Sicilia Spring 2020-2 — Musings From the Road

We returned to Cave Di Cusa, just outside Campobello di Marsala, to take a walk. We first went here on our last winter trip to Sicily. It’s later in the year and the wild fennel is growing strong. The fronds are almost bushes, they are so big. Here food is often seasoned with the greens of the wild fennel. The bulbs are small and usually not good for use in salads like the ones you get in the store.

Campobello Di Marsala

Wild fennel

The quarry appears to have been abandoned in the middle of excavations

These stones were to be used for columns on temples.

This shows how they cut the stone. Cathy’s standing where the workers would have access around the future column.

This and the next photo show how close the stones were during the quarrying.

Here you can see how straight they cut the rock for building wall stones.

The wildflowers were blooming and were everywhere.

The square hole in the stone is how they keyed the stones together into columns. It allowed them to center the stack of round stones till they eventually cut the fluted sides.

This and the next photo show how they started to cut the round stones from the base limestone.

We headed into Sciacca’s casbah one day to find the Cortile Bongiovi. According to our friend who grew up in this area he passed this short dead end every day on his way to and from school and did not realize till later in his life that it was the site of the rocker Jon Bon Jovi’s ancestral home. One of the houses at the end of the street was it. How funny! So far we have been told that both Bon Jovi and Mike Piazza’s families came from this city. Haven’t gotten hard evidence regarding Piazza yet though. It could be true since about 1/3 to 1/2 of Sicily emmigrated to the US in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s till the reactionary side of America closed off immigration from Italy in the 1920’s. That was a time of the resurgence of the KKK throughout the country, just like today how under the treasonous president and the Republican party is treating immigrants from Latin America, Africa and the Middle East.

Chiesa di San Michele

the Salita San Michele. The street through the gate in the old city wall, one car wide, becomes a cart ramp and stairs past the piazza.

At the head of the staircase on Via Pietre Cadute you get a great view of the Castello Luna. A count and family from the 13th century who was involved in a war here in the city.

fWe went down these stairs on the south side of the church rather than face the traffic on the Via Amato that runs down the north side, Via Amato runs almost into Cortile Bongiovi.

One of these houses was the home of Jon Bon Jovi’s family.

We were unable to enter the castle because of renovation work. Maybe someday we can finally see it.

Leaving the piazza we decided to try and get some lunch at Antica Osteria della Vittoria that is owned and operated by Sergio, whom we met and became friends with on our last trip here. Unfortunately the restaurant was closed this day. On the way there we found the carnivale floats stored on the main street of the city center. Carnivale in Sciacca is a BIG deal. There is a car park down by the port that was full of motorhomes and campers, people came from all over Sicily to see the parades. Unfortunately on one of the first days of the parade a four year-old child that was allowed by his/her father to ride on the float fell off and was killed. In response to the tragedy the commune decided to cancel Carnivale. Luckily the floats were still stored where they usually are for the parades and we had a chance to photograph them. Lots of people were taking advantage of the opportunity.

The residents use the floats to make political statements, here and elsewhere. Anti-Trump and anti-Salvini figures are pretty evident. There were even two floats with Joker themes. Most also had pro-environment thematic parts, especially one that supported the Amazonian dilemma of deforestation. The floats are made of paper mache and cloth with moving parts. The moving sections use patterned fabric to cover those parts.

A whimsical float with an Arab smoking a hookah

This one has soldiers fighting a Saracene, a common theme in Sicili.

The clown rides a monster with a skeleton face. Enlarge the image to see the Pepsi bottle.

If you haven’t figured it out yet, this is a float showing a clown trump chasing Greta Thunberg.

The balloons behind clown trump have the names of symbols of Nestle, Amazon, Apple, Coke and Burger King on them.

Sources of pollution abound. And figures of creatures harmed by it.

One of the Joker floats

The other Joker float

This is the Amazon float.

The jaguar’s legs were automated by a complex set of gears and links. The legs may have been covered with patterned fabric.

This one appears to celebrate the Sicilian farmer, a contadino.

This shot really gives you an idea of how big they are. Two to three stories high.

Steps in the city center often have colorful tiles embedded in the risers.

Enough for today. I’ll finish this post in a day or two with photos of our trip to Palazzolo Acreide where our friend from Montana likes to spend her winter months. It’s in the mountains but it’s still warmer than Havre.

Well, I’m back at it. Had to get groceries and money for the landlord. It’s sunny and warm but the wind is strong and cool. It’s still “winter” here but it’s like June in Seattle, without the rain.

We drove to Palazzolo Acreide to see our friend from Montana that spends 3 months here every year. She loves Palazzolo, it’s definitely warmer than Havre, but it was cold. Neat freezing temperatures at night but in the high 50’s during the day with sunny skies. We wandered the town as she showed it off. And we ate at some great little restaurants. While there we drove to the top of the mountain, about 5 minutes by car on some steep cobblestone roads. A beautiful day where Mt. Etna imposes itself on the horizon. It had a lenticular cloud over the summit, like Mt. Rainier gets on nice days, and a cloud on the east side that appeared from a vent steaming in the sunshine, I got some photos of it but it’s pretty difficult to see since it looks like a dark cloud on the horizon.

The top of the mountain is an excavation, started in the early 1800’s by Baron Judica of the town. It’s the site of Akrai, populated in some form or another till the Arabs build Palazzolo Acreide in the 800’s. The most wonderful thing is the teatro. It’s almost complete. It sits on the top side of the quarry where the stones for the city were cut, The town has a small museum which is free. You have to get a ticket but there is no cost. There are objects from 700 BC through about 400 AD on display. Some excellent kraters were discovered there, as good as any we have seen in Agrigento and Reggio Calabria. we didn’t take many photos in the museum. I’d rather they sell their brochures than distribute free views.

Our trip from Sciacca to Palazzolo Acreide took us through the center of the island, north from Agrigento to Caltagirone and then southerly to Palazzolo. We wound our way from valley to mountain and back down, and up again. It was a 4 hour trip on 2 lane highways of varying quality but it reminds you of driving through the Cascades, without trees except for the nature reserves.