Most elegant sun in months, and it appeared for Cecilia’s First Communion

Processional (that’s Kieran cheering as he recognizes his sister)

Certo, la vita è bella a Cianciana

We turned right along  the Straits of Messina and kept driving until we saw it, the volcano which,  even in the past week,  has been playfully erupting.

From Taormina — Mt Etna

We’ve now been two days in Catania, with better sightings of Mt. Etna, better photo ops than ever, yet I haven’t bothered. I should begin with full disclosure: I am a sucker for mountains. Anyhow, a couple days ago,  as we started the short walk up to chic, bustling Taormina,  I saw  the great, to me mystical, mountain for the first time (outside of the car ride, when Etna was something of a moving target).It  was  like seeing the Taj Mahal – those first views erase the cliché and etch the thing itself in the cerebrum, forever. No longer any need for pictures.

And Catania? It seems to be a grimier version of Palermo, and I mean that in the nicest way.

First, there were the Breakfast surprises:

Then, ah! a market to rival any I’ve ever seen, and that’s saying something

Today was to have been  a 3-hr, 300 km drive.  About 80 km into the missed the A19 exit, I mentioned that I thought we were off course.

A few hours, several mountains, many  tunnels, and a long series  of adventures later, I tossed aside Lonely Planet  and Rough  Guide. 

Our Fiat is narrow, but the streets of Western Sicily are narrower.  Result: large scratch. Today,  Guido reduced the scratch to niente.

View from “Sea Palace Gattopardo,” Brolo

We asked a delightful  Brolo native   if he could help us  find a hotel, and now  here we are, about 150km away from our day’s intended destination, but in  A Room with a View - and WHAT A VIEW. 

“OH, NO, Signora, we never run the gondola if it is too windy. Today is wind [sic], but we will run it for you.”

Gondola, on the 750m trip up to Erice. Remember to double-click on this photo, so you can count all the other people who made the trip up and down the mountain with us today. Hint: it’s less than one.

As our gondola climbed the mountain, I pretended to agree with the chipper Peggy Schmidt, as she    peered around at all the other – EMPTY – gondolas and crowed,  ”See? If it were a sunny day, you know we’d be fighting the crowds.”
The  city, even shrouded in mist today,  really is spectacular, and its denizens? Lovely.

Erice was founded by a people claiming descent from the Trojans. What remains today is mostly medieval – walled city, narrow streets.

The art of the cell phone

At the end of our visit this afternoon, we visited Sicily’s finest pasticceria, “Maria Grammatico,” where I ran into Maria herself coming out of the kitchen. She was clearly flattered that I recognized her, b/c she smiled [long-sufferingly?] and took my hand.

Maria Grammatico’s

In case anybody wondered, it’s still within the Octave of Easter

   

Arriving here, we drove along the Tyrrhenian, and to get our bearings in the city, we walked along the Mediterranean. Trapani’s rich history (Virgil’s Anchises, father of Aeneas!) was the initial draw,  and the people and views are keeping us a couple more days.

I love that , since Easter, crucifixes in/over  so many main altars have  been replaced by statues like this one in Trapani’s S.Francesco di Paolo. BTW, I”m quite certain that’s CRYSTAL behind San Salvatore!

I’d seen photos and a short video Elizabeth had taken of Good Friday in Cianciana: stark, passionate, foreign,  familiar — it encapsulated & encompassed all those contradictions. It still does.

At first, it was just great fun. Outside the town’s biggest market, I finally saw the drummer I’d been hearing for a couple weeks. A few locals started lining  up, and cars (and the recycling truck) rushed to get down Corso Vittorio Emanuale  before everything began in earnest.

I followed the soldiers down to the clocktower, but they disappeared, so I ran back to the piazza, arriving  just in time for the “Jesus or Barabbas” scene (below). The townspeople, some in costume, many not, began to get into it, and so did I,  as an Observer, although here is the truth: by the time Pilate got his answer  from the crowd that third time, I was starting to feel like a guilty bystander.

Later, from the 3rd-floor terrace of Daffodils (“Best seat in town!”),  I looked down on robed  townspeople  (singing a Lamentation), Roman soldiers, 2 thieves, and Jesus.

Jesus carrying his Cross up the stairs, headed towards  Monte Calvario

The two other prisoners, following Jesus up to Monte Calvario.

*****************************************************************************

Once up the stairs, it was just a matter of navigating the streets leading to up (way up) to Calvario.

There were moments of comic relief. In one, costumed kids who had been standing around for 30 minutes nearly missed their cue.

Kids, just in time.

Safe, con papa

At the top, we stood and watched, something I don’t have 1,000 words to describe, so will yield again to pictures (that’s Gaetano from Bar S. Antonio)

Holy Thursday morning,  I went to Savarino’s to recharge my  Internet chiavetta and found  Nino Savarino working on his choreography for the Solemn High Mass .

Studying choreography for Holy Thursday’s Solemn HIgh Mass.

 Later that day,  as I was sitting in the Chiesa Madre,  I counted  just 10 apostles, and then Father came up  to the woman next to me and whispered,   “We need two more boys…” She left, presumably drafting the two young men I saw 5 minutes later,  running toward  the altar carrying  apostle robes.

Processing up the aisle in this video: Nino holding the missal,   the priest wearing  his Thomas Merton wool cap .

Below the video: Leaving church last  night, I ran into the crew setting up a stage for “The Condemnation of Jesus ” station of the Good Friday experience here.  As I’m writing this, I’m just in from walking the 2.5-hr “Sacra Rappresentazione Vivente,”  and still trying to wrap my head around the experience, uncertain how one  writes  about such an amazing assault on the senses.

The Webcams  capture sites and sights just around the corner and down the street from Elizabeth’s studio (MacFlip4 required).

It’s been pouring for an hour, and either neighbors are slamming their doors in unison, or it’s thundering, too. Absent Kare 11 TV Weather,   I flipped on the village’s webcams to see if it were worth going out.  I found my answer: YES, but  I can expect my  umbrella to be whipped inside out.

The Cameras capture sites and sights just around the corner and down the street ( Flip4Mac may be required).

Anyhow, today is a far cry from recent days – (gallery below is a random sample from those  sunnier moments!)

Entry of Jesus into Jerusalem — VIVENTE.

It began today, Palm Sunday, with the vivente  Entrance of Jesus into Jerusalem. Having learned the route during last week’s 2-day San Giuseppe feast, I headed out for this morning’s procession.  

What I hadn’t known, however, was that it wasn’t just a Living Christ that I’d encounter, but many of  the Ciancianans, too,  dressed in the sort of costume which, in my tiny mind, has always been limited to grammar school Christmas pageants.  

Citizens of Cianciana

As he blessed our olive branches, I heard the priest refer to them as “Olive Palms,” and I started to guffaw, but as nobody else was laughing, I did my best imitation of a stifled cough and returned to listening mode.

And then, as quickly as they had arrived, they were suddenly gone. It had been odd and awesome.

Somewhat awestruck after the Vivente and the Benedizione, I went where I go every morning — Bar San Antonio.                                                    

Olive Palm

I set down my Olive Palm

…and listened to the ever-patient (with me) Gaetano