Articles > Sicily

Sicily's best-known export is the Mafia, which, despite the best efforts of certain brave and incorruptible judges, continues to flourish. Fortunately, though it is impossible to pretend that the Mafia doesn't exist, its activities rarely affect the traveller through a land that combines the exoticism of an Arab country with the warmth of the Mediterranean. Those wanting to know more could do worse than read Norman Lewis’s The Honoured Society. Lewis’s first wife was Sicilian, which gives his writing a particular edge.

Palermo, the island's atmospheric capital, is one of the richest cities in Europe, from an artistic and historic point of view (though, like the rest of southern Italy, desperately poor in comparison to the industrial north), with a wealth of important and beautiful churches, palazzos and galleries but, unless you are a dedicated sightseer, you may find it a little overwhelming. It tends to be crowded and noisy and, even by Italian standards, the drivers are quite terrifying. Not a single car in Palermo remains undented. You should, however, try not to miss the following: the unbridled marble baroque interior of Santa Caterina in the Piazza Bellini; the twelfth century mosaics in the beautiful church of La Martorana; Antonello da Messina's exquisite Virgin of the Annunciation in the National Gallery of Sicily and the Palazzo dei Normanni, once the home of the Norman kings of Sicily, with its lovely mosaic-encrusted Cappella Palatina. But perhaps the best way to enjoy Palermo is simply to wander around, getting the feel of the place. At every turn, there is something lovely to see and, if you do miss a church or two, there are plenty more.

Last time I was there, I stayed at the beautiful turn-of-the-century Grande Albergo delle Palme on the Via Roma, which had a magnificent foyer and a good central location. The bedrooms, some of which have subsequently been renovated, were small but adequate and the service in the dining room painfully slow -- at least you had the consolation of knowing that, in November 1881, Wagner wrote parts of Parsifal there. This is one of Palermo's two grander hotels: the other is the famous Villa Igiea which, in addition to being in need of an overhaul, has the disadvantage of being well out of the centre of town on the way up to Monte Pellegrino, something that doesn't seem to be made clear in the guidebooks. Palermo has plenty of good restaurants and I cannot imagine what Sicilian food has done to earn its poor reputation. The seafood particularly is magnificent and fish like sea bass (spigola) which is prohibitively expensive in this country can be found there at easily affordable prices. Swordfish is also excellent, grilled with a little olive oil and lemon juice. There are a number of regional specialities particularly in combinations of pasta and fish, and only an absence of vegetables could be regarded as a drawback. Even at the best restaurants in Palermo, you can eat for a tenth of what you would pay in London. Sicilian wines are good too. I was always drawn to the beautifully-named Donnafugata (literally 'woman fled'), which is also the name of the imaginary country house in Sicily's most famous novel, The Leopard by Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa who never saw his masterpiece published but died a few days after it had been rejected by a publisher.

Once out of Palermo and into the Sicilian countryside, your best bet is to head inland where the landscape remains relatively unspoiled. The views are dramatic - the hills green and strewn with wild flowers in the spring, scorched and brown in the summer and autumn. You can also still find a whiff of old Sicily, which is not necessarily entirely welcome. Once, driving through the countryside with friends and looking for somewhere to stop for the night, we found ourselves in a small village. It was near dusk and we thought we would see if we could find rooms there. We got out of the car and were immediately surrounded by about fifteen men. I asked, as the only Italian speaker, whether there was anywhere we could stay. "Non" came the answer, and it was made abundantly clear that we were not welcome, even for a cup of coffee.

There are sudden surprises like the hilltop town of Enna, the 'balcony of Sicily' and the baroque jewel of Noto - see it now before it disintegrates completely. When I first visited Noto twenty years ago, most of its absurdly magnificent buildings were intact. Now many are being literally held up by scaffolding and it will take decades to restore. Of classical Sicily, more than enough remains but, if time or enthusiasm are limited, you should visit Agrigento and stay in the Villa Athena. Ask for a room with a view and you will be rewarded by the magnificent spectacle of the fifth century B.C. Temple of Concord, which dominates the Valley of the Temples. This comfortable, elegant hotel has only one drawback - the walls are paper-thin and you can hear everything in the next room. High above the Valley is the excellent Le Caprice restaurant, which has a reasonable view and superb food.

Sicily's coastline has suffered the ravages of tourism and is marred by large high-rise concrete hotels. If you desperately want to be by the sea, Taormina, where the writer D.H. Lawrence lived for a while, is the most stylish of the resorts, though crammed with shops selling all manner of junk. It has, however, magnificent views, both of the sea and Mount Etna and a number of nice hotels. Prices are predictably higher than elsewhere in Sicily and the restaurants, on the whole, disappointing. When a town is given over almost exclusively to tourism, standards invariably drop. But you can eat well at La Giarra, which is closed in November, February and March. And in Castel Molo, high above Taormina, you can sample the famous and delicious almond wine made there.

It is hard to think of anywhere within Europe that combines so much so compactly. Sicily's stormy history and violent present bring a whiff of danger to the place, but it has all the ease of Italy and more than enough to see and do.

Articles

• More from Lucretia Stewart