Celebrity Selfie Alert! Well, sort of. While in Catania in January, I took the opportunity to take a photo with the composer Bellini at the (You guessed it.) Giardino Bellini. Catania and Sicily are very proud of their “son,” the opera composer, Vincenzo Bellini (1801-1835). Bellini was born into a family of musicians in Catania and left Sicily at 18 years old to study at the conservatory in Naples. He lived abroad for the rest of his virtuosic life, dying outside of Paris at age 33. Most famous for the opera “Norma” that premiered at Milan’s La Scala opera house in 1831, Bellini is hailed as one of the top composers of the bel canto operatic style because of the beloved arias and smooth melodies he created. Giardino Bellini, or the Bellini Garden, is a park in the middle of Catania. It opened to the public in 1883.

(Photo Credit: Chiara Musumeci Fotografia)