"Divine Earth is Sicily, that gathers the last dwells of the Gods, of Jupiter and Mercury, and the signs of Hercules, and of roman temples, and of Christian churches most noteworthy of the world. And among all the Cathedral of Monreale and the Palatine Chapel, marvels amongst marvels, they remain in the mind and in the heart more than any other ancient monument in the world." (G. de Maupassant)

"To have seen Italy without having seen Sicily is not to have seen Italy at all, for Sicily is the clue to everything...The things that enchant you cannot be counted." (J.W. Goethe)

"There once was a happy girl who lived in a far away land. She was extremely cute with hair made of gold that framed her ingenuous face, and sparkling eyes like pure diamonds. Her name was Sicily and she was a princess, the daughter of a king and queen who made sure she had everything. But one day a stranger with an evil look arrived with a black cape with which he hid himself and made him seem even more horrible. "I am Destiny", he said to the parents "and I come bringing bad news: a cruel future awaits your beloved daugher Sicily. When she becomes 15 years of age you will have to sacrifice her in order to save your people and your kingdom. You will have to abandon her at sea on a boat during the first autumn storm and forget her forever." And turning towards the king added: "You will never see your daughter again, but Sicily will never die! She will live forever, she will be the fruitfull mother of people, art, and infinite stories. People from all over the world will come to admire her beauty and nurish themselves from her vital lymph."

"For me Sicily has made a great dream come true: it has revealed ancient Greece and her mythical beauty to me. When I think about that land of art, I see huge mountains with sweet lines, from classic lines, I see crystal seas of unimaginable colours, I see extremely ancient and extraordinary temples, I see churches who's cupola has never been seen, and I see an infinite number of other things that go beyond human fantasy, but on that island can be found everywhere."

Sicily: the pearl of the Mediteranean, land of Myth, Culture, Mistery, Sun, Fire, Sea, Art, and Enchantment. Sicily has had the good fortune of being conquered, time and time again, by prolific people, coming once from the north and then from the south, who have strewn it's territory with infinite works of art, in which different styles, elements and techniques blend together in a seducing way. A special art form is born, unknown elsewhere, in which the Arabian influence dominates, but in which both the Greek, and maybe also Egyptian arts co-exist. In which the Gothic style, introduced by the Normans, joins together with the wonderful science of byzantine decoration and the baroque riches. These monuments are neither Greek, nor Gothic, nor Arab, nor Byzantine, but Sicilian. "A Sicilian art, a Sicilian style exists, always recognizable, that amongst architectural styles is by far the most attractive, varied, colorful, richest and fantastic."