Iaitas (Monte Iato)

IAITAS (Monte Iato), ancient Sicilia / Magna Graecia, modern Italia.

COORDINATES: 37º58’03.68” N // 13º11’52.47” E

TIPOLOGY : Greek Siceliot theatre. Urban.

DATE: Last IV B.C.

TRANSFORMATIONS: II B.C. new stage building. I B.C. roof in stage building.

CAPACITY: 4.400 spectators.

CAVEA: Facing South. 68 m. diameter, bigger than semicircle. Maenianum: Ima cavea, 15 rows of seats in 7 cunei; Summa cavea: 22 rows in 7 cunei.

ORCHESTRA: 14,8 m. diameter (21,8 m. including proedria -3 steps-)

STAGE BUILDING: First stage 11,5 x 3 m. Later 12,7 x 6,75 m. Stage building was 23 x 3,25, two story and three doors.

LOCATION: Theatre is 825 m. high, in Monte Iato, near San Giuseppe Jato village.

MY BEDSIDE TABLE: Tosi, Giovana; “Gli edificio per spettacoli nell’Italia romana”. Roma, Quasar, 2003. // Courtois, Catherine; “Le bâtiment de scène des théâtres d’Italie et de Sicile”. Providence, Louvain-la.Neuve, 1989. // Mitens, Karina; “Teatri greci e teatri inspirati all’architecttura greca in Sicilia e nell’Italia Meridionale c. 350-50 a.C.”. Roma, L’Erma di Bretschneider, 1988. // Sear, Frank; “Roman theatres: an architectural study”. Oxford University Press, 2006. // Ciancio Rossetto, Paola; Giuseppina Pisani Sartorio (eds); Teatri Greci e Romani: alle origini del linguaggio rappresentato. Rome: SEAT, 1995.

OUT OF PRINT: Iatas ancient theatre seems to be a slate theatre, a crumbling building, an eternal debris, a wayward pebble beach formed by an invisible air wave. I discovered it in the mist, among timid rays of sun that were praying , I discovered it like a revealed mystery, after climbing to the ancient Iaitas city.