Hello from Sicily: A Country Excursion into
the Nebrodi Mountains to Montalbano
Sicily’s scenic beauty continues to amaze me. Yesterday’s
excursion by train to the medieval town
of Cefalu was just one more example of the stunning urban and
rural beauty that this Mediterranean island has to offer. I walked
downstairs from my comfortable room in the five-bedroom student
apartment to the offices of Laboratorio
Linguistico, the Italian language school that provides the rather
unusual yet fabulous opportunity to learn Italian on a sailboat.
Just last week I had sailed together with six other people through
the gorgeous Eolian Islands and
studied Italian, just off the coast of Sicily.
Francesca and Sonia from Laboratorio Linguistico
At the school’s office I met Francesca, the wife of one of
the co-owners, who also handles student affairs and logistics, as
well as Sonia, a young lady from Switzerland, who handles administrative
support for the school. Franco Zodda, the other co-owner of the
school, was also there and showed me around the premises. I witnessed
a three-person Italian class, saw several classrooms, a lunchroom,
and the computer facilities which provide free Internet access to
the international language students. Everything was very well organized
and the staff is extremely friendly. After exchanging my photos
with Francesca I headed off to the supermarket to buy some basic
provisions to make myself a lunch.
An Italian lesson is in progress
Back at the apartment I met another international language students:
Trevor is a 19-year old high school graduate from Cleveland, Ohio,
whose great-grandparents emigrated from Sicily, to be more exact,
from the Palermo area. Trevor mentioned that he graduated from high
school last year and worked the whole year in order to save enough
money to go on a seven-month language study trip to learn the language
of his forefathers. He was a very well-mannered personable young
man who really wanted to learn about the culture of his ancestors.
Naturally he was also a bit nervous since he was traveling for the
first time away from home, so he asked me basic questions about
how the supermarkets work and similar practicalities. I was very
touched by this young man’s desire to connect with his roots.
Laundry day in Milazzo
My next adventure awaited me at 3 pm: I was invited to go on a
local country excursion with Francesco di Santi and Franco Zodda,
the two co-owners of Laboratorio
Linguistico. Both gentlemen have a language teaching background,
and in addition Francesco is a licensed captain, so he runs the
language study trips on the sailboat, now in hindsight a truly unforgettable
experience.
A driving tour with Francesco and Franco
The two Francescos packed me into their car and we started driving
past the outskirts of Milazzo into the winding roads of the Nebrodi
Mountains. I had already had a chance to discover the interior of
Sicily a bit about two weeks earlier during my driving tour around
Mount Etna and found that Sicily’s countryside is extremely
beautiful.
View over Tindari towards Vulcano
We drove about an hour into the mountains and arrived in an area
above the tree line that featured a variety of strange sandstone
formations. To me the Rocks of Agrimusco had a natural Stonehenge
quality, and they have indeed been used for centuries, maybe even
millennia, as places for ritual celebrations.
The Rocks of Agrimusco
The view from this area was astounding: a 360 degree panorama unfolded
that included the Eolian Islands in the north, the continuous mountain
chain of the Nebrodi and Peloritani Mountains, running east-west
on the north-side of Sicily, and straight south we were looking
at the imposing cone of Mount Etna, Europe’s largest volcano.
In one word, a magical, enchanting environment.
Surreal formations
Some of the rocks reminded me of paintings by Salvador Dali, and
Francesco pointed out some large, perfectly round inclusions in
the rock that looked as if cannon balls had melted into the sandstone.
Having grown up in Austria myself, I found myself continuously reminded
of the Alps in my birth country and was blown away by the picturesque
quality of this island. I commented that Sicily is just totally
predestined for unconventional tourism and perfect for hiking, biking,
horseback riding and other nature pursuits.
Is that a cannon ball embedded in the rock?
Francesco and Franco enlightened me a little about Sicily, its
history and its unique character. They explained that hiking is
actually not very popular with Southern Italians at all; Francesco
joked and said that Sicilians like to drive up to their destination,
not walk there. While climbing around the rocks we talked about
the mafia and Sicilian mentality. Francesco described Sicilians
as individualistic and fatalistic, an interesting combination of
traits.
A corral for the goats with Mount Etna in the background
My tour guides also educated me about the plant life up here at
an altitude of about 2000 m: the tree cover consists of hazelnut,
chest nut and cork oak trees, all of which have commercial applications.
In addition, they showed me a corral for goats that was made of
stone. Franco explained that the goats get herded into these stone
enclosures at night which incidentally keeps them safe from foxes
and other predators. Shortly after we indeed ran into a huge herd
of goats, all of whom looked at me kind of funny when I started
snapping pictures of them.
The goats are eyeing me
Another 20 minutes or so by car later we had arrived at our second
destination: Montalbano Elicona, a typical authentic Sicilian mountain
village that is perched on a hilltop. We parked our vehicle and
started walking through town. The main square opened up around a
big church, and on this Monday afternoon, dozens of people were
sitting next to the church, in the patios in front of various bars
and on benches surrounding the square.
Village scene in Montalbano Helicona
Now this was a real Sicilian town without tourists. According
to time-honoured Sicilian traditions, the older men sat together
on the side of the church, younger women sat on the front steps
of the church, children were playing together on the piazza, and
older women were hardly to be seen.
Church in Montalbano
We walked past the main square to take a little walk through town
through narrow cobble-stoned streets that led us up to an ancient
castle and old churches. Most of the streets were very quiet and
many streets were so narrow that they would be impassable for a
vehicle. Back on the main square we ourselves sat down to grab a
few refreshments.
An "arancino", a delicious little rice ball with mushrooms
I was a bit hungry, and the bar we chose had a display case of
local fast foods, so I ordered an “arancino di funghi”
– a rice ball spiced up with mushroom bits that has a crunchy
orange-coloured crust. This little morsel was actually very tasty,
and I could have definitely enjoyed a second one, but decided to
restrain myself.
Sitting on the steps of the church
Ever since I have arrived in Sicily I have been fascinated by these
authentic mountain villages that always feature large groups of
older men, many of them wearing berets, and animatedly discussing
topics of interest, which probably include soccer and politics.
So far I had been to shy to take pictures of them, but I asked Francesco
to make a request for photos on my behalf.
Important discussions
Sure enough, with his Sicilian charm, he explained that an Austro-Canadian
traveller was requesting to make some photos of these unique characters
and they complied. Some of the gentlemen actually did not want to
be photographed and hid their faces behind their neighbour’s
head, but the vast majority of them was game and even gave me a
smile for my pictures. After finally having snapped some pictures
of authentic Sicilians I was very happy and we started to head back
towards Milazzo. The sun was already setting and the country houses
were bathed in golden light – a fitting ending to an interesting
excursion.
The kids are playing on Montalbano's main square
At 9 pm my tour guides dropped me off at Laboratorio Linguistico’s
apartment and I settled in for a quiet night, getting ready for
my last full day in Sicily.
