La Gita in Sicilia

Okay so I’ve been really bad about writing lately because I’ve just been so busy traveling all over the place. I’ll give a little peak of what is to come in the following blogs. This one is going to be about my Sicily trip I went on with my class a few weeks ago, then the following will be about my weekend in Sorrento and the Amalfi Coast. Then this upcoming weekend, I’m actually flying back to the US for the weekend for my brother’s wedding. During that week, my high school Italian teacher will be in town with a group of students from my alma mater, so I’ll get to go around with them some. The weekend after that is Easter and I’ll have plenty to write about there. I’m planning on going to Rome for the first few days of the Tridium, but I’ll be in Florence for Easter Sunday because I was asked to do a reading in English at the Duomo! I am so honored I’ll be reading at the Duomo on Easter Sunday in front of thousands of people and the Archbishop. Florence has a history with the Duomo and Easter. Check it out on the Duomo’s website and this video.

Just like my trip to Rome with my class, the school also planned our trip to Sicily. We arrived at the train station at 8am to take the hour and a half bus to Pisa to take our hour and a half flight to Palermo. When we got to the airport, my flat-mate Dray, realized he had forgotten his passport at our apartment –and hour and a half away in Florence. Luckily, he was able to use his driver’s license, but our return trip was with another airline that doesn’t accept anything but a passport. Needless to say, it all worked out; he took an early train back to Palermo to catch another earlier flight on the same airline that accepted his driver’s license.

We were greeted by our tour guide, Steven at the Palermo airport, and our driver Antonio drove us to our first stop. It was a memorial to Falcone, a judge involved in the crackdown against the mafia in the 1980’s. The road from the airport to Palermo was rigged with thousands of pounds of explosives and detonated as he and his wife and security team crossed unknowingly into the trap. Pictures of the road post explosion, looks as if a large plane had crashed into the highway. We made a couple of other quick stops at random memorials to different mafia related events before being dropped off at the Palermo Cathedral for a quick tour. We took a short walk around the rest of the city including a stop at a Dominican church that I had visited four years ago when I was in Sicily.

After checking into our hotel, we had a little free time to explore before meeting back at the hotel to walk to dinner. We had dinner at a local restaurant that is guarded 24/7 by the police because a few years ago, its owner refused to pay his protection fee to the mafia and is one of the very few businesses in Palermo that has no ties with the mafia. More than 90% of businesses in Palermo to this day pay security fees to the mafia or are tied to them in one way or another.

The next morning, we were taken to a small hilltop top above Palermo called Monreale, known for its basilica, mosaics, and ceramics. We had about an hour of free time here until our bus took us to Portale della Patria, an open field in the mountains outside of Palermo where a May day picnic was taking place with hundreds of people, and a member of the mafia opened fire from the above rocks, killing dozens of innocent people. To lighten the atmosphere, we brought our lunches here to eat!

Our drive continued on to Corleone, a town renowned for its ties to the mafia. We arrived to almost a ghost town with only a few locals peeking their heads out their windows and balconies seeing who it is. We took a very dry tour of the Anti-mafia museum, which consisted of old black and white photographs on the walls of former mafia bosses. We left Corleone for our hotel stay in an old train station about 12 km outside of the city. We drove for what seemed like a long time along the winding roads in and around the mountains until we went down a small road leading to a building with hammocks hanging in trees outside. We had no idea we were venturing into agricultourism. Remnants of the old track were visible everywhere including the now gravel running path that winds in and out of the valley below, looking down onto a peaceful lake. It was the most relaxing hotel stays I had ever been to. A group of us took a hike up the hill to the small town that the old station serviced about 10 minutes away. A hunting lodge the size of the White House stood front and center in the town square, now turned into a museum. Signs for all sorts of walking paths, horse paths and bike paths leading up and around the mountain, dotted the street corners.

Dinner was provided to us that night and we certainly felt underdressed for the occasion. Apparently, the hotel is known all over Corleone for having the best food ever. The fifteen of us, including our teacher, Steven and Antonio, were seated at a large L shaped table. We were first served champagne and then endless bottles of wine. Literally. Once we finished a bottle, which only took 10 minutes, they brought out a new one. I sat next to Antonio our driver who doesn’t speak a word of English. I knew with a little wine, I could spill my Italian out without even thinking about it. I literally spoke in Italian the rest of the night. Dinner started at 8pm and I got to my room at about 12am. We had so much fun that night and Antonio was very impressed with my language skills.

Sadly the next morning, we had to leave our paradise in the Sicilian mountains and continued on our long drive to Cefalù, a beautiful beach town about an hour east of Palermo. We arrived from above the city and had an amazing view of the bright blue water. Just like Cinque Terre, the horizon blended together seamlessly like a monochromatic painting. We checked into our beachfront hotel with a balcony and met up with Steven for a quick walking tour of the town. Our first stop was the town’s focal point, the Cathedral. Stephanie and I had been itching to find somewhere to go to mass all day and we could hear a pipe organ playing inside. We quickly ditched the group and ran up the steps of the church just in time to catch the beginning of mass.

After mass, we were split up from the rest of the group and she decided to go shopping, while I decided to climb a mountain. Yep, the town is built at the base of a mountain, which hoists the ruins of an old fortress and ruins of a temple. Now, the only inhabitants that I ran into were sheep and goats. There was a set of stairs that led up to the first defensive wall that surrounded the fortress. A man that looked like he lived on the mountain sits there and records what country and city you are from. I climbed a little rougher path up to a false summit where there were magnificent views of the town and bay that the city in nestled into. This level was surrounded by a newer wall that offered terraces looking out over the bay and the ruins of a former Greek temple. The rest of the way up was steep, loose rock sheep and goat trails spotted with fresh presents from the nearby flock. The trail was hot and sweaty which didn’t help the smell. Finally after what seemed like hours, I finally reached the top. It actually did take me about three hours to complete this small feat, but all the sweat was well worth it. Climbing on top of the highest point of the ruins offered me unobstructed 360-degree views of the surrounding area. It was absolutely gorgeous! Off in the distance, I could see two of the Eioli Islands off of the coast. The sun was beating down on me and I wasn’t getting any less thirsty, so I made my way down relatively quickly. After only a few minutes, I ran into the flock of sheep and goats completely blocking my path down. I was telling them ‘excuse me’ in Italian and it seemed to work. It was so precious to see a couple of baby lambs running after each other. I did almost have a run in with a couple of aggressive goats that were in my way. One of them turned around to get out of my way and as he did so, head butted another goat, making both of their front legs fly in the air. I was a little freaked out at first because they both had horns and I knew one head butt into me meant me being impaled on a tree! I cautiously made my way past them to safety and continued onward.

After a few hours rest in my hotel room, we met up with Steven and Antonio to take us to a wine tasting. We drove about 25 minutes up into the mountains to an old convent, which was converted into a winery. We got a private tour of the facility and saw how the grapes went from being grapes on the vine, to wine with dinner. The process was amazingly long and very risky. One small mistake and entire barrels have to be dumped. We had dinner at their restaurant and tried some of the wine that they made from grapes that grew on site.

We went to bed that night absolutely exhausted! Me from climbing the mountain, and the rest from lying on the beach –so tiring, isn’t it? We got up early the next morning for our drive back to the Palermo airport where we flew into Bologna. We took the train back to Florence and I passed out. It was such a memorable weekend, but so exhausting!

Pictures will be posted later! I leave for the US in a few hours and I have a ton to do!