Sicily's
Historic Coasts

Sicily's Historic Coasts is a book about Sicily, its history, and my visit there.

Come with me along Sicily's Historic Coasts as I make my way around the coast of Sicily from Palermo to Palermo visiting extinct cities, collections of ancient coins, Mt. Etna (Europe's largest volcano), and many other corners of this island with a thousand faces. Walk with me through this series of essays, each a snapshot of a town, a city, a train, a beach, a haphazard pile of rocks--each a glimpse current life, of a long ago civilization, of modern society. They are my view of an October, turn-of-the-century Sicily.

Some quotes from
Sicily's Historic Coasts

"...civilizations flourished and died when Rome was only a village . ...Selinus was destroyed 2200 years after the Great Pyramid was built. ...we are another 2400 years after that day. ...But perhaps the deeds and words of those who lived here in some way influence us through the generations between them and us." - p. 56.

"We walk down a long hall of high ceilings and closed doors. Every step echoes back loudly.... We turn to climb a marble staircase.... A door made of heavy steel beams and one-inch-thick glass opens to the right off the first floor landing. What is this place?" - p. 115

"I realize I know several new cities. It’s surrealistic, in a place a second night and I feel like I have been here a long time. I know streets. I know places to eat.... I arrived only yesterday and it seems like forever ago. Palermo, Trápani, Monreale, Syracuse, and now Taormina-Sicily is becoming part of me." - p. 133.

Sicily, a crossroads of the Mediterranean for more than 3000 years, has been ruled by Carthaginians, Greeks, Romans, Byzantines, Arabs, Normans, Swabians, French, Spanish, Italians, and miscellaneous others while its people have retained their strong personal independence.

Vitals: First Edition, 204 pages, 49 black and white photos by the author, an additional 19 photos of ancient coins of Sicily, Table of contents, Index, List of pictures, over 55,000 words, 6" x 9", perfect binding, black and white interior ink, full-color exterior ink,
ISBN: 978-1-4303-2530-7 Publisher: Lulu.com Copyright: © 2007 Michael Metras Language: English

Color photos

To avoid making the price prohibitively high for this book, we have printed its pictures in black and white. But we have all of the pictures and a few extras here for you to see in full color. Before you leave this page, take a look at the color version of the photos in Sicily's Historic Coasts.

Now look at the Sicily in 2000 page to read a little about some of the experiences I reveal in this book.

Don't like buying over the internet? Contact me and I'll send you information on how to buy Sicily's Historic Coasts from me by mail.