White Almond Sicily

"The Climate's delicate, the air most sweet ... Fertile the isle. The temple much surpassing the common praise it bears" William Shakespeare, Winter's Tale Act III, Scene I The Almond Blossom Festival of Agrigento ( Festa del Fiore del Mandorlo ) is probably one of the most famous events in Sicily's calendar and it is when Agrigento literally goes NUTS !!!!! This famous festival is always held in late February or early March, months with which, thanks to Sicily's mild temperatures, the spring awakening begins. The Sicilian countryside is filled with delicate white almond blossoms and the famous Valley of the Temples ( Valle dei Templi ) in Agrigento offers a wonderful panorama for the festival. The almond blossoms are celebrated as the first sign of spring. Once the delicate pinkish white almond blossom appear, spring will not be too far behind, well at least in Sicily. The festival originally started in a small town in the province of Ag...

Sicily is an island full of myths, legends and romance and the town of Taormina on the eastern coast has been described as one of the most romantic towns in Europe. We first visited Sicily fifteen years ago after I read about Taormina in a magazine article titled "Alternative Valentines Weekend Destinations". We booked a weekend away and fell in love at first sight with Sicily, its culture and its people and two years later we bought our Sicilian home. Reading is a passion of mine and I have been a book worm since birth. Over the past twelve years I have accumulated quite a few books about Sicily, in fact one of our friends who once stayed in our home messaged me on arrival to say "I cannot believe that so many books have been written about Sicily". He also wanted to know why I had cat food in my kitchen cupboard, but that is a story for another time. I am a bit of a romantic therefore I do love a romance novel to read whilst I am relaxing on my roof terra...