Sicily Guide

Sicilian minor islands are mentioned every day lately. The Sunday Times is talking about Pantelleria and its regenerating power thanks to a new cream by Giorgio Armani.  As you fly into Pantelleria at the height of summer, what hits you first is the temperature: at 40C, it is the sort of shimmering, dry, dense heat that creates visual distortions on the horizon, without the dusty bluster of a sirocco to relieve it. Then you see scrub, yellowing grass, relative flatness and, last, outcrops of black, black rock.

Pantelleria is the strange, silent, volcanic island, midway between Sicily and Africa, to which Giorgio Armani repairs every August. “It is the only place where I truly feel I can turn off from the stress of working life,” says the designer, who first visited the island 35 years ago. “My sister says my face changes here. I turn off the spotlight, and my eyes are always focused on the clear sky.”

Read more at the TimesOnline

[techtagas: pantelleria, sicilian minor islands, giorgio armani, sicily]

Technorati Tags [ agrigento video | agrigento | sicily | sicily travel | valle dei templi ]

Technorati Tags [ aeolian islands video | lipari video | stromboli video | vulcano video | salina video | panarea video | alicudi video | filicudi video ]

Technorati Tags [ catania video | catania | sicily | sicily travel ]

45 second video of Noto and its cathedral

Technorati Tags [ noto video | noto cathedral | noto baroque | sicily | travel to sicily ]

 44 second video of the saltworks in Trapani

Technorati Tags [ trapani video | the saltworks in trapani | sicily | sicily travel ]

Siracusa, in the Southern tip of Sicily, is a city of magnificent archeological past. It has gone through ups and downs through the centuries, but its quarter of Ortigya is thriving in popularity these days. Watch this 45 second clip to see how the city is changing!

Read more about Siracusa 
Travel itineraries

Technorati Tags [ siracusa video | siracuse | sicily | sicily travel ]

My family has always been extremely devoted to the Patron Saint of Pace del Mela (Me): Maria SS. della Visitazione. My grandfather was the treasurer of the brotherhood named after the Madonna. July the 2nd is the day Pace del Mela, my hometown, celebrates its patron saint. It is one of the town’s main celebrations of the summer.

As a child I was awaiting for this feast so badly! I am called after the Madonna and remember feeling like everybody was celebrating me. There is a week-long events preceding the big procession on July the 2nd. The procession starts from the Parish Church in Pace Alta after the mass celebrated at 6PM. We used to have a big meal at my grandparents’ after the procession and then back to Pace Alta to celebrate with the music played by the municipal band and to wait for the fireworks late at night.

I am not particularly religious and I think that just a few are left who truly are, even in my hometown. Religion is lived as a tribal thing in Italy and even more so in Sicily. However, I miss the atmosphere around the event and the trepidation that my grandparents had in getting ready for July the 2nd. I will celebrate the 4th of July here in the USA for the seventh consecutive year now. Still a big celebration with fireworks…

Technorati Tags [ pace del mela | sicily | maria ss. visitazione ]

I do not recall ever seeing it while living in Sicily, but manna is not falling from the sky. According to an article of ABC News online, manna can be found in a remote corner of Sicily and actually drips from the ash tree. When exposed to the hot summer sun of Sicily, this Italian variety of maple syrup solidifies into white stalactites of spongy sugar.

Manna, to most people — if they have heard of it at all — means a windfall, an unexpected gift from heaven. Others recognize it from the Bible as the food sent by God to feed the Hebrews during their 40 years in the desert, a sort of hoarfrost that fell on the land at night and was collected, milled and baked into small loaves of the bread.

Mario Cicero, the mayor of Castelbuono, was listing the cultural and historical attractions of his small town near Palermo, when he told ABC News, “And then, of course, we have manna!”

Of course.

When queried further he pointed down the road to a small shop that sells herbs and local produce on the main street of Castelbuono. It’s run by Giulio Gelardi, the local manna expert and president of the manna presidium of Italy’s Slow Food Movement, which supports the country’s local food heritage.

Read more

Technorati Tags [ manna | sicily | giulio gelardi | castelbuono | slow food | palermo | mario cicero ]

One of Sicily’s most treasured Baroque cathedrals reopened Monday, more than 11 years after a large part of the church collapsed.

In a €40 million (US$53 million) restoration that began in 1999, experts used surviving parts of the historic church to rebuild and strengthen the St. Nicholas Cathedral in the southeastern city of Noto. Weakened by an earthquake and a heavy rainfall, the frescoed dome and right section of the 18th-century cathedral collapsed in 1996.

Noto’s cathedral “is reborn,” Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re said at a ceremony marking the church’s reopening. “It was rebuilt exactly as it was before, using the same hand cut stone and a large part of the original material.”

Some 83,000 workers pieced together the cathedral using traditional building techniques and stone taken from nearby quarries, while also strengthening the structure with carbon fibers to protect it from tremors in the quake-prone area, said officials in charge of the project.

In a message to the bishop of Noto, Pope Benedict XVI expressed his gratitude to all those who had worked on the “imposing and delicate” restoration, helping the cathedral “shine anew as a recognized jewel of historical value and of Baroque beauty typical of southeastern Sicily.”

The cathedral is considered a gem of late Baroque architecture in Sicily, a style common to that corner of the island since much of the region had to be rebuilt after a devastating quake in 1693. Noto and other nearby towns rich in Baroque architecture are listed on UNESCO’s World Heritage List.

Source: International Herald Tribune

Technorati Tags [ baroque cathedral | noto cathedral | sicily | Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re ]

Pace del Mela is a small village of about 6,000 inhabitants in the Messina province, East of Sicily. Founded in 1388 by the Benedictine monks, it boasts great cultural heritage and a beautiful view of Cape Milazzo. On clear days, you can see the Aeolian Islands from this hilly town. Its highest point is Mount Serro.

The town is divided in two parts: Pace Alta and Pace Bassa (the Upper and the Lower Side). Giammoro is its biggest fraction located in the Northern side by the Tyrrhenian Sea. Here are located most of the factories that ruined the entire area.

It is said that Garibaldi stopped in Pace del Mela: the statue of the Sea Horse by Giovan Battista Vaccarini was raised in his honor. It is located in the main square of Pace Alta around the Parish “Maria SS. Della Visitazione” (1763), patron saint of the town. The big feast of “Madonna delle Grazie” starts and ends in this church every year on July 2.

Other monuments to mention are: the baronial palace of Gordone, the church of the “Madonna dell’Abbondanza” (1720), the Pugliatti Palace, and the Carpi Palace (nowadays public library).

Pace del Mela has only a two-star hotel with a few rooms (rates are below 100 Euros): Hotel La Panoramica by don Vittorio. Owner Vittorio Esposito arrived in Pace del Mela from Naples long time ago and opened the first pizzeria/restaurant of Pace del Mela. You can still eat one of the best pizzas of the Messina province there. Only a few years ago, don Vittorio also opened a hotel attached to it.

Hotel Royal is another hotel the nearby village of Cattafi, only two miles away from Pace del Mela.

Unfortunately, both hotels do not have a web site and do not accept reservations online. You have to call them directly to book your stay. These places are clean and have all the basic things you would expect from a two-star hotel. If you are looking for something else, I would suggest staying in Milazzo, a bigger town about 5 miles West with much more choice. I am sure you can find accommodation in Milazzo on every major online travel agency.

HOTELS

Hotel La Panoramica
Via Camastra’ - Pace del Mela
Tel.: (+39) 090-9346004

Hotel Royal
Via Pizzo Croce, 38 - Cattafi, San Filippo del Mela
Tel.: (+39) 090 931366
Fax: (+39) 090 932907

In spite the fact Pace del Mela is such a small village, you can eat excellent local food at its small eateries or pizzerias/restaurants. Here is a list:

BAKERIES & BARS

Panificio Calderone
Via Roma 3, Pace del Mela
Tel.: (+39) 090 933062
A small bakery close to city hall. They are family friends. Conchita has brought back to life some traditional Sicilian cookie recipes and also try her focaccia baked in the evening (very similar for the crust to what you call Sicilian pizza in the US). Focaccia comes in very different specialties with anchovies, potatoes, tuma cheese, etc.

Bar Diana
Piazza Nicolo’ Pandolfo
98042 Pace del Mela
Tel.: (+39) 090933174

Irish Coffee
Piazza Municipio, 55
98042 Pace Del Mela
Tel.: (+39) 0909339048
Nothing Irish – I assure you. They have the best lemon and “caffe’ con panna” granitas of the surroundings. The caffe’ con panna granita served with a brioche used to be my summer breakfast.

Milli Bar Di Motta Antonino
Via Regina Margherita,18
98042 Pace del Mela

RESTAURANTS/PIZZERIAS

Gallo Natale Pizzeria Focacceria
Via Roma 141, Pace del Mela
tel.: (+39) 090 933579

La Meridiana
Via Nazionale 327, Pace del Mela
Tel.: (+39) 090 9384652

Hotel La Panoramica
Via Camastra’ - Pace del Mela
Tel.: (+39) 090-9346004

Il Ritrovo dei Conti
Piazza Maria SS della Visitazione, Pace del Mela
Tel.: (+39) 090 933708

View map of Pace del Mela

Pace del Mela Official Site (Italian only)

More information about Pace del Mela (ME)

Technorati Tags [ pace del mela | messina province | sicily | pace alta | pace bassa | giammoro | maria della visitazione | giovan battista vaccarini | hotel la panoramica | hotel royal | panificio calderone | gallo pizzeria | ritrovo dei conti ]