Ciao! This week’s virtual vacation takes us to La Isola del Sole – the sunny Mediterranean island of Sicily – home of one of the world’s most active volcanoes, makers of Marsala wine and birthplace of that mathematician who did his best thinking in the bath – Archimedes. Eureka!
Let’s start by getting into a chilled out holiday mood with this relaxing Sicilian music, then awaken your taste buds with some of these authentic Sicilian recipes and just sit back and enjoy the fruits of your culinary labours. On this virtual trip, we’ll experience a train ride onto a ferry, discover Sicily’s colourful past from occupation to corruption, see the artistic grandeur of its churches in Palermo, watch an historic battle enacted by traditional Sicilian puppets in Syracuse, walk through the Valley of the Temples in Agrigento, go on a kite-surfing tour, meander through the beautiful historic town of Taormina and explore the otherworldly terrain of Mount Etna…
Something you can see everywhere in Sicily is its distinctive flag, bearing the region’s symbol – the Trinacria – a slightly bizarre image of a head with three bent running legs. The legs, apparently, represent the three points of the triangular shape of the island and the head is of the gorgon Medusa, a representative of Sicily’s patron goddess, Athena, while the intricately knotted wheat hairdo she’s sporting (a departure from the snaky headgear she’s usually associated with) symbolises the island’s fertility. The flag is split into two colours, yellow for the city of Corleone, and red for the capital, Palermo, where we’ll be heading to first on our trip. But first we have to get there…
A Train that goes on a Ferry?
We’re joining funny fellow traveller, Josh Cahill, on the sleeper train from Milan’s Central Station to cross the Messina Strait, which separates Sicily from mainland Italy. The train actually goes onto the ferry! How cool is that! The only other place where you can travel track to ship like this is from Sweden to Germany. Once on the island, we’ll stay on the train all the way to Palermo.
The Mafia in Palermo
For me, when I hear of Palermo I immediately think of Sicily’s mafia, or cosa nostra as it’s otherwise known. They originally started up in the 19th century but to find out what Sicily was like under their control, we’re travelling back to a time when they were at the peak of their diabolical power. The sweetly dark and satirical TV drama ‘La mafia uccide solo d’estate‘ (‘Mafia Kills Only in Summer’) follows the story of the young Arturo Giammarresi and his dysfunctional family’s unavoidable entanglements with the organization that everyone tries hard to pretend doesn’t exist.
Next, we come back to present-day Palermo to visit Il Duomo di Monreale. This impressive cathedral is where many of the mafia’s victims and anti-mafia fighters are remembered and honoured such as Giuseppe Puglisi, the Roman Catholic priest who openly opposed the mafia and was killed in 1993. Puglisi was the first anti-mafia priest to be acknowledged as a martyr and a part of this Cathedral is dedicated to his memory. There is also a memorial for all the mafia victims including the judges Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino. Let’s take a look inside.
Next, on our Palermo tour, we take a look inside Il Teatro Massimo. The biggest theatre of its kind in Italy and the third largest in Europe, it was built about 120 years ago but remained closed for 23 years from 1974 to 1997 largely because of mafia corruption. The final scene of Godfather III was played out on the theatre steps but you can read here how it became an important anti-mafia symbol.
Let’s take a tour then find our seats and settle in for a performance of Cavalleria Rusticana, (Rustic Chivalry) the fiery one-act opera by Pietro Mascagni set in a Sicilian square on Easter morning.
So many of Palermo’s beautiful old villas were removed by the mafia to make way for ugly modern housing, in what some called the Sack of Palermo, but I’ve managed to find one palazzo that survived the city’s mass development schemes, so join me as I head to Bagheria to explore Villa Valguanera and perhaps even stay here overnight…
An Unexpected Treasure
Getting away from Palermo’s mafia connections altogether now, it’s time for an unexpected art treasure. Tucked away up an unprepossessing alleyway is this modest little chapel – Oratorio del Rosario in Santa Cita – which surprisingly hosts some of the most stunning Baroque sculpture I’ve seen. It was created by an impoverished local artistan, Giacomo Serpotta, whose father having gone to prison had left the family with nothing. It’s hard to believe but this was Serpotta’s first commission! Stand back and be amazed by the wall at the back of the chapel. You might be forgiven for thinking that the sculptures are made of marble but they’re actually stucco, the artist just added a hint of marble dust to the mix to make it appear that way. Notice the little boxes with scenes from the life of Christ. In one, you’ll find the nativity with the baby Jesus asleep in the manger and above the scene, you’ll see three putti (cherubs) one of whom is also sleeping while another, chubby finger in mouth peers down in puffed-cheeked concentration.
A treasure of a different kind is this traditional street market – prepare for a full assault on the senses with this real insight into rustic Sicilian food…(warning: contains some scenes that might be unsuitable for children and vegetarians)
Ride in a Carretto Siciliano
Pulled by a single mule or horse, these colourful hand-made wooden carts are a real beauty to behold, a veritable feast of art on two wheels and a uniquely Sicilian tradition! Just look at those impressive feathered plumes and painted harnesses. These elaborately decorated caretti, which depict scenes from Sicily’s equally colourful past, are really like nothing else I’ve seen! Carretti made in Palermo have mainly yellow backgrounds, geometric decorations and two-dimensional paintings with chivalrous or religious themes but each province has its own distinct style.
The Stunning Palatine Chapel
We end our trip to Palermo with a real highlight – a visit to the Palatine Chapel. With its stunning Byzantine mosaics and unusual cedar-wood Arabic ceiling decorations, it’s confusing to think that the last stop on our itinerary was actually commissioned by a Norman. Originally, the personal place of worship for King Roger II, it has been in use as a chapel continuously since the 12th century. It’s also one of the finest surviving examples of medieval art and architecture anywhere in the world…
Well, that’s all we have time for in this first part of our trip. Hope you enjoyed it. Join me again for more virtual adventures, as we go beyond Palermo to discover the rest of this island’s delights. Still to come – uncover more of Sicily’s rich and colourful past from prehistoric cave paintings to Greek temples and a lavish Roman villa, experience the exhilarating sport of kitesurfing, visit a bizarre kingdom of stone heads and get up close and personal with Europe’s tallest active volcano…
