Sicily, Italy
- At October 08, 2023
- By Jessica
- In Travel
0
We have arrived in Italy! Arrivederci Halva, ciao Cannolis!
Sicily is the largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, famous for its wealth of
orange, lemon, and pistachio trees and, of course, olive groves .
To those White Lotus and/or Godfather fans the island is no stranger.
We docked in Messina on the Southern tip of the island. Messina is famous for the competition between allied generals during WWII to liberate Italy and, eventually, Europe. Patton won by a few hours. After 38 days of fighting the good guys were in.
In 1908 Messina was destroyed by an earthquake and tsunami. 90 percent of the buildings were destroyed and the disasters claimed 60,000 human victims.
The area is famous for its seismic activity. There are five active volcanos in the south of Italy, including Mt. Etna, Stromboli, and Vesuvius. The latter is the one that wiped out Pompei.
Taormina, about an hour from the coast, was named by Greece when they first colonized Italy in 734 BC. It was moved to its current location in 358 BC because Syracuse decided to conquer all the Ionian islands and destroyed the settlement on the sea.
Syracuse, in Sicily, was the birthplace of the great inventor and mathematician Archimedes. The "Archimedes Claw" lifted Roman ships right out of the sea as they attacked. Archimedes was killed by a Roman soldier. As he was dying he said, "don't disturb my circles."
The Taormina Greek theater was first built in the 3rd century BC. Because the theater was long abandoned, a family built a house next door during the 16th century and used the ruins as its garden.
Native people lived here who were conquered by the Greeks, the the Greeks by the Romans. In 550 AD, Sicily was conquered and ruled by the Byzantines.
In 827 AD, the Ottomans conquered Sicily. Then the Franks and a few more in between the Spanish.
From 1309-1713, the Spanish controlled Sicily. Does all this conquering sound familiar?
These conquering influences can be seen in the architecture in Taormina.
There are Arab domes and moorish details on many buildings. Lava stone in contrast with white is known as the Sicilian Baroque style. In Catania, there's a whole street paved in black and white stone called Sicilian Baroque Street.
Sicily has a dark history of organized crime. Every cloud had a silver lining, in this case a silver screen. Without the Mafia we wouldn't have The Godfather movies! Or The Sopranos!
In Sicily, there is definitely an Italian coffee culture. No cappuccino after noon. So at 11:45 am sharp we sat down for the best cannolis ever and cafe latte to wash it down.
We then took a long drive up to the top of 10,000 ft. high Mt. Etna for a late lunch and, you know, go with the flow.
May-August is swordfish season when the Mediterranean is peppered with Felucca boats and fishermen.
The wine is fabulous in Sicily. It turns out lava ash is great for growing wine grapes. Who knew?
On this day in 1874, Guglielmo Marconi, son of an aristocratic Italian father and an Irish mother, was born in Bologna, Italy. In 1901 he sent the first radio signals across the Atlantic, ushering in the era of wireless communication. It could be argued that without Marconi you would not be receiving this message.
Ok. Who doesn't love Italy? Right, no one. Well, maybe her.
Con amore!
