I recently embarked on a week long trip to Sicily with my boyfriend and his famiy. Not knowing what to expect, I boarded the 9 hour flight to Rome with just a carry-on (not an easy feat for a clothes lover) and an App of Italian catchphrases. From Rome we flew directly into Palermo where we spent the night wandering and eating dinner in a small area on the water called Mondello.
Before arriving in Sicily, I had envisioned the island to look like the glamorous photos I had seen on Instagram of places like Positano, but I was way off. Aside from the center of Palermo, there were tiny streets, extremely old and weathered buildings, and laundry hanging from every window. It was like going back in time to a place untouched by modern construction.
From Palermo we stopped for a few hours in Corleone- a town known for its ties to the Mafia ( Cosa Nostra as they call it) and glamorized as the setting in The Godfather … though the movie was not actually filmed there. If you have the opportunity to go, be sure to visit the Anti-Mafia Center.
From Palermo we drove through tiny dirt roads and rows of olive trees and cactuses to Cefalù, which is a beautiful little beach town on the Tyrrhenian Sea. The water was unbelievable. It was in Cefalù that I really noticed how local the people were. They were all Sicilians and hardly anyone spoke English.
From Cefalù we made a quick stop in Agrigento to see the Greek ruins and the salt beach, which was beautiful. They say there are more Greek ruins in Sicily than in Greece. 
The final (and my favorite) stop on the trip was Castelvetrano. It was here that we met my boyfriend’s cousins for the first time… who, aside from one family member, spoke only Italian. The first night was spent eating an amazing home cooked meal and communicating via Google translate. It was fun and hilarious. After the first night we started to teach the younger cousins some English while they taught us Italian. I must say, I was a pretty quick learner.
The food in Sicily was very different from the Italian food I was used to. There were no meatballs or heavy chicken dishes. The menus were filled with lighter pasta dishes, pizza, and lots of swordfish, ham and sardines. My favorite thing I ate was cassatelle (the dessert below) which is basically a ricotta cream and chocolate chip turnover rolled in sugar.
Apparently selfie-sticks are a universal tool.
This was my first time back in Europe since studying abroad in Paris, and the trip really put things into perspective for me. The lifestyle in Sicily was much simpler than here, and I loved it. People were not glued to their phones. There is a rich pride in the culture and so much emphasis is put on family. These cousins that we were so fortunate to spend time with were some of the warmest, most loving people I have met- and we didn’t even speak the same language!
Another thing I realized is how much stress our society places on physical appearance and body image.The Sicilians seemed much more comfortable in their own skin. When you walked onto the beach there were men and women of every shape and size in speedos and bikinis. No one was worried about what fellow beach goers thought of their bodies, and no one seemed to judged. It was so refreshing!
Have you ever been to Sicily?
xx
A
