Villa Romana del Casale, Piazza Armerina (Enna) Reopens on March 19

On March 19,  the Villa Romana del Casale in Piazza Armerina (Enna) reopens to the public daily from 9AM to 4:30PM. It will be a partial reopening since restructuring works will keep going for a couple of weeks in April.

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.

Highlights: the frigidarium (the cold bath room); the Hall of the Female Gymnasts in Bikinis; corridor with hunting scenes; the Myth of Airon.

Address: Piazza Armerina (Enna)
Località Casale
Tel.: (0935) 568 00 36
Fax: (0935) 68 71 83
Web site: www.villaromanadelcasale.it

Ferro Hotel in Modica receives sustanaibility award

Ferro Hotel in Modica (Ragusa) received the prestigious  Premio turismo responsabile italiano a sustainability award at the WTE (World Turism Expo), the award focuses on the combination of tourism and culture.

The award was specifically given to the vacation package created by Luca Guerrieri, director of the hotel.

The luxury Ferro Hotel offers the kind of warm hospitality, inviting atmosphere and top-notch services sure to please business and leisure travelers alike. This 4 star Hotel is conveniently located in front of the Modica train station, and just a half-mile/700 meters from the main square of the town Piazza Matteotti.

Sicily is an offer you can’t refuse for the Sun

The baroque church of St Giuseppe is in the Piazza IX Aprile in the town of Taormina. It sits surrounded by red and white blossom overlooking the Ionian Sea. Its stone pink and cream walls make it look like a wedding cake. Appropriately, it turns out, because from the wooden door emerge a bride and groom, resplendent and happy as confetti falls around them.

From the other side of the square four identically clad young men; sharply cut black suits, black ties and shiny shoes, swagger abreast, the pretty church reflected in their Armani sunglasses. They are all sporting large bruises on their faces. Not part of the wedding, certainly not tourists, they look like extras from The Godfather movies.

This is Sicily after all. Birthplace and home of the Mafia. Scenes from the Don Corleone film were shot here almost forty years ago, in the small town of Savoca.

Here on the east coast of the island it is late afternoon and a soft breeze is coming off the sea, taking the edge off the late summer heat. I wander around the narrow, ancient alleys and streets taking in the iron railing balconies, with dangling bougainvillea and gargoyle-like carvings adorning the medieval stonework.

There’s plenty to see. Including the well maintained ancient open air Greek theater, naturally illuminated by the afternoon sun. It dominates the town’s skyline facing the ocean. Apparently Elton John had given a concert here a few days earlier. Funny he chose this ancient little town to give a performance. Perhaps someone made him an offer he couldn’t refuse.

Read more at www.thesun.co.uk

Suzanne Hancock and the fish market in Catania from the Globe and Mail

In the last few days we have spotted some very good articles about Sicily. After talking about the Vucciria market, SicilyGuide mentions an article by Suzanne Hancock who cannot resist writing about the fish market (Pescheria in Italian below) in Catania.

It’s too early on a Sunday morning and I’m wandering Catania’s Baroque streets looking for the fish market. I finally admit I’m lost and stop a woman – one of only a dozen or so people I’ve seen – but my ineffective hand gestures and laughable fish imitation lead her to think I’m looking for the beach rather than the market. I had read that the market was “open every day,” but when she finally understands what I want she turns an air key in an air lock and says, “Chiuso.” Closed.

My morning in Catania hasn’t gone as planned, and I leave for a 17th-century castle 40 kilometers up the coast near Calatabiano for the wedding of a friend. But I can’t resist returning to Catania on a day when the fish market is open, partly because of the incredible seafood dishes I’ve enjoyed at a beachside trattoria and partly because I had learned that the Pescheria is as old as the city itself, and therefore one of the oldest markets still in operation in Europe. Catania was founded as a Greek colony in about 700 BC, so the Pescheria is considerably older than Omega-3 research, debates about mercury contamination and fears of collapsing fish stocks.

I can’t see Mount Etna’s 3,300-meter bulk from where I stand, but I know it’s just over there, northwest of this seaside city, churning and sputtering. Etna has been both a destructive and nurturing feature in Catania’s history – the city has been destroyed by lava and rebuilt seven different times. Many of the buildings surrounding the Pescheria are made from volcanic stone and their soot-covered facades reveal one obvious consequence of living in the shadow of an active volcano. It’s a city clearly defined by its location; a city of grit and grandeur that relies heavily on the volcano and the ocean for its identity.

This area of Sicily has long done its best with whatever nature has thrown at it – lava, Greeks, Romans, drought or earthquakes. And the volcano. It’s a place where people make the most of what is available and take their luck where they find it. The Pescheria is at the center of this self-sufficiency.

Read more at www.theglobeandmail.com

Agrigento: video of the province

Agrigento is one of the Sicilian nine provinces, a major tourist center thanks to its extraordinarily rich archaeological legacy. It also serves as an agricultural center for the surrounding region. Sulfur and potash have been mined locally since Roman times and are exported from the nearby harbor of Porto Empedocle (named after the philosopher Empedocles who lived in ancient Akragas).

Here is a promotional video of the province of Agrigento (4:40) with beautiful music by Sicilian composer Graziano Mossuto.

A view of Erice

Atop a mountain in a tiny walled town in Sicily, you can see the whole of Trapani, wonderful blue sea and a perfect landscape. It’s my favorite view in all of Europe, so a visit to Erice, a stunning and secluded medieval town, is one of my top Europe travel tips.

This hidden gem of Sicily is located at the top of Mount Erice, 750m above sea level. There are a couple of ways to get there from Trapani (flights from the UK run daily). Obviously, you can get a bus from the city, but the most exciting way is easily by cable car.

Follow buses to the East of Trapani, and you’ll find on that takes you in the general direction. The cable car is only a thirty minute walk from Trapani center (although not in the nicest area of the city so I wouldn’t suggest walking it alone in the evening). The cable car runs until 8pm every evening and it’s not only the quickest way to get to Erice, it’s also the most exciting. It’s about €8 for the trip, just make sure you don’t lose your ticket!

By Karen Bryan

More: TravelInsights10o

Map

Palermo Privata

It sits on the north shore of Sicily on a fan-shaped stretch of land between two towering stone promontories, and it’s been there, in one form or another, for almost 3,000 years. Empire after empire has trodden upon the place: Greeks, Phoenicians, Carthaginians, Romans; then Vandals, Normans, Moors, Spaniards; then Italians, the United States Army; and since the end of World War II, Cosa Nostra, whose influence over the place is only recently waning. For millennia it’s been built up and knocked down, robbed and bombed, patched up and left to fend for itself. So it is a spectral city, a city of ghosts and ruins, amid which the living citizens slip quietly and for the most part without expression; an inward city, not unkind but very private — Italia insulare, as they call it. Palermo can be very beautiful, in a decaying, Hubert Robert way; on sunny days the sky overhead is Mediterranean enamel blue; the food is wondrous. But above all, Palermo is full of secrets and very strange.

Even notional comparisons are hard to come by and incomplete. Like Naples, Palermo is famous for its depredations, its crime and its unemployment; but Naples is far busier and more worldly. Like Havana, Palermo has the faint, heady air of isolation and rotting elegance. But Havana is wide open, a city seemingly without interiors, whereas Palermo is nothing but: for all its markets and sidewalk restaurants, it feels as if most of life takes place indoors, behind curtains.

Read more at NYTimes.com

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.

Almond Blossom Festival in Agrigento, Sicily

February 14, 2010 9:00 am

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February 21, 2010 10:00 pm

Agrigento will host the 65th edition of its Almond Blossom Festival this coming February 14-21, 2010. The event showcases folklorist groups and musical bands from diverse parts of the world: Armenia, Bosnia, Bulgaria, Cipro, Georgia, Guatemala, Malaysia, Mexico, Peru, Portugal, Romania, Senegal, Serbia, Spain, Turkey and Ukraine (see last year video of a Korean group below). Tourists can admire the almond blossoms in the beautiful setting of the Valley of the Temples.

The Almond Blossom Festival originated from an idea of Count Alfonso Gaetani in 1934. The purpose was to celebrate the mild climate in Agrigento and promote typical Sicilian products.

Video of Agrigento

Enjoy this video of Agrigento in Sicily!

Agrigento – Sicily from Web TV Italy on Vimeo.

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