For the Spanish film director, see Victor Erice.

Erice
—  Comune  —
Comune di Erice
Erice Location of Erice in Italy
Coordinates: 38°2′13″N 12°35′11″E / 38.03694°N 12.58639°E / 38.03694; 12.58639Coordinates: 38°2′13″N 12°35′11″E / 38.03694°N 12.58639°E / 38.03694; 12.58639
Country	Italy
Region	Sicily
Province	Trapani (TP)
Frazioni	Ballata, Casa Santa, Crocefissello, Napola, Pizzolungo, Rigaletta, San Cusumano, Torretta
Government
• Mayor	Ignazio Sanges (since November 26, 2001)
Area
• Total	47 km2 (18 sq mi)
Elevation	751 m (2,464 ft)
Population (November 30, 2005)
• Total	28,880
• Density	610/km2 (1,600/sq mi)
Demonym	Ericini
Time zone	CET (UTC+1)
• Summer (DST)	CEST (UTC+2)
Postal code	0923
Dialing code	91016
Patron saint	SS. Mary of Custonaci
Website	Official website

Erice (Italian pronunciation: [ˈɛːritʃe], Sicilian: Èrici) is a historic town and comune in the province of Trapani in Sicily, Italy.

Geography[link]

Erice is located on top of Mount Erice, at around 750m above sea level, overlooking the city of Trapani, the low western coast towards Marsala, the dramatic Punta del Saraceno and Capo San Vito to the north-east, and the Aegadian Islands on Sicily's north-western coast, providing spectacular views.

The bordering municipalities are Buseto Palizzolo, Paceco, Trapani, Valderice and Custonaci. The hamlets (frazioni) are Ballata, Casa Santa, Crocefissello, Napola, Pizzolungo, Rigaletta, San Cusumano and Torretta.

History[link]

Narrow alleyway

The ancient name of Erice was Eryx, and its foundation was associated with the eponymous Greek hero Eryx. It was not a Greek colony, but was largely Hellenized. It was destroyed in the First Punic War by the Carthaginians, and from then on declined in importance.

Eryx was conquered by Aghlebids in 831 and was renamed as Cebel Hamid (In Western sources Gebel Hamed, meaning Mountain of Hamid). It was ruled by Arabs over 3 centuries until Norman conquest in 1167. Normans renamed it Monte San Giuliano. It was known as Monte San Giuliano until 1934.

Main sights[link]

In the northeastern portion of the city there are the remains of ancient Elymian and Phoenician walls indicating different stages of settlement and occupation in antiquity.

There are two castles that remain in the city: Pepoli Castle, which dates from Saracen times, and the Venus Castle, dating from the Norman period, built on top of the ancient Temple of Venus, where Venus Ericina was worshipped. According to legend, the temple was founded by Aeneas. It was well-known throughout the Mediterranean area in the ancient age, and an important cult was celebrated in it. In his book On the Nature of Animals, Aelian writes that animals chosen for sacrifice would voluntarily walk up to the altar to be killed.

A cable car (funivia) runs from the outskirts of Trapani to the town of Erice. The cablecar closes from mid January to mid March.

Culture[link]

Erice hosts important scientific meetings at the Ettore Majorana center, organised by the controversial astrophysicist Antonino Zichichi. Also an annual Workshop on Molecular Gastronomy.

Gallery[link]

• 

  The main church
• 

  The Norman castle
• 

  View towards Monte Cofano
• 

  View towards Trapani
• 

  Torretta Pepoli
• 

  Clouds approaching Erice
• 

  Hillside of Erice seen from the lowlands
• 

  Remains of the ancient temple of venus
• 

  Venus fountain
• 

  Venus fountain
• 

  Panoramic view from Erice
• 

  Panoramic view from Erice
• 

  Panoramic view from Erice
• 

  Panoramic view from Erice

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Erice

• Photo Gallery Erice
• Panoramic view from Erice castle
• Erice Photo Assay

Víctor Erice Aras (Spanish pronunciation: [eˈɾiθe]; born 30 June 1940 in Karrantza in Biscay, Spain) is a Spanish film director.

He studied law, political science, and economics at the University of Madrid. He also attended the Escuela Oficial de Cinematografia in 1963 to study film direction. He wrote film criticism and reviews for the Spanish film journal Nuestro Cine, and made a series of short films before making his first feature film, The Spirit of the Beehive (1973), a critical portrait of the rural Spain of the 1940s.

Ten years later, Erice wrote and directed The South (1982), based on a story from Adelaida García Morales, considered a masterpiece although the producer Elías Querejeta only allowed him to film the first two-thirds of the story. His third movie, The Quince Tree Sun (1992) is a documentary about painter Antonio López García. The film won the Jury Prize and the FIPRESCI Prize at the 1992 Cannes Film Festival.^[1]

He was a member of the jury at the 2010 Cannes Film Festival in May.^[2]

Critics[link]

Geoff Andrew, in the Time Out Film Guide, praises Erice's contribution to Ten Minutes Older: The Trumpet (Lifeline) as "quite masterly", adding "it only makes you wish he worked more frequently".^[3] Excluding that short film, he has produced only three major works: The Spirit of the Beehive (1973, The Spirit of the Beehive), El Sur (1983, The South) and El Sol del Membrillo (1992, The Quince Tree Sun). The critical reception of his work both inside Spain and internationally has been almost unanimously enthusiastic, with many hailing his sparse contributions to cinema as visually poetic masterpieces. Critic Tony Rayns describes The Spirit of the Beehive as "a haunting mood piece that dispenses with plot and works its spells through intricate patterns of sound and image"^[4] and of El Sur it has been said that "Erice creates his film as a canvas, conjuring painterly images of slow dissolves and shafts of light that match Caravaggio in their power to animate a scene of stillness, or freeze one of mad movement."

Filmography[link]

• The Spirit of the Beehive (The Spirit of the Beehive, 1973)
• El Sur (1983)
• El Sol del Membrillo (The Quince Tree Sun, 1992)

References[link]

External links[link]

• An essay about the films of Victor Erice
• BFI interviews with Geoff Andrew
• Víctor Erice at the Internet Movie Database
• (Spanish) 30 años en la colmena
• (Spanish) Erice/Kiarostami: Correspondencias
• (Spanish) Erice, Angelopoulos, Kiarostami

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Dutch violinist Frederieke Saeijs (born in The Hague, Netherlands, on 25 January 1979) is the winner of the First Grand Prize^[1] as well as four special Prizes of the 2005 International Violin Competition Marguerite Long-Jacques Thibaud in Paris, France.

As a result, Frederieke Saeijs performed as a soloist with the Flanders Symphony, Hagen Philharmonic, Haifa Symphony, New Japan Philharmonic, Orchestre National de Montpellier, Orchestre National de France, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, Residentie Orchestra, Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, Royal Scottish National Orchestra and the St. Petersburg Philharmonic. She collaborated with conductors Jonathan Darlington, Antony Hermus, Neeme Järvi, Friedemann Layer, Ion Marin, Christoph Poppen, Noam Sheriff, Etienne Siebens, Vassily Sinaisky and Jaap van Zweden.

She was invited to play concerts in Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Israel, Italy, Japan, Russia, Scotland, Taiwan, Netherlands and the USA.

Frederieke Saeijs was Artist in Residence in the Dr.Anton Philipszaal/Nieuwe Kerk in The Hague, The Netherlands from 2006-2009. In the year 2009 she played the same role during the Dutch music summer and at the Festival of the Sound in Parry Sound, Canada.

Frederieke Saeijs is playing on a Pietro Guarneri violin (Venice, 1725), Ex-Reine Elisabeth, kindly lent to her by the Dutch National Music Instrument Foundation.

Since 2009 Ms Saeijs is a violin professor at the Royal Conservatory in The Hague, The Netherlands.

In December 2009 record label Naxos will release a cd with sonatas for violin and piano by Ravel, Respighi and Granados, performed by violinist Frederieke Saeijs and pianist Maurice Lammerts van Bueren.

External links[link]

• Official website
• Myspace page
• Facebook page

References[link]

• International Violin Competition Marguerite Long-Jacques Thibaud
• Dutch National Music Instrument Foundation
• Royal Conservatory The Hague
• Record label Naxos
• Dr. Anton Philipszaal
• Dutch Music Summer
• Festival of the Sound