About Me

My grandmother explained to me about my heritage when I was in 4th grade and we were doing a project on ethnic background.  She was very clear that I was Sicilian and the rest of my ethnic background was secondary, to put it nicely. I did not understand this at the time.

 In 2019, I took my first trip to Sicily.  I had a visceral reaction to being there and I felt like I was at home for the first time in my life.  I felt that I should have been born there.  Again, I did not understand why.

It inspired me to find out why?? 

  I found out that my great-grandfather and I share the same birthday exactly 100 years apart and that he  is from Terrenova, Sicily.  I also found out that my great-grandmother was from the beautiful town pictured above, Sant'Agata di Militello, Sicily.  I took 2 different DNA tests to find out where my DNA is from.  I had a theory that what my grandmother was trying to tell me was that just like other genes in our DNA, some are dominant and some are recessive.  My theory was that my Sicilian genes were dominant and she was trying to tell me that so long ago. There was no denying those things inside of my body.  

I was always proud of the Sicilian heritage and culture, but not until I was there and then studied the history did I comprehend what it meant to be Sicilian.  I feel like my great-grandfather ,Nunzio,  was there with me and living through me when I arrived because he never had the opportunity to go back to his home before he died.  We both got to go home that day in April of 2019.

This website is to share the island of Sicily to the world with stories, recipes, history, travel, and products of Sicily.  

Not only that,  I did not want to leave this place and I have been creating a plan to go back and live there, as soon as God allows.  So we also have information on our site to help anyone that has that same plan. 

Real Sicilian is my creation and my love letter to Sicily.  

Thank you for visiting,

Grace- Creator of Real Sicilian