Sicily Guide Blog

Telejato: family-run, mini-CNN in Partinico, Sicily

SicilyGuide — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 05:01:51 +0000

Pino Maniaci has created a family business through his miniature version of CNN. The ‘longest news program in the world’, with its 150, 000 viewers, is a mini-broadcaster fighting against the local mafia, the Cosa Nostra…

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A Video of Pace del Mela

SicilyGuide — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 05:01:26 +0000

And this is the place where I come from…

More about Pace del Mela >>

Huge necropolis found in Himera in northern Sicily

SicilyGuide — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 05:01:46 +0000

Archaeologists working at the ancient Greek city of Himera in northern Sicily have uncovered what they now believe to be the largest Greek necropolis on the island.

Although experts have long known about the burial ground, they have only recently understood its importance because of building work to extend a local railway track. Hundreds of graves have already been uncovered but archaeologists believe there are thousands more waiting to be found in the burial ground of the city, which rose to prominence more than 2,500 years ago.

Lampedusa’s literary evocation of Sicilian life is 50 years old

SicilyGuide — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 05:01:20 +0000

‘They had passed through crazed-looking villages washed in palest blue; crossed dry beds of torrents over fantastic bridges; skirted sheer precipices which no sage or broom could temper. Never a tree, never a drop of water; just sun and dust.’

This was the Sicily I imagined as I sat, aged 11, in my bedroom in south London. It was the late 1980s: there were regular dust-ups between the National Front and the Socialist Workers, and local football team Millwall’s slogan was ‘No one likes us - we don’t care.’ I took refuge in Giuseppe di Lampedusa’s The Leopard, a book about a sparsely populated land where the sun blazed so harshly that all people could do was shelter and reflect on times past and the passing of time.

Remembering Messina at The Italian Academy, NY

SicilyGuide — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 05:01:59 +0000

On December 28th, 1908 at 5:22AM an earthquake erased in few seconds two beautiful cities and their surroundings: Messina and Reggio Calabria.

To commemorate such event, Daniela Schächter, acclaimed composer and pianist from Messina, created Remembering Messina: Before and After December 28th, 1908.

On stage: Daniela Schächter piano and vocals; Oleg Osenkov upright bass, Marco Panascia, bass electric guitar, Marcello Pellitteri drums, Dan Pratt saxophones, Davide Schächter classical and electric guitar, Laura Caparrotti narrator. Special guest Vincenzo Amato.

The world-premiere of the concert/reading will take place Thursday November 20, 2008 at the Italian Academy at Columbia University (1161 Amsterdam Avenue at 116th Street). For the concert, doors open at 5:45PM.

Please note that this event is by invitation only! Seats are very limited! RSVP at info@kitheater.com with name and number of guests and we’ll confirm that you are in the list.

More about Daniela Schächter >>
More about the Italian Academy >>
More about Kairos Italy Theater >>

The Sicilian Baroque

SicilyGuide — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 05:01:17 +0000

The Sicilian Baroque style came to fruition during a major surge of rebuilding following a massive earthquake in 1693 in southeastern Sicily. Around 1730, Sicilian architects had developed confidence in their use of the Baroque style. Their particular interpretation led to its evolving further into a personalized and highly localized art form on the island. The eight towns in southeast Sicily, Caltagirone, Militello Val di Catania, Catania, Modica, Noto, Palazzolo, Ragusa and Scicli represent a considerable collective undertaking, successfully carried out at a high level of architectural and artistic achievement (UNESCO World Heritage Site).

Monreale Cathedral, Palermo

SicilyGuide — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 05:01:16 +0000

Monreale Cathedral is the greatest of all the monuments to the wealth and artistic taste of the Norman kings in northern Sicily. Founded around 1170 by William II, and dedicated to the Assumption of the Virgin Mary, the church was elevated to the rank of a metropolitan cathedral in 1182. The outside of the Arab-Norman cathedral is plain, except the aisle walls and three eastern apses, which are decorated with intersecting pointed arches and other ornaments inlaid in marble. The archiepiscopal palace and monastic buildings on the south side were of great size and magnificence, and were surrounded by a massive precinct wall, crowned at intervals by twelve towers. This has been mostly rebuilt, but little now remains except ruins of some of the towers, a great part of the monks’ dormitory and frater, and the splendid cloister, completed about 1200.

Vegetation in Sicily

SicilyGuide — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 05:01:51 +0000

The temperate climate of Sicily has contributed to the development of typically Mediterranean vegetation. Vineyards, olive and citrus (lemons, mandarins, ciders, oranges) trees are throughout the island. Various species of plants grow naturally, such as: dwarf palm, mirto, corbezzolo, lentisco, oleanders, eucalyptus, pine trees and euphorbia. In the driest parts you can find plants such as palms, cards, agaves and prickly pears. Trees of almonds, hibiscus, and plants of mimosas, bougainvilleas, zagaras, jasmines and capers add to the Sicilian landscape’s unforgettable colors.

Marettimo: the most remote of the Aegadian Islands

SicilyGuide — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 05:01:34 +0000

[...] Marettimo, the most rugged and distant of Sicily’s Egadi Islands, hailed by Samuel Butler as Odysseus’s home, is reached from Trapani.

A hydrofoil leaves every few hours from Sicily’s northernmost port, carrying the working young and the grocery-clutching elderly to neighbouring Levanzo and Favignana before crossing the final stretch to Marettimo. If you’re lucky.

More about this article at TimesOnline.co.uk >>
More about the Aegadian Islands >>

Allies invade Sicily - historic video

SicilyGuide — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 04:01:28 +0000

Allies invade Sicily © History.com

The Allied invasion of Sicily, codenamed Operation Husky, was a major World War II campaign, in which the Allies took Sicily from the Axis (Italy and Nazi Germany). It was a large scale amphibious and airborne operation, followed by six weeks of land combat. It launched the Italian Campaign.

Husky began on the night of July 9, 1943, and ended August 17. It was the largest amphibious operation of the war in terms of men landed on the beaches and of frontage. Strategically, Husky achieved the goals set out for it by Allied planners. The Allies drove Axis air and naval forces from the island; the Mediterranean’s sea lanes were opened and Italian dictator Benito Mussolini was toppled from power. It opened the way to the Allied invasion of Italy (Wikipedia).

Watch video at History.com>>

Siremar on strike from 5:00AM to 11:00PM on November 7, 2008

SicilyGuide — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 16:34:16 +0000

The Aeolian Islands, the Aegadian Islands and the route Palermo-Ustica will all be affected by a strike from Siremar, the company that manages hydrofoils and ferry boats from Sicily to the islands. The strike will take place from 5:00AM to 11:00PM on November 7, 2008.

A lesser known part of Sicily

SicilyGuide — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 15:28:27 +0000

The drive to Enna in central Sicily is a steady rollercoaster climb. As the highest provincial capital in all of Italy, it’s also an instant antidote for vertigo sufferers like myself. When my husband Joe and I made the swooping ascent, intense heat draped a hazy veil of humidity over the brown valleys. As we circled the town, it appeared to rise like a mirage out of what could have been the Grand Canyon — except churches and castles served as the looming historic markers.

Art in a Bottle

SicilyGuide — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 04:01:12 +0000

Click to enlarge card in PDF

34 Italian artists have created 68 unique wine labels to be showcased exclusively at the Wine Appeal Art in a Bottle event at Naima Restaurant in Chelsea - New York City. The theme of the labels is “Red and White”. The wine labels are attached to a variety of purely Sicilian wine bottles selected by VanVakys and provided by American importers and distributors. Each of the labels represents an original work of art and an excellent value and opportunity for collection and gift-giving.

The base price of each bottle is $100.00 USD. The wines are sold through a silent auction that runs from November 11 through December 9, 2008. Bids can be placed both at Naima Restaurant and online at http://www.siciliana.it/wineappeal/pages/auction.html. Part of the proceedings of the silent auction will be donated to the New York City Chapter of the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.

Kick-off party for the event with an art show and full menu and wine tasting takes place on November 11 from 7PM to 11PM. Similar dinner menu will be served on November 18, December 2 & 9th. Final silent auction day is December 12.

Art show, full menu and wine tasting is $75.00 USD per person, all-inclusive. Please, RSVP at the number or emails below.

Naima Restaurant
@ 513 W 27th St, New York 10001
BTW 10th & 11th Ave
Phone: +1 (212) 967-4392
Fax: +1 (212) 967-4393
RSVP: artauction@wineappeal.it

Museo delle Saline, Trapani

SicilyGuide — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 04:01:22 +0000

This museum illustrates the history of the salt-works and the antique practice of salt extraction.

Address: Contrada Nubia, Paceco (Trapani)

Tel.: (0923) 86 74 22

General Information
Mon.-Sat.: 9:00am-12:00pm; 4:00pm-6:00pm; closed Sun. & holidays
Duration of visit: 30 minutes

Spooky Sicily: catacombs in Syracuse and mummies in Palermo

SicilyGuide — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 15:19:21 +0000

Happy Halloween! While the catacombs found in the Sicilian city of Syracuse are similar to those found in Rome, the catacombs in Palermo are very unusual - Palermo’s catacombs contained a preservative that helped to mummify the bodies of the dead.

Villa Romana del Casale, Piazza Armerina (Enna) will close for fours months in November

SicilyGuide — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 04:03:01 +0000

Villa Romana del Casale, Piazza Armerina (Enna) will close for fours months in November and reopen fully restored in 2009. This luxury villa was built at the end of the 3rd century AD. Its floor is almost entirely covered with beautiful and detailed mosaics with scenes of everyday life and divinities. It is the richest and largest collection of late Roman mosaics in the world. The Villa Romana del Casale is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The villa burnt and was covered by a flood around 1161. It was discovered in the 18th century.

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New flight Trapani-Bologna

SicilyGuide — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 04:02:03 +0000

Ryanair announced a new fligh Trapani-Bologna starting from March 30, 2009.

Three tourists out of ten prefer Sicily for its cultural appeal

SicilyGuide — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 04:01:14 +0000

Three tourists out of ten prefer Sicily for its cultural appeal and archeological ruins according to a study conducted by Keix Marketing Research for the Fondazione Kepha Onlus.

Milazzo (ME)

SicilyGuide — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 04:01:06 +0000

Milazzo a small town north-east of Sicily… How many memories!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nI62l3gK0I8

Program of Second Convention CSNA

SicilyGuide — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 19:03:22 +0000

The Confederazione dei Siciliani del Nord America (CSNA) is holding its second annual Gala and Convention at the Westin Waterfront Hotel in Boston on November 1, 2008.

Here is the program:

October 31, 2008 - Papyrus Exhibition - Professor Maria Teresa Gulino
Consolato Generale d’Italia a Boston, 600 Atlantic Avenue, 32th floor

November 1 - Westin Waterfront Hotel - Papyrus Exhibition

10:00AM   Registration, Conference Hall (Commonwealth Room-Ground Floor)
10:45AM Introduction of all the constituencies
11:00AM Commission of CSNA Youth and Women
11:20AM   Speaker Professor Trifiletti about culture and language
11:35AM   Chairman and President CSNA USA & Canada
12:00PM   Differen personalities speak
1:00PM     Lunch break and presentation of the ”Papyrus Exhibition”
2:00PM    Sicilian Federation in Argentina
3:00PM     Debate
4:00PM     Conclusion
4:15PM     Elections of CSNA members
5:30PM    Conference closing
7:30PM   Cocktail
8:30PM     Gala

All Sicily is here

SicilyGuide — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 04:01:17 +0000

The best way of getting to Palermo is on the night boat from Naples. If you wake in the early hours, you can go on deck and see Stromboli glowing fitfully like an ogre’s cigar, but the approach to Palermo in the early morning sunshine is reward enough. Few cities have a more theatrical setting: the Conca d’Oro, or Golden Shell, formed by Monte Pellegrino on the northern side and Capo Zafferano on the southern, still make you catch your breath.

Sicily marked the western extremity of the Greek world, which extended eastwards to Asia Minor and beyond. The Greeks gave it the name Panormus, meaning “all harbour”, but never made it a proper colony – probably because the Phoenicians from Carthage had got there first and turned it into one of their biggest trading posts. Consequently, Greek monuments must be sought elsewhere – at Segesta, Selinunte and Agrigento, or at Syracuse, where the temple has been transformed into the present cathedral. Nor will you find much left by the Romans. For them, Sicily was just another province – quite a useful one, since the land was amazingly fertile and provided the capital with a large proportion of its grain, but a province nonetheless.

Gambero Rosso awards 17 Sicilian wines with tre bicchieri

SicilyGuide — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 04:01:26 +0000

Tre bicchieri is one of the most prestigious Italian wine award. Sicilian wines awarded the tre bicchieri by Gambero Rosso are 17:

Cerasuolo di Vittoria V. Para Para 2005 Poggio di Bortolone

Chardonnay 2006 Tasca d’Almerita

Contea di Sclafani Rosso del Conte 2005 Tasca d’Almerita

Contessa Entellina Milleunanotte 2005 Donnafugata

Deliella 2005 Feudo Principi di Butera

Don Antonio 2006 Morgante

Etna Bianco Sup. Pietramarina 2004 Benanti

Etna Rosso 2005 Cottanera

Etna Rosso Outis 2005 Vini Biondi

Etna Rosso Prephilloxera La V. di Don Peppino 2006 Tenuta delle Terre Nere

Faro Palari 2006 Palari

Harmonium 2006 Firriato

Mandrarossa Cartagho 2006 Settesoli

Nerosanloré 2005 Gulfi

Sàgana 2006 Cusumano

Saia 2006 Feudo Maccari

Santa Cecilia 2006 Planeta

An earthquake off the north coast of Sicily

SicilyGuide — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 17:34:01 +0000

An earthquake measuring four on the open-ended Richter scale was recorded on Monday off the north coast of the Italian island of Sicily, local authorities said.

Halloween at the Hilton Portorosa Sicily from 195 Euro

SicilyGuide — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 04:01:13 +0000

Hilton Portorosa lies in the center of the Bay of Patti, which stretches from the Milazzo peninsula to the Tindari promontory. This seven floor building has been conceived to ensure natural daylight everywhere offering a wide range of very spacious rooms and suites in contemporary style. Hilton Portorosa Sicily is strategically located close to the main highways in Sicily, directly accessible by private yachts from Portorosa, the most important tourist Marina in Sicily.

Halloween at the Hilton Portorosa Sicily starts from 195 Euro per person per two nights from October 31 through November 2, 2008.

Address: Complesso Turistico Portorosa, Furnari (Me)

Phone: (0941) 80 25 64
Fax: (0941) 80 25 55
Email: res.portorosa@hilton.com
Web site: http://www1.hilton.com/en_US/hi/hotel/QMEHFHI-Hilton-Portorosa/index.do

One of the world’s biggest ever lottery jackpots has been won in Sicily

SicilyGuide — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 17:33:27 +0000

The winning ticket was bought in the city of Catania in Sicily, and is worth 100 million euros ($125 million).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4s2M13zoRBQ

[...] when the news broke residents took to the streets singing, dancing and waving flags. The identity of the winner or winners is unknown. The only known fact is that the lucky ticket was bought from a tobacconist in the city center. Having rolled over since April, the huge jackpot became one of the largest seen anywhere in the world.

Miccoli is getting ready to play against Fiorentina

SicilyGuide — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 04:01:07 +0000

Miccoli of AS Palermo wants to go against the current wave where players scoring against their ex-teams do not celebrate their goal. “I don’t believe in the fashion of not celebrating after scoring a goal against your former side,” declared the Palermo player. “I’m a Palermo player and if I score a goal on Sunday I guarantee that I will celebrate. In any case, I was fine in Florence.

Gregory Smolik and the wines of COS, Sicily

SicilyGuide — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 18:27:48 +0000

1. Rami 2005, a white wine made from insolia and grecanico grape.

2. Pithos 2005, a light red made with nero d’avola and frappato. This was my favroite wine of the three.

3. Cerasuolo di Vittoria, a red aged in old oak barrels.

Maybe a new flight will connect Palermo to Newark in NJ

SicilyGuide — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 04:01:11 +0000

I heard this news, but I do not have many details. Giovanni Avanti annouced a new flight that will connect the Sicilian capital of Palermo to the airport Newark in New Jersey.

Stay tuned for more information!

Catania - Palermo Serie A

SicilyGuide — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 04:01:42 +0000

The Aquile Rosanero fly to Catania to take on the Elefanti in what will undoubtedly be a heated affair between the two Sicilian teams. This Derby clash will inevitably bring back memories of the sad events that took place on February 2, 2007. Police officer Filippo Raciti was killed during scuffles that broke out outside the Stadio Massimino before and after the game.

His tragic death brought to a halt all football matches in the peninsula for a week, and pushed the powers that be to introduce new and stricter rules for Serie A clubs to try and eradicate the Calcio violence plague. Consequently, the Palermo supporters were prevented from traveling to the Stadio Massimino last season and the newly-formed Casms has opted to maintain the same hard-line stance this term.

The Godfather: Coppola Restoration, Blu-ray

SicilyGuide — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 04:01:43 +0000

After watching the multiple special features in the box set The Godfather: Coppola Restoration, one might conclude it’s actually time for a cultural and historical revision: This is the Corleone family’s world. The rest of us better tread lightly. Actually, the point of the half-dozen or so features crammed onto a disc accompanying the beautifully restored The Godfather, The Godfather II and The Godfather III, is that The Godfather movies have penetrated popular culture in such a deep and meaningful way that they are second-nature to everything. David Chase, creator of and writer on The Sopranos, for example, describes in the featurette “Godfather World” that his hit HBO series was intended to be the story of the first generation of mobsters actually influenced by Francis Ford Coppola’s hit trilogy. Joe Mantegna calls the three films “the Italian Star Wars.” (Mantegna co-stars in The Godfather III.) Alec Baldwin says no matter what one is doing, one is compelled to stop and watch the films if they’re on television. Richard Belzer calls the films “a religion.”

Buy The Godfather - The Coppola Restoration Giftset (The Godfather / The Godfather Part II / The Godfather Part III) [Blu-ray]

The Great White Fleet

SicilyGuide — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 04:01:09 +0000

In the centenary year of the Messina and Reggio Calabria earthquake that wrought untold damage, the Columbus Citizens Foundation presents “The Great White Fleet,” an exhibition in Grand Central Terminal in New York City. The event documents the results of the disasters and the heroic efforts of Italians and American servicemen, working side by side, who came together in one of the greatest humanitarian efforts in European history.

Read more at the Columbus Citizens Foundation web site

Palermo is paying tribute to Pablo Picasso

SicilyGuide — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 04:01:04 +0000

Palermo is paying tribute to Pablo Picasso with an exhibition featuring a range of his work, including many private pieces rarely displayed. The Fantastic World of Picasso features 66 works, many of which sketches and drawings, which hint at the turbulent private life of the Spanish artist. A 1951 ink portrait shows Genevieve Laporte, a young journalist sent by Le Monde to interview the artist. The pair embarked on a love affair even though Picasso, 50 years her senior, had just had his second child with long-term lover Francoise Gilot. An ink portrait from 1948 depicts Gilot herself, reportedly the only woman ever to leave Picasso, tired of his infidelities and abuse. Another woman Picasso painted repeatedly was Eugenia Errazuriz, an older society beauty whom the artist adored and who became his patron and close friend. In the Palermo exhibit, she is immortalized in a sketch of 1920, with the inscription ”at her feet”.

Museo Archeologico Regionale “Paolo Orsi”, Syracuse

SicilyGuide — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 04:01:26 +0000

The new museum was founded in 1967 and is hosted within a modern building, opened in 1988. It was named after the famous archeologist Paolo Orsi (1859-1935), who was head of the Antiquities Department of Sicily for more than 30 years. The museum is fundamental in the understanding of Sicily, from the prehistory of nearly all the main archaeological sites in Central and Eastern Sicily, to the end of the classical period.

Columbus Day Parade in New York City

SicilyGuide — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 04:01:54 +0000

A Sicilian cart on Fifth Avenue…

Celiac Restaurants in Sicily

SicilyGuide — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 04:01:46 +0000

I have a couple of friends and some relatives with celiac disease (intolerance to gluten, a protein found in pasta, bread, beer, etc…) and I am aware of how troublesome it can be traveling without worrying about food. The wait staff usually thinks of it as another allergy, so the problem of cross-contamination (gluten-free food touching gluten) is usually underestimated. Please, find a list of restaurants in Sicily (provided by the Associazione Italiana Celiachia) that cater also to celiac people. Enjoy!

Sicilian reds: not only nero d’Avola

SicilyGuide — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 04:01:52 +0000

After writing extensively about nero d’Avola, Laurie Daniel finds [...] the more unusual grapes to be much more intriguing. Unlike nero d’avola, which is grown in sites all over the island, these other natives have a more limited range.

Nerello mascalese and nerello cappuccio are the most important red varieties of the Etna appellation, on the slopes of Mount Etna. This is one of the few areas in Sicily that is too cool and wet for nero d’avola. The Benanti winery in the Etna area cultivates a number of 40-to 100- year-old nerello mascalese and nerello cappuccio vines. Among the wines produced from these old vineyards are the 2005 Benanti Rosso di Verzella ($18), an easy-to-drink wine with pretty wild strawberry flavors, notes of earth and tobacco and just enough structure to give it some heft, and the 2003 Benanti Rovittello ($35), with its ripe cherry and berry flavors and fine tannins. (The 2004 is the vintage that’s currently available.)

Using rock from Sicily’s Mount Etna scientists found that small-scale simulations of volcanic activity could be predicted

SicilyGuide — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 18:52:36 +0000

Mount Etna - Lava flow Copyrights EtnaSci

Scientists have recreated conditions found in an erupting volcano in the laboratory, offering a new way to understand and forecast future damaging eruptions.

Using rock from Sicily’s Mount Etna they found that small-scale simulations of volcanic activity could be scaled up and related to real events, with fractures of 50 mm (2 inches) in the lab corresponding to faults of about 200 meters in nature.

The Strait of Messina Bridge: a bridge to nowhere?

SicilyGuide — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 15:32:49 +0000

The Washington Post just published an interesting point of view on the Strait of Messina Bridge. At a time when the airline industry is crumbling in Italy, Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi is focusing on other means of connections. He wants to build a bridge - not that we haven’t heard that from politicians before. But while others eventually say, ‘thanks, but no thanks,’ Berlusconi smiles widely and says yes. He has given the go-ahead to start building the world’s longest suspension bridge. It will be a grandiose national project. It will also be to Italy what was snubbed in Alaska: a bridge to nowhere. This one will stretch more than two miles over the stormy Strait of Messina and link the toe of the boot-shaped Italian mainland to its closest island, Sicily. It will connect one poor region to an even poorer island. But is the project worthwhile?

505 World Championship at the Club Canottierri Roggero di Lauria in Palermo

SicilyGuide — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 04:01:27 +0000

One of the largest fleets of 505 sailing boats can be admired in Mondello, Palermo, Sicily for the 2008, 505 World Championships at the Club Canottieri Ruggero di Lauria.

A total of 124 boats represent 12 different countries, including 34 from Germany, the largest entry, 16 from the USA, 18 from Australia, 15 from the UK and four from Ireland.

In addition to the defending World Champions from Denmark, Jan Saugmann and Morten Ramsbeck, championship winners from five previous occasions will be taking part, along with many other champions.

The Europeans and Pre-Worlds championships already started on Monday October 6 and the World championship starts on Saturday October 11 and ends on October 16.

The Picciolo Golf Club in Sicily

SicilyGuide — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 04:01:58 +0000

Don Salvatore leant back in his chair with a sigh and spread his arms wide in a gesture that seemed to encompass the whole sweep of Sicilian history.

“There was a time,” he said, “when I was a young man, our estate produced only fine things: nuts, vines, olives, fruit of many kinds. But agriculture went through a period of difficulty, and we had to try something else.”

The something else Salvatore Leonardi and his family decided to try, in order to save their property from being broken up and built over, was golf. On a shoulder of Etna, near the lava-black town of Linguaglossa, they made the first proper course in Sicily, and named it after their estate, Il Picciolo (the Woodpecker).

Sicily’s real estate: still a very good deal

SicilyGuide — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 04:01:51 +0000

Times talks about the real estate market in Sicily. Sitting on the terrace of her newly acquired £5.2m palazzo, Olivia Roper-Caldbeck feels the intense heat of the Sicilian August sun. Her eyes shift lazily from the orange-red lava creeping down the side of Mount Etna, fresh from its latest eruption, towards the glittering blue-green sea below.

A favourite holiday spot of her youth, Sicily seemed the perfect place when Roper-Caldbeck, 33, and her husband, Marcus, 36, a hedge-fund manager, decided to buy a home away from home for their growing family. They are among an increasing number of Britons scouting for property on an island that until now has been better known for its mafia connections than as a spot for a holiday home.

Palermo beats Juventus in Turin

SicilyGuide — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 22:20:43 +0000

Fabrizio Miccoli and Levan Mchedlidze scored Sunday to give Palermo a 2-1 win over Juventus in Serie A.

Palermo’s victory, its first against Juventus in Turin in 47 years, gives the team 12 points, one less than league leaders Lazio, Udinese and Inter Milan.

Miccoli put Palermo ahead with his fifth goal of the year in the 24th minute and then exited the game five minutes later with an injury sustained on the play. Alessandro Del Piero pulled Juventus even in the 39th with a free kick from just outside the area that curved around the barrier.

Ancient Roman discovery near Punta Secca, a small town in Sicily

SicilyGuide — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 04:01:18 +0000

Lorraine Chan reports that UBC archaeologists have dug up a mystery worthy of Indiana Jones, one that includes a tomb, skeletons and burial rites with both Christian and pagan elements.

This summer, Prof. Roger Wilson led excavations at Kaukana, an ancient Roman village located near Punta Secca, a small town in the south-eastern province of Ragusa in Sicily.

Combing through the sand-buried site, the 15-member team made a series of startling discoveries. Central to the mystery was finding a tomb inside a room in a house dating from the sixth century AD.

Wilson explains that tombs during this period are normally found only in cemeteries outside the built-up area of a town, or around the apse of a church. And since the building was substantial with mortared walls and internal plaster, this would have been likely a tomb for the wealthy.

Fixed taxi rates from the airport to downtown Palermo

SicilyGuide — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 04:01:31 +0000

If you are traveling to Palermo these days, this is something you need to know. The city just introduced fixed taxi rates to travel from and to the airport Falcone-Borsellino. Palermo is diveded into three different zones and rates should go from a minimum of 35 Euros to a maximum of 45 Euros.

Zone 1 / 35 Euros
Viale Michelangelo, viale Lazio, via Generale Di Giorgio, piazza Don Bosco, via Imperatore Federico, via Martin Luther King, via Pietro Bonanno, via Cardinale Rampolla through Villa Igea.

Zone 2 / 40 Euros
Corso Calatafimi (from Rocca), piazza Indipendenza, corso Vittorio Emanuele fino al Foro Umberto I.

Zone 3 / 45 euro
Foro Umberto I through via Galletti.

More about the Falcone-Borsellino airport >>

Everybody talks about Nero d’Avola

SicilyGuide — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 04:01:24 +0000

Laurie Daniel about Nero d’AvolaAlthough two-thirds of Sicily’s vineyard acreage is devoted to white grapes, the red wines are getting most of the attention. And much of the interest in Sicilian reds is focused on nero d’avola.

Nero d’avola is the island’s most widely planted red grape, accounting for about 15 percent of the total acreage. You can find a little nero d’avola outside Sicily; I’ve even tasted one from Mendocino County. But Sicily is the place with which it’s most inextricably linked. Nero d’avola is a late-ripening grape that thrives in hot, dry climates, making it a near-perfect match for the almost desertlike conditions found in much of Sicily. The grape does well on most of the island, with the notable exception being the cooler, damper area around Mount Etna. It’s often bottled as a standalone variety, but it’s sometimes blended with cabernet sauvignon, merlot or syrah, a grape with which nero d’avola often is compared. It produces deep, dark, robust, sometimes spicy wines. Some versions can end up tasting a little overripe and baked, but the better bottles are bright and lively.

More at MercuryNews.com