Perched a couple of hundred metres above the Ionian Sea, with Mt Etna looming in the near distance, the iconic seaside town of Taormina offers wonderful views and glimpses of Sicily's mighty volcano which slopes gently to the edge of the blue Ionian water.

A few photos from The Sicilian House photo files capture a little of the natural and dramatic beauty of Mt Etna and the Ionian coastline from enticing Taormina.

A few snapshots below capture some of the excess of Sicilian Baroque splendour and also the faded beauty of everyday streetscapes in three charming towns in Sicily's South East.

I spent time, last May, in this golden corner of Sicily – three nights in Modica (which I have written about in a previous blog) a few hours in the centre of Scicli (where they happened to be filming Montalbano that very day) and an afternoon of slow walking in Ragusa Ibla where I discovered the lovely Villino Arezzo (not Baroque but Art Nouveau) and the elegant public gardens, Giardino Ibleo.