Category: Music
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Dancing in the Garden
Bagheria’s Villa Palagonia inspired me and my husband, guitarist Joe Ravo, to name our folk duo for it. Here we are in its garden surrounded by the estate’s fantastic statues. Join us on Sun., Sept. 13 at 8PM Eastern Daylight Time for a live internet concert from our home in New York City. Tune in…
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Hit the Couscous
At the end of September, the seaside resort town of San Vito Lo Capo hosts the annual International Couscous Fest. From September 18 to 27, 2015 thousands of Sicilians will fill the streets of the white-washed town to taste couscous recipes from an international representation of chefs, to watch cooking demonstrations, talk shows, and competitions,…
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Summer Jazz in Sicily
This week in the piazza at the foot of Castelbuono’s medieval castle is the 18th annual Castelbuono Jazz Festival. Experience Sicily’s Evelina Buttitta attended the show on Monday night when jazz musicians under 30 years of age competed to win a trip to New York City. The festival was funded by the town of Castelbuono…
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Let’s Dance!
Last September during our Experience Sicily tour, we had a private concert with a trio from Casteldaccia who performed traditional Sicilian folk songs for us on my cousin Evelina’s patio.
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Give Me a Beat
Musicians can connect with other musicians immediately. We don’t need words, we just need song and rhythm. Here’s a shot of me (Photo credit: Joe Ravo) in the Mercato Antico in Ortigia singing “Cu ti lu dissi” with Marco and Tito at Casa del Pesce “Tito.” What a great time! And the fish was fantastic…
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Tonight I Saw the Maidens
Dreams do come true! My cousin Evelina was right (She usually is!). Today I was able to be in Siracusa to see (and hear) “Le Supplici,” or “The Suppliant Maidens” by Aeschylus. Pictured is a scene from the show. The Suppliant Maidens premiered around 470 BC in Ancient Greece. The themes however, are so timely…
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A Tranquil Fountain
At one corner of the Cloister of the Cathedral of Monreale, there is a bubbling fountain surrounded by a few of the 228 unique columns that make up this tranquil, not-to-be-missed site. Built around 1200 AD, William II commissioned artisans from Sicily as well as those from Venice in order to create a unique sanctuary–both…
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Ancient Mixology
In the end of the 5th century B.C., “The Lugano Painter,” or “Il Pittore di Lugano,” worked on many pieces that archaeologists have unearthed and attributed to him. This “calyx krater,” or urn, shows a bearded Dionysus with his thyrsus (staff topped with a pine cone), a bacchante (female follower of Dionysus (a.k.a., Bacchus) playing…