Catania according to Paola Maugeri

‘It could seem strange but I never recommend the “classic” route with the beautiful sights to see. I recommend “second hand shopping” ’.

Paola Maugeri goes straight to the heart of the matter and her first suggestion is quite unexpected. ‘Catania – she continues – in my opinion is a great city for shopping. I love the Catania fair. I take all my friends for a trip round the second hand stalls at the Catania fair’.

When Paola talks about her Catania, you immediately understand that even though it’s been twenty years since she has lived full time in the city she is linked to the city in a very deep-rooted way: ‘I really love taking a walk in San Giovanni Li Cuti: even in autumn or winter.  As soon as the sun comes out the there is a really special atmosphere with people sunbathing and even having a dip in the water. It’s a must for me’.

And in the evening? ‘I really love wandering around the centre of Catania with my friends. Not so much staying in one place but taking a walk around the historical part: you can always find people and life. I like it because I take the evening as it comes and it’s always a success.’

Paola is also a vegan and when she talks about food she admits that ‘It’s really difficult because all the delicatessens in Catania don’t cater for vegetarians and vegans. A sure place to go and eat is Haiku, which is also my favourite.  I’ve also been to En which is a Japanese restaurant where I found excellent vegetarian and vegan alternatives which are part of Japanese cuisine. If however we talk about pizza there are many places but one small place you can find in the centre is Dino’s Pizzeria del Centro in via Montesano, in the same side street as the Coin department store in via Etnea. There’s a small counter and the pizza is excellent’.

Then there’s the Feast of St. Agatha: ‘When I was younger I used to follow it a lot. I lived in via San Giuliano so I could watch the procession from above. I don’t always get the chance to go back when it’s on but when I do it’s really great.’

Biography

Paola Maugeri, from Sicily with love, has been the female face of music on television for the last fifteen years from the historical “VJ” on MTV to the most important Italian channels: from Videomusic with “Segnali di fumo” on Italia 1, “Night Express” on MTV, “Select”, “A night with”, “Supersonic”, “Brand:new” and “Storytellers”, on RAI Due with “Scalo 76” and three seasons on La 7 with “25 ora”, a programme about independent cinema.

With over 1200 interviews to her credit she has interviewed the most famous rock stars, musicians, directors and actors from all over the world. She is a great lover of alternative music culture and played in the band Puertorico and Loma with whom she released three CDS. She published “Storytellers – la musica si racconta” her first book for Tea editions. Nicknamed Wiki-Paola she conducts the show “Music History” which is Virgin Radio’s most popular programme, “She’s in fashion” on Virgin TV and “Wiki-Paola” on Virgin web.

She is passionate about environmental issues and is active against animal cruelty, promoting  a conscious diet and Free Trade, as well as having been the spokesperson for MTV in the United Nations’ No Excuse 2015 campaign and spokesperson for Italy at the last environmental summit in  Copenhagen focusing on a new protocol on climate dedicated to young Europeans. Last winter together with her family she lived a zero environmental impact life, an experience that was documented by RAI 3 television and was on the cover of the prestigious Corriere della Sera newspaper’s insert Sette. She was the WWF testimonial for the “Earth Day”, the Italian voice on the documentary “Des forets et des homes” for the UN year of the forest, and the Health Ministry testimonial for the publicity campaign “You never forget your mother’s Milk” about breastfeeding.

Last autumn her fascination with fashion saw her design a capsule collection of hats for Borsalino dedicated to the world of rock and roll whose first prototypes were made of zero environmental impact recycled fruit and vegetable boxes. This great adventure will continue with a new summer collection in 2012.