July and August are months chosen by tourists for holidays. Very often they decide to spend their time to the sea; Sicily has always been a very popular place for it. Here 5 reasons to visit Sicily in this period!
In 1887 the eminent German author J. W. Goethe wrote in his renowned book The Italian journey: “To have seen Italy without having seen Sicily is not to have seen Italy at all, for Sicily is the clue to everything.”
This is one of the most famous quote about the Trinacria. Now, the spontaneous questions to follow would be: Why? Why Sicily?
I will give you 5 reasons why you should visit this land at least once in your life.
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NATURAL BEAUTIES & WEATHER
Sicily is the biggest island in Italy, it has beautiful coasts washed by blue sea, as well as country-sides, woods, hills, an imposing volcano (Etna!) and two main mountain chains called Madonie and Nebrodi. The weather is amazing almost all year round, so, whether you like swimming in the sea, hiking, skiing in the winter season, or just sunbathing like a lizard, there is a spot for you!
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CULTURE & HISTORY
There’s no way you get away from it. Even if you are not that kind of tourist you will still be able to appreciate and touch millennial history with your own hands. Culture in Sicily is everywhere, as our island boasts more than 3,000 years of history, going back to the Phoenicians, Greeks, Romans, Normans, Arabs, Germans, Spaniards, ecc…
The list is so long! Each and every of these peoples left a remarkable footprint in our dna, in who we are, what we eat and how we do things. Due to all these dominations, the majority of our cities are open-air museums. Simple as that!
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FOOD & WINE
Italian food is renowned all over the world, but who does actually know the ancient tradition of the Sicilian cuisine? Our food is so various and unique, because it’s the result of this melting pot of dominations and cultures. Any true Sicilian human being cannot conceive neither accept any social activity that doesn’t involve eating some kind of food. Also wine is very important in our style of living, just think that 3 of the most famous wines in the world are actually Sicilian: Marsala, Nero d’Avola and Cerasuolo di Vittoria. Come on!
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PRICES
Compared to a lot of other places in Europe and Italy itself, many parts of Sicily have reasonable prices. Hotels and bed & breakfast can vary according to locations, services offered, high or low seasons, but you can have a cappuccino and a croissant for 3.00 euros and there are lots of places where you can eat a very good pizza for 15.00-18.00 euros per person, including drinks, starters and sometimes even dessert.
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SICILIAN HEROES
The last reason is the most delicate and complicated one. No matter how appealing the points 1,2,3 and 4 are, too often when I talk about Sicily, one of the first comment I get is about the mafia: “You’ve got the mafia!”
Thank you. Like I need someone who has never visited my own land to remind me of that! Some of these people make even the remarks with an exciting smile on their faces, thinking it will be entertaining just like in the Godfather saga.
Personally I’d rather be associated with names like Saint Pino Puglisi, Paolo Borsellino, Libero Grassi, Peppino Impastato, Giovanni Falcone and many others. Who are they?
A catholic priest, a judje, an entrepreneur, a free thinker, another judje. What do they have in common?
Well, these are only few names of the thousands of men and women that heroically stepped out from the crowd and faced the mafia. They decided not to compromise or hid their head in the sand, even when their lives were in danger. They wanted to live a free life and fought to make Sicily a better place, until the ultimate sacrifice.
So… if you want to come to Sicily please do it for our beautiful blue sea and breathtaking landscapes, our extraordinary history, our monuments, our exquisite food and superb wine, our very competitive prices, but come also to honor our heroes. Because when you pay respect to them you inevitably give voice to freedom, courage, integrity, hope, honest work, respect, legality, pure love.
This is the real soul of Sicily.
