Mediterranean responsible tourism

Mediterranean responsible tourism

Friday 19 June 2015

Centre of Local Culture ISPICA



Centre of Local Culture
ISPICA

DESCRIPTION
Ispica is a town with 15.000 habitants, rebuilt after the earthquake of  January, 11 1963 when at 13,30 the whole town, originally situated in the “Cava d’Ispica”, was totally destroyed, with the Fortilitium (medieval  castle of a local family Statella and numerous churches no more reconstructed. Moreover, the seism generated hunger and plague. Thanks also to the helps of the neighbouring villages, the city was re-built in a plan near the Cava and now is a clean, and pleasant tidy town. The main monuments are of late baroque, when most of the heavy Spanish decorations which characterise most of the early ‘600 churches and palaces in Sicily were mitigated. 



The few meters distance from the modern city and the old settlement of the inhabitants in the “Cava d’Ispica”, now a open air museum, gives a unique and fascinating feeling of the comparison between old and new: town planning, way of living, social class division, spirituality, culture, economy, tastes, (dis)integration between human and natural environment. 

PLACES OF GREAT INTEREST
·       Parco archeologico della Forza, with excavations and archaeological finds from the greek and roman period, medieval and hermites times, until 1693.,
·       Cava Ispica, natural reserve wich is going to take part of Parco nazionale degli Iblei where a cultural guide from CLC will be able to lead a hiking through the caverns and the vestiges of the ancient civilizations.
·       Natural reserves of Pantani, of Maccone Bianco of the Isle of porri, a rock target of underwater excursions, seated at 2 km from the coast.
·       Neighbouring places of very high cultural interest, which worth a trip, like: Noto, Modica, Ragusa, Scicli, the coast, Pachino.

TOURISTIC SERVICES
The CLC is able to offer the experiences  of:
·       kitchen lessons, where realizing the recipe the guest will be introduced into the local heritage;
·       handicrafts productions, framed within the society where they were born;
·       local dances and songs, performed with Ispicese people and representative of the old sense of socialization; 
·       a dinner with local people;
·       a night stay in a private house;
·       a tour of the city directed to give the feeling and to appreciating the local heritage and life.
The visitor will get the unforgettable knowledge of the old and present culture of this part of Sicily in comparison with his own experiences.

ORGANIZED TOURS FROM ISPICA LED BY A GUIDE (half or full day)
·       Transported or trekking tour of the baroque art and civilization and Spanish culture (full day)


·       Transported or trekking full immersion in the natural reserves surrounding Ispica (full day)
·       Transported or trekking involvement in the ancient history witnessed in the canyon of Cava d’Ispica (full day)
·       One or more stays in the sunny beautiful shores around Ispica with an evening in the town enliven by the local people (one or more days)
·       Trekking path inside the history of the events and the natural catastrophes and the magic resurrection of the cities and the land (one or more days).

EVENTS  AND EXPERIENCES NOT TO MISS
1.       Christmas Nativity, on the days 25, 26 e 30 December 2011 and 1, 6 gennaio 2012 from 17,00 to 21,00, where the night is enlightened by more than 50 groups representing the old crafts. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jTo3dIe_Aqw
2.       Chocobarocco, in Modica, in the first decade of December, a widely renown event centred on the local famous chocolate, and involving all the population of the old city, UNESCO World Heritage Site.
3.       Holy Week rites, organized by two main Ispicese brotherhoods the cavari (red colour) and nunziatari (blue colour): Friday of the previous week, Palms Sunday, holy Thursday and Friday and Easter.
4.       Infiorata (flowered) di Noto, on the 3rd week of May, where an elegant street is covered by a carpet of beautiful designs made of flowers and many celebrations are organized around it.
5.       Vittoria Jazz Festival & Cerasuolo Wine, on the two central weeks of June, with concerts, jazz lessons, jam sessions and eno-gastronomic events.
6.       International Festival of the Border Cinema in Marzamemi, the last week of July, when the whole village is an open air cinema with representations and cultural events.
7.       Fish festival of Pozzallo, in mid-August, with slow food, musical, street artists shows events.
8.       Ibla Buskers Festival, in Ragusa, where the street artists perform different shows if the circus art.

CONTACTS
Persons of contact:
Salvatore Boncoraglio : salvatoreboncoraglio@tiscali.it  tel. +39 331.5777101
Katia Pioggia: katia_pioggia@yahoo.it tel. + 39 0932 952314

Centre of Local Culture CASTELBUONO



Centre of Local Culture
CASTELBUONO

DESCRIPTION

Castelbuono, 9 000 inhabitants, is located in the Madonie natural Park, in the northern part of Sicily, about 90 km from Palermo. It was first a small village called Ypsigro (from the ancient Greek psychro, cold). It changed of name and began to develop from the 14th century when the Ventimiglia, one of the most powerful Sicilian families, decided to build a castle there. 
Nowadays, Castelbuono is the biggest and most active town in the Madonie area. Its location ideally combines sea and mountain, as Castelbuono is only 15 km from the coast and lies at the foot of the Carbonara massif, the second highest mountain in Sicily after Mount Etna (Pizzo Carbonara is 1979 m).
Castelbuono offers lively cultural life (many festivals and celebrations), precious works of art by major Sicilian artists (Serpotta, Gagini, Laurana), fascinating traditions (harvest of the manna from the ash trees) and amazing nature (the Madonie is one of the richest places in the Mediterranean regarding biodiversity).



PLACES OF GREAT INTEREST
·   Castello dei Ventimiglia: Castelbuono’s castle shelters a beautiful baroque chapel by the Serpotta brothers, a rich sacred art section as well as permanent and temporary contemporary art exhibitions.
·   Matrice Vecchia: church from the 14th century with frescos, a valuable polyptych from the 16th century and a Madonna attributed to Antonello Gagini. 

·   San Francesco church: this baroque church gives access to the Ventimiglia mausoleum, with an imposing portal attributed to Francesco Laurana.
·   Torre dell’orologio: clock tower with mechanism from 1885.
·   Piano Pomo (1400 m): small wood of giant centuries-old hollies. Such hollies are a rarity and equivalents can only be found in very few places in northern Europe.

TOURISTIC SERVICES
The CLC is able to offer the following experiences:
-   old crafts tour (blacksmith, shoemaker, barber, lacemaker, taylor, etc.)
-   history and art tour,
-   travel photography tour.
All these tours can be made walking or with electric bikes.
-   cooking classes at the locals’ homes or in local restaurants, dinners with local people
-   traditional dances and songs performed by local people
-   visit to a manna producer in an ash tree grove (in summer)

ORGANIZED TOURS FROM CASTELBUONO LED BY THE CLC (half or full day)
·   Guided walk to Piano Pomo (half-day)
·   Guided walk with donkeys including visit of Santa Anastasia winery and wine tasting (full day)
·   Guided walk to the Gorges of Tiberio with crossing of the Gorges in rubber dinghy (full day)
·   Wild orchids itinerary (in April) – transported tour with several stops to observe the many wild orchids growing in the Madonie in the spring (half-day)
·   Panoramic tour of the Madonie (transported) with stops in medieval villages and visit to a traditional shepherd (full day)

EVENTS AND EXPERIENCES NOT TO MISS
1. St Ann’s celebrations, 25th – 27th July. People from Castelbuono are deeply attached to their patron saint, who was Mary’s mother and Jesus Christ’s grand-mother. Moving procession on 27th July with the saint’s relics.
2. Giro podistico – 26th August. Oldest street footrace in Europe (since 1912).
3. Ypsigrock – August. Indie-rock festival with renowned international bands.
4. Castelbuono Jazz festival – August.
5. DiVino festival – summer. Wine festival with gastronomic and musical event.
6. Infiorata – June. Decorative works made on the street ground with flower petals and other vegetal products.
7. Funghi Fest – October. Mushrooms festival with gastronomic events, visits and botanic walks.
8. Bluegrass enduro tour – September-October. International mountain bike race.
9. San Giovanni – 24th June. Broad beans and potatoes cooked in traditional pots in the streets of the historical town centre
10. San Giuseppe – 19th March. Typical dishes (e.g.: wild edibles with broad beans, cardoon fritters, etc.), tables decorated with bread dough adornments.

CONTACTS
Proloco Castelbuono
Piazza Margherita (ex carcere)
90013 Castelbuono (PA)
Italy

(0039) 0921 673467
http://www.prolococastelbuono.it

Laetitia Bourget (English, French, Spanish)
(0039) 327 0410244

Elisabeth Barreca (English, German, French)
(0039) 327 7805489


Dive in the fascinating past of Sicily



Description

Discovery of the Sicilian spirit and culture after the layers left by millenniums of conquests, conflicts, fusions and social exclusions which moulded, along the histories, the communities, the artistic expressions, the taste and the way of living. From Palermo to Gibellina, Erice, Marsala, Selinunte, Agrigento. Beyond these famous destinations, you will be hosted in the Centers of Local Culture (CLC):  Buseto Palizzolo and Menfi, where you will be welcomed and will meet the community, take part to their life,  exchange your experience with them, share  some of their most interesting moments of life and will live days and mainly evenings live and unforgettable.

Characteristics
·       Region: Western Sicily
·       Type of travel: Transported
·       Duration :  7 days, 6 nights
·       Period:  All year, customized to the tourists needs
·       Participation: Minimum 6 participants
·       Treatment: Half board. Good 3 stars hotels. All with free of charge wifi

Description of the trip

1st day. Arrival to Palermo
The participants arrive to the Palermo airport. Night stay in Palermo. And tomorrow the tour will start.
2nd  day. Start of the travel. Visit of Palermo.
Meeting with the guide and start of the visit of Palermo, capital of Sicily, which shows an artistic and architectonic travel 25 centuries long, where the Punic enclosing walls join the liberty style villas, the roman archaeological finds, the neo-classic theatres, the residences Arab-Norman style, the Byzantine mosaics, the baroque churches. 


Take the breath away the harmonic crossing of styles of the very rich palace of Normans, the equilibrium of the square of Quattro Canti, the many stylistic influences present in the Cathedral and of the churches around.  A stop near the “L’Antica Focacceria S. Francesco” (a producer of the local excellent traditional “focaccia”) let you discover the most genuine tastes of the Sicilian “street food” which inherit centuries of Sicilian, Greek, Arabic, Spanish, French food traditions.  The “Focacceria” is also one of the founders of the anti-racket Association “Libero Futuro” and purchases many of the raw materials from the Cooperatives Libera terra, which work on the lands seized to the Mafia. The tasting will be also the opportunità to under stand where and why Mafia was born and the war that the State and the Civil Society are waging against it. In the afternoon, after a not to be missed experience in the famous market  Vucciria” (in siciliano: fuss) there will be free time to catch up savours, perfumes and colours of the life in Palermo. Overnight stay in hotel.
day. Palermo – Monreale – CLC Buseto Palizzolo
Breakfast in hotel. The tour of Palermo goes on towards the famous fountain Pretoriana, also called “Fountain of the Shame” for its naked statues and the church Saint Cataldo of the Order of the Knights of Malta (XII secolo). Are crossed the narrow streets of the historical centre, reserved to the Corporation of the Craftsmen till the Church of St Francis from Assisi.  From here one can discover the richest and boldest centuries of the Sicilian history stressed out by the stuccoes by Serpotta in the Oratory of Saint Lorenz and by th scenery of the famous film “The Gattopardo”, shot among the antique furniture, the collections and the rooms of Mirto Palace.
Both these visits stress out the definite loss of power by the antique aristocracy, set apart by the new economical and political order introduced by the Piedmontese Government with the birth of Italian State and by the growing secret criminal power of the Mafia.
Under the shadow of the old Ficus Magnolides of Marina Square you can discover the traces of Inquisition and you will introduced into the consequences of the overlapping of the supposed divine law over the criminal law of the civil society.
The walk finishes in the old port of La Cala where you will taste the traditional cannolos (Sicilian pastry roll with sweet filling) and Sicilian ice creams.      
In the afternoon, transfer to Monreale, one of the most beautiful jewels of Sicily. Here you will detect the influences of the many different cultural universes (Arabic, Norman, Byzantine, Romanic) 

in the surprising artistic melting pot of the Cathedral with its mosaics, in the cloister, in the Collegiate church. The vault saves the very rich treasure of William the 2nd: it includes a very precious thorn from the Christ crown, saved in a golden and silver reliquary.
The technique of the byzantine antique mosaic is practiced by the students and teachers of the professional school, who will explain their processes.
In the evening is planned a meeting with the old and modern Sicilian spirit  through the tales of the story-tellers and a show of the famous Sicilian “pupi”.
Departure towards the CLC Buseto Palizzolo, where the guests are welcomed by the local Community and will be invited to have dinner together and during and after the meal will be trained and take part to a local dance.
Overnight stay in an agri-tourism of Buseto Palizzolo.   
4 day: Gibellina – Erice - CLC Buseto Palizzolo
Breakfast in hotel and leaving for Gibellina (some 80 km from Palermo), a curious “new town with memories without traditions”. Gibellina was wholly rebuilt after the disastrous earthquake in 1968, 20 km from the original site  and combines the criticalities of the cities deprive of a past with the advantages of the rationality of the design of settlement enriched by an incredible number of architectonic, sculptural and pictorial works of modern art and of squares which characterize it as a real museum on open air. 
The destroyed town is covered by a concrete shroud (the “Cretto” by the modern artist Burri)  to save the memories of the past in the new reaity and which every summer changes into the stage of the international festival of Orestiadi. The visit ends in the Museum of the Mediterranean Plots that reveal the analogies of signs and forms of the artistic heritage of all the Mediterranean, revealing the same cultural roots.
In the afternoon, departure for Erice, medieval city which preserves an important heritage of antique cultures. The entangled labyrinth of the alleys with the beautiful squared pavement, offers unexpected views over the churches and the monasteries and sudden meetings with workshops of craftsmen who create products of the local heritage. You cannot avoid to taste the specialties of the historic confectioner’s shop of Maria Grammatico which proposes the old recipes of the Ancient Convent: sweets with almonds, candied with lemons, “ugly and good”.
In Erice you will not only meet the past  but also the future: in the “International Centre of Scientific Culture Ettore Majorana” you will understand the evolution of the new Sicily and its integration with the Italian and international culture and economy.
Return to Buseto Palizzolo where the tourists will take part to an educational experience in a evolved farm.
5 day – Marsala - Mothia - Menfi
Breakfast in hotel. Departure for Marsala which offer the immersion into a center which reflects the Renaissance architectural equilibrium (XIV-XV secolo) interrupted by a characteristic fish market. The downtown is grouped around the elegant Repubblica square enriched by the Senators Palace and by the Cathedral and near the sixteenth-century Spanish District, now seat of the Municipality. The historical centre converges into the Archaeological park and into the Baglio museum which saves the evidences of the various conquerors who for seven times destroyed the city which always have new birth.
The testimonies of the past finish with the remember of the last event: the landing of Garibaldi who left from here to unify the whole South of Italy to the Savoy kingdom unifying Italy and ... creating problems of economic and social integration which do not stop leading to contrasts not only ideological. The gourmets will be led to visit the old Florio cellars and taste the famous liqueur-like wine Marsala.
In the afternoon, departure for Mothia. From the 1st millenium b.c. the wealth of resources, the fertility of its lands and the geographical position convinced the Phoenicians, earlier and the Carthaginians later to concentrate their commercial traffics on the little isle of Mothia, founded in the VII century, which grew up beautiful and rich, as witnessed by its important finds. In the small building Whitaker you will find the famous Greek marble statue of the so called “young man of Mozia”.
  When was at the top of its power, the isle was stormed by Dioniso the Old, tyrant of Syracuse, during his campaign to throw away the Carthaginians from Sicily. 
Returning from the isle, you land in the idle of fantastic colours of the saltworks painted purple at the sunset, on the background of the old windmills.
Re-starting to the South and arrive to the Centre of Local Culture of Menfi  where you will warmly welcomed by the community and dine with them in a typical restaurant: the couscous with fish will let you dream, when in the same time the group of dance will train us and jump with us the steps of a local dance. 
Overnight  in hotel in Menfi.

6 day – Menfi- Selinunte – Menfi
It is the day of a fantastic parade of the immersion into the civilization of Selinunte, the old colony of the Magna Grecia, with its Doric temples, the acropolis, the defensive works, the houses, the necropolis. Selinunte invites not only to know the antique civilization created by the political refugees who founded the Magna Grecia, but also to understand the key principles of the democracy, developed through the centuries in spite of the invasions, the oppression by the ruling classes, the marginalization of the farming by the town culture. The successive tour through wineries and farms, with tasting of the local specialties will let us know why this part of the Sicily is so named even abroad for the excellence of its wines and food.
In the evening, the group slow food of the Centre of Local Culture of Menfi will welcome the guests with a participated lesson of a recipe of the tradition, that you will later eat with our hosts. Will be the opportunity for an exchange of ideas, opinions and experiences and for going deeper into the many themes touched during the travel. 
Overnight  in hotel in Menfi.

7 day: Agrigento - Palermo
Breakfast and departure to Agrigento. Visit to the Temples Valley, UNESCO world heritage with the widest archaeological park iin the world (1.300 hectares approx.). It gather ten Doric temples, three sanctuaries, some necropolis and a museum of extreme interest. The visit of the hill is impressing. The tour crossed so far times, cultures, peoples and met places of cult of periods very far from each other. They represent a religious sensibility transversal to different social classes, peoples, races, times, levels of power and wealth. In front of the Temples Valley and the sea behind, is the right time to understand also this side of the Sicilian soul.
In the end of the morning: departure for the airport and end of the services.       
RATE PER PERSON (min 6 participants) €850
Single room supplement € 180
Rate includes:
  • private 20 seats High Class bus with driver for all the duration of the journey
  • private courier (Italian born, English speaking),
  • accommodation in 3 stars hotels,
  • half board basis (included meals will take place in hotels or restaurants as explicitly pointed out),
  • entry fee for all the monuments according to the program, official guides
  • 1 wine tasting  + light lunch,
  • the Lapilli Viaggi 24h assistance.

Rate does not includes: Anything that is not present in "Rate includes".
Limitations in accessibility: wheelchair-bound people must inform the Tour Operator during the registration, to take care of.                
                 
Documents and information 
·       Passport:  for European travellers: passport or identity card. For not European travellers: visa according to the reciprocation laws with the Italian Government
·       Sanitary precautions: none
·       Climate: according to the period
·       Things to buy: original handicrafts, food specialties, mainly in the CLCs Centres of Local Culture,
·       You can combine this cultural trail with… in spring, summer, autumn, a relax period on the beaches of Menfi, courses of transformation and preservation of agricultural products in Buseto Palizzolo