Sicily, a crossroads of the Mediterranean for more than 3000 years, has
been ruled by Carthaginians, Greeks, Romans, Byzantines, Arabs, Normans,
Swabians, French, Spanish, Italians, and miscellaneous others while its
people have retained their strong personal independence. Come with me as
I make my way around the coast of this island from Palermo to Palermo
visiting extinct cities, collections of ancient coins, Europe's largest
volcano, and many other corners of this island with a thousand faces.
Walk with me through this series of essays, each a snapshot of a town, a
city, a train, a beach, a haphazard pile of rocks--each a glimpse
current life, of a long ago civilization, of rugged nature. They are my
view of an October, turn-of-the-century Sicily.