It was a clear spring day, about mid- May this year and I was slowly driving the scenic provincial road the SS120, four kilometres outside of Polizzi Generosa, down to the A19 ( most likely to head to the capital) when I glimpsed a scene of legendary proportions, at the No 48 bend.

(The A19 is the arterial which transverses Sicily's middle and the SS120 is a state provincial road: a "Strada Statale" which criss-crosses Sicily’s remote interior connecting the northern coast to the eastern coast.)

The meandering SS120 from Polizzi, passes Dona Legge an ancient time worn latifundia; fields of cerise pink sulla, ginestra and sweetpeas, and mountains carpeted with crops of grain and fodder. At each bend, pastoral scenes, steeped in antiquity, stretched to the horizon; Demeter the goddess of fertility had been at work.

As I slowly took the bends it was No 48 which caught my eye.

A huge snow covered mountain appeared on the horizon against the green mountains and fields of wild flowers and grain. The preceding winter months had blanketed Mount Etna, 180 kilometres, away in snow and the summit, still covered, was luminous in the clear spring light.

Mythological Etna could be seen from the SS120, a few minutes outside of Polizzi: a village in the Madonie.

Here are some  photos of this journey:

Salve,

Suzanne