Satiro Danzante - Dancing Satyr

The Dancing Satyr - Satiro Danzante is a 4th Century BC bronze statue that was found in 1998 off the port of Mazara del Valo, at a depth of 500 meters in the Strait of Sicily, by a local fishing boat. The statue is believed to have been sculpted by the Greek artist Praxiteles and is now on display in a special museum in the ex-church of Sant’Egidio.

Brief History of Mazara del Valo:

Mazara del Vallo is in southwestern Sicily, in the province of Trapani. It was founded by the Phoenicians in the 9th century BC, with the name of Mazar (the Rock). Over the centuries it came under the control of Greeks, Carthaginians, Romans, Vandals, Ostrogoths, and Byzantines, before being occupied by the Arabs in the year 827. During the Arab period the city was an important commercial harbor and center of learning. In the middle ages the city was conquered by the Normans and then passed to the Spanish. During this time the city declined. In 1713 it was ruled by the House of Savoy, then the Austrians and finally the Bourbons. In 1860 the city was conquered by Garibaldi and his 1,000 men and joined the newly formed Kingdom of Italy.

The sculpture is celebrated in the town with tile murals and wall tiles.