Wine offers another window into Sicily. The soil, landscape, climate, flora, and fauna of a region all contribute to the taste, smell, and wonder of the island’s now renowned wines. To be continued…
Category: Nature
The Significance Of Pine Cone Ceramics In Sicily
You’ll see majolica pine cones like this one I photographed in the ceramic center, Caltagirone, all over Sicily and southern Italy. It’s a significant symbol. As a botanical, the pine cone is a reproductive organ. Female pine cones hold seeds. Male pine cones hold pollen. From ancient Greek times, the pine cone recalls the Greek…
Visit Mount Etna’s Valle Del Bove
The Valle del Bove or Valley of the Oxen is a lava valley on Mount Etna’s eastern flank. Note the distinct difference between the green treeline on the left and the black lava flow on the right. Seeing this illustrates the definitive force of lava pretty clearly. The Valley is one of Etna’s most rugged…
Falconara Beach On Sicily’s Mediterranean Sea Coast
Always build in a stop at the beach. If even for just a short dip in the sea. For our Experience Sicily small-group summer tours, it’s obligatory! This sandy beach is Falconara Beach in Butera, Sicily on the Mediterranean Sea (south coast).
The July Countryside In Sicily
Somewhere near Licodia Eubea, Sicily July marks the end of the wheat season in Sicily, when the fields in the island’s center are harvested and the crop is rolled into bails of hay. The green pastures of the spring turned to gold at the end of May into early June, and during this period, the…
Cheese Has A Terroir Too
This is not Sicily, but upstate New York. Like fine wine, you want your cheese to come from a pristine environment. Here’s where the sheep live that make the milk that makes the ricotta that we’ll be sending to you! This weekend we’re preparing the cannoli for the artisanal Cannoli Case we’re sending from Dancing…
Sicily’s Fields Of Gold
Somewhere in Caltanissetta province, Sicily
Inspired By Siculiana Marina’s Beach In Sicily
How does one describe one of the most beautiful beaches in Sicily? Words aren’t always sufficient. If it’s any indication of just how magnificent Siculiana Marina is, Sicilian guitarist Francesco Buzzurro composed an entire album of songs inspired by it called Il Quinto Elemento (The Fifth Element). When I heard him perform pieces from it…
Summer Breeze Above the Sea at Scala dei Turchi
Scala dei Turchi (aka the Stairs of the Turks) was named after a local legend that recounts when Turkish, AKA Saracen, pirates scaled the white cliffs that pour like stairs into the Africa-facing sea.
Wheat Fields In Ragusa, Sicily
Stone walls mark the fields where the wheat harvest in the countryside of Ragusa province is now taking place.