EvainSicily

with a collegue - a local guide

 The best souvenir from Bronte, or at least this is mine: little tagliatelle  made with pistachios flour ! don't miss The  pastificio ( pastamaker shop) IL Mattarello - Bronte -  Pistachios have no secrets to them! the best recipe to appreciate my souvenir? While cooking the tagliatelle  on boiling water, prepare the sauce as follows: ingredients:(quantity " ad occhio" !!!! ) olive oil chopped fresh garlic red pepper crumbs of pistachios from Bronte heavy cream salt  Heat olive oil in a medium pan, add chopped onion and cook it but not browned. Add pistachios and cook for about 1 minute ,stirring and then adding cream untill heated through. Remove from the heat and add a pinch of salt and red pepper When pasta is AL DENTE drain it well .Toss well and serve immediately with crumbs of pistachios and a lot of fresh Parmigiano Reggiano! Buon appetito!*  *Sorry! I was looking forward to eating them that I forgot to take a pho...

To Sicilian people , train is not our  favourite mean of transportation. What a pity !  it's so relaxing  more  than driving and you can enjoy the wonderful landscape far from the noisy urban centres for a while. A couple of days ago I couldn't use my car so I took the train to move from Modica to Siracusa. It doesn't matter if it took 1 h 50 minutes  to arrive ( by car you can cover the distance in 1 h ) I took  the positive side of the inconvenient ! How wonderful and relaxing it was admiring life outside through the window.....from the carob and olive trees around Modica to the lemon and orange ones at the doors of Siracusa. I realized:  I had never travelled by train south from Siracusa before! towns : Modica - Scicli - Sampieri - Ispica - Rosolini - Noto - Avola - Siracusa   ..................................... In Sicilia, per ovvi motivi (vecchie linee e lentezza) il treno non è tra ...

I adore scarves, foulards....to put on colour on me and keep my neck warm.. What a nice video here! I knew just about ten different ways.... I need to learn ! One more problem: I need more and more room for my innumerable scarves, hats, gloves, foulards...

What a nice video from my collegues in Palermo! I share every single word of the sentences above..and deeply share the same love for this wonderful job. Welcome to Palermo! Welcome to Sicily! I

  Just 15 km far from Bronte (one of the famous villages at the foothills of the Sicilian volcano) , it's possible to be immersed into a well integrated contamination of English and Sicilian history. "La Ducea di Nelson" or improperly called "the Castle of Nelson" or simply the "Abbay of Maniace", today is one of the innumerable exmples of  the mixture of architecture and style that Sicily is. Once a Benedectine  fortified Monastery at the time of William the Good ,on previous traces of a Basilian monks residence,it  carries the name of Maniace from ther Byzantine general who here in the surroundings took a memorable victory against the Saracens  ,whose blood made the waters of the local river red . On 1799 it became property of the admiral Horatio Nelson when the king Ferdinand III of Bourbon gave him ,together with the title of Duke of Bronte,as a gift  after defeating the Neapolitan rebels   against his kingdom. Nelson never t...

How talented musician can make a lovely version of one of the most popular Sicilian folk song Roy Paci is a very good musician from Augusta( Syracuse) becoming successful in Italy in the latest years...

 not far from Catania, on the northwestern side of Mount Etna, the most famous places producing the best pistachio in the world! Here the surroinding of Bronte ! from producer to consumer: Gnocchi at pistachio with cream and pistachios crumbs

Take time to relax! Relax routinely ! Somebody says that in Sicily it's a state of mind! * *I Don't know if it's really a state of mind, but I know that it's extremely important to find some moments daily or weekly if it's possible, to relax also doing something phisically or mentally hard That time is not wasted  if you live it as a state of mind!

' A muntagna - photo courtesy of Nadia Sardone 'A muntagna , proprio così! L'Etna nella lingua siciliana non è Il Vulcano , ma è 'na fimmina: a Muntagna. Tempo fa lessi una descrizione che ne fece Leonardo Sciascia:  "...come un gatto di casa che quietamente ronfa e ogni tanto si sveglia, sbadiglia,con pigra lentezza,si stiracchia..." Questa fotografia, gentilmente concessa da Nadia Sardone- un giovane architetto siciliano di talento-  è davvero stupenda. Questa meraviglia della natura è proprio così:talmente bella da togliere il fiato! L'Etna è tuttora una delle mete più ambite da turisti e viaggiatori in Sicilia...da sempre, direi, dai tempi di Polifemo!! ------------- In sicilian language Etna is a feminine , not a masculine name like in Italian. Il Vulcano in sicilian is called A muntagna ! Long time ago I read a description of Mount Etna by Leonardo Sciascia I really enjoyed it: " like a cat she sleep...

Ebbene si. Ho ceduto! Dopo quasi ventanni di onorata carriera di guida turistica..ho ceduto! Ho cantato anche io all'Orecchio di Dionisio!!! ed i miei colleghi non ci crederanno mai! Il gruppo di turisti coreani di questa mattina così carino ha cantato una canzone d'amore dal vago titolo  Ahrirang ( che dovrebbe significare 'tristezza'). Una melodia dolce e delicata che per  il tema trattato  mi ha fatto ricordare della nostra canzone siciliana Ciuri Ciuri dal ritmo però decisamente  più vivace! Entrambe raccontano  in un certo senso della fine di una storia  d'amore . I miei turisti. incuriositi per il  paragone fatto , mi hanno piacevolmente invitata o meglio costretta ad intonare "Ciuri Ciuri"... Vano il tentativo di rifiutarmi spiegando che non lo avevo mai fatto prima! Cosa fare?  accertatami che non ci fosse nessuno ( chi vuoi che ci sia a Gennaio al parco archeologico?) ed arrossendo terribilmente ho iniziato ad intonare: ...

Lolli (home made pasta) with fava beans If you are in Modica don't miss a traditional meal at 'A putìa 'ro vinu in Modica bassa. Very local meals at a reasonable price. Trippa with tomato sauce

I found an interesting reading about the way WE (Sicilian people and Sicily) are thought to be, today!!! buona lettura!!   ------------------------ The new Sicilian Although fiercely proud of the island’s art treasures, olive groves and extraordinary cultural legacy, Sicily’s new generation refuses to remain trapped in the past with the rise of anti-Mafia associations, boutique wineries and farm-stays. Lola Akinmade Åkerström Published September 24, 2012 By Lisa Gerard-Sharp "Don't go to Palermo with an itinerary, go with an open heart," pleads Sicilian fashion designer Domenico Dolce. The advice is wise and melodramatic in equal measure. No map does justice to the city’s Moorish muddle, baroque flamboyance and brooding Spanish grandeur. The Royal Palace still astounds with its mosaic-encrusted Palatine Chapel, a picture of oriental splendour. Persian octagonal stars, palm trees and peacocks segue into chess players and entwined dancers. Around t...