Sicilia crudo (raw)

My Scholarship entry - A 'place' I have visited

ITALY | Sunday, 13 January 2013 | Views [336] | View Larger Image

Papal Pigeons: Italians and especially Sicilians are renowned for their dedication to catholocism. This photo was taken while on a hop-on-hop-off tour bus and I nearly missed this shot while whizzing past. I'm not sure which Pope this is and I'm sure he well respected and honoured by many, but to the pigeons, he is merely another concrete statue to frolick on.

La Cucina: The second thing of I think of, when I remember Sicily. Food glorious food, wonderful food. Oh the food, so simple, yet so delicious and so fresh. This photo was taken at Mortizzi, another small village, up another extremely windy goat track, on the side of a hill. This is the village where my Dad was born and before my dad left Italy, the village consisted of two houses (a white house and a pink house). Since then, the owners of the land (still the same family that owned the land when Dad lived there) have built a restaurant (Villa Rica) and converted the pink and white houses into a Bed & Breakfast. The restaurant was closed when we visited, but the owner (the son of the original owner) invited us in for some food, and a vino and a chat. The guy was probably at least 80 years old and remembers my Nonno and Dad. He told stories of how my family used to cultivate the land for his father- oranges, olives, stone fruit, wheat - and in return my family would get to live in the white house for free and keep half of the produce to sell. Nonno used to also manually press the olives with the olive press to make oil. The press is now a feature in the restuarant. This photo is taken from inside the restaurant overlooking the fertile volcanic soil, that is used to grow most of the produce that is used in Villa Rica, and other restaurants around town. In the foreground you can see a table set, ready for evening visitors to the restaurant. I love how the window frames the 'bella vista' of the fertile land and the Aeolian Islands in the distant background.

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Scootering about: Scooters, scooters everywhere! When I think of Sicily, it evokes images of scooters. I didn't realise why scooters are so popular until I visited Italy and now I know why. The streets are often very narrow and traffic is chaotic. There are road rules in Sicily, however it is apparent that there are unspoken rules that the locals seem to follow. This photo was taken in a side street of Palermo, the capital of Sicily. I like the contrast of the shiny, new looking scooter and the darkness of alleyway down the side of the building and the grafitti on the walls. To me this is authentic Sicily. A land of many contrasts: beautifully dressed men and women in designer clothes walking through the high class shops in town, avoiding the dog faeces and rubbish on the street; magnificent tasting food, only consisting of two or three simple ingredients; desserts for breakfast, served with healthy fresh fruits. I would like to think, that this, my heritage explains so much of my contrasting habits and behaviours.

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Sicilia crudo (raw)

My Scholarship entry - A 'place' I have visited

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