Experience Sicily

Tag: Bagheria

  • Arco Azzurro

    The “Arco Azzurro, ” along the coast between Sant’Elia and Mongerbino, is a natural archway that extends over the blue sea. (Photo Credit: Experience Sicily’s Filippo Buttitta)

  • Baroque Dancing

    More fantastic statues from Bagheria’s Villa Palagonia. I love the one at the top of the arch. He looks like he’s dancing the tarantella! (Photo Credit: Experience Sicily’s Filippo Buttitta). On Friday, April 1 at 7:30PM, in Teaneck, NJ, USA at Classic Quiche Cafe, my music ensemble Villa Palagonia will be sharing a Sicily-inspired evening…

  • Our May 2016 Sicily Tour, Day 12: Artisans Up Close

    These are the hands of ceramic artist Mirella Pipia in Bagheria. This is how I like to see Sicily: up close and personal and vibrant. On the final full day of our Experience Sicily with Chef Melissa Muller tour from May 19-31, 2016, we’ll get personal with some artisans in Bagheria, the town where my…

  • Saint Joseph: Patron Saint of Fathers

    San Giuseppe, or Saint Joseph, is one of the most venerated saints south of Rome. The spouse of the Virgin Mary and the guardian-father of Jesus, he is regarded as the patron saint of fathers. In fact, in Italy, Saint Joseph’s Day, March 19, is also Father’s Day. Saint Joseph is regarded as the protector…

  • Villa Palagonia Inspires Rhythms & Roots

    Villa Palagonia is a Baroque villa located in Bagheria, a town in Sicily, Italy near Palermo. The villa was built to be the country home of the fifth Prince of Palagonia, a baron under the realm of the King of Spain. In 1749, Ferdinando Gravina, the seventh Prince of Palagonia, commissioned over 600 statues of…

  • Sfincione Bagherese, A Different Kind of Ambrosia

    Sfincione from Bagheria is a very special thing. And this particular sfincione, from Panificio Ragusa, which sports an antique wood-burning oven, heated by burning olive branches, makes a sfincione that is hard to forget. Fresh ricotta, anchovies, onions, and breadcrumbs are masterfully baked into a thick, spongy bread. Someone recently posted on Panificio Ragusa’s Facebook…

  • Beautiful Box

    Ceramic box by Bagheria’s Mirella Pipia.

  • More from Bagheria’s Villa Palagonia

    Statue of shepherd on the outer wall of the estate of Villa Palagonia in Bagheria

  • Persian Drummer at Villa Palagonia

    On the left is a print from Bonanni’s 18th-Century “Gabinetto Armonico,” a series of plates documenting antique musical instruments and their players. On the right is an 18th century statue from Bagheria’s Villa Palagonia that was created based on Bonanni’s plate Number 118. It’s a musician with tamburro Persiano or barrel drum from Persia that…