ITALY - Sicily
The
Mediterranean’s largest island, sunny
Sicily is home to
Mt.
Aetna and abounds in sandy beaches, olive groves, vineyards and archeological treasures. It is also a major center for Italian opera. Teatro Massimo, the largest opera house in
Italy and third largest in the world, is located in the capital city of
Palermo, which is also famous for its concentration of monuments.
The city of Syracuse is rich in historical sites, including the Ear of Dionysius. This artificial limestone cave, named by the famous painter Caravaggio, was carved to resemble a human ear and is renowned for its exceptional acoustics.
Other Sicilian towns well worth visiting are Noto and Regusa, known for their fine examples of Baroque architecture carved in red sandstone, and Caltagirone, renowned for its decorative ceramics.
Sicily’s Norman influence lives on in two local folk art traditions. Hand-carved wooden marionettes enact traditional Norman tales in the island’s many puppet theaters, and donkey carts are painted with scenes from The Song of Roland and other Norman poems.
To
Sicily’s north in the
Tyrrhenian Sea lie the idyllic
Aeolian Islands. Lipari, the largest of these islands, is a sought-after destination for pleasure boating.
A luxurious alternative to hotel accommodations, Home in Italy represents a palatial guest villa available for rent in the Sicilian town of
Noto as well as a spectacular hilltop villa on the Aeolian
island of
Lipari.
