4/20: Explore Savoca

Today we drove north to Savoca, a pleasant hill town whose claim to fame was to be the setting for many of the Italian scenes in the first Godfather movie, when Michael Corleone went to Sicily after killing a bad guy. We met the woman who played Apollonia's mother and visited the church where the wedding was held. The wedding scene was outside because the priest refused to have a fake ceremony filmed in his church.

Part of the road we drove up on

There were several of these metal
art works. This one features Francis
Ford Coppola. There are also a TON
of Godfather souvenirs.

Snow capped Mt Etna

 

This is a large ceramic representation of the penitent
parade.

This is the lady who played Appolonia's mother.
Given that the movie was released 52 years ago,
she must have been at most in her early 30s then.
Her only speech was to tell her daughter "Open it"
when Michael brought a present.

The woman above was the former owner  of this
bakery, which enticed us with biscotti samples.
Much better than any I have had in the US. She
sold the bakery to the current owners after her
husband died.

A photo of the pentent parade. Apparently, the Ku Klux
Klan stole the idea of the costumes. The idea was anyone,
including women, could participate in privacy.

The outside of the church where the wedding scene may
have been.

 

Next we met with Matteo, a journalist who is part of the anti-mafia effort. He shared the history of the Mafia starting with the 1861 unification of Italy. Before that, the south was ruled by Spain and controlled by large landholders who employed men to ride herd on the workers. One thing that surprised me was that Salvatore Guiliano, a Mafia leader during WWII thought it would be great for Sicily to become the 49th U.S. state. He wrote a letter to President Truman requesting his support, but never got an answer. The bravery of the anti-Mafia group and their overwhelming challenge to achieve their goal is both inspiring and depressing because of how ingrained the Mafia has become in the economic and political life here.

Someone added a note on the letter that the
sender was a known terrorist and not to
respond.

Back in Taormina, we split into two groups and had lunch which was prepared by a local family. The family we visited was Lucio (father), Olga (wife), and Evan (adult son). Lucio was a cruise ship wine steward and is the primary cook. Evan is finishing his master's in technology. They were a charming family and the food was great.

The first course of our meal.This was
followed by linguini in a light pistachio
cream sauce with a strawberry dessert.

After lunch, we went out to the
patio and discovered a large
collection of pots that function
as their garden. These are just
some of the strawberry pots. The
berries were tiny but huge in
flavor. I may have to try this
in my new home!

After a few hours to get ready for our transfer the Aeolian Islands tomorrow, we headed back to the other side of town first for a pistachio tasting, then a wine tasting. I had never really paid much attention to pistachios and almost didn't go, but I'm glad I did. The farm here is on the slopes of Mt Etna in locations that must be tended by hand. While California is the largest producers of pistachio's, their end product is different: the nuts are less vibrantly green and softer. They are also roasted and salted, the most of the world's pistachios. 

Because the terrain, nuts here are hand picked and sun dried for three days and never roasted. There is a pistachio pesto and a bunch of other non-candy products, including a couple liquers.

In addition to these tiny cannoli,
we also got a small pistachio
brusetta.

Our last stop of the day was wine tasting. The focus was on Mt Etna wines. Sandy, my NZ travel partner, sent me a list of 9 great Mt. Etna wineries and I forgot my abbreviated version at the hotel. We had 1 VERY crisp white and two reds, both made with pinot noir type grapes, but very different in character. Our sample pours were more like a smallish glass of wine, probably 4 ounces, vs the typical 1 ounce in California. We also had a sampling for 3 bruscetti.