Cefalà Diana baths

The thermal edifice of Cefalà is of hamma typology which in Arab refers to a naturally hot water source (here 35.8°-38°C), often a cure, which baths may be built on, to be distinguished from the hammam which requires the water to be heated.

Situated at the heart of an ensemble including two later constructions and a windmill, the building is on a quadrangular plane. Digs have established that the source was exploited from the Islamic period (9^th to 11^th centuries), probably due to a more limited construction, thus giving evidence of the soar in thermal practices in an Islamic context, in Sicily and elsewhere (in particular in al-Andalus). The monumental structure was built on the source in the 11^th to 12^th centuries however[1], demonstrating the taste of insular elites for an activity which combined relaxation and medical virtues. This stopover location, situated on an important road from Palermo to Agrigento, was then frequented continuously until the last century, which explains the use of very diverse architectural and formal solutions which led to several constructive phases.

The southern part of the edifice leans against a rocky back which is more than three metres higher than the circulation level of the complex. It includes a vaulted space which surrounds the thermal sources and via which the water penetrates the edifice.

More or less orientated on a south-west/north-east axis, the baths today have two entrances. To the north is the main entrance, probably unique at the origin and distinct from all the others, while a second door opens in the centre of the western wall. All the openings of the edifice are characterised by the presence of terracotta bricks which make up the door frames and lintels[2].

An epigraphic frieze (flowery Cufic) runs along the western, north and eastern façades. It is framed by a lower cornices ornamented with a palm leaf motif and an upper cornice ornamented with vegetal interlacing. Up to the side of the frieze (3.80 m approx.), the thickness of the perimeter walls, built in blocks of stone and mortar, is of note (1.30 m approx.). The wall framework is characterised by lines of bricks, both inside and outside, and the robust external angles are also in brick. On this base is a frieze of limestone blocks, located almost at the same level as the impost of the vault which covers the edifice. Above the epigraphic frieze, the walls extend up with notably reduced thickness, and seem to be formed of small blocks of dune limestone, as far as the modern interventions allow us to confirm.

A wall, made up of three arches on marble columns with cushions and capitals in terracotta, divides the inside of the edifice into two parts with unequal dimensions.

The southern, smaller part is covered by two vaults in a cradle form with distinctive bricks. It currently shelters a swimming pool, which can be accessed sideways by steps, and a space — situated at the back of the swimming pool— which surrounds the thermal source and includes, at the back, three steps which are directly against the rocky opening from where the hot water ran.

To the north, the wall with three arches is the limit to a second zone, longer than the former and containing three swimming pools, created from the division in three of a single original basin. This is covered by a vault with ribs, built in dune limestone rocks with air vents incorporated, different by its construction from the southern zones. Brick recesses, built into the thickness of the walls, are symmetrically placed on either side of the edifice.

[1] The unknown patron was probably from the court of the Hautevilles (as suggested both by the characteristics of the edifice and a document dated 1242)