Planning Your Holidays in Sicily

evelyn

Italy

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If you are thinking to spend your holidays in Italy, Sicily is of course one of the regions you have to consider to visit.

Sicily (In Italian Sicilia) is the largest island of the Mediterranean Sea and it has a triangle shape, which gives it the name of Trinacria (“star with three points”): in the ancient times, Greeks circumnavigated the island and saw that it has three capes, which are Peloro, Passero and Lilibeo, forming the three points of the triangle in the northeast, the southeast, and the west. The main island is surrounded by minor islands such as Aeolian Islands, Lampedusa, Aegadian Islands, and Pantelleria.

The Strait of Messina divides Sicily from the region of Calabria, in the mainland; the distance between them is about three kilometers wide in the north and about sixteen kilometers in the south of the Strait.

The landscape of the island is densely mountainous: in the north, there are Madonie and Nebrodi mountains; in the northeast Peloritani mountains; and in the southeast Hyblaean, which are considered as geologically continuation of Apennines. The mountains are rich of forests with a wide range of birds’ species; the largest forest is called Caronia in the Nebrodi mountains.

But Sicily and its minor islands have also extremely actives volcanoes: first of all, Mount Etna, located in the east; it is most active volcano in Europe and one of the most alive in the world. Stromboli is a volcanic complex situated in the Aeolian Islands, northeast of the main island. Some others volcanoes are dormant such as Vulcano, Vulcanello and Lipari. The island of Pantelleria is itself a dormant volcano. Between this island and the coast of Agrigento, there is the underwater volcano of Ferdinandea, which is a part of the larger volcano Empedocles.

Several tourists from mainland Italy and abroad choose Sicily for their holiday mainly in the summer, although the island can be visited all the year around: with its sunny and dry climate, with its landscape, with its culture, cuisine and history Sicily is the perfect destination for your dream holiday in Italy.

Mount Etna, the two major cities of Catania and Palermo, the stunning beaches, and the interesting archeological sites are the favorite places for the tourists. Also the old town of Taormina and the seaside resort of Giardini Naxos call visitors from all over the world, as do Agrigento, Cefalu’, the Aeolian Islands, Syracuse and the volcanoes.

Sicily was part of the Magna Graecia in the ancient times and therefore it has several well preserved archeological spots to visit such as the Necropolis of Pantalica in Syracuse, the Valley of the Temples in Agrigento and the acropolis of Selinunte, with five temples, Megara and Heraclea Minoa. Due to its great history, excavations occur in Sicily continuously.

The history of Sicily is not linked only to the Greeks: many cultures settled, invaded and dominated the island, giving it an immense variety of archeological sites.

You can visit Sicans sites such as Segesta, Cava Ispica and Eryx; Phoenicians sites such as Marsala, Soluntum and Motya; you can find Romans sites in Taormina, Centuripe and Piazza Armerina; and Arabs sites in Palermo and Mazara del Vallo.

Noto, Caltagirone, Catania, Sclicli, Modica and specially Acireale are stunning examples of the Sicilian Baroque architecture, sculpted in the local red sandstone: initially, the Baroque style was used in Sicily for private residences of aristocracy and it was a mixture of styles seen by Sicilian visitors in Florence, Naples or Rome; but by the middle of the 18^th century, the Baroque architecture in Sicily took a special freedom of design with singular features and distinguished itself considerably from the mainland.

To visit at the best Sicily, you can rent a holiday home or villa where you and your family can spend a great time and go to discover all the beauties of this Italian Island.

Sicily has a rich agriculture and produces delicious products such as oranges, olives, pistachios and grapes (which is used to make for example the famous Marsala wine).

The freshness of the rural products of course contributes to the extraordinary taste of the local cuisine.

Whoever visits Sicily has to have a healthy appetite to enjoy the high quality and variety of the cuisine: every part of the Island has its speciality, like for example cassata in Palermo or granita in Catania.

Quite famous all around the world is the Sicilian pastry: Cannoli are made by a fried pastry dough, filled with ricotta cheese and candied fruits ; cassata is a round sponge cake moistened with juices or liqueur and filled with ricotta cheese and covered with a shell of marzipan; granite is a semi-frozen dessert prepared with sugar, ice and different flavors.

Sicilian cuisine is offering , besides seafood dishes, a lot of dishes made with pasta and rice: for example arancini di riso (fired rice balls coated with breadcrumbs, filled with tomato or meat sauce, mozzarella cheese and sometimes green peas); this is the favorite dish of Inspector Monalbano, the main character of Andrea Camilleri’s novels, in the Italian literature. Many kind of cheese are used in the Sicilian cuisine and some are produced locally such as pecorino and caciocavallo.

Beautiful landscapes, history, great food are of course features which make Sicily a worthy spot to pay a visit!