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The Sicilian towns we saw showed a combination of squalor and splendor, decay and opulence. So many buildings are under historic protection yet little restoration funds are available. Hence the withering facades and occasional metal exo skeletons to prevent further crumbling. The old town of Syracuse also showed an abundance of for-sale signs. If you don't have the cash for restoration and maintenance... well, then massive old buildings go on sitting empty.

I'd never seen a cornemuse player and was told they come out only at Christmas time. A quick snap shot seemed mandatory then. Of course no mention of Sicily, however brief, could fail to mention its famous active volcano which gathers around it a crown of clouds to be uncovered usually only in the morning. We could see the smoke rising from a lava stream. Had the views stayed clear, we would have seen its glow at night. Most of the lava is captured inside a giant natural bowl-like depression in the mountain side but Aetna (Muncibeddu in Sicilian) is famous for opening mouths in unpredictable places - sometimes in the middle of town. Certain areas of Sicily are well outside harm's way. Catania is not. And Aetna is one of the most active volcanoes in the world, being, as Wikipedia puts it, "in an almost constant state of eruption".