Sicily’s melting pot is recognisable even today in the physical appearance of its inhabitants as well as in its customs, in the names of its towns and in the same language of the Sicilians.Whoever comes to Sicily today can discover and enjoy millennia of civilisation, culture, and history.
Following you can find the comments of famous travellers who have visited our island, admired its natural and artistic beauties, experienced the warmth and hospitality of its inhabitants and who, simply, have …fallen in love with Sicily.
“From two special points of view, however, Sicily should attract travelers, because its natural and artis- tic beauties are as singular as they are wonderful […] But what constitutes, above all, a land unique and most interesting in this world, is that it is, from one end to the other, a strange and divine museum of architecture.[…] After seeing these monuments, which, though belonging to different periods and being of different origin, still have the same character, the same nature, one can say that they are neither Gothic, nor Arabic, nor Byzantine, but Sicilian. One can assert that there is a Sicilian art and style, forever recognizable, which is assuredly the most delightful, the most varied, more highly colored and full of conceptions, than all the other styles of architecture”. Guy de Maupassant
“The loveliest region of Italy: a stunning orgy of colours, scents, and lights …a great delight!” Sigmund Freud
“I was enchanted… the limpidity of the sky, the relentless splendour of the sun, the beauty of the countryside, a certain excitement of the fantasy … which brought to mind the time when in the fields one encountered the divine.” Jean Houel
“Sicily reminds me of Asia and Africa; to find oneself in its wonderful heart where so many rays of the universal history converge, it’s no small thing. But now Sicily and Magna Graecia Make me hope in a new life of youth,. And now I forsee That the day I shall leave, I shall want to return.” Johann Wolfgang Goethe
“Palermo […] was lovely. The most beautifully situated town in the world – it dreams away its life in the concha d’oro, the exquisite valley that lies between two seas. The lemon groves and the orange gardens were […] entirely perfect”. Oscar Wilde
“This is the homeland of the Gods of Greek mythology. Near these places, Pluto abducted Persephone from her mother. In this wood we just walked through, Ceres ceased her swift running and tired of her fruitless search, sat on a rock, and despite being a goddess, she wept, the Greeks say, since she was a mother.
In these valleys, Apollo pastured his flocks; these groves, stretching down to the seashore, have echoed with Pan’s flute; the nymphs got lost under their shade and breathed their scent.
Galatea fled from Polyphemus and Acis, close to succumbing to the blows of his rival, enthralled these shores leaving his name here … In the distance you can see the lake of Hercules and the rocks of the Cyclops. Land of gods and heroes!” Alexis de Toqueville
