Welcome to the last leg of our Sicily trip!
So far, we’ve enjoyed the vibrant colours of Palermo, from heavenly cathedral interiors to earthy street markets and from rustic carretti siciliani to lavish palazzos. We’ve soaked up Sicily’s equally colourful past going all the way back to the first human settlers, been enchanted by the magic of Sicily’s traditional puppets at Siracuse and perplexed by the kingdom of stone heads at Sciacca.
This time, we’ll get to experience the beauty and otherworldliness of some of Sicily’s unique natural landscape from the home of a Cyclops to the gorgeous Alcantara gorges and finally come face to face with that unpredictable mistress herself – ‘Mama Etna’…
Visit a Swabian Castle
First of all, we head to Catania, where we take a tour of Ursino Castle, built as a fortress by the great emperor, Frederick II of Swabia, around 800 years ago, between 1239 and 1250. The castle moved in the 17th century when the lava flow from a major volcanic eruption separated it from the sea and in losing its key position it also lost its military function. The devastation wrought by Etna at that time is memorialised in a fresco by Giacinto Platania, which can still be seen in the castle today. You can also see some of the art treasures of the castle in the Civic Museum of Ursino Castle [click here for 3D representations of the treasures and the inner courtyard].
Delve Into Gammazita’s Well
A stone’s throw from the castle is Il Pozzo di Gammazita (Gammazita’s Well). According to local legend, at the time of the French occupation, a Catanian girl called Gammazita, who was virtuous, fair and engaged to be married, rebuffed the advances of an amourous, French soldier called Droetto. Scorned and frustrated, Droetto sought vengeance and so on the day of her wedding, while she was going as usual to fetch water from the well, he tried a more forceful approach. Rather than submit, however, Gammazita, seeing no other way out, threw herself into the well. The legend does seem to provide one explanation for the reddish stains that appeared when the well dried up. Another is that they were actually caused by rust deposits left by a mineral spring, which flowed plentifully before the well went dry but that’s far less romantic!
Explore the Cyclops Isles
Not far from Gammazita’s well, we find the protected area of the Cyclops Islands, where we can immerse ourselves in the beautiful nature reserve with this tour [or see them in real time with this webcam]. This is where, according to legend, the wily Odysseus encountered Polyphemus, the one-eyed giant (or Cyclops). After being blinded with a sharpened stake, the understandably narked giant pleaded with Poseidon to curse Odysseus and threw boulders into the sea after him and his men, thus creating the Cyclops Isles, which do look like boulders stacked one on top of another but are actually layers of basalt.
Stay in Beautiful Taormina
Fancy a lie down after all that? It’s time to book into our hotel – a real Sicilian villa in the district of Taormina called Hotel Villa Sonia not far from the sleepy, medieval village of Castelmota. Have a look around and get settled in and I’ll meet you in the bar for a quick drink before the next leg of our trip. From Castelmota we can take the bus to Taormina town.
When we arrive, we just have to listen to this merry folk band for a moment. I promise you will find yourself smiling at their entertaining variations on the popular Sicilian folksong – ‘Ciuri Ciuri’! Wonderful!
Now, it’s time to take a gentle, relaxing walking tour, through the quaint historic town, nestled on a hilltop not far from Mount Etna itself. While we’re here we can also have a look around Taormina’s Greek theatre, which is second only to the theatre in Syracuse and still hosts international events today. It was built around the 3rd century BC and involved excavating over 100,000 cubic metres of rock from the mountain by hand. You should be able to spot the volcano from here.
Discover the unique landscape
Not far from Taormina, we head next to a unique feature in the Italian and European natural landscape, the Alcantara Gorges, which are a popular attraction in Sicily. These gorges are the result of Etna’s lava flows and are real canyons consisting of black lava walls up to 50 meters high. During the long cooling process, the lava cooled to form prism-shaped rocks. Enjoy the sunshine as you explore this gorge-ous place with this beautiful and relaxing tour and hear the soothing sounds of water and birds.
Experience one of the World’s Most Active Volcanoes
Of course, no trip to Sicily would be complete without a visit to Mount Etna, itself, so finally it’s the moment you’ve been waiting for – the last excursion on this Sicilian vacation. It’s been many years since I last visited Etna on a day trip. Europe’s tallest active volcano, it presides over the locals like some kind of giant mother figure, providing rich fertile lands for food but also potentially volatile and brooding, so let’s take a quick walking tour before she blows her top again! I’d forgotten how black and desolate it looks up here like some weird, otherworldly landscape but don’t be fooled into thinking she’s lying dormant. Her last major eruption, which threatened the small town of Linguaglossa, was back in 2002 but this footage was taken as recently as February 3rd (just a few days ago at the time of writing) with sprays of red-hot lava shooting into the sky at around 9 p.m.
With that in mind, it’s hard to believe that about 25% of Sicily’s population still inhabit her slopes and I’m really keen to know what’s it like to actually live in the shadow of ‘Mama Etna’ or even why you would consider it, when it seems so dangerous, so we’re going next to join Simon Platt in chatting to some of the local folk and hopefully finding out the answers…
[Far safer than the real thing, you can experience a volcanic eruption at home by making your very own version of Mount Etna with instructions from the Natural History Museum or see the volcano smoking in real time and hear it rumble and roar with this live webcam. If you still want more, you can also take this extended 360° walking tour. Don’t forget to move the mouse around to get a full view of the terrain.]
Recap and Unwind
So, if you’re not all walked out after that, how about a recap with a glass of Madeira wine as we take in the sights of the whole island with this final fantastic and comprehensive tour. [Start by clicking on tour map at the top on the left-hand-side of the screen and pick out the places you most want to see. Don’t miss ‘A Day in the Life’ to see a traditional way of kneading dough and the cutest little goat.]
As our trip to Sicily draws to a close, there’s just enough time to go shopping and, hopefully, to find that perfect souvenir. You can find all things Sicilian from traditional coppola hats to ceramic art here at Just Sicilia. Personally, though, I have my eye on those pistachio biscuits!
Well, sadly, that’s it for our visit to the island of the sun. Thanks for coming along. Join me again soon for more virtual adventures when we’ll be heading off to Slovenia in search of dragons. Ciao for now!
