Villa specialist soloSicily is offering any day arrival during the Easter period (minimum 5-night stay) at a selection of properties in western Sicily that are close to all the action.

(TRAVPR.COM) SICILY - January 15th, 2013 - Easter in Sicily is big news, often accompanied by warm sunshine and marked by a variety of traditional and religious rituals and some great seasonal treats including icing-covered marzipan lambs, ‘cassata’ (cake made of sweetened ricotta cheese, marzipan and candied fruit) and fruit-shaped marzipan ‘pasta reale’ confectionery.

Villa specialist soloSicily is offering any day arrival during the Easter period (minimum 5-night stay) at a selection of properties in western Sicily that are close to all the action.

Drama rules in the remote village of Prizzi in the hills south of Palermo, where events include the Dance of the Devils, performed by villagers wearing large and terrifying iron masks, who, on Easter Sunday, rampage through the village in a traditional struggle between good and evil. One week at the Fattoria Corleonese starts at £1160 (sleeps 6) with www.soloSicily.com.

At nearby Trapani, the Procession of the Mysteries has taken place every Good Friday for more than four hundred years. Involving a 2-mile procession of thousands of people, the 20 ‘Mysteries’ (sculptures made of canvas, wood and glue, representing the stages of the Passion and Death of Jesus) are carried on shoulders around the streets of the city. One week in villa Sirena in Scopello starts at £935 (sleeps 4) with www.soloSicily.com.

For a rather more soothing experience, head for the small village of San Martino delle Scale, west of Palermo, where the Benedictine monks celebrate Easter and the coming of Spring on Easter Monday by freeing the birds they have saved from the harsh mountain winter amidst concerts and Gregorian chants. One week at Il Poggio, a stunning villa close to San Martino delle Scale, in the hills above Palermo, starts at £3215 (sleeps 8) with www.soloSicily.com.

soloSicily offers rental villas throughout inland and coastal Sicily. For further information, visit www.soloSicily.com, tel. 020 7097 1413. Return flights to Palermo with Ryanair at Easter start at around £155 per person.

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