Comenius “TFT”
Taormina

Taormina is located on a terrace of Mont Tauro, dominating the sea with views of Mt Etna. Over the centuries it has welcomed writers like Oscar Wilde, D.H. Lawrance, artists like Cary Grant, Gregory Peck, Marlena Dietrich, aristocrats and royalty. Taormina seems far removed from the economic realities of other Sicilian cities.
“Tauromenium”, built on Monte Tauro, was founded by Andromacus at the request of Dionysius the Tyrant of Syracuse in 392 B.C. The first Punic War saw Taormina falling to the Romans in 212BC and the town became a favourite holiday spot for Patricians and Senators, thus starting Taormina’s long history as a tourist resort.
It was the capital of Byzantine Sicily in the 9th century and it is a well preserved medieval town. Its most famous sight has to be the Greek theatre, which was built in the 3rd century B.C. and it is the most dramatically situated Greek theatre in the world. The Greeks had originally intended to make the most of the breathtaking views of Mt Etna and the Bay of Schisò, but the Romans remodeled it in 1 A.D.

Under the Byzantines new agricultural practices (irrigation and citrus fruit farming) and other more cerebral pursuits such as philosophy, medicine and mathematics. Taormina continued to prosper both culturally and economically with the arrival of the Normans in 1079.
A hundred years of uncertainty followed before the Spanish took over affairs. Evidently impressed with Taormina, they chose Palazzo Corvaja as the seat of the Sicilian Parliament.
Today Taormina continues to attract not only tourists but even the Sicilians themselves who take advantage of the seaside and the incredible view of Mt. Etna.