Castelmola, a medieval hilltop village above Taormina in Sicily, catches the late afternoon sun while Monte Tauro lies in shadow. The ruined walls of the Castello Saraceno run along the ridge at top left.
Castelmola from the lower town
Castelmola seen from the lower streets of Taormina. The medieval village sits on its rock at the top, a road zigzags up the hillside, and modern apartment blocks fill the slope below. People have built on this hill for over a thousand years, first up high for safety and later lower down for convenience.
Sicilia interna: Latifondo country
The centre of Sicily is a cereal steppe of bare, rolling clay hills and outcrops of pale rock. It was stripped of its oak woods over millennia, from prehistoric burning to 19th‑century land sales, and it is still ploughed and sown every year.