Experience Sicily

Tag: noto

  • Noto’s Baroque Cathedral

    Noto’s cathedral (La Chiesa Madre di San Nicolò) was completed in 1776 when the city was rebuilt following the devastating earthquakes of 1693. The Sicilian Baroque church sits at the center of a theatrical urban plan that is known as a “stone garden” for its use of local white rock and its elegant symmetry.

  • Take A Walk On The Wild Side In Sicily

    Vendicari nature preserve on Sicily’s southern Ionian Sea coast near Noto (Siracusa Province)

  • Yoga In Sicily At Vendicari Nature Preserve

    Vendicari Nature Reserve in southeastern Sicily is considered a faunistic oasis because it is a bird sanctuary. That’s true, but for me, it is not only that. During a walk through part of it last week, it offered the perfect scene for a moving meditation. A spiritual oasis! The quiet, the salty air, and the…

  • Sicily’s Grand Canyon

    When Vittorio, my Italian teacher, told me about Cave Grande, a nature preserve in southeastern Sicily with fresh water swimming holes only accessible by hiking, I immediately wanted to go. That was about four years ago. A couple of weeks ago, I was giddy when hiking with a friend, and a clearing revealed the spot…

  • Noto’s 2019 Infiorata: Sicilians In America

    Last year’s Infiorata in Noto (pictured) celebrated Chinese culture. This year’s flower carpet festival, which takes place this weekend, has the theme of Sicilians In America.

  • Infiorata di Noto, A Dream Realized

    After years of admiring it from afar, last night, my cousin Giulia and I experienced the Infiorata di Noto, the Baroque town of Noto, Sicily’s annual flower festival. In order to arrive, we sat in a traffic jam of coach busses and cars stuffed with families. I wondered if it was worth it, and asked…

  • Let’s Have Lunch

    Your table is ready. Marzamemi, Sicily

  • Long Live Santa Lucia!

    Viva Santa Lucia! December 13 is the Feast of Santa Lucia. Devotees wearing green caps process her priceless silver statue and sacred relics through the streets of Oritgia, Sicily. Throughout the march, faithful sing a call-and-response in reverence to their patroness: Viva Santa Lucia! Viva Santa Lucia! (Long Live Santa Lucia!) (Statue of Santa Lucia…

  • Long Live Santa Lucia!

    Viva Santa Lucia! December 13 is the Feast of Santa Lucia. Devotees wearing green caps process her priceless silver statue and sacred relics through the streets of Oritgia, Sicily. Throughout the march, faithful sing a call-and-response in reverence to their patroness: Viva Santa Lucia! Viva Santa Lucia! (Long Live Santa Lucia!) (Statue of Santa Lucia…