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…

A walk to the fig tree

In the summer Sicilian’s become like frugivorous animals living off the fruits produced by their gardens. So my husband, son and I are obliged to take a walk to the fig tree to gather up its bounty. The only problem is the tree is hidden deep below a steep precipice behind overgrown bushes and prickly…

Sicilian Impressions: Mountains

As a stranger to the mountains I have been challenged by Sicily’s predominate rocky landscape over the years. It is fascinating to observe the Sicilian peaks, their changing faces which recall stark Irish hills or Scottish highlands. In his now historical travelogue 'Sea and Sardinia,' D.H Lawrence complained of Sicily’s ‘peaky confinement’ preferring the wider…