Tag: sicily

Postcard from Siracusa, Sicily: ‘Mailed’ before summer hell ignited

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The photos on these postcards should be time-stamped before delivery to your mailbox – our stay in Sicily was in late spring. Our travel schedule was designed to avoid the potential of encountering the same type of sizzling summer the island endured during 2022 – a high of 120 degrees in Siracusa.

So far this year, the temperature’s only hit a high of 117 degrees, but horrible wildfires have added to the island’s summertime blues. It’s no wonder that cacti and succulents are popular.

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Postcard from Siracusa, Sicily: Bellomo Palace and, for saint’s sake, always eat two of this dessert

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Above: A representation of the story of Adam and Eve eating the forbidden apples, Museo Regionale di Palazzzo Bellomo

A stark façade conveys the 12th-century origin of the Bellomo Palace. The interior spaces, however, reflect several centuries of architectural alterations, much like the centuries of regional Sicilian art housed within. Benedictine monks occupied the palace in the 18th century, merging it and an adjacent palazzo into one compound.

The Risorgimento, the ongoing unification of the Kingdom of Italy, represented a disaster for many Catholic religious orders. In Sicily, the government seized property and buildings, including this monastery in 1866. In 1940, the government repurposed the compound as a museum, with the 1866 confiscated religious art forming a major portion of its collection. The Bellomo underwent substantial renovation in 2004.

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Postcard from Noto, Sicily: Palazzi with regal airs

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Above: The ballroom of Palazzo di Nicolaci di Villadorata

Tuna fish, and evidently a lot of it. Riches earned in the lucrative fishing industry of the 17th-century enabled the upper-middle-class Nicolaci family to buy their way into nobility in Noto. After the 1693 earthquake wiped out the fortunes of much of Noto’s high society, Corradino Nicolaci purchased land and the accompanying title of Baron of Bonfala in 1701.

Corradino’s son, Baron Giacomo (1711-1760), supervised the 1720 design of a four-story palace with more than 90 rooms, which took 40 years to complete. While the ground floor was relegated to food storage and stables, the second-floor piano nobile was decorated lavishly for entertaining guests – a necessity later as another member of the family succeeded in acquiring the title of Prince of Villadorata in 1774.

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