Western Sicily’s Salt Pans

The salt pans of Nubia, near Trapani along Sicily’s west coast are renowned by cooks throughout the world for the delicious sea salt Sicilians have harvested from here for centuries. The tuna fishing industry, which has existed here since Phoenician times (c. 800 BCE), prompted the development of the salt pans because salt is an…

Let’s Dream of Sicily Tonight

Join me tonight online! Although we can’t travel yet, Let’s Dream of Traveling to Sicily… Staring at 7:30PM Eastern I’ll give a presentation via Zoom during which I’ll discuss the highlights of traveling in the region, insider tips, and hold “Office Hours” to answer your questions. So, let’s muse of the views of what will…

Inhale the Sunset 

The Maria Stella windmill on the Trapani salt flats stands as a proud beauty, with the sun setting on her face. Over the past few days, I’ve been working on an itinerary for July 2017 for an independent client, and one evening, the plan is to dine right on the salt flats as the sun…

Salt in the Wind(mill) 

This is the Maria Stella windmill on the Trapani salt flats. It is one of many windmills along Sicily’s west coast whose movement, generated by the force of the wind, powered a mechanism known as an Archimedean spiral (aka, screw conveyors or auger), that moved seawater from one salt flat to another in order to…

House on Salina Island

House on Salina, one of the 8 Aeolian Islands. The Aeolian Islands are one of Sicily’s 7 UNESCO World Heritage Sites. The islands are volcanic (Stromboli and Vulcano are still active.) and were designated a UNESCO site in 2000. Movie buffs may be familiar with Salina because some scenes for the 1994 film “Il Postino”…