A quick island tour
Sicily is renowned for its natural beauty, unique architecture and vibrant cities steeped in local character. Palermo is the largest of these, with 660,000 inhabitants. Churches and palazzi with a Middle Eastern feel pack some of the streets along the city's snaking shore; palm trees shade its boulevards. The second largest city, Catania, lies on the eastern coast, nestled not so comfortably between Mount Etna and the sea. The volcano erupted most viciously in 1669, clogging the city with searing lava. Etna's most recent major eruption in the summer of 2001 pales in terms of destruction though it bulldozed Etna's ski trails and chairlifts and came within yards of people's hillside homes. From urban backyards to abandoned hills, Sicily is full of flowers and plants. Low bushes of myrtle, strawberry and many varieties of cactus cover the terrain, and in the late spring, fields fill with wildflowers. Exotic trees like carob, eucalyptus and spiny wild olive grow freely. Stout Mediterranean fan palms characterize the drier, desertlike areas such as the Zingaro Nature Reserve outside Palermo. All over the island, these trees leave a patchwork of scents during the spring and summer: fluffy white almond flowers, orange blossoms, hibiscus and intensely perfumed boughs of white jasmine that cling to stone walls like ivy.
It's easy to forget that Sicily is an island when there are so many smaller ones surrounding it. The Egadi Islands lie just off the coast of Trapani; Pantelleria and Lampedusa are south towards Africa. The Aeolian Islands to the northeast are probably the most well-known: The volcanic island of Stromboli lights up the sky with frequent bursts of fire, and the island of Lipari produces honey-sweet Malvasia wine and piquant capers. The small island of Ustica lies farther away from Sicily's shores but attracts snorkelers and divers with its unique underwater nature reserve full of colorful fish and corals. Sicily's plethora of archeological sites testifies to its thriving ancient communities, especially of Greek origin. Many art historians agree that Sicily (ironically) is the world's best place to see ancient Greek ruins-even better than Greece itself. The seven temples of the Valle dei Templi near Agrigento attest to that city's thriving ancient Greek colony. The outdoor theater in the town of Syracuse is in such good shape that it's still used for an annual summer festival of Greek theater. Dozens of other ancient cities remain, often in deserted grassy plains near the coast-one of the most transcendent moments of a visit to Sicily.

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