LIVING ITALIA!
Sitting like a big, bold triangle perched at the toe-tip of the Italian boot, Sicily is the Mediterranean’s largest island. It packs some astonishingly lovely landscapes into its 10,000 square miles, many of the most arresting being found along its 920 miles of coast. Sicily generously offers seaside-lovers a choice of white, gold or black beaches (the last made of fine volcanic grains), in long expanses or studded like gems in rock-girt coves. The island offers fruit-growing hills, brooding highlands, romantic offshore islets and a couple of fiery but harmless volcanoes. Its settlements, meanwhile, encompass tiny timewarp villages spilling prettily down hillsides, handsome Baroque towns carved out of warm-toned sandstone, sleepy fishing ports bobbing with boats, elegant beach resorts full of delighted holidaymakers, and bustling cities that abound with zest and colour.
Like all islands, Sicily has a particular character that is all its own. Some visitors say the island isn’t really Italy at all but something very separate and unique. Others, such as 18th-century writer and statesman Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, suggest that, “Without Sicily, Italy leaves no image in the soul. Sicily is the key to everything.” Clearly this is an island that makes a strong impression on those who come here.