Here’s a final post about the pretty hillside town of Taormina before we head even further up the mountains to Castelmola.

By now the sun is blazing and the narrow streets are congested with tour groups and serious shoppers. But there’s still a unique charm to be found in the meandering lanes and hidden corners.

Whether you’re marvelling at the ornate stone carvings of the old buildings or rummaging for the ideal souvenir, you can easily spend a few hours meandering this tiny town.

If pencils and aprons aren’t your thing then you can take your pick from the mountains of tasty local produce.

Everything is so photogenic, even the packets of pasta!

Don’t forget to look up though or you’ll miss quirky little details such as these colourful ceramic heads set into the windows.

Peering down shady side streets or peeking through rustic doorways gives you tantalising glimpses of the hidden lives of the town’s inhabitants.

Even the dullest of walls is enlivened with intricate carvings or detailed stone work.

Headto the town’s main square Pizza IX Aprile and you can admire beautiful panoramic views out over the Bay of Giardini Naxos.

Below is Pizza IX Aprile, Taormina’s main square.  The imposing pastel facade of the Church of San Giuseppe, looks out over the square.

The church, dedicated to St. Joseph, was built in the seventeenth century.

The church was the centre of the “Brotherhood of the souls in Purgatory” so in the facade and inside the church you can see human figures in the flames that symbolize purification from sin. Cheery!

Below is the clock-tower that acts as an entrance gate to the part of the town that historians call “the 15th century area”.

Originally dating back to the 12th century, the tower was razed to the ground during a French invasion in 1676. What you see today is a reconstruction from 1679, when a large clock was added to the tower.

During the early 20th century Taormina became a colony of expatriate artists, writers, and intellectuals. D. H. Lawrence stayed in the town as did Truman Capote. Tennessee Williams, Jean Cocteau and Jean Marais also visited.

It continues to be a home for artists who capture the stunning scenery around the town in vivid colours for you to take home and hang on the wall.

Painted carts are a symbol of the island although I didn’t manage to catch sight of a whole one. The nearest I came was this ornately painted cart wheel.

Below the man takes a break on the Piazzo Duomo fountain. This Barocco style fountain, built in 1635, is in Taormina marble.

Ancient architecture sits cheek by jowl with cheerful tourist tat such as Limoncello aprons and intricate wooden toys that Geppetto himself would be proud of.

You’ll more than likely spot lots of puppets or marionettes which are a core symbol of Sicilian folk-art. The marionettes are the major props in the Opera dei Pupi, a traditional form of Sicilian entertainment.

The subject matter of the Opera dei Pupi comes from Sicilian history, works of literature, folklore and comedy.

A common performance pits Norman knights against the Saracens and you can see these puppets above and below.

Below is The Duomo, Taormina’s main cathedral, which was built around the year 1400 on the ruins of a small mediaeval church. Plus close up detail of the Duomo fountain.

Everywhere you look in the town you can find colourful artwork lining the streets and festooning the walls.

The man refused to take a peak under the cardboard dude’s posing pouch, spoilsport!!

Heading back along Corso Umberto, the town’s main street, I am distracted by the colourful fruity spectacle of ice lollies in every conceivable flavour.

Lemon, raspberry, strawberry, orange. Whatever your fancy, there’s a sweet treat with your name on it!

Shops and artwork line the streets offering souvenirs to suit every pocket whether it’s cute little miniature bottles of Limoncello or the tiny yet detailed Martorana Fruit marzipans.

I was utterly distracted and enchanted by this particularly vibrant side street stall that was groaning under the weight of Italian specialities such as lemons, chillies and pasta.

Just in case you’re tempted, signs give you far warning of the hot and spicy nature of the tiny yet powerful chilli seeds.

Continuing on our breakneck, incredibly uninformative tour of Taormina now with yet more pictures of stuff that I have photographed!! (It’s no Lonely Planet blog – let’s be honest!)

Aside from the multitude of colourful Maiolica pottery there are plenty of other artistic delights to pore over.

From art shops and abstract images to tiny tiles spelling out everyone’s love of the town, there’s little dots of colour to be found everywhere.

Here’s a few more of the colourful tiles and ceramics that adorn every street, wall, step and doorway.

I am enchanted by the oversized, human head plant pots. Some are traditional Moorish style heads while others are a more contemporary take on the original style.

Another common feature across Sicily are the intricate, hand painted tiles that adorn walls.

Used as decoration and for advertising purposes, these detailed scenes are little masterpieces in their own right.

The Bam Bar is one particularly fine example of how these tiles are used to great effect to advertise local delicacies.

Featuring Sicilian traditions such as the delicious crushed fruity iced treat Granite as well as Limoncello and Arancia – meat or cheese filled rice balls.

If all this tiling gets a bit too much then why not take some time to enjoy other expressions of individual artiness?

Whether it’s an electricity meter or a corrugated garage door, nothing escapes embellishment and decoration.

Even relatively grey, dull buildings get a dose of charm with eclectic collections of ceramics and plants.

Here’s a close up of the delightful detailing on this backstreet door that had me very over excited!

Clearly someone out there enjoys covering everything in pattern, (almost as much as I enjoy photographing it!)

Following on with our waltz around Taormina this entry is simply a riot of colour and pattern. Apologies in advance for the length of this particular post!

Ceramics and pottery are in abundance across Sicily but seem to be particularly evident around Taormina.

Everywhere you turn there are displays of jewel bright plates, bowls, spoon holders and pots. It’s a pot lovers dream!

Souvenirs aplenty line the streets and jostle for space on every available surface, from back scratchers and tambourines to magnets as far as the eye can see!

At least one of these colourful delights was quickly snapped up for my epic fridge of magnets (which in itself I think should be classed as a wonder of the world)

A speciality pottery of the region is Sicilian Maiolica ceramic. Maiolica is tin-glazed pottery finished in dazzling colours. Sicily is by far the most active centre for Maiolica or Majolica production.

Tin glazing creates a brilliant white, opaque surface for painting. The colours are applied as metallic oxides to the unfired glaze which absorbs pigment creating vivid colours.

The coloured glazes were thought to be initially brought to Sicily by the Arabs of North Africa in medieval times. The art of making Maiolica pottery then spread from Sicily across Italy during the Renaissance.

It is thought that these type of ceramics were called “maiolica” because the glazing and firing techniques used to create them were similar to those used on Majorca, the largest of the Balearic Islands.

Moorish potters from Majorca are believed to have worked in Sicily and it is thought that their wares reached the Italian mainland from Caltagirone.

There are lots of different styles of Maiolica ceramics, distinguished by their colour-schemes, the type of objects made and the motifs painted on the pottery.

A common theme in Taormina and the surrounding areas are the rather unusual and striking Moorish heads that sit and stare at you from steps, windows and doorways.

The heads, also called Saracen heads, are typical of Caltagirone, a town close to Taormina.

The legend behind the Moor’s head vases says that a beautiful girl was living in seclusion and spent her days cultivating flowers on her balcony. One day a young Moor passing by saw her, ravished her and she fell in love with him.

However he then announced he was leaving to go back to his wife so she cut off his head and used it as a vase for her flowers – that way his love was forever hers. Since then, flowers grew lush in the vase and the neighbours, envious, built vases shaped like a Moor’s head.

Another common ceramic motif to be found around the island is a woman’s head with three legs and no arms.

This rather uncomfortable looking creature is called a Trinacria and is the symbol of Sicily – apparently its shape mirrors the triangular shape of Sicily.

The island of Sicily was known as Trinacrium by the Romans, meaning “star with three points.” The Trinacria symbol is made up of the head of Medusa surrounded by three bent running legs and three stalks of wheat.

The three bent running legs represent the three capes of Sicily – Peloro, Passero and Lilibeo which also create the three points of the triangle.

The three ears of wheat represent the fertility of the land and Medusa represents the island’s protection by the goddess Athena, the patron goddess of Sicily.

These armless ladies can be spotted everywhere and it becomes a bit addictive to find them!

There’s so many colourful joy filled things to snap that at least another post or two will purely be souvenir pics!!!