As the "melting pot of the ancient world," Sicily offers a fascinating fusion of art and architecture with touches of influence from the Greeks, Romans, Arabs, Normans, French, Spanish and Italians. Special showpieces highlighting the rich diversity of the Sicilian culture are now on display in China with some showcasing traces of the Chinese culture in early Italian history.

China is a vast country in the East. Sicilian region is but a greater component of Italy in Europe. "Despite their difference in size, they share at least two facts: a pivotal role in regional history, and 5,000 years of human civilization," said Antonino Laspina, a Beijing-based commissioner of the Italian Trade Commission. Laspina made his remarks on April 29 during the opening of a grand exhibition entitled "Sicily, A Continent with 5,000 Years of History" in central Beijing.

As part of the Year of Italy in China, a year-long cultural exchange program between the two countries, the exhibition is jointly organized by Italy Trade Commission, Regione Siciliana the island's local authorities and the National Museum of China.

Presented at the central display hall on the first floor of the museum, the Italian art show is running until June 27 in Beijing before it will reach wider Chinese audiences in such cities as Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen later this year, said Su Shengwen, a key coordinator for the exhibition and art scholar with the National Museum of China.

"We hope that the exhibition, like previous ones on Italian fashion and industrial design held last year, will provide Chinese viewers a rare chance to know more about Italian culture, an important part of European cultures," Su told China Daily.

After long and arduous preparations since early 2005 conducted by Italian and Chinese art experts, the exhibition features 173 Sicilian treasures from the Paleolithic period to the Byzantine era, from the Middle Ages to the Renaissance and Baroque periods, and selected pieces from several museums and sites of cultural heritages of Sicily, said Antonino Lumia, director general of Sicilian Regional Department for the Cultural Heritage, Education and Environment.

"On display in Beijing is but a small portion of what Sicily can offer to international visitors. The whole island of Sicily is like an open museum without walls. And visitors arriving at the island will be lured by both the unique Sicilian arts and crafts and the varied lifestyles of the local communities," said Laspina, adding that the Mediterranean island expects more Chinese visitors in the coming years.

Lying between Europe and Africa, Sicily, the oft-called "melting pot of the ancient world," has been touched, changed and marked by a myriad of cultures first the Greeks and the Romans, then the Arabs and Normans, and finally, the French, Spanish and Italians, all contributing to an unparalleled historical legacy.

As is illustrated by the precious showpieces at the National Museum of China, this multifaceted lineage is reflected in the colorful fusion of art and architecture including two of the best-preserved Greek temples in the world as well as in the mixed appearances of the inhabitants, ranging from the red-haired, blonde and blue-eyed Norman descendants, to the dark-eyed Mediterranean natives, according to Lumia.

The ongoing exhibition also reveals early links between the Chinese and Sicilian cultures, pointed out Maria Luisa Fama, a major curator for the exhibition from Sicily.

One telling piece is the rare 17th century volume of "Zhongyong," or "Doctrine of the Mean," literally meaning the Middle Path, compiled by Prospero Intorcetta, a Sicilian Jesuit and missionary to China and published in Sicily under the title of "Sinarum Scientia Politico Moralis."

Another example is a gilded bronze lamp which bears coral decorations and was believed to have been made in 1633 in Sicily. The lamp-makers had borrowed ideas from the Chinese lantern in its designs of the shape and the red coloring, Fama explained.

A third example is a ceramic piece used as a floor in an 18th century Sicilian family home.

The showpiece illustrates fishermen on three boats at sea trying to catch fishes. The fishermen's facial features are very much Chinese, and the scarves and accessories they wore can be identified as made-in-China items that were viewed as luxury goods by Italians at that time, Fama explained.

(China Daily May 11, 2006)