I took this while wandering around Catania, Sicily. I knew nothing about it, other than it was something obviously important in town (elephant obelisks aren’t something you expect to see without reason). As expected, Sicily is not rife with Elephants, so a google search for “Sicily Elephant” was fruitful. From Wikipedia, of course:
Around 900, when Catania was part of the emirate of Sicily, it was known as Balad-Al-Fil and Medinat-Al-Fil, Catania’s two official Arabic appellatives. The first means “The Village or The Country of the Elephant”, while the second means “The City of the Elephant”. The Elephant is the lava sculpture of Piazza Duomo’s Fountain. Likely a prehistoric sculpture that was reforged in the Byzantine Era, it appears to be a talisman that was reputedly powerful enough to protect the city from enemies and to keep away misfortune, plagues, or natural calamities.
So, there you go. Wander around and take pictures of the things that look interesting, even if you don’t know what they are. You can always google it later.
Picture taken with Pentax Optio W60, 6.1mm (34mm equiv), shutter 1/250, ISO 50 – this thing is a joke compared to the 60D, but it fits in a pocket and can be safely strapped to the deck of a kayak while paddling.
