Visit Lecce: discover the baroque style and more

SICILY

The salt pans in Marsala, Sicily
The salt pans in Marsala

BENVENUTI IN SICILIA

Welcome to Sicily

Sicily is the largest island of the Mediterranean sea where people have created a magnificent mosaic of civilizations. During its millennial history, in fact, Cretans, Mycenaeans, Phoenicians, Greeks, Romans, Byzantines, Arabs, Normans, Aragonese have reached Sicily as merchants or conquerors, leaving a rich cultural heritage.


Visiting the Sicily region is so many trips in one. 
The sweet Sicilian climate allows you to enjoy, all year round, a wonderful sea that surprises for the transparency and richness of colors.

With a shape that recalls a triangle, the scenery of this incredible island alternates golden beaches in the south/west coast, high and rocky coasts with large and frequent coves in the north, lava rocks and pebble beaches along the east coast.

The stretch of coast between Marsala and Trapani is known for the salt pans in which since ancient times is produced fine sea salt, places where you can enjoy stunning sunsets.

Sicily is surrounded by small scattered islands (such as Pantelleria and Ustica) and a series of archipelagos: the Aeolian Islands (included in the UNESCO World Heritage List), the Egadi Islands, the Pelagie Islands, the Stagnone Islands… all to visit!

Sicily is also a land of fire with three active volcanoes: Etna, Stromboli and Vulcano. 
Their eruptions are a spectacle of nature!

The Sicily island retains an immense artistic and archaeological wealth, masterpieces of ancient architecture temples and monumental buildings of Selinunte and Segesta, the Roman Amphitheatre and the Ancient Theatre of Catania.

Among the most evocative theatres of Sicily there is the Greek Theatre of Taormina, it has always offered to its spectators a panoramic scenery perfectly integrated with his architecture so much that Johann Wolfgang Goethe in his famous "Trip in Italy" wrote: "Never has the audience of a theatre had before it such a spectacle".

For their extraordinary importance many sites of Sicily region have been included in the list of World Heritage by UNESCO as:
  • The archaeological area of Agrigento known as the Valley of the Temples, is the most important monumental complex of Hellenic architecture in Sicily
  • Villa del Casale in Piazza Armerina is an extraordinary example of a luxurious Roman villa decorated with wide and marvellous mosaics
  • The archaeological site of Pantalica with more than 5.000 graves excavated in the rock (XIII-VII B.C.)
  • The ancient city of Syracuse founded by the Greek colonists in the 8th century B.C. with the Temple of Athena, a Greek theatre, the great cave excavated in an ancient stone quarry called "Ear of Dionysius" and a Roman Amphitheater
  • The eight cities of the Val di Noto, in the south east of Sicily, entirely rebuilt in Baroque style after the 1693’s earthquake: Noto, Modica, Ragusa, Caltagirone, Militello in Val di Catania, Catania, Palazzolo and Scicli
  • All the buildings that make up the itinerary "Arab-Norman Palermo" (Royal Palace, Palatine Chapel, Martorana Church, San Cataldo Church, San Giovanni degli Eremiti Church, Palermo Cathedral, Zisa Castle, Admiral’s Bridge) 
  • The Cefalù and Monreale Cathedrals with their splendid Cloisters
In Sicily there are small towns by the sea, surrounded by greenery, set inland or perched on the mountains such as Erice, Sciacca, Mazara del Vallo, the fishing village of Marzamemi.

Food in Sicily is a feast of authentic aromas and flavors to be discovered in one of the large and colorful local markets.

There you will find the typical red oranges, the famous pistachios of Bronte, the almonds with which Martorana fruit is made (almond paste sweets with bright colors and shaped as the imitation of fruit and vegetables).

Eggplants and Pachino tomatoes are the ingredients for some of the most famous dishes of Sicilian cuisine, such as Pasta alla Norma, Caponata and Parmigiana, while the protagonists of street food are the Arancino (made with rice) and sandwich with spleen ('u pani c’a meusa).

For desserts there is really spoiled for choice: Cannolo and Cassata sweets that enhance the freshness of local ricotta cheese, the Sicilian granite produced in many different flavors often proposed in combination with a soft brioche for the most typical Sicilian breakfast!
Foods and sweets that could be accompanied with excellent local wines such as Nero d’Avola, Grillo, Inzolia, Marsala, Malvasia.

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