Sicily!

Deda · Joined: 30 Mar 2005 Posts: 10

Okay, by now you figured it out, I am Italian and I love to write a lot hahaha.

So basically I am about to sell a very difficult region of Italy: Sicily.

Honestly I love Sicily with all my heart, my mom was born there and my grandmother lives nearby Palermo.
Nobody ever considers Sicily as THE place to visit, they all go to FLorence and Venice... but no no... believe you me, Sicily is just as good.

First of all it has probably the most delicious food in Italy: Sfincione (is the tallest pizza in italy, about 2 inches of thick juicy dough, with vegetables, ham, anchovies and unsalted cheese on top), pasta con le sarde, and swordfish, the best white sauseges (yes they are white) in the world. The bread is covered with sesame seed and is simply phenomenal but you have to eat it right away, it's made with a special kind of wheat, the day after is chewy like rubber.

The sweets and desserts are the best: cannoli, cassata, iris, granita (lemon slushy but better, lemons are sweet in sicily), the best gelato ever which you will eat inside of sweet buns not on a cone.

As for locations... aside from the typical Taormina... I like Agrigento and the valley of the Greek Temples, Siracusa where the Orecchio di Dionisio and the first greek theater built in Sicily are located, Piazza Armerina where you can see the mosaic floor of a ROman Villa, Erice, Segesta and marsala where you would go wine tastine for marsala and zibibbo wines, both dessert wines.

If you go to Milazzo the beaches are black because of the vulcanic island across the sea. For swimming, take a ferry from Palermo and go to Ustica... you stay one day, go scuba diving and realize that corals are growing in the Mediterranen!
You can climb up the mount Etna (the volcano) and get ematite's bracelts and visit Le gole dell'alcantara... gorges created by a river that ran through lava... which seems to be coming straight out of a TOlkien book.

Palermo, I love the most, maybe because the Hohenstauffen dinasty lived there and you can see Costanza D'Altavilla's jewls, the body of Saint Rosalia, the beautiful Cathedral and the Duomo of Monreale who has the most beautiful golden mosaics I have ever seen... it's a jewel on Earth. so ugly on the outside, so gorgeous on the inside.

And if you get the chance go see a show of Marionettes l'Opera dei Pupi, to see the adventure of the French Knights who were the true heroes during the kingdom of the Charlemagne...

but... if you go... go with a guide or you will get scared. It's a bit of a wild place, people are loud and some cities have some of the most experiences pickpockets in history!

italian-link · Joined: 21 Aug 2006 Posts: 3 Location: Tampa, Florida

I would agree with the above post....

And there is still plenty more to see!

The islands off of Milazzo are truly beautiful....Lipari and Stromboli are worth a visit.

Outside of Palermo, there is a beach town called Mondello. It has a lot of nightlife and good people watching.

An hour east of Palermo lies Cefalu, a quaint little resort town with an excellent beach, and a nice Duomo. You can take a train from Palermo and then at Cefalu pretty much walk to the beach...how awesome is that!

And if you like Arab markets, don't forget about La Vucciria in Palermo. here you can get a bargain on anything under the sun.

Ciao!

Larry