Sicily-independent travel video, travel photography

Sicily

Sicily is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, the hub of civilization of the classical era, and as a result whoever was in conquering business in the old times passed over here and stayed for a while. The island was invaded by the Greeks, Romans, Saracens, Normans, Byzantines, French, Spaniards and more recently Italians, their vestiges being spread all over the island. These occupations scarred the island and depleted her of its riches but in the same time left a fantastic collection of monuments, a cultural heritage difficult to par in any another part of the world. The island is still relatively poor and the new "occupiers", Italy, tried hard to cut her with its unfortunate past but poverty, the Mafia, and a corrupt political system drove many people away from the island looking for a better life in the New World. The fact that for a long time Sicily is part of Italy is taking for granted by many, but the Sicilians are speaking a language totally different from Italian, seasoned with words from many years of occupation. Besides, the food is divine, the temper is pretty intense and the heritage is unique.

We traveled to Sicily for almost two weeks and if there were summer we would have stayed even longer. We flew to Catania, the birth place of the opera composer Bellini, and we climbed on Mt. Etna that became pretty active recently and does not let you go all the way on top, to Siracusa, the city where Archimede was born and lived, to Piaza Armerina, in whose neighborhood is the famous Roman Villa of Casale, with its magnificent mosaics, to Agrigento, with its Vale Di Templi that impressed Goethe so much that he declared that after you see it you can not rejoice seeing something else, to Eracle Minoa and Sciacca, famous place for ceramics, to Erice, medieval hill town, and to the famous-infamous Palermo, a vibrant baroque city, full of beautiful buildings and the Mafia. From Palermo we visited the cathedral of Monreale, a Sistine chapel of the mosaics, and the village of Corleone, the place from where Mafia ruled Sicily for the last 50 years, to Cefalu, a pretty resort on the North Sea, ending in Taormina, a very beautiful glitzy resort town.

Come and see our travel video and you will never forget this place.