Panarea – A small paradise in the Mediterranean sea

Perhaps because I was born on an island, being surrounded by the sea make me feel protected, at peace; the world which we associate with worries, duties, lack of freedom, is so far away that the sunlight on the horizon has already dispersed its traces.

Despite attracting many tourists every summer, Panarea, one of the seven islands in the Aeolian Archipelago, offered me the relaxation I had so much yearned for in the past year. I spent there a few days in July, and I honestly dreamed of moving to one of its white houses immersed in the Mediterranean scrub. The dazzling light reflected by their walls seemed to clean the mind from any thought, while the sea, visible at the end of every narrow path, invited me for a daily bathe. Swimming felt like coming to life; it was regenerating, as much as admiring the sunrise from the top of some cliff, writing poems, and taking photos for myself only, for my own pleasure.

The joy of collecting memories like rare shells: that is my personal heaven, something I look for when I travel. And Panarea gave me that; it even returned some lost hope to my heart.

Tassita – An ancient Sicilian wood

When I finally realised that it was the Italian coast what I was seeing from the airplane, flying back home from England last August, I felt happy, free from all the stress (or at least part of it) accumulated in the previous months. The sea was again before my eyes, and soon after were my parents, my brother, left one year ago unware of all the things that the near future would bring. I spent some great time at home, enjoying my mornings at the beach, the hours swimming, the afternoons reading and writing, and alongside these idyllic moments, I also had the chance to explore areas of Sicily I did not yet know. Among the places visited, there is one which now holds a special place in my heart and that I want to show you: the Tassita wood. Located inside the Nebrodi Natural Park (north-eastern Sicily), the Tassita is the only wood left in Sicily with a predominance of Taxus baccata and some of the oldest trees in the island (between 500 and 700 years old). A natural marvel that I did not expect and filled my soul with joy! Like a child, surprised by everything, I walked around this fairy world where wild cyclamens were sleeping in the shadow of some big limestock rocks and the herbaceous vegetarion, the mosses, the heaps of leaves seemed to hide spirits belonging to a lost time. The fact that no one was around, except for me and my family, increased all these feelings and made me stop over and over just to admire what was around me, and listen to the voice of the trees, of the hidden birds, and the light wind. I was at peace and I felt blessed to be so generously embraced my mother nature.

Nature’s Symphony – Photographs in quarantine

“All this he saw, for one moment breathless and intense, vivid on the morning sky; and still, as he looked, he lived; and still, as he lived, he wondered.”
Kenneth Grahame, The Wind in the Willows

I used to photograph wild roses, butterflies and birds when I first started spending time with a camera (not really a fancy or a professional one), walking curiously around gardens and parks, in Rome. It was a happy time, that, a time of exploration, of wonder and creation. Somehow, despite the sadness and loneliness we are all experiencing now, I feel similar emotions and desires are filling my days. And infact, here I am, again, taking photos to flowers and insects, browsing among the clouds of the sky and the branches of the trees, asking the nature for a bit of her strenght and wisdom.

©2020 Flavia Catena