Manga! Manga!

The number one thing I have learned while living in Italy is the virtue of patience. I guess I was a pretty patient person back home, but I’ll admit sometimes I would get frustrated when things didn’t go according to plan or ran behind schedule. I just don’t like to have any kind of uncertainty. Well, in Italy nothing is EVER guaranteed to go according to plan. It’s not something that makes me hate Italy or the culture, it’s just something that I have come to realize and respect about the Italian lifestyle. If Italy wasn’t as quirky as it is, well, it just wouldn’t be right.

I’m writing about patience to preface my next blog adventure: Sicily and Calabria. I have been living in north/central Italy for the past 2 ½ months and this was my first trip to southern Italy. It was like visiting a whole different country. In the southern regions of Italy there is hardly any public transportation, the Italian dialect is very different, and everything is much more traditional than what I have become accustomed to from the more touristy parts of Italy. Even though it sounds like I’m about to go on a rant about how inconvenient everything, I’m not. To be honest, I loved the slower culture of southern Italy because it hasn’t been tarnished by the multitudes of tourists that flock to other cities like Florence, Rome, Venice, and Milan with their “I need it now” demands and strict time schedules. Sicily and Calabria we just so relaxing, closer to the way I had originally envisioned my Italian experience to be.

To start our adventure in Sud Italia, Johnny and I flew in to Palermo and picked up our rental car at the airport. We originally booked a smart car to drive across the Northern Sicily coast, but the rental company upgraded us to a bright yellow Fiat Panda – much more touristy of course. It was probably a good thing though, because we ended up sleeping in the Panda for the first night so we didn’t have to pay for a hostel. It was hard enough to sleep in a Panda, there is no way we would have made it if we would have tried to recline the seats in a smart car.

On our first day in Sicily we explored Altavilla Militia – the town that my mom’s family is from. We had breakfast at the only bakery that was open that morning (the beginnings of experiencing the laid back Italian lifestyle) and I was amazed at how cheap everything was. It was the first time I had been to a town that wasn’t frequented by tourists. I had a HUGE croissant filled with Nutella and a cappuccino and it only cost me €1,60 – back in Florence the same breakfast probably would have cost me about €4.

 In the hills outside of Atavilla militia

Downtown Altavilla Militia

View of Palermo from the Piazza in front of the church

We walked around the small town and found the church and graveyard my mom had told me about. Technically the graveyard wasn’t open that day, but we managed to sneak in and do some family exploration before we got caught by the maintenance guy. He had the thickest Italian accent I’ve ever heard but we did manage to communicate with him enough that he actually walked us around the graveyard and helped us look for my relatives. We did manage to find the some relatives of with the “Barone” name and even a tombstone with the “Scimeca” name on it. It was such an awesome feeling to have travelled half way around the world and then be able to actually find my relatives! As soon as I told my mom about what I had found, she told the rest of her family and it was pretty exciting to get confirmation from them that I had found the right graves. Definitely an experience I will never forget.

 This is the guy who helped us find the graves, can you even see him? he's so camouflaged haha!

The rest of the day we drove our little, yellow Panda down the coastal highway of Sicily’s northern coast making a few detours to traverse mountains and put our feet in the sand. Overall, Sicily was beautiful! It’s such a unique place with all the mountains, beaches, colors, and people.

 Termini Imerese

 Cefalu

 Crazy Italian Autostrada in the sky

 going up to San Fratello

That Italian autostrada looks like a toy from San Fratello

That afternoon we took the ferry from Messina to Calabria (the toe of the boot on the mainland of Italy.) The drive through the hilly and mountainous terrain of Calabria was beautiful I just wish it would have been a little clearer so we could have seen more of the mountain tops. Also, for some reason, almost half of Italy’s newest autostrada in the region is underground so we spent a lot of time driving through winding tunnels.

 S. Giovanni and Italian toe of the mainland

 Last view of Sicily and Messina

Coming down mountains of Calabria towards Lamezia Terme

We finally made it to Lamezia that evening and manage to find the shop that Johnny’s uncle owned. This was the start of the best cultural experience I’ve had in Italy. His uncle was such a typical little Italian man. He greeted us all dressed up in his three-piece suit with his overcoat, hat, and (of course) smoking a cigarette. It’s just the Italian way. He immediately close up his shop for the evening and rush us home to his apartment to meet Johnny’s aunt. Did I mention that he didn’t speak any English? His aunt made us both big plates of pasta and gave us each a Coca-cola (because we’re American and apparently that’s all we drink) and then his uncle went out and bought a whole tray of dessert pastries and gave us beer and dessert wine. It was fantastic.

The next day we met some more of the cousins, still no English, and we ate lunch at one of the cousin’s wife’s brother’s restaurant (I know, it’s confusing.) I have never eaten so much food in my life. They have us burschetta with these fried bread things, then a huge plate of pasta with meat sauce, then TWO Florentine steaks each, a side of French fries, and all the beer we could drink. I had to roll out of the restaurant. After lunch his uncle took us to the family’s beach resort just outside of Lamezia Terme and he showed us around the whole place and explained everything to us. It was definitely his pride and joy.

Johnny and his uncle at the beach resort

That afternoon Johnny and I managed to get some time to ourselves, and away from any more food, and we went exploring around the city. We drove up to the famous castle and saw some of the local markets and back streets. Lamezia is definitely a beautiful city that is worth a stop.

view from the castle

That night, some of the cousins drove us up to a pizza restaurant on top of a mountain in a vineyard and we had ate even more food. I was about to bust at this point. I guess it’s just the Italian way, but they DO NOT want their guests to ever complain about being hungry. The whole experience was probably the best I’ve had in Italy since I’ve been here. It was so great to spend time with a true Italian family and have to speak Italian for two days rather than being able to get away with mostly English like I’ve been used to in Florence.

In southern Italy all the Italians go to work a little later, around 10, still take an afternoon break from work, usually 1-4, and then are home for merenda, around 6, in the afternoon. Most of the schools in Italy only go from early morning until lunchtime so that the kids can go home and spend the rest of the day with their family. Family is such a huge part of family tradition for Italians and it was awesome to finally be able to experience that part of the culture which is (mostly) missing in other cities in the country like Florence and Rome. Everything in southern Italy ran on a little slower pace and maybe wasn’t quite as convenient as most American would like it to be, but the patience that I’ve gained from this whole experience has allowed me to better appreciate and understand this aspect of the culture.

Alright guys, I know this was a long one and I hope you liked it but I’m still behind in my posts so I will be working on my next post ASAP so I can have it up sometime this week. I miss everyone back at home and I know everyone at MSU is getting ready for final exams – so GOOD LUCK everyone! It’s crazy to think I only have 3 more weekends here until I will be heading back to the good ‘ole U.S. of A.!

Ciao for now!