The fertility of Sicily’s volcanic soil is well-known and thanks to the Sicilian habit of having a vegetable garden I’ve never been without fresh fruits and vegetables to prepare throughout the year, from eggplants, capsicums, chili peppers, basil and tomatoes in the summer to peas, potatoes, pumpkins and broad beans in the winter. There is…
Continue reading ➞ Sicilian Tomatoes, Benedica
I recently got an email from a woman who was contemplating moving to Sicily from the US as she desired a change in her life and felt connected to her Sicilian heritage. She was looking for some advice and here is what I said to her: Thanks so much for your email, I feel privileged…
Continue reading ➞ Don’t quite move to Sicily, yet …
There is no doubt that expat blogs from Florence are probably the most popular around, there are literally hundreds of them, but there are few which are able to make themselves stand out and original like Tiana Kai in Florence. Tiana combines her love of travel with her curiosity and knack with photography to explore Tuscany,…
Continue reading ➞ Blogging around the world with Tiana Kai in Florence
Fruit and vegetables always seem more sensuous in Sicily, their colours are more intense, flavors fulsome and form expansive. Our tomatoes this year were an illustration of Sicilian agricultural fertility, they were abundant and delicious too.
Each wild Porcini mushroom is a thing of beauty, individual works of spontaneous sculpture which nature gives us. Actually you have to hunt them down or else they are destined to decay and break down back into the earth. The other day my eldest niece accused me of being lazy and not wanting…
Continue reading ➞ Beautiful Sicilian Porcini mushrooms
I snapped this shot at the Piazza Armerina markets. This particularly bored girl waiting for her father holding on to various riding paraphernalia. It is an image which summarises my summer’s day near Enna the heat, dust and rustic surrounds were enough to make anyone swoon and pout.
It was at Piazza Armerina that I met this fellow the Cirneco dell'Etna an ancient breed of Sicilian dog which has woven its way through the hardened lava deposits near Etna for centuries, helping hunters to weasel out rabbits from their warrens. This fine example was mesmerized by the sight of a caged rabbit, as…
Continue reading ➞ Postcards from Sicily: Cirneco dell’Etna
When you visit Italy and you settle into your accommodation whether it be a five-star hotel or small bed and breakfast I suggest the first thing you do is open your windows or go high up on to a terrace and discover the rooftops around you. There is something magical about the irregular shape…
Continue reading ➞ Sicilian rooftops
Piazza Armerina in the province of Enna deep in the bellybutton of Sicily is still filled with traditions which are slowly disappearing in other parts of Sicily. Visiting the agricultural markets (or fairs) used to give you the opportunity to see animals and products from all around the islands, however this market no longer…
Continue reading ➞ Postcards from Sicily: Piazza Armerina market stalls
I have a soft spot for Sicilian open air markets, you never know what you will find. Every town has a market day where traveling salesmen set up their stalls to sell everything from household goods, groceries, fruit and vegetable, toys and clothes. Here is a one Euro stand which has attracted some men into…
Continue reading ➞ Postcards from Sicily: Fiera Piazza Armerina
I think I may have inadvertently led people to believe I had a wonderful summer lazing around the beach and traveling around Sicily. In reality I had a terrible summer, every time I tried to go to the beach it was friggin freezing and in August my mother in law spent the month in hospital…
Continue reading ➞ Hope you had a good summer …
The beginning of Autumn in Sicily can be abrupt. The gradual changes from one season to the next are now a thing of the past, there are no more slightly shortening days or time for the leaves to go from greens, yellows, warm rusty reds or browns, now the fall begins with heavy rains and…
Continue reading ➞ Fall in Sicily
Freelance journalist Mary Johnston shares her insights about the world of Italian Fashion. Gucci by fervent-adepte-de-la-mode (CC BY 2.0). During my time in Italy, I have learned that there are a few things that are just innate in the people of this beautiful country. They are just born knowing how to love food, traditions, art…
Continue reading ➞ Italian Fashion Insights
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
You must be logged in to post a comment.