ITALY | Sunday, 13 January 2013 | Views [292] | View Smaller Image
La Famiglia: I think of five things when I think about my trip to Sicilia. The first being family. Sicily is my paternal homeland. Although, my father emigrated to Australia over 50 years ago, and has never returned - his sister (my aunt (Zia)) has lived her whole life in Sicily. This photo is of my husband and Zia on our first trip to Italy and was only the second time I had met Zia (she had visited Australia once when I was young). The photo was taken out the front of Zia's house, which is in a small village (Scarpiglia) on a hill, up an extremely windy goat track (that cars drive on - and at extremely fast speeds). Through my very limited Italian, I learnt that the village consists of family - everyone is related somehow. I met cousins, and cousins of cousins and the list goes on. Family is extremely important and they described family to me as a 'unit'. A unit that lives together, works together, stays together and plays together. Zia reminds me a lot of my Dad and my Nonna - always in the kitchen cooking, or cleaning or doing something - never an idle minute, even though she is well into her 70's. We were lucky to visit when Vendemmia (grape harvest festival) was on, and we were treated a traditional Sicilian feast with the entire village, at Zia's house. I don't think I saw Zia sit at all during the entire festival, only saw/heard her as she would swish through the beaded fly screen to deliver more food and emphatically repeat "mangiare, mangiare".
