Bella Sicilia!
My sister Patty and I had been waiting for several years to have an opportunity to take an overseas trip together and this year we blocked out the month of May, which also happened to coincide with one of her milestone birthdays. Over the course of six months we booked our plane tickets and places to stay, much of it done while talking on the phone together and looking at websites on our computer screens.
We separately made a list of three places we would most like to visit, and when we compared notes we found that our point of overlap was on Sicily. We were tempted to go a little farther afield and touch on Greece and Croatia as well, but in the end decided that rather than trying to hit too many places we would focus just on Sicily and southern Italy for the entire month.
Most of my travel has a focus on weaving, whether it is for teaching workshops or for visiting other cultures around the world with an eye towards their textiles. But our goal for this trip was simply to enjoy every minute while we there. And I don’t think we could chosen a much better destination to do just that than in Sicily.
While we had a general itinerary of which towns we would be staying at for which dates, where we would be staying in each place, and specific things we wanted to do in each place, there was no set schedule and we woke up each day wondering what that day would hold. I think we both ended up feeling that our favorite thing to do was to simply walk and wander, exploring the streets of each town, while stopping occasionally to try the amazing food and daily gelato. But I’ll share a few highlights from each of the places along the way.
Palermo - Palermo is said to have the best street food in the world. I don’t know if that is definitively true or not, but it certainly is a strong possibility, and we had a lot of fun checking out one of the local markets and giving it a try.
A day trip to the town of Monreale, about a half hour uphill and outside of town, brings you to a magnificent cathedral with incredible mosaics, painting, and gold leaf artwork.
The opera house in Palermo, Teatro Massimo, is one of the largest in Europe, and there happened to be a symphony orchestra concert on our last night in town. We were treated to beautiful classical music as we sat in our box seats overlooking the grand sweep of the interior space. If you’ve ever seen the movie Godfather III, one of the final scenes is on the steps in front of the opera house and we posed for a shot there at the end of the evening.
Cefalù - This is a lovely little town on the nothern coast of Sicily, and with its gorgeous beaches it is a popular tourist spot. A friend of mine’s family came from Cefalù, and his cousin rents out three apartments in a building that has been in the family for many generations. Our four days there were all about exploring the beautiful streets and beaches, and enjoying the local food and gelato.
Agrigento - While there is nothing noteworthy about the town itself, downhill and at the edge of the southern coast of Sicily is the largest assembly of Greek temples outside of Greece. We were blessed with a perfect day to explore one incredible site after another.
Ragusa - We fell in love with this charming little town. We had a perfect little house for our stay there and could walk up a quaint little street and be right in the center of it all. The magnificent Baroque cathedral is lit up at night and we were able to hear a talk about the famous relief sculptures on its doors.
One day we took a bus to the nearby small town of Modica. While the initial draw was the chocolate that Modica is famous for, a special serendipitous experience was when we happened upon a wedding that was about to take place. We spent about an hour watching as guests arrived in their full regalia, listening to the ethereal music coming from the choir inside, and finally the bride making her grand entrance on the arm of her father.
Noto - Another charming town with fabulous Baroque architecture. We happened to arrive just before the annual flower festival. Side streets were getting set up with designs made entirely of flower petals in an array of bright colors. We were fortunate to see these just before a wind and rain storm came up and washed it all away.
Siracusa/Ortygia - Siracusa was an important center in ancient Greece and the Roman Empire. We headed out to the adjoining peninsula of Ortygia, another fascinating area of winding streets that we wished we had more than three days to explore. There were a couple unexpected highlights that we encountered. The Museo del Papiro is an outstanding museum on the history, processes and products made of papyrus, which grows naturally in Sicily. The cross-cultural exchange in this medium between Sicily and Egypt will make a great connection for me as I head to Egypt in a couple months. We also wandered into a shop on a little side street and found a huge replica of San Marco piazza in Venice made entirely out of beads by the shopkeeper’s father.
Catania - The main reason we went to Catania was as a stepping stone for a day trip to Villa Romana where there are some of the most amazing Roman mosaics in the world. Unfortunately, the day we had set aside to make the 2-hour bus trip there it ended up being a torrential rainstorm, so we let that go and spent the day in town instead. While we were disappointed to miss what is said to be a ‘must-see’, we made use of our rainy day by visiting a vast monastery complex with incredible architecture. We also enjoyed seeing the buildings in the central part of town with their charcoal grey lava rock from nearby Mt. Etna. Mt. Etna added some drama to our trip by erupting while we were there, though not so dramatically that it disrupted our trip.
Taormina - This lovely little town has become quite popular due to the television series The White Lotus, but even the crowds couldn’t keep us from enjoying our time there. The remains of a Greek amphitheater make what is surely one of the most spectacular settings for an event, and it is still being used for a summer concert series. The view overlooks the town of Taormina and the east cost of Sicily far below. Fabulous public gardens offer more views down the coastline, as well as beautiful stonework and intriguing buildings and bridges.
On one of our walks we came upon a tiny little opera house, and we saw that there was going to be a concert of Italian arias on our last night in town. The soprano, tenor and pianist performed wonderful selections from Verdi, Puccini and Donizetti, and the prosecco intermission under the stars made for a perfect way to close out our time in Sicily.
But before heading home, we took a train up the coast to Messina, where it was loaded onto a ferry over to the mainland of southern Italy, and up the west coast of the boot to Salerno. We had one week left before flying home from Naples, so we travelled a few miles along the Amalfi coast to a tiny little traditional fishing village called Cetara.
Cetara - You could easily see everything there is to see in Cetara in a few hours, but we decided that a few days of relaxation towards the end of our trip would be just the ticket.
We loved having time to explore different parts of the area at a leisurely pace and enjoy the seafood that the town is famous for.
One day we hopped on a ferry that traveled along the Amalfi coast to visit a few of the better known towns. The view from the water was spectacular, but after a few hours in the town of Amalfi we had had enough of fighting our way through the crowds and were ready to take the ferry back the way we came to our quiet little fishing village. On one last walk along the jetty we came upon a fisherman working away at mending his nets. He was happy to let us watch and film him at work, and to converse with us in Italian about the importance of keeping this craft alive.
Naples - Finally at the end of our month we had two days in Naples - one to visit Herculaneum and Pompeii, and one to visit the Archaeological Museum where most of the frescoes and mosaics from Pompeii are held. The two ancient sites have a quiet and haunting beauty about them, particularly as you see Mt. Vesuvius looming in the background.
This quick overview of our trip wouldn’t be complete without a few shots of some of the incredible food that we enjoyed. And I have to mention a new favorite - arancini, which are rice balls that are stuffed with a variety of fillings, and are far more delicious than the description might sound. They are the perfect lunch that you can walk around with, and at about 3 euros each, they will keep you going until it’s time for the late afternoon gelato. Patty and I indulged in everything we wanted on this trip, but with all the miles we walked and all the steps we went up and down we didn’t gain an ounce!
While this has been a whirlwind overview of our trip, with an entire month to spend we were able to enjoy everything at a leisurely pace. It’s always a bit of a quandary whether to spend my travel opportunities visiting new places that I want to see or to go back again to a place that is a favorite. I don’t know if I will be getting back to Sicily in the future, but it easily makes the list of places that I would gladly go again and spend much more time.
Salute!
