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 and winter, as comfortably bathed in sunshine as in late summer on Lake Constance. In Sicily, this means above all that now the immensely rich culture of the island can be better seen, studied and enjoyed. There is no shortage of important museums all year round, but it is high season for concerts of all kinds, for art vernissages and for opera performances. Those who still want to swim in between have no problem: beach life has largely died out, but the sicilian seais still reasonably warm even in December.
Syracuse, Catania and Palermo with special programs.
All major cities of Sicily are waiting with classical choir and orchestra concerts in autumn and winter. The offer is particularly dense in the capital. There, in Palermo, it now looks like every year the individual parishes (and their beautiful churches) want to outdo each other with concert events. Add to that countless vernissages of contemporary and classical art and the opportunities offered to all opera lovers by the Teatro Massimo, the third largest opera house in Europe (after the Paris Opera and La Scala in Milan, with a sophisticated international program). Also Catania, Taormina and Syracuse, the centrally located Enna, furthermore Trapani and Marsala in the very west are waiting every fall and winter with considerable concert series, also with “Jazz in Sicily” and with small festivals of sacred music.
In summer the illumination, à natale all the magic.
How atmospheric now also smaller towns and municipalities of Sicily decorate and give festive, exemplified by the mountain town of Caltagirone, located southwest of Catania, one of the centers of Sicilian ceramics production, whose first origins date back centuries. The huge flight of steps that connects the lower and upper Caltagirone is always magnificently illuminated, especially splendid indeed, especially on summer nights, when the Scala Santa Maria del Monte gives itself as a sky-storming carpet of light. During Advent, around Christmas and New Year’s Day, however, the entire baroque town in Sicily’s southeastern hill country shines in competition with five other municipalities of the Val di Noto (with Avola, Noto, Modica, Ragusa and Scicli), which was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site a few years ago.
A popular destination all year.
With its spectacular staircase, with its magnificent baroque churches and its Caramic Institute including Academy and Museum, Caltagirone is a popular destination all year round. This is ensured by the increasing offer of vacation apartments and vacation villas in the southeast of the island. The newly opened airport Comiso, which Ryanair also flies to, should bring additional vacation travelers to Caltagirone. But once again back to Scala Santa Maria del Monte: The giant staircase with its 142 colorful steps, covered with original majolica plates, is a handicraft-historical picture book, in which hundreds of artists have immortalized themselves.