Loving this report! Many thanks for posting!

Great report! We visited all these places and your report brings back good memories.
As for the salt pans ... we were there in June and we could see the back-breaking work of drying and then shoveling the salt into piles. We were astonished that this is still the way to go ... working in the salt in the heat of summer. We're in the 21st century after all.
Here's a pic I took.
http://s20.postimg.org/uosygi72l/DSC06852.jpg

MyriamC - love the picture! Fascinating how some "old-fashioned" techniques are still used today.

We stayed at Casa Talia too. Such a wonderful spot--you are right, lots of stairs, though that's Modica!

Eagerly awaiting the next installment.

Thank you so much for this great report! It has so much helpful information. We're heading to sicily this summer for our third visit and are visiting some of the same areas for the first time. I may come back with some questions later when I reread to take some notes. I was so happy to find your report!
Thanks again,
Dina

MyriamC -- that is a great salt pan picture. Thanks for that! Morewierd -- ask the car company if the smallest car has a place to completely cover your luggage. That was the thing we were concerned with. We had no thievery problems and left the car with luggage in it at both Segesta and the Allied Landings Museum with no trouble. The museum was a spot that one writer had a car robbery, so we did take a backpack in with our passports, iPad, etc. That parking lot is quite open and busy and even has a roving ticket-taker, so it's surprising that it could happen like that. But if it happened to one of us it could happen to anyone, so I felt better taking some precautions. I never felt unsafe, tho, anywhere in Sicily.

Day 11 Saturday EXPLORING MODICA

More sunshine and clouds, in the high 60s and low 70s. The city looked like a fairy tale from our little urban stone inn. They say people started out here living in caves and much of this city feels like it's carved out of the mountain. We had breakfast in the inn's garden overlooking the city. Plain white stylish dishes are a lovely contrast to the Baroque here. Yogurt, small custard croissants, bread, pineapple juice and coffee. We had a hard time getting going because it's just so wonderful to sit on our room's terrace and admire the town. This is the side of town to be on, because the view from this side includes all the picturesque churches on the other. Main Street is at the bottom, in the middle of the two hills.

We finally headed out into the city at noon. No must-sees on our list here, so we did a relaxed walk around, first admiring the big church in the center, beautifully blue in the interior and dotted with life-size statues of the apostles on the outside. Beautiful at night especially. We went to Casa del Formaggio, the first cheese shop we've seen. Had tastes of several local cheeses and salamis, bought them all. They even had donkey sausage, kinda freaky. Tiny store is packed with Sicilian food that you can take home.

As we wandered down another street, we saw a little green "train" that takes tourists all around these dauntingly steep streets. For 5 euros per person, we would get a 45-minute tour, without climbing. What's not to like? We hopped aboard and were soon cruising down the narrow lanes. At the church highest on the hill it occurred to us that we could get off and walk back down. Just then the driver suggested the same thing. So that's what we did. At the big church in the middle of town, San Giorgio, a funeral was taking place in part of it. We went outside and hung out at the bottom of the huge, bougainvillea-lined staircases and watched the deceased's friends struggle up the steps to bid farewell.

Back at the center, we stopped at a cafe for what I thought was hot chocolate, but turned out to be literally that: a cup of melted chocolate, sprinkled with pistachios. It was the best chocolate I've ever had, but I could only eat less than 10 spoonfuls. So rich. By then Chris was already at a cafe having a birra al spina, or beer from the tap, so I joined him. This town is known for its chocolate, and we tried to stop in at Dolceria Bonajuto, an old-world chocolate maker that supposedly offers the best chocolate in Italy, but the small shop (lots of tastings offered) was so crowded with Italian tourists that we decided to come back later.

After we climbed those many many steps back to Casa Talia, we took a rest then headed back down (so much easier!) for our reservation at Accursio, an acclaimed restaurant that the chef opened and named after himself after gaining quite a reputation elsewhere. It didn't disappoint. The space had the same architect as Casa Talia, and it's a clean white cave, spare and striking. The dishes were thoughtful and unusual twists on Sicilian ingredients. My favorite was an antipasto, an onion stuffed with Fiore Sicano (an old traditional cow's milk cheese) and served with bread, beetroot, mulberries and spices. The beetroot and mulberry made for an unusual taste sensation that was absolutely addictive.

We had the linguine with anchovy, roe, spring onion and fennel and the carob pasta with spicy rabbit. Both excellent. We shared the roasted pork with crusted pine nuts and vegetables. The pork was tasty but we were really blown away by the leafy greens cooked like a spinach that came with it. I made a note of what it was but I can't find it! We chose the dessert because of its name: "It seems like an egg." It turned out to be an actual eggshell, inside of which was an almond blancmange that looked just like an egg. It was tasty enough, but a lot of Italian desserts with this pudding stuff do not appeal to me. www.accursioristorante.it


Day 12 Sunday THRU NOTO TO SYRACUSE

We woke up to a little rain, so breakfast was in the "cave" room inside next to the garden. I was still so full from dinner I could barely eat. The day started to clear. At breakfast, I read on one web site about the two design-oriented folks from Milan who bought 12 little stone properties one by one and turned them into Casa Talia.

I checked out the online reviews of CT and found them quite mixed. Some people wrongly expect it to be a traditional hotel with 24-hour staff and a pool. Not so. And imagine my surprise when I realized I was staying in what is apparently considered (according to some reviews) one of the "worst" rooms in the place! The smallish room, named Cedro, seemed perfectly fine to us. And it gets you in at a reasonable price point. Its downside perhaps is that it has a shared terrace but it is 3 feet away from the inn's public terrace with two lounge chairs, benches and other chairs where you can hang out as long as you want. Wifi is available in the public areas.

We took off for Syracuse via the small Route 17 rather than the main highway, and it was a beautiful country road through what looked like gentleman farms full of endless stone walls, white wild flowers and olive and lime orchards. We stopped in Noto to have a look at this small Baroque city called by some the most beautiful town in Italy. It was a little too Hollywood movie set for our taste; Modica seemed more like a real town while Noto's main purpose seemed to be to cater to tourists. We stopped at the Chiesa de Santa Delmonico and saw an interesting video on the 1996 collapse and restoration of the main dome of the town cathedral. Unfortunately the cathedral was closed when we passed by. Everything to see is conveniently located up and down the Main Street which is a pedestrian zone. On Sunday at noon in November most shops were closed. It looked like rain and we were hungry so we popped into a restaurant on a side street.

It was Pizzeria Al Terrazzo, which had a marvelous looking set of tables running down the stone stairs to the next street, surrounded by pretty greenery. But it was raining, and the inside was quite cozy with lots of locals having Sunday lunch. We had a squid salad and a hot gooey four-cheese pizza with tasty crust. Perfect. We had to laugh when we saw a "French fry pizza" on the menu. Sure enough, one table had ordered it, literally pizza with a topping of French fries. It was still raining when we were done so we skipped the place on the main drag that supposedly had world's best ice cream and dashed for the car.

Instead of taking the autostrada to Syracuse, we wound our way down the old "main" road, 115, to the coast road. It had apparently been a stormy night, and we were rewarded with views of wild waves bashing the rocky coastline. We had to work at getting a look though, following the map into tiny beachfront neighborhoods to streets dead-ending on the beach, because most of the coast is built up. It must have been an unusual sight because locals were driving down to see the waves too.

We followed the coast road right into Syracuse and onto the ancient island of Ortygia, where I used the gps to help us figure out the route once we'd missed the first turn after the bridge. Our hotel was Approdo Della Sirene, on the waterfront, and the room (I'd paid extra for a water view) had a window with a tiny balcony that looked out on the side of the harbor where two tugboats and another working boat were bobbing around in the unsettled water. The hotel's young staffer, who spoke good English, had showed us where to park safely (for free) re the cops even tho no-parking signs were everywhere, helped us take our bags up the lift, and explained what we needed to know about the hotel. He said someone would be at the desk until 8, then we were on our own until breakfast at 8 tomorrow.

We headed out to look for a bite to eat. The stone streets were wet and shiny under the golden streetlights, and every nook and cranny of this stylish town seemed to reveal something beautiful. The ruins of the Temple of Apollo, smack dab in the middle of town, were well lit, and in this small section of ruins I felt more life than in any ruins I'd seen so far this trip. Perhaps because it was in the middle of town, I could imagine how residents BC could have used it. Fantastic. Oddly for Sunday night, some fashion stores were open, and window shopping was truly enjoyable anyway. One store had a mannequin with a dress made entirely of black and white balloons! Others just seemed more stylish and interesting than anyplace I'd seen yet.

Quite a few restaurants and cafes were open, and lots of people were dining inside as it had just been raining. We wanted something light, so we decided upon the Retro Wine Bar, where we had seen a luscious platter of salamis and cheeses. We went inside, but decided we'd really rather eat outside on the small tables with burgundy tablecloths that wound down the side street. The owner cheerfully agreed and brought out two chairs. We had a beer al spina and an Insolia white wine, and then a platter heaped with salami, prosciutto, cheeses and olives arrived. Thank goodness we didn't also order a salad! We got a kick out of the Disco music emanating from the restaurant and the staffer singing along to it.

Meanwhile thunder continued to rumble and lightning to flash. But no rain. After dinner we strolled around again, discovering a huge main square with stunning stone churches and a couple of gelato cafes. After tasting some amazing flavors we settled on a go cup of pistachio and orange and honey. Very complex taste. We made our way to the hotel just as rain started again.

Day 13 Monday SYRACUSE

The harbor was hopping this Monday morning, with various working boats doing their thing. We loved watching all the action off our little balcony but we finally dragged ourselves away for breakfast. The smallish breakfast room at the top of the hotel had a panoramic view of the sea, particularly the marina with sail and power boats. A small rooftop terrace also had tables and chairs that were available for relaxing all day. The buffet was lavish with especially good pastries (the owner Fiora gives cooking classes).

We walked around Ortygia a bit, heading for a museum that I think was called the Museo de Syracuse that had a traveling Leonardo Da Vinci exhibit on principles of movement, which interested Chris. They also had an exhibit on Archimedes, who was actually from Syracuse. Quite well done, plenty of hands-on. We took in the museum's movie on the history of Syracuse which we found wonderfully helpful and would be a good set-up for a visit to the Greek ruins.

Back at the hotel, we got instructions from Daniele at the desk about where to get the public bus (a couple of blocks away) to take us the mile and a quarter to the big ruins in Syracuse. We strolled over the bridge, noting all the kiosks selling boat trips in season (underwater cave!), but not now. When we got on the bus, the driver told us in Italian and hand gestures that the ruins were closed today. That seemed wrong, but we got off and rechecked our guidebook. Supposed to be open. We called Fiora at the hotel. She said she'd also heard that they had closed them today because of rain.

Hmmm. The rain the day before? We thought this seemed unlikely and perhaps they would open in the afternoon. So we took the mostly not-that-interesting stroll through Syracuse, fueled by gelato, and sure enough, the ruins were locked up tight. We walked a short way away to the Catacombs, and they were also closed. We ended up checking out a huge modern church that looked like a spaceship straight out of the Jetsons. Very cool. But by the time we walked back over the bridge to Ortygia, we needed a rest, so we headed for the main piazza for a cocktail and some people-watching, at the same cafe where we had our gelato the night before.

Afterwards, we paid to go into the wonderful Duomo, the cathedral, which was a 5th century Greek temple turned into a church; the ancient columns are part of the walls! One little chapel is devoted to St Lucia, who always seems to be portrayed with a dagger sticking out of her neck, which was apparently how she died. Who could resist a woman like this? In shops all over town were little silver statues of varying sizes of St Lucia complete with the dagger-in-neck. Kinda sorry I didn't buy one but am trying not to clutter. We found out that the church next door which has the Caravaggio painting of St Lucia was of course closed today. Or right now. Or whatever. (Prepare for disappointment!)

We ran into Fiora on our way back to the hotel and she suggested we have Daniele make us reservations at Dioniso, which she loves and is not far from the hotel. Thru the magic of off-season Daniele was able to make us reservations at 8:15. (When we got there the restaurant filled up; reservations even made at 5 are a good idea.) It turned out to be a small, elegant
reasonably priced restaurant that felt almost tucked away down an ancient side street not too far from the harbor. The charming proprietor looks after his guests with careful attention and recommendations. It was one of the best dining experiences of our trip.

We shared a cheese flan (I think they called it a fondue) that was wonderfully flavorful in a sauce. The owner is quite knowledgeable about wine and happy to chat about our progress in learning about Sicily's wines. We ended up with a Gurrieri wine from the Etna region, a white Donna Grazia, which I believe is a more unusual wine from Frappato grapes. Delicious. It disappeared way too quickly! I had a fresh delicate fish dish with some lovely greens, and Chris had a tasty veal dish. We shared a dessert chosen because the owner's grandmother used to make it for him. It was a cut above the usual Italian soft-glop, but nothing I couldn't have lived without. I did enjoy the dessert wine proposed by the English-speaking couple near us.

Day 14 Tuesday ON THE ROAD TO TAORMINA

We got up and went to breakfast with good intentions of making an early start. But we started talking to an amusing pair of Brits who had recently sold a house they'd owned for 16 years in Umbria and had all kinds of insightful info to impart. When we told them the ruins had been closed because of the rain, they said forget the idea that they'd been closed because there was water in the ruins from the day before. They handle rain so badly here that if the weatherman predicts storms, then schools, public offices, tourists destinations all shut down, they said. Whether it actually rains or not. These two were hilarious. They also said not to feel bad for any Italians who are baby boomers and talking as tho they are poor. They all own seven houses that they've inherited and would never sell in a million years, they said. Their own son-in-law actually forgot he owned one property!

So by the time we left it was our usual late hour and despite my using up enormous sums of data thru my phone gps, we could not for sure locate the Allied Cemetery just outside Syracuse. We found what could have been it, but if so, not even a sign. And the one maintenance guy who spoke no English conveyed to us that we couldn't go down the usual entrance because of construction. Go 20 meters he says, where of course there didn't seem to be an entrance or parking. It was clearly a cemetery but whether it was the Allied one or not we'll never know.

Never fear, the Museum of the Allied Landings in Catania would revive our spirits. We headed up the autostrada, got off at the airport exit and found it pretty easily. Unfortunately after we parked we found out it was closed. Because of the rain. ARE YOU KIDDING? But no. Prepare for disappointment. Come back domani, he said, it will be free.

So we headed up thru Catania, onto the A18. In Taormina the roads were confusing, and I tried to use the phone gps to find the Hotel Villa Belvedere www.villabelvedere.it but we still had troubles. We finally went down some tiny street packed with pedestrians, sure it must be wrong but it was right if you follow the gps. Didn't want to do that again tho! The hotel clerk showed us on a map how you have to go around the entire town to get to the hotels on our street because the roads are one way. Looked complicated.

We settled into our room at this lovely hotel, checked out all the cozy public areas on the different levels. We asked the concierge for a restaurant recommendation. She I suggested the Ristorante Viccolo Stretto in the heart of the old town up a tiny street (Stretto) so narrow that tourists pose in the entrance to it off the main drag. It was a lovely white-tablecloth place but there was hardly anybody else there all night except us. Felt way off-season! We shared some artfully presented yummy stuffed sardines. Chris had some heritage roast pork, quite tasty, and I had mussels which were in a sauce that was nowhere as satisfying as the New England version, kind of bland. It was a fun walk back down the main drag to the hotel.

Isn't the back route from Modica to Siracusa beautiful?

I am enjoying your report very much and am forward to more. We never made it to Taormina.

...looking forward to more.

Sorry to hear you encountered so many closed sites. I visited in spring and the only closing I encountered were the caves in Scicli. No loss, I met some charming kids along the walk and we talked for a while. Only one really spoke English (of course it was the kid with the glasses :-). They were a lot of fun!

So enjoying this! Lots of great info for my upcoming trip -- and I'm taking note of your experiences with apparently arbitrary closings and will be prepared!

Yes Leely2, all the back roads we wandered around on were beautiful. It's a joy of having a car in Sicily and a little bit of a loose schedule. The closings were mostly based on predicted rain, for some mysterious reason. It was very bizarre. I was ready for the usual closing at various times in the afternoon related to lunch or siesta or whatever, but the rain thing seemed inexplicable even to Sicilians, who just gave it the shrug. They had some really terrible rains and maybe even a tornado touchdown the week before we got there -- other travelers told us they were stuck on highway for hours because of flooding on the Catania side of the island. So maybe officials were just unusually freaked out about rain. And it did become funny after a while (tho that museum thing was annoying).

Day 15 Wednesday: MT ETNA AND WINERY

Wow! Breakfast at this hotel is an incredible spread, including real scrambled eggs and bacon. The buffet covers one huge table and several small ones. Even Prosecco! Had local honey from the coast, yum. Lots of cheeses. And it started early, at 7:30. We were on our way early because it was beautiful outside and this was our Etna day.

We decided to go the north route up Etna. The hotel staff told us that the cable cars on the southern route were shut down because there's too much snow now. So we wouldn't be able to get near the craters anyway. The north road leads to the Piano P ski area base. And I was interested in visiting a winery, and I knew a big one was up there that was likely to be open.

The drive to Linguaglossa town was beautiful, with great views of the water and of Etna. Doesn't take long; even Linguaglossa was pretty. But we pressed on and took the extremely hair-pinned road up until all of a sudden lava fields were everywhere. We stopped near the top, where there were lots of evergreens and a coating of fragrant pine needles, to clamber up into the lava and marvel at what exploded from that mountain. The actual top was only half a mile away, so we parked up there. Everything looked brand new, like the chair lift and other infrastructure, and perhaps some had to be rebuilt because of a lava flow in the past decade.

We walked up a trail through the lava fields for a bit. They were littered with denuded trees like driftwood. Amazing how much lava there was and how wide. Meanwhile, Etna was smoking in the clear blue sky (it erupted a few weeks later). One myth said Zeus had imprisoned a 100-headed monster under there who keeps spitting fire. I understand how they could believe that. Bought a lava fridge magnet at one of the few wooden-hut souvenirs stands that was open.

The volcano soil makes for great agriculture, especially for wine and fruit. We had read about small wineries scattered around the area, but we decided to head for Gambino, the "big" one by Etna standards, because we weren't sure what was open or closed at this point.

The conundrum here is that Gambino (www.vinigambino.it) is located up a long very twisty road. Not the place you'd want to taste wine and drive! But the views over the vineyards all the way to the sea were gorgeous. The winery has recently built a new big tasting facility and we arrived just as two buses from the pretty Windstar cruise ship we had seen anchored in the Taormina harbor were leaving. Thankfully we missed the loud Italian singer who apparently was brought in for them and was just wrapping up. We were seated at a lovely table inside where huge glass windows framed the views. They said the tasting would be 20 Euros, and they agreed to give Chris a discount of 5 because he could not drink thanks to having to drive. He would just taste a little of mine.

We thought this was expensive for a tasting until we realized how much food they gave us with it! First we had a plate of several interesting cheeses, from pistachio Sherpa cheese to baked ricotta to Parmesan, and dried tomatoes and mushrooms and olives. We were eating that with the white wine they gave us at the door. Then they brought out a red wine (fruity) and bowls of hot chickpeas and lentils. Then with the next red (Cantari, our favorite) they brought three kinds of salami! Next thing you know, we had a plate of two big cooked sausages with the Altacari (grapes grown on Cabernet vines from France). Unbelievable. Our chipper server was knowledgeable about the wines.

Afterwards a young fellow gave us a tour of the new wine-making facility in the bottom level of the tasting center. The wooden barrel room was warm and smelled great. He explained how low in sulfite these wines are compared to Napa. A tall older gentleman in a woolen blazer came in and our guide (probably the grandson) introduced him as the founder of the vineyard. He didn't say anything but was very pleasant. We bought a tshirt and a bottle of Cantari. Then we left to beat it back to the hotel before dark. Hate this 5:30 sunset business!

After yet again a confusing time getting through town to our hotel, we finally succeeded in finding the route to Via Roma but we mostly stumbled into it. Even the gps has a hard time in this town. Chris scraped the fender of the car trying to wedge it into a space in front of the hotel; we should have given to the valets as we're paying $15 a day for parking. We de-stressed with our email for a bit then went to the hotel bar (always open!) for a beer (Messina, from Sicily) and a Campari with soda and an orange slice. First time I've had it with club soda, and I loved it.

This hotel is so gracious. We took our drinks and bar snacks to a little alcove with a sofa tucked into it, and looked up the things we'd wondered about during the day. Mostly facts about Mussolini's later days and about Etna eruptions. The hotel has beautiful public spaces, lovely fresh flower arrangements, shelves of books to borrow (not much English selection). You do hear some road noise in your room when you leave the window open. Again ran into a retired teacher from Boston who is here with her husband and two others. She said they hired a driver for the first time on a vacation, and they went to Syracuse that day -- she said she thought of us with the ruins having been closed because of rain! Driver seems like a good reasonably priced idea when you're with a group.

Rallied after 8 and took a stroll through town, which was really quiet. We went all the way through the town gate on the far end, where we'd not been before. Lots of shops and a beautiful tiny stone church that looks handmade. By this time we finally were getting hungry so we stopped at a very pedestrian-looking, actual-red-and-white-checked tablecloth place that had a couple of tables of diners at 9:30. Many restaurants were empty or just had an occupied table or two. We split a tomato salad, spaghetti with ragu sauce, a half-liter of house wine and had a beer and water. Still $35! It was good tho. We finally noticed a sign on the corner that directed drivers down a tiny road to Via Roma -- it was the direct long route to Villa Belvedere that the hotel staff keeps telling us to find.

On the way back we climbed up a level to peek into what apparently used to be a church but is now lit up as some group's center. Couldn't figure it out. But we stumbled into the "art and food" restaurant Glilo. Beautiful setting in 1400-year-old walls or ramparts or whatever, lots of candlelight. It was closing time, and the very nice proprietor gave us complimentary drinks of red Etna wine and ginger ale, surprisingly tasty and not sweet. Then as I was talking to (I think) his dad, the chefs made us each a zucchini flower stuffed with tuna and covered in tempura. So light! May actually have been the tastiest most interesting thing we've had in Sicily so far. And free!

Day 16 Thursday: SAVOCA AND THE GODFATHER

Went to breakfast and then were off to the Greek amphitheater, the famous ruin here. My one regret on this trip is that we were just a few days too late to enjoy any performances at the arena. Built by Greeks, rebuilt by the Romans, it offers amazing views on high of the entire coast, including Etna. Enjoyed the sculptures in the garden, quite whimsical. Etna was much less clear than yesterday, but not at all hazed in. Yet.

Headed back down from the theater, I stopped in a ceramics store and bought a red and orange patterned plate with a dipping bowl. And had a granita with three flavors. Tiny and nice.

Back at the hotel, I asked the clerk for ice for my ice bag to tame my bout of hip bursitis, and she proceeded to get me not only ice but an entire real ice bag filled with it. We speculated that numerous tourists must trip over the town's cobblestones and down stone stairs of various crumbling natures. Probably a great call for ice!

Close to noon we headed out for Savoca, where they filmed scenes from The Godfather. The gps gave us two choices: the local highway plus some local roads up the hill to the town, or a route on the A18 autostrada that goes way past the town and then doubles back to the local 19. We chose the local highway option, since it's usually more interesting. Big mistake. We got within a couple of miles of Savoca and a sign said the road was shut down. We decided to ignore that sign and give the road a chance. It got smaller and narrower the higher up the mountain it went. Finally when it looked like an asphalted cow path, we could see up a turn ahead where the road had half collapsed from the rain, with not even enough room for a car to get all four tires on the ground. We had to back up and go back down to the beach and start over. Ugh. The print map wasn't detailed enough to be useful. So we had to pick a point to ask the gps to send us a different way to Savoca. Unfortunately Apple maps sent us 14 miles to Messina, when the entrance to the autostrada was actually only a mile or so the other way. Then 14 miles back. This time it sent us up the A19, which was fine all the way up.

Savoca is now a popular visitors spot: Even in November we had to park down the road and walk into the tiny town. The views from the road are exquisite of the mountainous countryside, little houses hanging off the sides and out in the distance to the turquoise Mediterranean. Bar Vitelli, where young Michael Corleone and his bodyguards had talked to the proprietor about Michael meeting his daughter, looked the same as in the movie, tho we don't remember whether there was a grape arbor shading the tables as there was now. In the movie, the actors were seated out front at a table to the left; the furniture is nicer now. Three or four tables were full of folks having a coffee and shooting pictures of themselves in the doorway holding replicas of the bodyguards' shotguns. Inside on the walls are some old framed pictures from the filming. And some Godfather stuff is available for sale, like Godfather grappa and tshirts. We posed, had a coffee, and of course discussed the scene. What looked brand new was a public terrace across the street with a mirrored sculpture of a movie camera man. Good views out to sea.

Then we proceeded right out of the cafe and up the steep hill (a sign says a taxi will take you up there for 5 Euro a person) to the church where Michael and Appolonia got married. It was closed, but an article we read said they had gotten married in the doorway. Maybe because the light was better? Then the couple had walked down the steep street with the movie makers careful to film from only one side because on the couple's other side was the Mediterranean, and the town of Corleone was supposed to be in the middle of the island nowhere near the sea. The real Corleone town had been too modernized to serve Coppolla's purposes. Savoca looks like it's been spiffed up a bit too, with some new houses.

As we were walking back down we started talking with two English-speaking fellows, one of whom turned out to be Alfred Zappala from Boston who does YouTube videos online called something like You Me and Sicily. He had been hired by a Newport Beach CA visitor to guide him around. Apparently Al has done a lot of genealogy work and the visitor was interested in finding out about his family too. Al knew a lot about the Godfather filming. He said three scenes, including the explosion that killed Appolonia, had been filmed at the estate of some baron he knows near Giardia (just south of Taormina) as well as (I think) the ending scene in Godfather 3 where Michael's daughter is shot. Anyway, it might have been fun to be on a Godfather tour because the guides undoubtedly know a lot of background. We saw a few people with guides and drivers in Savoca. Al seemed like a fun and knowledgeable guide for any purpose. The other town nearby where a church scene was filmed is Forza d'Agro quite nearby on the coast but Al said it isn't anywhere as picturesque as Savoca.

Alfred M zappala www.alfredzappala.com
[email protected]
Usa 978-204-6574

We drove back on the A19 to the beach road and the minor highway (not the autostrada) without incident. This time we found that little corner near last night's dinner where the sign said to turn down to Via Roma. Victory!

We hung out a bit in our room, and then sometime after 7 we asked the hotel staff to make us 8:15 reservations for Andrea's, one of two restaurants down the street they had highly recommended. Turns out this one was #8 in popularity on Tripadvisor where reviews said it was Sicilian food with a twist and the chef was Austrian.

Waiter was super nice and chatty, especially since we Americans were of course the first to be seated for dinner. The waiter asked our wine preferences, then recommended the moderately priced Benanti Nerello Cappucio, a wine made with a grape variety that apparently thrives in Mt Etna's mineral soil. It was delicious. Amuse-bouche was perhaps the best we'd been served in Sicily: a fabulous piece black pork liver, with carmelized onion and apple jam. That was Chris's. Mine was a lovely couple of salty red shrimp and a piece of fried sardine. Chris ordered the tasting menu while I just ordered fish soup. We shared his first course, carpaccio of boiled brisket with fresh tomato salsa and basil pesto and Parmesan slices. Quite tasty. Chris's pasta dish was wild vegetables wrapped in pasta in a clear broth. Very light and earthy. My seafood soup was chock full of seafood in a nice broth tho perhaps not as flavorful as some seafood soups. Chris's rich veal cheeks (I think this was called) with a side of red cabbage really brought out the Austrian in the chef! Dessert was chocolate cake with ice cream and sauce. I was hoping to have a glass of Austrian dessert wine, as 3 were listed on the menu, but they were out of all of them. End of season. The chef came out and chatted at the end, super nice guy.

WOW.............what an adventure!

Now I'm hungry and it is only 3:30 PM on a snowy Monday afternoon in Boulder,CO.

And I WILL ask about putting our 2 pcs. of luggage in a trunk out of view on the economy car.

Where to next?

I am spending more hours than I care to looking for an ap't in Rome.

Day 17 Friday FROM ALLIES MUSEUM TO ROME

Checked out of Villa Belvedere at 10. In retrospect, I would have seriously considered springing for a terrace or balcony at a Taormina hotel. The best would be to have a view of Etna AND the sea, but as Etna is almost 10000 feet and is a steaming volcano, it often attracts clouds or seems cloudy. So I guess the sea is the thing. The VB has that! You do need to book the sea view, which is more expensive than the basic. I paid for a sea view and in room 30 that is a gorgeous sea view with a teeny balcony you can just step onto. Etna can be viewed from the pool terrace. The receptionist said rooms with an Etna view are available on the top floor; she said next time I should contact them ahead of time and request one.


It took a little over an hour to get to the Museum of the Allied Landings, which is not in any of our guide books tho it has been open since 2002; it's even difficult to look up online and the best info we found was on Tripadvisor. It is a few miles north of the airport on the coast road through the city. We did the whole thing in an hour and 20 minutes. Admission is 4 euros; it's 5 euros to park with attendant for the parking lot.

It starts out a guided tour in English. You're in a typical piazza of the time, then you go into the bomb shelter and close the door; it shakes and quakes as bombs go off all above it. When you come out you see what the piazza looks like post-bomb. Very cool. Then the guide sent us upstairs on our own. After the first floor there's not too much in English but you could get the gist. Helps if you've read the Wikipedia account of the landings before you go in. Never knew what Mussolini or the King looked like; had wax representations of the leaders of both sides in various scenes. Nice last moment at the museum with names of dead being read out loud as you leave.
(http://www.tripadvisor.com/Attractio...ia_Sicily.html)

We hopped back in the car and were at the gate at the airport at about 2:15 for the 3:10 flight on Vueling after a bit of a wait to check in and a long security line (it was a Friday). At 3:10 they were still boarding, but somehow we still got to Rome on time.

From the airport, we took a train into the city center which I think was 14 euros apiece. It was confusing; we had to keep asking people how to buy tickets and where to get the train. The person at the cigar place who sold us the train tickets told us to take the metro from the station in Rome. She said the Spanish Steps stop was 3 up the line. Finding the right metro line was confusing again. But sure enough the metro exit was right onto the piazza by the Steps. Unfortunately the Steps recently closed for repair and our hotel, the Intercontinental De La Ville, was at the top of them. We called the hotel and asked whether there was an elevator anywhere but the person I spoke with was clueless. (Later I did read somewhere that there's an elevator in the Metro station to the street above the steps but I can't confirm that myself.) In any case, we had to take a cab from there to the hotel so we might as well have taken it from the station!

We checked into the Intercontinental, which we had booked with a combo of points and cash, for the next three nights. We took one look at the wall our room looked out on and asked the front desk for something more interesting. There was no mention of my husband's Platinum IHG status and no indication that he'd been upgraded, as is usually noted. The front desk person said only the suites had views, but he didn't offer an upgrade. Instead he offered a room on the fourth floor (450) which had a lovely terrace overlooking the restaurant in the courtyard. It was prettier than it sounds, a vast improvement. That was the first time in all my travels I've ever complained about a room and it was worth it!

The hotel is extremely well-located within walking distance of so much. The rooms are nice but small. It's an historic building with gracious public rooms. It boasts a rooftop restaurant and bar with a wide view of Rome that people generally rave about. The restaurant is expensive but it's worth it just to have a drink if you'd like a view.

We however were looking for something more normally priced, and the concierge recommended the nearby Trattoria Tritone on Via dei Maroniti. It was a fun walk over there, stopping for a beer ( when Chris said large they gave him a litre handle) and people-watching in a big modern city after antique Sicily. At this point in the vacation, we were alternating between not being hungry anymore ever and being excited each time about what we might have! We ordered some house wine. As we perused the menu, we saw one staff member making a very fresh looking type of....salad? We asked and they said it was puntarelli, which was the white parts of baby chicory with anchovies. Not even on the menu. So we ordered some and it was delicious. Chris's choice of chicken casserole was finito even tho it was only about 9 o'clock so he ordered the veal meatballs in cream sauce. These turned out to be about 30 small meatballs. Delicious, but 30 and nothing else? No pasta? We were chuckling pretty hard. I had spaghetti with mint and sheep's cheese and it was great. The whole thing was 57 euros.

Day 18 Saturday: TRASTEVERE

We decided to do the Hop on Hop off Bus for an overview of the city. Since we'd been there before and we were kind of into ruin fatigue by now, we were perfectly happy just to drive by the Coliseum etc. We got off at Teatro Marcello to walk through the Trastevere neighborhood, the old Jewish quarter, which is now somewhat stylish. I was also looking for a restaurant I'd read about in the NYT, which turned out to be a super crowded hole-in-the-wall and we preferred somewhere to sit down outside. We happened into St Cecelia Church tho during a magical moment: a chorus of nuns was singing in soprano angel voices. We took a seat and enjoyed. I thought it was great; Chris looked at those nuns through the wary eyes of someone who'd been to Catholic schools and been whacked by tough angels.


We finally found a pleasant sidewalk cafe called Ristorante La Scala and settled into lunch next to an Australian/English couple eating gorgeous calamari rings. We had a good time chatting with them. We realized that tho the food on this trip was all Italian it was so varied that we'd hardly had any pasta. So I had orecchiette, ear-shaped pasta I don't see in the US too much, with wild mushrooms, bacon and pecorino (12 euros, lunch is so reasonable). Chris had a "morsel" of chicken breast with sweet bell peppers and cream (12 euros) -- and it was 30 (delicious) pieces of chicken. Like last night! We laughed so hard.

The couple next to us recommended doing the walk up the nearby hill for the view, so we did that, just lovely as the sun was lowering. Big statue of Garibaldi up there; we finally figured out he was a general instrumental in the unification of Italy. Statues of him are everywhere. Then we headed back to the hop-on bus stop near Teatro Marcello. The old Teatro was the model for the Coliseum, and it was still there but apartments had been built into the top of it, and the lights were on in both the old and new sections. The most interesting thing about Rome to me was that it's a world-class modern city that incorporates its ruins into everyday life. Doesn't cordon them off so much. You just sort of live with them.

At 8:30 we were off to dinner at Tullis, which had been recommended to us in Savoca by Alfred Zappalla the guide. When we had asked the concierge to make us reservations there, she had gasped and her eyes widened. "You have chosen one of our best restaurants," she said. It was a classic almost throwback restaurant, tables tight together, waiters running around like mad. We were so close together we ended up chatting with a Singapore couple. (My favorite: I asked her how her mint tea was and she said "not fresh"). They were to meet up with a bunch of friends for a tour for the next so many days. The Italian couple on the other side of us were chatty too, tho their English was not quite as proficient. Home and to bed!

Morewierd, my only advice on Rome accommodations is get something cheap. You will NEVER be in that room or apartment without your head being on a pillow. Just too much to go and see! Not nearly as much lolling around time as Sicily (not that we lolled too much there either).

phtomas - just found this and enjoying it very much, especially as Sicily is well up towards the top of my "must do list".

a well paced trip, if I may say so, but was anywhere that you wish you'd spend less/more time?

BTW, I loved a sentence from the opening :

"We ended up with a veal spleen sandwich"

how many times can you write that?

I'm still savoring EVERY word. I'm trying SO hard to lose weight before our trip, so we can gain it back while traveling. I'm NOT succeeding.(sigh).

We are SPLURGING in Taormina.......staying at the Villa Ducale w/a balcony and view. This usually isn't our style of travel.

As for taking the cheapest ap't.......I just may take your advice. We are meeting a young family from Hamburg in Rome...with their 2 children....and if we aren't galavanting we'll probably be in THEIR ap't.

Thank you for all the time you are putting in to this. MUCH appreciation.

Yes, I too am still avidly reading--and enjoying. Takes me back to my own trip to Sicily (followed by a little under a week in Rome). But you have seen much more, and it all intrigues me.