May 3, 2007
Hello from Sicily – Italian Studies,
a Pottery Lesson and a Hike up Mount Etna
On a gorgeous morning following a good sleep after last
night’s cooking lesson I woke up at about 6 am and stepped
out on the balcony of my hotel room. The sun was just coming up,
and the sky was filled with shades of purple and pink. Far away
I could see the outline of a strip of land: the Italian mainland,
more precisely the Region of Calabria, was visible on this clear
day for the first time. The aerial distance between Taormina and
the southern tip of Italy is about 40 kilometres, and this sunrise
view across the Ionian Sea was simply gorgeous.
Piazza IX Aprile in Taormina
I decided to get up early and take a stroll through beautiful Taormina,
before the hustle and bustle of the day would kick in. My hotel,
Hotel Villa Nettuno,
is located on the north side of town on Via Pirandello, outside
of the city’s gates. I really enjoyed the location since it
was quieter and yet just steps away from the amazingly busy Corso
Humberto, Taormina’s main street in a pedestrian area.
Lookout point towards Mount Etna
Having strolled through the northeastern Porta di Messina I reached
a still quiet piazza in front of the Palazzo Corvaja, seat of the
first Sicilian Parliament and today the location of Taormina’s
tourist office. A few of the locals were already up, taxi drivers
were getting ready for their first fares, while the pedestrian street
of Corso Humberto was still almost completely devoid of people.
I reached Taormina’s main square: Piazza IX Aprile which features
a large panoramic terrace facing the Mediterranean and Mount Etna.
Two churches, San Giorgio and San Giuseppe, adorn this square, and
the famous Torre dell’ Orologio (“clock tower”),
featuring the Porta di Mezzo gate, and the famous Wünderbar
Café anchor this public space on its western side. I could
even see most of the volcano today on this relatively clear day.
There are not many views that compare with the beautiful vista that
spread out in front of me from this lookout point.
Torre dell'Orologio and the Wünderbar
My walk on the Corso Umberto continued to the western edge of town
where I passed through the Porta di Catania, the western city gate
featuring the coat of arms of the Municipality of Taormina. From
there I walked to a small park which features another beautiful
lookout point that faces straight towards Mount Etna. After absorbing
this gorgeous picture and trying to burn it permanently into my
retina I started to make my way back, this time along the Via Roma,
the picturesque road on the southern edge of town high above the
coastline of the Ionian Sea. No wonder Taormina is such a popular
tourist destination, the physical beauty of this town and the surrounding
area is stunning.
Byzantine mosaic in the Torre del Mezzo
Well, after this hour long walk I definitely deserved my breakfast
and reviewed a bit of Italian grammar on the gorgeous terrace of
the Hotel Villa Nettuno before I made my way to the Babilonia
Language School. Punctually at 9:30 our lesson started and our
grammar teacher Carlo familiarized us with the “preposizioni
semplici” – the contracted Italian prepositions that
are formed from a combination of the actual preposition together
with the article. Prepositions are always complicated topics in
any language, and Carlo patiently and succinctly explained to us
the usage of “in” or “per” to express time
in different contexts. We continued with a variety of games to help
us remember the use of Italian prepositions, a fun and effective
way to learn and retain complicated linguistic concepts.
The famous fountain of Taormina
Just before noon I had an opportunity to complete another interview:
Alessandro, Babilonia’s director, connected me with Donatella
Rapisardi, a local Taormina based artist, who provides some of the
Pottery
Decorating Classes for Babilonia students. For millennia, Sicily
has been at the confluence of cultures: the Phonecians, Greeks,
Carthaginians, Romans, Byzantines, Arabs, Normans, Swebians, Spanish
and French have all left their imprint in this culturally rich area,
and pottery has been an important craft in Sicily for many centuries.
Donatella Rapisardi, renowned local artist
I met Donatella at the local Hotel del Corso, right on Corso Umberto,
where she offers pottery decorating classes on the rooftop terrace
with a perfect view of the Palazzo del Duca Santo Stefano with Mount
Etna as a backdrop. The weather was gorgeous, the sky was blue:
I cannot imagine a more scenic location for pottery painting than
Donatella’s rooftop retreat.
Pottery painting on the rooftops of the Hotel del Corso
Donatella Rapisardi is a gifted local artists who works in a variety
of media. She also heads an organization called the “Grupo
Artistico de Perseo” which organizes various exhibitions and
art projects throughout town and the entire region. The group consists
of five permanent artist members and a number of other affiliated
artists that are coordinated by Donatella and her team. In addition
to ceramics, Donatella also creates mosaics using marble and different
types of stone) and handles wood restoration.
Some of Donatella's masterpieces
She explained that the pottery decorating lesson starts with plain
terracotta pieces such as vases or tiles on which students apply
the design they wish to paint. Two different types of processes
are used for pottery painting, Donatella explained in her machine
gun Italian: “lavorare a freddo” means that the pieces
are painted without firing them, and “lavorare a caldo”
refers to painted pottery pieces that are fired in a kiln to preserve
the painting.
Traditional Sicilian colours such as blue, yellow and green are
often used in the ceramics decorating process, although the students
are completely free to create their own design and colour choices.
Donatella guides them, makes suggestions and gives the students
advice when they need it. She also explained that the tiles offer
an advantage since they are easy to handle and transport and they
offer a great surface for landscape images.
The "Duomo" of Taormina
The course includes three lessons per week, and is particularly
popular with Babilonia language students from Japan and the United
States. Donatella added that Japanese students in particular are
extremely precise and detail-oriented and very gifted when it comes
to applying decorative painting to pottery. This may have something
today with their exposure to the popular Japanese tradition of calligraphy.
Often Donatella’s students become her friends and she invites
them into her home and does a culinary exchange: Donatella will
create a variety of Sicilian specialties while her students prepare
various tasty treats from their home country. She indicated that
to this day she receives emails from some of her Japanese students
from years ago, and she enjoys it every time when she receives international
correspondence from her previous students.
Villa Comunale, a lovely garden donated by an Englishwoman
After having lived in Umbria, another beautiful region of Italy,
Donatella moved back to Taormina several years ago which she really
enjoys and which inspires her creativity. She also teaches children’s
art courses and volunteers for some local schools. She showed me
a couple of pieces that had been completed by students and three
of her own works of art. I mentioned I would have loved to see her
studio to see more of her own art. Maybe next time.
Enjoying a feline rest...
Following this interesting side trip another excursion was waiting
for me: punctually at 2:30 pm eleven people were assembled in front
of the Babilonia
Language School, ready to go hiking on Mount Etna whose summit
is located at an altitude of over 3200 m. Peppe Celano, Babilonia’s
social activities coordinator and one of the language teachers,
was ready to introduce us first-hand to Sicily’s highest mountain
and an active volcano.
As a matter of fact, Mount Etna had just erupted a few days ago
on April 30, but unfortunately I did not see it. The eruption was
only a few hours long, and one of my co-students saw the red lava
stream at night! So today we would see Europe’s largest volcano
up close.
Getting ready for our hike up Mount Etna
Peppe had rented a small van and a small passenger car to carry
all the participants. Our drive to the parking lot on the southern
flanks of Mount Etna took about an hour and twenty minutes. We drove
through local towns such as Giarre and Zafferana Etna where Peppe
explained that near this area the Arabs used to cultivate saffron,
hence the name.
The famous Valle del Bove, with the most recent lava flow
The day was overcast and rather cool, a windproof jacket and a
nice sweater were definitely in order. We parked our vehicles on
a rather isolated parking lot and got ready for our climb. The lower
part of our climb took us through a forested area where the leafs
were just starting to come out. Not surprisingly, at almost 2000
m of altitude, the plant growing cycle is a little slower, even
on a subtropical island such as Sicily.
Three happy mountaineers
Peppe explained that the local fauna includes chestnut, oak and
birch trees which have all existed here since before the last ice
age. We walked single file along a steep narrow path that was punctuated
with many roots and stones, right along a precipice with many lookouts
towards the famous “Valle del Bove” (Valley of the Ox),
site of layers upon layers of lava flows.
Our teacher / tour guide Peppe explains something
Our steep hike continued for about an hour and took us from 2000
m in altitude to 2400 m to an area with a perfect view, facing the
recent lava flows in the Valle del Bove. The summit area of the
volcano stretched out right in front of us. Our area was a side
summit designated by a cross and a broad natural ledge that our
group used as a perfect posing area for our group shots of our conquest
of Mount Etna. We spent about half an hour at the top of this side
summit, chatting, snapping pictures and generally enjoying our mountain
adventure.
A "scarafaggio" (beetle)
On the way down three ladies, one from Switzerland, one from Germany
and one from Austria (me) raced down the mountain in about 20 minutes.
Coming down was a heck of a lot easier than going up, and almost
sprinting down this steep mountainous pathway was rather exhilarating
in itself. Once all the other mountaineers arrived we set off to
visit a local winery. The “Murgo” vineyards were just
about 15 minutes away, located in the fertile foothills of Mount
Etna and many people in our group bought red, white and sparkling
wines. An animated discussion followed in the van and by 7 pm we
had arrived back in the school.
Some of us posing in front of Mount Etna's summit
After a brief refreshment back at the hotel, a group of us met
at a local pizzeria called “Trocadero”, right next to
the Porta di Messina, where we were going to have a nice dinner.
For some of us this Thursday evening was our last night in Taormina;
I was going to leave tomorrow night to go to Milazzo while another
person was going on an excursion to the Eolian Islands. Most of
our group members were leaving Taormina this weekend, and we were
all commenting how much we have been enjoying our experience.
Dinner at the Pizzeria Trocadero
Everyone around the table was a German speaker: we had three folks
from Germany, two from Switzerland and myself, originally from Austria.
Given the linguistic differences throughout the German-speaking
countries, we all mentioned that each one of us has to speak “Hochdeutsch”
(Standard German) in order to be understood by the rest of the group.
All of us speak fairly strong dialects that would essentially be
incomprehensible to German-speakers from other regions, so we get
by, speaking the standard version of our language. For me this exposure
to other Europeans was really enjoyable. Having lived more than
20 years in Canada, I hardly ever come in contact with German speakers,
so this experience of enjoying a nice meal, speaking in my mother
tongue, was a definite treat.
By 9:30 pm I started to get really tired since I had already gone
on a one-hour walk through Taormina before breakfast, followed by
another walk through town to meet Donatella, the pottery decoration
artist, capped off by a short yet strenuous hike up Mount Etna.
And tomorrow was after all going to be my
last day in Taormina, so it was time to rest.
One thing is for sure, when you come to Taormina for language studies
you definitely don’t get bored.
Interesting and useful books about Sicily:
Useful links:
Sicily
Tourist Information
Taormina
Tourist Information
Babilonia Italian
Language School
Hotel
Villa Nettuno in Taormina
Related articles:
My Italian language learning adventure
in Sicily in 2007
Hello from Sicily: Arrival in Taormina
Hello from Sicily: An
interview with the Sciglio family from Hotel Villa Nettuno
Hello from Sicily: A hike to Castelmola
and a taste of Sicily
Hello from Sicily: An excursion to
ancient Siracusa
Hello from Sicily: A leisurely
Sunday at Isola Bella
Hello from Sicily: Language
studies in Taormina and a walking tour
Hello from Sicily: A country driving tour
around beautiful Mount Etna
Hello from Sicily: A private lecture
about Sicily and the Mafia
Hello from Sicily: A Sicilian
cooking class in Taormina
Hello from Sicily: A hike up Mount
Etna a few days after an eruption
Hello from Sicily: Goodbye Taormina
- Hello Milazzo
Hello from Sicily: Starting my sailing
trip through the Eolian Islands
Hello from Sicily: Discoveries of Lipari
and Salina
Hello from Sicily: A driving tour of
Salina and Italian studies on a patio
Hello from Sicily: Explorations of
Stromboli, featuring an active volcano
Hello from Sicily: Beautiful Panarea
and a nice dinner in Lipari
Hello from Sicily: A driving tour of
Lipari and arrival at Vulcano
Hello from Sicily: Conquering Vulcano
and a final dinner in Milazzo
Hello from Sicily: Discovering Milazzo,
its long history and architecture
Hello from Sicily: An excursion by train
to the medieval treasure of Cefalu
Hello from Sicily: Discoveries
in the Nebrodi Mountains
Hello from Sicily: My final day in
Catania
Presenting:
The Babilonia Italian Language School in Taormina
Presenting:
The Laboratorio Linguistico Italian Langauge School in Milazzo
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