White Almond Sicily

Sicily is a place full of myths, legends and love. There are many love stories associated with the island, both fact and fiction. From stories of nymphs and river gods from Greek mythology, love struck Hollywood movie stars, books written by some of the worlds most famous literary authors and operas that depict lives of lost loves and loveless marriages. Some stories have happy endings and some not so happy endings. Then there is the legends of Le Teste di Moro, the Legends of the Moorish Heads. A unique story to Sicily of love, betrayal, revenge and basil. Yes that's right basil. Sicily is also a place well known for its beautiful and colourful ceramics and as you walk around towns and villages one of the most popular examples you will see are the beautiful ceramic heads of Moorish characters, especially if you look up at balconies where some will be overflowing with plants. You will also see a lot of these heads for sale in ceramic shops. Many people ask me what the signif...

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 ...