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Part 2: TRAVELER DISCOVERIES OF SOUTHSIDE ITALY’S ANCIENT ORIGINS – TAORMINA continued

View of the coastline from Parco Florence Trevelyan, the public gardens that began as a private park.

In Part 1, we survived an arduous journey to Taormina for the first leg of our two-week Sicily-Southern Italy tour. We learned about the city’s discovery, its shames (eliminating Jews), and folklore stories woven into today’s culture, from pinecones to pottery heads of planted basil.

what we did:

At the top of the pedestrian-only hill from our hotel, Eurostars Monte Tauro, is the serenely peaceful Parco Florence Trevelyan. The beautiful public gardens were originally created as a private park by Lady Florence Trevelyan Cacciola, a Scottish noblewoman married to the mayor. She styled her sanctuary as a typical English garden with an infusion of colorful varieties of flowers and plants from all over the world, but it was her passion for ornithology (bird watching) that inspired many of the park’s fanciful brick structures. The one most used as a backdrop for photos is called “The Beehives”. Taormina’s government now maintains the quiet manicured respite overlooking Mt. Etna and the coastline.

TRAVELER DISCOVERIES OF SOUTHSIDE ITALY’S ANCIENT ORIGINS

Looking at Positano as we pass by the bus.

The last time I was in Italy, I did exactly as the 1954 romantic comedy Roman Holiday encouraged. I tossed a coin into Trevi Fountain, assuring my return to Rome. Unfortunately, the movie had the ritual backwards. You stand with your back to the fountain and toss the coin over your right shoulder (where the angels sit), not your left as the movie depicted and which is where Italian Catholics believe the Devil sits. Tossing over your left shoulder might mark your return with misfortune. Maybe that’s why on this trip to Italy