POOKIE AND NAIDA’S TRIP TO ITALY — Part III, Sicily: Day 3 — Wine, Enzo’s, The Scala dei Turchi, Relatives and Boris Johnson.

he next morning after breakfast we set off for a winery that Antonio arranged for us to visit. Naida wasn’t feeling well and stayed behind. The winery, whose name I forgot, had been set up with all the modern equipment and tourist accessibility and pizzazz to rival those In Tuscany and Napa. We toured the winery, tasted the wines, listened to the sales pitch and left feeling good about the morning and optimistic about the rest of the day.

From upper left then clockwise: All of us at the table tasting the wines; Standing in the winery entrance hall; the exhibit of the winery’s products; Turing the winery; A sample of one of their white wines; The view from the window of the winery grounds, some of the vineyard and the Sicilian landscape in the distance.

We then drove back to Antonio’s, picked up Naida and set off for Porto Empedocle and Enzo’s Restaurant for lunch. In 2003, the town changed its official denomination to Porto Empedocle Vigata, after the name of the fictional town where the novels by Andrea Camilleri, Italian writer and native of the town, about detective Inspector Montalbano are placed. However, the decision was revoked in 2009. Enzo’ Restaurant also appears in almost every one of Camilleri’s novels as the place where Montalbano would retire to in order to quietly eat lunch (He refused to talk while enjoying the taste of the food) and contemplate life, love and his most recent mystery. It 2018 Mary, George and I visited the restaurant and met Enzo’s brother. 

 

We were served a nine course meal of traditional Sicilian food of the area and plenty good local wines.

 

Following lunch we set off for the Scala dei Turchi. The Scala dei Turchi (Italian: “Stair of the Turks” or “Turkish Steps”) is a rocky cliff on the coast of Realmonte, near Porto Empedocle, southern Sicily, Italy. It has become a tourist attraction, partly due to its mention in Andrea Camilleri’s series of detective stories about Commissario Montalbano.

 

The Scala is formed by marl, a sedimentary rock with a characteristic white color, formed from the tests of planktonic foraminifera. They lie between two sandy beaches and are a limestone rock formation in the shape of a staircase.. The latter part of the name derives from the frequent piracy raids by the Saracens during the Middle Ages, and later Barbary pirates and, by Turks during the Early modern period; the Turkish pirates, in fact, found shelter in this area less beaten by the winds and represented a safer landing and boarding place. In August 2007 the municipality of Realmonte applied for the inclusion of the Scala dei Turchi (together with the nearby Roman Villa Aurea) in the UNESCO Heritage List. Recently following years of complaints about the poor environmental protection of the site from erosion and vandalism by tourists, Italian prosecutors seized control of the site. They ordered its temporary closure for monitoring and announced that they were investigating a man who claimed ownership of the site in a dispute with the Realmonte local authority.

 

We walked along the beach toward the Scala. Naida was not feeling well so she and I stopped a a beach front cafe while the others went on. We had some coffee and enjoyed the view. Later the others returned and we headed back to Antonio’s to prepare for dinner.

From upper left then clockwise: A view of the Scala dei Turchi from the beach; Naida dipping her feet in the water; Naida watching evening set in over the Mediterranean; Naida enjoying her coffee.

From upper left then clockwise: The gang assembled; Naida and I; Another view of the Scala; Anthony and Aaron on the Scala.

We returned to Antonio’s to rest up before driving into the town for dinner with the relatives. Aaron played a while with Antonio’s dog that Antonio had named Boris Johnson or Boris for short. He explained that he was the dumbest dog in Europe just like the Prime Minister of England. We there set off for dinner.

From top left and then clockwise: Aaron and Boris; Antonio and Anthony; All of us at dinner having a great meal at a fine restaurant in Canicatti; Pookie and my cousin Giuseppina.

We had ruckus dinner at a fine restaurant in Canicatti with my cousin Giuseppina and her son Guglielmo and his family. After, dinner we returned to Giuseppina’s apartment, to talk, laugh, look at old photographs, and play the piano.

From upper left then clockwise: Everyone mugging for the camera; Cousin Guglielmo and Pookie looking at old photographs; Guglielmo playing the piano; Maryann and Guglielmo’s wife.

Some of the old photos from upper left then clockwise: Me, my brother, sister, father and mother – I am the tall fellow on the right in the back; My father and mother. The blond baby is me; My uncle Vincenzo in the middle with his sons Giuseppe on the right and Giovanni on the right. Giuseppina is Vincenzo’s daughter; I do not know the the people in the last photograph are — obviously relatives — but I liked the photograph.

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