Sicily’s vacationer sizzling spots reside an financial growth due to reveals like HBO’s The White Lotus, which put the island’s breathtaking vistas on show. However the historic island’s notorious underbelly stays untouched by the inflow of recent wealth. In actual fact, organized crime has solely diversified and grow to be extra entwined with the reliable financial system.
On a latest journey to Sicily, the distinction between the flourishing tourism sector and the declines elsewhere was as stark as I’ve seen in additional than 20 years of reporting on the island. In Palermo, the piazza across the cathedral was brimming with exercise. Not 10 minutes stroll away, burned out vehicles lined a residential avenue of dilapidated high-rise residences. In Taormina, with its Greco-Roman theatre and views over Mt. Etna, locals instructed me new Louis Vuitton and Prada shops had introduced extra well-heeled guests to the hilltop city that has a starring function within the second collection of the hit HBO present. But down the hill and alongside the coast, piles of filthy refuse made seashores unusable.
