Dragging ourselves away from the pool at Villa Zinna and from the abundance of music at the Ibla Festival, we decided we had to make a pilgrimage to Scicli to see Christ in a Skirt.  Scicli hides in a gorge in the Val di Noto and you come upon it like a surprise.  In one way or another the town has been hiding there, mirage-like, since 300 BCE. In 1693 an earthquake leveled the town, killing 3000.  It was rebuilt by the ruling Spaniards in their Baroque style — a maze of palaces and churches with San Matteo looming above it all on a rocky outcropping.

Scicli (pronounced SHE KLEE) is lovely to drift through as Jenny and I and our families did.

At high noon no one but us was foolish enough to be on the streets. The town was empty, the temperature hovering around 100 degrees, but dry and cool in the shade.  Too hot for a gelato even.

Above, Santa Maria La Nova in background.

The palaces and churches brim with gargoyles and decorative fancies and crazy faces.

And finally…

Chiesa del Carmine

Cristo in gonnella: Christ in his skirt

(I’m not sure why he’s wearing a skirt, but it is very rare.  There is one other in Burgos, Spain.)

Visit Jenny McPhee for more on Sisters in Sicily.