Adelaidean : Sorry you had to go to work today. Retirement has its benefits, even for retirees who also live in the burbs. Cefalu is arguably one of the nicest places in Italy, not just Sicily. It is busy, but has a bit more of a local feel than crowded Taormina. And, a lot of the day-trippers are Italians. We have loved Taormina, since we first visited there in 2008 (and we will visit it two times before this report concludes), but its crowds can be a lot more international, reminiscent of Venice. (Of course, although we all hate crowds, there usually is a reason for those crowds).

Today’s drive into the Madonie mountains was well away from the coast. The first stage was a major north south autostrade, which for miles was over an elevated roadway through valleys. We were worried when blue lights approached us from the rear, but the five vehicle caravan included three security vehicles for what looked like two prisoner vans. Once off the highway, we were amazed that in a drought-stricken island that we passed so many verdant fields. One little town, Blufi, was prepping for an upcoming wild fennel festival.

It may not be politically correct to show quotes from someone like Mussolini today, but medieval Gangi still proudly displays: “Nobody thinks of folding without first having fought hard”. In the 1920’s, under Mussolini’s direction, police stormed this tiny town and violently arrested 130 Mafia fugitives and 300 accomplices. The main square to this day is called “Victims of the Mafia.”

On a gorgeous Saturday, we again were the only visible tourists. We visited the two Palazzos (one mostly an art gallery and the other with magnificent ceiling frescoes and Murano glass chandeliers). The latter one was free since it also seemed like a small city hall. There is also a beautiful Cathedral with the town’s signature bell tower. The views of unspoiled countryside and a steaming Mt. Etna are incredible.

Gangi was re-discovered more than 10 years ago when the village launched the first one euro home sale in Italy. This helped the town spruce up enough to get recognition as one of Italy’s prettiest villages, an honor all three of today’s destinations have earned.









Blufi









Gangi

Geraci Siculo, way up in the Madonie Mountains, is another of Italy’s “prettiest villages.” The drive to the town is spectacular, with enough hair-pin turns that it was part of the old famous Targa Florio auto race and now the rally.

It is clear they do welcome tourists, even though we didn't see any others. They have some photogenic castle ruins, pubic bathrooms, and even a small steel reinforced glass balcony for visitors to step out over the long drop below. Francisco Ventimiglia, the Count of Geraci, in 1337 on that very spot, while fleeing royal troops, made a famous last leap on his horse into that precipice.

On a Saturday, under warm bright blue skies, we were hungry, but couldn’t find anything open. The only activity was in the smallish Piazza del Populo, where construction workers had a chunk of the large stone removed for some underground repairs. We saw the priest from the beautiful closed church on the square open the door to a bar across the way that appeared to be closed. We started to follow him in, as we saw him pour himself a drink from the bar. The owner, who had been watching the construction work outside, beckoned us inside his tiny shop, where all we saw was hard liquor, potato chips, gum and packaged ice cream. Seeing our disappointment with the limited options, he asked if we wanted pasta or perhaps antipasto or even a sandwich. We thought he was kidding. Within seconds, though, he had us set up outside on plastic chairs and table, with a perfect view of the dusty construction works. He brought us two tall glasses of some nice local white wine, and then he brought us a prosciutto and cheese sandwich on some fresh crusty bread. He was pleased that we were pleased. This was truly the “People’s Square.”

The highest village in the Madonie Mountains is Petralia Sorprana. We were looking for an “urban geology trail” and didn’t see it until we realized that was in Petralia Sottana, another area mountain town. Next time.

This was another nice medieval town with empty but neat streets. We substituted our occasional late afternoon Aperol Spritz for an unusual (for Italy) mojito (as good as ones we have had in Havana). Friendly people. Maybe this quiet town has a week-end restaurant business as two police officers stationed themselves in the main square and turned away cars (possible ZTL enforcement). It seemed that the village’s entire population was crowded into a second floor gelato establishment off the square, which still has signs of supporting Italy’s last King, Umberto II, who served only 34 days at the end of WWII.

Whitehall, your pictures are gorgeous. I pray that we will have your weather this October in Sicily. I loved the most recent post from you following the Priest and the owner offering you up a beautiful sandwich and wine lunch. The beauty of travel and an unforgettable experience all in one afternoon. Thank you for sharing this with us all. It makes me look forward to getting back out to a place where I get to experience what life is like for something else. Life is good.

mcsles : Thank you. They say October has a bit more rain but similar temperatures. Our prior visits were in November, and we were warned to expect lots of rain, and we had perfect weather. And, yes, life is good.

I tried to get a quick photo from behind the priest, self pouring his drink; but he turned around before I snapped it and perhaps awkwardly raised that toast. He spoke no English but communicated with us via google translate and was interested in our trip. We hinted it would be nice to see his closed church, but he didn’t bite.

As we drove east, we noticed one of the two scenic points on either side of Cefalu that are owned by private resorts. Less than 10 miles away from Cefalu, our GPS showed we were in Pollino, a beautiful little village, but it was fooled and took us instead to the seafront town of Finale, which is in the larger commune of Pollina. From the sea, we looked up and saw, in the distance, a wonderfully sited hill town, perched on the top of a mountain, and guessed that was where we needed to go. It was a much longer drive up than expected, but that made it a more gradual and appreciated climb on some wider than normal and smoother roads than we often saw in Sicily.

At the top, you get some of the highest and most spectacular views of the back side of Cefalu's mountain, and even some glimpses of the Aeolian islands rising from the haze. The centerpiece of this town is its amphitheater, perfectly sited for spectators to take advantage of views of the Madonie Mountains. It is often described as an ancient theater, and we have been unable to find its history, but there are some references to a 1979 construction. Not sure if that means re-construction, but, unlike the famous larger one in Taormina, this one is too perfect to be a dated original.

There is a tiny narrow castle adjacent to the theater and a park-like area, with remarkable vistas, on the way up that locals were enjoying on this quiet Sunday morning.

This is an area also known for Biblical manna, the sweet stuff that flows from the manna ash tree, honored by a sculpture in small Plaza Kennedy.

A fine report, with great photos. Maybe a bit wordy or detailed at times, but I think it generally compares favorably to travel articles I’ve seen in magazines or newspaper travel sections.

Rather that just repeat the praise in the preceding comments, which I could easily do, I will mention the way you persuaded me, someone averse to high-level tourist destinations, that Sicily is still worth considering. As you know, it wasn’t long ago that Sicily was relatively unknown and still daunting (and may still be to some northern Italians!); then in recent times it jumped way up in the tourism ranks, to the point that we can even find guide books devoted entirely to this Vermont-sized island (though it’s remarkable how much the Sicilians have packed into that area). I had begun to wonder whether I had missed my chance, years ago, to see an “unspoilt” Sicily. Anyway, even though you could not honestly deny the island’s current “tourism quotient,” you at least succeeded in showing that the situation is more nuanced than one might think, and that it may still be worth-while for independent travellers like me, who are dead serious when we talk about getting off the heavy tourist trail. Among your photos I did wince a bit at a sidewalk cafe called “Slurp,” a “Red Orange Juice” sign (both suspiciously non-Italian looking), or that “I {heart} Paterno“ sign (couldn’t it at least have been “Io [heart] Paterno “?). But then, if there are still places where a local resident can recognize you as among the infrequent tourists in his town and greet you personally, or where you can leave they keys in your car for three hours without consequence, there must be hope.

I don’t know when I’ll make it back to Italy — the current economy threatens to upset my travel plans (a reltively tolerable fate, compared to what some people may have to go through). But thanks in large measure to your report, Sicily is at least back on my list.

We spotted our next destination from the amphitheater at Pollina. Castelbuono is a beautiful mountain town that was very busy with tourists when we got there late morning Sunday, but had virtually no one there after lunch.

It seems they get bus tours to see the remarkable castle and taste the famous panettone or the cakes sweetened with manna that comes from the sap of local ash trees. And, then after lunch, they all leave.

The castle is in great shape and is largely a museum, art, archeology and religious items. But it also has the most ornate chapel we have ever seen in a castle.

The town promotes itself as a nuclear free zone and has a very big “peace” chair from which you can view the mountains. Of course, there are the usual nice churches including one with an impressive side altar. Nuns supervising kids playing foosball. And, lots of food..

For someone looking for a great Sicilian town, not too crowded, that’s a bit off the radar, this would be on our short list.

We had the same experience in Castelbuono that you did. Quite a few tourists when we arrived (which we were surprised by) and then suddenly when we headed to lunch they were all gone. I think we were the only ones left at that point. Which was lovely. A great little town. We also visited from Cefalu- which we liked way more than we expected. Thanks for the great trip report!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Faedus

A fine report, with great photos. Maybe a bit wordy or detailed at times, but I think it generally compares favorably to travel articles I’ve seen in magazines or newspaper travel sections.

Rather that just repeat the praise in the preceding comments, which I could easily do, I will mention the way you persuaded me, someone averse to high-level tourist destinations, that Sicily is still worth considering. As you know, it wasn’t long ago that Sicily was relatively unknown and still daunting (and may still be to some northern Italians!); then in recent times it jumped way up in the tourism ranks, to the point that we can even find guide books devoted entirely to this Vermont-sized island (though it’s remarkable how much the Sicilians have packed into that area). I had begun to wonder whether I had missed my chance, years ago, to see an “unspoilt” Sicily. Anyway, even though you could not honestly deny the island’s current “tourism quotient,” you at least succeeded in showing that the situation is more nuanced than one might think, and that it may still be worth-while for independent travellers like me, who are dead serious when we talk about getting off the heavy tourist trail. Among your photos I did wince a bit at a sidewalk cafe called “Slurp,” a “Red Orange Juice” sign (both suspiciously non-Italian looking), or that “I {heart} Paterno“ sign (couldn’t it at least have been “Io [heart] Paterno “?). But then, if there are still places where a local resident can recognize you as among the infrequent tourists in his town and greet you personally, or where you can leave they keys in your car for three hours without consequence, there must be hope.

I don’t know when I’ll make it back to Italy — the current economy threatens to upset my travel plans (a reltively tolerable fate, compared to what some people may have to go through). But thanks in large measure to your report, Sicily is at least back on my list.

Thank you. You are a very observant poster. Some of the “wordiness” perhaps is due to my preference to pre-address some of the attached photos so I can avoid doing a lot of captions.

We often say “if only” we could go back in time, even for a day, so we are with you. But time, even in Sicily, doesn’t stand still. After all, they now have many F**k stores and lots of other stuff you see everywhere. We only hope that the ability to shop in three or four specialty stores, rather than a large supermarket, will last another generation or two.

There is a love for things in English (common language for many tourists) and quite a lot of things American. By the way, "Slurp" had really good gelato. And, we only discovered the red juice after seeing those slick photos of the red stuff.

Quote:

Originally Posted by valgalchi

We had the same experience in Castelbuono that you did. Quite a few tourists when we arrived (which we were surprised by) and then suddenly when we headed to lunch they were all gone. I think we were the only ones left at that point. Which was lovely. A great little town. We also visited from Cefalu- which we liked way more than we expected. Thanks for the great trip report!

Thank you. I don't think we were in any other town that had the spigot turn off as abruptly as in Castelbuono. What time of year were you in Sicily? Curious to know what people think of places like Cefalu when the peak beach season (July/August) hits?

Thanks for the response, a little above -- and, maybe, for the catalogue of additional English signage! On another theme, perhaps the only problem with this most engaging of forum posts is, as I'm sure you know, its extraordinary length. This is not a criticism, but only a hint that some people who want to, or should, get through it all, may not be able to -- even I had to sneak in more time for it than I probably could have afforded! Of course this is due largely to the many great photos, and though they are essential, perhaps some are expendable. (One photo of garbage bags might have made the relevant point.) And while I'm not the one to lecture, having failed to get any photos at all onto a report once, perhaps there's some way of turning a lot of them into "thumbnail-style," expandable by clicking -- though several should be left full-size, just so they're not overlooked. (Note that I'm just trying to suggest how a great trip report might be made just a little more accessible.)

Sorry to get a bit wordy myself, but on the topic of photos: while it's hard to pick favorites among so many great pictures, one that utterly astonished me was an archway view, I think from Castelbuono. The contrast between the plain, dusty-brown wall around the periphery, and the crystal-clear street scene through the arch, leading off to green hills beyond, was amazing. That archway view could almost have been a mosaic embedded on those medieval walls.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Faedus

Thanks for the response, a little above -- and, maybe, for the catalogue of additional English signage! On another theme, perhaps the only problem with this most engaging of forum posts is, as I'm sure you know, its extraordinary length. This is not a criticism, but only a hint that some people who want to, or should, get through it all, may not be able to -- even I had to sneak in more time for it than I probably could have afforded! Of course this is due largely to the many great photos, and though they are essential, perhaps some are expendable. (One photo of garbage bags might have made the relevant point.) And while I'm not the one to lecture, having failed to get any photos at all onto a report once, perhaps there's some way of turning a lot of them into "thumbnail-style," expandable by clicking -- though several should be left full-size, just so they're not overlooked. (Note that I'm just trying to suggest how a great trip report might be made just a little more accessible.)

Sorry to get a bit wordy myself, but on the topic of photos: while it's hard to pick favorites among so many great pictures, one that utterly astonished me was an archway view, I think from Castelbuono. The contrast between the plain, dusty-brown wall around the periphery, and the crystal-clear street scene through the arch, leading off to green hills beyond, was amazing. That archway view could almost have been a mosaic embedded on those medieval walls.

Thanks again. I have tried to keep the verbiage to a minimum since, for me at least, that's the part that takes the most time. If you click on any one photo, at least on my computer and phone, you can quickly scroll, left to right, through photos (in fact, one click accesses all photos on the entire trip report). Much easier than trying to line them up one at a time in the up and down scroll that they are presented.

If I am interested in visiting Cefalu, for example, I would prefer to see more rather than less, so I have erred in that direction. Also, my experience with past trip reports is that most of the views over time accumulate long after the report is fresh and appears on the first few pages (i.e. people seriously interested in going to Sicily, maybe even for a month). Many of the reports here, surprisingly to me, end up in fairly high positions in google searches, attracting travelers with specific interests. However, everyone needs an editor, and with your comments in mind, I deleted 10 planned photos already from my next post, which on second look didn't add a lot.

The Sperlinga castle is unusually built into the rock, with wide areas, even stables. You will need the assistance of a rope handle to make it up the steep steps to the top. Fabulous views from there of the small town of Sperlinga, neighboring hill towns and valleys. Another beautiful mountain ride, some of it over roads we had already traveled including one more glimpse of beautiful Gangi with snow-topped Etna boiling over in the background.

We met many wonderful people on this trip. On top of the castle, we met a family curious about who we were and where we were from. Dad spoke some English, and we became fast friends, with him inviting us for a classic granita and brioche breakfast and a tour of Messina, their hometown. Although it ultimately didn’t work with our schedule, they have since offered us a rain check.

You can’t miss the “Rocca” if you come to Cefalu. It stands over the city. On a Monday morning, we made the trek up and through the Parco della Rocca to the castle ruins on top and then down to “Diana’s Temple.” Some of the ruins date back to 500 BC, with the castle probably dated 1100-1200 AD.

Of course, it’s all up hill, some of it stone steps and the balance a path of dirt and rocks. A good work out after all the great food in Cefalu. We covered everything, up and down, and still took more than 200 photos, all in 90 minutes. Tickets are five euros from a machine, but there were five attendants on hand to help you use the machine and sign you out at the end to make sure you don’t get lost. One of the best things we did in Cefalu.

We were there in early September so perhaps that helped us in Cefalu. We were definitely worried it would be way too touristy but it never felt too bad- especially in the evenings once the day trippers were gone. It did seem that most of the tourists were Italian (which isn't as annoying to me as being surrounded by Americans or Brits). The most touristy place we went on our Sicily trip was probably Palermo. Though it didn't help that the Pope was visiting while we were there!

I personally don't find your report too wordy or with too many pictures. You've covered a lot of places most people would miss on even a 3rd or 4th visit to Sicily. It's nice to see so many pictures to give an idea of what they are like (for future trip planning).

Quote:

Originally Posted by valgalchi

We were there in early September so perhaps that helped us in Cefalu. We were definitely worried it would be way too touristy but it never felt too bad- especially in the evenings once the day trippers were gone. It did seem that most of the tourists were Italian (which isn't as annoying to me as being surrounded by Americans or Brits). The most touristy place we went on our Sicily trip was probably Palermo. Though it didn't help that the Pope was visiting while we were there!

I personally don't find your report too wordy or with too many pictures. You've covered a lot of places most people would miss on even a 3rd or 4th visit to Sicily. It's nice to see so many pictures to give an idea of what they are like (for future trip planning).

Thank you again. I appreciate all the input. We saw a lot of Americans in places like Taormina, Ortigia and Palermo, but very few in most other places. We saw one statistic that showed that 50% of Sicilian visitors are Italians. We also saw license plates from all over Europe, so the auto ferries must be busy. We met many Europeans who take advantage of very cheap flights (Ryan Air, Wizz, Volotea, Easy Jet). And, although there are eight times as many people living in Sicily as compared to same size Vermont, tourism supposedly isn’t any greater than the Green Mountain state gets. That seems hard to believe, and statistics can be confusing (business travel, tourist arrivals, hotel stays, etc.), so I will have to look into that further. As I have said, we felt alone as visitors in so many wonderful places. Tomorrow, I will talk about Tindari, a place we had never heard of, a religious pilgrimage site, but also so much more.

Busy, a bit crowded at times and in places, but Cefalu remains one of our favorites. Beach activity was just beginning, and we wonder what July & August is like. We love fruits of most kinds and will remember tasting white mulberries, that we got from a street vendor, for the first time here. Walking around town, you see the local side of life, including top-notch women’s volleyball in a spacious arena. Our favorite gelato was actually outside the old town in a tacky looking place, L’Angolo delle Dolcezze. And, maybe it was a good idea that we got to Cefalu before it again splashes on movie screens all over the world (2023) as places like Lilie’s restaurant were given a 1960’s vibe. If interested in that transformation, here is a link: https://www.madmass.it/indiana-jones...prese-sicilia/

Sassafrass put it best about this being the ultimate report and so did Valgalchi: 'You've covered a lot of places most people would miss on even a 3rd or 4th visit to Sicily. Jayzus what an itinerary, Whitehall!
Glad to see that you had a good time (again). So many fine images. My fave included your S. Vito and and Pza Armerina townscapes, the Acireale patio, the initial food collage at the start plus the St. Lucia balloons--so surreal. Btw, I immediately recognized that artists' portraits of Floyd, with Gilmour being the first face to grab my attention: "Hey, isn't that...?" Also recognized that wonderful mural at the Cefalu gelateria, with the 2 kids licking cones. It takes a special genius to think of such a sign, yeah? So perfect!
Carry on, we're all waiting.

I am done. the jetlagged