Experience Sicily

Category: Architecture

  • A Home for Umberto 

    Charming homes like this one in Castellammare del Golfo prompt me to photograph them. Now, speaking of homes, here’s a proposition for you … EF, an organization that administers high school exchange years, is seeking a home for Umberto, a 17 year-old from Siracusa, Sicily. He arrives next week, and is seeking a host family…

  • Catania’s Elephant 

    Two rivers meet under Catania’s Piazza del Duomo to feed the Fontana dell’Elefante, or the Elephant Fountain. Designed by G.B. Vaccarini in 1736, this focal point of the cathedral’s square possesses an ancient Roman-era statue of an elephant made from black lava stone holding an Egyptian obelisk that boasts hieroglyphics about the goddess Isis, and…

  • Theater to the Maximum: Teatro Massimo

    After Paris and Vienna, Teatro Massimo is the third largest opera house in Europe (in terms of surface area), and the largest in Italy. Construction of the Giovanni Battista Basile neoclassical design started in 1875 and was completed in 1897 by his son Ernesto. When inside, it feels intimate and elegant. The acoustics are said…

  • The Assumption: Celebrating the Virgin Mother’s Life

    August 15, a national holiday in Italy, marks the Feast of the Assumption, the day that the Virgin Mother ascended body and soul into Heaven. Thoughout Sicily it is celebrated in various ways, most often with processions, festivals, and gatherings with near and dear ones at the sea or in the mountains.  The Assumption is…

  • Seeking Lords and Ladies 

    Like something out of a fairy tale, the (almost) 800-year old Santa Maria Cathedral in the City of Randazzo was constructed in the Frederick Gothic Style, a style encouraged by a civic and military program sponsored by Holy Roman Emperor and King of Sicily Frederick II of Hohenstaufen. The black lava stone blocks of the…

  • Star Mosaic 

    Detail of mosaic decoration in a Byzantine-Arab-Norman style at the Cappella Palatina, in the Palazzo dei Normanni in Palermo; Created by artisans in the late 1100s. 

  • Ortigia Sound System

    Going on now through 31 July in Ortigia (Where the Piazza del Duomo pictured is located.) is the 3rd annual Ortigia Sound System, a music, design, and culture festival. Contemporary bands and DJs take to the streets, boats, and pop-up concert venues to push boundaries of modern music and entertainment. Designers host workshops about building…

  • Castelbuono Celebrates Sant’Anna

    The city of Castelbuono is currently celebrating its patroness Sant’Anna whose feast day is July 26. Each day since July 17, devotees have been processing a life-size statue of the saint through the alleys and thoroughfares of the walled-city–most in costumes illustrating the pride they have in their Medieval past. On July 25, in the…

  • Still Hosting Shows after 2300 Years

    Taormina’s Ancient Theater, or Teatro Antico, is outstanding. In 2003, I was fortunate enough to have seen Elton John perform a 2.5 hour concert here. What a night! With the Ionian Sea and the Bay of Schisò as the backdrop along with the real showstopper, Mount Etna, fuming to the south, few other views are…