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Tuesday, March 20, 2012

Sunday in Sicily



The Ferry to Sicily
          Sunday we decided to cross the channel into Sicily. Sicily is right across the channel from Reggio di Calabria. We look at it everyday, at night it's all lite up and sparkly.  I haven't done a lot of sightseeing there, so off we went. We caught a ferry across. They go back and forth all day and night, since that's the only way to get there, except by plane. They've been talking about  building a bridge for years, it's very controversial here.(Best not to bring it up) The ferry take everything cars, trucks, people, and they even have a special ferry that takes the train cars!
           
All Aboard! Andiamo!


Once off the ferry, we headed south towards Etna, the live volcano. We can see the very top of it from our place so we wanted to get a little closer to check it out. Well, to our surprise Etna was alive and well. We got there just in time to see her shooting off ash and smoke 7 kilometers high! Wow! You don't wanna mess with her!
Mount Etna Blowin off some steam


Candied marzipan fruit display


We took that photo from the highway about halfway there. We kept going. We stopped in a small town in the hills on the way up. It was raining down tiny specks of ash.We stopped in a cafe for a cannoli, Sicily is known for making the best. (They were pretty damn good!) I also took a pic of the marzipan fruit and Easter display they had, it was beautiful. Out in the piazza I wrote my name in the ash.

Suzy b

Cannoli

 We went up as far as we could on that side of the mountain. The road was closed at a certain point, too much snow ahead! Huh? (Do they know I'm from the mid-west?) By then Etna had settled down. We stopped and took some pics on the lava rocks. Then we headed back down the mountain to Catania. The "Milan" of Sicily. A beautiful city. We walked around for a couple of hours, had some lunch, and took lots of pics.
The Duomo di Catania
By the time we left Catania, Etna had settled down.
Mt. Etna

        

    Heading back to Messina to catch the ferry, we decided to stop in a little town above Taormina, called Castelmola. It was a gem on top of this hill over looking the channel. So cute!
Small cafe in the piazza

Small store front with goods out front.

Cobblestone walk-ways and stairs
Sicilian puppet


Sleep tight Etna

Arrivaderci Sicilia!
Looking back on Sicily as we head back on the ferry to the mainland. We caught it just in the nick of time! What an awesome day! Thanks to our friends Catarina for planning the route and Fortunato for his expert driving.


Wednesday, March 14, 2012

Artichokes Galore!

Artichokes!
Artichokes or carciofi  are in season right now in southern Italy. You find them everywhere, even farmers by the side of the road selling bunches of 25 at a time. So we bought a bunch! For just a few bucks! And are they good! There is a technique to cleaning them. You have to remove all the outer leaves and clean out the fuzz from inside the heart, by once you get the hang of it it's easy. (You can go here to learn how to clean them, http://www.veggiebelly.com/2010/06/how-to-trim-clean-prepare-artichoke-heart.htm).
The Artist at work at the stove.

Artichokes are really good for you. One large artichoke contains only 25 calories, no fat, 170 milligrams of potassium, and is a good source of vitamin C, folate, magnesium and dietary fiber.One medium artichoke has more fiber than a cup of prunes!(Yes, lots of fiber, so get the beano out!) They contain Cynarin and Silymarin, two powerful phytonutrients, which have strong positive effects on the liver.

Our pasta ai Carciofi

  So here's how we made it:

*After you have cleaned the artichokes down to the heart, slice them thinly (the stems too)
*Saute them in olive oil with some minced garlic
*You can improvise here and add chopped sun dried tomatoes, olives, etc.
*Put some water on to boil for the pasta, don't forget to salt the water generously before throwing in the pasta (any type will do, use your favorite, we even used mushroom filled ravioli, mmmmm)
*Add a couple ladles of the pasta water to your artichoke pan and let it simmer on low while the pasta cooks.
*Cook the pasta till al dente, drain the water and add it to your pan with the artichokes.
*Add a couple pads of butter (Nuccio even added a little Gorgonzola cheese) and toss it in the pan on low heat . If it needs more pasta water add a little.
*Serve it up with a nice helping of grated Romano cheese on top and a nice glass of red wine to drink.
*Enjoy, e Buon Appetito !

 Untill next time, alla prossima!


Tuesday, March 13, 2012

Day Trip to Bova Superiore

A very old church



OMG I want some!
      Last Saturday friends took us to a small town, one of the oldest in Italy and even more south the we are now , called Bova Superiore. It's in the Aspromonte mountains about 900 kilometers high. It has 465 inhabitants. Before starting the climb up the winding road up into the mountains, we had to stop for an espresso and pastry.  And I had ta take a picture of one of the beautiful cakes and the huge briosce rolls.
      It's about a 13 kilometer drive up into the mountains to get to Bova Superiore. We stopped to take some pictures of the awesome scenery.


grazing sheep


A painting on the side of a building























There's only one main road into the town that stops at a small parking lot. The rest of the street are accessible on foot only.  Little cobblestone walk ways climbing up and down through the town. We walked around for about an hour. It was very peaceful. Not a whole lot of tourists up there.






the view from the town
Ciao a tutti!



























Monday, March 5, 2012

In The Papers

Nuccio at work on the Bronzi
I Bronzi di Riace
         I 'm once again in Italy. In the southern most tip of the boot. A town called Reggio di Calabria. My husband was born here and now works here at the archaeological museum. He restores archaeological artifacts. ( And that's just his day job, he also paints and sculpts his own works) For the past two years he's been working on two bronze sculptures that were found not far from here in the town of Riace. A scuba diver found them back in the 1972 just off the coast, under water, where they had been buried for the last 2500 years. They have become one of Italy's national treasures. People come from all over the world to see them, to study them. They are called "I Bronzi di Riace". Two life size Greek warriors. Nuccio has been cleaning them inside and out. They are in a special climate controlled room behind glass so the public can see him at work. It's incredible to think they could have created anything that life-like way back then.Anyway, so Saturday morning we get up, look in the paper, and there's a full page writeup on Nuccio's work. That's-a nice-a!










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