White Almond Sicily

Each year the International book festival ‘Taobuk’ is held in Taormina, the festivals aim is to attract fans and readers of literature which Taormina has a rich history of. Most of the events are held in Taormina’s most beautiful places. At last year’s festival, the City of Taormina introduced Taormina Cult, a trail through Taormina showing  ‘21 places where the muses found their home’. It is a thematic route through and around the town which includes culture, history, literature, cinema, art and gives honour to Taormina’s glorious past. I am not going to reveal everything about the 21 places because I think it is a wonderful thing for you to discover  whilst walking the trail. Each place has its own marker detailing its story, which starts at: The Grand Hotel Excelsior and Renzino Barbera The Grand Hotel Excelsior was built in 1904 and is a wonderful example of Moorish style architecture. One of its most frequent guests w...

Ragusa Ilba Inspector Montalbano is a fictional character created by the author Andrea Camillieri in a series of novels. The character was then adapted for TV and the main character Salvo Montalbano works in the fictional town of Vigata in the equally fictional district of Montelusa. Last month we had a friend staying with us who is a massive Inspector Montalbano fan, it was her first time visiting Sicily and she was eager to see the filming locations of the popular detective series shown on UK’s BBC4. My husband (also a big Montalbano fan) and I had been down to the beautiful South East corner of Sicily where the series is filmed two years ago with our dog Daisy, I thought it would be wonderful to book a guided excursion for myself and my friend. I found a Noemi Viaggi Tour called “The Montalbano Filming Locations Tour”. The itinerary follows in the footsteps of Montalbano which would visit some of the most important historical sites in South East Sicily. Our pick...

"Montalbano Sono" “Montalbano felt moved. This was real friendship, Sicilian friendship, the kind based on intuition, on what was left unsaid. With a true friend, one never needs to ask, because the other understands on his own accordingly.”  Andrea Camilleri, The Snack Thief Inspector Montalbano is an Italian television series based on the bestselling detective novels by the author Andrea Camilleri, it has been broadcasted by the Italian television channel RAI since 1999 and came to UK screens on BBC4 with English subtitles. In 2012 RAI commissioned a spin off series Young Montalbano. The popular books have been translated in 32 languages. Andrea Camellieri was born in Sicily and is one of Italy’s most famous contemporary writers and his books have sold over 65 million copies worldwide. The Inspector Montalbano stories are set in the imaginary Sicilian town of Vigata. Salvo Montalbano is the police commissioner of Vigata, a gruff character who is res...