Freebie of the Week: Language & Travel Guide to Sicily

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Freebie of the Week: Language & Travel Guide to Sicily

09/5/08

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Popular Written by Julie Schwietert

It’s a guidebook.

It’s a history book.

It’s a language guide.

And it has two language CDs that can help whip your Sicilian into shape.

Hippocrene Books’s Language and Travel Guide to Sicily (yep, that’s Sicily above), written by Sicilian born Giovanna Bellia La Marca, may be titled simply, but what its title promises is exactly what it delivers. And remarkably, the book remains small enough to be able to carry along on your trip.

The book’s chapters are organized around all the important themes–geography, food, art, architecture, annual events, and customs–and ends with a generous section loaded with restaurant and hotel recommendations.

I’d keep this book myself, but I’ve got no plans to go to Sicily anytime soon. Instead, I’m giving it away (and it’s brand new!) to the first Matador member who posts the URL for his or her profile and tells us about any past experience in Sicily or any future plans to travel there.

Community Connection: If you’re planning an Italy trip, be sure to check out Marla Seidell’s helpful guide, Slow Food, Slow Travel: Italy, over at MatadorTrips.

Photos: Macorig Polo (Flickr creative commons)

Tagged under: book, book review, books, free, freebie, Giovanna Bellia La Marca, give away, Hippocrene, Italian, Italy, language, Language and Travel Guide to Sicily, language guide, Sicily

Matador ID: collazo

Julie Schwietert is the managing editor of Matador Network. She contributed a chapter to the recently published book, The Voluntary Traveler, and is currently working on five features for Fodor's Puerto Rico, 6th Edition.

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Comments (6)

6 Comments... join the discussion!

phenom replied on September 5, 2008

http://matadortravel.com/travel-community/phenom I went to Sicily back in 99' with my folks for our first family trip. It was mid August and it was sweltering hot every day. My father was worried for our safety so he hired a body guard and told my sister and I he was just a tour guide who lived in Calabria, where we met up with him(I later learned he carried a revolver). When we arrived in Sicily he would take us to various restaurants across the island that were closed and they would open up just for us since they knew him. The most vivid memory I have was one late night we went to visit our bodyguards friend who owned a large grape exporting plant. We were invited into their house despite it being quite late and were shown such warm hospitality. The showed us his two bullet proof Mercedes (1 was a decoy i'm sure) and various other luxurious items in their huge mansion. Later into the night he took us to his huge shipping building where he sent grapes all over Europe using the most expensive and technologically advanced equipment of the time. We parted and we promised to keep in touch and visit again. unfortunately we didn't keep in touch and I haven returned to Italy since. I plan to go back this coming summer, this book would help!
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Monna replied on September 6, 2008

We are planning to travel to Sicily in February of 2009. A colleague at work just returned from Sicily and his travel stories have inspired us.
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Monna replied on September 6, 2008

We are planning a trip to Sicily for February of 2009. A colleague from work just returned from Sicily and we were inspired by his travel stories.
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Phenom replied on September 6, 2008

http://matadortravel.com/travel-community/phenom ? my comments were deleted and i can't log in? anyways, i would love to goto Sicily again. I was only 10 last time i went but even I could appreciate the delicious food, warm people, and beautiful landscape with a huge active volcano towering over it all. Beauty.
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Emanuele replied on September 6, 2008

This book must be great. Many times the importance of languages is underestimated in the whole travel guides world (but then it may just be my impression). Languages are a crucial part of the culture of a country, and as a Sicilian I'm also happy to see that in this book the language mentioned is the Sicilian instead of the official standard Italian. This makes me believe that the language & travel guide to Sicily promotes an original angle on this wonderful mediterranean island. I don't have a profile here at the moment but I'm happy to share a few pictures of the seaside around my hometown Siracusa, which I took during my last travel there back in March 2008… ” target=”_blank”>http://www.new.facebook.com/album.php?aid=110156&...
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Julie replied on September 6, 2008

Thanks, everyone, for your comments. Phenom, you're the winner of the book, and I'll be contacting you via your Matador account. Everyone else, stay tuned, we've got more great freebies coming up!
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