About Me

My mother is from the Sicilian town of Taormina and my father is from a small rural town above Messina. I have been visiting Sicily since I was 3 years old and have developed a love affair with its interesting culture, food and rustic landscape. Whilst I was born in Australia and grew up here, Sicily has a special place in my heart. As a child, I remember my father had to buy a large property so he could plant all his favourite trees and plants which I now realise were to remind him of home back in Sicily. Since visiting Sicily as an adult I now realised that my backyard as a child was filled with native Sicilian plants and fruit trees, almonds, lemons, figs, prickly pears etc. I am fluent in Italian and quite handy with the old Sicilian dialect, so if we get stuck in some old Sicilian town with only a few older citizens around I will be able to get us out of trouble. 

I love riding my bike both recreationally and competitively. Cycling has brought me so many amazing experiences and friendships. I have been visiting Europe and especially Italy with my bike since 2007 and have ridden many of the famous routes with still many more to cover. Strava tells me that I have ridden the climb up to the beautiful Sicilian town of Taormina 28 times between 2014 to 2017 so to say I have ridden it a few times would be an understatement. 

I hope that I can share my passion for Italy and especially Sicily with you as well as my knowledge of some off the beaten track routes that I have discovered over the years.