PALERMO – The project for the recovery, enhancement and use of the Sanctuary of the Feral Temples and the so-called «Santoni» of Palazzolo Acreide takes a further step forward. In fact, the determination with which the Superintendent of Cultural Heritage of Syracuse, Salvatore Martinez, authorized the start of the tender procedures with the negotiated procedure after consulting at least fifteen operators, “exactly two months from the commitment hired by the councilor for cultural heritage and Sicilian identity, Alberto Samonà, ”says a note from the Region.
For the tender, use will be made of the Urega platform – Sitas e-procurement (Telematic Information System Procurement Sicily). The amount amounts to 1,500.00 euros, financed with resources from the Po-Fesr 2014-2020.
“After the commitment I had assumed, thanks to this act of the Superintendence of Syracuse – underlines the Councilor for Cultural Heritage and Sicilian Identity – the restoration project of the Temple and the Santoni makes a significant step forward”.
The rupestrian Sanctuary of the Santoni rises near Akrai, today’s Palazzolo Acreide, in the province of Syracuse. It is a unique site in the world that hosted the cult of the goddess Cybele, or the Magna Mater of the Romans, a figure that contains the vital but also destructive energy of nature. The construction dates back to the Hellenistic period, IV-III century BC. The complex winds on the Orbo hill with twelve niches carved into the rock where there are images of the goddess, much of it according to the iconography that depicts her seated on a throne.
The Santoni are located along a path of a few meters. The uniqueness of the site lies in hosting a cult born in Asia Minor and rare with this complex representation in the Mediterranean: among the characters found in Akrai there are simultaneously several figures associated with the goddess, such as Ermes and Attis, Hecate, the Dioscuri , the Gauls and the Coribanti. The Santoni are located along a path of a few meters.
Unfortunately, the degree of conservation of the sculptures is very bad. The reason is unlikely: the statues were deliberately damaged in the 1950s, with a pickaxe, by a farmer who could not stand the constant presence of many visitors. Now the farmer’s place is thinking about mother Nature, with the wear of time, to erase this archaeological site. Despite being ruined, the figures retain a particular charm, perhaps linked to the suggestion of the place and the mystery that still surrounds these finds.