Experience Sicily

Category: Nature

  • May in Sicily with Etna Wines

    Aannnd… We’re on the road! May is traditionally our busiest month of travel in Sicily (mid-September through October is a very close second), and it’s proving true this year too. Our experience today was on Mount Etna: Crater walking and wine tasting with Etna Wine School at Cottanera winery. We learned about the terroir of…

  • Persephone, Sicily, And The Solstice

    Happy Solstice! Today is a day to recognize the stillness of the earth, when in the northern hemisphere, we have the day with the most darkness and the shortest amount of light. Recall the story of Persephone, who for Sicilians, even today, is an important divine spirit. Persephone, the Queen of the Underworld, is sitting…

  • Southeastern Sicily is Africa

    The southeastern provinces of Sicily, Siracusa and Ragusa, sit on a limestone shelf that is part of the African tectonic plate. So, when you are in Noto, Modica, and Ragusa Ibla, you are in Africa! The limestone plateau is millions of years old, and through it over millenia have cut many rivers such as the…

  • Why You Should Travel to Sicily Even During a Water Shortage

    I woke up this morning in New York to read this article about Sicily in the New York Times, “After Losing Crops to Drought, Sicily Fears Losing Tourism, Too.” Important to point out, there is not a comment section on this article (Perhaps because it’s intended to be in this weekend’s T magazine? I don’t…

  • Day 13 of 16 Days of Sicily | A Mother of a Volcano

    In Sicily, she’s known as Mamma Etna. Yes, she is a *she*, if even the word for volcano in Italian, vulcano, is masculine. Etna is a great mother. She is massive, and her influence and impact on life in Sicily – – particularly the east side of the island – – is significant. Etna creates…

  • Day 10 of 16 Days of Sicily | Dancing Dolphins

    The seas of Sicily are glorious. There are three: The Ionian on the east side, the African or Mediterranean to the south, and my favorite, the Tyrrhenian on the north side of the island. They are turquois and lapis and all shades of blue; they are clear and clean; often, they are calm; and in the…

  • Day 2 of 16 Days of Sicily | Hiking Through Sweeping Vistas

    I can’t get enough of Sicily’s panoramic walking trails like this one near Custonaci. Often when one thinks of Sicily, s/he pictures seaside fishing villages and beaches. That’s certainly true, but Sicily is mountainous too! And often those mountains are just steps from the sea, so you can get in a dynamic hike, and then…

  • Stupendous Mountain Walk On The Sea Near Palermo

    Riserva Naturale Orientata Capo Gallo is another magnificent corner of Sicily. It is an accessible hike along the coast, west of Palermo. Go there to take in outstanding visits of mountains meeting the sea with the islands of Ustica and Isola delle Femmine in the distance. Thank you to my guide Salvo for having shared…

  • Almond Blossoms In Sicily

    The almond blossoms are starting to bloom in Agrigento province. This one I photographed two days ago in the Sicani Mountains north of Agrigento. Soon the hillsides of southern Sicily will be painted white! It’s a beautiful season to be here.