Sicily: Layers of History, Beauty, Pleasure

Sicily is an Italian island in the Ionian sea between Italy and the African coast. Greece, Rome, the Arab world, and Norman Europe left remnants there that you can still experience. 

Chef, blogger, and tour director Ric Orlando tells us why Sicily feels different from the rest of Italy. His “deep dive” trips take the Anthony Bourdain approach seriously: spend time with locals, follow the market stalls, and let conversations set the pace.

We get into Palermo’s layered history, the Palatine Chapel’s mosaics, Monreale, Teatro Massimo, and the city’s street markets. 

Ric also explains how Sicily’s volcanic soil around Mount Etna is changing the island today, from a booming Sicily wine scene to new crops driven by climate change, and why infrastructure outside the main tourist cities still shapes daily life.

Then east to Catania, to the “Black City” built from dark volcanic stone. We linger at the pescheria fish market where small boats sell the morning’s catch. We talk Sicilian flavor, especially the Arab influenced sweet and sour combinations, and we end with cannoli, farm made cheese, and the living traditions of Piana degli Albanesi. 

Finally, Taormina brings cliffside beauty, a Greek theater, an artistic past, along with the modern 'White Lotus' buzz, before Ric shares a personal memory that ties family photos back to a real village festival.

Come wander through the best of Sicily with us. Subscribe, share with friends who love food and history, and leave a review. 

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Our guest,  Chef Ric Orlando, leads tours to Sicily.

Podcast host Lea Lane has traveled to over 100 countries, and has written nine books, including the award-winning Places I Remember  (Kirkus Reviews star rating, and  'one of the top 100 Indie books of  the year'). She has contributed to dozens of guidebooks and has written thousands of travel articles.
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Our award-winning travel podcast, Places I Remember with Lea Lane, has produced over 125 travel episodes! New episodes drop on the first Tuesday of the month, on Apple, Spotify, and wherever you listen to podcasts. All episodes are also on her website: placesirememberlealane.com
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Transcript

Why Sicily Explains Everything

Lea Lane 0:40

Sicily is the clue to everything. That's a famous quote by the German philosopher Goethe over 200 years ago. And it still applies. The region of Italy, Sicily is also the largest Mediterranean island, separated from mainland Italy by a strait, only about two miles at its narrowest point, and it's only 87 miles from the African shore. Unlike mainland Italy's more Latin-based route, Sicily is a mix of ancient Greek temples, Roman ruins, and Arab Norman architecture. This rolling countryside, a beachy coastline, rural small towns, ancient cities, and 11,000-foot plus Mount Etna volcano on the east coast, looming over the landscape. Much to explore, and we will be doing just that with our guest, Ric Orlando, chef, blogger, tour director, and frequent traveler to Sicily. Welcome, Rick, to Places I Remember.

Ric Orlando 1:34

Thank you, Lea. Hi.

Lea Lane 1:36

Hi. I know you lead small group tours in Sicily in what you call the deep dive style of the late chef and travel expert, Anthony Bourdain. Can you describe that further to us?

Ric Orlando 1:48

Yes. So many people are traveling to Italy right now. It's become the most visited country in the world. But often people visit Italy in a way that you don't really get to understand Italy. You see Italy, but you don't experience Italy. So on my tours, you get to see some of the sites that are obligatory to see. Oh, I want to see the Teatro Massimo or whatever. But we also spend a lot of time with local people in smaller towns, in big cities, and we hear their stories. And that's, I think, really changes the matrix. When you're visiting another place, even another state, and you have time with locals, you learn really what the culture is about.

Lea Lane 2:36

Absolutely. I I've had more fun talking with local farmers. You talk to Nanas , grandmothers. They're the most wonderful storytellers.

Finding Family Roots In Sicily

Ric Orlando 2:45

Started doing these tours in 2019, and there's a couple of them, but the Discover Sicily tour, which is a triangle, which we'll talk about, I've done now 23 times. And the majority of the tour are the same places and the same people. So they are now my friends and they become your friends. They wait for us to arrive. They come out of their house with open arms. The dog comes out, the grandfather shows you his garden, you know. And it's an experience it's very difficult to do on your own because it takes time to build the trust and build the relationships. Now, I'm 100% Sicilian American.

Lea Lane 3:22

Like Lady Gaga.

Ric Orlando 3:24

Ah, yes, exactly. Mr. Mr. Gagoo over here. And I didn't even really understand that until I started going to Sicily. When I first went to Sicily, it was not until 2016. I mean, I'm 66 years old, so it wasn't, I was in my mid-50s. I had been to Rome and I had been to Florence and Milan, and I'd been to Puglia because my wife's family's from Puglia. So I had a general idea of what the local vibe was like. But when we first went to Sicily, it was shortly after the 2016 election. My two older children decided if they wanted to get dual citizenship. You could decide why, but we began to do the research and we did all the paperwork ourselves. I knew that my father was 100% Sicilian. My mother, my grandmother always said, We're Napolitano we're Napolitano. They are not Napolitano. They came on a boat from Naples. My mother's family is from Cefalou, which is about 30 or 40 miles east of Palermo. It's one of the cutest beach towns in all of Italy. And my grandfather is either from Messina or Calabria, but in the late 1800s, it was a massive earthquake that destroyed all the records. So he's either Sicilian or Calabrian, but he's close. So I'm 100% Sicilian. This is so much fun. We went on Ancestry and looked for my grandfather's ship's manifest. I knew he came somewhere between 1903 and 1906. So we searched the name, and lo and behold, after about five minutes, there was a manifest with a picture of my grandfather, which was little string tie on, Antonino Orlando. And my favorite part of that manifest question on the paperwork is reason for going to America. And his answer was La Ventura, Adventure, which is really, really amazing. When we found out where my grandfather was from, it's a very tiny village called Prizzi, P-R-I-Z-Z-I, like Prizzi's Honor, which is in the Palermo province, but all the way at the bottom in the south in the mountains. And we went to Prizzi. I met the mayor, and it's a funny story. I was on my first Sicily visit, and I had a friend there. He said, Oh, your name is Orlando. At that time, the mayor of Palermo was a gentleman named Leo Luca Orlando, who was actually one of the most eloquent and outspoken people who writes and talks about immigration and immigration rights, a human rights advocate. And when he found out my name was Orlando, we realized we weren't related, but he said, Where are you from? And I said, Prizzy. And he got out a business card on his flip phone, made a phone call, and said, The mayor is waiting for you. So we showed up, my daughter, Sid, my son Willis, and I in Prizzi in the afternoon. It was about an hour drive on windy roads and dirt roads and potholes and farms and cows and horses. And when we arrived at the village, we went to the local bar. And if people who go to Italy know a bar is not like a tavern, it's more of a coffee shop. It's where everybody hangs out, the social center. And they all laugh because I said, Hey, my name is Orlando, and I'm, you know, we need to go to the Hall of Records, but do I have any relatives here? And they laughed. They said, 20% of this town's last name is Orlando. I'll be related to everybody. We couldn't find anybody to confirm that we're related to, but it's a very popular name in that area. So we had a blast.

Lea Lane 6:31

That's a wonderful way to introduce yourself to a country. I don't think many people will have that lovely possibility, but wow.

Ric Orlando 6:39

Three cups of coffee later. I'll talk more.

Lea Lane 6:42

Sicily is a volcanic island, and Mount Etna, of course, is there , Europe's most active volcano. And the styles there are layered Norman palaces, Greek temples, Roman ruins, Arab-influenced markets, all kinds of wonderful architecture. And I think in the major cities and towns is where you'll see most of them. Let's start with Palermo, Sicily's cultural, economic, and tourism capital. It's got a 2,700-year-old history. What's not to miss there?

Palermo And Its Many Layers

Ric Orlando 7:13

Okay, so Palermo is a fascinating city. Let's start with this. So Sicily is a province of Italy, but it does have some autonomy, somewhat like Puerto Rico. Sicilians are technically Italian. Italians are not Sicilians, and Sicilians are Sicilians first. So when you visit Palermo, the distinct difference is the layers of culture. My son lives in Lucca in Tuscany. I spend a fair amount of time in Tuscany and the Piedmonts. You know who was there before, right? The Romans and Napoleon. Well, Palermo, my gosh, I mean, it started out as Phoenician, and then it was Greek, then it was Roman, then it was the Visigoths, then it was the Arabs, then it was the Normans, then it was the French, the Huguenots, then it was had their own revolution, and then eventually became Spanish, and then Savoy, and then part of Naples, and finally part of Italy. And all of that combines to make this incredible melting pot. It's smaller than Manhattan, but it's got that same kind of New York City diversity of food, diversity of energy, and such a fun attitude. And it's beautiful. It's a little beaten up, but not in a bad way. And when I took my father there, who was almost 90 at the time, he said, Looks like they got a lot of the stuff from home goods, which means there's a somewhat distressed vibe to it. Right. But it's so vibrant and there's a ton of investment there. The historic district is fascinating, and they did an amazing thing there at the end of the 20th century, around 2003, four. They took the two main roads. Via Makeda goes exactly east-west. And they made them into what they call corsos. No cars allowed. So you have about a mile walk in one direction, about a three-quarter mile walk from the sea to the Norman Cathedral with no cars. I I don't want to say it's over touristy. It gets crowded at night, but it's really got a great vibe. And the people are unique. One of the things that's fascinating about Sicily is it has been an underdog for so long that now that they're out from under the shadow of the mafia and out from under the shadow of poverty, it's almost like you're in a liberated city. People are so happy. The businesses are vibrant, the young people are doing really progressive things with the business, and there's lots of traditional stuff. Everyone I know who I brought to Palermo, which we end our tour in Palermo for three days, that's from New York, says, Oh, this reminds me of the New York we no longer have.

Lea Lane 9:50

Yeah, the energy.

Ric Orlando 9:51

Yeah, the old New York, you know.

Lea Lane 9:53

Marketplaces, fabulous markets.

Ric Orlando 9:55

Yeah, the markets are the capo market, the Balaro market are incredible.

Lea Lane 9:59

I can't forget the uh Capella, Capella Palentina. Oh my gosh. That is one of the most beautiful interiors I've ever seen anywhere, and and I've been around. It's stunning.

Ric Orlando 10:10

Yes, the Palatine Chapel and also the cathedral in Montreale, which is only a couple miles out of town, were both built in the believe the 1200s. And yeah, there's that Byzantine vibe. They're just mesmerizing to be inside. And you don't have to be religious to appreciate not at all.

Lea Lane 10:31

It's beautiful. Not at all. And the opera house, the Teatro Massimo, it's so beautiful.

Ric Orlando 10:37

Yeah, that square uh where the Massimo is is like the center of all activity. I was there on May 1st, which is Labor Day all over Europe. And Labor Day in Europe doesn't necessarily mean a day off, it's a day to celebrate the power of labor, of unions, of workers. And there were thousands of people gathered in the square, communists, socialists, all types of political parties, all chanting their own themes out there. Really something you don't see in America.

Lea Lane 11:10

I can see it all around the fountains. There's a catacombs there that's very interesting, uh, the Cappuccine catacombs.

Ric Orlando 11:16

But Palermo's also got it's a big enough city, it's got its own public beach, which is only four miles out of town called Mondelo. Beautiful beach, easy to get to by bus. We spend a day at the beach. I have a friend there that has a restaurant called L'Angelo de Mondelo, the corner. It's like a corner restaurant. And the father is a chef and the brother is a fisherman. So every day the brother comes in with whatever he caught, and that's what's on the menu. So that's the kind of food experience you have there. Most of the food you eat is locally grown by actual people that you meet and see in the markets. The people up behind the booths are the people whose brother or them grow the stuff. It's really, really amazing.

Lea Lane 11:56

The famous tomatoes that I use.

Ric Orlando 11:58

San Marzano's volcanic soil. Right. So what's happened in Sicily because of the volcanic soil around is number one, the wine industry has exploded. Sicily is now the hot wine region. But also, because of climate change, the European Union around 10 years ago encouraged them to begin growing mangoes, avocados, and bananas. Oh my god, well, it's it's warm. I have some friends actually who are farmers who are also political activists, and they're trying to build this bridge between Calabria and Sicily. And the Sicilian is before you build the bridge, can you address some of the infrastructure outside of the main cities? So we spend some really great time in the Sicani Mountains, which are close to Agrigento, which is the southwest coast. We stay in an amazing agro turismo. We I have a friend who has a small company that brings us into villages of like a thousand people where we spend the day and hang out.

Lea Lane 13:02

That's where the Greek temples are. Is that correct?

Ric Orlando 13:04

Yes, we're very close to the we've actually visit the temples for sure. But he was telling me that some of the water is delivered by aqueducts that were built by the Romans still. Right. They have an update at that. So there's plenty of water. There's not water infrastructure outside. You know, they're investing big in Palermo, Catania, Tropony, Syracusa, the big tourist areas, but the rest of the country, the investment is slight, not unlike here.

Lea Lane 13:31

Right. Well, that bridge is built. They're going to have a lot of people coming in. Let me ask you about another great city, Catania. It's called the Black City because of the dark volcanic rock. It looks different from many of the others. Tell us about that.

Markets Food Wine And Infrastructure

Ric Orlando 13:44

Catania to Palermo is like the f Philly or Boston to New York. It's the little red-headed stepchild city. It's a great city. The city proper is about three to four hundred thousand. The general area is about a little more than a half a million. But it's in the shadow of Mount Aetna. There's actually the Aetna Road where you stand in the public square and you look to your west, and you could see about 30 miles away Mount Aetna looms over. Catania has a ton of spirit, just like Philly or Boston. They claim to have the best food. And Catania also, it's got a big university. They're actually doing nanotech there. So it's it's a medical school. But it's also, you know, a lot of graffiti. My least favorite American export is graffiti.

Lea Lane 14:30

Graffiti that started in Italy.

Ric Orlando 14:32

The way it's done now is not necessarily murals. It's pretty I spent some beautiful time in Catania. We do cooking in Catania, but the fish market, the pescheria in Catania, is a must see. It is still a market where six days a week, not Monday morning, the fishermen who go out, and we're talking like two or three man boats, come up, set up tables with ice, and sell the fish they caught.

Lea Lane 14:58

Tuna, sword fish, that kind of ...

Ric Orlando 15:00

Tuna is available in a limited window. I think it's mid-May through mid-June. A bluefish tuna spawn right off the coast there. So stored fish is kind of year-round. But then what you eat a lot more in Italy as opposed to here are small fish. Little merluza, little mullets, uh sardines, fresh anchovies, the healthier low mercury fish are a big part of the diet.

Lea Lane 15:24

And I love the sweet and sour flavoring in in Sicily. They love to combine the raisins and the citrus with the savory.

Ric Orlando 15:32

Well, especially in the West, especially from Palermo West, because that is the Arabic influence. If you order a fritto misto di mare, a mixed fried fish, which is a treat, right? Calamari, little head-on crunchy shrimp, little fresh fish. They only serve it with lemon, just lemon. No dipping sauce, no mayonnaise, just lemon, because they want you to appreciate the fish. But that is also the biggest citrus-growing region in all of Italy. The lemons that we eat in America originally started in Valencia, but then were grown and exported from Sicily in the 1800s and shipped to America through New Orleans. So that's the lemons that common lemon that we eat is actually from Sicily.

Lea Lane 16:19

I like cannoli, and I know that has a connection.

Ric Orlando 16:23

Cannoli is one of those many sweets that were invented by cloistered nuns. Who knows what they were thinking when they made a dessert with that shape, but they were thinking of something.

Catania’s Grit And Fish Market

Lea Lane 16:33

But I'll never eat a cannoli the same.

Ric Orlando 16:38

We go to a place that you may have Googled called Diana deli Albanese, the plains of the Albanians. It's just over the mountain ridge south of Palermo. And it's an Albanian refugee settlement that was settled in the 1500s when the Turks chased the Christians out of Eastern Europe. And they've been there ever since. They speak a language called Albadesh, which is a Sicilian, Italian, and Albanian hybrid. And we visit a farmer there whose barn is from the year 1100, who raises cows and sheep, and apparently makes the best cannoli in all of Sicily. So we spend a day with this guy, Johnny Scalora. He's about six foot eight. He's got his grandmother and his uncles and the dogs. And, you know, we make cheese together, we make what cotta, and then we have a big lunch of whatever's available on the farm. And then, of course, we end with the cannoli show where Johnny makes these cannolis that are like, you know, seven, eight inches long.

Lea Lane 17:35

I want to end with the most beautiful city, I think, or town, Taormina, on the coast. It's got breathtaking views. It has an ancient Greek theater and charming streets. I remember when I was there walking in the Paseo in the evening. It was enchanting as the sun was setting. I'm sure you take guests there. And what do they feel about Taormina?

Cannoli Cheese And Albanian Sicily

Ric Orlando 17:56

Well, actually, so you know, that is where we begin the tour in Taormina for three days as a base. From there we go up Mount Etna, we go into Catania. Taormina is probably one of the most beautiful cities in all of Italy. It gets pretty busy in July and August for sure because the beach is popular, and also they have what's called the White Lotus effect. Yes. The second season of White Lotus was shot there. But Taormina is really special because it's an artist colony, kind of like Provincetown. In the 1800s, it was a refuge for gay creatives. Oscar Wilde was there, Goethe, and it was a place where you can be safe and hide out. And it's got this amazing vibe. The place we stay is called the Hotel Villa Schuller. It's owned by a German family, fifth generation, and it's 36 rooms right on the cliffs. And what's amazing is during World War II, the German army commandeered it for putting their officers in. After the Germans left, the British Army took it over. And at the end of the war, it was abandoned, and the family didn't have money to buy it back. So the community all pitched in together and put the money together so the family could resume operation of the hotel. It's got a great story. And it's just so beautiful. A lot of walking, a lot of steps, great food.

Lea Lane 19:20

Wonderful walking. Sometimes walking.

Ric Orlando 19:22

It's a special place and it's a special home base because you're only 20 minutes from Mount Etna, 40 minutes from Catania, an hour and a half from uh Syracusa. You can get anywhere from there. You're on the east coast of the Ionian Sea.

Lea Lane 19:35

Well, sounds so delightful. There's so much beauty there. I think anyone who hears this would understand that Sicily is filled with layers of culture. You can hike, you can swim, you can just enjoy the beauty. The name of the podcast is Places I Remember. So, Ric, would you please end with a special memory?

Taormina Beauty And A Hotel Story

Ric Orlando 19:55

You have many stories I know, but I think one of my favorite stories of Sicily was when I was a young child. And my grandmother on my father's side was from Sicily. She came here in 1910. My grandfather came back to get her, and she had pictures, and she had old black and white photos, and she had a photo of these two young girls dressed in uh like these dresses with lace and little bow ties and bonnets. And I always saw that picture as a kid, and I never knew what it was. I always thought it was just family or whatever. And when my grandmother passed away, we're talking about over 25 years ago, it was framed next to her coffin. I said, Who is that? I said, That's your grandmother when she was 12 years old and her Aunt Rosa, and it was unbelievable. I didn't know that. So about well, 2016, when we were traveling to get our paper, we went to Castel Termini, which is the village that she was from. Went to the Hall of Records, and I showed them the photo. Her last maiden name was Giambrone. Well, no one knew who exactly the family was, but a woman opened a book of tons of photos of women in the same dress. It was an outfit they wore for a particular festival every year. So that was a really exciting thing to see all these people dressed exactly the same as that picture I saw when I was four years old, my grandmother's dresser.

Lea Lane 21:28

Yeah, the tradition.

Ric Orlando 21:30

The traditional outfit of the king of the town, yeah.

Lea Lane 21:33

Well, thank you, Chef Ric Orlando, for showing us why Sicily has for thousands of years been one of the great destinations for world travelers. I know you're taking trips there soon. Enjoy it.

Ric Orlando 21:45

They normally sell out about six months before the trip, but yeah, I have some spaces. Come with me. I will show you Sicily that maybe you can't even see on YouTube.

Lea Lane 21:53

Yeah, sounds like a dream. I'll have details in the show notes. Thanks again.

Ric Orlando 21:58

Thank you.