August 25, 2011
I was stalking photos in Palazzolo Acreide, a sweet town in the hinterlands of Southeast Sicily, when I spotted a pink coppola in the distance.
I needed a picture of that cap.
I ran after it.
“Scusi, Signore!” I caught up to it as the owner was putting a key in his car door. “Can I take your photo? Put it on my blog?”
He smiled and nodded good-naturedly. Odd that he seemed to know what a blog was–many Sicilians don’t.
I shepherded him away from his car and posed him in front of a blank wall. Snap, snap, snap.
Bella figura! A fine specimen, indeed.
Note the jewel-studded lizard crawling out of the pocket. The bling around his neck? Greek masks, he said. (Just above Palazzolo lies the ancient Greek city of Akrai.)
The man in the pink cap sped away, and I continued stalking photos.
Thirty minutes later, something a little odd happened, and I discovered what this man does for a living. Can you guess his job?
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June 20, 2011
Direct from Italia! Coming soon to Peoria.
Dresses that showcase the back and plunge to the booty.
My husband commented that this blue number made him want to pour a cold drink down the valley of her spine and watch it trickle inside the wide rim of the dress.
I guess you never know what weird male fantasies a pretty dress will trigger.
 Is this a Missoni? 
Which of the dresses do you like best?
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September 8, 2010
Throw away your black glasses, guys, and get with the program. White is the new black, at least when it comes to eyewear.
Italians always have the last best word on design, so you can bet these will soon be popular in Peoria.
How Italians love their glasses. Don a pair and voilà: you’re an aviator, Grand Prix driver, star.
Women here are wearing them, too. And you, dear Reader? Maybe you’re already wearing white?
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Here’s Lucy, a reader from Canada, who’s been wearing white for quite some time–she got them at the Dollar Store!!! Way to go, Lucy!
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August 25, 2010
Who’s that man with the sweet-smelling basil bouquet?
It’s Ciccio Sultano, local hero, 2-Michelin-star chef at Ibla’s Duomo restaurant! But wait, what’s that strappy thing hanging around his person? Could it be … a purse?
In Sicily, they call them manbags. La borsa, gender feminine, is Italian for “purse.” Men shied away from carrying anything girly-sounding, so they quick coined a new word, il borsello, he-bag.
They’re all the rage. Yesterday I was last in a “line” of five at the post office, and everyone had a purse. (I was the lone woman, pity I had no camera.) It’s curious how what was once taboo has become legitimate, thanks to Italy’s virile soccer players who started the trendy trend.
You can carry a manbag for a stroll in town…
… or for a romp on the beach as fashion accessory to your Speedo.
 
Pretty figo (cool), eh? What do you think they keep in there?
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August 6, 2010
I got a little pile of emails and comments about proper beach attire for men a few blogs ago, so I decided to pursue the topic.
“It seems weird,” said my Italian friend Roberta as we sipped iced tea with a scoop of lemon granita floating on top, “to see a guy on the beach not wearing a Speedo. What’s he trying to hide?”
Sicilian men of all shapes and ages seem perfectly at home in skimpy little Speedos, as opposed to their American counterparts, who turn up at the beach swathed in baggy shorts down to the kneecap, complete with inner lining. Why is this? If you have any insights into this cross-cultural diff, fammi sapere, lemme know!
 
 
A recent article in the Huffington Post called “Speedos are Back” shows lots of great styles on the Milan runways!
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My Tourist Tips for Southeast Sicily
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