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Deep blue glasses coloured by octahedral Fe2+ cations are often reported as textbook examples of blue pigmentation. However, despite the possibility of laboratory synthesis under reducing conditions, to date there are no well-reported occurrences of their production and use in the past. A thorough historical, ethnographic, mineralogical, and chemico-physical investigation of the ‘smaltini di calcara ’ from several baroque churches in Palermo, Sicily, has revealed that the blue enamels widely used for altar decorations in the 17th and 18th centuries are actually a unique case of ancient blue glasses pigmented by divalent iron cations in distorted octahedral coordination. This mixed-alkali glass was accidentally produced under severely reducing conditions in the local kilns during production of lime. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Petrographic and chemical analyses of the “ceramic body” of 114 majolica artefacts manufactured in Sicily over a wide time range (16th–-19th century) are presented. All the analysed samples, which belong to museums and private collections, were previously attributed to Sicilian workshops based on stylistic features evaluated by expert historians of art. Unambiguous identification of the production sites of majolica handicrafts in Sicily remains, however, open to question when this relies only on purely stylistic considerations. To this end compositional and/or textural markers have been searched for in the “ceramic body” of the majolica artefacts in order to differentiate between the centres of manufacture which were active in Sicily in previous centuries. The study of thin sections has allowed the characterization of the raw materials as well as the microscopic “fabric” of manufacture from four of the more relevant Sicilian production sites, namely: Caltagirone, Sciacca, Palermo and Santo Stefano di Camastra. Chemical data, including minor and trace elements, have been submitted to computer assisted multivariate statistical techniques. Principal component analysis (PCA) and linear discriminant analysis (LDA) have defined compositional “ceramic reference groups” and, consequently, have enabled a more realistic discrimination of provenance. These data have documented several imports of majolica from Naples, while the same artefacts were previously attributed to Sicilian workshops, based on stylistic considerations . [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Samples of Roman thin-walled ware from Segesta (northwestern Sicily), dating back to the early Imperial period, were studied by optical microscopy (OM) and Neutron Activation Analysis (NAA). Up to now, this class of Roman fine tableware has only occasionally been evaluated archaeometrically. Nevertheless, numerous production centres are believed to have been simultaneously active in the western Mediterranean area. Petrographic and chemical data seem to be in agreement with the archaeological hypothesis of local manufacture in Segesta for most of the analysed samples, through a comparison with kiln wasters and local raw materials. The effectiveness of thin-section petrography for determining the provenance of such a tiny tempered class of pottery and the integrated use of two different grouping procedures (petrography and chemistry) were also tested. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We assessed the relationship between V, Cr, Mn, Hg, As, Cd, Sn, Sb and Pb concentrations in Mytilus galloprovincialis samples from the coasts of Sicily and the expression of metallothioneins . Toxic mineral elements assessment was carried out by A.A. Spectrometry and ICP-MS. The metallothioneins expression was performed by q-PCR method. Low metals' levels were found in the mussel samples examined, in comparison with what was reported in literature. The highest mean values of toxic mineral elements were found in Gela (Cr 0.178 ± 0.03 mg/Kg, Mn 4.325 ± 0.012 mg/Kg, As 3.706 ± 0.009 mg/Kg, Sn 0.148 ± 0.014 mg/Kg, Sb 0.009 ± 0.004 mg/Kg e Pb 0.364 ± 0.01 mg/Kg). Significant levels of Hg were found in samples from Catania (0.014 ± 0.005 mg/Kg). Only vanadium and lead concentrations showed significant differences between sampling areas ( p  < 0.05). Molecular analysis verified a basal expression of Mt1 and the absence of over-expression of Mt2 , confirming the low mineral's concentrations found in the samples examined.