White Almond Sicily

This year the city of Palermo is enjoying its status as the 'Italian City of Culture 2018'. If you are a regular follower of my Blog you will already know that twice a year we drive between London and Sicily with our rescue dog Daisy. Part of our road trip involves taking a 20 hour ferry from Genoa to Palermo and vice versa. Friends and contacts in the Palermo area always exclaim "But why do you never stop to see us?" My answer is always;  The ferry arrives late in the evening and then we have a three hour onward journey home and then when departing you really do not want to see me on the day I leave Sicily as it involves a lot of tears and sobbing, not a pretty sight. This year we decided that instead of moping around the house on our last day with sad faces that we would leave a few hours early and have a wander around Palermo with Daisy before boarding the ferry. Palermo is the Capital City of Sicily. It is quite impossible to summarise the extraordinary ...

The wine industry in Sicily has been going through a period of rapid change over the past twenty years. The popularity and prestige of Sicilian wine is rapidly on the rise across the world. One of the best experiences in Sicily is wine tasting. Two years ago I was lucky to be introduced to Louisa Vittorio and Marco Patti, owners of Villa Britannia in Taormina, by my lovely friend Teresa who lives in our town. Teresa's son used to go to the same school as Marco and the two have remained great friends ever since. Two years ago we visited the villa to explore and learn more about their fabulous cooking classes and we absolutely fell in love with it and have returned many times since. An eight minute walk from the centre of Taormina, Villa Britannia is a small exclusive boutique bed and breakfast located in a tranquil position overlooking the town and the Ionian Sea. The villa is surrounded by a beautiful garden which hosts an ancient Roman soldiers tomb. Marco and Louisa hav...