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Taormina - What to do

Taormina and Isola Bella

History of Taormina

Taormina: Monuments

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Home of the Greco-Roman Theatre

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Alcantara Gorges

The Gorges of Alcantara

Visiting the Alcantara Gorge
in Sicily

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To the famous Ibn Jubair, Sicily was a total surprise: despite 100 years of Christian rule, he found its Muslim heritage alive and flourishing.

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Sacred sites in Sicily

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Painting of Santa Rosalia, Monte Pellegrino, Palermo
Santuario Santa Rosalia Monte Pellegrino, Palermo, Sicily
Perched 445 meters (1460 feet) above the Tyrrhenian Sea and the city of Palermo in northwestern Italy, the cave sanctuary of Santa Rosalia Monte Pellegrino is one of Sicily's two primary Catholic shrines. Archaeological evidence indicates the cave had pre-Christian religious uses, including an ancient temple to the Anatolian (and later Greek) Earth goddess Cybele, the Carthaginian god Kronos, and Tanit, the Phoenician Punic goddess of fertility.

While the first known traces of Christian worship are found from the seventh century when a small church of the Virgin Mary was situated in the cave, the main reason for Christian pilgrimage is the sanctuary of Santa Rosalia. Now the patron saint of Palermo, Rosalia was born of a Norman noble family, she lived from 1130 to 1166, and was (according to tradition) the maid of Queen Margherita, the wife of King William of Sicily. Devoutly religious, she retired for the final eight years of her life to the cave of the Madonna on Monte Pellegrino.

Four hundred years later, in May of 1624, a boat arrived in Palermo carrying the Black Death, a deadly plague. An epidemic spread throughout the city causing thousands of deaths. In February of 1625, Rosalia appeared to a man and indicated where her remains were to be found in the cave of the Madonna. She instructed him to bring her bones to Archbishop Giannettino Doria of Palermo and to have them carried in procession through the city. The man climbed the mountain and found Rosalia's bones in the cave as described. Soon word of the discovery spread, large numbers of people began to visit the cave, and many miraculous healings occurred. The bones were then taken to the Archbishop. Once they were carried around the city three times on June 5th (some sources say the 9th) the plague ceased. On July 27, Saint Rosalia was proclaimed as the patron saint of Palermo. The construction of a sanctuary that encompasses the cave began in 1626 and was completed in 1629, when Pope Urban VIII officially confirmed the sanctity of Rosalia.

Rosalia is also called La Santuzza, or the Little Saint, by the people of Palermo and each year her shrine is visited by tens of thousands of pilgrims. The focal point of the shrine is a statue of Rosalia made of gold and white marble, ornamented with many precious stones. Rosalia reclines, holding her own skull in her hand, and a pickaxe for breaking her way through rocks in the cave.

During the month of September the traditional acchianata procession is held, during which many thousands of worshipers climb along an ancient path of 4 kilometers to the mountaintop sanctuary. On the nights of September 3 and 4, both individuals and organized groups pray and sing while ascending the mountain. Each June between the 10th and the 15th, in commemoration of the miraculous procession of June 9, 1625, the people of Palermo celebrate with a grand feast known as U fistinu. On the day of the 14th a chariot holding a statue of Santa Rosalia is paraded through Palermo and a big show of fireworks lights up the night sky. On the 15th there is a solemn procession of the relics of the saint. The mountain shrine is also a place of pilgrimage for the Hindu Tamil community and Saint Rosalia has been proposed as the patron saint of evolutionary studies.

Entrance to the cave shrine of Santa Rosalia, Monte Pellegrino

Statue of Mary, cave shrine of Santa Rosalia, Monte Pellegrino

Marble and gold statue of Santa Rosalia, Monte Pellegrino, Sicily
Santuario Maria del Tindari, Sicily

Sanctuary of Maria of Tindari, Sicily

Located approximately 50 miles west of the city of Messina in northeastern Sicily, the Sanctuary of Maria de Tindari is famous for its ancient statue of the Black Madonna. While the exact date of the arrival of the cedar wooden statue is unknown, tradition holds that it was brought sometime towards the end of the eighth century or in the early decades of the ninth century when the Sicily was under the domination of the Byzantine Empire for about three centuries (535-836).

Legends tell of a ship sailing from Constantinople, the capital of the Byzantine Empire, in which was hidden (perhaps being smuggled) a mysterious statue of the dark Mary. While the ship crossed the waters of the Tyrrhenian Sea, a violent storm suddenly arose and the sailors were forced to take refuge in the Bay of Tindari. When the storm subsided, the sailors raised anchor and hoisted the sails but the ship failed to move. Thinking to lighten the ship's load, they jettisoned some cargo, but still the ship would not move. In desperation they decided to deposit the statue of the Virgin on the beach to see if it was she who prevented their departure. Placing the box with the statue at the base of the cliffs of Tindari and entrusting it to the local abbey for safekeeping, they were finally able to sail away. Villagers from the town of Tindari, already a thriving Christian community, decided to carry the statue to the highest and most beautiful place in the region, where formerly stood a temple dedicated to Ceres, a Roman goddess of agriculture and fertility.

A series of churches were built to house the statue, including one destroyed by Barbarossa, a notorious Algerian pirate in 1544, and the present church was completed in 1979. The statue of Mary holding the baby Jesus was probably carved between the fifth and sixth centuries, and scholars assert that it did not come from either Latin or Byzantine workshops but more probably was fashioned in the Middle East, perhaps in Syria or Palestine. The statue has benefited from extensive restoration; centuries of paint, varnish, smoke and dust had covered the eyes and dulled the original hue of the paint. Inscribed at the base of the statue are the Latin words Nigra sum ​​sed formosa, meaning 'I am black, but beautiful.' Similar to the Tindari statue, there are hundreds of other Black Madonna's throughout Europe (readers interested in learning more about these statues will enjoy the book The Cult of the Black Virgin, by Ean Begg). The feast of Our Lady of Tindari is held annually between the 7th and 8th of September. Inside the large church, if you follow the signs at the back, you will find the smaller, more humble 16th century sanctuary that has breathtaking views of the sea below. This original sanctuary was built on top of the ancient temple to the Earth goddess Cybele.

Black Madonna statue, Sanctuary of Mary of Tindari, Sicily

Mosaic of Mary and Angel, Monte Pellegrino, Sicily

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Painting of Santa Rosalia, Monte Pellegrino, Palermo Santuario Santa Rosalia Monte Pellegrino, Palermo, Sicily Perched 445 meters (1460 feet) above the Tyrrhenian Sea and the city of Palermo in northwestern Italy, the cave sanctuary of Santa Rosalia Monte Pellegrino is one of Sicily's two primary Catholic shrines.

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Invasion of Sicily - World War II - HISTORY.com

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Find out more about the history of Invasion of Sicily, including videos, interesting articles, pictures, historical features and more. Get all the facts on HISTORY.com

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Newsbank Access World News headline search - Sicily refugees

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VIVA SICILY!

Old dying towns are seeing new life thanks to thousands of refugees seeking asylum from Syria. With aid from the government, they're rebuilding communities-and making new homes for themselves in the process.

PALERMO, Sicily -The picturesque Sicilian hilltop village of Sutera, just 50 miles south east of Palermo, has been a dusty ghost town ever since the locals started dying off and the younger generation started moving away about a decade ago. In its heyday in the 1960s, the village had a population of more than 5,000 people, but the town has been losing residents at a steady rate of about 100 people a year. More than 50 percent of the homes are vacant, and most of the stores shuttered long ago. Last year, the average size of an elementary school class had just six students.

But in the last six months, Sutera has started what could be considered a resurrection of sorts, springing back to life, thanks to an initiative by a group protecting the rights of asylum seekers called SPRAR. They have convinced the Sicilian government that migrants and refugees might just be the solution for repopulating Sicily's dying towns. Villages like Sutera get government grants to turn over abandoned houses and vacant stores to Italy's newest residents who are mostly Syrian, Egyptian, Palestinian, Afghani, and Sub-Saharan African refugees.

"Ali" is one such Syrian refugee making Sutera his new home. He fled Syria last year and landed on Lampedusa, off the Sicilian coast, last summer. He attempted to join his extended family in France before being turned away twice trying to get to Paris. Because he applied for political asylum in Italy, he is supposed to remain in the country (and refrain from using his name in the press) until the lengthy paperwork is completed. He heard about the Sicilian project and returned to the island. After he was given a home to repair, he decided to stay even longer. He and three other refugees-a Palestinian and a Nigerian-are now fixing up two abandoned villas in Sutera, using tools and supplies donated by the local government, while they wait for their wives and children to join them. "We are going to try to make our lives here," he told The Daily Beast. "Sometimes opportunities present themselves in unexpected ways, and this is an opportunity for us."

Sicily has a long history as a cultural crossroads for people moving between Arab countries, South Asia, the Middle East and Europe. The island was under Arab rule between 827 and 1061, at a time when the Arab world was far more advanced than any of Sicily's previous rulers. The period was arguably the peak of the island's cultural enlightenment, and its multi-cultural history is still present via architecture, cuisine and local dialect. Many of the grand basilicas in Palermo, Messina and Cefalu are topped with red domes that still have Arabic inscriptions carved into the walls, left in place when mosques were converted to churches. Sicilian dialect is filled with Arabic words like mischinu (taken from the Arabic word miskin), which means a poor person. Many older Sicilians still feel they are more connected to their diverse Arabic and Middle Eastern past than to modern Europe.

The new Sicilians are far more ethnically and religiously mixed than past inhabitants, and local Sicilians have welcomed them into their communities. "Our towns are at risk of dying completely without this repopulation by refugees," says Pietro Alongi, a social service worker who is helping the integration process in Sutera. "We need them as much as they need us."

But not everyone coming through Sicily sees the value of staying. Almost every day, hundreds of migrants and refugees are moved from Sicily to the Italian mainland where they are housed in makeshift camps until they can either leave legally or escape, often as Italian authorities turn a blind eye. Over the weekend, 111 Ethiopians jumped the fence at a Messina refugee camp and disappeared. Only eight were caught. The rest are undoubtedly on the Italian mainland already, heading north. In March, 40 Syrian refugees escaped from housing in Florence. Most were reportedly picked up by family members and friends in cars and driven to the border. "We are going to try to get to Germany," a Syrian woman who says her name is Ada, told The Daily Beast while waiting with her two young children to board a dedicated refugee flight from Palermo to Rome this week. "We have enough money to start a new life, but we have to get there first."

Even if refugees wanted to stay in Italy, there soon won't be space to house everyone at the rate they are arriving. Since the beginning of the year, 22,000 mostly Syrian, Ethiopian and Egyptian refugees have come through Sicily and its tiny island of Lampedusa to seek asylum. Most want to move to Sweden, where legalized Syrian refugees are invited to bring their families, or to Germany, which has a large Syrian population. In the last six months, Milan authorities estimate that more than 4,000 Syrian refugees have crossed through the city's train station heading north. According to the city's Welfare attaché, Piefrancesco Majorino, 70 percent are headed to Sweden, 21 percent to Germany. More than 13,000 people have requested political asylum in Italy since the beginning of the year, up 140 percent over last year, according to Italy's interior ministry.

Sicilians may have a long history of acceptance and tolerance, but not all Italians welcome the refugees. Projects aimed at helping migrants are facing renewed political opposition from within the country. Last year, under prime minister Enrico Letta, the Italian government began an initiative called Mare Nostrum (Our Sea) together with border control group Frontex meant to save lives of migrants and refugees by dispatching Italian naval ships to pluck rickety fishing boats out of the sea before they crash onto Italian shores. The project, which costs Italian tax payers around 9 million Euro every month, was started after more than 350 migrants died when their boat caught fire and sank off Lampedusa last October. More than 60 human traffickers have been arrested through the project and prosecuted in the Italian court systems.

The project has saved countless lives, but the country's center right parties are now demanding that it be halted. Frontex, which is supposed to be an equal partner, has only contributed 13 million Euro since the project began last November. Forza Italia parliamentarian Maurizio Gasparri called the program a "taxi service" for "merchants of death" making it easier for human traffickers to do their work.

Even facing such an uncertain future, the refugee crisis shows no sign of abating. The Italian navy estimates that more than 600,000 refugees and migrants are waiting in North African ports in what has been described as a "biblical exodus"-all headed for Italy.

PALERMO, Sicily -The picturesque Sicilian hilltop village of Sutera, just 50 miles south east of Palermo, has been a dusty ghost town ever since the locals started dying off and the younger generation started moving away about a decade ago. In its heyday in the 1960s, the village had a population of more than 5,000 people, but the town has been losing residents at a steady rate of about 100 people a year. More than 50 percent of the homes are vacant, and most of the stores shuttered long ago. Last year, the average size of an elementary school class had just six students.

But in the last six months, Sutera has started what could be considered a resurrection of sorts, springing back to life, thanks to an initiative by a group protecting the rights of asylum seekers called SPRAR. They have convinced the Sicilian government that migrants and refugees might just be the solution for repopulating Sicily's dying towns. Villages like Sutera get government grants to turn over abandoned houses and vacant stores to Italy's newest residents who are mostly Syrian, Egyptian, Palestinian, Afghani, and Sub-Saharan African refugees.

"Ali" is one such Syrian refugee making Sutera his new home. He fled Syria last year and landed on Lampedusa, off the Sicilian coast, last summer. He attempted to join his extended family in France before being turned away twice trying to get to Paris. Because he applied for political asylum in Italy, he is supposed to remain in the country (and refrain from using his name in the press) until the lengthy paperwork is completed. He heard about the Sicilian project and returned to the island. After he was given a home to repair, he decided to stay even longer. He and three other refugees-a Palestinian and a Nigerian-are now fixing up two abandoned villas in Sutera, using tools and supplies donated by the local government, while they wait for their wives and children to join them. "We are going to try to make our lives here," he told The Daily Beast. "Sometimes opportunities present themselves in unexpected ways, and this is an opportunity for us."

Sicily has a long history as a cultural crossroads for people moving between Arab countries, South Asia, the Middle East and Europe. The island was under Arab rule between 827 and 1061, at a time when the Arab world was far more advanced than any of Sicily's previous rulers. The period was arguably the peak of the island's cultural enlightenment, and its multi-cultural history is still present via architecture, cuisine and local dialect. Many of the grand basilicas in Palermo, Messina and Cefalu are topped with red domes that still have Arabic inscriptions carved into the walls, left in place when mosques were converted to churches. Sicilian dialect is filled with Arabic words like mischinu (taken from the Arabic word miskin), which means a poor person. Many older Sicilians still feel they are more connected to their diverse Arabic and Middle Eastern past than to modern Europe.

The new Sicilians are far more ethnically and religiously mixed than past inhabitants, and local Sicilians have welcomed them into their communities. "Our towns are at risk of dying completely without this repopulation by refugees," says Pietro Alongi, a social service worker who is helping the integration process in Sutera. "We need them as much as they need us."

But not everyone coming through Sicily sees the value of staying. Almost every day, hundreds of migrants and refugees are moved from Sicily to the Italian mainland where they are housed in makeshift camps until they can either leave legally or escape, often as Italian authorities turn a blind eye. Over the weekend, 111 Ethiopians jumped the fence at a Messina refugee camp and disappeared. Only eight were caught. The rest are undoubtedly on the Italian mainland already, heading north. In March, 40 Syrian refugees escaped from housing in Florence. Most were reportedly picked up by family members and friends in cars and driven to the border. "We are going to try to get to Germany," a Syrian woman who says her name is Ada, told The Daily Beast while waiting with her two young children to board a dedicated refugee flight from Palermo to Rome this week. "We have enough money to start a new life, but we have to get there first."

Even if refugees wanted to stay in Italy, there soon won't be space to house everyone at the rate they are arriving. Since the beginning of the year, 22,000 mostly Syrian, Ethiopian and Egyptian refugees have come through Sicily and its tiny island of Lampedusa to seek asylum. Most want to move to Sweden, where legalized Syrian refugees are invited to bring their families, or to Germany, which has a large Syrian population. In the last six months, Milan authorities estimate that more than 4,000 Syrian refugees have crossed through the city's train station heading north. According to the city's Welfare attaché, Piefrancesco Majorino, 70 percent are headed to Sweden, 21 percent to Germany. More than 13,000 people have requested political asylum in Italy since the beginning of the year, up 140 percent over last year, according to Italy's interior ministry.

Sicilians may have a long history of acceptance and tolerance, but not all Italians welcome the refugees. Projects aimed at helping migrants are facing renewed political opposition from within the country. Last year, under prime minister Enrico Letta, the Italian government began an initiative called Mare Nostrum (Our Sea) together with border control group Frontex meant to save lives of migrants and refugees by dispatching Italian naval ships to pluck rickety fishing boats out of the sea before they crash onto Italian shores. The project, which costs Italian tax payers around 9 million Euro every month, was started after more than 350 migrants died when their boat caught fire and sank off Lampedusa last October. More than 60 human traffickers have been arrested through the project and prosecuted in the Italian court systems.

The project has saved countless lives, but the country's center right parties are now demanding that it be halted. Frontex, which is supposed to be an equal partner, has only contributed 13 million Euro since the project began last November. Forza Italia parliamentarian Maurizio Gasparri called the program a "taxi service" for "merchants of death" making it easier for human traffickers to do their work.

Even facing such an uncertain future, the refugee crisis shows no sign of abating. The Italian navy estimates that more than 600,000 refugees and migrants are waiting in North African ports in what has been described as a "biblical exodus"-all headed for Italy.

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Refugees Head to Sicily in 'Biblical Exodus'

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VIVA SICILY! PALERMO, Sicily -The picturesque Sicilian hilltop village of Sutera, just 50 miles south east of Palermo, has been a dusty ghost town ever since the locals started dying off and the younger generation started moving away about a decade ago.

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Italian Mafia

In Sicily, Defying the Mafia by Joshua Hammer

Mafia in the United States

Shopkeepers Revolt has Mafia on the run in its Sicilian Heartlands by Lorenzo Tondo

The Secret Lives of the Mafia Hunters

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Origins of the Mafia - Facts & Summary - HISTORY.com

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Find out more about the history of Origins of the Mafia, including videos, interesting articles, pictures, historical features and more. Get all the facts on HISTORY.com

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A History of Sicilian Cuisine

Sicilian Gelato by
Roberta Gangi

Sicilian Pizza by Roberta Gangi

The Story of Sicilian Food
by Veronica Levenia

What is Sicilian Pizza? by Devorah Lev-Tov

Sicilian Pizza

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Stromboli by Jessica Ball

Stromboli Volcano

Mt. Stromboli Volcano Information by Nancy Wagner

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Stromboli | Volcano World | Oregon State University

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Violent eruptions are rare at Stromboli. In 1919, four people were killed and twelve homes destroyed by blocks, some of which weighed 60 tons (50 metric tons). In 1930, during the largest eruption of Stromboli this century, three people were killed by pyroclastic flows.

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An earthquake accompanying the eruption of Sicily's Mount Etna has forced 1,000 people from their homes.

Hundreds of tremors have been registered since the eruption began on Sunday, but Tuesday's was the largest, at 4.3 on the Richter scale.

It was followed by two more quakes registering 3.6 and 4.0, adding to the panic of local villagers.

More than 100 homes were damaged in Santa Venerina, and holiday hotels have been requisitioned to accommodate the displaced families.

Meanwhile, two streams of lava are continuing to flow down the southern and northern slopes of the volcano.

Residential areas are not threatened but tourist facilities have been swallowed up, and acres of pine forest have been consumed by fire.

The Italian Government is meeting on Tuesday night to discuss demands by regional officials for a state of "natural disaster" to be declared.

Etna is a popular skiing area, and the season would normally be beginning soon.

Ski lifts on the southern side of the volcano were swamped by lava last year.

Those on the northern slopes have already been damaged by this latest eruption.

Injuries

Emergency workers have been digging channels in the earth in an attempt to divert the northern flow away from the town of Linguaglossa.

Schools in the town have been shut down, although the church has remained open for people to pray.

Apart from Santa Venerina, Tuesday's earthquake also affected the villages of Giarre, and Zafferana Etnea.

Civil defence official Enrico Galeani said some people had been slightly injured.

The airport outside the city of Catania remained closed on Tuesday for a third day.

Restaurant swallowed

Ash has been falling continuously on the city, and drifting across the Mediterranean as far as Libya.

Europe's most active volcano has been throwing magma more than 100 metres (330 feet) into the air, in a spectacular display.

The lava has swallowed buildings, including at least one restaurant, knocked down power lines and pushed over ski-lift pylons.

Mount Etna has had four major eruptions in the last 309 years.

Vulcanologists have warned that it is gradually becoming more explosive and more dangerous.

Etna is almost constantly rumbling, but had not erupted since July and August last year, which experts described as one of the most erratic and complex displays in 300 years.

Its previous big eruption was in 1992.

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BBC NEWS | Europe | Etna villagers flee homes after quake

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An earthquake accompanying the eruption of Sicily's Mount Etna has forced 1,000 people from their homes. Hundreds of tremors have been registered since the eruption began on Sunday, but Tuesday's was the largest, at 4.3 on the Richter scale. It was followed by two more quakes registering 3.6 and 4.0, adding to the panic of local villagers.

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Newsbank Access World News headline search - Etna eruption

do the search, and then look at specific years with lots of articles

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Sacred Mountain by Vincenzo Mormino

Enkelados (one of the Giants)

Hephaestos by Vincenzo Salerno

The Trinacria by
Ninni Radicini

The Trinacria by
Carlo Trabia

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By BBC News Online's Tamar Shiloh

An angry, ancient monster, trapped for thousands of years under the 3,315-metre-high Mount Etna, periodically loses his temper and spurts out spectacular columns of fire from one of its 100 dragon heads.

This, according to one Greek myth, explains the eruptions of the highest, most active volcano in Europe.

Etna (its name derives from the Greek word aitho, or "I burn"), towers above Catania, on the eastern coast of Sicily.

Its geological characteristics indicate that it has been active for more than two-and-a-half million years.

Great mythology

For the ancient Greeks, the mountain housed the workshop of Hephaestus, otherwise known as Vulcan, the god of fire and metalwork, and was home to the giant one-eyed monster, Cyclops.

Another myth said that Typhon, a 100-headed monster who was the son of earth goddess Gaia, was trapped under Mount Etna by Zeus after he tried to rebel, and he has been spitting out his angry flames ever since.

Virgil described the volcano in The Georgics, written in 29 BC: "Yea, how often have we seen/Etna, her furnace-walls asunder riven,/In billowy floods boil o'er the Cyclops' fields,/And roll down globes of fire and molten rocks!"

And Homer placed the cave of Polyphemus, the Cyclops who captured Odysseus and his comrades, on Etna's slopes.

Long history

The volcano's first recorded eruption was in 1500 BC, and it is believed to have erupted about 200 times since.

One of the mountain's most dramatic eruptions lasted four months, from March to July of 1669.

That eruption caused great damage to surrounding areas, submerging a dozen villages in western Catania, including the village of Nicolosi, which is currently under threat by lava from the latest eruption.

But Etna's eruptive behaviour has changed over the past 400 years.

For nearly a century following the 1669 eruption, Etna's output is believed to have been very low.

A flank eruption in 1755, however, brought about several years of volcanic activity, including overflows of lava.

A huge eruption in 1865 was among the largest since 1669. A few weeks after the end of that eruption, a devastating earthquake (measuring about 4.7 on the Richter scale) in the area killed more than 70 people near the village of Macchia.

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bbc news world uk international foreign british online service

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BBC News | EUROPE | Etna: The stuff of myths

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By BBC News Online's Tamar Shiloh An angry, ancient monster, trapped for thousands of years under the 3,315-metre-high Mount Etna, periodically loses his temper and spurts out spectacular columns of fire from one of its 100 dragon heads. This, according to one Greek myth, explains the eruptions of the highest, most active volcano in Europe.

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This includes Panerea, Vulcano and Stromboli

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Explore Aeolian Islands holidays and discover the best time and places to visit. | Rising out of the cobalt-blue seas off Sicily's northeastern coast, the Unesco-protected Aeolian Islands (Vulcano, Lipari, Salina, Panarea, Stromboli, Filicudi and Alicudi) are a little piece of paradise, a magical outdoor playground offering thrills and spills at every turn.

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Pasta, Pizza, Gelato and so much more

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Back in the day, this saying applied to pretty much everyone: "I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream."

Nowadays, though, one friend is probably screaming for gelato, another for a vegan frozen dessert and yet someone else for sherbet.

But it's gelato, ice cream's Italian cousin, that's keeping more customers coming back. Gelato sales rose from $11 million in 2009 to an estimated $214 million in 2014, which has kept frozen dessert sales afloat, according to the market research firm Mintel.

Gelato has gained ground in part because it's novel, says Beth Bloom, an analyst at Mintel. And, because we tend to think of gelato as "this special thing made by artisans in small, premium batches," she says.

But is gelato really all that different? I'll admit that whenever I take in a mouthful, I often wonder if I'm really just eating ice cream with an exotic name slapped on.

They are, in fact, quite different, Morgan Morano assures me. She's the author of the new book The Art of Making Gelato, and was classically trained in Italy.

The first thing you'll notice, she says, is that gelato is a lot creamier. It's smoother and silkier than its American counterpart. It's also denser, yet it has that elasticity and fluidity that you can't get with ice cream.

Another difference: "the actual recipe and ingredients used," she says. Both contain cream, milk and sugar. Ice cream, though, is heavier on the cream and typically uses egg yolks to pack the mixture together. Gelato, on the other hand, has more milk than cream. And authentic gelato rarely uses egg yolks, says Morano. Usually, if they're in there, it's just for a bit of flavor.

With more cream comes more butterfat. The Food and Drug Administration defines ice cream as containing no less than 10 percent fat - though Morano says most ice cream tend to be 14 to 25 percent fat. Italian gelato, though, only has about 4 to 9 percent fat.

At the most basic level - the molecular level - any frozen dessert is a mix of water and fat molecules, according to a 2014 video by the American Chemical Society. These molecules form crystals as the mixture freezes. And the longer it take for ice cream to freeze, the bigger the crystal, resulting in that crunchy mouthfeel.

What the butterfat does, according to the ACS video, is keep ice crystals small by preventing water molecules from clumping together to form giant crystals. It also makes the mixture thick and heavy, which is why you can get a nice, round, firm scoop of ice cream. Scoops of gelato, on the other hand, are often soft fluid drifts.

But if fat is what makes the frozen treat creamy, how can gelato be creamier?

"There is a lot less air churned into gelato than into American ice cream, [a process] known as overrun," Morano says. American ice cream can be up to 50 percent air. Air makes it soft and fluffy.

Since gelato has less butterfat, the mixture is light to begin with. So it only needs 20 to 30 percent air as it thickens and freezes. That keeps the product dense - and therefore creamy, Morano explains. It's also why her recipes suggest using a gelato machine, which churns at a slower rate, rather than an ice cream maker.

Lower fat also means the flavors in gelato come out better, Morano argues. "Butterfat coats your palate," she says, "and if you have less of it you can taste the flavors more quickly."

It also helps that authentic Italian gelato is typically served at 7 to 12 degrees Fahrenheit, about 10 to 15 degrees warmer than ice cream. As the YouTube video explains, the cold numbs your tongue so you don't taste as much of that sugary sweetness in ice cream. Because gelato is served warmer, you also get more of the flavor's intensity.

With the trend of gelato on the rise, shops have been popping up and commercial ice cream companies like Breyers and Haagen-Daz have been quick to jump on the bandwagon. But Morano says there's one way to tell if a cup of gelato is made the traditional way or if it's just ice cream in a fancy suit.

She says traditional gelato shouldn't be served with an ice cream scoop. Instead, you have to use a spade, which is flatter - like a spatula. "Not only can you work gelato with the spade to soften it up, but there's a whole artistry," she says. "That's why I love the spade, it's an amazing tool and when you're using it to scoop gelato, people love seeing that."

When it comes to actually eating gelato, she says one thing matters most: "Eat it fresh."

"When you make anything at home, it never tastes the same the next day," she says. "These recipes in my book - they're meant to be consumed within 24 hours."

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Why Scream For Gelato Instead Of Ice Cream? Here's The Scoop

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Back in the day, this saying applied to pretty much everyone: "I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream." Nowadays, though, one friend is probably screaming for gelato, another for a vegan frozen dessert and yet someone else for sherbet. But it's gelato, ice cream's Italian cousin, that's keeping more customers coming back.

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Our first day trip.

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Alcantara Gorge - Gole d'Alcantara - Best of Sicily Magazine