When I was a child I had an Uncle who was terribly capricious, a real joker (he still is until this day) and he took great pleasure in teaching my brother and I all the colourful Italian swear words possible. My Uncle thought it was all terribly funny and hoped we’d use them in front…
Continue reading ➞ Sicilian’s flare for uttering profanities
I managed to get a glimpse of the metaphorical 'Primavera' while jostling in the crowd at the Medieval parade as part of the Infiorata festival at Noto, Syracuse but I'm afraid I've seen very little of her since. I wonder where she has gone?
I’ve always been a lover of the travel writing genre, ever since my mother gave me a paperback of Bill Bryson’s ‘Neither here nor there’ which took me backpacking through Europe before I left high school. Since then I have made my way through many travel writing classics from Paul Theroux to Bruce Chatwin. Many…
Continue reading ➞ A Sicilian Summer with Brian Johnston
What’s it like for a Sicilian to be married to a foreigner? Living in the south of Italy is very much like living in a Middle Eastern country, Sicily isn’t the south of the Italian peninsula but rather a northern state of Africa. Sicilian’s are very traditional and proud of their culture. An islander is…
Continue reading ➞ So you’re married to a foreigner … an Italian perspective
I've always loved Sicilian churches prolific use of mosaics. Last summer I got to the church of the Madonna of Tindari (ME) and managed to sneak a shot of this beautiful image of Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane. These mosaics are like living breathing operatic scenes filled with life and drama. I think I'll…
Continue reading ➞ Postcards from Sicily: Gethsemane
Lately, I’ve noticed a new development with my language skills. I think I’m going native. Many missionaries from past centuries wrote of how after years of living with a foreign culture and language they have felt like a constant outsider until the day when they realise their tongue has somehow assimilated elements of the local…
Continue reading ➞ Picking up a Sicilian vocabulary
A detail of the bell tower of Messina. I was looking through some old shots the other day and I loved the elegance of this shot, even if it was sweltering when I took the picture. The cockerel crows every midday and midnight in the Piazza Duomo of Messina. He begins an elaborate dance of clockwork…
Continue reading ➞ Clockwork Messina
The weather in Sicily and all over Italy has been terrible lately. Usually at this time of year we are already into the swing of spring. Here's hoping the spring will unexpectedly poke its head out like this cute little church at Martini a suburb of my little town Sinagra, Messina. Here's hoping for some…
Continue reading ➞ Postcards from Sicily: Spring trying to poke its head out
This year I was fortunate enough to get to San Leone’s ‘festa’ at Longi (20th Feb) which I find is generally more traditional and particular then the one celebrated at Sinagra (even if I love them both!) I liked the solemn religiosity and playfulness of Longi’s interpretation of this Saint’s celebration. Not only does the…
Continue reading ➞ E viva San Leone … E musica
I am constantly surprised by the wonderful people I am meeting and the connections I am making thanks to my blog. Not only do I give my flabby writing muscles a work out but I also seem to be meeting friends and perhaps even will get some paid work out of it. I am even…
Continue reading ➞ The Beauty of Blogging
If I were an artist it would be perfect to sketch out these winter landscapes that I see in the countryside.
It’s a bleak time of year here in the mountain villages of the Nebrodi. The intermittent rain and hail is interrupted by tiny specks of sunshine quickly smudged out by the billowing charcoal clouds. The chill makes me want to shut myself up inside. My lips are chapped and my hands are rough and sandpapery…
Continue reading ➞ Blackbird days
My son loves knights and dragons. He keeps begging me to buy him one of these marionette puppets, he would be drooling if he saw this big guy. I love the Pupi Siciliani as a form of Sicilian theatre that originated in the 18th Century and retold epic battles and tales of old. It nearly…
Continue reading ➞ Postcards from Sicily: Pupi
Small town life is always insidious, the reality in Sicily is ever more so. Not only do you find everyone knows about everyone else’s business but they have been sticking in their noses for generations and so if you are a newcomer you will be a target for gossip. I’ve been living here for a…
Continue reading ➞ Political intrigue in small town Sicily
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