Chilling out under an exploding Volcano, Italian Driving & Getting the Shot

Final reflection's on Italy and Sicily

Chilling Out Under a Volcano

I’m sitting on a bench at the harbour of a tiny fishing village in Sicily. Mount Etna is belching in the background. A big burp from her the day before we arrived sent tourists scurrying down the mountain. Our Airbnb host tells us we have nothing to worry about. — Though she sent us this video, which was taken from the vantage point of the village we are staying in.

Other than the pyroclastic flow at my back, I love being in this spot. I’m watching all the old fishermen, most have silver hair, bronze skin, and a mustache of varying length. I can tell they are all old friends. Two old duffers just kissed each other on the cheek. Two more pass by, one carrying a stringer full of milk carton buoys, the other hefting a wooden crate full of small fish. Three more saddle up to a bench near me, one needs hip replacement, one is working his teeth pretty hard with a toothpick, and all three are talking loudly. It feels like the pace of life here is slower, and that makes me happy.

Italian Driving

A car pulls out of a tiny street — street is generous term, for the narrow slit between the two and three story buildings that are built right to the edge of the curb. The vehicle, all bumped and scratched, makes its way down to the jetty, and my mind drifts to the driving situation in Italy.

I think to myself, I survived Naples, I deserve a medal!

The ancient city designs were made to accommodate donkeys, not cars, so all of the streets are unreasonably narrow, and thanks to cobblestones cut and laid hundreds and in some cases thousands of years ago, intolerably bumpy.

But the streets themselves are a national treasure. One can not simply widen an ancient road and carpet it with asphalt; everyone knows this would be a travesty. Of course, there were no sidewalks in the original designs either, so pedestrians, cyclists, mopeds, and a full assortment of motor vehicles all pile into these tiny little arteries. Survival on these streets comes down to one’s ability to merge, weave, bounce, dodge, wait, “nose in,” and “go for it!” Roadway guidelines are optional in this country.

When I first found myself squashed amid this motor monstrosity, I thought for sure I would see people's rage, but no one seemed to mind. Perhaps Italy's insane traffic dogpile is a badge of honour that patriots who live in the long shadow of the Roman Empire wear proudly? I saw only a single road-related argument. It came with all the stereotypical Italian hand gesticulations, and at maximum volume, but in seconds, it was over, with both parties finishing their argument with “chow”. In North America, road disputes rarely end with “Ok, bye now.”

Getting the Shot

Part of the fun of vacation for me is “getting the shot”. I almost crashed the car a couple of times to “get the shot.” I didn’t mind the strange looks I got for having my 3-meter pole fully extended so that my Insta 360x 4 could glimpse something amazing that I could later share with you. It’s a rush! Below are two more shorts. Enjoy! I hope to do a proper travel vlog next week.

One final observation since I’m a history guy:

Sicily: The most conquered Island in the World.

Geographically speaking, Sicily is the football getting punted at the end of the boot. This visual so obvious on any map works with exceptional accuracy metaphorically. Poor Sicily has been punted around like an old football for nearly 3,000 years! The book I read in preparation for our trip said that Sicily is the most conquered Island in human history. The Greeks were the first to push aside the indigenous populations. Greece and Carthage threw each other on and off the Island for a few hundred years, until the Romans got involved and thrashed everyone. When Rome crumbled into pieces, so did Sicily. Bands of barbarians from the north fought the locals and each other for Sicilian dominance, eventually they were chased off by the Byzantines, (Eastern Greeks) who dreamed of restoring the glories of the Roman empire, but they couldn’t hold on to power, because up from the tongue of Tunisia came the Muslims, for over a hundred years, church bells were replaced with Imams’ calling the faithful to prayer. Thanks in part to Islamic infighting and superior weapons technology, the Normans sailed in from the West and punted both Byzantines and Muslims into the sea, although truthfully, for a couple of generations, these three diverse groups did manage to work together remarkably well. (Some call it Sicily’s golden age) Into the Middle Ages came one dominant force after another. A number of City-states from Italy barged in. The Lombards had a crack at power, plus the Holy Roman Empire, the Spanish, and the French. Each shoving off the one before. Into modern times came the English, Mainland fascists, and the Americans. Understandably, Sicily fell behind the times; Sicily has been fleeced more than developed. It’s hard to imagine, but the medieval feudal system of land rights and peasantry was still in play in the 20th century! The Mafia became a phenomenon in Sicily because, after all, how else could locals run things? It’s hard to hit your stride when outsiders are always in charge. Thankfully, in recent decades, Sicily seems to have found its feet. Tourism is up, Mafia presence is down, the feudal system is out, and the economy is slowly improving.