The Divine Museum of Architecture: Two French Authors in Sicily by Susannah Fullerton

In 1835 Alexandre Dumas visited Sicily under an assumed name. As a Republican agitator, he had been banned from visiting the island, but was determined to get there. He wrote about his experiences in travel memoirs, used Sicily as a setting for a novel, and immersed himself in the current political situation. He was especially taken with the Aeolian Islands. Fifty years later, another Frenchman arrived. Guy de Maupassant, a superb short story writer and travel writer, travelled all over Sicily in 1885. He was hugely impressed and called the place a “strange and divine museum of architecture”. He climbed Mt Etna, descended into the Capuchin catacombs, checked out ancient Greek sites and admired the Syracuse statue of Venus. Both Frenchmen were vivid travel writers.
Follow in their footsteps and see Sicily as it was in the 19th century, through the eyes of these great authors.
More information here: www.asatours.c...

[@kaloarepo288]

If I am not mistaken the prince who later became king Louis Phillipe the First (The citizen king) spent some of his youth in Sicily with his family when they were expelled from France during the Revolution and it was here he met his wife queen Amelie the daughter of the king of the Two Sicilies. I think you can visit the farm where he lived. Getting back to British connections the Sydney seaside suburb of Bronte was named after Bronte in Sicily - meaning "thunder" in Greek as it's on the slopes of Etna and you can hear the thunderous rumblings of that volcano when it erupts.This was all in relation to Lord Nelson who saved the Neapolitan monarchy from the French and in gratitude the Neapolitan king gave him the estate and title of duke of Bronte which until relatively recently was owned by Nelson's heirs. And then the famed English literary family also changed their name to bronte because of Nelson.

[@SusannahFullertonBookAddict]

I knew about Lord Nelson's title of Duke of Bronte and the Sydney seaside suburb, but did not know about the royals and that their farm can still be visited. Many thanks for letting me know.

[@kaloarepo288]

Actually the prince(long before he became French king of course) and princess Amalia (Amelie) lived in the sumptuous Palais Orleans right in the middle of Palermo and its actually now home to the regional Sicilian assembly -right opposite the Palazzo dei Normanni. His son Henri also resided in the palace during his frequent visits to Palermo -Henri was also a prominent explorer. The Italian fascist regime confiscated the palace in 1940. They also owned rural properties and hunting estates in Sicily. You may also know of Evelyn Trevelyan (I think that was her name) who moved to Taormina and married a local. She moved because it was rumoured she had an affair with prince Bertie (Later Edward VII). She was responsible for the beautiful parks and gardens near the sea in Taormina including the spectacular bird houses. Her beautiful home still exists there.She was related to the prominent historian of the same name.@@SusannahFullertonBookAddict