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The Mafia, the sun, the volcano, the beach - all this is Sicily, a hot beauty

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Travel Articles >> Sea Travel Travel Articles >> Travel Advice Travel Articles >> Locations >> Islands

“On the sixth day, God accomplished His inspirational work.
And He saw, how perfect His creation was.
And He rejoiced.
He took the Earth like a child in His hands and blessed it with a kiss.
Where is it, that land, which was touched by God’s lips?
That’s Sicily."
Renzino Barbera.

Sicily is like an incredibly beautiful woman in all her essence, which combines one thousand images in herself; modernity and history, glory and oblivion, obedience and pride, which sparkles with contrasts, blended in it in such a way that one is unlikely to remain indifferent and unvanquished by it.
Sicily is the largest island in the Mediterranean, which is separated from the Apennine Peninsula by Messina Bay, via which one can get to the continental part of the country in about 20 minutes. The island, which is surrounded by three seas – the Tyrrhenian (the longest coastline of Sicily, the length of which makes up 400 km), the Ionian (280 km to the East) and the Mediterranean, was initially called Trinacria (that is translated as “three capes”) for its almost isosceles triangle earlier, as far back as ancient times, and later it was named Sicania and only after that it was entitled Sicily.
Unfortunately, the expectation of seeing the Mafia, a well-publicized world brand, didn’t come true on the arrival on the island. It is clear that it is not the Mafia in the literal sense of the word that is implied, but criminalism in the last degree, only somewhat refined or something like that, where there are the own codes of honour.
You won’t see the Mafia. The Sicilians generally smile at hearing the questions of such nature and warn that one should be afraid of the pickpockets that scurry in the crowds of people. Having become slightly disappointed, as the intrigue vanished somewhere without a trace, I began to sip the orange juice made of red oranges that grow plentifully and are continuously ripening here, by the way. However I advise you to set off for a trip around the places of “the Sicilian Mafia”, because you will gain a lot of impressions and a portion of interesting tales from the locals, in which you instantly get lost between the fantastic and the real. The road to Savoca village, where the scene of the character’s marriage was being shot, is simply splendid: a narrow serpentine, the houses crowd on the pitches, an ancient cathedral at the top. Having entered the village bar, you find yourself in the city of the artists’ photos, placards and things of the times of “The Godfather” shooting. You are generously entertained to granita – it is a kind of local ice cream that represents grated pistachios and ice, and the distribution of those very portions of tales begins.

The passionate Sicilian beauty.
One can say the following things about her: she is capricious, but moderately, she is beautiful – she is perfect, she is insidious – yes, but she is charming even in her insidiousness. The height of this beauty is about 3323 metres.
“When we asked the cavalier, how we could get to the top of Etna, he said that he even didn’t want to hear of such a risky venture.
“Generally speaking, the visitors take it too easy, but it is enough for us, those who live in the neighbourhood of the mountain, if we seize an opportunity of getting to the top once or twice in our lifetime.” Goethe, “Italian Journey”.
The desire to see with your own eyes overpowers the fear, and the funicular lifts you to the height of 2500 metres, and after that, having made a transfer to the bus all-terrain vehicles, you work your way and at a height of about 3000 metres you stop dead in your tracks… The rapture that overfills you knows no bounds. The fear vanishes somewhere and you realize that you are on the volcano, where the earth under your feet is hot and steam trickles leak in some areas, as there are about 200 craters on this beauty, but only 4 of them are active.
It is amusing that in spite of the wild temper of Etna, many inhabitants live at its bottom exposing their life to danger. It was told that sometimes lava mystically stopped at the gates of the houses. The Sicilians consider this to be a special sign and are not going to move.

The sea. The beach. The sun.
It is an absolute relaxation of both the body and the soul. The clean sea, the calm, excellent beaches. The swimming season lasts from May till the middle of November. Sometimes it is simply not safe to bathe under jellyfishes' pressure, as the displayed red flag signifies, but believe that it won’t be difficult to find an entertainment for yourself and nobody will have to be bored, as there are such places on Sicily that simply deserve a separate journey and tale.
But meantime, for the meantime I will tell you a little bit about the Sicilians themselves. This blending of various cultures and national traditions gave birth to the culture of Sicily. Different nations – the Greeks, the Romans, the Byzantine, the Normans – that alternated not only left their stamp on islanders’ life and culture, but also formed an explosive mixture of cheerfulness peculiar to the Sicilians themselves, to whom the reputation of the merriest people in Italy was attributed.

Recommendations concerning the things that one should taste.
One should undoubtedly taste fresh juice made of red oranges, malvasia – sweet white wine and prickly pear liqueur (generally speaking, it is simply necessary to drink wines on Sicily. They are excellent!), Sicilian cassata – a cake made of fresh ricotta with candied fruit, torrone - nuts-and-honey bar with almonds, salsiccia – home-made sausages with cheese, and Viagra Etna liqueur – at least because the name already makes you buy a bottle with this 60° bright red liquid. The list might be extended, but it’s better to go and taste once.

The adventure comes to the upshot; I sit in one of the numerous cafés, sip the excellent wine slowly, stare into the distance watching the sunset (the sun is the symbol of Sicily, by the way) and think of the blissful land that grants so many impressions and makes it possible to see tremendous pictures of nature - the best painter of the world.

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Article Submitted On: August 29, 2007