SUMMER'S LEASE

And summer's lease hath all too long a date, as the bard did not say and as I think everyone would agree here. As most of you will have seen or read, we have been sweltering in extremely high temperatures, even for Sicily (39°C as I write and that is considerably cooler than last week) for almost three months now and even in the evenings, there has been little respite.

There have also been wildfires, as elsewhere in Europe, but in July a fire seemed to have been started deliberately in the hills around Modica. These hills slope down to the backs of very beautiful old houses in the Old Town and towards other inhabited areas and obviously the situation was very frightening for people living nearby. My area was not affected but you could see and smell the smoke. Thank goodness for the skills of so many groups and organisations, among them the Corpo Forestale della Regione Siciliana, the Corpo Nazionale Vigili di Fuoco, the Gruppo Comunale Protezione Civile Modica and Canadair.  As far as I know, one person was arrested on suspicion of arson but was later released.

As if all that were not enough, Etna has certainly been making her anger felt recently and last week there was ash everywhere on my balcony and around the entrance to my building. She has calmed down a bit now, I am pleased to say.

However, there are some compensations:

Enjoy the rest of the summer, everyone!

BOUNTY FROM ETNA

What a lovely surprise today when a friend brought me these fruits from the Etna area, where she had been over the weekend.

I knew that the small Etna apples are special, as there is something in the soil that makes them very sweet, and the clementines are delightful too. But the chestnuts - ah, the chestnuts, for therein lies a tale:

My friend told me that on the eastern slope of Mount Etna, a very special chestnut tree can be found. It is called the Castagno dei Cento Cavalli  - "The Hundred Horse Chestnut Tree" and it derives its name from the legend that a certain queen, travelling with her ladies and one hundred knights, took shelter from a storm under the tree's ample branches. (Oh, dear - I hope it wasn't a thunderstorm!) The tree must have provided excellent camouflage, for it is said that the storm lasted all night and the queen was able to lie with several of her lovers among the knights. Who was this queen? For a long time it was thought that she was Giovanna I of Anjou, Queen of Naples, but history proved a bad sport and revealed that she had never visited Sicily. Never mind, then - perhaps it was another queen conveniently named Giovanna, Giovanna of Aragon, also Queen of Naples. But others say it was Isabella of England, third wife of King of Sicily and Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II. Well, it was a medieval queen, anyhow.

Apart from (possibly) sheltering amorous queens, the tree, first documented in the 16th century, is the oldest in Europe. It has multiple trunks, which is perhaps why there is some dispute over its age, but it seems it is at least 2,500 years old. Both its circumference and height are 22 metres and its crown spreads for over 100 metres, making it also the largest chestnut tree in the world.

The tree is protected as an Italian Heritage Green Site and is in the Etna Regional Park, parts of which, along with Mount Etna itself, enjoy various levels of protection as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. 

The tree is, of necessity, surrounded by a fence which you cannot go beyond, but my friend assures me the chestnuts come from nearby and have a very distinctive taste.

Late note: Tonight I learned that the Castagno dei Cento Cavalli has won Italy's "Tree of the Year" competition and will be representing Italy in the European competition in February. Well deserved.

SICILY SCENE REVISITED - AROUND THE ISLAND

Continuing my nostalgic journey through Sicily Scene's archives, I began to think about the many lovely places I have visited on this ever-fascinating island.  I have no doubt about my favourite - it is the Valley of Temples in Agrigento and I especially enjoyed this visit.  One of the most unusual events I have attended was the annual Easter display of "bread arches" at San Biagio Platani and I hope to get there again one day.  Then there is the Infiorata in Noto [coming up soon], which I try to attend every year and of course I love Catania! These are but a few of the island's treasures and there is always something new, somewhere, to discover.  But I think one of the most interesting trips I have taken was this early one, so I'll repeat the first of a series of posts on it here:

On the Nelson trail - 24th January 2007

About 37 miles northwest of Catania, tucked away in the shadow of Etna, lies the town of Bronte, the dukedom of which was bestowed upon a certain Admiral Horatio Nelson by a grateful King Ferdinando [III of Sicily and IV of Naples] in 1799. A little further on still is Maniace, where the former Benedictine Abbey became known as Il Castello dei Nelson. And that is where I have been today. It is a lovely and impressive place, as I hope the photos will show - much lovelier than I had anticipated. I should like to be able to tell you that England's saviour lingered there in the sun with his Emma - and many Sicilians believe that he did - but, alas, he died without ever having seen it. The first of his descendants to arrive there was his niece Charlotte, who, reaching it after a truly nightmarish journey, decided that it was not to her taste and stayed only three days! [More the fool her!] It was later used by other members of the family but under agrarian reform in Italy in 1961 much of the land was redistributed. The Nelson family sold the castle and park to the Comune of Bronte in 1981.

There may, however, be another British connection: the Rev. Patrick Prunty or Brunty, father of another Charlotte plus Emily, Anne and Branwell, changed his name to Brontë in 1802. I like to think that he did it as a homage to Nelson then added the diaeresis for effect and the dates do tally. By the way, I am not of the Mrs. Gaskell school of thought with regard to Patrick Brontë for I do not believe that he was a monster: he saw that his children were educated, encouraged them to write and cared for Branwell tenderly during the latter's last illness. I am also of the opinion that the main reason for his opposition to the Bell Nicholls marriage was concern for Charlotte's health, and in this he was, tragically, proved right. But I digress. Let us at least hope that poor, bereaved Mr. Brontë found some comfort in his name in the winter of his life. I wonder what, if anything, he knew of the little town in faraway, sunny Sicily? He was a well-read man, so it is possible that he knew something....

I now have to confess that I made this trip the lazy way. It would not be possible to get to Bronte and back in a day using public transport, so I hired a car and a driver. This is not a particularly cheap thing to do in Sicily but it was cheaper than staying in a Catania hotel overnight and, more importantly, saved me kennelling Simi for a night. ["And I should think so, too!" she is saying as she sits beside me, waiting for her walk.] This, again, is something the Sicilians need to sort out: no one will use Modica or anywhere else as a base if they can't get around. Not everyone wants to hire a car, as even if you are used to driving in Italy, to do so here is, at the very least, challenging! The best thing that towns of Modica's size could do to encourage tourism would be to organise escorted trips to places of interest such as Bronte.

But let us return to our hero. Nelson, me old hearty, I've always thought you looked terribly lonely all the way up there on that column. So next time I'm in London, I'll sit in the National Gallery's restaurant, gaze across at you and tell you all about your Duchy of Bronte today. How's that?

More photos - and more, and more - in a minute!

Here are links to the other posts about this visit:

On the Nelson trail - 2
On the Nelson trail - 3
On the Nelson trail - 4
On the Nelson trail - 5
On the Nelson trail - 6
On the Nelson trail - 7


I hope you enjoy them.

GRUMPY OLD LADY - 2

Etna is tonight still at it and the current eruption has now been officially declared  the most energetic of the last 20 years by Italy's National Institute for Geophysics and Volcanology. 

This morning Fontanarossa [Catania] airport closed for an hour because the runway was covered in ash and closed again this evening. It will remain closed until at least 6 am tomorrow, when a crisis meeting on the situation will be held. Today some flights due to land at Catania were diverted to Comiso and Palermo. 

It is reported that this morning the column of magma, ash and gas erupting from the central crater at one point reached a height of seven kilometres. The small towns around Etna are also said to be covered in ash.

Now Catania waits - pazienza.

Etna in quieter times

GRUMPY OLD LADY

And for once, it wasn't me! No, it was Lady Etna literally letting off steam last night, in one of the most spectacular eruptions of the past 20 years.  One "fountain of lava" from the Voragine or Central crater reached a height of over one kilometre.  Residents of Catania, Messina and even Calabria woke up to find cars, balconies and other surfaces covered in ash and Reggio Calabria airport was closed for several hours.

This comes courtesy of Corriere della Sera's Catania edition:

FRUITY SURPRISE

Just back [details coming later in the week] and I find that Sicily can still surprise me, for I had never seen these on sale before:

Come to think of it, I had never seen them anywhere and I wasn't the only one, as even elderly Sicilians were asking the greengrocer what they were. Sorbe is the answer and I gather they are related to rowans and are the fruit of this tree. They seem to be a largely forgotten fruit and these come from the Etna area.  The greengrocer said they can be eaten when they turn brown and I can tell you that they have a pleasant, peary taste.

Più si vive, più s'impara - you live and learn.

ADVICE FOR ITALIAN TOURIST BOARDS

The Etna area, so proud, a few weeks ago, to have become a UNESCO World Heritage Site , has been given a definitive thumbs down by tourists because of a perceived lack of cleanliness there. A dearth of decent toilet facilities also featured high on the list of tourists' complaints. Something, it has been recognised, must be done but before the whole of Italy closes down for the "silly two weeks" around ferragosto [Assumption Day], I have some other suggestions [which some areas will need to heed more than others] for Italian tourist boards:

1. Yes, Italy, you need good toilet facilities at tourist spots. Tourists are not in a position to "wait till they get home" or even to their hotel and they want to be able to relieve themselves in clean surroundings without an interminable wait. Note to Sicily: If the tourists are women, they will also expect the toilet to have a seat!

2. Still on bathrooms, I'm really sorry if some tourists have taken things from or treated yours disrespectfully. The majority, however, have no intention of doing this and to be instructed how to behave in crappy, curt English scrawled on scruffy notices is hardly welcoming.

3.  It is not normal, in most other countries, to see overflowing rubbish containers in the street but having them emptied here depends on your town councils paying their refuse collectors, which is quite a normal thing to do elsewhere. People even get paid every month, without question. So put some pressure on your councils!

4.  Bus stops need to be clearly indicated as do the locations for buying tickets.

5. Tourists need easy transport links from large and small towns to nearby tourist attractions. They do not expect to have to take a taxi or to pay an exorbitant fare for one!

6. Not everybody is capable of climbing 500 steps to get into every church they see.

7. In the rest of the world, tourist offices exist to give tourists information. That is their function! They are also OPEN during the peak tourist season. Incidentally, the rest of the world does not close down for most of August.

8.  If you're going to use English, get it checked by someone who is a native speaker or an English teacher and preferably both. What the hell is "next opening" supposed to mean, for instance? I have recently seen an advertisement in English for a house built in the year "800" [which to an English speaker means 800 AD] when what was meant was obviously the nineteenth century. OK, I'm British and therefore precise but even an Italian would have to admit that there is quite a difference here!

9.  A  "Bed and Breakfast" and a self-catering house or apartment are two completely different concepts - yes, they are! A British or American  person does not expect to have to prepare his or her own breakfast in a "B&B".

10. We do still love you, Italy but a little consideration of tourists' needs would not go amiss!

WELL DONE, ETNA!

Let's start the week with belated congratulations to Mount Etna, which on 21st June was inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, becoming the 49th Italian site listed. There are 981 sites listed altogether and of these 759 are cultural, 193 are natural and 29 are of mixed properties. Sicily now has six sites in the list and these are:

The Archaeological Area of Agrigento
The Val di Noto cities
Siracusa
The Necropoli rupestri  [Rocky Necropolis] of Pantalica
The Aeolian Islands
Etna

Part of the Italian Delegation's submission reads,  "

"Mount Etna has erupted many times in human history; its intense and persistent volcanic activity is at the base of myths, legends and naturalistic observation since classic times. Consequently Mount Etna has been known, studied and visited by innumerable scientists and tourists from all around the world."   

It goes on to say, 

"Mount Etna has been, and still is, a major centre for international research with a long history of influence on volcanology, geology and geomorphology."

You can read the full justification here but anyone who has seen Sicily's most famous smoky lady will need no convincing!

GNOME KIDDING

Those of you who know my politics will be surprised to read that I have achieved 15 gnomoseconds of fame in the expat section of the Torygraph and, for those of you who do not hail from Blighty's shores, I should explain that the Telegraph newspaper has this nickname because of its tendency to support the British Conservative party.

Anyway, on the May Day bank holiday I was mucking about on twitter, as is my wont, when I saw a tweet from @TelegraphExpat asking for pictures of garden gnomes belonging to expats. I sent them [the Telegraph people, not the gnomes] a  tweet asking if balcony gnomes counted and a nice lady replied that they definitely did, so I sent her this picture of Pierre gnome and his pals:

I explained that Pierre is from Cardiff, like me and that the dust on him is from Etna. That information found its way into the caption and, although it is true, I only added it because I wasn't feeling energetic or balcony-proud enough to dust Pierre before taking the picture.

Pierre and his little gang are very pleased with themselves but Simi the dog is somewhat miffed at not being in on the act!

The whole gnome gallery is here.

OTTOBRATA

The Ottobrata festival at Zafferana Etnea takes place on every Sunday during October and is a showcase for food products from the Etna area, local crafts, art and street performers. My friend Carol King and I set out for Zafferana last Sunday and I'm jolly glad we did!

The town perches below smoky old Etna

and we were just in time to see a rainbow in the fountain [well-spotted by Carol]:

There is a model of the crater in the square:

There were stalls as far as the eye could see

 but you still got an idea of what a peaceful place this must be for most of the year:

OK, so Carol [seated left, in headscarf] and I played at being tourists for this shot.  I think I should wear a hat like this every day!

There were tastes of everything on offer and there were so many varieties of honey that I couldn't decide where to begin:

There was no shortage of cheese either!

Then it was on to one of my favourite towns, Militello in Val di Catania, where the Festa della Mostarda e del Fico d'India [prickly pear]  was in full swing.  Luck was with us again as the parade of traditional Sicilian carts began a few minutes after we arrived:

The horses looked so proud of their finery and happy, like us, to be out in the sunshine:

I wonder if I could get some plumes like this to add to my flat cap?

Now I'll let you enjoy more of the colourful parade: 

I was too tired to cook when I got home but some of this "black" bread from Castelvetrano [Trapani] tasted delicious spread with some olive and aubergine pâté that I'd bought. The bread is made with timilia or tumminia wheat, which is becoming rarer.

And this balsamic honey - yes, I did finally choose one - made an interesting salad dressing:

Congratulations to the good folk of Zafferana Etnea and Militello in Val di Catania on their fine festivals.

LITTLE GREEN APPLES

These little green apples from the upper slopes of the Etna area are delicious and much smaller than they look in the photo.  I bought them in Zafferana Etnea on Sunday and I'll tell you more about the trip tomorrow!

And now I just have to post this song, which has been going round in my head since Sunday night. As we are mixing cultures in this post, we might as well have a Welshman singing it and here's the sexiest Welshman of them all:

Tom Jones - Little Green Apples

BROODING LADY

Dark, brooding Etna this morning.

ETNA ON A CLEAR DAY

Etna's plume of ash was clearly visible from the bus on Saturday:

[Sorry about the reflection.]

AND HAPPY NEW YEAR FROM ETNA

You'll be glad to know that Sicily's two volcanoes, Etna and Stromboli, decided to add their voices to those of the fireworks on the night of New Year's Eve - New Year's Day.  Stromboli was first off the mark, with fire at exactly midnight whilst Etna, as usual, did things in her own time and in her own way, with three explosions in the new southeast crater at 3.32 am.

Sadly the celebrations brought their toll of casualties all over Italy, with 561 people [30 in Sicily]  injured by fireworks.  A man in Rome who, on a chilly night, lit a firework in his apartment, intending to take it out on the balcony, did not manage to get outside in time and was killed by the explosion.  The apartment was devastated and four children were also injured, one very seriously.  The other fatality was a man injured by a stray bullet near Naples as people fired into the air in celebration.  Some town councils had banned fireworks for the night but now politicians of all parties and the public in general are calling for changes in the law regarding the purchase and use of fireworks.

PRINCELY PLANTS

Sicilian involvement in royal weddings continues this Saturday when plants from the island will decorate the streets of Monaco in celebration of the marriage of Prince Albert and Charlene Wittstock.

The plants, from the Faro di Riposto nursery in the Etna area, include several varieties of citrus tree, olive trees, Aleppo pine, camphor laurel and, of course, laurus nobilis [bay].  Four lorries began transporting them to Monaco several days ago and what a treat the people of the Principality have in store!

The Faro di Riposto company supplied  plants for the award-winning Monaco Garden designed by Sarah Eberle for this year's Chelsea Flower Show.  This project was also commissioned by Prince Albert.

ETNA - 2

Etna dust under our portico today:

It missed my balcony but was visible on a friend's balcony in Modica Bassa yesterday:

This is the first time I've found any Etna dust in Modica in nearly six years!

ETNA

Grumpy old Etna has been at it again and I just have to post these spectacular videos of Wednesday night's eruption.  No one was hurt but as a precaution, Catania's Fontanarossa Airport was closed for several hours. Things have now quietened down but volcanologists are watching the situation closely, as always.

2011 GIRO D'ITALIA WILL PASS THROUGH SICILY

The Giro d'Italia cycling race has been on my mind since yesterday, when I wrote an article for Italy Magazine about an exhibition in Rome which commemorates the great champion, Fausto Coppi.

Today the Sicilian papers are excitedly reporting that the 2011 Giro will include a Sicilian stage but no one is quite sure where:  at first it was thought that the cyclists would race from Marsala to Cefalù but this has now been ruled out because the Mayor of Marsala says his town cannot afford to host the stage.  Most people now think that the competitors will race from Milazzo to the Rifugio Sapienza at Nicolosi, Etna and that Sunday 15th May will be the great day. The Rifugio is 1,900 metres above sea level.

The year 2011, of course, marks the 150th anniversary of the Unification of Italy, so it is fitting that the Giro should visit as many parts of Italy as possible and that in Sicily the cyclists will land at Marsala, as Garibaldi and the Thousand did.

What is certain is that the Giro d'Italia 2011 will begin in Turin, the first capital of the newly united Italy, on 7th May and end in Milan on 29th May.  The routes will be confirmed in Milan on 23rd October.

FRUITY FANCIES

If clementines and oranges with their leaves still on are lovely, lemons with the leaves attached are heavenly and always seem exotic to me:

These little apples from Etna are a delight. They are an old variety called mele cola and are full of flavour:

But I had to ask a friend to send me a seasonal cranberry supply from Britain:



Hey! I can make cranberry sauce so it really is Christmas!

The apples reminded me of an old song. Take it away, Francis Albert...

Frank Sinatra - Little Green Apples

MOUNTAINGIRL'S PHOTO CHALLENGE - "SEASON"

I'm a day late for the Photo Challenge so I hope my friend mountaingirl will forgive me. This week's theme is "season".

Whatever the season, here are two places where it's cold at the top:

My Mum with family friend on the summit of Mt Snowdon, Wales in a photo taken by my Dad a lifetime ago

and the snow-covered summit of Mt Etna in a photo taken from Monte Lauro by a friend in 1999:

I'm sitting here shivering just looking at these!