Sicily Guide

Vespa fans will enjoy the warm weather of Sicily this year in April! The Vespa World Days will land to the island for the first time, continuing the epic tradition of Euro Vespa, the big Vespa Club world feast. The event will have its headquarters in the town of Cefalù, one of the most visited touristic destinations in Sicily, where art, sea and mountains mix, creating unforgettable atmospheres. It will be a good occasion for the town to relaunch its tourist image internationally.

Read more at www.vespaworlddays.com.

Mary Taylor Simeti is one of my favorite writers about Sicily. She can write great descriptions of the island maintaining a fine humor.

In Sicily, there is no escaping history. Turn over a stone and you find a fragment of Byzantine pottery; ask a few questions about your favourite pastry and you are treated to a saga of monasteries and mayhem.

I had thought to write a straightforward description of the ravazzata, a pastry specific to the town of Alcamo where my husband grew up. I wanted to praise the discreet charm of these round, patty-shaped pastries, the measured sweetness of the ricotta filling within an unassuming exterior of golden crust. They are as distant from the rich and gaudy confectionery of Palermo - the cannoli and the cassatas studded with candied fruit - as the convent churches of Alcamo, hiding exquisite stuccos by Giacomo Serpotta behind simple stone exteriors, differ from the glittering, colourful mosaics of the Arab-Norman churches in Sicily’s capital.

Read more at FT.com

Every year at teh end of January, the statue of Santa Agata goes around the streets of Catania… Watch the video!

A friend was kind enough to send me some pictures of the Carnevale 2008 in Acireale!

This is not your usual exhibition… “Earthquakes of Italy” is the title of the exhibition that opened last week at the Civic Museum of Contemporary Art in Gibellina (PA) last week. After Foligno and Ancona, this exhibition is showcased in Sicily. It will travel to other locations in Northern Italy to go back to Sicily again in December to start the initiatives that will be held in Messina to commemorate the centenary of the earthquake that destroyed the city and killed most of its inhabitants on December 28, 1908.

The exhibition will stay in Gibellina through March 9 (Tuesdays-Saturdays 9AM-1PM and 4PM-7PM. Free entrance).

It has been one year now that SicilyGuide Blog was launched. I am proud of the results it has achieved. We have had over 40,000 visits now! With no marketing dollars to advertise it, this is a big thing! Thank you for reading us every day and being part of this.