What Makes a Visit to Sicily so Undeniably Special?

Sicily is one of the most fascinating and beautiful places in Italy. As Goethe wrote, “To have seen Italy without having seen Sicily is not to have seen Italy at all, for Sicily is the clue to everything.”

Being Sicilian has always been special and personal to me, long before I had ever gone there. Sicily was the birthplace and home of my maternal grandparents, so it holds a special place in my heart. I know that I will always return to Sicilia because I feel at home there.

Full of history, this southern Italian island has so much to offer. I could describe Sicily in so many ways: beautiful, diverse, amazing, historical, charming, appealing, fantastic, and wonderful.

 

Amazing Sicilian food specialties, like pasta alla norma, caponata, arancini, and the freshest seafood  will tempt your palate, as will delicius cannoli and a refreshing granita beverage. Street vendors are common sights in Palermo, like this one in his colorful cart with sfincione, a Sicilian cousin of pizza made with a thicker sweeter dough and topped with a thick tomato sauce. Delizioso!

Sicily boasts ancient ruins and magnificent architecture from Baroque, Gothic, Byzantine, Norman, and Roman times.

Its picturesque  towns, larger cities, and numerous beaches are some of the reasons travelers keep returning to this island in the Mediterranean.

For me though, it’s the Sicilian people that keep me coming back. On the streets of Sicily you’ll find real people, the locals who work hard and take pride in everything they do. They do it with a smile and in my experience, they always seem happy to engage in conversation. It’s never “just business.”

What I love most when traveling to Italy is interacting with the locals. I have found the Sicilian people to be some of the friendliest in Italy, and this skilled artisan from Caltagirone is one of them. I met Marianna Ferreri as she was creating a bracelet made of an intricately designed type of lace.

I was fascinated  and learned it is called Pizzo di Tambolo. I’ve never seen anything like this and decided to purchase two of her handmade lace bracelets (in italiano, they are called bracciali).

They hold a special place in my heart, and every time I wear one, I think of Marianna and that visit to Sicily.

Most of Sicily’s terrain is considered hilly or mountainous, and the only flat places are along the coast. As you might expect, the island of Sicily is comprised of plenty of small hilltop towns and villages. Many of these have no train stations and are located in rural areas.

Beautiful when seen from afar, these fairy-tale places are reachable only by driving up winding roads that no modern navigation system can manage with complete accuracy.

My cousin, Teresa Savoca, a Sicilian who grew up in the hilltop town of Cesarò, and now lives in Taormina, has found a solution to this problem. She has always told me, in her native Italian, that the GPS navigation system isn’t good in Sicily, not in these small villages that are far from larger towns. “No navigazione,” she would say. At first, I laughed about it, but I totally understand now.

I recall the time she drove us into the village of Castiglione in search of the old castle. Teresa stopped several times along the way to ask a local for directions. In their typical Sicilian friendly fashion, they gave instructions in Sicilian dialect and made hand gestures to point us in the right direction. Teresa turned toward us and laughed as she once more explained, “Navigazione di Siciliano.”  Just another reason to love Sicily.

Have you traveled to Sicily? What are you waiting for? Flights within Italy are inexpensive and Catania and Palermo both have modern airports.

The Sicilian people won my heart, and I’m sure they’ll win yours too.

I have so many more stories about the people I’ve met in Sicily, but  that is for another blog post. You can read more about my travels in Sicily in My Love Affair with Sicily, available on Amazon in paperback, kindle and audiobook.

I’d love to hear your feedback, so please leave a comment.  .

Grazie and Ciao