About ten years ago I planned to take a trip to Sicily, all my myself, with two cameras a terabyte of cards, and a dozen rolls of 120 Ilford Delta 400. I wanted a week to just wander around a place I loved but hadn’t been to since 1983.
Instead, my very smart wife suggested I pull Ian out of school for a week and take him with me. He would “homeschool” while with me, and would give presentations to his history class, Latin class, English class, etc. The only teacher who objected was the Chemistry teacher, who is known for being a real dick.
I kept a small journal and hadn’t really looked at it that much. I decided that if I didn’t transcribe it, it would disappear. So I got out the little notebook and started squinting at my writing. Here it is, unedited.
Giorno Primo (Day One)
Colpiti da fusorario. Ian particularly bad — the boy needs his sleep! But we did okay: we found a B&B in Monreale run by Santino and his wife Elvira and family. Very kind people. Santino is a teacher of culinary arts (pastry making) at a culinary school in Palermo. We did a lot of walking around and Ian had his first gelato and his first cioccolato caldo. And a great pizza from Pizzeria Mizzica. And his first day of total confusion.
One thing that struck me — a lot less Sicilian is spoken. I heard very few people speaking it in public, and a few phrases from open windows. Still a soft “C” (Sishilia instead of Sicilia) and I do the same by habit. I guess I’m a southerner at heart.
Giorno Secondo (Day Two)
Alzato alle otto. Good breakfast and a nice chat with Santino. He liked the idea of Rutabaga, it made him laugh.
We drove into Palermo — it’s worse than Napoli. One way is a suggestion, not a rule. I found it fairly easy to navigate — just drive like it’s L.A. but more aggressively and you’re fine. Took a wrong turn and ended up in Mercato Ballarò. Huge mistake, total gridlock, but an adventure.
We found the chapel. After I stopped correcting the Anziano’s grammar (it hurt my ears) I felt pretty good. Still, I was arrogant with them and I see I still have some work to do there. I met one person who knew a bunch of people I knew, but only saw one person I recognized. The ward was large by Italian standards and it was nice.
After church Ian was bonking, so I bought him his first cannolo. He loved it.
We then decided to drive to Trapani and Erice. Erice was great — a Sicilian version of Spello or Montepulciano. It’s just like Erice. It’s the sort of place that would cost a fortune to stay there in the summer. We stayed as late as possible, but I didn’t want to navigate the road down the mountain in total darkness. Sort of like the Amalfi Coast roads.
Tonight we’re staying in a B&B in called La Ciambina. La Ciambina was the first neighborhood built in Monreale to house the workers for the construction of the cathedral. It still retains its medieval character (no cars, narrow streets). Tomorrow: more Palermo. The Duomo in Palermo was closed when we arrived today.
Terzo Giorni (Day Three)
A long day. Up early and drove to Palermo. Insane traffic. Stephanie would have had at least 28 strokes. We had a few minor “kisses” which is why you get comprehensive insurance in Italy. Mirror banging is a common thing. All fun…but for a day. We parked near the Duomo in a sketchy parking lot and gave a guy 2 Euro to “help us park.” More likely to keep our car from getting keyed if we didn’t pay him. Sketchy is all relative, and besides — comprehensive insurance. I’m sure it will have a few more love taps on it than when we got it.
We walked the “sketchy” market (Vucciria) and bought a few umbrellas just in time for it to start raining (when the price doubles). We got some clementines (a Euro for a kilo) and a few apples (30 cents each).
We also had a gastronomical stretch. I heard a guy bellowing in Sicilian “tripa tripa!” and we got one. I made Ian take a bite and that was plenty. I had a bite and we pitched it. It was not a good one. Not all tripe is created equal.
Walked to the Duomo again. Bought socks for Ian. 5 Euro for six pair, only because the seller was so entertaining. The Duomo was good. Frederick II really outdid himself – lovely tomb. Also found Gualtiero Offamiglia (Walter of the Mill), and imported Englishman archbishop when no one trusted anyone within the city. He oversaw the additions to the cathedral. Ian seemed to enjoy the crypt.
At that point we had decided enough big city, so we drove to Piana degli Albanesi, a lovely little town — but a ghost town. Then Ian slept while I drove to Agrigento via Ercolano Minoa. Great Phonecian and Spartan ruins, and a nice theater. The Valle dei Templi was amazing. Took lots of pictures, then drove to Sciacca. We’ll explore that tomorrow morning, then to Trapani, Marsala, etc. Shorter days. I can’t keep driving like this…it’s tiring to be “on” all the time. Addomani.
Giorno Quarto (Day Four)
Found a great B&B in Sciacca – Locanda del Castello. 75 Euro a night and lovely (would cost more than double that in Tuscany). I let Ian sleep in a little (9:30) and we explored Sciacca. A lovely little city. We spent about 100 Euro at a ceramics shop. Calogero gave us a mini tour and told us how he makes all his ceramics. We drove from Sciacca towards Trapani but we took a detour to Cefalu’ because the museum in Trapani was closed. Nice to skip Palermo. Cefalu’ is even nicer than Sciacca, and I really like Sciacca. The setting is amazing. A huge stone hill behind the town is a lovely backdrop for the cathedral (another Roger II work that matches Monreale). We went to an old museum that some baron donated. Had an Antonello da Messina portrait, the only Sicilian renaissance painter of any note. Magnificent.
We stayed in a swank hotel on the water (not to be repeated — 110 Euro). Had pasta at the ristorante “La Brace.” Ian actually ate a mushroom.
Giorno Quinto (Day Five)
Got up early and went for a walk while Ian slept in. He left our toothpaste in Sciacca so I went out in search of a farmicia. Got toothpaste, etc., and since I was shaggy I found a barber and had a shave.
We discussed the Eluana case, a woman who was left in a persistent vegetative state after a car accident 17 years previous. The parents wanted to keep her alive indefinitely. Her husband wanted her to pass because he felt that was her will. He was also engaged and couldn’t marry until she was legally dead. A lot of right-winger right to life people and the Catholic church threw a lot of weight behind her case, but ultimately the court sided with her and her husband, and she was taken off tube feeding and died four days later. The barber was pretty pragmatic, “I mean, a tree is alive, but it doesn’t think. I think she’s like a tree. Alive but not really human.”
We drove to Messina and I was disappointed. It’s pretty ugly as an Italian city goes, since it was 90% levelled in 1908 by a 7.1 earthquake and a 35-foot tsunami a little later. Over 80,000 people died in minutes, since the quake happened early in the morning while the citizens were asleep. What the earthquake didn’t hit, American and British bombers did during World War II. The result is largely new construction, a lot of it ugly.
It has grown a lot since I was a missionary, so I couldn’t find the remote road to my old apartment, so instead we drove to the Straits (Torre Faro) and Ian picked up some pieces of sea glass, reenacted Scylla and Charibdis, and we skedaddled to Taormina, which was okay (touristy), and we headed for Nicolosi, a small town at the base of Etna. Cool. B&B Delle Tre Fontane.
On the way to Nicolosi, we took a drive through the mountains — amazing. You’d think you had gone back in time. We passed through 10 to 12 villages separated by roads that were more like footpaths, with cut outs where you could honk-and-pray. Stephanie would have had a stroke every thirty seconds. We were surrounded by orange, lemon, and olive trees in ancient terraces shored up with volcanic stone walls.
Sicily is more than huge crumbling ruins and cathedrals; there is Nature here, and plenty of it if you get off the beaten path. If I had a million Euro I’d by one of these abandoned stone houses and bring it back to life. Of course, there are always earthquakes, but that hasn’t stopped these people. Good Buddhists, practicing impermanence without knowing it.
We pulled over to one of the terraces and I climbed down a very rickety ladder to get some shots of the beautiful terraces. Hats off to the men and women who took the time to do this work. Thank you!
Day Six (Sisto Giorno)
We stayed up too late watching the Italian version of American Idol (Factor X) and it was amazingly bad. The contestants were fine, but the judges are caricatures of ours. Silly stuff.
Etna remains obscured by clouds.And no lava. Plus it snowed on us. Peccato.
Catania was, overall, disappointing. Noisy and dirty, but without the benefits of Palermo. That said, we missed out on St. Agata’s feast day. There was a lot of prep, and people were selling giant candles (ceri) that the faithful carry on the walk through town. We some some of the giant candelore that get carried like floats through the streets, each representing a guild. We saw the plumber and hardware store candelora. If I had been alone, I might have stayed just to shoot pictures.
I did stop by the mission office at Corso Sicilia 48, but it was long gone, the mission having closed years before, I think 2010 or so.
So we took off for Siracusa. We spent several lovely hours there. First we went to the Greek Theater and the Neopolis. It was very cool and huge. Ian loved it. We walked in Ortygia, the small island that is the oldest part of the city. Fantastic streets and scenes, and saw the Temple of Athena that was converted into the Cathedral. I hope the pictures turn out. I really like Siracusa.
We then drove to Ragusa as the light was failing too bad. I did take a few shots of Ragusa Ibla, a world UNESCO site. If I had another day I’d just stay there and take pictures. The people here have great faces. I bought Ian a new coat. He had been cold a lot and I wanted to get him something special. The price was 210 Euro and the sweet old guy marked it down to 124 Euro. He said I was lucky – that his sixteen year old doesn’t like to be around him anymore. He said some really sweet things to Ian.
We were going to go to Enna but decided to go to Piazza Armenia instead. Ian’s idea. We would see the famous Roman mosaics, including the famous bikini twins, proving that the French have been taking credit for inventing the bikini for way too long. 🙂
Then we’ll head off to Palermo to find a hotel close to the airport.
Day Seven (Giorno Settimo)
A wonderful day with my son — very adventurous. I got up early and took a walk around Piazza Armenia. Grabbed some cioccolato at a bar and carried it back to Ian. B&B Mazzini was nice, but Spartan. We drove down to the Roman Villa: a true palace with over 11,000 square feet of mosaics — and they were closed! Bummed. So we drove to Morgantina, an old city in the middle of nowhere. A older gentleman named Valerio offered to show us all the ruins (there really wasn’t a guide) for 30 Euro. Steep but it helped a little old man, and he showed us some Phoenician ruins, explained how things were discovered, who built an illegal house on the site (mafioso, he says), etc.
Anyway, we drove a few kilometers outside a small city (Raddusa) that would get us to the Autostrada. Closed by a mudslide. 30 km outside our way and no signs or nothing! We cut back on a backroad and made it to the A-19. 50km later they closed the A19 for SNOW! For 90 minutes we sat there. Wimps. 2 inches.
We finally made it to Palermo and retraced our steps to Monreale. I thought I had left an Ibex sweater at one of the B&Bs. Nope. I had not. We decided to stay at Santino and Elvira’s place again and we bought them pizza for dinner. It was only 30 minutes to the airport at 4:30 AM. So now we sleep.
The next morning we got to the airport to discover that the booking agent screwed up our flights when we had to rebook in Chicago after finding out that Airone (an Italian airline) went bankrupt. Alitalia was taking all their flights, so when we had to change everything over in Chicago, the furboni screwed up our departure dates. We figured out a way to get home, but it was Palermo to Rome to Paris to DC to Chicago.
All in all, a wonderful trip. It was going to be a solo trip, but Stephanie convinced me to take Ian. I am SO glad she did.