Italy!          Pizza and Pasta!   Pizza and Pasta!   Pizza and Pasta!      I.  BEGINNINGS <home>           (For other chapters) Menus throughout Italy read generally the same:  Antipasto, first plate, second plate, pizzas, and dessert  The antipasto can be roasted vegetables, prosciutto, bruschetta, olives, beans, tomatoes, artichokes in olive oil - whatever is in season.  They're delicious!  Next is the first plate, usually a pasta or risotto.  The pasta comes in all sizes and shapes, is often homemade, and is served with many varieties of sauces made from sea foods, meats, and vegetables.  The fillings and sauces change in each region.  Pizzas with many different toppings are offered by most restaurants, but are most often eaten at the evening meal, rather than for the main lunch meal.  The average pizza in Italy is better than the best pizza in the US. The second plate is a roasted meat, fish, sea food, or some regional specialty.  Locals usually order an antipasto, first plate, second plate, salad, and a vegetable dish (contorno), often spinach in olive oil.   For us, an antipasto with either a first or second plate and a salad was always plenty.  Usually a bottle of wine or carafe of house wine and a bottle of mineral water is served with the meal.  Italians always order a thick expresso after their meals. Eating customs are very different in Italy.  When you sit at a table in a restaurant, the table is yours until closing.  You'll never be asked if you are finished, and you'll never be asked if you want the bill.  Except for business lunches, Italian people often spend hours eating. In our diligent search for excellent wines at economical prices, we sampled many Chiantis, and other red wines from the North and Center of Italy.  Our conclusion is that for the equivalent money, producers from France, Spain and Argentina have little to fear from their Italian competitors.   The Nero d'Avalos from Sicily are a different story.  They're excellent, full-bodied, big wines.  Also, the inexpensive whites and sparkling spumantes and Pro Secos throughout Italy are excellent and real bargains. Olive oil from small family-run businesses is good.  But Italian olive oil from the big producers is not up to the great French and Spanish standards.

Italian Food!

The Flavors of these Antipastos at a Restaurant in Todi was Amazing:  Roasted Tomatoes, Artichokes, Porcini Mushrooms, and Peppers, Broad Beans in Olive Oil! Polenta with Porcini Mushrooms, Black Truffles, and Parmesan, and Papardelle Pasta with Winter Squash, Fresh Basil, Ginger, and Olive Oil.  The Wide Thick Papardelle Pasta is also Commonly Used with Wild Boar And Rabbit Ragus, About the Best Pasta We've Ever Had. Homemade Spaghetti with Eggplant, Cherry Tomatoes, and Mascarpone Cheese, from Nanas Restaurant in Perugia, a Great Gourmet Umbrian Restaurant Across from our Apartment. Antipasto Plate at the Salerno Restaurant, Santa Lucia. Sicily Siracusa Trattoria Della Quelli:  Swordfish Spaghetti with Tomato, Fennel, and Raisins, and Ravioli with Sea Urchin Roe.  You Won't Find these in the US! Seafood Antipasto Plate at a Salerno Restaurant. The Ubiquitous Pizza, a Menu Staple.  With Hundreds of Different Toppings.  Pizza Purists from Naples, the So-called Birthplace of Pizza, Prefer only a Topping of Fresh Buffalo Mozzarella and Pure Tomato Sauce from Fresh Intensly-Flavored Sicilian Tomatoes, Cooked in a Wood-Fired Oven. This Focacia Takeaway in Manarola, Cinque Terre, had some of the Best Food We Had in Italy.  Our Favorite was the Fresh Basil Pesto and Buffalo Mozzarella. Focacia Made with Chick Pea Flour and Stracchino Cheese. You Can't Beat the Gelatos of Italy for their Variety of Delicious Flavors and Smooth Texture. These Sfogliatella are a Delicious Napoli Pastry Made from Layers of Flaky Dough with a Lemon Ricotta Center.  A Nice Change from the Usual Coronettas (Croissants)  the Italians Wolf Down for Breakfast with a Cup of Expresso.  Italians Eat Breakfast Standing, and are in and out of the Cafe in a Few Minutes.  Breakfast is Low Priority. Limoncello, a Delicious Intensly-Flavored Lemon Liquor, Served after a Meal Straight from the Cooler.  Italy's Most Popular Drink after Campari. How to Make Limoncello 15 lemons 2 bottles (750 ml) 100-proof vodka * 4 cups sugar   5 cups water *  Use 100-proof vodka, which has less flavor than a lower proof one. Also the high alcohol level will ensure that the limoncello will not turn to ice in the freezer. Wash the lemons with a vegetable brush and hot water and dry.  Zest the lemons with a zester or vegetable peeler being careful to not take any of the very bitter white part of the peel. Step One: In a large glass jar (1-gallon jar), add one bottle of vodka; add the lemon zest as it is zested.  Cover the jar and let sit at room temperature for at least (10) ten days and up to (40) days in a cool dark place.  The longer it rests, the better the taste will be.  (There is no need to stir - all you have to do is wait.)  As the limoncello sits, the vodka slowly take on the flavor and rich yellow color of the lemon zest. Step Two: In a large saucepan, combine the sugar and water; cook until thickened, approximately 5 to 7 minutes.  Let the syrup cool before adding it to the Limoncello mixture.  Add to the Limoncello mixture from Step One. Add the additional bottle of vodka.  Allow to rest for another 10 to 40 days. Step Three: After the rest period, strain and bottle, discarding the lemon zest.  Keep in the freezer until ready to serve. Many Varieties of Italian Cheeses Shown at a Perugian Cheese Exhibition, including Lots of Blue Cheeses and Cheese Aged in Wood Ashes. Gubbio Food Show Selection of Cured Meats.  Great Salamis, Mortadella, and Hams, with Dozens of Varieties.  Italian Sausages Are Mild and not Spectacular. Cheese exhibition at the Gubbio Food Show.  Many Different Gourd-Shaped Provolones. Olives! Italian Parmesano Reggiano:  Best Parmesan in the World.  It's also the only Parmesan.  We'd Often have some as an Appetizer with a Glass of Wine.  Only $US 7.00 per  pound!  The major Italian Parmesano Competitor is Grano Padano, a Look-Alike, but Without the Strict Controls of Parmesan, Only a Few Months Aging, and Half the Price. Palermo Fish Market!  An Exciting Place, with Lots of Fish Cut to Order, Yelling out Fish Varieties and Orders, and Tossing Fish from one Monger to Another. Customers Lined up and Ready to Haggle Prices. Mussels, Clams, and Sardines. Freshly Shucked Mussels in Siracusa, Sicily. Very High Quality of Produce in Italy! The Market Smelled Sweet with Smells of Roasting Peppers, Artichokes, and Onions.  Wow! More Sicilian Street Market Produce.  Very Reasonable Prices. A Variety of Yard-Long Zucchinis, Piles of Fava Beans, and Cucumbers.

Our Route.   We flew from Buenos Aires to Barcelona, and went quickly in 10 days across the French Cote d'Azur to Rome.   We wanted to get to Rome before the crowds, and besides, it would give Cinque Terre, one of our main destinations, some time to warm up. After a few weeks in Rome being tourists, it was off to Umbria, a beautiful rural region similar to Tuscany, with vineyards and olive groves and fine food.  There are many old medieval hilltop cities, lots of fine art, and it's a bit less visited than Tuscany, but rapidly catching up. We rented an apartment for a month in Perugia, the capital of Umbria, which was a great base to explore the famous old cities of Assisi, Todi, Spello, Gubbio, and DeRuta, and get to know the local culture and food. Then we went north to Cinque Terre.  We had a great time hiking along  cliffside trails from town to town and visiting the 5 villages,  Cinque Terre is incredible! Next we worked our way down by trains and buses through Pisa, Siena, and Orvieto to Sorento, near Naples, and then South along the beautiful Amalfi Coast to Salerno, spending some time in each of these cities. We took a long train ride from Salerno to the Southern tip of the mainland to cross over to Sicily by ferry.  Sicily turned out to be one of our favorite regions of Italy. We left Sicily by train to Matera, site of ancient cave dwellings still in use since BC...  Then ferry to Greece! On our 3 month trip through Italy, we missed Milan, Venice, and the Dolomites, which we're saving for some other trip.  In the regions we did visit, our favorite areas were Cinque Terre, Tuscany, Umbria, the Amalfi Coast, and Sicily.  In the future, it would be good to explore La Marche, next to Umbria,  similar to Tuscany and Umbria but with few tourists. Italian Surprises.   Italy is just slightly larger than Arizona, and has 7,600 km of coastline.  Palermo, the capital of Sicily in the very Southern part of Italy, is at about the same latitude as San Francisco. It's mind boggling how much is packed into this country.  The scale of its monuments is incredible.  We never came close to getting a feel for Rome, after almost a month there.  Even small hill towns are loaded with castles, palaces, fortress walls, and winding alleys.  Along with the large-scale monuments come immense crowds.  It was often too much.  The hordes of tourists made it feel  like being in a continuous cultural gauntlet.   Our line to get into the Vatican Museum was a mile long, and took 2  1/2 hours! Some of the hill towns have established pedestrianized streets inside the city walls.  A great idea, since the traffic in Italy is horrendous!  They say Italians don't honk their car horns, but if they don't, it's only because they know it won't do any good. Italy  is expensive.  A lot more than France or Spain.  Nothing is free.  Every event, museum, exhibit, or interesting looking building has an entry fee, usually a lot more than you'd expect.  If you sit down to get waited on at a table in a cafe to enjoy a coffee or breakfast, you'll pay up to 50 percent more for your food and drinks than all those people standing up at the counter. It's surprising how many political demonstrations and strikes there are.  The strikes for us seemed to be centered on the transportation system.  Trains are often 1 hour late, 3 hours is not uncommon.  Our train from Palermo to Salerno, normally a 6 hour ride, took an unbelievable 13 hours!  There were several different events causing this particular delay.  The most significant was a blockage of the tracks by townspeople protesting the re-opening of a garbage dump.  Italy has a large problem with garbage, now that the Mafia has been kicked out of the business in the last three years, as federal proceedings have succeeded in closing down much of Italy's organized crime.  Legitimate garbage dumps must now be constructed. Garbage was one of the Mafia's big money makers, along with illegal construction, extortion, prostitution, and drug trafficking.  Italy generates over 80 million tons of garbage per year, and apparently organized crime in the form of the Mafia handles 35 million tons of it.  This brings in more than $US 30 billion, a big chunk of their $100 billion income (10% of Italy's GDP).  Much of the waste is industrial and toxic, and has been dumped illegally throughout the country, in the ocean, and peddled to third world countries. It's interesting to note that the Italian Mafia received their initial main support from the US and its Allies during WW2 for help with the Allied reinvasion of Italy. This enabled the Mafia to establish their stronghold in Italy.  There are still hundreds of Mafia-related deaths each year, but luckily none of the violence is directed at tourists. A very noticeable sight throughout Italy is the high level of police presence - there are carabiniere, the Italian uniformed federal police, everywhere.  There seems to be a Military outpost, Zone Militare, or military building on every block!  And this doesn't lead to a low crime rate.  There is lots of crime in Italy.  Next-door Greece, on the other hand, has one of Europe's lowest crime rates, and you rarely see the police.

ROME.   Once we realized we were not going to see all of Rome, it became easy to relax and enjoy the sights.

City of Monuments.  Difficult to Comprehend.  There are Monuments, Shrines or Churches, Fountains, Piazzas, and Palaces around every Corner!  The Eight-Columned Temple of Saturn here in the Roman Forum was the State Treasury during Caesar's Time.  The Roman Forum is Located Right in the Center of Greater Rome.

Here's the Famous Trevi Fountain.  Remember Anita Ekberg Dancing in the Fountain in Fellini's Film, La Dolce Vita? Ekberg would have Quite an Audience these Days: The Crowd on an Average Day at the Fountain.  Yikes!

Our Rome:  Trastevere District.    Our Rome apartment was located in the district of  Trastevere, on the other side of the Tiber from the monumental part of Rome, an area more relaxed and quiet with typical markets and Roman neighborhoods.

Here's the Tiber River from the Massini Bridge.  Our Apartment is on the Quiet Right Side of the River, Just at the end of the Bridge. Nice to Meet up with Friends, Especially at the Parthenon.  Dale was in Italy with his Daughter's School Group from Boise! Our Trastevere Cafe, this One, One of the Few Internet WIFI Places in Italy.  The cafe  Circumvents  the Italian Law which Makes it Compulsory for ALL Internet Cafes and Providers to Register the Passport Number and Name of all Users, so the Internet Police can Monitor Usage (an Anti-Terror Law).   You Can't get your E-mail Anywhere in Italy  (Except for at a Few of these WIFI Cafes) Without your Passport.  And a Related Antiterrorist Requirement is the Required Registration of your Passport at all Hotels and Guest Houses. A Quiet Palm Sunday Procession with no Tourists in Trastevere.  Contrast this Scene with Happenings at the Vatican! Preparing Artichokes at a Restaurant in the Jewish Quarter, Just Across the River from Us. A View over Rome from the Botanical Garden Just above our Apartment.

Cinque Terre. One of the places you should visit once in your life!   Cinque Terre is lot like Big Sur:  Tall cliffs and hills rising steeply above the ocean, but here, the area is scattered with olive and lemon groves and vineyards, and has a trail system connecting ancient villages, each with castles, old churches, monasteries, restaurants, and hotels.  The areas around the towns are terraced with 2m high walls, 1000 yrs. old.  The area of Cinque Terre includes 27 km of coastline.  The hillsides are covered with flowering plants such as valeriano, euforbia, scotch broom, agave.  There's also a good transportation system linking the 5 towns:  An electric rail line, busses, and boats make it easy to get around when you're not hiking the trail.

A Statue to a Grape Maiden in the Village of Manarola.	The Town of Riomagiorre, Population 1800, where we Rented an Apartment for a Week.
Vernazza, with an 11th Century Castle Overlooking a Tiny, Picturesque Fishing Boat Harbor.	Typical Cinque Terre Cliffside Trail Between Villages.  The Area is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and Includes a National Park and Protected Marine Area.
Another Section of the Trail.  During Rain, Sections of the Trail Are Closed Due to Rock slides.	Section of the Trail Between the Villages of Vernazza and Corniglia.
A Convenient Rail System, Mostly Hidden in Tunnels, Connects the Villages and the Outside World.  This is the Village of Manarola Train Station.

Lucca.  A North Tuscan town with it's center, pedestrianized and walled-off by imposing Renaissance walls.  Inside are many Renaissance era churches, a Cathedral, Museums, Piazzas, and Restaurants and Hotels.

The Walls of Lucca, with a Great Wall-Iop Running and Bike Trail,   Great Views Down into the Town and over the City.	Julia, Sam, Elizabeth. John. Abbie, and Mark, John's Younger Brother who all Just Happened to be in Lucca at the Same Time we Were!  They are also on an Adventure.  They Sold their House in N. Carolina and Took the Kids out of School for a 6 Month European Experience!

Umbria.  The Umbrian Region is similar to its Western neighbor, Tuscany, but is less developed.  The area is filled with rolling pastures, olive groves, vegetable fields, and vineyards.  Every bit is ancient, and every hilltop seems to be capped with a fortress or castle.  It is our favorite region in Italy.

Perugia. Capital of Umbria, population 150,000.  A great place to base.  It's a university town, so there are lots of apartments available to rent, and excellent places to eat and drink.    There are good train and bus connections, which make it easy to do day trips to the ancient towns of Umbria:  Todi, Spello, Assisi, Gubbio, and DeRuta.  The town center, the Piazza IV Novembre, was a meeting place for Etruscans and Romans in ancient times.  Now it is often filled with tour groups during the day who come to see the cathedral and the great museums, including the Galleria Nazionale dell'Umbria, with its extensive art collection.

Perugia is a relaxed yet fantastic place to explore, with many neighborhoods filled with twisting alleyways, old Etruscan archeological sites, aqueducts, churches, and piazzas.  Lots of neighborhood cafes and restaurants throughout.

One of Many of Perugia's Intriguing Alleyways and Streets.  We Spent Days Walking Around these Passages.   Good Friday Candle Light Procession. Easter Day in the Perugia Main Square. Perugian Stairs.  There are Several Escalator Systems and Elevators to Get you Around the Town, and Save Walking up Some Very Long and Steep Stairs. View of  Some of Perugia's Walls. Perugia San Pietro Area Located Near our Apartment in a Quiet Part of Town.  Just Below the Tall Steeple of San Pietro are the Medieval Gardens, with Views to the Valley Below, and Good Picnic Spots.  They Were Planted by Monks During the Middle Ages You'd be Hard-Pressed to Find a Nicer More Jovial Person than this Man.  Vinoteca Il Tempio Owner who Sold us Most of our Wine in Perugia.  The Best Quality Wines at the Best Prices are Found at these Places Rather than Supermarkets.    The Wisteria Vines in Perugia are Impressive.  This Tiny Piazza was Totally Covered with One Vine.  In Full Bloom, and Filled with the Sound of Bees at Work.

Todi.   A nice and relaxed medieval town, a place to wander around and look at countryside views.

View of the Todi Countryside from the Umbria Restaurant. Todi Main Piazza.

Spello. A beautiful, quiet medieval town, filled with flowers. Most houses had walls and windows crammed with flower boxes and pots.

Spello Medieval Gates. Spello Piazza. Spello from the Railway Station. Spello Streets were Totally Filled With Flowers.

Assisi.  Birth place of Saint Frances in 1182.  Assisi is a beautiful town with winding flower-filled lanes and great overlooks and piazzas.  It also has millions of tourists, but luckily most don't go off the main path.

Basilica Di San Francesco, a Beautiful Church Filled with Frescoes, some by the Italian Painter Giotto.  The Church is Pretty much Restored after Major Damage from a Series of Earthquakes in September 1997.   Blooming Fruit Trees.

Gubbio.  Another hilltop town, on the steep slopes of Monte Ingino overlooking pastures and farmland.  It's an hour bus ride up steep winding hairpin turns to get to this fortified city.  The buses stop at the base of town at Piazza Quarenta Martiri, named after Italian resistance fighters killed by the Nazis.  The resistance was a national movement to rid the country of the Nazis and Mussolini.  There are similar shrines and monuments all over Italy where mass groups of people were killed by the Nazis.

A Great Jazz Band Played in the Main Square of Gubbio when we Got Back from a Hike Above Town.  Not a Bad Venue! A Birdcage Ride up the Mountain.  On Top are Restaurants with Views and Some Walking Trails.

DeRuta.  The pottery town of Umbria, located about 15 km from Perugia.  Many shops with both modern and traditional painted pottery.

The Hilltop Medieval Town Center from the Lower Town. DeRuta Town Gate and Pottery. DeRuta's Famous Grazia Ceramics Company Throwing Room with Models on the Shelves. Newly Thrown Pottery Drying before Bisquing and Majolica Painting. Grazia Gallery Vases. Another DeRuta Pottery Factory with Large Terra Cotta Pots.

Orvieto.  This little Umbrian hill town of 21,000 is perched high on the edge of a cliff.  Most people come just to see the Gothic cathedral, but visiting the nearby piazza with its spectacular view of the valley below, and having a picnic there of roast pork sandwiches and a bottle of wine also make it a worthwhile visit!

The Orvieto Cathedral, One of the Most Impressive in Italy.  The Front is covered with Beautiful Stone Mosaics and Carved Stonework, with Great Modern Bronze Doors.  The Church Construction was Started in 1290, in Honor of the Miracle of Bolsena in 1263, in which Blood Dripped from the Host During a Mass.  The Bloodstained Altar Linen is housed in the Cathedral's Cappella del Corporale. Orvieto Houses Built on the Tuffa Volcanic Rock Cliffs.

Florence. Florence, like Rome, is filled with history and art and is very impressive.  If you're in Italy, you have to go.  It's a large city of 350,000, and snarled with horrendous traffic and hordes of tourists.  But by now, you're used to it, right?

Florence was conceived by Julius Caesar in 59 BC according to witnesses who are no longer with us.  It became the cultural capital of Rome during the 15th century under the rule of the Medici family, the Papal bankers, who supported some major Italian artists and architects including Boticelli, Domenico Ghirlandaio, Leonardo da Vinci, and Michelangelo.

Florence also has had its share of disasters.  The plague in 1348 killed half the population.  The city was severely damaged by Fleaing Germans during WWII.  And a massive car bomb was exploded by Mafia terrorists in 1993, destroying part of the famous Uffizi Gallery.

The Arno River Cuts through Florence.   Elaborate Facade of the 13th Century Florence Cathedral. The Baptistry, one of the Oldest Buildings in Florence was Built on the Site of a Roman Temple.  Dante was one of Famous Baptized Here.  The Gilded 15th Century Bronze Doors by Lorenzo Ghiberti are Incredible! Baptistry Door Detail. The Seat of Florentine Government, the 13th Century Palazzo Vecchio. The Impressive Florence Campanile Bell Tower Designed in 1334 by Giotto, Stands Alongside the Cathedral.  The Tower Erection was Completed by Andrea Pisano and Francesco Talenti Following Giotto's Death.

Siena.   One of our favorite Italian Cities.  Very beautiful sienna-colored buildings.  It's remarkable how much zoning control exists in Italy.  Buildings are always of a uniform design and height, without any modern skyscrapers stuck in between.  This was the case all throughout Italy, even Rome.  Where there were high-rise apartment blocks, they were far outside town.

We stayed at a great hotel in a former convent, Alma Domu.  Spectacular views up to the cathedral, beautiful sunsets, and evening skies filled with clouds of swallows, and choruses of bird songs at dawn. Nice to sit and watch Siena life out our window:  Like the old guy picking peas from his garden, probably for a simple pasta dish of peas, garlic, olive oil, and prosciuto.

Not Much Better Than This! Il Campo, the Main Scallop-Shaped Piazza of Siena, and Home of the Wild Palio Horse Race on July 2nd and August 16th each Year, a Race Dating from the Middle Ages. Siena Alleyway.

Pisa.

Here it is. Marble Quarry Just Outside of Pisa.

Pompeii.  Much more extensive than we thought.  It's a large city with many houses, shops, piazzas, and temples still intact.  It's takes a full day to cover the most important parts of the ruins of Pompeii.  Lots of the buildings still have wall frescoes and mosaic floors, but all the good stuff has been taken to Naples, to the impressive National Archeological Museum.  To really appreciate Pompeii, you need to visit the Naples museum.  Pompeii had 20,000 inhabitants at its peak before the big one in 79 AD.  But now on a good day, they would be outnumbered by the huge tour groups!

Pompeii Forum, Center of Pompeii Social and Political Life. Naples National Archeological Museum Model of Pompeii.  It Takes a Lot of Walking to Cover the Actual Ruins. Typical Pompeii Street with Chariot Ruts Worn in the Stone Pavement.  The Streets Were Flushed for Cleaning, During Which Times People Could Cross on the Large Stepping Stones. Pompeii House with Columns. Food Service "Restaurant" Counter with Painting. Teatro Piccolo, a Small Pompeii Theater. Mosaic from a Pompeii House on Display at the Naples Museum.  The Extensive Mosaic Displays Are Amazing!  Incredible Detail and Color!  Lots of Other Exhibits Showing the Rich Life of Ancient Pompeii.

Naples. Here's an intense city.  Population 1 Million.  Noisy, chaotic, dirty, friendly, and full of cafes, restaurants, and historical sites.  We stayed in the nearby mellow and pretty town of Sorento and made Naples a day trip, a pleasant one hour boat ride away.   You can walk through the central area and Spanish Quarter past overcrowded poor neighborhoods along tiny alleyways.  Fascinating during the day, very risky at night.

One of Naples Main Streets, Via Roma. Naples Approach by Boat. Typical Naples Wood-Fired Pizza Oven.  Lots of Pizza Restaurants Serving the Famous Pizza Napolitana - Nice Thin Crust Topped only with Mozzarella Cheese and Intensly-Flavored Tomato Sauce.

Sicily.  The big island at the bottom of Italy, one of our most favorite regions.  It's what Italy is when you think of Italy.  The people are loud and always appear to argue, their style of conversing.  But we found they were the friendliest and most helpful.  The countryside is primarily rolling dry hills, olive groves and vineyards, and looming volcanoes, including Mt. Etna, Europe's largest volcano and the world's most active.  The towns vary immensely from tiny farm villages, luxurious seaside resorts, and teeming metropolises.  It's a fascinating region!

Getting There by Train.  To Cross over to Sicily from the Mainland by Train, Just Stay on the Train, Which is Loaded Directly onto an Immense Ferry.  Up to 5 Trains at a Time Can be Put on, Along with Semi's, Cars, and Passengers.  A Bridge Across is Planned.  It Will be One of Those Engineering Marvels,  Crossing 3.7 km of deep swift water, with 2 towers almost 400 m High, Spanning a World Record 3,300 m.  (The Record Span is 1991 m in Japan).

Taormina.  A ritzy seaside resort, filled with restaurants and cafes, historical medieval buildings and churches, and public gardens.  It's perched on the side of Me Tauro and looks out to smoking Mt. Etna.  Some nice beaches below are reached by cable car from the town center.

Taormina Restaurant and Overlook. Taormina Cathedral.

Siracusa.  Another one of our most favorite cities in Italy.  Awe- inspiring beauty with incredible piazzas, and a coastline that's unbeatable!  Siracuse was settled originally in 734 BC by Greeks and at one time rivaled Athens in power and prestige.  Cicero considered it the most beautiful city of his time.  People such as Plato and Archimedes lived in the city at its height.

These Almond Cookies with an Arab Influence were the Best!,  Loaded with Chopped Lemons, Oranges, Almonds, and Mandarins.  Below, Some of the Marzipan Fruit Sicily is Famous For. The Central Piazza del Duomo at Night, a Spectacular Space.  In the Background is the Illuminated Jesuit Church, and to the Left off the Picture is the Cathedral, Which is Actually a Church Built over a Greek Temple.  The Massive Greek Columns are Very Apparent where the Protrude Past the Inside and Outside of the Church Walls. Huge Turnout for Weekly Live Greek Performances at the Teatro Greco Siracuse Performance of the Classical Play, Eracles, at the Teatro Greco. Siracuse Street. Siracusa Channel to the Port. Waterfront, Lined with Cafes and Restaurants along the Promenade.

Palermo.  The capital of Sicily, with a mixed population of 680,000, is an amazing city - incredibly busy and noisy and exciting.  It is filled with cultural sites, museums, and palaces, and teeming neighborhoods with packed raucous local street markets, and great restaurants and cafes.

Palermo:  Neighborhoods with Character. Palermo Street. Piazza Scene.  Unbelievable Traffic.  Leave your Car at Home Here! Palermo's English Garden. Palermo Vespas and Motorcycles were Always a Sight, Like this one Doing Drive-up Shopping.  You'd Often See Families of 3 or 4 on a Bike with Groceries and Packages.

Matera.  A very unique town of cave houses, located at the upper arch of Italy's southern boot-shaped peninsula.  It is one of the oldest inhabited settlements in history, and remained inhabited by half the city's population of 30,000 until 1950.  Overpopulation and degraded conditions led the government to forcibly relocate most of the inhabitants to nearby apartment blocks.  In 1993 the area of cave houses, or the Sassi, was named a UNESCO site, and the deteriorated cave houses began to be restored.   Museums, hotels, and restaurants were incorporated into the cave houses, and the area is now a major tourist destination.  The astounding medieval appearance led Mel Gibson to the site to film "The Passion of Christ."  Unforturnately, Mel's picture is everywhere.

View of the Sassi.  Much of the Homes Interiors are Carved into the Limestone Rock. Houses Dug into the Canyon Edge. Matera's "Church of Rock."

After 3 months, it was time to leave Italy.  Some serious beach time was starting to sound good to us.  It's a short train ride from Matera to the port town of Bari, to catch one of the overnight ferries to Greece, where there are lots of beaches, and more to see.

- John and Abbie -