Cefalu, the Country and the Coast of the Ionian Sea
After exploring Palermo and Mondello we drove east to scout out the medieval
town of Cefalu. Built on steep, rocky cliffs around a 12th century
cathedral, the intriguing town is packed with narrow streets that empty out
onto the main square. The colorful, old fishermen’s quarters - where the
film Cinema Paradiso was shot - is filled with brightly painted houses on
the edge of the Tyrrhenian Sea. Cefalu is home to Norman monuments, Baroque
facades, medieval fountains, Byzantine and Greek ruins and a prehistoric
temple that dates back to the 9th Century BC, a good sample of the many
types of architecture found across the island.
With only a couple of days to explore Sicily, we moved east across the
island to the coast of the Ionian Sea, dividing our remaining time between
the city of Catania and the coastal towns of Taormina and Messina. The area
between Palermo and Catania is mostly farmland with rolling hills and
pastures of sheep and goats. The springtime wildflowers were in bloom and we
saw hills blazing with poppies and geraniums. Wheat fields seemed to stretch
across the plains while orange, lemon and almond orchards covered the hills.
Ancient vineyards and olive groves coated the more arid hills and the ochre
tones of the country reminded me of the strong, earthy Sicilians. The
communities found in the interior were traditionally based on farming and in
the past the landscape was often characterized by large estates owned by the
nobility. This pastoral existence is still present in many parts of the
interior.
Just before we arrived in Catania we rounded a bend and saw snowcapped Mount
Etna rising 3,342 meters above the sea. Lodged between the sea and the
slopes of Mount Etna, the city of Catania was completely leveled by an
earthquake in 1693 and has been rebuilt over the years with wide, straight
streets and Baroque- style architecture.
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