White Almond Sicily

Taormina has always been renowned as a destination for visitors from the British Isles ever since the 18th Century with many leaving a legacy of history and romance. From the aristocracy on the Grand Tour to poets, writers, movie stars and pop idols. Many of these visitors decided to stay and make the town their home.  In the 1980's, aka my teenage years, pop stars were charmed by Taormina with one so much so that he built a hotel.  Scottish singer/songwriter Jim Kerr the lead singer of the band Simple Minds fell in love with Sicily when he visited on tour and later set up a hotel on the hillside above Taormina and the town became his second home just like us. He named the hotel Villa Angela.  Simple Minds are one of my all time favourite bands and I apologise profusely now to my neighbours in Giardini Naxos for playing their Greatest Hits CD repeatedly on my roof terrace. Simple Minds are a Scottish rock band formed in Glasgow in 1977. They have released a string of hit ...

As most of my regular Blog followers will know every morning I check the internet for any news or articles about Sicily or anything Sicilian which I then share with you. Earlier this year several articles popped up on the same day with news that the producers of an American TV series called 'The White Lotus' would be setting their second season in Taormina. The White Lotus is a comedy-drama television series created, written and directed by Mike White that premiered on the US HBO channel in July 2021. The series was filmed in Hawaii in late 2020 and featured a ensemble cast including Hollywood actress and comedian Jennifer Coolidge. I had never heard of it and so I immediately downloaded the first season to see what it was all about ... The first season consists of six episodes and features the lives of the staff and guests at a fictional tropical luxury resort in Hawaii. The series details a week in the life of vacationers as they relax and rejuvenate in paradise. With each pa...