The Sicily Series: First Impressions in Taormina

WORDS & PICTURES: Johanna Picano

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Travelling is wonderful yet complex. It’s happened to us all at least once; we visit a place we’ve longed to see for so long, but leave with a bad taste in our mouth. Too crowded, not enough time, too many things to see – and, all of a sudden, the love for a place that we’ve built up in our imagination fades when reality hits us. But I think we need to ask ourselves: did we really give that place an honest chance to make a good impression?

A couple of years ago, I was travelling around Sicily with one of my best friends. It was her first time on the island, while I already knew it well. We had been to Catania and Siracusa and I was so excited to spend the last few days of our trip in Taormina, my Sicilian home base. I had been talking so much about everything I loved about Taormina that I probably raised her expectations a little too high.

But Taormina doesn’t need my PR. It’s been an attractive destination for centuries, from the times of the Grand Tour and the travel influencers of the past, to our current climate of jet-setters and visitors from all over the world. Given all this, my friend’s expectations were, of course, already high – but I definitely contributed.

As you can imagine, for her it was not love at first sight, the way it had been for me. The July summer heat combined with hundreds of people walking the Corso Umberto at all times of day just didn’t leave any space- be it physical or emotional – for my friend to take it all in. She told me that she could somehow see and sense all the beauty I’d described, and could understand why I loved this place so much; but what we were experiencing those days was not the real Taormina.

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Of course, she was right. I had got to know Taormina from the inside; from behind the scenes, after the last cruise ship had left the harbour for the end of high season. My Taormina was the small town with an ordinary life: with narrow streets to discover; with secret gardens in the villas of the British writers; with restaurant owners taking the time to recite every dish on the menu like poetry; with hikes through the rural mountains and quiet sunrises over the horizon. Naturally, there are visitors in the low season too – being a guide, I brought some of them here myself – but everything moved at a slower pace.

The few days during summer that my friend spent in Taormina are of course not comparable with the several months a year I spend there. Of course I knew this, but I just hadn’t thought of it in that moment. To me we were just going home; I didn’t stop to consider how much this place differs from one season to another.

I believe every season has its charm. I love summer in Taormina too, beacuse it’s full of life and you can feel the town showing off its beauty to visitors, like a beautiful lady all dressed up for a party. But the thing with Taormina is that the beauty lasts also after the party is over, also without makeup or fancy dress. It’s just another kind of beauty: more relaxed and somehow more real. All of a sudden, Taormina is not only the breathtaking view and the main streets and square. The surroundings become more vivid, as if Taormina were saying: ”Look, I can do more.”

We will each always have a personal relationship with a place, our own individual impression and connection. But I am happy to see that slow and mindful travel is becoming a trend. And what better place to start than in Taormina?

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