he authenticity of the places, the mild climate and the hospitality of its inhabitants have been immortalized by the lens of great directors who have chosen these untouched places to set famous sequences for their stars: the first one was Amedeo Nazzari in 1946, followed over the years by other celebrities of Italian cinema (Luca Zingaretti, Corrado Fortuna, Aldo Giovanni & Giacomo, and many others) but also by stars of Hollywood like Julia Roberts, George Clooney, Sylvester Stallone, Anthony Quinn, Brad Pitt and Catherine Zeta-Jones. All this has helped the Tuna Farms, the Faraglioni and the caves of Scopello and Castellammare to become over the years, the vivid postcards of the Mediterranean, well known and loved around the world.
For the famous poet, Sicily was the "key to everything": visiting it and living it meant to appease the intellectual and emotional anxiety that at the end of the eighteenth century pushed the spiritual leaders from Northern Europe to Italy.
Today Sicily is the most inscrutable enigma throughout the Mediterranean, an island that has always been easily swayed by many influences, still keeping an identity as protected as complex, offering an unparalleled experience to travelers.Sicily is still "Elsewhere", firmly placed in its reality, heedless of transitory fashions and trends. Who understands does not cease to reach it, see it, live it and select it as the place of the soul even before as a holiday destination.Its coastal areas, magical places most of the year (from the almond blossom of February to the warm sea baths in the month of November), have shaped a new consciousness in the traveler, whose sensitivity rediscovers the combination of sea, culture, history, folklore, gastronomy.
Sicily is the land of sweets, ice creams and granitas, so many delights that have been prepared for centuries in the same way. Cannolis are filled with fresh ricotta cheese, garnished with candied fruit and chocolate shavings. Also Cassata is a cake made with sweet ricotta cheese, sponge cake, marzipan and candied fruit enclosed in a richly decorated iced sugar.
The jasmine sorbet, typical of Trapani, invented by the Arabs who were the first ones to flavor snow from the "nivere" in the mountains, with this fragrant flower to make the delicious summer sorbet.
The 'Martorana fruit', which can be found mostly during Fall, takes its name from the Benedictine monastery of Palermo.The recipe, in time, has been handed down by the nuns to the best pastry chefs, who skillfully prepare it with almonds and sugar to create small sculptures for any occasion (fruit during Fall, Christ's nativity at Christmas, little lambs at Easter).
Walking through the historic markets or around small fishing villages you will be overwhelmed by a kaleidoscope of flavors, strong and determined as the character of Sicilian people. Among the stalls or small local flavor shops you will find genuine products, such as black and green olives, dried tomatoes, almonds and pistachios, capers, peppers, aubergines, vegetables and citrus fruits with a unique flavor offered by this island, seafood, freshly caught fish, shellfish and mussels of every kind which the Mediterranean gives as a gift to those who appreciate the delicate flavors of a cuisine that adds to these delicious first fruits, meat, poultry and cheese of a long and wise tradition.
The eyes of a Sicilian are the thousand faces of many dominations, enclosed in a single glance, that every kind of people have been able to take what was most beautiful, always remembering their own tradition, preserved in the intensity of the expressions, in the ritual gestures, in the popular philosophy, and in the proud behavior that distinguishes every inhabitant of this great island.
Faces that range from patience and hope, between a difficult past and a different tomorrow, between aristocracy and poverty. Faces of young people with the desire for revenge, faces of men dressed in their Sunday best, elderly peasants burned by the blazing sun, feminine women with austere manners, now sweet and now severe. Many facets of beauty and charm.
A Masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity ' was the definition given by UNESCO to the "Opera dei Pupi", the Sicilian puppet theater, guardian of secular art and popular tradition, recalling the exploits of the paladins of France. A show within the show, where the puppets in shining chiseled armors and elegant drapery, are precisely manipulated by puppeteers on colored backdrops, making revive the warm audience, the chivalric deeds of the most famous poems of this genre.
Those imposing columns which survived wars and the passage of time are considered as a miracle of ancient gods. It is the temple of Segesta, monument dated around 430 BC, which appears in its majestic solitude nestled on the green hills. In front of it, on the hill opposite the precious archaeological site, there are the ruins of an ancient Greek theater, where, then as now, people gather to get excited and applaud the performances of modern and avant-garde classical plays and to the breathtaking view that it offers.
