Beautiful Sicily/Sicilia
is the largest island in the Mediterranean. The island is surrounded
by the Tyrrhenian, Sicilian and Ionian Seas.
This is a fabulous island full of tradition and history. Sicily
is culturally diverse, a melting pot, a country with a feudal
past and ancient treasures…..the island is triangular in
shape (the proverbial football to Italy’s boot) and home
to the still active Mt. Etna volcano. The main towns here are
Palermo, Catania and Messina. Sicily is also home to the Mafia….now,
having said that, let’s move on…..there’s much
much more to this wonderfully historic and beautiful island……much
more. The island is made up of hills for the most part with some
mountains (inland) and plains. From the seas, to the hill towns,
to the beach resorts, to the temples….Sicily is a great place
to visit. Sicily is an agrarian island and you’ll find lots
of fruits (citrus), vegetables, almonds, fish, grains, potatoes,
beans, olives and game on most menus.
You can fly to Sicily, you can ferry over, you can ferry over
with your car and you can take a night ferry overÄ..for schedules
and options: flying - check out www.alitalia.it/eng/ the flights
are fairly frequent and land in Catania, Palermo etc.; ferry over
- from Villa San Giovanni which is located way down south in Calabria...you'll
catch a ferry over (you can bring your car) follow the signs to
the port (the crossing is about 30 minutes and you can see Messina
from Villa San Giovanni); the same thing goes for train travel,
you'll arrive from your starting point and head south to Villa
San Giovanni, depart the train and ferry over to Messina, get
back on the train in Messina and head to your final destination;
the hydrofoil is another option and is right near Villa San Giovanni
port (quite useful to know if there's a strike); for a night ferry
from Napoli/Naples to Palermo the ferry generally leaves around
8:45 pm (check the schedule) and arrives the following morning
at 6:30am - for schedules: www.tirrenia.it ; you can do the reverse
from Palermo to Naples as well.
The cuisine is called the Sun and the Sea…..you’ll want
to try caponata, cuscus, fresh fish and cassata (a dessert with
cake, ice cream and candied fruit). You’ll enjoy the Pecorino
Siciliano and Ragusano cheeses and Marsala, Moscato, Sciacca and
Alcamo wines (among others). One trip here just won’t be
enough — there’s too much to discover in the rugged
region.
