By Jess Fleming From Pioneer Press St. Paul—During the long, cold Minnesota winter, more than three dozen readers and I had the chance to escape to an unexpected tropical paradise—Sicily and Southern Italy. I had been to Tuscany before, but the beaches, abundant citrus trees, palm trees and agave and prickly pear plants in the…

As the largest island in the Mediterranean, Sicily is a melting pot of architecture, cuisines, and multifaceted history. Flora and fauna are made up of a collage of African and endemic alpine species, while Catania, Messina, and Palermo depict a stark contrast and a diversion. Conca d’Oro, “The Golden Basin,” is a plain famous for its…

It was a discovery born out of very little research or planning. Arriving by fast ferry, speeding across the Ionian from Malta and landing in a fairly forlorn part of the island, I disembarked long after dark. A taxi driver met me in the parking lot. The whole adventure came out of an assumption and…

For many years, Palermo was known for one thing—and it wasn’t good: being headquarters for the Cosa Nostra, the Sicilian Mafia. Situated on the northwest coast of Sicily, it was a place gripped with fear, where shootings, raw and brutal, were followed in turn by revenge killings by rivals. The nadir came in 1992, when…

Sicily, the Mediterranean’s largest island, lies between Italy’s “boot” and North Africa, drawing millions each year to relax and sample its culture, cuisine and beaches. Many other draws await, too, if you’re willing to make a bit more effort to appreciate and enjoy them. Consider, for example, Villa Romana del Casale, just outside of Piazza…

RAVANUSA, Italy—Rescuers have pulled four more bodies out of the rubble of houses destroyed by a suspected gas explosion in the Sicilian town of Ravanusa, bringing the total death toll to seven, the fire brigade said. Two people are still missing from Saturday’s blast, which demolished four houses and badly damaged another three. Sniffer dogs…

MILAN—Firefighters in Sicily were digging through the rubble of a collapsed apartment building Sunday in the search for six missing people after an explosion apparently caused by a gas leak killed at least three, authorities said. The building was occupied by nine members of an extended family, and two visiting relatives—a heavily pregnant woman and…