Tindari, Italy

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Location

At the top of a 280m/920ft high cliff on the north coast of Sicily lies Tindari, the ancient Tyndaris, and at its feet the Mare Secco, a sandy beach reaching far out into the sea. Many people come to Tindari to visit the Zona Archeologica, with its interesting finds from ancient Tyndaris, as well as the pilgrimage church of the Black Madonna.

History

Tyndaris was a town which was founded towards the end of the period when the Greeks colonized Sicily. It was built by Dionysios I of Syracuse in 396 B.C. to safeguard the north coast against Carthaginian attacks. He populated it with refugees from Greece, especially those from Messini, Zákinthos and Naupaktos who had lost their homes during the Peloponnesian War.

Tyndaris was named after King Tyndareos (Tyndarus) of Sparta, whose wife Leda was said to have given birth to the heavenly twins Castor and Pollux. Numerous coins found in Tyndaris show these twins, either as heads or signs of the zodiac. The town grew quickly and soon had more than 5000 citizens. Tyndaris supported Timoleon and in 270 B.C. opened its gates to Hiero II of Syracuse. In the First Punic War it first took the side of the Carthaginians and then in 254 B.C. went over to the Romans, and Rome later considered it one of the "seventeen most faithful communities in Sicily". The town blossomed during the Roman period, as witnessed by the large number of buildings from that time. From the indictments made by Cicero against the art-thief Verres we learn that the latter stole a gold statue of Hermes from the people of Tyndaris. During the Roman Empire a large part of the town was destroyed in a mountain landslide. In the Christian era Tyndaris became a diocesan town. In 836 it was destroyed by the Saracens.

History of the Adoration of the Virgin Mary

The date when the Adoration of the Virgin Mary first began cannot be determined exactly. According to legend the statue with miraculous powers on the high altar in the Santuario della Madonna Nera came to Sicily from Constantinople in the eighth or ninth centuries when iconoclasm flared up. Legend also states that the ship in which it was being brought to safety ran aground off Tindari and was able to free itself only after the statue of the Virgin had been brought ashore. A chapel was built, which was destroyed by pirates in the 16th century and replaced by a new chapel of the Black Madonna. The present church, the dome of which can be seen from afar, is a new building erected in the 1950s.