Oscura Gate in Trapani
Porta Oscura is the oldest gate of the city, the only one remaining of the four access points to the urban core that characterized Trapani in ancient times. It opens onto Via Torrearsa, built in the thirteenth century at the behest of Giacomo d’Aragona.
In the Carthaginian era, the city of Trapani was already characterized by the presence of four watchtowers and as many access gates that enclosed the city in a quadrilateral defended by walls: Torre Vecchia, Torre del Castello di Terra, Torre Pali, and Torre di Porta Oscura. During the Punic Wars, the Carthaginian general Amilcare Barca built the fifth tower, the Castello della Colombaia, now called Castello di Mare.
On the Oscura tower it is still possible to admire one of the oldest astronomical clocks in Europe / b> still fully functional.
The astronomical clock was designed and built by the Trapani master Giuseppe Mennella on the orders of the Jurors in 1596. It is made up of the Sun Quadrant and the Lunario. The large hole in the center of the Lunario represents the Planet Earth. The two dials are circular with hand-made lead inserts with a blue stone border depicting the sky.
In the sun dial the lily-tipped hand marks the hours, while the Sun marks the apparent motion of the Sun around the houses of the Zodiac. Furthermore it fixes the Equinoxes and the Solstices and therefore the alternation of the Seasons. The Zodiac Signs mark the beginning of each season: Aries marks the spring equinox; Libra marks the Autumn Equinox; Cancer marks the summer solstice; and Capricorn marks the winter solstice.
In the quadrant of the moon the disk of the Moon indicates, in an anti-clockwise direction, all the phases from neomenie to decrease, moreover the second hand marks the 29 days the 2 hours and 44 minutes and 3 lunar seconds. There are four basic positions and four intermediate phases: New Moon; Crescent moon; First quarter; Growing gibbous; Full moon; Waning gibbous; Last quarter; Falling moon.
