Day 29: Caution! Shameless Self-Promotion Ahead! Continue At Your Own Risk!

I wrote a book last year. Well, actually I finished it last year, I started it back in 1996. It's called Dreaming of Sicily ~ A Travel Memoir and it describes my first trip to the beautiful island of Sicily. The book is illustrated with 39 beautiful watercolors by Kathleen Citrolo Gwinnett. I've shown a few examples of her paintings in this blog post. If you would like to see more of Ms. Gwinnett's lovely watercolors, please visit her website at: http://www.gwinnett-art.com/

Dreaming of Sicily 

 A Travel Memoir

The prime motivation for my first trip to Sicily was to visit Santa Elisabetta, a small town in the Province of Agrigento, where my paternal grandparents were born, raised and married before immigrating to America in the early 1900’s. I had no way of knowing if our family had a connection to this town anymore, or if, like my grandparents, all of our relatives had moved to other parts of the world. I am happy to report that I found several relatives – my grandfather’s youngest sister, Nina, who was 92 years old when I met her, and my grandmother’s two nieces, both now in their 80’s, daughters of her youngest sister Liboria.

Santa Elisabetta Rooftops

However, this book is not only about my visit to Santa Elisabetta. There are stories from all the wonderful places my husband and I visited on that first trip to Sicily: flying into Catania, a magical stay in Taormina, Cefalu’s beautiful Duomo and the delightful custom of the passaggiata, Erice’s foggy perch on top of Mount Erice, and Agrigento’s mesmerizing Valle dei Templi.

Mt. Etna Volcano

There are humorous travel tips that will keep you laughing throughout the book, while poignant encounters with native Sicilians will prove that meeting everyday people in a foreign land is the most entertaining and authentic way to experience a country. 

Temple of Concord in the
Valley of the Temples

Kathleen Citrolo Gwinnett illustrates the book with 39 evocative watercolor paintings, each painting related to the story itself. She is a second generation Sicilian-American artist who has also traveled (and painted!) extensively throughout Sicily. 

Sicilian Caretto

This book will have special meaning for Sicilian-Americans who are curious about their Sicilian roots, and perhaps spur them into visiting the beautiful island of their ancestors.

Dreaming of Sicily is available through Amazon.com as a paperback book or you can download it to you computer (or Kindle) for instant access. 

I hope you will forgive the shameless self-promotion of my first book. 
But hey, somebody's gotta promote it, why not me?

Peace/Love,
Betsy