SICILY - WINTER 2014

MAP OF SICILY

Spending considerable time in Sicily I wanted to describe this beautiful place in a little more detail.

Sicily is more than just the largest, volcanic island in the Mediterranean.   Sicily is where the mountains meet the sea.  Culturally and historically it is unique in its  archeology, art, history and breathtaking scenery.  Mount Etna is the largest active volcano in Europe and still plagues Catania (city at the base of Etna) with black ash during occasional weak explosions.

MOUNT ETNA

The countryside glows with orange and lemon orchards.

Northeastern Sicily has the lush forests, the central regions are rugged with rolling hills.  Vineyards, olive groves, and almond fields complete the picture.  The Sicilian inland terrain is mostly hilly and intensively cultivated wherever possible.  Sicily lives mainly from agriculture and fishing although tourism has gained importance in the last few years.

Sicily has been a Greek colony, a Roman province, and Arab emirate and a Norman kingdom.
For example, Agrigento, a city on the southern coast best known as the site of the ancient Greek city Akragas has the famous Valley of the Temples (it is a ridge rather than a valley) constructed during the 5th and 6th centuries BC.  They constitute some of the largest and best preserved ancient buildings outside of Greece.

TEMPLE JUNO

Rich Romans built large estates that produced grain which was exported to Rome.
The Villa Romana del Casale is the largest remaining villa with the most complex collection of Roman mosaics in the world.

RONMANA DEL CASALE MOSAICS

ROMANA DEL CASALE MOSAICS

Other traces of Roman architecture can be found in the amphitheaters in Taromina and Catania.


APRIL 25, 1943 LIBERATION DAY IN SICILY

April 25th is a holiday celebrated every year.  Most stores and places of business are closed with families out and about enjoying the warm weather and the many yachts at "il porto" (marina).  Liberation Day is the celebration of the l943 landing of the Allied troops on Sicily.  it's actually better known as the Allied Invasion of Sicily in which the Allies took Sicily from Nazi Germany.  It was a large scale amphibious and airborne operation followed by 6 weeks of land combat.  Later that same year Mussolini was ousted from power.

For tonight's dinner I'm preparing a typical Sicilian dish "veal piccata", tender veal topped with lemon sauce and capers.   Capers are actually the flower bud of the caper plant and has long, spiny branches growing over rocks.  Sicilian capers are distinctively more flowery than those from the more northern regions and are preserved in dry salt not vinegar.  From May to September, approx. every 10 days the plants are picked over by hand early in the morning before the flowers open.  Then the capers (about pea-sized) are put into sea salt for 2 months before they are sold.

May 2, 2014

From May 3 to 6 in Licata celebrations are held in honour of the patron martyr Sant'Angelo.  In the three day festival a hugh market is erected on the main roads throughout the town with singers and musicians performing in Sant'Angelo square.
This square is also the place of our favorite cafe' where we enjoy meeting with friends over a cappichino or glass of wine.

Sant'Angelo Square with Valentina