Sicilitudine

Sicilitudine

… and I am happy to think that I now carry in my soul a picture of Sicily, that unique and beautiful island, which is clear, authentic and complete…

Goethe

Giardini Naxos, Sicily

From the first step I took on this hauntingly beautiful island, from my very first breath, I was completely enamored of her. And there has not been one day in my life since then that she hasn’t crept into my thoughts. 

Taormina, Sicily

The screensaver on the inside of my eyelids runs a slideshow of spectacular Sicilian vistas when I go to sleep, and sometimes the all encompassing need to get back there defies reason and dominates all thought.

Castelmola, Sicily

This largest island in the Mediterranean is truly unique. It is like a giant mosaic made up of thousands of vibrant and exceptionally hued tiles, impossible to put together, yet alone each is magnificent, complex, and exceptional.

Taormina, Sicily

View from Forza D'Agro, Sicily

Visually astounding, her shores are lapped by the bluest of seas – the Mediterranean, the Ionian and the Tyrrhenian. 

Lida copacabana, Letojanni, Sicily

Sicily

 The architecture and the cuisine have been layered by a history of being conquered. The Greeks, the Carthaginians, Roman, Arabs, Norman and Spaniards all ruled Sicily over the millennia and left their mark, their flavor, their influence, weaving a rich and brilliant tapestry that is equally beautiful and brutal.

Ortygia. Sicily

Sicilians have a hard history. The rich were magnificently rich while the poor toiled in abject poverty. They were repeatedly heavily taxed to pay for someone else’s wars, throughout time their men drafted to fight the ruling country’s battles. Although since the unification they are Italian, they are first and foremost and to their collective core, Sicilian. As a people they have pride and resilience, are at times stoic, in some ways isolated from the mainland, theirs is a Sicilitudine

 Castelmola, Sicily

Yet invariably Sicilians smile the deepest of smiles.

At times more North Africa than Southern Italy, Sicily is maddeningly beautiful, a culinary dream, it is mysterious and moody, incredibly sexy, and feels vaguely dangerous with it’s rumbling volcano and it’s air of mystery.

Sicily is everything.

To take on this magical island all you need is a good map and a sense of adventure…