I like Sicily extremely - a good
on-the-brink feeling - one hop and
you're out of Europe ?
- D. H. Lawrence in a letter to Lady
Cynthia Asquith, 1920
The Sicilians aren't the only
people to consider themselves, and
their island, a separate entity.
Coming from the Italian mainland,
it's easy to spot that Sicily
(Sicilia) has a different feel, that
socially and culturally you are
all but out of Europe. Occupying a
strategically vital position, and as
the largest island in the
Mediterranean, Sicily's history and
outlook are not those of its modern
parent but of its erstwhile foreign
rulers - from the Greeks who first
settled the east coast in the eighth
century BC, through a dazzling array
of Romans, Arabs, Normans, French
and Spanish, to the Bourbons seen
off by Garibaldi in 1860.
Substantial relics of these ages
remain: temples, theatres and
churches are scattered about the
whole island. But there are other,
more immediate hints of Sicily's
unique past. A hybrid Sicilian
language, for a start, is still
widely spoken in the countryside;
the food is noticeably different,
spicier and with more emphasis on
fish and vegetables; even the flora
echoes the change of temperament -
oranges, lemons, olives and palms
are ubiquitous.
Sicily also still promotes a real
sense of arrival . The
standard approach for those heading
south from the mainland is to cross
the Straits of Messina, from Villa
San Giovanni or Reggio di Calabria:
this way, the train-ferry pilots a
course between Scylla and Charybdis
, the twin hazards of rock and
whirlpool that were a legendary
threat to sailors. Coming in by
plane, too, there are spectacular
approaches to either of the coastal
airports at Palermo and Catania.
Once on land, deciding where
to go is largely a matter of
time. Inevitably, most points of
interest are on the coast: the
interior of the island is often
mountainous, always sparsely
populated and relatively
inaccessible. The capital Palermo
is a memorable first stop, a
bustling, noisy city with an
unrivalled display of Norman art and
architecture and Baroque churches,
combined with a warren of medieval
streets and markets. From modern and
earthquake-ravaged Messina ,
the most obvious trips are to the
chic resort of Taormina and
the lava-built second city of Catania
. A skirt around the foothills, and
even up to the craters of Mount
Etna , shouldn't be missed on
any visit to the island; while to
the south sit Siracusa , once
the most important city of the Greek
world, and a Baroque group of towns
centring on Ragusa . The
south coast's greatest draw is the
Greek temples at Agrigento ,
while inland, Enna is typical
of the mountain towns that provided
defence for a succession of the
island's rulers. Close by is Piazza
Armerina and its Roman mosaics,
and to the west, most of Sicily's
fishing industry - and much of the
continuing Mafia activity - focuses
on the area around Trįpani .
To see all these places, you'll need
at least a couple of weeks - more
like a month if you want to travel
extensively inland, a slower and
more traditional experience
altogether.
