These hand-painted ceramic heads, always made as a pair, a turbaned man and a crowned woman, trace back to a Palermo legend from the era of Moorish rule: a local girl fell for a Moor, discovered he had a wife and children waiting back East, and in a fit of jealousy beheaded him and used his head as a planter for basil. Her neighbours, envious of the flourishing plant, began commissioning ceramic vases in the same likeness, and the tradition stuck. You'll find them all over the island now, often filled with plants and set out on balconies.

Taormina sits on a terrace of Monte Tauro on the east coast of Sicily, about 200 metres above the Ionian Sea. Founded before the Greeks colonised Sicily in the 8th century BCE , its Greek name was Tauromenion. It passed through Roman, Byzantine, Arab and Norman hands, and each left its mark. Since the 19th century, it has been one of the Mediterranean's most romantic resort towns, drawing writers, artists and film stars (Garbo, Dietrich, Elizabeth Taylor), and more recently the 2017 G7 summit and the second season of The White Lotus. Below the town are the beaches of Isola Bella and Giardini Naxos; behind it looms Mount Etna. It's a small place packed with ancient theatre ruins, medieval palazzi and sweeping sea views. The castle on the highest peak is the Castello Saraceno, on the summit of Monte Tauro. It's an Arab–Norman fortress, likely on the site of the ancient Greek acropolis.