Aci Castello

To the north of Catania, Sicily Italy overlooking the Ionian sea, there’s a beautiful coastline called the Riviera of the Cyclops. It includes a strip of coast from Acitrezza to Cannizzaro characterized by a succession of beautiful basalt rocks and hills. For almost ten years the National Marine Reserve of the Cyclops has been established. It Includes the coast, the caves of Aci Castello and the small islands of the Cyclops.
Aci Castello, including also the hamlets of Acitrezza, Cannizzaro and Ficarazzi, is a seaside village at the heart of this coastal territory, and a popular tourist destination for its sea, its old town and castle, for many hotels and clubs. The location is perfect if you want to spend the holidays in Sicily near Catania and has a beautiful sea.
The name derives from the castle placed directly by the sea. It was built on a cliff in the sea to defend against the attacks by sea, but it was joined to the mainland by a flow of lava. Today it houses a Municipal Museum consisting of three sections, one on mineralogy, paleontology, and another one on archaeology, and a beautiful botanical garden with succulent plants.
As concerns the beautiful complex of Faraglioni and of Lachea island, part of the nature reserve, it represents a very rare geological and ecological environment. It is in fact the ruins of a volcanic eruption at sea. There are striking majestic basalts, many are the minerals and the natural ecosystem is precious.

A wave of holidays: San Vito lo Capo

In an extraordinary location in the northern end of the promontory that closes to the west, there’s the Gulf of Castellammare, San Vito Lo Capo is known as one of the most important seaside resorts and most popular for one’s holidays in Sicily.
The town, which looms over the sea between the two natural reserves of Monte Cofano and the Zingaro, was developed at the end of ’700, but its origins are much older.
San Vito is an ancient seaside village, but, despite the massive building activities during the past 20 years, nowadays still preserves a strong Arabic character: low square white houses, the typical inner courts, the jasmine plants, and the colourful bougainvillea framing the portals and making this extraordinary place a corner of Africa in Sicily.
The most ancient building, the core around which the old town was set up, is the San Vito Martire Sanctuary, the so-called San Vito Lo Capo, because of its proximity to the promontory with the same name, the ancient Egatirso.
On the main road stretching towards the beach, Via Savoia, there’s the heart of the town: pub, restaurants, shops, fly pitch and the typical “struscio”, the evening promenade which during the week-ends in July and August, becomes a truly flood of people. San Vito Lo Capo boasts a cristal-clear sea and a white sandy beach so that a couple of years ago it was awarded with the Blu Flag thanks to an unspoilt environment.
San Vito Lo Capo is much more than beaches, sun, sea, shopping and night life. A few kilometres far from San Vito, there’s the ancient Tonnara, whose maze of nets used to be casted at a few netres from the shore, in the sea of Capo San Vito and in the bay of San Giuliano. The Tonnara is abandoned since the 70s, but next to these buildings one can admire the ruins of the old tuna processing plants, such as crock tanks dating back to the IV century BC Going on south-eastwards and passing by the tourist complex of Calampiso one gets to the tonnara dell’Uzzo, where the road stops and starts the Riserva dello Zingaro. From San Vito one can take boat trips of 3-4 hours to the Zingaro. An event of great importance taking place in San Vito Lo Capo is the Cous Cous Fest, a gastronomic event of high interest held every year in September. For this event, the chefs from the countries where the traditional cous cous is eaten, challenge in a contest of culinary delights. During these days one can taste the cous cous cooked in a thousand ways and drink red and white wine from Trapani’s countryside.

Tyrrhenian Sicily

From the inland to the coasts, the ideas for one’s holidays in Sicily are really numerous. The biggest island in the Mediterranean sea offers a huge multicultural heritage, the several traces of which can be admired together with an extraordinary landscape variety.

Sicily is the ideal destination for those who want to do an itinerant journey, for those who love to experience the different and contrasting aspects of a rich land. The coastal strip between Palermo and Milazzo is a continuous succession of sea localities, beaches and villages with a strong tourist inclination. Palermo is the inevitable starting point if one decides to visit this part of Sicily. In fact, this city reveals a fascinating cultural mix, an harmonious fusion of very different architectural styles: Arab, Byzantine, Norman, Renaissance and Baroque.

During the summer, the Tyrrhenian coast is very crowded and undoubtedly expensive. To enjoy the original environment of these localities, the idea of planning a stay during the low season is actually interesting: a minor crowding and definitely lower prices. The alternative is choosing an accommodation facility such as a sicily b&b, that guarantee a homely hospitality, typicalness and cheapness.

The most famous and trendy destination is the pretty small town of Cefalù, a traditional fishing village with its nice Medieval alleys, that is today a holiday resort nearly as famous as Taormina. East of Cefalù, the most beautiful beaches are found. Going ahead, some other very nice beaches are found around Capo D’Orlando and in the promontory with the ruins of the ancient Tindari. In the area of Capo Peloro, always going towards the strait of Sicily, Milazzo is found: this is the main port serving the Aeolian Islands. Thanks to its several rocky inlets, the peninsula that here extends towards the north is a very fascinating area from a naturalistic point of view.

Behind the coast, an enchanting inland can be discovered: there are two wide parks and several mountain villages. The parks include the Madonie and Nedroni massifs, the Sicilian continuation of Apennine Mountains, a paradise for excursionists and birdwatching lovers.

Popping over to Pachino

Today we will take you on holidays in Sicily to show you the town of Pachino, in the province of Syracuse.

This time is famous for the cherry tomatoes, that take its name, and is located to the far south-east of Sicily, between the Mediterranean and the Ionian Sea.

From a touristic point of view it is famous for its wonderful beaches along its 8km long coast and for the sea, which is clear and blue on the Ionian coast and emerald green on the Mediterranean. Thanks to these characteristics and to the fish-based gastronomic specialties, the area of Pachino is a very desired touristic destination, as well as the heaven of surf lovers because of the strong winds that often blow.

Marzamemi is worth mentioning: it is the maritime village of Pachino, the extreme end of Sicily, where the majority of the accommodation Pachino Sicily is found. Once, it was an Arabian village and in fact its name comes from the Arab Marsa-al-hamem, which means “bay of turtledoves”. Its centre, with its architecture and the small Arabian houses, corresponds to the first settlement.

In Marzamemi the cave of Calafarina, one of the most important nature attractions of Pachino, is found. This cave is particularly important from an archaeological point of view since at the beginning of the 20th century some finds and traces of prehistoric settlements dating back to the bronze age were discovered. According to an old legend, the Arabs, defeated by the Normans, hid in the cave their enormous and extremely valuable treasures before going back to Africa.

The Pulses Festival in Gagliano Castelferrato

The Pulses Festival will take place on January 3rd of next year in Gagliano Castelferrato, in the province of Enna.

For those who are going to celebrate the New Year’s Day in a Sicily hotel or in any other accommodation facilities, this is a very good occasion also to spend a good time also in the following days.

This festival, which is dedicated to the tastes and the typical local products of Sicily, will celebrate three kinds of pulses (chickpeas, lentils and beans), traditionally cooked with pigskin in big saucepans called “quadaruni”.

For this festival great quantities of pulses are eaten so a huge organizational effort is needed and numerous people are involved.

Besides pulses, other typical Sicilian products can be tasted, such as white cassatelle with almonds, gnucchitti of cooked wine produced from prickly pear juice, porchetta, cold meats and salami, oil and jams.

A “di-wine” weekend in Palermo

From 27th to 28th November in the premises of the Ex deposito locomotive in Sant’Erasmo in Palermo, will take place the Degustivina 2009, (“diwine” tasting 2009) a festival dedicated to high quality wines. It is a well known and expected festival now in its tenth edition. It will be open to all the lovers of wine and gastronomic culture of Sicily and it is an opportunity that cannot be missed for those who want to spend a brilliant palermo holiday.

In these two showcase days will take part more than 50 wine producer companies selected among the most prestigious of the island. The main aim is to become an undisputed landmark for the promotion and development of local wine areas. Nowadays it represents the most important tool for informing the final consumer about the best wines in Sicily.

This year the event is even more special because Degustivina celebrates its ten years in the presence of the most important Italian publishing group in wine&cuisine sector: the Gambero Rosso.
Cheers!

Bronte: the City of Pistachio

It ended on Sunday 4th October in Bronte, a town at the foot of Etna in the province of catania sicily, the 20th edition of the Pistachio Festival, which began on Thursday 1st October. A great success in terms of audience this year, especially on the final day when there were more than 50,000 visitors, exceeding any optimistic forecasts. Big participation on Saturday evening, while the audience has been scarce on the two days before because of rain.

Several shows went on until late at night, and it was sold all the merchandising in the green stands, literally stormed by tourists who were on autumn holiday in Sicily and were carried away by the so called ‘pistachio mania’ .

Among the events organized by the Municipality of Bronte, the most popular is the Festival of the pistachio, a typical fruit of the area known and appreciated throughout the world. It takes place in the squares and streets of the Old Town, particularly in the Annunziata neighborhood and Corso Umberto, where, in addition to the food exhibitions there are some artistic and cultural events linked to the local tradition. It takes place the recreation of environments typical of the of the ancient peasant culture through the exhibition of tools of the past. The festival is in fact aims to enhance, in addition to the pistachio – the culinary jewel of Bronte, also the traditional handicraft production of the area.

The old town looks like a massive pistachios store, where one can taste and buy some excellent local pistachios and its by-products, such as cakes, torrone (a kind of nougat), mousse, ice cream, water-ice, ‘fillette’, similar to sponge biscuits and even green nutella, successfully invented by the confectioners of Bronte, one can also taste some local specialties, starters and dishes prepared according to the imaginative recipes using pistachio, from sausage and croquettes to the pasta with pistachio. But this year’s symbol and pièce de résistance of this festival was the massive pistachio cake made by Bronte’s confectioners, accompanied by many other traditional cakes displayed in a 24 foot long table with a total of about 350 pounds of cake.

So this festival becomes an opportunity to discover and appreciate the fruit, the so-called green gold, a precious resource for the local economy which is now tightly tied because it generates a wealth of about 18 million, 1% of world’s production. The Pistachio of Bronte, which was given the P.O.D. recognition by the European Union, is now part of the Etna’s typical products basket. The Arabs spread the culture of pistachio in the island and the its production spread especially since the second half of the 800 in the provinces of Caltanissetta, Agrigento and Catania. In the latter, placed at the foot of Etna experienced its greatest expansion, so that in 1860 the whole grazing and farming land were devoted to the cultivation of pistachio, and this plant became the pivot of the whole agricultural and economic system of the area. The quality of the fruit of this area is really above the rest of the world’s production, for its aroma, color, taste and organoleptic properties, perhaps thanks to the minerals from the lavic territory where it is cultivated.

The Zafferanese October Festival in Zafferana Etnea

Every Sunday in October, the Zafferanese October Festival, an exhibition/market of typical Sicilian products, is taking place in Zafferana Etnea, in the province of Catania. So there is just one Sunday, for those who are on holiday in Sicily, to attend to this event.

Among the many events taking place in Sicily, the October festival is one of the most significant. Besides being the most important exhibition/market for local products of Etna, it is also and above all a festival of people, an event for those who love the traditions of Sicily. The festival was set up in the 80s and still aims at promoting and celebrating the traditions, the typical and niche products, the traditional arts and crafts.

Markets are full of typical products of the area and numerous festivals of agricultural products take place as well. Among the many local products, on top of the list there are: honey, grapes, apples, wine, oil, chestnuts and sweets, among them, especially the tea leaves, the “sciatori”, brownies covered with dark chocolate, rice zeppole covered with honey, cassatelle stuffed with ricotta and candied fruits, almond paste. There’s obviously the chance to taste the products and also to take part in walks, tours or to assist to music performances and art workshops and art exhibitions will be set up.

If you’re staying in a sicily hotel or in a sicily b&b, Zafferana October festival can be an excellent opportunity to visit the beautiful places in the area, the one of Etna, one of the most interesting natural areas.

Autumn holidays in Sicily, the Festival of the carob in Modica

As per the sicily autumn holidays, we propose this week the Festival of the Carob in Frigintini a hamlet of modica sicily (Ragusa), which will be celebrated in its ninth year, on 10th and 11th October.

The aim of the festival is to promote the carob and all its by-products, and at the same time it aims at boosting the carob production activity. In the province of Ragusa there is the highest presence of this tree, which in this area has a huge economical and productive as well as environmental value.
During the event, visitors can taste the typical dishes and products prepared from carob tree: a kind of pasta with carob sauce and covered with toasted almonds, carob cookies and carob candies. This initiative will also be useful to promote other agricultural products as well as the typical food and wine, that’s why some farmers, members of the “Market of the farmer” of Modica will take part in the event, to allow consumers to buy local products directly from the producer. There will also be some stands exposing local crafts. The program of the festival also includes a conference on the carob tree and the whole event will be accompanied both by music performed by local folk groups and by performances of popular traditions scenes.

The Carob Festival is sponsored by the Regional Province, the local regional institution for Economic Development providing all logistics and organization support and will set up two shows just for the event.
With the carob tree festival, the Province aims not only at enhancing the product and its many by-products, but also at making Modica attract as many visitors as possible.

Ragusa Ibla Buskers 2009

The south eastern coast of Sicily has some beautiful sceneries of strong artistic appeal. Cities and towns are distinguished by the late Baroque art, which flourished after the devastating earthquake of 1693 and recognized as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO. Ragusa sicily Ibla, one of the most fascinating cities in the area, offers an opportunity to go on holidays in the beautiful Sicily in the early days of autumn, giving the visitor the chance to assist to the fifteenth edition of Ibla Buskers Festival, from 7 to 11 October.

A festival of street artists in a privileged stage. Animating the streets, stairs and the squares of the Baroque city there will be jugglers, acrobats, tumblers, musicians, mimes, clowns, extemporizing theaters, which will create a real magical atmosphere.

For five days, every evening, the Ragusa Festival, organized by Idrisi has become during the years one of the most prestigious international circuit of the Buskers Festival, will fill the urban areas of the city with an exciting atmosphere of celebration that will take anyone far from reality. Do not miss it!