The unique Late Baroque Church of Santa Maria dell' Itria in Ragusa, Sicily

Abstract

The origins of Ragusa - a hilltown Sicilian town that lies below the Hyblaean Mountains - can be traced back to the second millennium BC, when there were several human clusters inhabited by Siculi in the area, which eventually congregated to form a large human settlement. At some time during the first half of the first millennium BC., this ancient town, located on a 300 metres hill in South-East Sicily, came into contact with the nearby Greek colonies, and developed accordingly due to the presence of the nearby port of Camerina. After a short period of Carthaginian rule, Ragusa was occupied by the Romans and, after them, by the Byzantines, who fortified the city and built a large castle. Ragusa was eventually twice captured by the North African Muslims in 848 - 867 AD and remained under their rule until the eleventh century, when the Norman army of Count Roger I of the House of Hauteville (1031-1101) conquered it. Ragusa was then selected as the seat of a County, having as its first count Geoffrey, the probably illegitimate second son of Roger I, who was a leper. Thereafter, Ragusa's history followed the events and vicissitudes of the Kingdom of Sicily, created in the first half of the twelfth century.