Between art history and dramaturgy, it will be the tradition of theater inAncient Greece the theme of the educational workshop for children on Sunday 3 March at the Naxos Museum, a usual event for families which, as arranged by the Sicilian Region, includes every first Sunday of the month free entry to all the sites, museums and parks on the island.
A day much awaited by the local community and that the Naxos Taormina Archaeological Park, directed by archaeologist Gabriella Tigano, enriches with educational projects designed to involve younger visitors and their families with the aim of introducing them to the archaeological heritage of Naxos, the first Greek colony in Sicily, and stimulating a sense of belonging and the rediscovery of one's past so linked to what is considered the cradle of European and Western civilization. The theater workshop on Sunday 3 March is organized by the cultural operators of Civita Sicilia, manager of museum services in the Park sites, and is aimed at children aged 6 to 12 years. Participation costs 5 euros and starts at 10am with a visit to the Archaeological Museum of Naxos to learn about the collection of finds kept there. To book, just send a WhatsApp message to 3299730771.
With the month of March and the arrival of spring, the visiting hours at the Park sites are progressively longer and will therefore be open from 9am to 5pm and where the month of February which has just ended recorded a total of 27,603 visitors to the two sites of Taormina and Naxos visitors (+23% compared to February 2023): 26,921 in Taormina (in February 2023 there were 21,783, +23%) and 682 in Naxos (in February 2023 there were 609, +12%). Data (source Aditus, manager of the Park's additional services) which confirm the constant growth trend which already in 2023 has allowed the Naxos Taormina Park to reach the historic record of 1,028,954 total presences in the three sites (Taormina, Naxos and Isola Bella, site open only from June to October 2023 for extraordinary maintenance works). Numbers that do not include attendance in terms of spectators, i.e. admissions to evening shows in Taormina and Naxos for self-produced events, in agreement or in concession with other public and private bodies.
In Taormina, the photographic exhibition on the fifty years of the Riace Bronzes, which has been ongoing since December and on loan from the National Archaeological Museum of Reggio Calabria, closed its doors yesterday at Palazzo Ciampoli. At the same time, Parco Naxos Taormina will start the preparatory works at Ciampoli for the archaeological and multimedia exhibition on the ancient Tauromenion scheduled for the end of spring.
While at the Teatro Antico the scaffolding is being set up for the important restoration of the “Porticus Post Scaenam”, a project which will be illustrated in the next few days.
Finally, extraordinary maintenance work continues on Isola Bella, a very delicate site – currently closed to the public – which requires periodic interventions to mitigate the damage from salt and winter storms. The entire electrical system is nearing completion and replaced with a compliant system. It is expected to reopen it for visits as early as spring, satisfying the requests of the hundreds of thousands of tourists arriving in Taormina and Naxos as early as Easter, with the start of the high season.