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Sicily is the greatest island of the
Mediterranean and rich of history and tradition
gathered through centuries of
history and under different foreign dominations. The
principal cities include the regional capital
Palermo, together with the other provincial
capitals Catania, Messina, Siracusa, Trapani,
Enna, Caltanissetta, Agrigento, Ragusa. Other
famous Sicilian towns are for example Cefalu and
Taormina.
It is also a fabulous island with a old architecture how
Roman villas, Greek temples, Benedictine monasteries,
Norman towers and Baroque churches.
Sicily's greatest natural
attraction is its highest mountain. The Mount
Etna lies on the east coast of Sicily, close to Messina and
Catania. At approximately 3350 meters, it is Europe's
highest active volcano. Over 1200 square meters
of Etna's surface is covered with solidified
lava. Etna offers skiing in the Winter months
and breathtaking hikes in the woods during the
Summer.
Nature
Sicily offers you a unique and
unforgettable scenery made of big and small
bays, promontories, steep cliffs, sand dunes,
granite rocks and a lot of natural parks and
reserves. The vegetation in Sicily is amazing:
palms, olive trees, vineyards, orange and lemon
trees grow all along the coast, while on
mountain slopes woods of chestnuts, beech, oaks,
hazelnuts, fir trees and holm oaks.
Sicily maintains numerous nature reserves and green
areas Sicily, for exampel the Alcantara River, with its unique
gorge, the Nebrodi Mountains, where wild horses
still run free or great birdwatching in the
Madonie Mountains, where griffon vultures and
golden eagles nest. Most of the offshore islands,
with their intact coasts and underwater
environment, are now marine reserves.
Regional Cuisine
The Sicilian cuisine is tightly connected to the
historical and cultural stories of Sicily, and
to the religious and spiritual life of the
island. It is a complex and articulated regional
gastronomic culture, that shows traces and
contributions of all the cultures that are
established in Sicily in the last two millennia.
In the dishes of the Sicilian cuisine the oil
extra vergine of olive is exclusively used. The
principal ingredients are vegetable or sea (fish
and molluscs) above all.
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