The beauty of Sicily

Talking about his latest book, “Sicily: An Island at the Crossroads of History”, John Julius Norwich, a historian and travel writer, spoke about the detailed history of how the island has changed in the past two centuries during his session at the Emirates Airline Festival of Literature.

As the largest island of the Mediterranean, Sicily is engulfed with culture, architecture and great cuisine, which are all mentioned in Norwich’s book. But, his love affair with it began a long time ago.

He said: “It was October, 1961 and my wife and I knew that if we wanted any sunshine we would have to go a long way South. So we went to Sicily and it was there that I discovered the Norman monuments, which changed my life. When I came back to London and tried to find out about them, I realised there were no books available about them. So, I decided that I better write one myself. And this needed me to leave the foreign service and so completely changed my life. I owe Sicily an enormous amount, I owe Sicily my professional life for the last half century. I go there as often as I can and I love it dearly, but I do find it sad. I’m afraid it is part of its nature. I think it will be a sad place for many centuries to come...”

Norwich ended his session with a photograph of a Roman theatre in Sicily, which is amongst his favourite places and monuments. His book offers an insight to the beauty of this structure and many others around the island.