based on the extend-ed family model.

Thesaurus Amicorum. Studi in onore di Giuseppe Guzzetta a cura di Carmelo Crimi, Massimo Frasca, Renata Gentile Messina, Dario Palermo, 2020

THE FIRST EXCAVATION SEASON IN THE SESE ROSSO AND THE FUNERARY RITUAL IN THE MEGALITHIC NECROPOLI... more THE FIRST EXCAVATION SEASON IN THE SESE ROSSO AND THE FUNERARY RITUAL IN THE MEGALITHIC NECROPOLIS OF THE ISLAND OF PANTELLERIA - Discovered in 1997, the Sese Rosso, transformed into a military watchtower during the Second World War, was the subject of a first excavation in 2008, concentrated in the southwestern part of the
funeral monument. Three chambers have been investigated, two of which still not violated, which have revealed human and animal burials, along with vascular sets and two globular rock crystal beads. The observed funerary ritual was based on secondary inhumation which included the selection and re-composition of the bodies and their make-up through the use of ocher. The set of acquired data, which place the monument in an advanced phase of the Mursia facies (first half of the II millennium BC), allows to compare the funerary style of the sesi megalithic necropolis with that of the northern Africa mounds and excludes, instead, each link with other architecturally similar evidences (navetas, talayots, nuraghi, Corsica towers) until now taken as a comparison.

Migrazioni e Commerci in Sicilia. Modelli del passato come paradigma del presente, a cura di Rosalba Panvini, 2017

Migrants in prehistoric Sicily: the RTV groups - The Sicilian Archipelago of the 2nd millennium B... more Migrants in prehistoric Sicily: the RTV groups - The Sicilian Archipelago of the 2nd millennium BC is characterized by the dichotomy between an original Mediterranean culture that occupies much of the island (facies of Castelluccio), and cultural groups with different characteristics, that occupy the smaller islands and sometimes promontories. These groups, characterized by maritime mobility, set up with the major island a center-periphery relationship that allowed the “Sicilian system” to relate to the Mediterranean world at the time of the diffusion of the alloys metallurgy. Among these cultures, the only one that appears to penetrate deep within the Sicilian territory is that called Rodì-Tindari-Vallelunga. Linked to the circulation of the first metal alloys, and probably of Italic continental origin, it appears generally intrusive within the territory. This character is perhaps evidence of the demiurgic nature of the bearers of this facies, probably nomadic craftsmen who know the first metallurgy. This is demonstrated by the concentration of the markers belonging to this culture around the Strait of Messina and the Channel of Sicily, the only cross-roads between the two waters of the Mediterranean involved in the phenomenon, as well as the findings of metal artifacts and molds in a greater number than within the Castelluccian contexts.

Istituto Italiano di Preistoria e Protostoria, Atti della XLI riunione scientifica, Dai ciclopi agli ecisti. Società e territorio nella Sicilia preistorica e protostorica, San Cipirello (PA), 16-19 novembre 2006, Firenze 2012, 2012

SUMMARY. - MURSIA PREHISTORIC VILLAGE GIS PLATFORM: MANUFACTUREDS AND STRUCTURAL ELEMENTS PATTER... more SUMMARY. - MURSIA PREHISTORIC VILLAGE GIS PLATFORM: MANUFACTUREDS
AND STRUCTURAL ELEMENTS PATTERN ANALYSES. - The GIS platform, used to archive and analyze the data collected for the Bronze Age settlement at Mursia
(Pantelleria island, Trapani), has given us a fast and useful field-data management environment. Particularly we have used it to make pattern analyses of the collected materials, to estimate the former settlement area and to make hypotheses about functionality.

Vivere all'ombra del Vulcano L'insediamento di Valcorrente di Belpasso nel contesto degli studi sulla preistoria siciliana tra il IV e la prima metà del II millennio a.C., 2020

In the summer of 2006, an excavation was carried out on the southern terrace of the promontory (c... more In the summer of 2006, an excavation was carried out on the southern terrace of the promontory (called “sector A”) on which the prehistoric settlement of Mursia developed. Excavations conducted in this area by the University of Pisa, between 1966 and 1971, had brought to light seven elliptical dwellings (A1-A7) and some disarticulated walls belonging to two different phases of the settlement, both dating back to the Early Bronze Age. The new excavation made it possible to identify two new elliptical huts (A9 and A10), one of which (A9), destroyed by a
fire, preserved useful elements to imagine its original appearance, along with a large number of artifacts whose position allowed to reconstruct the furnishing arrangements and the activities that took place within it. Among these, there were cooking and conservation of foodstuffs, and grinding attested by a large number of millstones and grinders. The discovery of some burnt clay weights, assumed to belong to a net, and a considerable number of bird bones of nine different species, suggest that the dwellers practiced bird trapping. The hut also provided several imported artifacts. Rectilinear walls have also been found, some disarticulated, some related to a modular building that had at least two rooms (A8). The stratigraphic succession of buildings allows to reconstruct the development in this part of the settlement, as well as in the entire promontory, articulated on three different phases, all dating to the Early Bronze Age: the first period with elliptical huts sometimes characterized by apses of different radius; the second period with huts equipped with equal apses; the third one characterized by straight
modular buildings. The urban planning data of the first phase suggests an intensive occupation of the living space with a disorganic layout of the dwellings and a network of external narrow passages. From the second phase, perhaps coinciding with the construction of the acropolis, there are indications of urban rearrangement with the appearance of small roads, with a more rational occupation of space and the alignment of buildings according to cardinal axes but with retrograde orientation about 35 degrees.

Archeologia in Sicilia nel Secondo Dopoguerra, a cura di Rosalba Panvini e Fabrizio Nicoletti, 2020

THE UFFICIO SCAVI ARCHEOLOGICI OF CATANIA. FROM AN UNPUBLISHED FORMA URBIS TO THE RECONSTRUCTION ... more THE UFFICIO SCAVI ARCHEOLOGICI OF CATANIA. FROM AN UNPUBLISHED FORMA URBIS TO THE RECONSTRUCTION OF A ROMAN THEATER - Born from a previous custody service of ancient monuments, between 1958 and 1987 the Ufficio Scavi Archeologici, which was located at the Roman Theater, performed in Catania and over much of eastern Sicily, a function similar to that of an archaeological superintendency. In the years in which the city underwent important and often radical urban transformations, the Ufficio Scavi administrated a constant control of the undergrond finds, which flowed into a detailed forma urbis of Catania that will remain unpublished. It was precisely the Roman Theater, seat of the Ufficio, the goal of one of the major post-war archaeological enterprises, which remained unfinished: the total liberation of the monument with the demolition of an entire district of the city.

in M. Blancato, P. Militello, D. Palermo, R. Panvini, a cura di, Pantalica e la Sicilia nell'età di Pantalica, Atti del convegno di Sortino (Siracusa), 15-16 dicembre 2017, 2019

Dessueri. The protohistorical settlement of Monte Maio (excavations of 1993-2001) - Of the four h... more Dessueri. The protohistorical settlement of Monte Maio (excavations of 1993-2001) - Of the four hills forming the archaeological system of Dessueri, Monte Maio is the minor but also the most central. For its position it was home to a settlement belonging to the necropolis occupying the other three hills (Dessueri, Fastucheria and Canalotti). The hill has been inhabited from the Early Neolithic to the VII century BC. During this time the settlement alternated expansive phases on all the slopes of the hill and contraction periods, in particular on the southern and eastern slopes, and on the terrace which joins Monte Maio with Monte Canalotti. The oldest buildings date back to the Middle Bronze Age, to which belong two circular huts. From the Late Bronze Age the settlement assumed proto-urban characteristics. Belonging to the oldest phase (Late Bronze Age), only little remains are known. The following period (Final Bronze Age) is the one of more intense building activity, attested by the planning of a terracing system including monumental buildings. During a later phase (Early Iron Age) the buildings were transformed using the previous building techniques, however applied with a lower quality. On the last phase of the settlement, probably ended in the middle of the seventh century BC, is known a rectangular house.

Fabrizio Nicoletti, Siracusa Antica. Nuove prospettive di Ricerca, 2022

Mesogheia. Studi di storia e archeologia della Sicilia antica, vol. 9, 2021

A book on the sicilian prehistory

On the Phoenician Punic fortification wall at Eryx (Sicily)

Fabrizio Nicoletti (ed.), Siracusa Antica. Nuove prospettive di ricerca, 2022

Sicilia Antiqua, 2023

P. Militello, F. Nicoletti, R. Panvini, La Sicilia Preistorica. Dinamiche interne e relazioni esterne, 2021

Thesaurus Amicorum. Studi in onore di Giuseppe Guzzetta a cura di Carmelo Crimi, Massimo Frasca, Renata Gentile Messina, Dario Palermo, 2020

Migrazioni e Commerci in Sicilia. Modelli del passato come paradigma del presente, a cura di Rosalba Panvini, 2017

Vivere all'ombra del Vulcano L'insediamento di Valcorrente di Belpasso nel contesto degli studi sulla preistoria siciliana tra il IV e la prima metà del II millennio a.C., 2020

Archeologia in Sicilia nel Secondo Dopoguerra, a cura di Rosalba Panvini e Fabrizio Nicoletti, 2020

in M. Blancato, P. Militello, D. Palermo, R. Panvini, a cura di, Pantalica e la Sicilia nell'età di Pantalica, Atti del convegno di Sortino (Siracusa), 15-16 dicembre 2017, 2019

THE RECTILINEAR BUILDINGS WITH MODULAR DISTRIBUTION OF THE SPACES IN THE SICILY OF THE PANTALICA ... more THE RECTILINEAR BUILDINGS WITH MODULAR DISTRIBUTION OF THE SPACES IN THE SICILY OF THE PANTALICA AGE - From the Late Bronze Age spread throughout the island modular buildings with rectilinear scheme formed by two or more juxtaposed environments. There are reasons to believe that this typology represents an innovative fact in the local architectural panorama, since there is no certainty of its existence before this period. It is possible an extrainsular origin with a relationship between its rapid increasing and the contact between Sicily and the Eastern Mediterranean. It is possible to see a basical difference in the internal organization of space, between structures tending to paratactically multiply the environments and rooms complexes structured in a hierarchical system. The most elementary form of the paratactic type is a rectangular plan structure divided into two spaces with independent access from the outside. The development of the variant consists of buildings with independent or occasionally connected spaces through a passage in the partition wall, which characterizes the set of three or more environments lined up on the same axis. In the most articulated form, the paratactic type organizes two or more axial alignment of environments around an open space, in a centripetal system usually defined as a courtyard complex. The hypotactic type is characterized by an environments distribution that prefigures a hierarchical space layout. In the plannning of these structures there are communication passages in the partitions and also rooms intended to link different environments. These buildings, which often have a monumental appearance, are sometime referred to as palaces or anaktora, though it is not always possible to date certainly them at the Protohistoric Age.

Il Sacro Pasto. Le tavole degli uomini e degli Dei, Atti del convegno internazionale, Noto (Siracusa), 26-28 ottobre 2017, 2019

Nutrition as a symbolic practice in the prehistory of Sicily

Incontri. La Sicilia e l'altrove, 2019

Two new bossed bone plaques of the Early Bronze Age and other Sicilian things of the same period.

Cronache di Archeologia, 2018

FROM CHAOS TO ORDER: A GROUP OF VESSELS FROM THE PLAIN OF GELA AND THE CONTAMINATIONS IN THE ENE... more FROM CHAOS TO ORDER: A GROUP OF VESSELS FROM THE PLAIN OF GELA AND THE CONTAMINATIONS IN THE ENEOLITHIC OF SICILY. In 1960 the Museum of Gela in Sicily acquired a group of Eneolithic finds from a place called Ponte Olivo, without any information on how they were discovered, but probably belonged to a cultual deposition linked to the lost prehistoric settlement of Settefarine. The finds consist of a pyx with lid and of a small amphorae variegated series, many of them painted with geometrical-linear patterns, which model is tracked in the Aegean. A study undertaken through the cluster analysis method and comparisons with other Sicilian examples allows us to identify three different styles (Serraferlicchio, Malpasso-Piano Quartara and Sant’Ippolito) at the origin of the Ponte Olivo amphorae. Normally regarded as belonging to different Eneolithic moments, the coexistence of these styles in the Ponte Olivo amphorae shows as they were at least partially contemporaries. But the amphorae of Ponte Olivo does not belong to any of these styles: they show a process of stylistic contamination, between two different aesthetics, the “pictorial” and chaotic one belonging to the Serraferlicchio style and the “plastic” and volumetric one, typical of the Malpasso-Piano Quartara style,
as origin of vessels with a painted decoration subject to the shape of the vessel, according to the typical aesthetics of the Sant’Ippolito style. The case of Ponte Olivo is not unique in Sicily, because we are able to identify other forms of contamination between different Eneolithic Sicilian styles. In fact, this period is characterized by multiple styles, many of them originated from different regions of the Mediterranean. Despite many studies, it is impossible to establish a styles sequence valid for all Sicily, placing clear boundaries between periods that were characterized by each of these styles. The process of contamination between styles, which rather reveals the existence of autonomous but dynamic communities, whose formation broke the uniformity of Neolithic Sicily, proceeded in the direction of the synthesis, from “chaos”
to “order”, generating, at the beginning of the Bronze Age, the homogeneous facies of Castelluccio extended over most of the island.

A perspective on studies of Sicilian prehistory from the late nineteenth century to the fall of F... more A perspective on studies of Sicilian prehistory from the late nineteenth century to the fall of Fascism

THE BRONZE AGE IN WESTERN SICILY. - Many cultures developed during bronze age in western Sicily. ... more THE BRONZE AGE IN WESTERN SICILY. - Many cultures developed during bronze age in western Sicily. Sometime they were contemporary showing the presence of very interesting ethnical dynamics bringing to acculturation phenomena like in the case of Bell Beaker mainly diffused in south west regions.
During early bronze Castelluccio culture was diffused also in western Sicily, but it developed slowly towards what was called Rodì Tindari Vallelunga facies and that now we think is a process of typological as cultural change between Castelluccio and Thapsos. During this last phase we encounter the origin of some
regional differences among the same culture that will be more evident during late bronze age. We see that there are aspects more tied with a Mediterranean tradition, such as Mokarta. But we also see that there areas where it is strong a Tyrrhenian tradition and also a continental one with Ausonian affinities.

Viaggiatori stranieri nella Sicilia dell'Ottocento. Il contatto con il retaggio storico e l'attenzione per le questioni sociali, 2017

In the area between the Ancient Theatre and via Teatro Greco has been brought to light a stratigr... more In the area between the Ancient Theatre and via Teatro Greco has been brought to light a stratigraphic sequence relating to the oldest human presence on the Montevergine Hill, once the seat of the acropolis of the ancient Catania. Perhaps the area was already inhabited by man in the late Pleistocene and early Holocene, but the stratigraphy brought to light refers to two different prehistoric phases, however later. The first phase (5520-5000 cal. BC) belongs to the Middle and Late Neolithic. Between this phase and the next is interposed a period of about one thousand years. During this time the area, that does not seem frequented by man, was subject to landslides of the rocky ridge. The second phase (4330-3950 cal. BC) belongs to a village of the Early Eneolithic. At the beginning of the fourth millennium BC this village, already overwhelmed for a first time and then rebuilt, was finally buried by a landslide of large boulders.

Prehistoric lithic stone tools. An overview.

La Sicilia Preistorica e le sue Relazioni nel Mediterraneo - Prehistoric Sicily and its Mediterranean Connections, 2020

Congresso Internazionale di Studi - International Conference of Studies Catania -febbraio 2021 S... more Congresso Internazionale di Studi - International Conference of Studies Catania -febbraio 2021

Scopo del Congresso è l'approfondimento delle conoscenze scientifiche e metodologiche, nonché l'aggiornamento dei dati sulla preistoria siciliana intesa come nodo centrale delle relazioni culturali e biologiche nel Mediterraneo, dalle origini del popolamento umano e animale al fenomeno della colonizzazione fenicia e greca.
La Sicilia, intesa come vasto arcipelago comprendente l'isola maggiore, con funzione di continente, e le isole minori che la circondano, e le masse continentali ad essa prossima come la Calabria a sud dell'Aspromonte o la penisola di Kelibia in Tunisia, costituisce lo spartiacque tra i due mari che compongono il Mediterraneo e un naturale collegamento tra Europa e Africa.
La natura di "ponte filtrante" di questo arcipelago, talora definito "crocevia", è archeologicamente nota dal XIX secolo, da quando Paolo Orsi impostò per primo i termini delle relazioni tra Sicilia e Mediterraneo orientale durante la preistoria. Ma è nel Secondo dopoguerra, con lo scavo sull'acropoli di Lipari di Luigi Bernabò Brea, che l'arcipelago ha dimostrato appieno il suo ruolo di mediazione nelle relazioni ad ampio raggio tra le diverse parti del Mediterraneo. Tali relazioni sono state suc-cessivamente approfondite, anche in convegni dedicati, che tuttavia non hanno mai focalizzato il tema nella sua globalità cronologica e geografica.
Il Congresso punta, pertanto, ad una analisi aggiornata e complessiva di queste relazioni, sia attra-verso l'esame di aspetti generali, sia mediante la conoscenza di fenomeni puntuali e circoscritti, per cronologia, per tema o per territorio.

DESSUERI. L’ABITATO PROTOSTORICO DI MONTE MAIO (SCAVI 1993-2001), 2017

Dei quattro monti che formano il complesso archeologico di Dessueri, Monte Maio è il minore, ma a... more Dei quattro monti che formano il complesso archeologico di Dessueri, Monte Maio è il minore, ma anche il più centrale. Per la sua posizione esso fu sede di un abitato cui sono da ricondurre le necropoli rupestri distribuite sugli altri tre monti (Dessueri, Fastucheria e Canalotti). Il monte è stato frequentato dal Neolitico antico fino al VII sec. a.C. Durante questo arco temporale l’abitato conobbe espansioni e contrazioni che interessarono tutti i versanti del colle e in particolare quelli meridionale e orientale nonché la sella che lo unisce a Monte Canalotti. Le strutture più antiche datano al Bronzo medio cui appartengono due capanne curvilinee. Dall’Età del Bronzo recente l’abitato assunse caratteristiche proto-urbane. Della fase più antica (Bronzo recente) sono noti pochi resti. La successiva fase (Bronzo finale) è quella di più intensa attività edilizia, testimoniata dalla progettuale costruzione di un sistema di terrazzamenti che inglobano edifici monumentali. In una fase successiva (prima Età del Ferro) gli edifici furono trasformati utilizzando le precedenti tecniche edilizie applicate con minore qualità. Dell’ultima fase, che dovette terminare verso la metà del VII sec. a.C., si conosce una casa rettangolare.

In the area between the Ancient Theater and via Teatro Greco was brought to light a stratigraphic... more In the area between the Ancient Theater and via Teatro Greco was brought to light a stratigraphic sequence on the oldest human presence on the Montevergine Hill, where was the Acropolis of the ancient city and today is the historic centre of Catania. Two phases have been identified. The first, radiocarbon dated to the second half of the 6 th millennium BC, probably belonging to the use of one (or more than one) rock shelter, from the beginning of the Middle up to the Late Neolithic. The second phase, radiocarbon dated at the end of the 5 th millennium BC, belongs to a huts village dating back to the Early Eneolithic. The new excavation data and the previous knowledge examination allow us to reconstruct the original Acropolis orography and environment and provide information on the economy and the activities of the first human presence in Catania.

Nell'area compresa fra il teatro antico e la via Teatro Greco è stata portata alla luce una sequenza stratigra-fica relativa alla più antica frequentazione umana della collina di Montevergine, già sede dell'acropoli della città antica ed oggi centro storico di Catania. Sono state individuate due fasi preistoriche. La prima, datata al radiocarbonio alla seconda metà del VI millennio a.C., è relativa alla probabile frequentazione di uno o più ripari sotto roccia, dagli inizi del Neolitico medio fino a quello tardo. La seconda fase, datata al radiocarbonio alla fine del V millennio a.C., appartiene ad una abitato con capanne degli inizi dell'Eneolitico. I nuovi dati di scavo e l'esame delle precedenti conoscenze permettono di ricostruire l'orografia e l'ambiente originari dell'acropoli, e forniscono informazioni sull'economia e sulle attività della più antica frequentazione umana di Catania.

Credits: Fabrizio Nicoletti, ha studiato archeologia preistorica nelle università di Catania, Pisa, Roma, Birmingham e Napoli, specializzandosi nel più antico popolamento umano della Sicilia. Ha condotto numerosi scavi, principalmente in Sicilia, fra i quali Pantelleria, Mokarta, Erice, Dessueri, Gela, Stretto-Partanna, Termini Imerese e nella stessa Catania. Ha insegnato discipline preistoriche nelle università di Palermo, Bologna e Napoli (Suor Orsola Benincasa). Ha allestito le sezioni preistoriche di numerosi musei (tra i quali Salinas di Palermo, Gela, Caltanissetta, Pantelleria, Mussomeli, Milena), mostre di argomento archeologico tra le quali "Prima Sicilia. Alle origini della società siciliana" e convegni di settore, tra i quali "Dai Ciclopi agli Ecisti. Società e territorio nella Sicilia preistorica e protostorica". E' autore di articoli scientifici sulla preistoria della Sicilia, edite su riviste e volumi nazionali e internazionali, e di monografie tra le quali "Percorsi nella Sicilia preistorica" e "

Relazione dell'archeologo Fabrizio Nicoletti alla conferenza/presentazione tenuta al Teatro Antic... more Relazione dell'archeologo Fabrizio Nicoletti alla conferenza/presentazione tenuta al Teatro Antico di Catania, sala dell'Esedra, 25 settembre 2019

Convegno Interdisciplinare "Migrazioni e commerci in Sicilia. Modelli del passato come paradigma ... more Convegno Interdisciplinare "Migrazioni e commerci in Sicilia. Modelli del passato come paradigma del presente", Ortigia-(Siracusa), Castello Maniace, Sabato 21 e Domenica 22 ottobre 2017

Un altro viaggio in forma di dialogo, stavolta nella Grecia antica; ancora uno scandaglio breve e... more Un altro viaggio in forma di dialogo, stavolta nella Grecia antica; ancora uno scandaglio breve e veloce, compiuto, si direbbe, di corsa, ma, attraverso un serrato confronto con le fonti. In questo «cammino» sono rivisitate le vicende dell’Ellade nei suoi momenti essenziali, i topoi materiali e immaginativi più emblematici, lungo un orizzonte esteso e differenziato che, dall’epicentro della Grecia continentale, finiva con il percorrere l’intero Mediterraneo e alcune regioni dell’Asia Minore. Vengono sottolineati i contagi materiali e culturali che ebbero maggiore rilievo nella formazione del mondo greco, ricercandone gli effetti nelle arti, nelle lettere e, in senso lato, nell’immaginario, che introduce alle policrome ambientazioni del mito, di cui vengono sondati gli elementi fondativi, legati ai cicli naturali e alla fecondità della terra. Si sosta quindi nell’immaginario greco dell’Occidente, animato da forti tensioni dualistiche che tendono a fondere fino al paradosso luce e buio.
Si ritorna a viaggiare poi nella vicenda storica, nell’Atene di Pericle, emblema e arché di tutte le primavere civili della storia, per ritrovarsi infine nei tempi, ora lenti ora veloci, del decadimento, quando, lungo gli scenari della guerra del Peloponneso, la Grecia sprofondava nel regno della hýbris, della discordia e della violenza. La democrazia della polis più illustre si svuotava, diventava altra cosa, rendendosi capace di mettere a morte Socrate, uno dei più grandi pensatori del mondo antico. Il lascito civile e intellettuale della Grecia, fecondato dalle culture ellenistico-alessandrine, restava tuttavia imponente e riviveva con tenacia nella Roma conquistatrice, quando l’assassinio di Archimede di Siracusa, il più grande scienziato dell’antichità, chiuse emblematicamente la grande parabola dell’Ellade.
Questi i tratti fondamentali del volume Viaggio nella Grecia antica da Oriente a Occidente, di Carlo Ruta e Sebastiano Tusa, pubblicato per i tipi di Edizioni di Storia e Studi Sociali.
Il libro verrà presentato al Teatro Antico di Catania – Sala dell’Esedra, venerdì 15 settembre, alle 17,30
Saranno presenti Maria Costanza Lentini, direttrice del Polo Regionale di Catania per i Siti Culturali, Fabio Caruso, ricercatore dell’IBAM - CNR, Fabrizio Nicoletti, archeologo del Polo e i due autori Carlo Ruta e Sebastiano Tusa.