Sitting atop gigantic cement blocks with a view of sailboats meandering about the Tyrrhenian Sea, arancini in hand, Katie and I took a few moments to reflect on the crazy, amazing week behind us and dream about the foggy, uncertain future ahead of us.
Just seven days earlier, I found myself at full-sprint through the Lisbon airport in a last-second, hail-Mary attempt to reach my connecting flight to Sevilla. I made it, thanks to an unexpected (and unannounced) 1-hour delay, even with which I only had about 5 minutes of cushion; a cushion that I maximized with my aforementioned thousand-meter sprint.
The drama didn’t end there. After a 5-hour layover in Sevilla I found myself locked inside my apartment with 2.5 hours until my flight to Sicily took off (the logistics of this predicament, the complete details of which I’ll spare you, involve a deadbolt that requires a key to unlock from the inside). Luckily, a few phone calls got me out of the building and to the airport in time.
Finally, 32 hours after I said farewell to family in the US, I arrived in the dead of night to my final destination: Catania, Sicily. By the time we reunited there, Katie and I had been apart for about a week. We were ecstatic to be together again in Sicily, a place we’d been dreaming of going.
scenes from Catania
Off to the races, we spent New Year’s Eve in Catania touring towering cathedrals, bustling street markets, and beautiful parks. For breakfast that day we had rum-soaked Baba and then for lunch our first Sicilian arancini, which are the island’s proud creation of breaded rice balls stuffed with any variety of fillings (for 2 euro each!). At dinner, we gorged ourselves on grouper filet, shrimp skewers, and ravioli while reflecting on our busy 2022.
some of our favorite food in Catania
The night got interesting after that. We’d been hearing firecracker booms throughout the day, but their frequency and intensity picked up in a crescendo leading up to midnight. The symphony peaked when the town square decided midnight had arrived (with no other apparent indicator than someone counting down from dieci, very possibly at random). During the decrescendo, Katie and I crashed a party and were handed some sparklers before we headed in for the night. We walked in awe and terror through streets littered with boxes of firecracker cartridges and fragments of ceramic, apparently from celebrators dropping plates out their windows at midnight.
All that chaos behind us, we looked forward to a more relaxing couple of days ahead. We repeated our breakfast-lunch combo from the day before (trading the Baba for a less-alcoholic breakfast pastry) and relaxed in the park for a few hours before hiking down to the train station. The train to Taormina took about an hour, and we were so excited to arrive.
Taormina is situated atop a huge rock cliff overlooking the Ionian Sea on one side and Mount Etna (an active volcano) on the other. We made the bold choice of hiking the steep mile-long trail from the station to the town with our baggage in tow, a choice we both decided was worth the views in exchange for the effort. Sunset came quickly, so we spent the evening walking through town and munching on pizza for dinner.
sunset in Taormina
The next morning we got to indulge once again in the beautiful scenery of Taormina. The combination of mountain and sea makes a striking impression, especially when viewed from the Villa Comunale, a meticulously-manicured public park. A few granitas made breakfast and we were off again via train.
Taormina during the daytime
Our next destination was Céfalu in which we arrived after a stopover in Messina (where a friendly Italian man at lunch told us excitedly, via his son’s translation, about his upcoming Bruce Springsteen concert in Florence).
To be fair, by the time we arrived in Céfalu, we were exhausted from our travels. The delirium, culture-shock, and general amazement at everything we were seeing left us less disposed to think critically about our decisions. And so, we found ourselves meandering around Céfalu’s tiny city center for a few hours looking for the right meal which we never found and the right taxi which we didn’t need. Our room was comfortable, though, and grocery-store tortellini held us over until the morning.
scenes from Céfalu
After a beautiful morning stroll along the beach and a delicious breakfast, we were off again. This time, we were heading inland to Collesano where the host of our rural hotel (called an agriturismo) would pick us up. The road to Collesano was hilly but beautiful viewed through the window of the bus.
The village of Collesano is small but pretty, with about 4,000 inhabitants living there beneath the Madonie mountain range. We waited on a bench near the bus stop until our host Matteo, a gentle-looking man who must be 85 years old, picked us up in his beat-up Fiat Panda and brought us into the countryside. We sped over fields mainly occupied by sheep and cattle on the way to Casa Tabarani, the name of our agriturismo and Matteo’s home.
Here, we felt comfortable immediately. Getting out of the car, we were greeted by Kiss, an Australian Shepherd with a happy disposition and a need for belly rubs. Soon after, we met Francesco and his family, including 11-month-old Gabriele, who were also staying at the farm.
A quick note about agriturismos: they start as organic farms which apply to the Italian government for the right to act as hotels. They typically operate farm-to-table restaurants on-property. And they are often run by normal people with little-to-no experience in hospitality.
Our accommodation was rustic but ample, and the beautiful scenery was enough to occupy our full attention. The Tyrrhenian Sea lay on one side, the Madonie mountains stood on another, and in between were lush, green rolling hills. Casa Tabarani had the perfect vantage point to take it all in. We spent the day roaming the property with Kiss, saying hello to the cattle and enjoying the fresh air. Before dinner we lounged with Francesco and Gabriele, learning a little Italian and sharing about our travels. At dinner the fresh vegetables and homemade pasta were our personal highlights.
When it came time to leave the next morning, we were not prepared to say goodbye. Matteo kindly took us to the train station, we said our farewell, and we were off to Palermo, another train ride.
We had two nights to enjoy Palermo which we did very well. We tried more arancini and cannoli, ate at delicious local joints, admired intricate church sanctuaries, and climbed cathedral towers. We even took a bus to Monte Pellegrino where Palermo’s patron saint Rosalia became a hermit in a cave in the 1100’s; her cave is now a sanctuary open to visitors.
And that’s how we found ourselves looking out over the Tyrrhenian Sea, sailboats floating with the breeze, reflecting on the week behind us.
When it came time also to dream about the future, we imagined what it would be like to own our own agriturismo, where we could combine Katie’s love of design and hospitality with my enthusiasm about cooking and ecology. We dreamed about using the property to care for abandoned dogs and mistreated animals, and about welcoming friends, family, and other travelers into our home. And the more we imagine (which we continue to do), the more it feels not only fitting, but also realistic – something to aspire to and make happen.
I can’t say for sure where those dreams will lead us. But I can happily say that our flight home to Sevilla was absent the copious drama we left it with. And I can also happily say the city eagerly accepted us back into its arms, as we welcomed it back into our hearts. We’re so glad to be living here and will be more than content until our next adventure comes around.
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