Cruise Ship Disaster

A day before its port call at Palermo during a Western Mediterranean cruise, Costa Cruises' flagship, the Concordia, was abandoned off Elba, near the Tuscan coast, last night around the dinner hour following a lateral collision with a large reef. By daylight, more than half of the gigantic ship was submerged sidewise. At least three are reported dead, but most of the 4,229 passengers, including over 1,000 crew, were rescued. It is being reported that 40 or more were injured and dozens may be missing.

Reports state that the chaotic scene was dominated by panic, with most passengers crowding into lifeboats while a few jumped into the cold water to swim to shore, and the largely Asian crew fluent, for the most part, in English but not Italian; communication was difficult as almost half the passengers were Italians lacking any mastery of English. The passengers were from all over the world, many from Europe but some from as far away as Japan, Argentina and the United States. The captain, who abandoned ship before his passengers were evacuated (this is a crime in Italy), is being held by police. In 2008 the Concordia had a minor accident in the Port of Palermo when it scraped a pier during a storm.

At 290 metres (950 feet) in length, the Concordia, which was built in Italy in 2005 at a cost of 450 million euros, is a particularly large ship boasting seven restaurants, thirteen bars, four pools and even several "artificial beaches." The spa alone is the largest of any cruise ship, and the theatre holds a similar record. In fact, the Concordia is one of the largest civilian passenger vessels of European registry (Costa is owned by Carnival Cruise Lines, a British-American firm), with accommodation for 3,700 guests. It typically calls at Palermo at least a dozen times each year. That obviously won't be the case in 2012.

Beat the Heat (and crowds) - Sicily in Winter

The new year begins with a particularly "travel-oriented" issue of our online magazine.

Stefania Lanza's article lists great reasons for visiting Sicily during the cooler months of the "low season." Saving money is one reason, but austerity is back in style - even here in Italy - and Conchita Vecchio's article is dedicated entirely to seeing Palermo on a limited budget.

Finally there's the long-awaited article on cooking classes in Sicily. This provides information on cooking lessons around Sicily in various settings. Bizarre as it may seem, very few online publishers have ever attempted such a list. The author, Roberta Gangi (herself a good cook), thinks that's because there's usually "self-interest" involved in promoting one cooking program over another. For transparency, we should mention that two of the cooks listed in her article do, in fact, advertise their cooking courses on Best of Sicily, but we have no connection whatsoever to the others.

Revenge of the Bed & Breakfasts

Imagine, in an absurd scenario, that a successful hotelier, à la Wizard of Oz, decided to bully smaller establishments out of business by.... closing down the Internet!

Yes, I realize you've just done an ocular double-take at that last sentence, but such a proposal was put forth by a hotel owner during a sector conference last summer. Attributing declining reservations at his hotels to the increasing number of local bed and breakfasts that were, in his words, "stealing business 'unfairly' because the Internet is unregulated," it makes you wonder if this bizarro diktat took place in North Korea, or any other country where the Web has a gag order. It didn't. It happened in Sicily.

Luckily this outrageous, painfully ignorant suggestion fell on deaf ears, and we don't know if it was ever taken seriously considering that, while this poor soul is blind to reality, many on the island are very fine tuned to the power of the Web to promote their businesses, and none more so than bed and breakfast owners, who forgo agency middlemen and do it all themselves.

Though the so-called "historical hotels" have been catering to glitterati and power brokers for decades, in this day and age of economic restraints travelers, even well-heeled ones, are trading in oft-overrated lavishness for cozier surroundings. We cannot guarantee that B&Bs are what they advertise to be - we've heard stories of B&Bs being, literally, bed and bugs. Others offer services that parallel 5-star concierges. Bed and breakfasts in Sicily are a viable, tangible alternative for those who don't want to spend a fortune on lodgings or seek a familial setting in the city they are visiting, something they would be deprived of at an impersonal hotel.

As Dorothy concluded, there's no place like home.

Happy Holidays!

Here in Italy the Christmas season lasts through the Epiphany, a national holiday observed on January 6th. In Sicily this December has been cool enough, with a touch of rain, to feel like late autumn - that is, "autumn" in the central Mediterranean. (Our last post mentioned Sicily's first snow of 2011).

As one of our editors, who spent many years in London and New York, put it, winter in Sicily is like autumn in certain parts of the United States or Britain but without an overcoat. That seems like a good description of the weather, if not the atmosphere.

The picture shows the portico of Palermo's imposing, neoclassical Teatro Massimo, Sicily's largest opera house, decorated for this year's Christmas holiday. Fans of the gangster genre of films may recognise it as the setting of one of the final (violent) scenes of The Godfather Part 3.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from the staff of Best of Sicily!

First Snow of 2011

Okay, so Sicily's first snow of 2011 was on Mount Etna and then in the Nebrodi Mountains a week or two ago, but our annual "measure" is based on visible snow on the mountains around Palermo - which aren't nearly as high as the higher peaks of the Madonie or Nebrodi, not to mention Etna.

Yes, a few of Sicily's higher towns may actually have a white Christmas this year.

The arrival of the first snow heralds the true Sicilian winter, such as it is, with a touch of cooler temperatures and rain. For many of you reading this, that's comparable to autumn.

Here in Sicily it's a welcome event.

St Lucy's Day

Happy Saint Lucy's Day. In commemoration of prayers to Saint Lucy having been answered with the arrival of a shipload of grain during a 17th-century famine, only unmilled grain is served today. This is either arancini, or rice balls (shown here) or a wheat pudding known as cuccìa.

Patroness of Siracusa, Lucy (Lucia) was an early Christian martyr born in Sicily but widely venerated.

Today you won't find bakeries or pizzerias open, and few restaurants here in Sicily will even serve pasta. But there'll be lots of rice!

The Magione

Located in the same part of Palermo as the medieval castles - or fortress-like palaces - of the Steri and Palazzo Abatellis, the Magione, constructed late in the 12th century, is one of the world's smallest basilicas. For centuries the monastic setting, with its splendid cloister, was a commandery of the Teutonic Order. These German knights arrived with the Hohenstaufen monarch Henry VI just a few years after the church was built for the Cistercians.

Overlooked by most "tourist itineraries," the Magione is open for most of the day, Monday through Saturday, with mass Sunday morning, and well worth a visit. Read about it in the current issue of our Sicily magazine.

Martorana Fruit and Sea Urchins

Bad as the Italian economy is, Italians can still allow themselves a few culinary pleasures - call them luxuries.

Pasta Reale or Martorana Fruit is a pastry made of almond marzipan shaped and decorated to resemble actual fruit. It's popular during the cooler months. Sooner or later, Winter arrives even here in Sicily. Read about Martorana Fruit in Roberta Gangi's article in the December magazine.

Another of her articles published this month is dedicated to sea urchins. Like Martorana Fruit, these are a Winter food in Sicily.

Christmas Season in Sicily

The sluggish economy hasn't affected Sicily's Christmas season too much as far as we can see. It's true that a number of shops have closed, especially in Catania and Palermo (Sicily's largest cities), but the shopping season is upon us and people seem to be buying. Yet certain national trends can be discerned. Italian newspapers report that parents of young children are becoming more frugal than in the past in view of less money circulating. A series of budget cuts to be announced by the prime minister next week will certainly have an effect - with some taxes reduced while others are increased. Sales (value-added) tax was recently increased to 21% and in 2012 will probably be hiked up again, to 23%, placing it on a par with Denmark's.

It seems that somebody at the infamously mediocre University of Palermo, surely one of the worst institutions of higher learning in Europe, decided to give students an early Christmas "present" in the form of stolen exams, but not for free. Yesterday the Palermo edition of La Repubblica reported that around thirty professors and staff are under investigation for selling exams. Maybe they needed the extra money?

FIAT and other disasters

Yesterday FIAT's plant in Termini Imerese closed its doors after 41 years, laying off over 1500 workers. Coming on the heels of recent flash floods and mudslides near Messina, which claimed several lives, this culminated a week of what seemed like Biblical Plagues.

The FIAT debacle is more complicated than a generic natural disaster. At one point the workers were offered majority or even full ownership of the plant but refused. Instead, most preferred to remain employees rather than to become the owners of an automobile plant. And most had worked in the plant for decades. The fact is that the era of permanent blue-collar jobs is coming to an end, at least in Europe.

The plant was a rather unusual proposition from the beginning, propped up by loads of public money to "persuade" (read bribe) Italy's - and now the world's - largest auto maker to set up shop in Sicily. Even for Italy, which has bailed out FIAT many times over the years, this seemed excessive. By 2005 the plant's productivity and efficiency were being questioned, for a variety of reasons, while many workers were absent at rates far beyond the national norm.

Tragic as the closure is for workers and their families, 1500 employees are not very significant, statistically speaking, in a region (Sicily) of five million. While the human cost is obvious, this is part of a general trend as numerous businesses have closed across Sicily and around Italy over the last few years, with precious few successful new ones to take their place. FIAT just happens to employ more people than the typical clothing store.

Not a pretty picture.

Bankrupt? Italy's Crisis & La Dolce Vita

Italy, the third-largest economy in the eurozone, while in trouble (read the insightful ABC News article published yesterday), probably won't reach the "meltdown" point of Greece, but changes are inevitable, beginning with the prime minister. Most changes will be budget cuts and tax increases. And perhaps a few more street protests, mostly by public-sector employees.

From a recent AP story: "Italy's economy is hampered by high wage costs, low productivity, fat government payrolls, excessive taxes, choking bureaucracy, and an educational system that produces one of the lowest levels of college graduates among rich countries."

Italy has more public employees than most European nations (per capita). The occasional street protest is a way of life here in Sicily, and in Italy generally, so for most visitors it's an annoying but "acceptable" inconvenience. The sights, sites and monuments will still be open.

That's not to suggest that the effects of the economic recession in Sicily are not evident to those who live here, but for the most part, Italy's economic problems aren't something you (as a visitor) would actually see unless you scratched beneath the surface. Even unemployment, though a statistical reality, seems "invisible" here in Italy. That's because most "young" people live with parents until marriage or placement in a decent job, even well into their 30s, so despite high unemployment there aren't a lot of homeless people about or, for that matter, twentysomethings struggling to pay the rent. And it's true that the restaurants are always full - of Italians, not just tourists - while Italians rarely deny themselves a vacation abroad. La dolce vita is alive and well in Italy. Viva l'Italia!

Best of Sicily for iPhone and Android

Here in Italy, Samsung and Apple may be fighting over patent rights, but that hasn't stopped us from launching a site that works with both phones (Samsung's uses the Android operating system).

We've had a small mobile site since 2006, long before any other site here in Sicily (or even many dealing with Sicily). With the recent generation of devices - smart phones introduced since around 2008 - it's possible to access certain websites without much loss in quality. Luckily, Best of Sicily, with our simple design, is one of them, so the "iPhone site" is really just a few pages you're automatically directed to when you visit us using an iPhone or various phones that use Android.

The practical result of this is that it's easier than ever to take Best of Sicily with you wherever you go, including Italy.

The Crusades and Sicily

Debated even today, the Crusades were the ultimate expression of medieval adventure. Legend and literature may have idealized this kind of thing in some ways, but there's no doubt that the Crusades left their mark on history - even if scholars can't quite agree about what that mark is. Despite what some people think, the campaigns themselves did little to alter the course of European history generally. There's little to suggest that life in Europe would have developed much differently had the Crusades never taken place.

They were really little more than a violent side show, but they did touch Sicily in the person of such colorful characters as Richard Lionheart, Frederick II and Saint Louis. Read about them in our article on the Crusades and Sicily in the November Magazine now online.

Best of Sicily Site on Tuesday, October 18th

Best of Sicily is down for maintenance for a few hours. It happens.

In fact, our server has only been down for about five hours in the last five years. It's amazingly reliable.

Thank you for your patience.

Save on Sicily Tours in 2012!

We occasionally make announcements of a commercial nature on this blog, the point being that Best of Sicily is a commercial site that receives no money whatsoever from any public source and isn't part of a media conglomerate. It's independent but - like most newspapers and publishing houses - commercial. The site is free, but (clearly indicated) advertising pays the bills. So here's the news...

Until November 15th there's a discount on certain of our tours of Sicily for 2012. If you search the web for tours of comparable quality (and with relatively small groups) you'll find that nobody beats these prices. We hope to see you in Sicily next year!

Sicily's New Synagogue

The city of Siracusa, in antiquity Sicily's most important Greek city and home to its largest Jewish community, again has a synagogue after five centuries. There is a Reform congregation in Calabria; the one in Siracusa is affiliated with the Orthodox community in Rome.

This revived community has made use of the ancient mikveh (ritual bath) in the city's Ortygia district, and a few of its "Returning Jews" are Sicilians descended from the Jews in Sicily before the expulsions and forced conversions of 1493. Tracing Sicilian Jewish genealogy is rarely simple, but in some cases these families might be described as anusim or even Crypto Jews. Labels aside, they're part of an important faith tradition that was hidden or lost for too long.

For more information visit their site, SiciliaEbraica.It.

First Rain September 2011

Last year (2010), almost to the day, it fell on September 6th - but far more substantially. This year Sicily's first real rain since late June fell tonight just around 11. Here it's shown as a drop of water on a plane tree (sycamore) leaf.

Bizarre as it may seem, this is always a quasi-mystical experience, even if it lasts for just a few minutes. Not only does the rain literally clear the air, it foreshadows a change of seasons. Of course, it'll be unbearably hot for another two or three weeks. I only wish we'd had a real shower...

Paradise on Earth

This sounds like an improbable possibility in a chaotic and modern city like Palermo (the 5th largest in Italy today), but there was a time in the past, during the reign of the Norman Kings of Sicily, when miles and miles of the area outside the medieval city walls carried this title in Arabic. I'm referring the the "Genoard" as the Normans called it giving its Arabic name "Gennat-al-ard" a French sound easier to pronounce in their native tongue.

Travellers during the twelfth century have left us descriptions of the palaces, pavillions (like the one shown here) and vast park. A visit to these places today really puts our imagination to the test, but you can still see the Zisa castle, the Cuba and more.

Read about all this in my new article in the September issue of Best of Sicily Magazine.

The War Next Door (Part 9)

Libya's rebels have taken most of Tripoli, the capital, and while their struggle is far from over it is clear that democracy - in some form - lies on the horizon.

Peace and a decent government will be greeted with relief by all in the region, including Italy. Democracy comes at a price, and Libya's path toward better government is just beginning.

The effects of the Libyan conflict in Sicily were minimal - a few planes launched from air bases and (more significantly) the arrival of thousands of refugees off Sicily's islands.

Parts of Libya are still controlled by the dictator's forces, and this morning a few tanks emerged from the (former) leader's fortified compound in a final military effort. It'll take weeks to defeat or assimilate all of the regime's remaining defenders. But the future looks good.

The Beaches of August

No better time than August to discover the beaches of Sicily. The season reaches its peak mid-month, the week of Ferragosto, as the 15th of August (a Monday this year) is commonly known nowadays. To Catholics it's the Feast of the Assumption. Ferragosto as a beach holiday emerged with Italy's "beach culture" in the late 1950s.

Beach addicts from cooler climes will tell you that Sicily's waters are warm enough to swim in well into September, even early October. Check out our Sicily weather page for current conditions.