We decided to hire a car and driver, to take us from Sciacca to our next destination, the mountaintop town of Erice.  I had visited this town years ago, but only spent a few hours there, so I wanted to go back, and really have the chance to explore it.  Since we were going to…

As we continued to explore, we came upon one of the old city gates, the Porta Palermo. Palazzo Steripinto is one of the oldest buildings, still standing in the city today.  It dates from 1501, and was built by Antonio Noceto, grandson of the famous Italian botanist, Gerardo Noceto. The former Monastero Santa Maria dello…

The Palazzo Sortino dates from the 19th century. One of the local restaurants found a unique way to advertise, hanging t-shirts with their name printed on them, over the street.  It certainly drew our attention! I think that the artist responsible for the wooden plaque, pictured below, was trying to convey that, by turning Sicilian…

A monument to the Madonna del Soccorso stands on the Sciacca waterfront. The Fosse Granarie del Caricatore is an ancient storage facility that was used to hold grains.  The grain pits were dug into the rock, and were shaped like tunnels.  They were called “cannoli,” and just maybe this is where the name of the…