Seekers In Sicily

Seekers in Sicily follows two witty American travelers, Jane and Peripatetica, as they pursue the trail of Persephone across Italy and Sicily in a journey shaped by classical myth, comic mishap, and fierce delight in the old world. From a salon conversation about helping Demeter find her daughter to rough seas, bad hotels, and a sudden flight by motorcar, the book turns travel into playful pilgrimage, where every road seems to lead deeper into legend. Its tone is lyrical and humorous, balancing friendship, superstition, and romantic adventure with a vivid sense of place. As the women move through Amalfi, Ravello, and Syracuse, the landscape opens into a living museum of ruins, churches, mountain roads, and sun-baked streets, where history remains visible in stone, food, and local custom. Feasts, faded grandeur, and ruined restorations mingle with satire and reverence, while the past is evoked through Greeks, Romans, Saracens, Normans, and figures like Empedocles. Mount Etna's eruptions, Persephone's myth, and Arethusa's fountain all reinforce the book's central vision: southern Italy as a realm of beauty, loss, resilience, and enduring enchantment. This edition has been fully restored with modern typesetting, custom cover design.