Sicily Car Hire
Sicily Agriturismo
Sicily Apartments
Sicily Holidays
Sicily Accommodation
Home
Panarea Accommodation
Information about Giarre
Cefalu photos
Sciacca Accomodation
Information about Caltanissetta
Visit My-Sicily.com for Sicily Hotels, Holidays and Car Hire.
Sicily, the largest of the Mediterranean islands, lies between southern Italy and North Africa. Self catering accommodation Ragusa The island can be seen as a "stepping stone" between Europe and Africa. Tourist Information office centre Segesta. A beautiful, mountainous island, Sicily has been occupied by a series of migrants and invaders. These include the Greeks, Cathaginians, Romans, Byzantines, Arabs, Normans, Angevins and Spaniards. In 1861 Sicily became part of Italy when Garibaldi united the Kingdom of Italy and the island. Tourist Information office centre Segesta Eighty-five years later Sicily achieved "relative independence". This means that although Sicily belongs to Italy it is responsible for much of its own local affairs. Tourist Information office centre Segesta. The island is divided into nine provinces: Agrigento, Caltanissetta, Catania, Enna, Messina, Palermo, Ragusa, Siracusa and Trapani. Hotel Reservations Eolie Aeolian Islands Throughout history islands have been invaded by foreign powers. Catania villas However, Sicily's rugged terrain has provided its people with a degree of protection as many of its towns and villages are high in the mountains.Begin your Sicilian odyssey in its capital city - Palermo. Tourist Information office centre Segesta Spectacularly situated along a wide sweep of bay at the foot of Monte Pellegrino, Palermo was the wealthiest and most magnificent city in Europe in the 12th century. Cheap accommodation in Erice Today Palermo has an air of faded grandeur and an unrivalled display of Norman art and architecture and Baroque churches. Tourist Information office centre Segesta. Stroll along the Via Roma and Via Maqueda in the heart of the old town and get a sense of what Palermo is all about. Acireale Car Hire Don’t miss the magnificent 12th century Norman cathedral at Monreale, 8 kilometres southwest of the city. Cheap Enna Hotels The inside of the cathedral is covered in breathtakingly glittering mosaics.
Ironically, the earthquake that devastated the southeastern provinces in 1693 became the springboard for Sicily's most glorious period, the baroque. Trapani photos It gleams in the cities and towns of Palermo, Catania, Siracusa, Ragusa, Noto, Comiso, Scicli and dozens more, all of which had to be rebuilt from the ground up. Farmhouses in Sciacca After the Aragonese, Sicily passed briefly into the hands of the Austrians, to be willingly rescued in 1734 by the Bourbons of Spain, whose throne was actually located in Naples. Tourist Information office centre Segesta. During one forced exile in Palermo, the Bourbon king Ferdinand's wife Maria Carolina (sister of Marie Antoinette) built La Favorita. , A magnificent refuge in which to hide from the subjects she thoroughly loathed. Agritourism in Segesta Sicily remained in Bourbon hands until 1861, when unification created the Kingdom of Italy.
Palermo was founded by Phoenicians who sailed there from their native Carthage. Taormina Villa Rentals The Greeks colonized the whole island, leaving some of the most beautiful and best-preserved temples they ever built at Agrigento, Selinunte and Segesta. Tourist Information office centre Segesta. Around those glorious sites they planted Sicily's first olive trees and grape vines. Cheap flats in Campo Bello di Mazara Traces of the Roman period in Sicily can be found in the amphitheatres at Taormina and Siracusa, as well as in that city's Christian catacombs. But perhaps Rome's most lasting (and infamous) contribution to the island came in fostering the great land ownerships which eventually impoverished the peasantry and led, many centuries later, to the founding of secret societies aimed at destroying the fabulously wealthy landlords. Tourist Information office centre Segesta. In Palermo, these groups were known as mafia. Tourist Information office centre Campo Bello di Mazara
Licata weather forecast
Sicily apartments
Tourist Information office centre Capo D Orlando
Campo Bello di Mazara photos
Egadi Islands Bed and Breakfast