At the westernmost point of Sicily, there where the Mediterranean and Tyrrhenian Seas meet, history and myth conspire to bring to life an incomparable and fascinating ambience.
Erice, the mountain known for centuries as "San Giuliano", towers over a mild valley suffused with a common history of customs, symbiotic lifestyle and civility.
During a spontaneous and leisurely economic and social development involving the countryside of Erice, the pervasive agricultural practice and the popular devotional sentiment have determined the rise of settlements around courtyards and sanctuaries in small villages and maritime towns whose growth have facilitated the rise of urban centers, now become autonomous Communes.
A history begun centuries ago, yet still flourishing today. A history written in the pathways of Nature, on the crystalline seas, on the walls of courtyards and towers, on the naked earth under the clear sky.
A history that is the patrimony of each individual town and of all who, whether fom Paceco to Valderice, from Buseto Palizzolo to Custonaci out to San Vito Lo Capo, daily ehert themselves to render eternal legends and myths and to preserve from oblivion one of Sicily`s most fascinating locales.
Il Presepe Vivente di Custonaci
Text and Direction Giovanni Montanti
Voice over Giacomo Genovese
Shooting Gianni Basciano
Assembling Enzo Lucchese
Post-production Centro Video Sud
Duration min. 46
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DVD: USD 50,00 (included mail delivery service to your address)
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In an enchanting scenario surrounded by the sea, made magical by the pre-historical caves that open on the rocky coasts, by religion and culture, by the faith in God and love towards the homeland, everything merges to give life to a fascinating representation of the most important event in the lives of Christians, thus becoming something more than a simple performance.
Faithfully reproducing life of the rural suburbs of the late 800`s, Custonaci`s Living Christmas Crèche gives the community a specific identity, telling the true story of a land and its habitants to the contemporaries` intellects, and to the posterity`s memory, away from time and space. The actors do not interpret roles, but they truly live the situations they are, or were, protagonists of, representing the world they were born in, and live in.
The life of the suburbs, scanned by the rhythms of what is extraordinarily ordinary, is fastened within the scenes, along with its multiple and variegated aspects: the country, the shops, the homes, the ancient court-yards, the fruit markets, the animals, nature. Custonaci`s Living Crèche shows ancient places, men, and tools, reproducing agricultural, pastoral, hand craft, and domestic activities, it helps recuperating the ancient dialect, and it proposes a metamorphic miracle, changing itself into an ethnographical and anthropological living museum.
This documentary admirably collects delicate sounds and evocative images, and is a precious testimonial non only for those who long and love following the scents of history and time, but for those who study, for the youth, and the entire rural society, as well, so that the consciousness of our origins can help us find the sense of our existence.
Museo vivente di Custonaci
nella grotta preistorica di Scurati
Text and Direction Giovanni Montanti
Assembling Peppe Aiello
Post-production Blue Service - Trapani
Duration min. 14
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DVD: USD 50,00 (included mail delivery service to your address)
Also available in English.
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Going on the scenic route which running along the coast connectes Trapani to Castellammare, it gets to Custonaci. It is at the foot of the Mount Bufara, an ideal place for numerous excursions, it is interesting both for its naturalistic landscape and for its history, Very easy but not less evocative is the way which leads to the admittance and to the exploration of the Grotta Mangiapane also called Grotta Scurati.
It is the shelter of a small and rural agglomerate made up of houses with one storey and with a chapel and a cobbled paving street. The engraving on the walls of the cave are very interesting and they can be date back to the Palaeolithic period.
The fascination of this abandoned village, with the houses squared from the colors of the burnt earth, is possible to enjoy of it in the Christmas period, when to its inside comes prepared an evocative Living Crib, to the inside of which figuring groups put in scene the daily life of the rural Sicily of the early of this century. In others period of the year the same structure is used to give hospitality to the Living Museum of the Trades.
Perle di Sicilia
Trapani, Selinunte, Marsala, Egadi, Erice, Mozia, Pantelleria, Segesta.
Authors: Maria Rosaria Falcone e Romilda Nicotra
Pages: 176
Publication: June 1998
Available in English, French, German and Italian language.
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The territory of Trapani has numerous characteristics tied one to the other that constitute the same spirit of this province. Ecology, traditions, architecture, beaches, gastronomy, archaeology, mystery, history, adventure, handicraft, culture represent a single chain connecting all the centers and all people.
The monumental, artistic and archaeological patrimony of this earth is immense. Prehistoric coves, rests of mysterious people, Punic locations, Byzantine, Arab, Norman, Baroque, Renaissance and modern architecture. A sweet, wild, gorgeous nature surronds the human work.
Beautifulst gulfs, golden beaches, wild water reefs, course, sweet valleys, imposing mountains, lacustrine sites, natural reservoirs, salt magical yields from the games of the sun, volcanic islands.
The only true defect of the province of Trapani is that it does not enter all in a suitcase."
The authors collected in this volume the genuine soul of this splendid location, along with beautifulst pictures and a lot of useful information such as timetables, lodges, restaurants, stores and a calendar for events covering each month of the year.