Rooftops

There is something quintessentially Italian about Italian chaotic rooftop views. From the rooftops, you can see the urban landscape, the irregular dimensions of the houses, and how each building leans up against the next.

Sagre and Feste in each Sicilian province: Enna

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…

Burnt out and frustrated

Lately, I've been feeling a little tired, frustrated and burnt out. At the beginning of the year, I'd set myself the goal to post every day either on this blog or my creative writing blog. I've been maintaining this practice and have made a routine of preparing three posts here on Sicily Inside and Out…

First and lasting impressions of Palermo: Louis Vuitton

Sicily is such a beautifully textured place; many layers of history have been placed, one on top of the other. Each period of history leaves spaces and gaps where you can see the remnants of many different stories. These fragments are intriguing as they lead you towards many histories, stories, and endless possibilities. Each place…

The art of sharing things

My blog posts are slowly transform into a journal where I share my photography together with my thoughts. It's great to share my creativity, and it is becoming quite therapeutic to get some things out of my head. It gets crowded in my monkey brain filled with random ideas. I'm happy you are here to…

Sicilian details: signs

I love taking photos of walls and signage; they have the same quality as an old postcard, like a memory of an ancient time. I took a photo of a fragment from a poem on a wall at Monreale. I liked the dirty paint, the lettering seemed like something from the Fascist period, and I…

Sicilian Details from Catania

While accompanying my husband on his work trips to Catania, I noticed how many little water pools dotted the harsh lava landscape. Since I spent most of my time standing out in the sun to help by holding up one of those measuring poles you see surveyors using on the roads, I didn't get much…

Sicilian details: Taormina

Walking around Taormina, one of my favourite places to visit in Sicily, I came across an impressive lawyer's office. It was a few hundred meters down the road from the Anfiteatro; the ancient greek open-air theatre still used today for summer concerts. I imagined the lawyer closing his office late one summer night and strolling…

The story is always in the details

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…

My Sicily: a poem

What is Sicily to me? There are hundreds of Sicilies. An island of hundred faces. like the tale of Medusa who becomes more elaborate at every retelling. Singing like Rosa Balistreri with an emotional strength pouring out the tears in an overflowing stream. A song of Sicily’s poverty, her beauty, with her insatiable energy, the…

The stories behind A Sicilian Mosaic

Last week I announced the launch of my first self published Zine dedicated to photography, titled A Sicilian Mosaic. The idea to make a zine came about last summer after watching a tutorial on Youtube, where a talented photographer showed me and everyone else on the internet how easy it is to compile his photos…

Sicilian DNA

Poetry is and will always be my first love. My poems come from my dreams, imagination and emotions. They appear in my mind unexpectedly. An idea comes in a phrase or an image that keeps repeating itself. Something will pester me to the point I cannot ignore. I write it down and it leaves my…

Words from Sicily: Disorientation

The mountainous landscape in Sicily persistently challenges me. The boundless slopes disorient me; they dominate the horizon. When I go hiking down steep hillsides, I am constantly holding on for dear life, grappling white-knuckled onto the flimsiest blade of grass in my reach. I’ve lost count of the times I’ve sprained my ankles or fallen’…

Words from Sicily: Sicilian mountains

Looking up at the lush mountains across from me, I realise that the road on our side of the valley must be a mirror reflection of what we see on the other side, the landscape divided in half by a river at its floor. I am suddenly terrified. The bluffs are menacing, and a strange…