After the phenomenal success of VISIONS OF ITALY: Northern Style, and VISIONS OF ITALY: Southern Style, PBS now offers VISIONS OF SICILY.  

VISIONS OF SICILY will be offered to public television stations nationwide in August.
Check your local listings and call your local PBS station for air times.

The programs are available on VHS and DVD when viewers make a donation.
For the first time since the Visions of Italy serious premiered, a boxed set in 
VHS or DVD format will be available.

VISIONS OF SICILY is shot in high-definition from a helicopter-mounted camera, and showcases the unique and dramatic beauty of a place like no other.  A part of Italy but very much a land unto itself, Sicily has always defied categorization-its geography born of powerful volcanic forces and shaped by the influence of conquering Greek, Iberian, Roman, Byzantine, North African, Arab, French and Central European cultures throughout the centuries.

Now seen from an aerial advantage, it exceeds expectations. VISIONS OF SICILY is a guided tour physically impossible by any other means, informed by a narrative as richly textured as the island's rocky crags and set to a soundtrack distinctly Sicilian in its variety.  From ancient fishing ports to modern autostradas, the helicopter surveys all that Sicily was and has become.

VISIONS OF SICILY begins as most Sicilian stories have for 3000 years, at the ancient port of Messina on the Northeast tip of the island.  The awesome Aeolian archipelago requires a short detour off the coast to reveal rocky islands as unpredictable as the Greek god of the winds that was their namesake-Volcano, Stromboli, and Lipari among them-before embarking back to the mainland for a seamless tour marked by blankets of lush green, terra cotta rooftops, azure waters, and the seductive haze of volcanic craters.

Traveling a long the Tyrannean coastline, VISIONS OF SICILY takes in the labyrinth of winding streets in medieval Cefalu; the energy of the island's largest city, Palermo; and in between the panoramic view from La Rocca and the famous hotsprings of Termini Imerse.  On the western part of the island, Trapani's world-famous salt flats stretch on the horizon, and then Sicily softens into gentle hills, fertile valleys, the mythic paradise of Isola della Femmine, and the vineyards of Marsala.

To the south, VISIONS OF SICILY offers small agricultural towns; Agrigento and the valley of the temples; and fertile central plains where the earth lies in sharp folds, not certain whether it is really land or a breaking wave.  Here Enna, a tower 3,250 feet above sea level offers one of the most striking views of the island.  Inland, orange and lemon groves beg for high-definition technology to include an olfactory option.

The flight continues around, through and over the navigable heights of Monti Iblie,  the Ionian sea to the east along to Siracusa; then north to Catania, rebuilt after volcanic destruction into a modern city grid, its original fortress, Castella Ursino, pushed back hundreds of yards by a great lava flow; up the coast to chic Taormina, once a quiet coastal town, now tranquil only from the air; past the scenic amphitheater whose architectural heritage-built by Greeks and enlarged by Romans-typifies Sicilian history; and its final destination, the enigmatic majesty of Mount Etna  towering in the western sky.

Produced by WLIW/21 New York