Inspired by my Greek granny’s delicious recipes, I set out four years ago with my friend and fellow cook Iska Lupton to write Grand Dishes, a book of recipes and stories collected from grandmothers around the world. And we can now reveal some of the best foodie spots that have truly great grandmothers at the … Read more
It was unlikely that the residents of Islamic Sicily drank alcohol, but that didn’t stop them being involved in a possible thriving wine trade, according to a new study. Chemical residues of grapes found in medieval containers from Sardinia and Pisa led researchers from the University of York to speculate on how they were used. … Read more
It was unlikely that the residents of Islamic Sicily drank alcohol, but that didn’t stop them being involved in a possible thriving wine trade, according to a new study. Chemical residues of grapes found in medieval containers from Sardinia and Pisa led researchers from the University of York to speculate on how they were used. … Read more
An eruption at Mount Etna sent a violent stream of lava and smoke hundreds of feet into the air above Sicily Sunday night. Volcanic activity was first detected from the southeast crater shortly before 9:30pm local time. The eruption lasted through Monday morning, with a dense ash plume some three miles high and lava fountains … Read more
Sicily is the triple distillation of Italy. The sun is fiercer, the wine stronger, the sweets sweeter, the shadows darker, the baroque more baroque. And, it has to be said, the dirt dirtier. Every writer comments on the island’s severe contrasts: great beauty and the smell of jasmine here, bloodstains and brutal poverty there. The … Read more
A boy of 11 spent 93 days walking 1,700 miles from Sicily to London with his father so he could give his grandmother a special lockdown cuddle. Schoolboy Romeo Cox set off from Palermo on June 20 with his father Phil, 46, on a journey through Italy, Switzerland and France. The pair fought off a … Read more
Thom Yorke has married his girlfriend of three years Dajana Roncione in Sicily, four years after the death of his ex-partner Dr Rachel Owen. The Radiohead singer, 51, and Italian actress, 36, tied the knot on Saturday at the 18th century villa Valguarnera in Bagheria, reports Italian Vanity Fair. During the celebrations, the happy couple ensured all … Read more
HISTORY SICILY ’43 by James Holland (Bantam £25, 640 pp) Sicily was a tough nut to crack for the Allied forces from Britain, Canada and the U.S., who landed on the enemy-occupied Mediterranean island in the blistering summer of 1943. They came from fighting Rommel’s tanks on the wide open deserts of North Africa to … Read more
Sicily may be awash with Unesco World Heritage Sites (seven, including Mount Etna) but the unspoilt south-eastern shores of this Mediterranean island have a more contemporary appeal thanks to the success of fictional detective Inspector Montalbano. Jumping from the pages of Sicilian author Andrea Camilleri’s best-selling novels and inspired by his homeland, the TV adaptation … Read more
A rugged private island off the coast of Sicily that boasts a 17th-century watch tower and medieval ruins has hit the market for £1.7million. The island, called Isola delle Femmine, is an uninhabited, wild 37-acre atoll, almost 1,000 feet from the mainland, close to the city of Palermo. It is located within a protected marine … Read more