«This city had many names, almost as many as the numerous cultures that followed one another in Sicily». Elisa’s voice thus begins to describe “the most beautiful city of mortals”, a definition that Agrigento has worn since its foundation in 580 BC. From there, the names of the city change, as the rumors about her spread, but sometimes they also remain on site. In fact, the two phenomena coexist on Loquis, in the stories told by those who live in or pass through a territory and leave a sound impression on the community of other travellers.
On the occasion of the International Voice Day, the travel podcast app created by Bruno Pellegrini and founded with Fabrizio Cialdea inaugurates the “100 voices for 100 places” channel: 100 new podcasts, one for each Italian provincial capital, published simultaneously for draw a new map of stories, traditions and curiosities. Each contribution is curated by voice professionals who are part of the Loquis Factory, a passionate and creative network for authorial travel podcasting that expands the numerous contents already offered spontaneously by users. Among the various contributions, the atlas of speaking places hosts a section dedicated to Girgenti with insights edited by Elisa Bonacini.
Archaeologist and researcher, for years Bonacini has been involved in communicating cultural heritage through new technologies, especially digital storytelling. «I chose to talk about Agrigento also to highlight the beauties that exist beyond the Valley of the Temples», she explains. Among these, the monastery of Santo Spirito, one of the most important examples of medieval art in Sicily, «where even today the nuns prepare almond sweets and the famous pistachio couscous loved by Sciascia, so much so that he would have given away twenty kilos of it friends and relatives”, passes down Bonacini.
From the Kolymbethra Garden to the medieval church of San Nicola, you then pass through a neighborhood of houses decorated with mosaics, frescoes, porticoes and columned atriums. A unique mix in the world fuses myth, history, architecture, landscape and literature, outlining the discovery of the island beyond the idea of travel as a consumer good and the format of the “geolocalized review”, for a true encounter with identity territory and its community. The soul of places has the voice of people.
A voice looking for company, as happened in exchanges between travelers and can still happen today. In the name of a new digital humanism, Loquis invites all lovers of the immense heritage that precedes and accompanies the visible one, in the stories of those who have built part of the imagination linked to a particular place, to offer their own version. In fact, this sound atlas has infinite pages still to be written. An opportunity open to all podcasters on Loquis to help enrich the telling of the stories of the world, to be an active part of this unique experience, contributing with the story of their places to inspire those who travel to rediscover the beauty of reality with new eyes .
Place: AGRIGENTO, AGRIGENTO, SICILY
Tags: sound footprint Agrigento digital atlas Loquis BlogSicilia
