I have just published a new book about living in Sicily. It includes all the usual adventures, among them the time we were in an earthquake, some thoughts on the Sicilian language and whether it will survive, and a debate on the fact that in Sicily you can buy really, I mean really really large…
Tag: Sicilian Housewife
Villa Niscemi, Palermo – the most lavish palace in all Sicily
One day strolling through Palermo – OK, staggering in the heat – I chanced to notice a pair of gates which felt very familiar. I had never seen them before, yet I knew them so well. I knew there was going to be a false river inside them inhabited by expensive imported ducks. So we…
Sicily’s marvellous mechanical dining table in the Palazzina Cinese
One of the things that has made generations of English aristocrats fall in Love with Sicily over the centuries is the mutual passion for eccentrics. I don’t mean subtle characters, like one of my beloved uncles whose favourite food was broad bean and custard sandwiches. I mean flamboyant filthy rich people who could construct a…
My new book out now – THE GODMOTHER
THE GODMOTHER THE SICILIAN HOUSEWIFE DIARIES Volume 1 The journal of an English woman handling parenthood, the Mafia and a Sicilian mother-in-law, all at once. (And yes, that is myself on the cover.) ‘The Godmother’, the first book in the series, introduces the formidable mother-in-law and godmother to seven children who dominates family life. To…
Yes I speaking the English
I dropped in on an old friend, Mr. Cake, in his place of work recently. He owns and runs a cafe bar with his brother, which is always mouth-wateringly stocked with seasonal Sicilian pastries and delicacies, mainly baked by their elderly dad. As you can imagine, I enjoy dropping in on them very much. Since…
Sicilian Ceramics in Palermo
Last summer I dashed down to Sicily and wanted to purchase some gorgeous Sicilian majolica ceramic art for my new house. So I toddled off to “Tre Erre” in Palermo. What to buy? An owl? Something fruity? Something fishy? How about some heads? Or even Medusa’s head? In the…
Merry Christmas the Sicilian way!
I am going to miss Sicilian Santa terribly this year. I shall just have to rely on Hubby to make sure there is pasta as well as turkey, that we play card games amid the debris of nutshells, and that something with tentacles somehow manages to creep onto the dining table! MERRY CHRISTMAS! BUON NATALE!…
Who’s reading my novel?
THE DANGEROUSLY TRUTHFUL DIARY OF A SICILIAN HOUSEWIFE by Veronica Di Grigoli When career-girl Veronica flies to Sicily for a friend’s wedding, she accidentally falls in love with one of the groom’s three-hundred cousins. A year later she has given up her job, house and friends, and is planning her own wedding with her Latin…
Ten things I loved doing in Sicily
We sneaked back to Sicily for a holiday a little while ago. Here’s a list of the best ten things I enjoyed doing again: UNO Laughing at my husband who had forgotten how to drive a manual car, and how to stay on the right-hand side of the road, and how to keep cool when…
The History of Sicilian Cuisine in Thirteen Invasions
Sicilian food is the original fusion cuisine, a unique mix of all of its diverse cultural heritages. The island has been at the heart of thirteen different empires over the last three millennia, and each one of them has left its mark on the Sicilian housewife’s kitchen cupboard. The Phoenicians The Phoenicians were traders and…
Sicilian Christmas Gift Ideas
That festive time of year is approaching, when Sicilians gather for intimate family dinners of 25 to 40 people, eat more than their body weight in food, and shout to relatives at the opposite end of the table about how good the fourth pasta course tastes. It’s also, of course, the time when we…
The Italian Festival of Sicilyshire
What happens to Italians when they live in England? I became deeply worried about my husband and son this summer, after they had been living in the Stoke-on-Trent area for six months. When one has married an Italian, one simply doesn’t expect to be putting up with this type of thing: When I intercepted…
Buying a House in Stoke-on-Trent: the Italian point of view
We are looking for a house here in England. My Sicilian Hubby is, shall we say, going up a learning curve. He is learning to speak English. Learning to speak English from estate agents is probably not something most people would advise. They speak in a code which even English people have to learn to…
The Sadness of Sicilians in England
There’s often something forlorn about Italians in England, isn’t there? An air of pathos hangs around them, especially in summer when they are gradually realising that it really, truly isn’t going to stop raining, not today, not before the end of their holiday, not ever. They look tragi-comically out of place, what with their glowing…
Shopping in Palermo
Palermo is a fun place to go shopping, and you can find some real bargains if you know where to go. If you don’t, you can find a truly amazing amount of tiny weeny Chinese clothing, that you would not have fitted into by the time you were 12. Never fear! Follow my advice, and…
Where is the Sicilian Housewife?
Hello darlings! Sorry about my very long silence. It has provoked rumours of pregnancy (I am too old, mentally not biologically), lottery winning (I wish!) and falling down a large pot hole in one of Sicily’s main motorways (I just invented that one actually). None of this is true, but… Drumroll…. I am at last…
Caption Competition – The Winners!
Thank you to everyone who entered the caption competition! I enjoyed all your entries and would have loved to give a prize to everyone. I found it hard to choose a winner. Apparently I do not have a Simon Cowell streak in me. But in the end I narrowed it down to two winners. The…
Book Review: The Dangerously Truthful Diary of A Sicilian Housewife
Read my interview with Australian journalist Rochelle Del Borello Sicily Inside & Out I have been following Veronica Di Grigoli’s blog for a few years now, laughing along at the Sicilian Housewife’s struggles and humorous confusion associated with day-to-day life in Sicily as an expat. Now the blog has become a wonderfully polished and hilarious laugh-out-loud-belly-laughing-thigh-slapping…
Comedy novel ‘The Dangerously Truthful Diary of a Sicilian Housewife’ gets rave reviews
“Veronica Di Grigoli’s book The Dangerously truthful diary of a Sicilian Housewife takes us on her own personal odyssey, navigating through many monstrosities, perils and everyday adventures along the way. The diary is filled with biting wit, an astute knack for observation and a powerful sense of determination which makes it a joy…
Daily Life in a Sicilian Fishing Village
The fishermen in my village usually go out in these boats. Each village along the coastline has its own particular colour scheme. Our village uses orange, white and blue, but there are some fishermen who originally came from another village along the coast where they use green instead of blue. I always…
How do you stop anyone stealing your motorbike?
Keep it on the balcony!
Happy New Year 2015!
May 2015 be full of bounce and fun! Happy New Year from a Sicilian Housewife and all her family.
How Three Hellish Holidays in Sicily led to the Invention of Democracy
As I am having an operation, I am offline for a while. However, I am delighted to have friends who have offered to entertain and educate you with some cracking guest posts. Today’s guest post is written by Thorwald Franke, an expert on Plato, the lost island of Atlantis and many things historical. He has…
Happy Valentine’s Day with some Kinky Chocolate
Sicilians are a romantic lot and they love St. Valentine’s Day. Rather than give their girlfriend sweets or champagne, most Sicilian men are more likely to take her out for a delicious organic Italian ice-cream. What better way to wish all my readers Happy Valentine’s Day than by sharing this marvellous advertisement I saw in our local…
Blog Awards 2013: Part 2 – My first set of Award Winners for 2014
Now it is time to reveal the truth behind my first couple of blog award headlines and then present my first batch of blog award winners! So here it is – the revelation of some terrible things this Sicilian Housewife has done in the past. Scroll down to see the award winners and details of…
The Dangerously Truthful Diary of a Sicilian Housewife 