Sicily, worth knowing.

Fun facts about Sicily

1. 1Mount Etna is one of the most active volcanoes on Earth, and people have been recording its eruptions for at least 2,700 years. Sicilians still ski its slopes and grow vineyards and orchards in its soil.Source: UNESCO World Heritage Centre; Wikipedia
2. 2Papyrus grows wild in the Fountain of Arethusa, a freshwater spring in the old town of Ortigia in Syracuse. It's one of the only places in Europe where papyrus grows.Source: Showcaves.com; Wikipedia
3. 3Syracuse has a giant cave shaped like a human ear. Caravaggio named it the Ear of Dionysius in 1608. Tear a sheet of paper inside and listen to the sound echo around you.Source: Italia.it; Wikipedia
4. 4A Roman villa floor in central Sicily, about 1,700 years old, shows women lifting weights, throwing the discus and playing ball in two-piece outfits that look just like bikinis.Source: Villa Romana del Casale visitor guide; Ancient World Magazine
5. 5On Etna's slopes, Bronte's pistachio trees grow in old lava and are harvested only every other year, in odd years. The year off lets them draw what they need from the volcanic soil.Source: Consorzio di tutela del Pistacchio Verde di Bronte DOP; Fondazione Qualivita
6. 6In Modica, chocolate is still made 'cold', the old way, so the sugar never fully melts. Bite into a bar and you can feel the tiny sugar crystals crunch.Source: Consorzio di Tutela del Cioccolato di Modica IGP; Wikipedia
7. 7Sicily can't agree on its own rice ball. Palermo says arancina and makes it round; Catania says arancino and often makes it pointed, maybe after Etna. Italy's language academy says both are right.Source: Accademia della Crusca; Geopop

Things to do in Sicily

• ◦In Agrigento's Valley of the Temples, Greek temples built around 2,500 years ago rise above the countryside, and much of the ancient city still lies intact under today's fields and orchards.Source: UNESCO World Heritage Centre; Wikipedia
• ◦Taormina's ancient theatre is carved into the rock of Monte Tauro, with the Ionian coast and Mount Etna as its backdrop. In summer it still hosts concerts, opera and the Taormina Film Festival.Source: ITALY Magazine; Wikipedia
• ◦Scala dei Turchi, near Agrigento, is a dazzling white cliff of soft marl that the sea has shaped into giant natural steps. Its name, Stair of the Turks, recalls the raiders' ships that once sheltered in the bay.Source: Visit Sicily; Wikipedia
• ◦Tucked below Cefalù's main street, a medieval washhouse still has river water pouring from 22 iron spouts into stone basins. A 1655 plaque calls the stream purer than silver and colder than snow.Source: Atlas Obscura; Palermo Viva
• ◦Do breakfast like a Sicilian: a granita with a soft brioche col tuppo, the bun with a little knob on top. Tear off pieces of brioche and scoop up the granita with them.Source: Time for Sicily; Wikipedia
• ◦Ride the Etna cable car from Rifugio Sapienza up to about 2,500 metres, then carry on with a volcano guide and 4x4 toward the summit craters at around 3,000 metres.Source: Funivia dell'Etna; Wikipedia

Questions to bring to Sicily

From Sojourn's journeys. Ask one over a long dinner or on a slow walk, and let the place do some of the work.

Going together

• When do you feel most like yourself?
• What does rest actually look like for you?
• What is one thing you wish we did more of?

Going solo

• What is the first thing this place is showing you that you didn't expect?
• What does this version of you know that the home version tends to forget?

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