La Festa di li Schietti in Terrasini, near Palermo

April 4, 2010
9:00 am	to	11:00 pm

A very popular celebration takes place in Terrasini (near Palermo) on Easter Day every year. It is called “La Festa di li Schietti” which means the celebration of the unmarried/singles. The main event of the “festa” is the tree-raising contest. The participants either single or married, must lift up an orange tree of more than 100 lbs. (about 50 Kg) and as tall as possible. It is not an easy task, in fact it takes strength and balance ability.

This tradition has very ancient origins, but  it has been celebrated only since 1966. The event actually starts the day before, with the cutting of the best orange tree in the area and its decorating with ribbons and little bell-like ornaments. The day goes on with a folklorist picnic to which everyone is welcomed with some real treats: grilled sardines, sausage, lamb, wine, music, dancing and much more.

On Easter morning the tree is taken around the town and young men raise it below their fiance’s balcony to give a demonstration of their strength. In the afternoon the contest takes place. The music band plays to encourage the participants to resist as long as possible. The person, either single or married, that keeps the tree up for the longest time, is the winner. The entertainment goes on until late at night with music concerts in the beautiful illuminated square of Terrasini and spectacular fireworks.

By Maria Lina Bommarito

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The Cous Cous Festival in San Vito Lo Capo (Annual Event)

September 21, 2010 5:00 pm

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September 26, 2010 5:00 pm

The ancient fishing village of San Vito Lo Capo, located between the Gulf of Castellammare and the city of Trapani on the northern coast of Sicily, hosts an annual Cous Cous Festival each September. The festival is going to take place from  September 21 through 26.

Dedicated to exploring the culinary and cultural aspects of the tasty Mediterranean dish, the festival celebrates the cultural legacy of the Arabic peoples who ruled Sicily for more than 150 years. Cous cous originally arrived in Sicily with the Arabs from Morocco and other areas of Northern Africa who landed on the island in 827. By 903 they ruled all of Sicily and would continue to do so until the Normans began their conquest of the island in 1060. Despite the change in rulers the cultural and culinary stamp of Arabic culture would remain.

Cous Cous

Cous Cous is a food from Morocco of Berber origin. It consists of spherical granules which are made by rolling and shaping moistened semolina wheat and then coating them with finely ground wheat flour. Traditional couscous requires considerable preparation time and is usually steamed (Wikipedia.org). Cous cous is a communal meal, that comes served from a large round platter. Another variety of cous cous, Israeli cous cous, or by its Arabic name, maftoul, is larger–almost pearl-size–nuttier-tasting than its familiar Moroccan counterpart.

The Festival

San Vito Lo Capo’s Cous Cous Festival’s principal event is a cous cous cook-off with the best cous cous Chefs from Israel, Morocco, Egypt, France, Algeria, Tunisia and Italy participating to determine who indeed is the cappo of cous cous (the best chef) in the Mediterranean.

The festival also includes four evenings of music, featuring free performances by Sicilian and African World Music artists Sudd MM-Anita Vitale, Roy Paci & Aretuska , Dam, Khaled, Agricantus, and Sasao Meravigliao in the Piazza Santuario in the heart of the ancient town.

Source: www.couscousfest.it

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Sicily gets serious about sustainable tourism

I attended the Transatlantic European Conference organized by the European Travel Commission a few days ago. One of the recurrent themes that most of the presenters talked about was responsible tourism. Now, I found out that Sicily is planning to launch a new web site about ecotourism: SiciliaNatura. It is only in Italian at the moment. However,  to put it as Justin Francis from ResponsibleTravel.com said during the conference: “never wait to launch to be perfect, you will never be perfect”. I would say that a little bit of perfection is always needed to be taken seriously, but this initiative sounds promising.

Sicily, which counts 4 natural parks, 6 marine and 76 natural reserves, has not positioned itself as a “green destination” yet. A study commissioned by SiciliaNatura shows that there is a real lack of coordination among the numerous sustainable businesses involved with the island’s ecotourism. SiciliaNatura and this web site aim to give potential visitors all the information they need to build and book their sustainable tourism itinerary. Hopefully, they will have the web site in other languages because the initiative sounds really remarkable. Stay tuned!

Easter in Sicily

March 29, 2010 5:00 pm

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April 4, 2010 10:00 pm

Sicily is the richest Italian region in terms of festival, events and folk customs connected to the Holy Week. Among the most evocative and renowned religious manifestations of devotion are the mysteries of Trapani. Many other can be found between the Madonie and Nebrodi mountains, Palermo and Ragusa, making Easter time one of the most characteristic
periods of the year.

Copyrights - DiCasaInSicilia

The union between sacred and secular is one of the most meaningful characteristics of Sicilian culture and Easter is undoubtedly one of the religious celebration that most accentuates this dualism. All over the island, in large towns and tiny villages alike, processions weave their way through narrow streets and squares: saints’ statues carried on the shoulders by those devoted become the main attraction, surrounded by lights, stalls with meat, fruit and sweets, in a mix of mysticism and religiosity. The Spanish and Jesuit inheritance of religious festivals has a long tradition in the ancestral pagan traditions that used to mark the arrival of the Spring, now incorporated into the religious festivities.

The mysteries in Trapani on Good Friday is undoubtedly one of the most ancient and evocative celebrations of the week preceding Easter. This feast, in which the townsmen carry statues through the streets, has Spanish origins and has been taking place for over 400 years. Each statue is made out of wood by the best Trapani’s artisans. One by one the statues represent the stations of the cross, and thousands of Sicilians line the streets awaiting the arrival of the Virgin Mary in search of her son. The mysteries tradition is not only celebrated in Trapani, but also in the close medieval village of Erice and in Marsala, where instead of the wooden statues there is a wonderful representation of the stations of the cross. These processions have kept intact the theatrical aspect of the performance as it was in Medieval time. There are many interesting events not to miss if you’re visiting Sicily during  Easter time and want to taste the atmosphere of age-old traditions.

For more information to visit Sicily during Easter or other times, please visit www.dicasainsicilia.com

DiCasaInSicilia is the perfect partner for those who want to experience an unforgettable holiday in Sicily, with a wide selection of charming accommodations in or in the direct vicinity of the old town centers where some of the most beautiful Holy Week processions of the island take place.

Maria Grammatico’s Pasticceria del Convento

It is not everyday that the Los Angeles Times dedicates so much space to Sicily. A few days ago, they featured an article about Western Sicily. Now they are writing about Maria Grammatico’s Pasticceria del Convento, one of the best Sicilian pastry shops.

Reporting from Erice, Italy — The glass case at Maria Grammatico’s Pasticceria del Convento in the hilltop town of Erice displays treasures worthy of a Swiss bank.

Cannoli, filled with fresh ricotta, is just the best known variety. When you make a closer study, you discover a world of confections as beautiful to look at as they are sweet to eat: green cassata cakes made of almond, sugar, vanilla, buttermilk curd and candied fruit; perfectly formed marzipan prickly pears and tomatoes; lemon-flavored cuscinetti (small fried pastries); buccellati (hard, baked cookies) twisted around fig, cinnamon and clove comfit; an almond and egg white confection known as sospiri (pastry made from sponge cake); and the endearing almond-citron baby lambs that arrive on Good Friday for Erice’s famous I Misteri celebration.

Source: Los Angeles Times

Pasticceria del Convento
By Maria Grammatico
Via Vittorio Emanuele, 14-
91016 Erice (TP) -
Phone/Fax: 0923/869390
Web site: www.mariagrammatico.it

Los Angeles Times features Western Sicily

A cracked concrete road spirals up to a lookout over Salemi in western Sicily, passing flimsy-looking apartment houses, weed-choked fields, rubble-strewn construction sites and a dilapidated villa with a sign that says it’s an insane asylum.

All along the way are views over the old hill town, with its echoing alleyways and stairs, ruined Baroque churches and roofless palazzos abandoned after the 1968 Belice Valley earthquake, a 6.0-magnitude shaker that killed 300 people and left 70,000 people homeless.

The historic center had been inhabited since Roman times, but the destruction was so massive that many people simply cut their losses and moved away, building an unlovely sprawl of new neighborhoods around the old town. Beyond are the sun-blasted fields and bare hills of western Sicily that bankrupted land owners, turned peasant farmers into slaves and inspired mass emigration.

It is a dolorous landscape, “never petty, never ordinary, never relaxed, as a country made for rational beings to live in should be,” Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa wrote in “The Leopard,” his classic 1958 novel about Sicily.

Standing here in the fall, I scanned the horizon for the fabled Doric temple at Segesta, Marsala’s windmills and the Aphrodite shrine at Erice.

But for the moment all the treasures that had brought me to this singular corner of Europe — across the narrow strait of Messina from mainland Italy and just 100 miles from the north coast of Africa — were concealed, like the images I sought in Hidden Pictures puzzles as a child.

To get here, I flew from Rome to Palermo’s Falcone-Borsellino International Airport, rented a car and headed along the island’s wild western coast, an Italian version of Baja outside the window. Near Trapani, I turned and drove about 30 miles east to Segesta and its Elymian temple, first and foremost among western Sicily’s treasures. It stands out from the highway, with no tourist squalor to distract from its solitary splendor.

But who were the Elymians? Everyone who visits Segesta must ask this question.

Greek sources and some archaeological evidence suggest they arrived on the west coast of Sicily from Asia Minor around 1300 BC, which tends to support legends identifying the first Elymians as the band of refugees from the Fall of Troy whose adventures were told in Virgil’s “Aeneid.” I believe the legend because the people who built the extraordinary temple at Segesta had to be heroes.

Source: Los Angeles Times

Picture of the day – Castellammare del Golfo

Castellammare del Golfo (Sicilian: Casteddammari) is a town and comune in the Trapani Province of Sicily. The name is roughly translated “Sea Fortress of the Gulf.” It is so named because of the medieval fortress in the harbor. The body of water it sits upon also takes its name from the fortress, Golfo di Castellammare.

In ancient times, Castellammare had been the harbor of Segesta, one of the main towns of the Elymian people.

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Shine Sicily, a tour operator company based in Barcelona

We like discovering new friends. SicilyGuide has helped us to go beyond geographical borders. One of our latest discoveries is Boris and his tour company based in Barcelona, Spain.

Boris, a Sicilian with a degree in marketing. Among other things Boris has worked in restaurants services, computer logistics and as a European coordinator for the department of Marketing Social for a local NGO. He started Trinakria Tours together with Marta in 2003. He has been living in Barcelona since the beginning of this project. He  reminds us of the strong bond between his mother land and Barcelona, where he has chosen to live. He dedicates all his time working full-time towards this sustainable tourism project transmitting his passion and cheerful attitude.

Keep up the good work, guys!

For more information about his tour company, please visit www.shinesicily.com

Verdura Golf & Spa Resort in Sicily reopening March 1, 2010 with a new Spring offer

The Rocco Forte Collection’s first ever golf and spa resort, Verdura in Sicily, will reopen its doors for its first full season on March 1, 2010.

The luxurious Olga Polizzi-designed resort, complete with a private coastline, three links style golf courses, a thalasso-therapy spa and four restaurants, is situated in a beautiful corner of South West Sicily, one hour’s drive from Palermo.

To celebrate the reopening of the resort, Verdura has launched a Spring promotion from March 1 to April 29 (excluding Easter) offering guests booking a stay on a bed and breakfast basis a complimentary upgrade to half-board, unlimited green fees and a complimentary 50—minute spa treatment for each three night stay.

Sir Rocco Forte, chairman and CEO of The Rocco Forte Collection, explains, “From the outset I wanted to create a truly luxurious resort which offered exceptional golf, spa and dining experiences amid panoramic views and spectacular design. With 1.8km of coastline and 230 hectares of land, Verdura offers an incredible feeling of space for those staying in the 203 rooms and suites of the hotel. My sister Olga Polizzi has worked very hard to create a look that is both luxurious and striking – our guests will know they are waking up in Sicily.”

Golfers will enjoy a first-rate experience with two 18 –hole championship golf courses as well as a 9-hole par-3 course, set into the Sicilian countryside designed by renowned golf architect Kyle Philips. The spectacular 4,000sq metre Verdura Spa is a tranquil retreat offering luxurious treatments using local olive oil and extracts from oranges and lemons. The spa also houses a lap pool, fitness center, hammam, beauty salon and open-air thalasso-therapy pools.

Families will be very well looked after with a Verdura’s Kids Club and Teenagers Club, many land and sea activities, including tennis, sailing, windsurfing and two tiered swimming pool.

Sir Rocco Forte continues, “Verdura brings together the talent and experience of some of the world’s best hotel, golf course and spa designers, who have used the vivid Sicilian setting as the inspiration for their work.”

Helen Forbes’ ten reasons for a tour by car or bike through Sicily in Spring

Helen Forbes a blogger at Essential Italy came up with ten smart reasons to travel by car or bike in Sicily. Guess what? Among them are little traffic and great food! I would add the beautiful archeological sites. I will come up with my reasons why you should travel to Sicily soon

Read more at http://essentialitaly.typepad.com

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