A Sicilian Summer



Two years ago, Sam and I made our first trip to Sicily during our post-graduation Europe trip. We were only able to stay there for a few days though and were heavily reliant on my second cousin, Laura, to be our guide as the only English speaking family member. So, earlier this year when my grandparents told us they were making a trip back, Sam and I decided this was one opporunity we could not pass up! My mother was born in Licata, Sicily and moved here with my grandparents and my two aunts when she was 15. I have always loved learning about that part of my heritage, so visiting the city with my grandparents was just too awesome of an experience! My grandparents were staying for a total of 7 weeks, so with our weird summer plans (Sam in LA, me in school), I'm thankful we were able to find a week to spend there.

I still have a fair amount of extended family settled in Licata. The "key players" would be my Nonno's two sisters and their husbands and children, and my Nonna's sister and her daughters. We stayed with one of my Nonno's sisters in her "country house" on the farm. The house was fairly large, and we occupied what I would call the guest wing :) It was a seperate section with two bedrooms and a large bathroom. The main door to the rooms was huge and metal with a pretty intense lock.

The farm my great aunt and uncle own has been in my uncle's family for many years, and now their 4 sons are also part of the business. They grown tons of vegetables and fruits that they sell all over Sicily/Italy as far north as Rome. Over our week long stay, we watched them prepare a new green house and plant pepperoncini.



My grandparents were staying with my Nonno's other sister and her husband in their country house about 5 minutes away. Many of the houses there have huge covered patios that are essentially extensions of the house. We ate, drank, and just sat around in these areas much more often than sitting inside. Oh, and there's no air conditioning (we don't have air conditioning in our apartment in Berkeley, but it also doesn't reach 90's or higher!), so it was also frequently cooler than sitting inside.



This uncle also has a small farm where he grows fruits and vegetables for the family, but his main occupation is wood working. He carves Sicilian carts or carretti by hand. Sam and I found it fascinating that he could make such beautiful pieces with little more than a chisel and his hand. 

He made three of these, one for each of his daughters:

 

We also visited with my Nonna's older sister and her daughters. It was so wonderful to see my Nonna and her sister spending time together. The picture I'm holding is one of my great aunt holding my mom as baby. My whole family kept calling me Little Nuccia (my mom's nickname in italian) the whole time I was there.



 

Most of the family lives within a 10 minute drive of each other and a 5 minute drive to the beach. When we weren't eating delicious food, drinking espresso, or sleeping, we were at the beach. The same is probably true for the rest of the city's inhabitants! All of the beaches are little alcoves along the coast with some sporting sand and others smooth pebbles and rocks.

 

 

The beach we frequented most often was Molarella. It is a beach my mom went to as a child and one of the main public beaches in the city.

 

The beach is separated into different sections by umbrella color/fanciness. The red cabins are rentable each year and lock, so families can use it as a place to store all of their beach gear for the season instead of hauling it to the beach every day. We were in the nice section with the thick cushioned lounge chairs and palmed umbrellas :) 

The beach itself was so picturesque with all of the large rocks and the perfectly clear water. I could walk in up to my neck and still see my toes! The water was much cooler though than what you would find at the gulf, though definitely warmer than what we have access to here in Cali. It was wonderfully refreshing to dip in after laying out in the sun, but after 10 minutes or so, it started to become chilly. 

One of the things that most amused me during our beach time was people watching. Besides the boys/men sporting speedos, all of the women were also wearing bikinis. ALL of them- even the older grandmothers, we aren't talking supermodels here. I found the lifeguards fairly entertaining as well. Below is a picture of their setup, you can sort of make out the lifeguard laying out in the lounge chair on the left. They all were wearing their little speedos with their hair perfectly styled, and I think the majority of their time was spent interacting with other locals while paying very little attention to the water. At a different beach, we saw huge speakers off of the side of the lifeguard stands. We assumed these would be for announcements, but 15 minutes later we realized they were actually there to blare house music for everyone to listen to.

Sam spent some time exploring the rocks and looking for fish- those are ricci or sea urchins that people found admist the rocks. People will also search for these little shelled clam type things on the rocks and eat them right there at the beach. My mom's cousin gave me one to try. It was okay, a little on the crunchy side. Sam thought I was crazy for eating something raw like that, but as another cousin said "we do things differently in Sicily!"

 

 



We also spent a lot of time just relaxing and listening to my grandfather tell us stories about living in Licata and moving to America. I usually only see my grandparents once or twice a year, so it was so special to be able to spend a whole week with them :)

 

One day, after our delicius lunch (more on that in the next post) we went to a different beach with my cousin instead of taking our usual afternoon nap. This beach was smaller and frequented by more of the locals. It was called Caduta Colonne. The beach itself was made up of smooth pebbles and rocks instead of sand. We had a lovely afternoon dipping in the water and playing Scopa (an italian card game) on the beach. The water was so clear and calm- just a total paradise.

On Saturday, my whole family went to the beach together. It was fun to play in the water with the little kids, although they probably thought I was a silly American for wearing my sunglasses all the time :) The big rock in the picture below is called La Rocca.

Besides going to the beach, and eating... A LOT, we did a little bit of site seeing driving to Catania and exploring Gole Alcantara with my cousin. First of all, Sam and I did not drive in Sicily, and if you ever visit, I would recommend that you not drive either. The drivers there are crazy! Stop signs and speed limits are only a suggestion, and almost no one wears seatbelts (except us). There are also tons of people, mostly teenagers, on mopeds zipping in and out around cars. Thankfully, my grandfather is a good driver, although he did spend the majority of his time yelling at the "idiots" around us.

Gole Alcantara was a beautiful gorge created by the Alcantara river located a little north of Catania. The water flowing through the gorge is FREEZING, like stand-in-it-for-more-than-5-minutes-and-your-feet-start-to-hurt freezing. I don't know how so many people were able to walk around in the waste deep waters. My cousin and her friends arranged for us to go on an adventurous body-rafting tour of the gorge. Thankfully, we wore wet suits. Much of the tour consisted of us floating down the stream over small rapids. I was mildly concerned that I would hit my head and drown, especially considering all of the safety instructions were given in Italian, but thankfully my helmet and life-vest kept me safe :)

 

Most evenings, we went out with my cousins to the Port for gelato, wine, and general socializing. I was amazed at how busy the port was for 11pm at night. There were whole families with small children and babies out.

The first night we went out, I desperately needed a coffee. I ordered a cappucino, only for my cousin to explain that you really only drink those in the morning. Oh well... it was still DELICIOUS! I loved spending time with my cousins, Laura and Lavinia. I don't have any cousins my age in the states, but Laura is 6 months younger than me and Lavinia and I have the same birthday. Thankfully, they both speak English very well, so we were able to get to know each other a lot better. It was just such a wonderful experience to spend time with my whole family and see a bit of the culture and customs my mom grew up with.

p.s. I'm working on another post just to cover the food. We ate so much, and it was all so delicious!