Sicily
INTRODUCTION:
This guide devoted to Sicily aims at
facilitating the organization of travellers’ itineraries around the
region and letting them know the spots that should not be missed when
travelling around the island, and providing as many details about this
interesting destination as possible.
Sicily is the biggest island in the
Mediterranean Sea and boasts whatever you may need to embrace the same
trip history, culture, art and a spectacular sea, which is hard to find
anywhere else but Sicily, a land that stuns its visitors with every
step they take.
Besides, the main island of Sicily
there are also many other islands which are much smaller: the fabulous
Aeolian Islands, the Aegadian islands, Pelagie, Pantelleria and Ustica.
Sicily is closer and closer as an international
tourist destination thanks to the fact that more and more airlines fly
to the airports of the island. If some time ago organizing a trip to
the island was not an easy task because of the limited number of flights,
nowadays, fortunately, there are many and varied options to arrive in
Sicily and enjoy all that this special land, which is full of surprises,
has to offer the travellers.
The increasing number of options to
get to the island together with the investment stimulated to improve
and increase accommodation in the region for the last few year has led
to a gradual growth of tourism industry.
It was easy to foretell that
as the wonders this island treasures were discovered, more and more
travellers would be interested in viewing “in situ” the most spectacular
places of Sicily.
HISTORY:
The origin of the name of the island
derives form the first peoples that inhabited the region: the “siculos”
and “sicanos”. In fact some historical characters of the
island are called Siculos or Sicilian to refer to them.
Because
of its strategic central position in the Mediterranean Sea, Sicily experienced
directly some of the most important events in history and the many invasions
it underwent left an important historical and cultural heritage that
has made this land a unique setting to travel in time along the traces
that each people left on the island.
Sicily is the combination of the many
civilizations that peopled and dominated it: it is the history of the
Phoenicians, the Greeks, the Muslims, the Romans, the Byzantines, the
Spanish... and today Sicily reflects the multiculturalism that has composed
the singular personality of the Sicilian people.
The historical symbol that best represents
the island is no doubt the Valle dei Tempi , spectacular archaeological
buildings situated in the province of Agrigento, to the south of the
island, whose construction started about 580 BC. This area, of undeniable
historical interest, includes an archaeological park as well as more
vestiges located in the acropolis and other places scattered in the
city. The image of the acropolis of the Valley of the Temples is one
of the symbols of the island and no doubt one of the destinations that
should never be left off in the itinerary of a traveller to Sicily.
It is together with Syracuse one of the places that attest to the importance
of the Greek power over the island.
INTERESTING DATA:
When talking about the tourist destinations
of the island we need to highlight, among others, Taormina, Syracuse,
Caltagirone, Cefalù , Piazza Armerina, Acireale, Trapani, Ragusa and
the beautiful Palermo.
The most adventurous visitors would not like
to miss a climb on the slopes of Mount Etna, the highest active volcano
in Europe, that gives the unsurpassed views of its practically continuous
eruptions of lava.
Who has enough time to enjoy an unforgettable
trip should visit the main towns of the island and discover the secrets
of a region that even though it is geographically speaking part of Italy
has managed to keep alive a singular idiosyncrasy that differentiate
it from any of the regions of this transalpine country.
The rest of the small islands that
are part of Sicily are places of special beauty which can be reached
by means of ferries which link the island with this much smaller yet
singular islands.
The Aeolian islands boast some of the
most precious and exclusive places of the Sicilian geography: the pretty
Lipari, the tranquil and serene Salina, the exclusive and elegant Panarea
or the volcanic Stromboli immortalized by Roberto Rossellini in the
scenes of his most celebrated films that the island reminds visitors
of in many of its facades indicating where Roberto Rossellini and Ingrid
Bergman were during their stay on the island.
There are a few experiences
that can be compared to a night swim enjoying the sight of an active
volcano and its incandescent magma.
Sicily is an encyclopaedia of history,
culture, art and gastronomy and cultural traditions as well as the “Opera
dei Pupi” is. It is a puppet theatre in which the characters recreate
the knights of the Charlemagne’s army and is one of the most important
popular traditions in Sicily.
The excellent gastronomy of the island
boasts as well as its history the indelible marks of all peoples that
occupied it, therefore its cuisine is characterized by variety. Its
exquisite sweets are also a benchmark throughout Italy and there are
few cities in the country which do not have a prestigious Sicilian confectioner’s
in it.
There are endless reasons to beckon
travellers to come to Sicily as destination of holidays in a land that
will never cease to surprise.
We trust this guide to help awaken
curiosity of those who have still not planned a trip to the island and
be useful for those who are organizing their holidays in Sicily.
