The Italian learning experience in the development and marketing of touristic products

Jalari Park Museum (April 7, 2014)

Park Museum of “Jalari” is a workplace for artists who exhibit annually their artworks covering the fields of photography, painting, sculpture and design. The Park Museum “Jalari” is located a few kilometres away from Barcellona P.G., more precisely on the Peloritan mountains, and extends over 35 hectares. As it is difficult to put the spirit of this place into words, we cannot but encourage you to experience it yourself.

Siracusa – Noto (April 11, 2014)

Located near the southeastern corner of Sicily on the Ionian coast, Siracusa is built on an ancient Greek settlement founded by Corinthians in 734 BC. More than any other modern city in Sicily, Syracuse manifests a visible continuity from its ancient Greek past, both historical and mythological. This 2,700-year-old city played a key role in ancient times, at a time when it was one of the major powers of the Mediterranean world. Nowadays, it is listed by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site.

Noto is a city in the Province of Syracuse. It is located 32 km southwest of the city of Syracuse at the foot of the Iblean Mountains and named after its surrounding area, Val di Noto. In 2002, Noto and its 18^th-century church in Sicilian Baroque style were declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Castelbuono – Cefalù (April 12, 2014)

Castelbuono is a town in the province of Palermo, Sicily. As reflected in its name, it is especially famous for the 14^th-century castle which mixes Arab-Norman features with other ones typical of the castles built during the Hohenstaufen rule of southern Italy.

Cefalù is a city in the Province of Palermo, located on the northern coast of Sicily, more precisely on the Tyrrhenian Sea, about 70 km east from the provincial capital and 185 km west of Messina. With a population reaching almost 14,000 inhabitants, Cefalu is one of the major attractions not only for Italian tourists but also for others all across Europe. In the summer, the population can triple, making the main streets and major roads in the country crowded. There is then a youthful atmosphere and a lively nightlife.

Savoca – Taormina (April 13, 2014)

Savoca is a municipality in the Province of Messina, located about 170 km east of Palermo and about 30 km southwest of Messina. The town, together with Forza d’Agrò, was the location for the scenes set in Corleone of Francis Ford Coppola’s The Godfather.Bar Vitelli in Savoca, which is still a functioning establishment, was featured in the motion picture as the place where Michael Corleone asked Apollonia’s father to meet his daughter.

Settled on a hill of the Monte Tauro, Taormina dominates two grand, sweeping bays below and on the southern side, the top of Mount Etna, the European highest active volcano, often capped with snow, offering to the visitors a breath-taking, dramatic and memorable view over. Taormina is a medieval village perched alongside the steep terrain jutting out of the ocean. While it has kept its medieval character, it is now a shopper’s paradise. Near the top of Taormina Village is a wonderfully preserved Greek Theatre. Here is something for everyone: relaxing gardens, great shopping, wonderful restaurants, Roman ruins, medieval pedestrian streets and stairs to a great beach.

Etna – Catania (April 16, 2014)

Mount Etna (Sicilian: Mungibeddu or ‘a Muntagna) is Europe’s tallest active volcano (current height: 3329) and belongs to the most active ones in the world. It is a composite volcano which makes it even more explosive than the others. Its eruptions have already caused major devastation throughout history. As there are many inhabited places around it, such as Catania, the second-largest city in Sicily (see picture), Mount Etna is under surveillance 24/7.

Turning to Catania, this city founded in the 8th century BC is not only known for its violent volcanic eruptions but also for its seismic history which has already led twice to its partial destruction over history. Being one of Italy’s most important and flourishing cultural, artistic, and political centers during the Renaissance, Catania is nowadays one of the main economic, touristic, and educational centers in the island.

Aeolian Island – Milazzo (April 17, 2014)

The Aeolian Islands or Lipari Islands (Italian: Isole Eolie, Sicilian: Ìsuli Eoli) are a volcanic archipelago in the Tyrrhenian Sea north of Sicily, named after the demigod of the winds Aeolus. The locals residing on the islands are known as Eolians (Italian: Eoliani). The Aeolian Islands are a popular tourist destination in the summer, and attract up to 200,000 visitors annually. The largest island is Lipari. The other islands include Vulcano, Salina, Stromboli, Filicudi, Alicudi, Panarea and Basiluzzo. The present shape of the Aeolian Islands is the result of volcanic activity over a period of 260,000 years. Only the volcano on Stromboli, the northernmost island, is still active and puts on a brightly colored performance on most nights. Scientifically the archipelago is defined as a “volcanic arc”. Geology explains the origin of the Aeolian Islands as a result of continental drift due to movement of the Earth’s crust. The African continental shelf is in constant movement towards Europe.

The resulting collision has created a volcanic area with ruptures in the Earth’s crust with consequent eruptions of magma. The “Eolian Arc” extends for more than 140 kilometres, but the area of geological instability caused by the collision of Africa and Europe is very much larger. It includes Sicily, Calabria, Campania together with Greece and the Aegean islands. The complex of the eight Aeolian Islands, covering an area of 1,600 square kilometres, originated from a great plain at the bottom of the Tyrrhenian sea. Emissions of lava from depths of up to 3,600 metres resulted in the formation of the Eolian Islands, together with Ustica and a series of submarine volcanoes named Magnani, Vavilov, Marsili and Palinuro, as well as two that are unnamed.

Milazzo is a substantial town on the coast of north-east Sicily, west of Messina, and best known (and most visited) for its beach and historic village. The centuries have left their mark very clearly on the layout of Milazzo, with the walled city at the top of Milazzo, the “Old Town” of medieval origin at the foot of the hill, and the more modern city at the bottom and along the harbor area. The Old Town includes the fortified citadel and medieval quarters of Milazzo, and contains numerous religious buildings. The lower town was built in the 18th century. The center of lower Milazzo revolves around the Piazza Caio Duilio, which is flanked to the west by the Palazzo Marchese Proto and to the east of the “Chiesa del Carmine”, with a lintel carved with garlands and a niche with a statue of Our Lady of Consolation”.