5 May 2023
Escaping to a beautiful, sun-washed island in the Mediterranean to flee wet and windy Basle seemed like a good idea: picture a snow-capped volcano, sweeping, olive-strewn landscapes, starkly beautiful Greek temples and ricotta-filled pastries.
In hindsight, we chose the right island but with unfortunately the wrong timing: the inclement Swiss weather followed us there and it was only when we were already preparing our return that a pitiless Sicilian sun regained its lofty position, high up in an immaculate and cloudless blue sky.
Granted, we may have not unpacked our bathing essentials but there was still plenty to keep all our senses occupied during our five-day trip which eventually took in about half the island. We spent each day in a different town. Our itinerary was not planned in advance but improvised and largely driven by both the weather and the equally unpredictable public transport system.
For amateurs of old stones, like myself, Sicily is heaven on earth. Phoenicians, Greeks, Romans, Carthaginians, Byzantines, Arabs, Normans and Bourbon Spaniards passed through here in the past two-and-a-half millennia, all leaving a mark on an island that is truly a crossroads of cultures. Luckily for us, traces of their past glories remain today for us to marvel at.
Arriving in Catania, a one-hour bus ride took us to Siracusa, founded 2700 years ago and at one time, a bigger and more important city than Athens in the Ancient Greek world. It still houses the largest Greek theatre in Sicily, to be found in the Neapolis archaeological site. We headed for the old town, Ortygia, facing on to a harbour where once, in the 5th century BC, a bunch of upstart colonists defeated an entire fleet sent from Athens, the city state they once called home. We wandered through its tight warren of lanes and piazzas, admiring a cathedral that was built simply by filling in the spaces between the columns of the Greek temple of Minerva and joining the queue for a made-to-order gourmet panino at a popular local deli, Caseificio Borderi.
The next day, the plan had been to travel to Modica, gateway to the south of the island. However, it being May 1st, all the trains were cancelled except one, heading north to Rome. We jumped off in Taormina, Sicily’s most dolce vita hilltown. Its crown jewel is undoubtedly the spectacular Teatro Greco. Unfortunately, the worst weather of the whole trip prevented us from admiring Mount Etna in the background, and indeed, resulted in us having to cancel the planned excursion to visit Europe’s biggest active volcano the next day. The main shopping thoroughfare in the town is also worth a mention, each store rivalling with each other with their splendid window presentations. Talk about style. Even the hall of the local train station resembled the interior of a palace.
Without Roger II, Cefalu would be no more than a pleasant gelato-stop on the road to Palermo. But the ruler of the European-Greek-Arabic cultural crucible that was Norman Sicily ennobled the town by giving it one of Sicily’s great cathedrals, its apse mosaic of Christ Pantocator perhaps the most striking single Byzantine image in Italy. Dominated by a monumental, 270 metre rock, the historic quarter of Cefalu clusters around its mighty cathedral and has much to offer. We enjoyed a delicious anti-pasta and a glass of the local Nero d’Avala at a hipster wine-bar in one of its many old alleyways before meandering down to the beach to admire the sunset and illuminated harbour, lighting up the night.
And so, it was on to the chaotic yet captivating Palermo, a treasure trove of Moorish, Norman and Baroque art. Leaving the train station, we wandered around the local street market nearby, resonant with voices speaking a dialect as thick as the tuna steaks the stallholders were carving. I was happy that I did not have to attempt driving through it all in a hire car. The city runs the gamut from a pasta alla Norma in a seedy trattoria to a glittering performance of the work from which that dish takes its name – Vincenzo Bellini’s Norma – in the opera theatre, Teatro Massimo. It is, like Sicily, one and many.
The time had quickly come for our last stop and a three-hour bus ride took us from Palermo through the hilly, and surprisingly green, inland Sicily (with a stop-off at the Sicilia Outlet village – better just avoid it) back to our starting point, Catania, over which Mount Etna looms ominously. Its heart, like in many Italian cities, is the Piazza del Duomo, and its Cathedral with a beautiful exterior facade in white marble.
Clearly, it would have been impossible to see everything that Sicily, with so many cultural, natural and culinary riches, can offer in such a short period of time. There are many reasons to go back and do another piece of it - more Greek temples await at Agrigento, Selinunte and Segesta as well as those exquisite southern baroque cousins, Noto, Ragusa, Modica and Scicli, not to mention of course that lost excursion to the captivating Mount Etna. Another time perhaps...
*Five cities in five days
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