MAYDAY IN SICILY

Angelo and Francesca from Palermo joined us for the May 1st holiday weekend. We woke yesterday to a beautiful day and pane cunzatto, the hot Sicilian bread with lots of oil, anchovies and small slices of tomato. Then we decided to go out to see whatever was out there. I suggested we take a ride up to Caltabellotta the town that overlooks Sciacca and much of the countryside below. So we piled into the Punto and we were off.
The ride up was fabulous! Steve had his doubts because it was a bit misty in the distance, but if you wait for a perfectly clear day, you would never go anywhere around here. So we drove and drove and saw the land slowly rise and the rock formations become more and more bizarre and entered the “Citta di Pace” (“city of peace”) with a great appreciation for convertibles and gorgeous days. It is called that because Caltabellotta was the site of the signing of the peace treaty ending the war of the Vespers in the 1300’s between the Aragonese and the Angevinians, so it has retained its importance. Its historical importance is also based on the fact that it is the highest city around, therefore the strongest and most powerful in terms of defense. But nowadays it is just a pain in the butt to get up there so high. Just goes to show you how things can change.
On arriving in the town, one of the first sights I saw was flower petals on doorsteps. I could not believe that I had the conversation about the very same thing with my 84 year old mother the day before! As kids we went to neighbors’ doors and threw flower petals there. We also saw full water bottles affixed to cellar windows. Francy explained that it is to keep cats away from peeing there, since they see light reflected off of the bottle of water and it scares them off. A man with an old fashioned ass walked down the street. We clowned for the camera and took pictures in front of rocks and churches. And we tried to eat dinner there, but all the restaurants we tried (well, there aren’t that many, so we tried only two of them) did not have any space left.
Back to Sciacca we went, to eat at an excellent fish restaurant at the port, La Vela. That is our favorite seafood restaurant, the place where our friend Calogero works. The last time I took a picture of him, it was with his arm around my niece. I posted it here and my twin brother wrote and said, “Hey, watch it, that’s my niece.” Calogero’s uncle from California then responded with, “That’s my nephew!” He was reading the Blog because I had just been corresponding with his wife Cathy about a Sciacca student exchange program with her school in California. Small world!
Even though we had cooked (and enjoyed) at home 3 courses of seafood the day before, we did a good job of the wonderful meal we had. There were at least 10 fish antipasti, 2 types of pasta with bread crumbs (mollica that we only made at Saint Joseph’s Day in the states), and wonderful grilled whole fresh fish and jumbo shrimp, plus fruit and lemon ice and almond gelato with chocolate sauce, espresso and Amaro to finish it up. We took our time (they were busy anyway) and we did not leave till about 3 or 4 hours later. And although the meal was more expensive on this holiday than normal, it was at least half of the price if any of that type of deal in the states exists, 25 euros a person including several bottles of wine and sparkling water, all inclusive. Oh, and pictures with the owner, waiter, and chef afterward!