Marsala to Piazza Armerina

Saturday, April 1, 2016

We spent the morning on the road, traveling northeast to the interior of Sicily in order to see one very special archaeological and cultural treasure, the Villa Romana del Casale.  Though Sicily overflows with ancient Greek ruins, this is one of the few sites to see Roman antiquities on the island.

When did you think the Bikini was invented?

The villa, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, was built in the 4th century; the UNESCO citation declares, " It is especially noteworthy for the richness and quality of the mosaics which decorate almost every room; they are the finest mosaics in situ anywhere in the Roman world." The villa is  thought to have been the summer residence of a wealthy Roman family. And  wealthy they must have been!  The "home" is huge, and includes a bath complex, large peristyle (central courtyard),  basilica, public spaces, service areas, and the living areas of the resident family, all paved in multicolored mosaics.  Each time we thought we'd seen everything, we found signage directing us to another wing!  A landslide in the 13th century buried the villa and preserved the glorious mosaics we (and busloads of others) were able to see today.  It was quite an afternoon.

Less than two miles from the Villa is the town of Piazza Armerina, our home for the night.  We're staying in a "duplex" in an old building in the historic center of town, a couple of blocks from the duomo, which crowns the hill upon which the town is built.  Our hosts live across the narrow street, with their cute five-year old son, Federico, who was happy to help his father show us around the apartment.

We walked around town and visited the cathedral, which is dedicated to the Blessed Mother and decorated in her blue and white colors.  It's a HUGE church (one of many) in this small town.

We wandered around (up and down) the streets of town before our happy hour, then back down for dinner (Sicilian specialties, and enough for tomorrow night's meal!) at a trattoria recommended by Massimo, our host.  Our walk back uphill was probably not enough to burn off the calories from dinner, or from the chocolate ricotta cake we had for dessert, courtesy of Massimo's wife.

Lo Zingaro - Off the Road and onto the Trail

Friday, April 29, 2016

For the most part, we'll let Tom's photo tell today's story.  We spent most of this day at Lo Zingaro, Sicily's first nature reserve on the far northwest corner of the island, and it was spectacular.  We hiked a coastal trail high carved into the mountains that fall into the Tyrrhenian Sea.  Wildflowers everywhere, blue sky, and waters that ranged from navy to turquoise -- everything sparkled on this beautiful day.  It was Big Sur without the road, the Cinque Terre without the towns and crowds, the Amalfi Coast without the tour buses and crowds.  Just like-minded hikers and us -- and more than enough beauty for us to share.

A couple of stray notes here, things we've noticed as we're on the road.  The first is something we've noted on previous trips to Italy.  While the historic town centers are beautiful and atmospheric, the countryside is glorious, and traditional rural villages and towns lovely, most building construction during the last hundred years or so has been decidedly utilitarian and often downright ugly.  Whatever the reason -- likely postwar expediency -- the contrast between la Bella Italia and la Bruta Italia is striking.

In prior visits to Italy, especially in the cities from south to north, we have certainly been aware of the presence immigrants from North Africa, typically young men selling trinkets or knockoff designer handbags, often laid out on the ground on tarps that are easily gathered up at the approach of law enforcement personnel. Here in Sicily on this trip, the presence of young North African men in small towns and riding bikes on rural roads is striking.  Sicily is very close to Tunisia, and the arrival of immigrants from across the sea is, as we all know a common occurrence.  In Marsala, we've noted in African influence in the restaurants and markets.  We are seeing the evening news in front of our eyes.

Tomorrow, we leave Marsala to spend one night visiting a site in Sicily's interior before heading to Catania on the southeast coast on Sunday.

Segesta and Trapani

Thursday, April 28, 2016

The western coast of Sicily has long been an area of salt production and today's first stop was to a small harbor in Marsala to see an area of salt pans and the windmills used to process salt from the sea.  In the distance, we could see white mounds of the collected harvest.

There comes a moment in every Italian road trip when it's necessary to acknowledge that motor scooters are the only appropriate vehicles for certain streets.  This trip's moment arrived en route to the salt pans when the narrow road we were traveling narrowed further and made a 90-degree turn between two buildings, something our full-size Volvo was definitely not made for.  With much backing and forth-ing, Tom was able to angle the car through, with about two inches clearance on one side and three on the other.  We're trying to find an option to specify minimum road width in the settings of our GPS; it's either that or mounting our suitcases on a pair of Vespas!

We revised today's original destination when our "shortcut" took us within a few miles of the Greek temple at Segesta, which we had already planned to visit on this trip, so the shortcut became a detour.  The temple, all 36 columns and pediments, stands alone atop a hill, surrounded by green mountains and rocky outcroppings.  Unlike the ruins at Selinunte, there are no piles of rubble here; the 5th century BC temple is preserved as it was left, roofless, columns unfluted, and absolutely splendid; sitting among a profusion of wildflowers, it was simply glorious.

Among the visitors taking it all in this morning was a group of mostly middle-aged New Age folks, some of whom appeared to be in a trance, others meditating, striking poses, wearing crystals, or performing ritual hand gestures over each other, as incense wafted and a repetitive drumbeat sounded.  Whoo hoo hoo...

Though the temple stands alone, the archaeological park also includes a Greek theater and agora, high on neighboring Mount Barbaro.  We took the shuttle us up the mountain to see the theater, beautifully situated, with views of the surrounding green hills, vineyards, mountains, the sea and back to the temple itself -- fantastic!  We walked down the mountain so we could enjoy the views and capture them with Tom's camera.

On our way back to Marsala, we stopped at Trapani and walked the narrow pedestrian streets of its old quarter and saw a bit of its port, once a busy trading center between Africa and Venice.

South along the coast, we stopped to see more salt ponds and windmills, before returning to Marsala.

We walked to a restaurant in the centro storico for local specialties -- pasta with sardines and couscous with fish and seafood.

Greek Life in Selinunte

Selinunte, Sicily  Wednesday, April 27, 2016

The ancient Greeks had a significant presence in Sicily, one that can be felt today in ruins that stretch from coast to coast on this island.  The westernmost outpost of the Greek World was their colony at Selinus -- today's Selinunte -- settled in the 7th century BC.  Before the Carthaginians conquered it in 409 BC, killing 16,000 inhabitants in the process, it was one of the most important cities in the world. It was largely destroyed during the first Punic War, about 250 BC, when the Romans conquered most of Sicily.

The ruins at Selinunte are now the site of ongoing archaeological research and restoration.  They occupy two high bluffs above the Mediterranean; the valley between was once a harbor, now silted over.  The valley, like every place in the archaeological complex, is full of grasses and wildflowers in gorgeous spring bloom.

The deities honored at each of the temples in the complex have, as yet, been lost to history, so the temple ruins have been given letter designations.  The most completely restored is Temple E, and its columns stand tall on one hill, next to the jumble of pillars, pediments, and altar stones of Temples F and G, which was one of the largest temples ever built by the Greeks. We were free to walk through the ruins, climbing on the blocks and stones that lay everywhere.  Somehow, what looks to us like a giant jigsaw puzzle (without the all-important photo showing just how it all should look with the pieces in place) makes sense to the archaeologists who pretty much know how each of the temples looked.  There were plenty of diagrams and descriptive plaques to help visitors envision what the experts have discovered.

We walked across the valley to the acropolis, urban area, and city walls on the second promontory.  One wall of Temple C  has been reconstructed, but there and elsewhere it was easy to see how columns had toppled, their segmented drums spilled out like dominoes in a row.  We walked among what was left of other temples, the houses of one of the urban neighborhoods, and along the defensive fortifications, all the while enjoying the views of Temple E across the valley and the sea below the complex.

En route back to Marsala, we drove around Mazara del Vallo, the most important fishing port in Sicily.  The narrow, winding streets of the old town center are a remnant of the original Arabs who settled there for 250 years, prior to a Norman conquest in 1075.

Tonight, we went out for our own passeggiata, explored some parts of the old town we had not seen last night, and enjoyed the quiet streets as the shops closed down and the lovely cathedral piazza after dark.

Arrivederci, Roma! Salve, Marsala!

Tuesday, April 26, 2016 -- Marsala, Sicily

Our landlord had reserved a cab for us this morning, and we arrived at the station in Trastevere in short order and were soon on our way to Fiumicino Airport for our flight to Palermo, Sicily. It's always hard to leave Rome, but we have another month to explore more of this beautiful country, and that does make it easier.

We picked up our rental car and drove about an hour southwest along the coast and through beautiful countryside to Marsala, home to the wine of the same name, and the westernmost point on the island of Sicily.  We have a beautiful, modern two-bedroom apartment in a 17th-century building in the old centro storico, where the streets are about eight feet wide.  We did some grocery shopping in a nearby market, had an early happy hour and dinner and headed out.

We were not alone as we walked through the old town, as the locals were out for their evening passeggiata, the stroll that Italians -- northerners and southerners alike -- take every evening.  The old town is a lovely, pedestrian-only area, paved with travertine blocks -- a perfect setting for the passeggiata.

We stopped in the 12th-century Mother Church (cathedral), which is dedicated to St. Thomas Becket.  The large square in front of the church, the Piazza Loggia, was set up for a small reception following the Mass that was just ending.

We continued down Via Garibaldi, lined with churches, shops, wine bars, and restaurants, and through the grand city gate.  The street ended a couple of blocks later at the sea, where we were just in time to enjoy the sunset from the park along the coast.  We'll be staying in Marsala for four nights, and we'll certainly be heading west at sunset again while we're here.

Roman Holiday

Monday, April 25, 2016 -- Liberation Day

This was our last day in Rome and, after heavy overnight rain, it dawned dry, bright, and WINDY!  Although some clouds appeared this morning, most of the day was sunny, but cooler than it's been so far, and the wind persisted most of the day.

We decided to spend the day wandering around, something Rome is so well suited to.  We headed for the Janiculum Hill, which actually looms over our little street.  Unlike previous treks up the hill, we took a small bus that runs a continuous circuit up and down the hill and along the passeggiata that traverses the ridge.  The Piazzale Garibaldi, atop the hill, offers lovely views of the old center of the city in one direction and the dome of St. Peter's in another.  We walked a bit along the passeggiata and then took the bus back down and another to Piazza Venezia.

In the piazza, the Vittoriano, the huge white marble monument to Vittorio Emanuele II, looms over the human and vehicular flow on the street below.  The monument, which commemorates Italian unification, is also the site of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and a museum devoted to the reunification.  (Much to our amusement, one of the current exhibitions is devoted to "Barbie: The Icon" -- Military Barbie?!?


We climbed the steps of the monument (sometimes referred to as the Wedding Cake, or the Typewriter -- whatever that is!) to its windy wrap-around terrace,which offered views toward the centro storico and over the Roman Forum, the Imperial Forums, Trajan's Column and Marketplace,the Colosseum, and the Palatine Hill, home to Ancient Rome's 1%. What sights!  What a place!

Behind the monument, we walked along the edge of the Roman Forum and the Mamertine Prison, where St. Peter was held, to the terraces that flank Michelangelo's magnificent piazza atop the Capitoline Hill, the Campidoglio. The terraces overlook the Forum and offer wonderful views of the site, all the way to the Colosseum.

The steps from street level to the church of Santa Maria in Aracoeli, between the Vittoriano and the Campidoglio, are impossibly steep and high, but there is a side way into the church from the Campidoglio that eliminates most of them, and you can be sure we took it!  The church could easily be called St. Mary of the Crystal Chandeliers, for they lined both sides of the nave from the altar to the door, in addition to the tiers of chandeliers that form a double arch above the sanctuary.  Unfortunately, it was daylight when we visited, so there was no chance to see them ablaze.

We did brave descending the steps and walked over to the via dei Fori Imperali, the wide boulevard that passes between the Roman Forum and the Imperial Forums and leads to the Colosseum. Normally a congested thoroughfare, on this holiday it was a pedestrian zone.  We zig zagged among the forums and eventually past the construction zone for the third Metro Line -- a project that has already taken forever.  Typically, construction in Rome involves the discovery of archeological sites that need to be excavated (not with a backhoe!), evaluated, and protected -- not a recipe for on time and under budget!

After marveling appropriately at the Colosseum and massive Arch of Constantine, we walked along to the Circus Maximus, site of Ancient Rome's chariot races, to the Church of Santa Maria in Cosmedin.  Busloads of tour groups were lined up to see the Bocca de la Verita, an ancient Roman drain cover bearing the likeness of a face.  Since the middle ages, the Mouth of Truth has been said to swallow the hand of any liar; the crowds seemed willing to take the test, but we bypassed the lines and headed for the church instead!

In the same area, we saw two temples dating from the second century BC, and the triumphal quadruple Arch of Janus, adjacent to the Church of San Gregorio in Velabro, a starkly beautiful 8th-century church. 

Sunday in Rome with Francis

Sunday,, April 24, 2016

As Tom was feeling a bit under the weather last night and the weather itself was to be stormy this morning, we decided not to set our alarm, since it was likely that we'd forego the Pope's 10:00 Mass in St. Peter's Square.  However, when we got up, it was bone dry and Tom's symptoms had been much improved by a good night's sleep, so we headed to the Vatican with the intention of arriving in plenty of time for his noon blessing. As we approached on the relatively quiet Borgo Santo Spirito, we were amazed to see that, one block over, a wall of people extended out of the square, all along the grand approach boulevard, the via della Conciliazione, almost to the river!  To our  delight, Mass was still in progress, and though we could not enter the piazza, we found a spot in the first row just outside the colonnade with good view of one of the big screens and an occasional one of the altar on the steps of the basilica. 

All weekend, we have seen Boy and Girl Scouts from all over the world, gathered here for special Jubilee Year youth events.  Yesterday, Pope Francis joined them in the piazza and photos of him hearing some of their confessions have appeared in the news.  We have also noted many inflatable tents set up throughout the city to welcome the young pilgrims.  After Mass, the Pope greeted some of the young people, offering them each mementos.  Everyone stayed as the Pope finished receiving throngs of selfie-taking priests and guests, and then boarded the popemobile to be driven through the square.  We were able to see him several times as he passed by, and then we were amazed as the vehicle left the confines of the piazza and drove down the via della Conciliazione, delighting the crowds who'd stood so long and so far from the square.  It was, as these events always are -- especially with Pope Francis -- electric!

After the excitement, we walked along the Tiber to Castel Sant' Angelo, crossed the pedestrian bridge there into the Centro Storico, and made our way to the Pantheon, where more crowds had gathered.  The Pantheon is the only building in Rome that has been in continuous use since ancient times.  It was first a temple honoring a variety of gods, then (and now) a church dedicated to Mary and the Martyrs.  It also holds the tombs of Rafael and two kings of Italy.  It is an architectural marvel, with its shallow dome as wide as it is high, and pierced by a large open oculus in the center.

After a long wait for a bus, we rode to a neighborhood we'd learned about on Italian Notebook, an interesting site we follow about this country we love.  The Coppede Quarter is a small, very quiet area in the northern part of the city named for the architect whose work characterizes it.  Designed in the Liberty Style, the buildings date from the 1920s and almost seem as if they're from another world.  There were reminders of parts of Barcelona, but it could just as easily been Disneyland; in no way did it seem like any other part of Rome we know.  At any rate, we had a pleasant time wandering around the small area, exploring a "private street," and taking lots of photographs without having to jockey for position to get just the right shot.

Coppede is pretty much the only place we have not encountered crowds of people streaming down every via, viale, and vicolo this holiday weekend.  Yesterday, Romans celebrated the anniversary of the birth of the city and tomorrow is Liberation Day, marking the victory of the Resistance over the fascist dictatorship of Mussolini in several major cities.  The throngs we've encountered may be Italians celebrating a national three-day weekend holiday, pilgrims drawn by Jubilee Year events, or an extra-heavy concentration of ordinary tourists.  Suffice it to say, we are not alone!

Roaming Around Rome

Saturday, April 23, 2016

Yesterday's promised rain finally arrived last night, long after we were were in for the evening, and it was gone by this morning.

Our first stop was the Minor Basilica of Santa Prassede, a 9th century gem whose original mosaics in the apse, arch, and a side chapel just glow.  The small chapel, dedicated to St. Zeno, is entirely  covered in mosaics, and the opportunity to see them close at hand was extraordinary.

A few blocks away, we stopped in the church dedicated to Sta. Prassede's sister, Santa Pudenziana (We're meeting some new saints on this trip!), is sunken below street level, and seemingly ignored by tourists.  Its apse mosaics are lovely but not the "wow" of the little chapel we'd just left.

Then, it was on to the Four Fountains, each carved into a corner of an intersection, giving the requisite church there its name, San Carlos alle Quattro Fontane.  This small church by Borromini is notable for its oval dome coffered with geometric patterns.

Just down the block is Sant' Andrea al Quirinale, designed by Bernini as part of the Jesuit novitiate in Rome.  Its Baroque style, crowned with a golden dome, is representative of both Bernini's work and the Jesuits' Counter-Reformation efforts.

St. Andrew is across the street from the Quirinale Palace, once a papal summer home, now the official residence of the president of Italy.  In the Piazza Quirinale, we had a view over the rooftops to St. Peter, and saw the noon changing of the guard at the palace entrance.

Down a staircase and a couple of blocks away, we joined the throng at the Trevi Fountain, by far the most crowded place we've been yet.  The crush of people convinced us that coins were surely being hurled out of the fountain, rather than tossed into it! 

In stark contrast, the Spanish Steps were empty!  The explanation was the only possible one, and a common one in this city: they are undergoing restoration.  Nevertheless, the crowds filled the Piazza di Spagna at the base of the steps and the Via Condotti and other shopping streets radiating from the square.

We escaped the Saturday shoppers by strolling on our favorite Roman street, Via Margutta.  Just three blocks long, it's a quiet stroll between Spagna and the bustling Piazza del Popolo.  Lined with small art galleries, boutique hotels, shops, cafes, and flower-draped doorways and windows, it's the perfect backdrop for well-dressed Romans dining, shopping, and walking their impossibly tiny dogs.

Back in the real world, we stopped in Santa Maria del Popolo to see the Bernini sculptures in the Chigi Chapel and two Caravaggios, the Crucifixion of St. Peter and the Conversion of St. Paul.

We have read about EUR, a Fascist era development on the outskirts of Rome, for many years, but never visited it on our previous trips to Rome; this afternoon, we remedied that.  EUR was conceived by Mussolini in the 1930's to celebrate the rise of fascism and be home to the World's Fair of 1942.  The Fair never took place, a casualty of World War II.  In the postwar period, Roman authorities decided to establish a new urban center of business, cultural institutions, and governmental offices and undertook the completion of unfinished buildings and the construction of others, along with parks, museums, and housing.  The most emblematic building, one that dominates the scene, is the Palazzo della Civita Italiana, sometimes referred to as the Square Colosseum.  Last year, the fashion house Fendi moved its headquarters to it.  We wandered around a bit and found the area, including a large wooded park, to be very quiet on this Saturday afternoon.

That about did it for us, so we headed back to Trastevere via Metro and bus.  Happy hour revived us, and we headed out for dinner at a place we'd loved on our last trip here.  I think we ordered the same dishes, which were wonderful, then and now; we came home with almost as much as we ate!

The rain made a feeble showing as we walked to and from the restaurant, but not enough for us to open our umbrellas.  Thunderstorms are in the forecast again for tomorrow; let's hope they're as shy as today's were.

Vatican City -- A Country Within a City

Friday, April 22, 2016

After a restorative night's sleep, we were thrilled to wake up to sunshine this morning.  We walked across the Tiber on the Ponte Mazzini to catch a bus headed toward the Vatican Museums, where we had reservations for a walking tour of the Vatican Gardens.  We could probably have traveled as quickly on foot, but we're making a few concessions to Tom's left foot and right knee, both of which have been a bit sub par in recent days.

In any case, we arrived well in advance of our tour time and were besieged by tour operators all along our walk from the bus stop to the museum entrance.  Had we not booked a reservation, the throngs lined up for entry to the museum would probably have been enough to convince us to sign up on the spot!

Once through security in the museum, we assembled to meet our guide, Ludovica, who led us on a two-hour stroll through the gardens to the top of the Vatican Hill.  En route, we had great views of Michelangelo's extraordinary dome, as we wound our way through woods, gardens, along the old and new walls of the Vatican City State, above and among the various monuments, fountains, and buildings that dot the gardens. Though we have been to the Vatican quite a few times, this was all new to us, and very interesting.

After lunch on a terrace overlooking the gardens and the dome of St. Peter's, we explored the building housing the pinacoteca, museum of painting.  Because it's in a separate building from the main route through the museum, it was quiet and uncrowded, allowing visitors plenty of time among the treasures.

Once we entered the main building, however, we joined a swiftly flowing river of humanity moving from one hall to the next.  Any real appreciation of the bounty of works on display was impossible, and we never even attempted it.  The flow of the human river was damned at the Sistine Chapel, where everyone crowds to stand with their eyes riveted on Michelangelo's glorious ceiling for as long as their neck muscles allow. (Photos not allowed)

We took a shortcut from the chapel that allowed us to get to St. Peter's Basilica without the circuitous walk from the museum entrance and the long security lines at St. Peter's Square.  We entered the Basilica through the Holy Door, which Pope Francis has opened for this Jubilee Year of Mercy.  Again, this is a first for us, as we have never been here during a Jubilee Year.  Inside the church, not much has changed.  Michelangelo's Pieta still has the power to move, the size of the interior still overwhelms, the dome still soars over Bernini's baldacchino, which in turn, rises above the main altar.  Most affecting, amid all the Baroque counter-reformation splendor, is the preserved body of the simple man who became pope and saint in our lifetimes, John XXIII, visible in a crystal sarcophagus near the center of the basilica.

Leaving the church, we made the obligatory stop to view the Swiss Guards before entering the grand piazza, encircled by Bernini's grand colonnade.  As the bell tolled 4:00, it was relatively quiet, though the seating was set for tomorrow's gathering of "Jubilee Boys and Girls", whoever they are.

Throughout our visit to St Peter's, we witnessed the arrival of groups of pilgrims, who processed down the center of the nave to the main altar, which had been cordoned off.  Once outside the piazza and walking down the grand approach boulevard, the Via della Conciliazione, we saw that a lane of the wide road had been reserved for the pilgrims, who approached St. Peter's processing behind a cross adorned with the symbol of the Year of Mercy.

So ended our day in the state surrounded by the city.  We found the right bus, bought some more wine, and headed home for happy hour and dinner.  And -- not a drop of rain!