Category: Observations about Culture
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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…
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Hand-picked Family-run Inns In Sicily
Our hand-picked family-run inns and restaurants in Sicily will surprise and delight you. Our hosts can’t wait for you to visit them! #seeyousoonsicily
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Sicily’s Watermelon Sugar
Watermelon Sugar…. Ideal for a hot summer day, gelu di mulune or, in Italian, gelo d’anguria (or gelo di melone), is a watermelon custard that is served chilled, in little cups. This one, made at the not-to-be-missed shop of il Monastero di Santa Caterina d’Alessandria in Palermo, is topped with chocolate chips (Jasmine flowers and…
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Our Hostesses Taught Us Well
One of the many memorable moments of last year’s Secret Sicily: Life In A Remote Sicilian Town tour was making a pasta lunch with the ladies of Licodia Eubea (and their husbands too!). It was all hands on in order to make fresh cavatelli with a traditional meat ragù. Maria Concetta, Antonella, and Carmen wasted…
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The Street Exuded Joy In Sicily
Although today is the feast of Sant’Anna, I’m recalling last July when, along with our Experience Sicily Life in A Remote Sicilian Town tour group, we were communing with the locals of Licodia Eubea for the feast of Santa Margherita, their patron saint. The Strada Lunga was decorated with luminare, the bars and gelaterie were…
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Marzamemi: Dinner, Shopping, And A Passeggiata In Sicily
Marzamemi is a charming fishing village on the Ionian Sea coast of southeastern Sicily. Today it attracts tourists and locals alike to its excellent restaurants and boutiques. After dinner, it’s a perfect place for a gelato and a passeggiata.
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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…
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There’s More To Sicily’s Santa Rosalia Than You Might Think
For many years I’ve worn on my wrist a bracelet of red roses with a charm of Santa Rosalia. I purchased the first one years ago when I visited the sanctuary for La Santuzza on the top of Mount Pellegrino. I’ve replaced it a couple of times with the same €2 souvenir purchased at the…
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If We Need Santa Rosalia, It Is Now
During the late spring and summer of 1624, Palermo was under siege from a plague that cursed more than 10,000 inhabitants. Things were looking pretty bleak until in early July, when a lost hunter had a vision: Santa Rosalia appeared to him and promised to help him and the city of Palermo once he followed…