Tag: sicily tour planning
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52 Reasons to Love Sicily | #13. Catania, Sicily’s Second City
There are dozens of outstanding restaurants (Catania is known for its culture of eating horse meat and famous for its recipe Pasta alla Norma.), an imposing castle (Ursino, now a museum hosting world-class exhibitions and a collection of ancient art), and a thriving live music scene. For me, touring the city’s World War II 1943…
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52 Reasons to Love Sicily | #11. Fresh Cannoli
So, since we can’t travel to Sicily to partake in the glories of #11, join me online next Sunday, April 25 at noon Eastern for a cannoli making workshop during which I will teach you how to make this Sicilian delight along with history, legends, and culinary secrets. Let me take you there through your…
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52 Reasons to Love Sicily | #9. Pinch-me Moments At Valley Of The Temples
At the end of the 6th century CE, it was consecrated by the Christian Church — an effort to clean it of pagan demons — in the name of Saints Peter and Paul, transforming the sacred structure into a Byzantine-style basilica. In the mid-18th century, all signs of the church were removed in order to…
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52 Reasons to Love Sicily | #8. Modica Chocolate
Employing a method and recipe that still exists today, the chefs used a mortar and pestle to ground the beans into a paste. They then heated the paste to 45 degrees centigrade, a temperature at which the cocoa doesn’t completely become a liquid. At this point, they mix by hand the warm paste together with…
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52 Reasons to Love Sicily | #7. Etna Shows Her Power
Reaching 11,000 feet above sea level into the sky, its four active craters also give us spectacular lava shows (from a distance) that illustrate Mamma Etna’s potency. Etna’s expansive majesty is awe-inspiring for its beauty and its power. Don’t be afraid. She is a somewhat predictable volcano, and walking on her extinct craters and exploring…
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52 Reasons to Love Sicily | #6. Royal Fairytales Are Real
Housed in the treasury of Palermo’s Cathedral, this work of art was created between 1220 and 1222. It was designed in Palermo in a Byzantine-Arab style and composed of gold, precious gems, semi-precious stones, pearls, filigree, glazes, and silver. According to scholar Jacqueline Alio, the Holy Roman Empress was interred wearing the crown. “It has…
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52 Reasons to Love Sicily | #5. Be Surprised By Jewish History
During the last 25 years, locals and scholars have begun to uncover what was lost (expelled, really) more than 500 years ago. One of the most extraordinary discoveries was a mikveh, a Jewish ritual bathhouse, excavated one bucket of mud at a time by Amalia Daniele di Bagni and the association Siracusa III Millennio. Pictured…
