Sometimes, living in Italy is like being inside an awful soap opera; it's a vibrant, quirky, melodramatic place filled with controversies, corruption, and paradoxes. Italy is a place of great beauty, creativity and unique experiences, overshadowed by equally abhorrent ugliness, criminality and hypocrisy. The Italian people themselves manifest these conflicting traits. I have come across…
Continue reading ➞ Flamboyant Italians: Vittorio Sgarbi
There are five things I would never do in August in Sicily! 1) Don’t get any heavy dental work done, as you will be suffering a toothache until your dentist gets back from his cruise on the islands. 2) If you are a woman don’t go into labor as you will be delivering…
Continue reading ➞ Five things never to do in August in Sicily
A pirnici canta tri voti io iornu e sempri a danno so The partridge sings three times a day and always to his own disadvantage. Another beautiful natural image, this time of a wild bird widely hunted throughout Sicily and seen as a metaphor for the unattractive habit of malicious human gossip. Any suggestions for…
Continue reading ➞ Sicilian saying of the day: gossiping
There are literally hundreds of water fountains all over Italy gushing with water, Baroque details and sculpture. Often we are mesmerized by the immense works of art without seeing the cute little details. This grumpy little water god got my attention when he blew in my ear as I walked by the old…
Continue reading ➞ Postcards from Sicily: the spirit of things
Elio Vittorini’s Conversations in Sicily has been on my reading list for a while and I was delighted to find the original English translation in the Amazon Kindle store compete with an introduction from Ernest Hemingway so I immediately snapped it up. However, for some unknown reason, it was never delivered and after several emails,…
Continue reading ➞ Conversations with Elio Vittorini and his critics
U sceccu porta sempri u barduni A donkey always carries the load. Yet another folk saying to do with the humble donkey, a symbol of hard work and stubbornness. Simply put, a jackass will always be an ass. Hummmm, a leopard doesn’t change its spots, simply doesn’t have the same directness does it!?!? For…
Continue reading ➞ Sicilian saying of the day: the humble jackass
Often beauty is in the fine detail. It is easy to become overwhelmed by the immense works of art all over Italy, yet while trying to take in the whole you often miss the subtle aspects. This detail above the main door at the Duomo of Messina is as magnificent as the entire…
Continue reading ➞ Sicilian impressions: beauty in the details
Italy is a place where fashion comes alive. Italians have a real flare for it whether it be elderly ladies dressed in colorful silk tops and high heels, or the latest shop window display from Dolce and Gabanna there is an astounding level of creative expression happening deep within the Italian psyche which is inspiring.…
Continue reading ➞ Window shopping in Sicily
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