Throughout the year, Sicily offers the occasion to enjoy the best local food and traditions for locals and visitors. A town or city's Sagra will feature a particular speciality celebrated and usually consumed for only a few Euros. Some people hire a camper, particularly in the summer and go from sagra to sagra, depending on…
Continue reading ➞ Sagre and Feste in each Sicilian province: Enna
Every town and city in Italy has its own Saintly patron or protector which has its own dedicated festa or celebration during the year with associated religious processions and events. In Sicily alone, there are three hundred and ninety town halls which means many different variations in Saint day celebrations. Apart from the religious…
Continue reading ➞ 10 Feste Patronale in Sicilia
I use my camera like I'd use a notebook. I record little details and notes, things I've noticed or want to remember for later. I photograph small things that catch my eye, a particular design or pattern which seems unusual. It could be a texture that catches my eye or how the sunlight hits a…
Continue reading ➞ The story is always in the details
Goethe once said to have seen Italy without having seen Sicily is not to have seen Italy, for Sicily is the clue to everything. But to understand Sicily, you need to go to its geographical centre because the key to the island's identity is there. The province of Enna is known as the belly button…
Each province in Sicily has its unique landscape, dialect and cuisine. They are all quite diverse to experience. Palermo Palermo is one of the greatest cities of art and history in Europe. In the Victorian period, royal families would choose to holiday in Palermo. The city is filled with endless churches, historical neighbourhoods, palaces, and…
Continue reading ➞ Sicilian Provinces
There are many ways of exploring Sicily, from visiting the bigger cities and tourist centres, food and winery tours or seeing the major historical sites, from Greek temples to endless museums. Logistically moving around Sicily is difficult simply because of the mountainous landscape, poor infrastructure, lack of reliable public transport and confusing or absent signage.…
Continue reading ➞ Bitesize pieces of Sicily
Santa Pasqua in Sicily is filled with ancient rites and traditions which are as colourful and variegated as the island itself. The week leading up to Easter is brimming with religious celebrations, food preparations, processions and parades. Each festival is part of an elaborate pageant mixing religion and paganism in the festivities which mark the…
Continue reading ➞ 10 Spectacular Easter Celebrations in Sicily
By far the most spectacular time of year to visit Sicily has to be in the springtime, as it is filled with sunshine, freshness and the pageantry of Easter adds a distinctive colour and theatricality to the island. Easter in Italy certainly isn't all chocolate eggs and bunnies (even though they have them here…
Continue reading ➞ An early Easter in Sicily
November in Sicily People often avoid the island of the sun in the winter months, preferring to bathe themselves in the sunshine and sea during the warmer months. But delving into Sicily in autumn/winter is a more authentic and rich experience. The first of November begins with All souls day, a celebration dotted with colourful…
Continue reading ➞ Without winter there wouldn’t be a summer
I am constantly sitting down and planning out trips to do through Sicily. Often I don’t do everything on my list as I run out of money but I am generally happy if I do one of the trips every year as they are based on my experiences living here on the island. Sicily is…
Continue reading ➞ Things to do in Sicily
Possibly one of the most fascinating relics left behind by Sicily’s many conquerors must be the impressive array of fortresses and castles. These majestic fabrications are not for the faint hearted as they are often located in strategic places high up in the mountains or dotted around the harsh coastal escarpments all around the island. It…
Continue reading ➞ In love with Sicilian Castles
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
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
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