Comments on: Sicily with Grace

By: camille

camille — Wed, 24 Dec 2008 04:37:57 +0000

Ciao Don, I didn’t forget the original peoples, especially the mysterious Elymians who left their mark in Erice . . . I hadn’t heard of the Arberesh (of Albanian extraction, I guess) . . . what a mix!
S’benedica, anche!

By: Don

Don — Wed, 24 Dec 2008 03:35:26 +0000

Scrivisti na cosa veru bedda. But I have to tell you that Sicily was never ruled by the Serbs! And you forgot the 3 original (and possibly autoctonous) civilizations of Sicily: the Sicans (sicani), Sicels (siculi), and Elymians (elimi). Then… came the Greeks, Phoenicians (Lebanese), Romans, Vandals, Goths, Byzantines, Arabs, Normans, Iberians, etc. There’s also the Arberesh and Gallo-Italic colonies of Sicily that still maintain their separate traditions and languages today. Our island truly is a magical place. Sabbinidica!

By: Camille Cusumano

Camille Cusumano — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 19:38:35 +0000

Adele,
Thank you, for sharing your visit —how wonderful you could see your grandmothers’ homeland with them—what I would not have given to have done that.
state bene!

By: Maria Adele DiMarco Kious

Maria Adele DiMarco Kious — Sat, 13 Sep 2008 05:12:11 +0000

Fabulous comments. I was on the island last summer (2007) with my father, grandmother, 2 great aunts and my hubby. We spent our time in their hometowns of Isnello and Colesano….and of course in near by Cefalu. Thank you for sharing your view of this mystical island w/ the world.
Appreciatively Yours,
Adele

By: mo

mo — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 02:42:02 +0000

By: mary

mary — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 07:18:19 +0000

Hi there, it was a pleasure to read your comments on your visit to Sicily having returned from there in June this year. We have no Italian heritage but found Sicily a wonderful place and we spent most of our time in Taomarina, Siracusa and Erice. I found your comments because I was looking for the history of the Eremo, Villa Sorriso. Spooky! There were no other guests when we stayed and the wind howled through the graveyard at night!
We also loved Calabria and the wonderful national park area of Sila. We did not see any tourists in this area, it was like travelling back to the seventies. We stayed at a little B&B in Scigliano, listed in the Lonely Planet. Although this village is up in the mountains it has an old fashioned two carriage train which runs down to Cosenza, another unchanged place so unlike the stunning towns in the north that have almost become theme parks. Regards Mary

By: Camille Cusumano

Camille Cusumano — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 23:31:24 +0000

Barbara, thanks for your comment. It may not be a priority with the young people now, but I guarantee it will be at some point in their lives. I was 25 when I got curious and made the first of many pilgrimages. My nephew, the next generation, lives in Italy and his children are being born there. Buon courragio!

By: Barbara Riccardi

Barbara Riccardi — Sun, 29 Jun 2008 16:26:14 +0000

Wonderful writing about Sicily and family, a heritage I share with you and which has become a bit of an obsession for me lately…having grown up with the Sicilian melting-pot culture on this side of the Atlantic and then adding even more pieces of ethnic mix, I need to connect the dots back to my parents roots, maybe for my children’s sake or maybe just my own. This has been taking the form of looking for an historic but cheap house to buy and give reverence to, something that is apparently not such a priority among the younger generations there………..thanks, Barbara