Friday, October 21, 2022

Life under the spewing Volcano


 No one seems to worry.



At the Palermo market
shopping with chef Alessandra



Learning "how"



Rolling small amount of dough with thumb down the wooden board. Makes perfect gnocchi and other round pasta. 




After lunch we were given a private tour of the Palazzo. 



My heart took a few little extra beats when I saw these beautiful and old ceramic vessels. 





Monmerale an Arab-Norman Cathedral built in 1200.
Palermo


Incredible artistry,  Monmerale Mosaics  





Mosaics which tell the story of the Bible.





Very small pieces of glass allow for every detail and every individual expression. 






Greek Architecture at the Valley of the Temples of 
Agrigento, Sicily, the largest  Island in the Mediterranean.





Agrigento, a Roman city , Sicily's southwest shore. 






Greek Columns 597 AD.





Does this structure look familiar?




Sunset at the Valley of the Temples. 

A perfect day in Sicily.

Gina



8 comments:

  1. Dear Gina,
    What a wonderful trip! There is so much beauty in ancient things, like those old mosaics. How lucky we are to be able to see them.
    Thank you for your advice regarding grapes. I will look for the Interlaken grape next spring when we can plant.

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    1. Dear Lorrie,
      It was wonderful to see so many ancient sites. Sicily is a beautiful island.
      You will be pleased with Interlaken grapes.

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  2. I like the mosaic biblical scenes, interesting that they included glass to get best effect. I had no idea gnochi was made like that, must have taken ages!

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    1. Hello Betty, I was surprised to see how fast and easy it is to make different pasta shapes with this little wooden board. Thank you for stopping by.

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  3. Dear Gina - your post has brought back lots of lovely memories from my time spent in Sicily. I absolutely loved Monreale, and I can still envisage it vividly to this day. The exquisite rich mosaic cycle showing scenes from the Old Testament, the imposing mosaic of Christ Pantocrator within the dome, and the very attractive cloisters displaying such wonderful fine details carved within their columns.
    There are so many great sites to see in Sicily and I am pleased to have been reminded of several of them here.

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  4. Dear Rosemary,
    How well you describe beautiful Monreale. I was blown away by some of the details carved and precious stones incorporated within the cloister columns. And then, of course, the fantastic mosaics depicting stories from the old Testament. I recognized, easily, each separate scene as It was taught to me in my early school days.

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  5. You have brought Sicily to me on this cold, damp day of early autumn, Gina. The artistry in the ceramics, mosaics and architecture are just what I needed this morning. Grazie! The cooking class looks like it was fun! Did you return with a gnocci board? Yes, the next to the last photo reminded me of many historic temples, especially one I visited in Paestum, Italy.

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  6. Dear Mary, Sometimes ine does not do the obvious. Yes I should have brought back one of the pasta makers. It was such a small and light weight gadget. I will look for it next time.

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