San Vito Lo Capo with its white buildings with blue shutters will, starting today, host La Settimana della Musica, or “The Week of Music.” In addition to sweet balconies, the resort town possesses one of Sicily’s most picturesque public beaches. The Week of Music opens the summer season by presenting performances of different genres of…
Month: April 2015
Go Figurines
The mixing of cultures throughout the Mediterranean, especially in coastal cities and towns, is evident throughout Sicily. Record of such are these “ushabti” housed in the G. Whitaker Museum on Mozia near Marsala. Ushabti are funerary figurines that were common in Ancient Egypt. Buried with the dead, they represent servants or serfs for the deceased…
Slow Vine
Grapevines in springtime near Salemi, Sicily.
Mirella Pipia Does it Again
Ceramic vase by Bagheria’s Mirella Pipia.
Blue Sky, Blacktop
Catania’s Piazza del Duomo was one of the city’s grand piazzas built in the early 18th century by architects Giovanni Vaccarini and Stefano Ittar following the devastating Etna eruption of 1669 and earthquake of 1693. Incorporating the black volcanic rock from Etna into the pavement as well as the buildings’ design, the piazza possesses the…
Peace Dove
April 25 is Liberation Day in Italy. Liberation Day celebrates the 1945 fall of Mussolini’s fascist Italian Social Republic and the end of the Nazi occupation of Italy in World War II. This oil on canvas painting is by Sicilian, 20th century artist Renato Guttuso (1912-1987). “Medlar Leaves and Dove, ” or “Foglie di nespolo…
Say It, You’ll Like It
Carciofo (or carciofi, plural) is one of my most favorite Italian words to say. It sounds and feels like when you are chewing, (Car-Chiey-Oh-Foh) which is why I like it. It means artichoke. And well, in Sicily, spring is artichoke season! Artichokes pervade every market right now, and you know what that means–there are artichoke…
Irrisistable Kitsch
On my recent visit to Taormina, I couldn’t resist purchasing these earrings featuring Sicilian carts.
Earth, Glorious Earth
Happy glorious Earth Day! (Sea view from Scopello, Sicily)
Bronze Treasure
This bronze statue of a young man was found in the Contrada Galera necropolis of Sicily’s southwestern archaeological site Selinunte. It is dated to be from c. 460-450 BC. I was thrilled that I was able to see it in Castelvetrano’s Museo Civico because I’d only read about it and saw photos of it in…