Cefalu (gro) Roger II of the House of Hauteville, crowned King of Sicily in 1130, was considered the wealthiest ruler of his time. He had conquered Tunis, called numerous possessions in North Africa his own and at the court of Palermo he maintained, in this case completely oriented to his Arab friends, a magnificently equipped……

Where was ice cream invented and how can you identify really good ice cream? Little guide for gourmets and those who want to become one.

Constance/Rome (gro) The fact that 2000 years ago Constance belonged to the Roman Empire (to the province of Raetia) has recently been brought back to the attention of many citizens of the southern German border town by one or the other festivity celebrating the anniversary of “600 years of the Constance Church Council”. What this……

Noto (gro) 23. 000 inhabitants has Noto in the southeast of Sicily, and no less than 39 churches, among them mighty buildings:  This little town is an orgy in baroque, in Sicilian baroque, put under international protection by Unesco 15 years ago as a world heritage of mankind, together with the other late baroque towns……

Konstanz/Lodi/Palermo (gro) Italien will neuerdings seine Häfen sperren für Schiffe nichtstaatlicher Hilfsorganisationen, die ihre aufgesammelten Flüchtlinge bitteschön anderswo ausladen sollen. On the other side, you can see Leoluca Orlando, 70, (center), elected mayor of Palermo for the fifth time a few weeks ago, rushing from the town hall, the Palazzo delle Aquile, to the port……

Palermo/Alcamo Marina (gro) Their names are Kira, Marcus and Thor and they will be the focus of attention all day at the Ferragosto beach parties in Alcamo Marina. Because the three Labradors, a dog and her two sons, saved an eleven-year-old girl from drowning on the second Sunday in August. The dogs come from the……

Catania (gro) Early summer is the ideal time for a circumnavigation of Mount Etna, the largest volcano in Europe. It is the time when it blossoms, greens and smells like paradise on the wide slopes of the mountain of fire. And nothing is better suited for a circumnavigation than the circular railroad around the mountain……

Troina (gro) Two paintings by Peter Paul Rubens are the stars of an exhibition in Troina, which are currently attracting an art-interested public to the little mountain town situated over 1100 meters above sea level: First, the painting “Madonna with the Child Jesus” (above), second, “Lot with His Family Fleeing Sodom,” both created in the……

Scicli (gro) Commissario Montalbano not only catches thieves and murderers, but also puts a stop to destructive car and moped traffic. At least in Scicli, the beautiful baroque town in the south of the “Val di Noto”, which stretches from Noto to the south coast of Sicily.  In Scicli, a new, large pedestrian zone has……

Palermo (gro) Giuseppe Dainotti, 67, a former boss of the Cosa Nostra who was shot dead in the open street, was buried quietly in Palermo. Palermo’s police chief Renato Cortese had banned a public funeral service and procession as a precaution. The authorities are still concerned that three years ago the funeral of a certain……

Palermo (gro) Preparations have begun in the capital of Sicily for 2018, which should ensure that the “Capitale” can present itself as the Capital of Culture of Italy with vigor and as unforgettable an impression as possible.  The award was presented by Dario Franceschini, Rome’s Minister of Cultural Assets and Tourism. In the  tourism authorities……

Palermo (gro) Now probably the most beautiful time of the year begins in Sicily. It blooms and sprouts with power.  As if the island wanted to trumpet its vitality to an unjustly troubled world. “Look how beautiful nature is with its splendid diversity,” it shouts in meadows, forests, by the sea and in the mountains……

Lampedusa (gro)  The 20-square-kilometer islet lies 120 kilometers further south  than Tunis, but belongs to the Sicilian province of Agrigento.  For many refugees from Africa, Lampedusa  is the first spot on earth where they set foot on European soil. From the plane, Lampedusa resembles a giant sandal that has lost its straps. Now that spring is……

Marsala (gro) A museum  for the Marsala – in Marsala:  The project has already been decisively launched a week  before Christmas after thorough preliminary planning. With the museum, which will be set up in Palazzo Fici, one wants to set a monument to the famous fortified wine,  which for over 250 years from the far west of……

Erice (gro) The medieval town of Erice,  its picturesque medieval  substance  (here the west portal of San Pietro), its maze of alleys and its hospitable inhabitants will become the set for a major US production.  Before the end of the year, filming for “Aquaman” is scheduled to start there on behalf of Warner Brothers (Los Angeles).……

Palermo/Konstanz (gro) Ein früher „Konstanzer Pfennig“, ein so genannter „Vierzipfler“ mit hohem Kupferanteil aus dem 12. Jahrhundert,  trägt das Bildnis des in Palermo aufgewachsenen Stauferkaisers Friedrich II. Die Münzen mit dem Konterfei Friedrichs, die dann 200 Jahre später  sowohl am Bodensee als auch 2000 Kilometer weiter südlich, in Palermo, im Umlauf waren, sahen wesentlich hübscher aus……

Ragusa  (gro) Luchino Visconti made it world famous, the castle of Donnafugata. In the  masterful film adaptation of Giuseppe Tomasis di Lampedusa  only novel, “The Leopard,” Visconti  has young Claudia Cardinale (as Angelica) and Alain Delon (as Tancredi)  wandering around the  castle. Tancredi  thereby confesses that he does not even know how many  rooms the……

Constance/Rome (gro)  Wholemeal bread from the Hohenhausgasse in Constance is  always highly welcome at the Piazza di Spagna in Rome. In the past, when Christa Langen-Peduto (photo: Hella Wolff-Seybold) visited the “Südkurier” at Lake Constance at least once a year to exchange ideas with Ernst Hebeker and other colleagues from the political editorial department, she……

Palermo/Ragusa (gro) The northwest and southeast of Sicily are getting closer. For this this time  not a new expressway or another piece of highway, but – believe it or not – the good old Ferrovia dello Stato. The distance between Ragusa and Palermo, which after all measures almost 300 kilometers, has been covered in just……

Trapani/Marsala (gro) Joseph (Giuseppe) Whitaker (1850 to 1936) had yet to see: that the Laguna della Stagnone between San Teodoro and Capo Lilibeo, as well as the island of Mozia  and the salt marshes between Trapani and Marsala, would be placed under the special protection of Unesco as World Heritage Sites of Humanity.  If it actually……

Palermo/Castelvetrano/Cefalù (gro) For the third time one moves  this autumn on “The traces Friedrich II.” through Sicily. Behind it is, as in previous years,  a foundation: the Palermo-based “Fondazione Federico II”. The most recent trip started in Castelvetrano (Trapani province). The “Federicians” were sent on the trip by Giovanni Ardizzone (our picture),  the president of the……

London/Palermo (gro) The most beautiful church in Italy is not in Rome, Milan or Florence, but in Palermo. It is the Cappella Palatina in the Palazzo Reale of the island metropolis, the 12th-century Arab-Norman royal palace that today houses the parliament of the Sicily region. This is according to an international survey conducted by the……

Palermo/Trento (gro) The grandmother is called Carlotta Mauro, lives in Palermo and can now visit her granddaughter  in Trento as often as she wants for a year, and for free. This is made possible by the latest European low-cost airline called Volotea, which connects numerous  European cities and quite a few vacation regions with each……

Zurich/Milan (gro) From next Sunday, it goes at speed 200 in the world’s longest tunnel through the Alps. This will bring Central and Southern Europe closer together. 57 kilometers long is the new Gotthard base tunnel. It took 17 years to build and 12 billion Swiss francs to build the longest underground tube in the……

Catania (gro) Ryanair is incorporating Sicily into its network with more and more courses. For example, five new connections will be created for Catania Airport in the east of the largest Mediterranean island next year: with Berlin, Milano Malpensa, Trieste, Malta and Perugia. Ryanair’s international and domestic connections with Palermo have solidified, and with regard……

Palermo (gro) The Ballarò was the scene of an art action lasting several days in these autumn days of 2016. It was less about strictly aesthetic representations and more about a lively confession. It was street artists who went spiritedly wild in the  Albergheria neighborhood, a centerpiece of Palermo’s old town. With their spontaneously sprayed……

Pozallo (gro) The refugees from Africa, from the Middle and  Middle East who land in southern Italy, mostly in Sicily,  want to move on as quickly as possible to the more northern climes of Europe.  That is one of the reasons why you meet and see more refugees in Milan and Rome than in Calabria……

Palermo (gro) The “Lega del Cane” (“Association of Dog Lovers”) has proclaimed a “Dog Adoption Day” for November 6 in Palermo. Because the central dog asylum of the island capital must be urgently reorganized and extended. The work will last about 18 months according to the present planning. During this time only a fraction of……

Petralia Sottana (gro)  A trip to the heights of the wooded  Madonie in northern Sicily has become safer since two so-called defibrillators were installed at two locations of the  municipality of Petralia Sottana, picturesquely situated on a rocky spur over 1000 meters high in the deep south of the province of Palermo. They are used……

Orlando: “Do the marathon!” Palermo (gro) Sicily’s regional parliament meets in true royal fashion, in Palazzo Reale. It was built by Roger II on the foundations of the summer residence that the Emir of Palermo had built for himself at the end of the 9th century. The military command of Sicily resides not far from……

Palermo (gro) The historic heart of Palermo has been a traffic-calmed zone (Zona traffico limitato/Ztl) since October 10. About three square kilometers are that in the fifth largest city in Italy, in it the cathedral with the seat of the archbishop and patriarch of Sicily. Besides, the most important museums of the island metropolis are……

Trapani (gro) In beautiful western Sicily, fellow kidney patients are offered the experience of a largely carefree vacation, and have been for  over 40 years. Back in 1975,  a dialysis center was established in the province of Trapani, in the small town of Valderice. The  idea of offering chronic kidney patients from all over the……

Ragusa (gro) The Spanish Valencia-based, Argentine-born   artist Hyuro (Image: Die Kunstagentin, Cologne) is one of the most influential representatives of StreetArt with her finely chiseled, mostly black-and-white paintings    . Together with four other internationally acclaimed artists, Hyuro  is transforming Ragusa, located in southeastern Sicily, into an open-air museum  of contemporary art in September 2016.

San Vito Lo Capo (gro) For the 19th time, the International Cous- Cous Festival is rising in San Vito Lo Capo (Trapani province). It begins on Friday, September 16,  and lasts 10 days. At the center of the festivities is the food, is the North African cous cous, and in all its variations.  At the……

Palermo (gro) Italy’s largest opera house is opening its 2016/17 season with a radical repositioning  of Giacomo Puccini’s “Madame Butterfly.”  Nicola Berloffa, the director, has moved the action to the post-World War II era, to a Japan occupied by U.S. Americans. The occupiers from across the Pacific are brutal, the Teatro Massimo in Piazza Verdi……

Palermo/Bisacquino (gro) Giovanni Santacolomba and Maurizio Canunscio are among the Sicilian artists who are working to help the earthquake victims of central Italy.   The quake in the late evening of September 6  devastated several small towns and villages  northeast of Rome. It claimed  over 300 lives, most in medieval Amatrice, where nearly all the……

Palermo/Bonn (gro) Two students from the University of Bonn are helping to create a new documentary about the “Room of Miracles.” The central work being created is a video that will be shown Sept. 23 in the studio’s auditorium Palermo will be shown for the first time by Radio Italiana (Rai). The “room of wonders”……

Trapani/Ragusa (gro) The Mediterranean sea turtles, threatened with extinction, are apparently looking for new spawning grounds. This is indicated by observations on the southern coast of Sicily. About 40 baby turtles of this species were spotted these days on the beach of Campobella di Mazara, about 75 kilometers southeast of the provincial capital Trapani.  Also……

Palermo/Monreale (gro) Wrapping artist Vladirov Yavashev Christo will wrap parts of Monrale.  The necessary agreements for this are, as one hears in nearby Palermo,  already signed.  Essentially, it is a matter of contracts and assurances to UNESCO, which has placed Monreale under protection as part of the architectural-architectural world heritage of Sicily, and to the……

Palermo (gro) The Sicilians swear by their “liquid gold”, their own olive oil. Since 2007, this is also publicly celebrated and demonstrated once a year, with an event lasting several days  under the motto “L`Isola del Tesolio”, where “Tesolio” is a made-up word, formed from Tesoro (treasure) and Olio (oil). The tenth installment of this……

Randazzo (gro) The city of Randazzo on the northern slope of Mount Etna, almost 800 meters high, almost 11,000 inhabitants strong and seat of a bishop, is the volcanic city of Sicily par excellence.  This is probably due not least to its “Chiesa Madre”,  the Cathedral Di Santa Maria, which was built of dark lava……

Rome (gro)  Italy, thanks in no small part to Goethe (“The Italian Journey”), is the Germans’  number one country of longing, and has been for more than 100 years.  What is new is that Italy is  the most popular travel destination  in Europe among non-EU tourists.  This reports  the  Evangelical Press Service (epd), which refers……

Palermo/Milano (gro) The Palermo “Camera delle Meraviglie” (the “Room of Wonders”) has survived well the World Expo in Milan (Expo Milano), which closes next weekend, October 31,  after 6 months of duration. Of course, it has not been the “room” itself that has made a trip to the Italian north,  but rather a  video documentary……

Milano/Modica  (gro) Chocolate from southeastern Sicily triumphs at the World Expo in Milan. The delicacy from Modica impressively hangs its competition from Turin and Perugia.  This shows a final interim balance sheet.  With trade deals over 270,000 euros, the Modicani  so far, almost half of the contracts agreed at the fair. The competition from Perugia……

Cefalù (gro)  The  brand new “Planetario del Parco delle Madionie”  is located on the crest of the over 1800 meters high Monte Mufara and allows with its two huge telescopes deep insights into the universe..  From the densely forested Monte Mufara it is 15 kilometers as the crow flies to the picturesque town of Isnello,……

Syracuse (gro) The word paper is of Greek origin and comes from papyrus, a perennial plant that can still be found in Syracuse and its surroundings. From the marrow of the stalks, on it the old  Egyptians came already before  about 7000 years, could be produced writable and paintable sheets, similar to a thin cardboard.……

Palermo – The classic tourist destination Italy attracts numerous Swiss holidaymakers every year. Dream destination is often the legendary Sicily. The largest island of the  Mediterranean lies directly before the point of the boot and counts scarcely five million inhabitants. With a coastline of around 1,500 km, Sicily offers countless opportunities, especially for beach vacations……

Palermo (gro) The Internet portal  SkyScanner has ranked Palermo among the r 15 European cities particularly worth visiting in 2015.   The portal , which was founded 14 years ago and serves among other things as a search engine for air travel and hotels, points above all to the historical and cultural wealth of the……

In Sicily there is a long tradition in the production of olive oil. As a visitor to the island, you will inevitably come into contact with this natural product, because Sicilian restaurants almost always cook with local products. The soils and the strong sunshine on “Trinacria” give the outstanding olive oils their unique flavor and……

Palermo – Have you already booked your summer vacation in Sicily and chosen one of the comfortable vacation apartments or luxurious villas in the most beautiful coastal areas of the island? Whether you prefer the east coast between Taormina and Pachino or prefer in the regions around Agrigento or Trapani your vacation home: Starting in……

Rome/Bern (gro) Ghost ships full of refugees and daring rescue operations by Italian naval commandos off the cliffs of the southern Adriatic: this new development is being followed with great attention in neighboring Switzerland. In view of the increased onslaught on Italy, however, with all the concern in the country between Lake Constance and the……

Many vacationers come to Sicily to combine relaxation and sporting activities. If you belong to the group of individual vacationers who feel more comfortable in a vacation apartment or a vacation home than in a hotel, it is advisable to adjust the location to your sporting interests. If you like diving or mountain biking, the……

Palermo (gro) After a sunny October, Sicilians are expecting a “summery November” and a “Caribbean Christmas.” Blamed for this extravagant expectation is meteorologist Antonio Sanò, responsible for  the weather portal www.ilmeteo.it, where the seasonal weather pattern for Sicily is also presented. When direttore Salò fed current data into his computers for a longer-term forecast, the……

Palermo – Vacationing in pristine nature, under ancient olive trees next to ancient Greek temples;  wide beaches, above a bright blue sky and a sun shining on lemon and tangerine trees. Such images suit  Sicily, the island located in the Mediterranean Sea, far to the south off the tip of the Italian boot. If you……

Palermo (gro) It is known so far only from pictures, the “Camera delle Meraviglie” in a palazzo on via Porta die Castro in the historic center of Palermo. But now the “Room of Wonders” will be open to the public for one day, on September 6, the first Saturday in September. The interest should be……

San Vito Lo Capo (gro) Nature created it child-friendly, but people make it barrier-free: For Sicily’s dream beach in the very west of the sunny island, the slogan ” Zero Barrier ” applies.  Also and especially disabled fellow human beings should be able to enjoy the beach life and feel safe.

Rome/Palermo (gro) Floods and landslides in Piedmont and Lombardy, high water in Venice – Italy is experiencing an extremely rainy summer. All of Italy? No, the sun is shining in the deep south, especially in Sicily, which is currently living up to its nickname of “sunny island. No wonder that in fashionable Mondello, the seaside suburb of……

Palermo (gro) Sicily is worth a trip all year round. Decisive for the time of travel is what you want to experience in Sicily.  The most beautiful months for hiking, even on the smaller islands, are April, May and June. Those who want to combine hiking with a grape harvest and a visit to a……

A Jesuit priest planned the new Avola Avola (gro) The name of the baroque town,  27 kilometers south of Syracuse, is familiar to all friends of a strong  Sicilian red wine by name: The grape variety for the “Nero d’Avola”, the “Black of Avola”, is named after the  baroque town,  which was rebuilt after a……

Palermo (gro) There is no city in the world that boasts such a varied menu as Palermo. In the more than 1000 restaurants, trattorias, osterias and  cookshops of the island’s capital, Arabic and Chinese, French and Indonesian, Mexican, German, Afghan, South Sudanese, Japanese and/or Indian cuisine is served  – and often also genuine Sicilian. The……

Palermo (gro) In no country in the world is there as much talk about food as in Italy, and the discussions are particularly passionate in the deep south, not least in Sicily, where Arabs and French, Greeks, Romans, Turks and Spanish chefs have left their mark. Sicilian cuisine is quite special. “The best dishes are……

Palermo (gro) Giuseppe Garibaldiand his thousand irregulars – the adventurer who, with his motley band, drove the rulers of the time out of southern Italy from Sicily and ushered in the unification of Italy 164 years ago, remains unforgotten. This is already guaranteed by his likeness on  Italian 2-euro coins. in February 2014  it is……

Palermo (gro) In Mondello, the seaside suburb of Palermo.  the outdoor furniture is now brought out in the beach cafes, mid-February beckons the first warm weekend of the year. It is still too cold to swim in the water. But with air temperatures around 20 degrees and sunshine, it can be  outdoors and on the……

Agrigent (gro) With  music and folklore, the start of the Almond Blossom Festival was celebrated in Agrigent at the weekend.  For four weeks, until mid-March, the pink and white blossoming trees are the center of attention. Especially on weekends  Agrigento with its ancient Greek temple district (Valle dei Templi) is now  meeting place  for bands……

Palermo (gro) Palermo with its Norman-Arabic style buildings (in our picture the garden of San Giovanni degli Eremiti) as well as  the cathedrals of Cefalu and Monreale  are to be raised by the Unesco  to the World Heritage Site . This announced at the beginning of the week Giovanni Puglisi.  The cultural sites of western Sicily,……

Palermo/Modica (gro) For 134 years, in Modica finest chocolate  has been produced according to ancient Arabic and Spanish recipes, which are still secret today. The small chocolate store was  founded by Francesco Bonajuto in 1880, at a time when Sicily, which had been ruled by Spanish ruling houses for almost 400 years, was part of……

Palermo  (gro) Palermo Cathedral, on Corso Vittorio Emanuele, rises on the spot where once stood one of the more than 100 mosques built in Arab times. It was Aghlabids from North Africa who conquered Sicily in the 9th century and wrested it from the Byzantine Empire.  On what is now  Cathedral Square originally stood, from……

The most beautiful place? There is not Palermo (gro) What is the best place in Palermo? Wrongly asked: the best place does not exist in this city. There are just too many wonderful places, cozy nooks and picturesque corners, and after all, it depends on what you’re looking for. If you just want to find……

Stars of David in Taormina and the abandoned Jewish quarter of Palermo Palermo/Taormina (gro) The first Jews came to Palermo and other areas of Sicily in the first half of the 2nd century, when their home state had been dissolved after a revolt against Roman rule and Jerusalem had been destroyed. Today, there are at……

Arabs grab the Grand Hotel Palermo (gro)  Richard Wagner made his “Parsival“, his last major musical-dramatic work, stars and starlets have been hosted by the luxurious house as well as generals and politicians, and in 1957 it hosted the mythical Mafia Conference of the Cosa Nostra with the capi from New York and Palermo, where……

Palermo (gro) The Sicilian climate is typically subtropical. This means that there are long dry summers and mild winters, although we northerners are more likely to find the cool months to be reasonably sunny autumn  or spring  months.  The climate table for the island’s capital Palermo records an average annual temperature of just under 18……

Catania (gro) The Tango dancing on hot nights by the sea, recently this is possible not only in Argentina, but also in the Sicilian Catania. Ferragosto means in the east coast metropolis of the island not only feast day of Augustus, Assumption of Mary and summer, sun, beach holiday, but also tango, dance and festival.……

Palermo (gro) Anyone traveling by car in Palermo should avoid rush hour at all costs. In no other city in Italy do drivers spend as much time in traffic jams as in the Sicilian capital, an average of 40 percent of the driving time per year, as  determined for the international  Tom Tom Traffic Index  .……

Sicily (gro) A vacation home by the sea, and still a pool? If you want to afford it, you are well served, especially in the “windy season”. Apart from the special pleasure of taking a refreshing dip right by the house before breakfast and even at night time: When the surf washes over the beach……

Palermo/Agrigent/Syracuse (gro) When the swimming season comes to an end, the dog finally has its fun on the beach. In summer, it is usually just too hot in Sicily for the four-legged friends. No wonder that the local dogs hide in shady corners during the day. On many beaches, the four-legged friends, and neither local……

Trapani (gro) The wildly romantic Zingaro Nature Park in the far west of Sicily has been experiencing a huge rush of vacationers from more northern latitudes of Europe since mid-October. It is mainly Englishmen and Germans who populate the natural park, which has existed since 1980 and is therefore the oldest in Sicily, writes Giuseppe……

Palermo/ Syracuse (gro) The shorter the days and the longer the shadows, the brighter the lights glitter in Sicily: this is the experience of all friends of the island of Sicily who land there outside the hot months. The climate is pleasantly mild now, and in some cafés you can still sit outside in autumn……

Messina (gro) The new mayor of Messina likes to go barefoot. But no one takes offense to that. On the contrary, Renato Accorinti (in Italian), 59,  is unusually popular with the people of the town of 250,000 on the Stretto, the strait between Sicily and the boot tip of mainland Italy. The trained physical education teacher……

London/Comiso (gro) Ryanair is bringing the picturesque southeast of Sicily, blessed with vast beaches, closer to Central Europe. Starting in September, Europe’s largest low-cost airline will fly directly from London-Standsted to Comiso at least twice a week.  Already from the month of August, there will be daily flights to and from Rome-Ciampino and soon to……

Trinacria (gro) Early summer brings visitors to Sicily an island in full bloom. Nowhere else in the Mediterranean there is such a variety of plants. More than 3000 plants of all kinds are at home on the island. Many lead a hidden existence in well-tempered niches on the slopes of Mount Etna and in the……

Constance/Ragusa (gro) It has been  six years since it was officially inaugurated. And  despite multiple announcements of an “imminent start of operations,” skeptics doubted until the very end that Comiso Airport in the extreme south of the Mediterranean island would actually begin flight operations. But on Monday of this week, June 3, 2013, the time……

Berlin/Comiso (gro) Two airports (Palermo and Trapani) in the west of the island, one (Catania)  in the east, but so far no flights to the south. This should change soon, possibly with a little help from Brussels. In any case, the right airport is already there: the former military airport of Comiso in the province……

Trapani (gro) The passion of Christ as the central mystery of the Christian faith -nowhere is the sso impressively celebrated and celebrated as during the pre-Easter Holy Week in the far west of Sicily, in Trapani. While in the harbor the most beautiful tall ships with vacation guests land, in the historic center of the medieval baroque……

Lampedusa (gro) From high above, from an airplane, Lampedusa looks like a giant sandal that has lost its straps. The roughly 20-square-kilometer island, which would fit almost three times into Lake Constance, is 120 kilometers further south than Tunis, but for the past three months it has become a gateway for refugees from North Africa……

Palermo/Constance (gro) The friends of the friends are again at work in Constance at Lake Constance, now already for the third time. Once again, the main scene of intriguing power games will be moved from Palermo to Constance, when the third edition of the “Carnevale Siciliano” will be celebrated on the second last day of……

(gro) It was well-heeled aristocrats and wealthy retired industrialists who discovered the European south for wintering in the 19th century. Today, it is also retirees who turn their backs on the north during the sometimes nasty winter months. Mallorca thus got the dubious reputation of a retiree’s paradise. But it by no means has to……

Trapani/Agrigent (gro) Treat yourself to your first sunbath under brightly blossoming almond trees, ideally in the Valley of the Temples near Agrigento. Travel to Sicily in February. It is the month of departure. Nature awakens, it greens and blooms with power, and a trip through the landscapes of Sicily becomes a trip to a southern subcontinent……

Palermo (gro) An open-air Holy Mass on the Foro Italico against the monumental backdrop of the old city will be the highlight of the Pope’s visit to Palermo next Sunday, October 3. Benedict XVI is coming to the island metropolis at the invitation of the Sicilian priesthood. Palermo is now gearing up for a huge……

Palermo (gro) The ” Brass Group di Palermo ” takes over “Real teatro di Santa Cecilia” the oldest theater building of recent times in Sicily’s capital Palermo. The “Brass Group” is the most important jazz club in Italy. It was founded in 1974 as a non-profit foundation. With its “Orchestra Jazz Siciliana” became the musical ambassador……

(gro) The garbage scandal as a southern Italian perennial: Things are a bit sloppier around Naples and also in Sicily. Really? No, if you like the streets in the deep south to be clean and tidy, you should go to Taormina. The picturesque Sicilian mountain town high above the strait to Calabria, with its decorative view……

Palermo (gro) For the second time, the city center of Palermo has become a stage for musicians, poets and acrobats for one night, and again the “Notte Bianca”, organized by the provincial administration, was a huge success: At “at least 300,000 people”, the organizers estimate the number of revellers who enjoyed and celebrated the round……

Palermo (gro) Jazz on public transport: the municipal bus companies of Palermo are coming up with a very special musical revue this summer. Local formations will be performing on regular services between the center of the Sicilian metropolis and the seaside suburb of Mondello. The best part is not only the music itself. The enjoyment……

Palermo (gro) The Cosa Nostra has assassinated a prime minister and quite a few prosecutors, judges Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino, Communist leader Pio La Torre and Carabiniere General Alberto Dalla Chiesa, to name some of the most prominent victims of the Sicilian mafia. Leoluca Orlando (Image: Prof. Andreas Fritsch/Wikipedia)  was also on the hit……