Thanks to Pip from Sustainability Soapbox for nominating me to do the five photos/five stories challenge.
I’ll be sharing five images from Sicily with particular stories attached to them.
This summer I found myself visiting Taormina twice after having two different groups of guests to visit who both expressed a desire to see this famous resort town in the province of Messina. I love this magical Sicilian town but it is a bit of a hassle to visit in the summer as it is filled with tourists, the heat is tremendous, it is terribly expensive and touristy which means a visit isn’t going to be an authentic Italian experience really as there are more foreigners in town than locals.
So I’d like to explore the theme of Taormina beyond the tourists.
Yes, I managed to see something of the authentic city behind all the foreign visitors.
It seems timely to be writing about Taormina after a couple of days of torrential rain flooded the streets of the town last week. I imagine as everything is drying out in the forecasted sunshine the locals will be relieved for a short respite from the visitors.
I am gradually falling in love with Sicilian Saints and so the Church of Santa Caterina di Alessandria at Taormina is my favourite, if only for it’s dedication to this early Christian martyr.
Saint Catherine was one of the most popular saints of the
Middle Ages and is considered the most important of the virgin martyrs, a group of fourteen saints in heaven who willingly intercede for the faithful.
St Catherine is the inspiration behind many beautiful prayers, poems and songs.
St Catherine was tortured on a spiked wheel by Emperor Maximian (305–313) and is often depicted with the wheel of her suffering hanging around her neck as a pendant on a chain and the head of the emperor under feet with the sword that was used to decapitate her in hand, as you can see here above the entrance of the church, which is one of the first you meet while walking down the main street in the historic centre.
