Basket-Stoves: In 19th and early 20th century Palermo, local men would travel through the streets with basket-stoves, the tops of which contained pans of hot batter. They would use these to cook various meats and shell-fish which more wealthy classes considered unfit to eat. They were, however, a delight to the poor, who readily paid for what they considered as delicacies.
basso (pl. bassi): As late as the early 20th century the poor of Sicily’s cities and towns often live in the ground floors of the houses of the wealthy. These lower floors came to be known as bassi (or catodj). They were normally windowless, with coach-doors that were kept open throughout the day. Eventually, many of these bassi were converted into separate dwellings, but even with windows and regular doors added, they remained nothing more than poor hovels. Many of the old shops of Palermo also had their beginnings as bassi.
Bassus, Caesius: (fl. AD 1st Century). Roman lyric poet. He was a friend of Persius and was the owner of a villa in Campania that was destroyed by the famous eruption of Vesuvius in AD 79.
Basta: (mod. Vaste). Town of the ancient Sallentini, Iapygia. It was situated south of Sallentia. Its inhabitants were known as Basterbini.
Basterbini: See Basta.
baths, ancient: Ancient Greek style baths were built at a number of sites in Magna Graecia and Sicily since the 3rd century BC. This style of bath complex centered on a series of hip-baths arranged around the walls of 1 or more circular rooms (tholoi). As bathers sat in these hip-bathes they were showered by hot water drained from niches above them. These Greek baths were the forerunners of the more complex style developed by the Romans. A great number of the resort spas in Sicily and southern Italy have their origins in these same ancient establishments.
Bathys river: (mod. Jati river). A river in ancient W Sicily falling into the Segestanus sinus between Parthenicum and Segestanum Emporium.
Batinus river: (mod. Tordino river). A river of ancient Picenum, which falls into the Adriatic Sea N of Castrum Novum.
Battaglia, Francesco: (fl. 1732-78). Architect. He created the salone of the Palazzo Biscari at Catania.
Battipaglia (SA): A commune in the province of Salerno. Area: 56.46 km². Population: 50,868 (2006e); 50,359 (2001); 47,139 (1991); 40,797 (1981).
Batulum: An ancient town of the Pentri in Campania or Samnium, to the E of Beneventum. Its location is disputed although many sources identify it with moderm Paduli [BN].
Batus river: (mod. Bato river). A river in ancient Bruttium, which fell into the Siculum mare, to the W of the river Halax.
Baucina (PA): A commune in the province of Palermo.
Bauli: (mod. Bacoli [NA]). An ancient locality in Campania between Misenum and Baiae, mentioned by Pliny. The name derives either from the Greek boaulia (= “ox stall”) or from the Indo-European root *beu– (= “to swell, puff”), referring to the dune or promontory on which the settlement stood. It was not an official town but rather a collection of fine Roman villas.
beans, broad: One of basic foods in the Sicilian diet for many generations, even broad beans were utilized differently according to social class. The upper, wealthier classes ate them as young, raw shoots. The poor, however, ground the beans into a flour out of which they made bread.
Beatrice of Naples: (b. 1295; d. c1321). The daughter of Charles II “the Lame” of Naples, she married (1305) to the much-older Azzo VIII, marquis of Este. Because this marriage was supposedly part of a deal in which Azzo paid a large sum of money to Charles, Dante compared it to the selling female slaves by corsairs.
Beatrice of Provence: (b. 1234, in Of, Aix-En-Provence, Provence; d, Sept. 23, 1267, in Nocera, Calabria). Queen of Naples/Sicily. The daughter of Raymond Berenger IV, Count of Provence, she was the first wife of Charles I of Anjou, who she married on Jan. 31, 1246. She had 7 children, including Charles II “the Lame”, King of Naples. Beatrice’s sister, Margaret, married Charles’s brother, King Louis IX of France.