Beware! Attenti! Mandrake (pictured), or Mandragora, is a perennial plant that grows in the Mediterranean. You’ll find them throughout Sicily in the fall and spring. They have long roots with a very short stem. When pulled from the earth, the plant and roots together resemble the human body–both men and women. The mandrake has medicinal…
Category: Seasons
Sacred Sicily And Lago Di Pergusa
We’re halfway through autumn in the northern hemisphere. Persephone has made her way to the underworld to join her husband Pluto (AKA Hades) to continue her work as Queen of the Underworld. Meanwhile, Demeter, Persephone’s mother, is turning inward and the earth slowly begins its winter cycle. Pictured is Lago di Pergusa, or Pergusa Lake,…
Blue Skies At Sicily’s White Cliffs
Blue skies, nothing but blue skies…at la Scala dei Turchi. La Scala dei Turchi, or Stairs of the Turks, are made of a hard-mud material that is a combination of calcium carbonate and lime mixed with other types of clay and silt, called marl or marlstone. A popular swimming spot, La Scala dei Turchi, in…
Acknowledging The Ancestors On The Day Of The Dead
Halloween, All Saints Day, and November 2–All Souls Day or the Day of the Dead (Giorno dei Morti, or in Sicilian, Un juornu re muorti)–mark the end of the agricultural year and recognize the delicate boundary between the living and the dead. In pre-Christian times, a similar set of Roman-era feast days called Lamuria were…
Today’s Sicily Wine-making Report
This grape mosto may not look too exciting to you, but it is exciting for winemakers! Currently, mosto, or grape juice, is in the midst of the fermentation process. Wine making takes time and patience and practice. See the stainless steel “barrel” in the background? That’s where the magic is happening right now (in a…
The Olive Harvest In Sicily Begins
The end of September is when the olives for eating begin to be harvested. Pictured is a classic ladder made of olive tree wood under an olive tree. (Olives for olive oil are harvested in late October into November, depending on the climate and the fruit, of course!)
The Vendemmia In Sicily
Currently throughout Sicily grape growers are measuring the sugar, acid, and tannin levels of their grapes in preparation for the annual vendemmia, or grape harvest. Up to now, wine-making has been about caring for the vines, pruning the growth, and ensuring that the fruit has received enough air, sunlight, and water for an abundant and…
Persephone, The Goddess Of The Underworld, And Sicily
Persephone is the daughter of the great goddess Demeter and the Goddess of the Underworld. Here she is as interpreted during the 2019 Arches of Easter in San Biagio Platani (Agrigento). (Yes, this art is made with beans and other natural elements!) During these last weeks of summer, she is preparing for her annual return…
On Sicily | Demeter And Persephone With Rosa Rizza
One can’t talk about Sicily without considering the ancient myth of the goddesses Demeter and Persephone (aka Kore). An agricultural society from the time of the ancient Greeks, the 4000-year-old story of mother and daughter and the circle of life and death helped the leadership of the Sicilian colony establish a new civilization and create…
Presenting The Cannoli Case
Experience Sicily has teamed up with Dancing Ewe Farm in Granville, NY to present the Cannoli Case, a box containing all you need for the freshest, most delectable sheep’s milk ricotta cannoli paired with passito wine from Tuscany. All sent directly to your home. Then, on Wednesday, July 22 we’ll gather on Zoom for a…