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Catania in Sicily sports a famous seaside rock castle in Acireale, a central square with an elephant sculpture, streets paved with Mt. Aetna's lava and endless architectural signs of foreign invaders through the ages.

As a devoutly catholic region, Sicily has an abundance of churches. On saint's day, the saint's idol is paraded through town accompanied by massive fireworks. And because any proper Sicilian has a saint's name besides the formal call name, they really celebrate two birthdays - one biological, one spiritual. Here's another factoid. It's well-known that the Baltic Sea produces most of the amber harvest in the world. Less known will be that some of the top-quality amber actually comes from Sicily. Or how about Sicily as the haven for all pistachio devotees? Sicilians put pistachios in everything from pesto to sweets. And addictively delicious it is, too. How did that movie put it? Leave the gun, bring the cannoli. Catania also hosts an annual fireworks competition that apparently goes on for three days, with the final three contestants each having an hour to tip the final balance in their favor. To return to the angelis in labor, Sicily sports countless likenesses of the Madonna, many in hard-to-reach places as the above statue on the rock shows. When we were asked what we might like to see on this island, it seemed only fitting to request the Black Madonna of Tindari and the Madonna of Tears in Syracuse...