10/1 and 10/2

We flew from Istanbul to Palermo, picked up our car, and arrived at 9:00 P.M. in Altavilla Milicia, Sicily, the home village of my grandfather; which he left at age 16 in 1906.   The beautiful English speaking daughter of the hotel proprietors, Allesandra, was out front to meet us.  Her mother, Roseanna, fixed a great dinner for us and a big carafe of wine was set on outr table.  Dale liked the wine -- Nero D'Avelo.

The next morning we set out for the church, Santaurio della Madonna Milicia, to attend Mass and look for records of my grandfather: Pietro Scianna.  Due to our language barriers, we were only able to locate the baptismal date written in Latin.  Soon the book was put away and that was the end.  I then went to the city hall and, charitably speaking, got nowhere.  The next day, Allesandra returned to the church with us and skillfully got an elderly priest to decipher the Latin and write out an official baptismal certificate for my grandfather -- with his official seal!  My grandfather was baptized one day after his birth.  I then met with an English speaking lady (Cristiana) at city hall, pre-arranged by Allesandra.  While waiting for her to arrive a very nice-looking gentleman met with me in his office.  He gave me 4 books on Altavilla (AV): one on its history, 2 by local poets and one on the Museum beneath the church with paintings depicting all the miracles of AV.  All are in Italian, of course, so I will be calling on my friends to help read them.  (I also plan to take some Italian classes).

This kindly gentleman presented me with a certificate of welcome to their village.  Upon reading it I saw that he was the mayor!!  Cristina wasn't able to take me to the archive room because the ceiling was being repaired.  We exchanged email addresses and she will do the research and send me the info.  Without Allesandra, the trip would have been in vain, as far as ancestry information.  But, it was a pleasant experience to be in Grandpa's place of origin.  I felt a little emotional as we were leaving.  In the meantime Dale managed to find a bottle of wine made by the ALTAVILLA winery!

10/3

We moved on to Enna, a rather uninviting place except for the the Castello di Lombardi and the Duomo.  Dale found the Duomo fascinating and recorded this with pictures on his new Samsung mini-pad.  We were fortunate to see a Castello caretaker who unlocked the gate to the tower (La Pisana) and took us up the MANY steps to the top (he was older than us and almost sprinted up).  The elevation of Enna is 3,000ft+ -- I was winded when we got to the top.  Unfortunately, it was a cloudy day so we couldn't see the mountain ranges of Mt. Etna and Calascibetta.  We were able to see, though, the Rocca di Cerere, a fortressed temple dedicated to the fertility goddess.

10/4

Thanks to the European maps Devin loaded onto our GPS we found a wonderful Agriturismo in Bronte, which included a 5 course dinner -- the best food we've had in Sicily (I think the whole trip...).  The antipasti plate and caponata with bread and wine would have been enough for me.  But Maria, the chef, kept bringing out more and more stuff. We had the traditional Primi course of pasta, followed by Secondi -- sausage, breaded and fried mozzarella and some beef stuffed with prosciutto and pistacchio.  Then the fruit, then the cannoli and grappa.  Plus, refills on the wine.  We slept very well last night.  On a backroad shortcut Dale learned that automobile brakes do not work when you are airborn.  And when you land they do not work immediately.  In spite of hitting bottom and loud scraping the car has continued to work as before.

10/5

Today we are in a beautiful B&B apartment in Linguaglossa, close to Taormina where we will go for dinner tonight.  The restaurant, Nero D'Avola, got an exceptional review from Kermit Lynch who is a wine importer in Berkeely (Alice Waters just happened to be dining with him that night).  We will let you know how we fare on dinner and Dale has promised to stay on earth.

Mass is at 10 am tomorrow and is a 30 second walk from our apartment.  I previewed the church awhile ago and is beautiful: 3 naves leading to gorgeous altars.

Tomorrow we head to Catania and Siracusa. We have 10 more days and much more to see!

Love to all,

Dale and Peggy