Sicily and Culture

  PALERMO If you are ever going to Sicily, the first city I would suggest you to visit is Palermo, its capital. Palermo's cathedral  represents the main attraction of this place. Due to the several populations that dominated the city all over the centuries, the cathedral is characterized by a myriad of different artistic styles. Built in 1885 on the directions of Pope Gregory I, the church as seen many uses involving a crypt and a mosque.  The Palace of Normans is another place you must visit if you ever come to Palermo. Also called the Royale Palace, it served as the main residency of the Kings of Sicily for centuries. It's one of the most ancient royal palaces in Europe and it was built in the 9th century by the Amir of Palermo. A main characteristic of the exterior part of the palace is the central courtyard that includes some fascinating decorations and stone arches.  The Mondello Beach is situated 15 minutes to the north of Palermo, in the small town of Mondello. Here yo

    SICILIAN FLAG  The Sicilian flag  has faced several changes throughout the centuries, but two elements remained the same: the head of Medusa, the Greek mythological goddess, and the so-called triskelion or trinacria in Italian. The Greeks connected this historical symbol with Sicily during the Magna Grecia period. Indeed, this was the time when they conquered the island and learnt about its triangular shape. The flag was introduced during the Sicilian Vespers revolution against the French domination in the 13th century.  The color read and yellow were used at the time and are still adopted nowadays, symbolizing the union of Palermo, the capital of the island and Corleone, an essential agricultural center situated in the countryside.   In the flag we can also see that Medusa has ears made of wheat. In order to understand their meaning, we must trace back to Greeks’ domination. In this sense, ears represent the prosperity of the Sicilian territory. After a couple of centuries, when

Hi Everyone! I am Domenico Natali and I am glad to welcome you to my blog. This is going to be about Sicily, a beautiful island collocated in the Southern part of Italy. In particular, I will talk about the Sicilian culture, with its traditions and historical background. Sicily has a vast and diversified culture, therefore I am going to talk about its arts, history, places to visit and food. I decided to talk about this topic because I was born in  Palermo , which is one of the most important cities in Sicily, and all of my family members come from there. Even if I currently live in Milan, which is situated in Northern Italy, I go the Sicily every summer, because the beaches and the food are amazing, and a huge part of my family still lives there. My girlfriend was born in Sicily as well and she's been living there her whole life, making me fall in love even more with this culture. I am so excited to share with you what I have learnt and experienced myself all over these years. I