TAORMINAHOLIDAYS, Your self-catering in Taormina

About Taormina, how it became famous in the world...

	As soon as you arrive in Taormina , you will feel the magical, mythical atmosphere spread all around which has enchanted visitors from all over the world for years and years. Settled on a hill of the Monte Tauro, Taormina dominates two grand, sweeping bays below and on the southern side, the top of Mount Etna, the european highest active volcano, often capped with snow, offering to the visitors a breathtaking, dramatic and memorable view over almost one hundred miles of Mediterranean sea .  Taormina is without any doubt the most important tourist resort in sicily.
	The town really seems to be born as a touristic resort since past times, when ancient people like the Sicels, Greeks, Romans, Byzantines, Saracens, Arabs, Normans and Spaniards chose it as their residential site thank to its favourable position, mild climate and magic atmosphere. Nowadays visitors can still find fine examples of Taormina 's golden times : the splendid Greek Thetre, the Roman "Naumachiae", the 13th century Cathedral of Saint Nicolò, the 14th century Palazzo Corvaja, the 16th century Palace of the Dukes of Saint. Stefano, the public gardens and many others.
	Taormina's first important tourist was Johann Wolfgang Goethe who dedicated exalting pages to the city in his book entitled "Journey to Italy.  But perhaps Taormina is famous as an international tourist centre thanks to Otto Geleng, a young red-haired Prussian painter. This man arrived in Sicily at the age of 20 in his search for new subjects for his paintings and, on his way through Taormina, was fascinated so much that he stopped there. Geleng began to paint everything that Taormina offered: corners, colours, flowers, trees and landscapes that had never been seen.
	When his paintings were later exhibited in Paris, none of the critics nor the visitors could believe that the young Prussian had only copied from the places and not imagined them. At that, Geleng challenged them all to go to Taormina with him, promising that he wouid pay everyone's expenses if he was not telling the truth.  Years later another German, Wilhelm von Gloeden, had his photographs distributed all over the world, especially those of nude boys adorned with crowns of laurel which made Berlin's upper classes go into raptures.  Taormina had become a resort that everyone loved to visit

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