Sogno di un Uomo Ridiculo: a WWOOF Farm in Central Sicily

Lemons are just some of the citrus being grown at Salvatore and Francesca's farm outside Caltanisetta in central Sicily.  Besides their four home-schooled chidren, their farm or Il Sogno di un Uomo Ridiculo (The Dream of a Ridiculous Man), hosts goats, ducks, geese, chickens, lots of olive trees, some fruit trees and vegetable gardens.

View from the house across the valley

Teresa and Benedetta...

Teresa is featured in Salvatore's band's music video seen here.

The group is called Pupi di Surfaro.

Broccoli

Almond blossoms...bloomed a month later than normal due to the unusually cold and wet winter in Sicily.

Drying my shoes was a struggle as there was a lot of rain in March.

View of the top of the property and the home - and olives trees we pruned

Francesco and Angie, other WWOOF volunteers from near Piacenza

The goats...

Angie was the resident hair stylist.

Peanut art in the trees

Fava beans (nitrogen fixer and Sicilian delicacy) line the rows between citrus trees.

Taormina, Sicily

Taormina's ancient Greek theater is perched atop a mountain overlooking the Ionian Sea on the east coast of Sicily.

Taormina's Duomo

View of Taormina from above near the Saracen castle

View of Mt. Etna from Castelmola above Taormina

View of the Taormina coast from Castelmola

Isola Bella, along the beach below Taormina

Vendors sell braided palm leaves for Palm Sunday

An amusing municipal sign

Ortigia/Siracusa, Sicily

After listening to a few tunes played by Sandro, a local street accordionist upon arriving in Siracusa (Syracuse), Marié was invited to play.  She quickly learned some traditional Sicilian songs...

Fresh fish in the market

Marié in Piazza del Duomo 

The Duomo in Ortigia...Ortigia was my favorite city that I visited in Sicily. Ortigia makes up the historical center of Siracusa and is an ancient settlement on an island jutting out into the sea and contains funky and narrow streets with friendly locals.

Inside the Duomo, you can see the original columns from when this cathedral was a Greek temple dedicated to Athena.  The Temple of Athena dates back to the 5th century BC and the cathedral from the 7th century.

Sunset from Ortigia

Syracuse's Greek Theater

L'Orecchio di Dionisio (The Ear of Dionysius), a cave near the Greek theater once supposedly used as a prison

Pretty Ortigia...

Marié jams at a restaurant with a new friend.

Modica & Noto, Sicily

Modica (and Noto) are both UNESCO Heritages Sites because of their unique Sicilian Baroque architecture that was constructed after the area was mostly devastated by 1693 earthquake.

The small city of Modica is built along the slopes and base of this valley.  

Modica has amazing chocolate deriving from an original ancient Aztec recipe that the Spaniards brought to Sicily centuries ago.  The chocolate is grainy, aromatic and reminds me of chocolate from Central America.

Inside the Cathedral...

Good thing the rental Fiat was tiny because the street were also teensy.

The Cathedral and other Baroque architecture in Noto...

Western Sicily & Agrigento

Marié in the free hot springs near Segesta (Terme Segestane) with friendly local Sicilians...

Statue of St. Francis of Assisi above Castellammare di Golfo

Fishermen showed off their morning catch in Castellammare di Golfo.

Some of the best-preserved ancient Greek temples outside Greece are in Agrigento's Valley of Temples....

Temple of Castor and Pollux

Marié in front of the Temple of Juno

We enjoyed taking photos of the almond trees in bloom with their beautiful blossoms...

The Temple of Concordia, the inspiration for the symbol of UNESCO...

Looking out to the Mediterranean from one of the open catacombs