A lot to see, difficult to get around
Written: Oct 18 '00 (Updated Aug 20 '07)
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Pros: Fascinating cultural fusions and antiquities
Cons: Difficult to get around
The Bottom Line: Go!
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| Stephen_Murray's Full Review: Sicily |
Except perhaps for the Adriatic coast south of Venice, Italy is overrun with tourists, especially American and German ones, during the spring, summer, and fall. Tourists are not quite as thick on the ground anywhere in Sicily as in Florence, Rome, or Venice, and I suspect the Sicilian countryside is less filled with foreign tourists than the Tuscan or Umbrian countrysides. Alas, I cannot report on what is off the beaten track in Sicily, having been there slightly less than a week and trying to take in the major sights and sites.
For Germans, the primary attraction of Sicily is that it has warm Mediterranean beaches. A few of the Germans (female and male) are there to see ancient ruins and a few are there in quest of hot/primitive/closer to nature Mediterranean men to ravish them. (The photographs from a century ago of naked Sicilians taken by Baron van Gloeden undoubtedly influence some. BTW, there is a street in Taormina named for him, and some of his images are for sale in contemporary Taormina.)
Insofar as Americans belong to similar cults, Italy is less central.
The main reasons Americans go to Sicily are to get in touch with their roots (this includes some World War II veterans and their children as well as those of Sicilian ancestry). A few of them even speak Sicilian and/or Italian, though surprisingly few.
A few go because they have heard that Sicily has better remnants of ancient Greece than Greece itself.
I am not entirely sure why my partner wanted to go to Italy (and he said it was not like what he had expected). Although I did not choose to go to Sicily, I was hoping that the claims about the preservation of Greek antiquities was true.
Greek Ruins
Although I believe that Turkey has better-preserved ruins of ancient Greek culture than Greece does, I don't think that any of the Greek remnants in Sicily can compete with the acropolis of Athens. They can compete with Delphi for the extent of what is preserved, but not for the magic with which Delphi is still imbued.
The so-called "Valley of the Temples" between modern Agrigento and the sea has a line of temple ruins on a ridge. The best preserved, the temple of Castor and Pollux which has long been known as the Temple of Concordia, is reminiscent of the Parthenon in Athens, though it is made of sandstone. It and the ruins of temples to Hera/Juno and to Herakles/Hercules are very photogenic for anyone who has the mindset of ruins being romantic. There is also a fine (and free) museum on the way from the temple complex toward the modern town. (Also in nearby Girgenti is the birthplace and tomb of the greatest Sicilian writer, Luigi Pirandello.)
Further east on the south coast is another Greek temple complex at Selinunte. with a questionably reconstructed but nonetheless impressive Temple E. North of there and west of Palermo, on Monte Barbaro is the best preserved Doric temple of all, the Temple of Segesta. Above it on the mountain is a relatively small theater with a stupendous view.
The Greek temple at Taormina was substantially remodeled by the Romans, though the location precluded turning it into an amphitheater. As Goethe long ago (in 1787) noted, the audience's view beyond the stage is probably the most striking any theater audience has ever had. Both the rocky coastline and Mt. Etna are visible over the back of the stage.
Down the mountain from Taormina in (Giardini-)Naxos, the first Greek settlement on the island, are some more scenic excavations.
For a time the polis (city-state) of Syracuse was the most powerful in the Mediterranean. There the Romans built an amphitheater instead of trying to make one out of the Greek theater. The Greek theater in Syracuse is also bigger than Taormina's. However, when I got to it, it was a major disappointment. The Romans did not leave it entirely alone, so it, too is something of a Greco-Roman mixture. It follows that if the theater at Taorima is the most dramatic in the world, it is the most dramatic in Sicily.
The ancient quarry next to the Greek theater is more picturesque than the theater, having been turned into gardens nearly a millennium ago by Arab conquerors. (Since the fall of Syracuse's hegemony, Sicily has been a colony of many other powers, recently (Northern) Italy, and now of (northern) Europe. Some have argued that it is the most exploited land on earth; it is most certainly one of the longest exploited places on earth.)
The ancient hollowing out of "the ear of Dionysius" is impressive.
Ortygia
Having been disappointed by what can be seen of ancient Syracuse, I was pleasantly surprised by medieval Syracuse on the island of Ortygia. There are some Doric columns from a temple to Apollo near the bridge to the mainland. Although engulfed by successive Christian churches, the temple of Athene is relatively visible within the cathedral of Syracuse.
Major gentrification is underway and Ortygia will soon be a museum of itself for tourists to visit (like Venice is). At the moment it is still a Sicilian town rather than being a series of boutiques of vageuly Sicilian provenance overrun by foreign tourists.
Roman Ruins
Piazza Armerina in the middle of the island is the place to see Roman mosaics, etc.
Catania
Catania is allegedly much safer than it was a few years ago. The general view is that the cosa nostra ("Mafia" is not a Sicilian term for it) is a dragon in its death throes. I find this a less than reassuring image. Being close enough to a dragon in its death throes to be smacked by its tail or flailing limbs is not something that appeals to me. Still, street crime is supposed to be way down.
The great bel canto opera composer Vincenzo Bellini is buried in the cathedral of Santa Agatha (ruined by baroque accretions in my view). His birthplace is a museum. Both a lovely park and the main theater in Catania bear his name and there is a statue of him facing the park (and Mt. Etna beyond).
Mt. Etna
The volcano that destroyed Catania in 1689 is still very active. It erupted earlier this year and smokes all the time, so visitors cannot currently go to the rim of any of the four main caldera. They can go up above 2000 meters and climb on some craters from earlier eruptions.
I'm sure that if one has never been on a volcano before that this is very fascinating. Alas, I am jaded in this regard. What interested me was some stands of trees that flows of lava went around (and that the heat did not cause them to burn down).
Palermo and Monreale
I was only in Palermo one late afternoon and night. It seemed far more impoverished than anywhere else I saw on Sicily. Street-corner society is certainly alive there. That is, many males (of all ages) are hanging out on the street. Unemployment is high. The scars of 1943 US bombing remain and much of the population was pushed out of the center into hideous concrete apartment buildings.
My main goal in Palermo was to get out (up) to Monreale. Franco Zeffirelli used the Monreale Cathedral for the scenes of the 12th-century Vatican in "Brother Sun, Sister Moon," and it looked incredible to me in the film. It looked incredible to me in person, too, with Arabo-Norman arches and golden mosaics. I think that the interior is more impressive than San Marcos (in Venice) or Hagia Sofia (in Istanbul). And the doors are almost as impressive as those from Florence's baptistry. The most impressive part of the exterior does not face a piazza but is visible from the road up from Palermo.
For 3000 liras (less than $1.50US) a piece, we were able to go up on the roof and into the northern face's towers. This afforded views not only of Palermo's harbor but of the Benedictine cloister that rivals Amalfi's "paradise cloister" in beauty.
Hiring a taxi driver to take the two of us back and forth and wait for us cost 100,000 lire (about $45US). Considering that it was what I most wanted to see in Sicily and compared to the cost of getting to Sicily, this was a minor expense.
Because we went to Monreale, we did not have time to go to the 12th-century Norman Palatine Chapel in Palermo itself. From the pictures, it also has gold mosaics like Monreale.
Most Sicilian churches are closed from noon to 3 or later (Monreale until 3:30) which very much complicates visiting them.
Beaches
I enjoyed being in a beachfront hotel in Giardini Naxos (below Taorima), especially since there was a full moon (the middle night of four nights staying there). Between undertow, the rockiness of the beach (there was sand on the beach, but the footing -- not to mention what one is thrown on by breaking waves trying to get back to shore when swimming in -- was small rocks), and rumors of jellyfish (I prefer eating jellyfish to swimming with them), the pool was more popular than swimming in the Mediterranean, though the sea water was warmer than the pool water.
Anyone who goes to Sicily for the beaches had better be resident in Europe or there incidentally. Anyone seeking great beaches would do far better to go to Thailand or Indonesia or most anywhere in Polynesia anywhere between Madagascar and Hawaii or the Caribbean (or Virginia Beach or San Diego) for warmer water, better fish-watching, and more extensive sand extending out at least to where the water is deep enough to swim. The eastern Sicilian beaches are striking to look at with mountainous backgrounds, but not easy places to swim. The beaches between Palermo and the Palermo airport did not look very inviting either. Perhaps the southern shore has better beaches?
Food
I was underwhelmed by the food, also. The Mediterranean is mostly fished out, so anything other than sardines, swordfish, and tuna comes from elsewhere (salmon from Norwegian fishermen in the North Atlantic). We had both tuna and swordfish cooked in a variety of sauces in multiple restaurants. The fish was overcooked and dry every time. The one time I tried calamari, I was unimpressed, though I had the best octopus I've ever eaten (in a family-run restaurant in Giardini Naxos: the Sphaghetteria Valentino which if off the street across from the Ramada Inn). I've never eaten stuffed sardines anywhere else. It was only OK. Veal cooked in various ways was tough.
We also tried the famous pasta con le sarde (the pasta was invariably spaghetti, sarde is sardine) several places and spaghetti with freshwater clams. Extracting the flesh of the tiny clams was a lot of work and there were bits of sand in most.
I like the thin cracker-like dough of Sicilian pizze, but the toppings are limited and unimaginative with too little tomato sauce for my (American) taste. The pannino sandwiches were good.
Although I saw some sheep grazing, lamb must have been out of season. And Sicily is the only place I've ever been that does not seem to have any chicken dishes on restaurant menus.
Pastries and gelato were great (as elsewhere in Italy, especially memorably in Verona).
Conclusion
Though only being as big as Vermont, it takes a long time to get from place to place in Sicily (or from place to place within the cities of Catania and Palermo). There are many places of interest and one needs at least a week to take in even the highlights.
I recommend the Blue Guide (over Michelin and Lonely Planet) for Sicily, and recommend not reading Midnight in Sicily until one has left the island. I do recommend rereading or reading the great Sicilian novel, Lampedusa's The Leopard there (as I did). (I have written about many other Sicilian authors since posting this.)
Recommended:
Yes
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