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Three 7th-century BC votive statuettes of Demeter or Persephone, now in Syracuse’s archaeological museum, were recovered from this sanctuary between Agrigento and Gela.

A species indigenous to the Nebrodi, descendant of the ancient Equus sicanus .

A procession of a silver statue of Syracuse’s patron saint travels from the Duomo to the Chiesa di Santa Lucia, built on the spot where she was martyred in AD 304. As the protectress of eyesight, the faithful attach votive eyes made from silver, bronze or wax to her image.

The Catholic Church often chose sites sacred to other cults on which to construct their places of worship, but this one is unique for being set within a previous site. Behind the Baroque façade, the structure of a Greek Temple to Athena has been adapted for use as a church.

Lo Spasimo is a bombed-out church that acts as an amazing venue for an art gallery and a full programme of films and concerts (classical, contemporary, jazz), romantically staged in the roofless nave and garden space out the back.

Rosalia was the daughter of a nobleman but chose a hermitic life in a cave on Monte Pellegrino. The discovery of her relics “saved” Palermo from the plague in 1624. For six days, her relics, atop an ornate vara (float), are paraded around the streets of the city.

In the Vucciria market, Santandrea offers dishes with a twist, such as pasta with squid, fava beans and orange peel (see Santandrea, Palermo).

This splendid 12th-century Christian chapel mixes European, Arab and Norman styles.

One of the earliest saints, Agata was martyred in Catania’s Piazza Stesicoro. The bejewelled reliquary bust of the saint is paraded around town followed by fanciful golden “candlesticks” so large that each one is hauled on the backs of 10 men. Balconies are draped in fabrics, flags fly, candles burn, and fireworks thunder at dawn.