GOODA-TREK

I first learned about Palermo when I was very young by Domenico D’Andrea. He was the father of Sabato D’Andrea, my Aunty Lelia’s husband. He immigrated to Brazil from Palermo when he was young and like many Italians he made a good & prosperous life in Natal, Brazil. He never returned to Palermo but what he did, he made me curious to visit Bella Palermo and here I am with Martin.
It is 40 degrees in Palermo today! It feels like the “chiroco” ( A hot wind that comes from Africa) is here in Sicily… Everyone is having Gellato or Granita.
Although there is so much to write about Palermo and its controversy of Mafia & Great People, I am just going to show you by photos.
Starting by one of my favourites.
Palazzo Ajutamicristo

The Culture is so rich… Its Arquitetura di rara belezza.

Teatro Maximo? Just Spetacular A casa da Opera Italiana!

Above the sea, Monte Pelegrino where The Santa Roselia Sanctuary is visited by all the catholic believers that believes in her miracles.

After a walk along the River Tusa With my German friend Duglore Katz, I drove her to the mountains looking for the Open Air Art Exposition of Fiumata de Antonio Presti.
She glanced at Pettineo Hill town her eyes sparkled with joy! I said you haven’t seen nothing yet.
In the entrance of the town I saw the Carabiniere ( local Police) and asked what was the best road up to the top of Pettineo to have a close view to its Castle ( short cut) and the two nice Police men told us to follow them up. We
felt really important having them as part of our entourage. They stopped in the main church of Saint’Oliva and then to the Piazza di Duomo where we stopped for a walk in the Centro Storico. First person we met was Zorro

Then we had a group of people coming to say hello and offering to show us around. We decided to visit the Duomo ( the main church) while it was opened to pray as I always do and light a candle. Duglore joined me.

Our next stop to grab something to eat was

We met Ninni the Bar Man and all his clients that come from the neighbourhood. The choice of Sicilian Dolces were amazing but we did stick with a very refreshing Gellato.
On our way to the car we met some other people

And an invitation to visit the Labour Society of Pettineo where there was an Art Exposition organized by Fiumiata of Art

Walls that survived tragedy, wind, fire and history… Pettineo Castle Ruins. The Children of Petinneo running free playing … Practicing their English!

Today I visited 5 Little towns each one with its charm & spirit.
CASTEL DI TUSA , MOTTA D’ AFFERMO, CASTEL di LÚCIO, TUSA & PETRONO overlooking The excellent Trail of Art Exposition called Fiumiata de Art Contemporanea, enticing you to visit these villages of mountain stretching down to The Tyrrhenian Sea.

Those Hill towns, have recent origin. Its main buildings, the Castello, the Chiesa Madre and adjacents Chiesas (18th century). Usualy these towns have a small natural history museum dedicated to the inland mountain region, where its history is preserved.

A Brief History of Sicily
People have lived in the island as far back as 10,000 years B.C.

The Sicanis, from the Iberian Peninsula, arrived in Sicily about 4,000 B.C., and settled primarily on the central and western parts of the island. The Sikels followed, around 1,200 B.C., from the Italian peninsula and settled in the eastern part. The Elymnians, Greeks from Asia Minor, reputed refugees from the diaspora of Troy, established their enclaves around 600 B.C.

Evidence of Phoenicians, from Lebanon, has been established in several parts of the island. They dominated the island prior to the arrival of the Greeks. The Roman Empire wrestled the island from the Greeks and Carthaginians (descendants of the Phoenicians) and remained the undisputed rulers until the 7th century A.D.

Martin and I could not help falling in love with this island and its people, the reasons for our extended vacation in Sicily and for exploring the intriguing history and unique culture of the largest island in the greater Mediterranean Sea. Best time to visit the island is in the Fall and Spring, they say but the sunshine is year around. We used Milazzo, Tindari, Cefalu as home base for exploring and savoring the history, culture, traditions, natural surroundings, and unmatched cuisine.

Cuisine
The island is blessed with a superb cuisine, the product of centuries of experimentation and external influences. In season, fried peppers, pickled artichokes, sautéed mushrooms, tuna, assorted olives, calamari and octopus salad, zucchini, and eggplant (fried, pickled, stuffed) dominate the antipasto table. Unique to Sicily, are several pasta dishes: pasta with fresh sardines and wild fennel, pasta with cauliflower and pasta with squid ink sauce are a few examples…

Weather, Getting There, Information
Sicily enjoys the Mediterranean climate, hot and humid during the summer, mild and drier during fall and spring (in the 70-80 range), and on the chilly side during the winter months.

There are daily flights to and from the Italian Peninsula, Germany, and Great Britain to the island’s three main airports. Palermo, Catania and Syracusa.
Day trips can be made to historical Greco-Roman ruins in Tyndaris, Taormina, Segesta, Selinunte, Piazza Armerina, Syracuse, Agrigento, Cefalu, Monreale, Capo San Vitto, Erice and many stunning sites!

Everyone I meet in Campsites says it’s an experience not be missed. God’s Kingdom! An Open Air Museum wherever you turn…
Over the past 1,500 years, Arabs, Normans, Vandals, Goths, Byzantines, Swabians (Germans), Angevins (French), Albanians, Spanish, Jewish, and Italians have settled in Sicily. You will find many locals with brown hair and dark eyes and a significant number with red and blondish hair and blue eyes. As a result, there is no easy definition or description of its people.
Today I met a group of children just like this discription. They were so friendly and curious to know why I like it here so much…they were eager to practice their English.
Sicilians have multicultural, multiethnic roots. The many invasions from Europe, Asia and Africa ended in the Middle Ages, leaving behind a monoglot melting pot.

The Sicilian language, more than a dialect, once vibrant is slowly dying out, as younger generations are becoming more integrated into Italian Society. The language has its principal roots in the Greek, Latin and Arabic languages. Today, it still flourishes in songs, poetry, and plays. Festivals celebrate the island’s culture and traditions year-around. Many unique Sicilian customs and rituals survive to this day.

Sicily is now an autonomous region of Italy. Palermo is its capital. There are nine provinces: Palermo, Messina, Catania, Syracuse, Ragusa, Agrigento, Trapani, Enna, and Caltanissetta.

Sicilians are such a hospitable and friendly people with big hearts!

Here she is beautiful Pollina
A wash of gentle light
Her little houses like stardust
Glittering with starlight
born of moon and star so close reaching the sky.

The silence is so intense and deep
I felt like moon walking in a blanket of sky
All the relaxed beauty of night
The moon shimmering with light and dust
Enchanting and enticing keeping the distance

The moonlight drapes over Pollina
Clothing her in shimmering silver light
Now she dances with glittering grace
As the the dust of stars trails behind
The moonlight town born for the night

When Ayud and Donna Pulina
created this hidden love nest
Their love and dreams became one
Glittering stars, shimmering moonlight
And all the dreams of a sleeping world
Bring forth this hill town of night, Pollina the hill town.

I see some faces houses on top of the cliffs
Children running with balloons to their nonas
Some bars opened with couples drinking Prossecco
Looking discreetly at Rose and I, strangers in the night
Walking slowly crossing their paths, attracted by the moonlight
Will never see their faces again… strangers in the night.
Side by side sharing the moonlight in Pollina, Sicily.

From The website
http://www.sicilianexperience.com/about-me.html

My name is Carmelina Ricciardello. I was born in Sicily and emigrated to Australia when I was 7 years old. In 1992, twenty eight years later, I returned to my homeland for a short visit and have been here ever since. It was in Sicily that I felt the sense of belonging I had never experienced in Australia where I grew up. Sicily was in me and now I am in Sicily enjoying its beauty, joys and difficulties. Sicily has little of the glamour of Tuscany, and Umbria but it has its own unique character born out of the hardship and brutality that characterised much of its history. I had an obsession to tell the world about its unpretentious beauty and relatively untainted village life. Not to turn it into yet another popular tourist destination but to provide an opportunity for keen travellers to taste the simple life of a Sicilian villager.

I decided the only way to do that was to leave Sicily and get the experience and knowledge I needed to promote it without compromising its essential character and simplicity.

At first it was my experience in running my own business in Australia that allowed me to get work running prestigious 5 star hotels in Tuscany and the Italian Alps.

In 2004 I worked in Gabon (Central Africa) as a consultant for the European Community on Ecotourism. In this impoverished country I trained local villagers in how to promote the unique character of their land and culture to encourage the tourism income so essential for local economies. My job was also to consult and advise local tourist lodges on their running operations based on eco- and sustainable tourism.

In 2008 I volunteered to help lead a group in Turkey and Syria for the Abraham Path Initiative http://www.abrahampath.org
The Abraham Path is a route of cultural tourism that retraces the journey made by Abraham (Ibrahim) through the heart of the Middle East some four thousand years ago. It is a non-profit, non-political, and non-sectarian organization honouring all cultures and faiths, which is supported by the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations.

In March 2009, I participated in Nawamis Working Project for Makhad Trust, helping to build a school for the Bedouin children in the Sinai Desert, Egypt. http://www.makhad.org
The mission of the Makhad Trust is to provide a meeting place, in nomadic regions of the world, where there is a powerful relationship between the environment and the human spirit. The Sinai Desert is one of those places.
Makhad works to sustain the environment and the natural heritage of the people who live in those regions and, while doing so, to appreciate and to learn from their traditional wisdom.

My interest in nature, history and architecture led to work as a walking guide throughout the Italian mainland and in Sicily. My passion for food and wine (I am a qualified sommelier) led to appearances on the Australian travel show Getaway, the BBC Travel Show and the Italian travel programme Mediterranea presenting walking and gastronomic tours of both Tuscany and Sicily. My work in Sicily has been highlighted most recently in an article written by Gail Simmons in the travel section of The Observer newspaper in the UK:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/travel/2009/oct/18/gail-simmons-sicily-tradition-tourism

I am a member of the association called Driadi which is an non-profitable association (O.N.L.U.S), established the 6th October 2009, and aims to preserve eco-systems.
Driadi intends beginning operations by carrying out the work that is most urgent such as fire-prevention in one of the last sections of the Sicilian coastline not yet spoilt by human activities, located East of Cefalù.
http://www.driadi.com

Vice-president of the Pro-loco Sant’Ambrogio, Cefalù.
http://www.santambrogio-cefalu.it

My love of learning, travelling and discovering has taken me to the peaks of Kilimanjaro and Monte Blanc, trekking in Bhutan, Nepal and the Atlas Mountains in Morocco and walking through Libya, Tunisia, Jordan, Syria, Israel, Egypt and Asia. It has filled me with a profound respect for the importance of culture and tradition in defining who we are and how we see the world. An ability to see the world through the eyes of a local is what travel is all about—otherwise you might just as well sit by the pool in your local hotel and read travel brochures.

I’ve decided the best way to help the Sicily I love is to promote it to people who want to live life as a Sicilian local—to see the world through Sicilian eyes. This is the best way I know to contribute to the place I love, the home of my birth, the Sicily in me.
To know more please visit
http://www.sicilianexperience.com/about-me.html

I was excited to visit ancient mountain villages, preserved from medieval times with narrow stone streets, markets and churches. Trails across this amazing landscape are an exciting and spectacular way to discover the beauty, history and atmosphere of this wonderful Mediterranean island. I could not resist it and stopped to take pictures…

Soon after I realized the road was getting a bit scary so I crossed onto a drive up into the Madonie range, through the back roads of exquisite towns with names l could not relate to,where hotels and restaurants hardly existed, over roads that some years ago were barely paved and often were in fact simply ditched and graded wagon trails, to an impossible shale mountain covered by a honeycomb of rock houses and alleyways called Gangi.
That’s when I saw a white truck that overtook me, & a German VW van that seemed to be struggling all the way up.

I made the decision to follow it as its driver seemed to know where he was going. Our paths crossed on a curve that I was not ready for. It nearly hit the back of his truck as when he did breaked quickly and the road disappeared from my eyes. At that point I thought …I should go back!
He was driving a 4×4 truck and seem to know the way well enough.
I knew it would be a long drive and it was Sunday so I was also concerned that I would not find Benzina ( petrol).
That’s when I crossed and asked the white truck to stop. That’s how I met Giacomo, the driver. He was on his way to Gangi to meet his partner and he assured me that I would find a Petrol Station open in Gangi. Another half an hour and… Ok, I can do this! I will follow you.

Soon after, coming around the mountain bend that grants your first sight of Gangi I was overwhelmed. I had to stop to take pictures of Gangi and Giacomo ( above) for you guys to see.
It turned out he could speak English as his job in Wind Turbines takes him all over so he gave me a quick induction about to his hometown of Gangi.
It’s a mixed feeling of energy that is equally bewitching, but as you rest there at the roadside studying this solitary, thousand-foot hill town, there is also something strange, unsettling, about the place. The closer you come to Gangi, the stranger that feeling becomes. I can’t explain it…

Giacomo told me not to drive up to the top but I told him I am Brazilian and like to prove a point. Why drive a Smart car if you can’t go to the mountain top? To drive up the front of Gangi, through the web of cobbled walls and streets, promises almost certain failure. Rising and falling with the terrain, the medieval passages become stairways or else grow so narrow that even a Fiat 500 would drop its axle over the outer edge if it advanced another yard, leaving the hapless driver to back up over the dusty stones to the second or third previous division point in this interconnected dreamway that only those born to it can navigate with confidence. To ascend the front of Gangi it is better to walk. Hoof yourself up past the ancient Norman tower and the Capucine monastery and the criss-crossing stairs that replicate the stations of the cross, to the 17th century palace of the Bongiorno noblemen that is now home to the town council, where, panting and parched and wet with sweat, you find yourself unsure whether the stone silence that surrounds you is a measure of the town’s tranquility or its suspicion of almost anyone whose great-great-great-grandparents were not born there. That is the case for Antônio, Micaela and others I met in Gangi on my way to Corso Umberto to have a well desserved Lunch before I went to say a prayer as I always do Thank God I made it!