Release date is 2025-12-15

Laurent Vogel and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This book was produced from images made available by the HathiTrust Digital Library.)

En Sicile et en Calabre by Maurice Maeterlinck is a travelogue written in the early 20th century. The book chronicles a motoring journey through Sicily and into Calabria, pairing visits to classical ruins with sharp-eyed notes on landscapes, towns, and everyday hospitality.

The narrator sets off with his wife and a friend, circling Sicily from Palermo and Monreale to the remote temple of Segesta, the toppled colossi of Selinunte, and the aligned sanctuaries of Agrigento, weaving in reflections on Greek architecture and Thucydides. In Syracuse he dwells on the Latomies and the “Ear of Dionysius,” then skirts a tranquil Etna, pauses at Taormina’s cliffside theater, and crosses a still-ruined Messina. Along the way he battles missing signposts, dreadful roads, intrusive crowds of onlookers, and filthy, grasping inns, while finding rare oases of beauty in citrus belts and certain cloisters. Food and wine mostly disappoint, save a few exceptions, and petty officialdom turns ferry crossings into ordeals. Crossing to Calabria, expectations flip: the landscapes—noble olive groves, citrus valleys, chestnut and walnut forests—prove splendid, though lodging remains abysmal, yielding vivid scenes of chaotic hotels, a Sunday market, and small tragedies on the road. The route bends through Basilicata to Paestum’s austere temples, then back to Naples and a restorative ship home. Closing, the traveler professes deep affection for Italy but offers frank counsel: improve roads, signage, and inns, temper the culture of tips and overcharging, and the ancient marvels will shine all the brighter. (This is an automatically generated summary.)

Originally published: Paris: Kra, 1924