Capo D'Orlando Part Three: Explores and Adventures During Our Spring 2023 Stay

We had some fun adventures during our 10 weeks in Capo D'Orlando.

Easter

Along with Christmas, this is an important holiday in Italy. There was a Good Friday procession in town, but it was a bit late and we were tired, so we didn't get to that. 

Photo of procession from city Facebook group.

Although we didn't experience the Good Friday and Easter Sunday celebrations, we did get out to see some festivities on Palm Sunday. 

After a procession from one church to the town centre, worshipers gathered at the main piazza for a service and blessing of the 'palms' (a variety of plants were represented).

Plants were available for sale from vendors. As well, many people arrived with their own.

I liked this Palm Sunday post in the town Facebook group.

I appreciate the emphasis on Mary in Italian Catholicism. Many churches have special Mary chapels, and the holy days around Easter often emphasize the experience from her perspective as a mother. For example, on Maudy Thursday in one of John's ancestral towns, Augusta, a trumpeter and drummer go around and play a special piece of music in different parts of the city. The music has a haunting, melancholic sound to me. I didn't really understand what it was for until someone posted this interpretation. It is interesting to consider and, for me, teaches how we can draw lessons from religious or cultural practices that aren't our own. We have commonalities.

With this focus in mind, I remembered that I've had the book The Testament of Mary in my queue for a while, and I decided to read it. The book is a short read, and it's interesting to contemplate what Mary as a human, not saintly figure, might have felt during the events proceeding and following her son's death.  

Outdoor Mass

Later in our visit, we had the opportunity to contemplate Mary again when the neighbor told us about an outdoor mass being held in our neighborhood. We learned from this experience that Maria is the patron saint of Capo D'Orlando! 

I enjoyed this service on several levels. First, it was outside, near the sea. Second, most of the service was conducted by women. Third, the priest and other speakers spoke very slowly, so I was able to comprehend a good portion of the service. Fourth, the ladies from the neighborhood made us feel very welcome. A wonderful experience overall!

The book contained the rosary and hymns that various women led during the mass.

Photo by Arasi Natale (more at the link if of interest)

Around Town ... and May Weather

The weather was not at all normal for the entire month of May! Near the end of May we had a lot of thunderstorms and high winds, some of which caused damage around town. We even learned of a weather phenomenon we've never heard of before, a medicane!

We still made the best of it and got outside whenever we could. Capo D'Orlando, captured through my eyes, is Part Two of this blog. Hop on over there if you're inclined toward photos.

Another weather-related phenomenon we experienced was a Fata Morgana. One day we were walking along the lungomare, and I did a double-take. I was seeing what looked like a sailboat floating in the sky above the sea! I tried to get a shot, but my camera was not powerful enough. Fortunately, someone in our city Facebook group posted a picture.

A Fata Morgana is a type of mirage.

Our last few days, the weather improved, and I was able to complete my goal of getting in the sea!

I wanted to share here a little about our visit to Capo D'Orlando's art space, Laboratorio Orlando Contemporaneo, which we had the opportunity to check out near the end of our stay. According to the guide we spoke with, this collective began in the 1950s when Capo D'Orlando sponsored various artists to visit the city and capture scenes of life in Capo D'Orlando. They have quite an extensive collection, and they feature different pieces on a rotating basis, along with sponsoring various exhibits, workshops, and other activities. 

The Laboratorio sponsored an exhibit by Yoko Ono last year.

A nice mosaic piece. I don't remember the artist, but it was one of the early people they exhibited. I will learn more in the future!

Grande Blu by Turi Simeti, who was born in one of John's ancestral hometowns, Alcamo. In fact, we were gifted a book showing his works from the Mayor's office when we visited last year. Connections all around. 

Libro Cancellato 1979 by Emilio Isgrò, who, as we learned, is a famous Italian contemporary artist and writer. He is known for his erasure technique, which I had never heard of before. Interesting!

My favorite of the pieces I saw, in which the artist has painted stones from Capo D'Orlando's beach. Anna Kennel, from Palermo, specializes in painted stone works.

This is an impressive place for the size of the town, and I look forward to future explorations!

Sinagra

Friends Alexis and Marcos wanted to return to the town where they first lived in Sicily for the festival of the patron saint. They rented a car and invited us and their friend Hana along. 

It was fun to drive up into the hills, and I was impressed with Lexie's driving skills.

The town was all decorated and festive for the celebration. The procession began with the devotees running down a hill with San Leone, shouting Viva San Leone. This was followed by processing all around town, so we saw the procession from different angles.

This particular part of the route was tricky, where San Leone was brought down a narrow, twisty, and steep set of stairs.

Some of the procession route.

Festival decorations

Being a festival, there were many opportunities to have delicious food and drink!

A local beer. Marcos was celebrating finishing his Calculus course. Cheers!

Pizza: Half alla Norma (eggplant, sauce, salted ricotta), half the local specialty (speck, pistacchio, and vinegar).

Mixed fried seafood in a cone, along with Aperol Spritz.

John was excited to find these cookies similar to ones from his childhood. In Sinagra, they were called pasta reale. 

Sinagra is a medieval town, and some evidence suggests it dates back to B.C. times. With its strategic location on a river, surrounded by the lush, fertile greenery of the Nebrodi mountains, this would not be surprising. We enjoyed visiting this beautiful village.

If you'd like to see a compilation of the procession, Marcos made this 6 minute video.

Country House: Cresta and Naso

We had the opportunity to visit another village when our host family invited us to Sunday lunch at their country house in Cresta, which is a hamlet of the larger city of Naso. We had a delicious meal and enjoyed our time shared with this lovely family. A special treat!

We found the source of the delicious kiwi and eggs we've been gifted.

The maccheroni! I was so busy eating and talking, I failed to take pictures of all the other delicious food.

We were able to meet Grazia's brother-in-law, as well as her daughter and grandsons. Her son-in-law, we met previously, as he owns a shoe store in Capo D'Orlando. Beautiful family.

We also learned that another of Grazia's brothers-in-law is a well-known Italian artist, Tano Santoro. This is one of his works.

Among his collection (I believe by a different artist), we found this intriguing piece. It is called For a Crucifixion, and we believe that is Malcolm X. I'd love to know the back story of this one.

After lunch, Salvatore took us on a spin around Naso. Lots of beautiful vistas, even with the fog (the only glitch in our day - didn't allow us to enjoy the awesome vistas). I'd like to return and explore further here.

 

On the way back to Capo D'Orlando, we stopped at a friend's house, where we enjoyed figs, almonds, homemade wine, and fun conversation. 

Augusta

The only trip we took was a long weekend visit to Augusta to see cousins and friends. It was great to not have to haul all of our luggage and to just hop on the train with two backpacks and my travel purse.

Route from Capo D'Orlando to Augusta (with a train switch in Messina). The total time on the train is about 4 hours, but there can be layover times in Messina, which makes the journey take a good portion of the day. Unfortunately, leaving from Capo, we had a severe delay and then a cancellation, which caused us to miss our transfer in Messina. Between this delay and a two-hour layover on the return trip, we had a chance to explore the area around Messina Centrale station. There are many cool murals.

Despite the occasional problems experienced, we enjoy being able to take the train. This trip has some very nice views of Mt. Etna. As well, when arriving in Messina, you can see the toe of the 'boot' of Italy.

Mt. Etna

We had an overcast day, but perhaps you can make out Italy's mainland across the water?

Upon arrival in Augusta, we were very happy with our weekend accommodations. The apartment was right on the water, with views of both the east and the west. It was also very close to cousin Nelly's apartment, as well as a manageable walk from the train station.

John liked looking at the fish. Our apartment is the window in the top left corner. This is the balcony facing west, basically dangling over the water.

Sunrise from the back balcony.

Sunset from the front balcony, which also had a nice view of the gate leading into the historical center.

The apartment also had some cute design elements. I love the chalkboard fridge. There was also a very nice neighbor, Domenico, who gifted us some wine and cookies.

We had a lovely weekend visiting with cousins and friends: Nelly and Carmelo, Salvatore, and another Salvatore. Everyone welcomed us warmly. We ate, drank, and conversed well!

Colazione with Nelly and Carmelo. What a beautiful location for the bar! Our apartment is in that cluster of buildings to the right. 

We returned to the same bar that evening for aperitivo with friend Salvatore, who is fun and shares our love of travel. Campari Spritz, yum! 

Cena with cousin Salvatore. We enjoyed catching up and looking at the family tree together.

Pranzo with Nelly and Carmelo at a restaurant we enjoyed on our last visit. It was our first time trying caponata, delicious (as was everything). Carmelo stopped by a bakery to get some special cannoli for dessert. Good times!

After pranzo, Carmelo and Nelly took us to a nearby seaside village, Brucoli, to see the castle. The castle was built at the end of the 15th century by King John II of Aragon. The town is very cute. I can see why it's a popular summer destination.

Cousin Salvatore is a talented photographer, and he photographs Brucoli quite often, so I'm sharing one of his photos here. Bravo!

Unlike last year's visit to Augusta, we were not investigating ancestry and checking out the historical center. So, I have just a few additional random pictures to share ...

Cousin Jamie

Jamie Lombardo is one of John's distant cousins who I connected with a while back via Ancestry. She and others in her family group (descendants of Liborio Lombardo and Vincenza Mule) turned out to be an interesting DNA puzzle early on. Back in 2018, I first discovered that this group were cousins to John via his Milano (maternal grandmother, Maria Milano) line.

Shared ancestors, in green, are Vito Lombardo + Maria Papa. These are John's 4th great-grandparents. Circled in red is John's line. Giovanni Milano + Maria Lombardo are the paternal grandparents of Maria Milano, John's maternal grandmother. Circled in blue is Jamie's family group line. Vito Lombardo and Caterina Catalano are the parents of Liborio Lombrdo (m. to Vincenza Mule), the couple from who Jamie's family group descends.

This is a photo of Vincenza Mule (left) with her children. John Pinella, one of Jamie's cousins, and DNA match to John kindly shared it with me. Jamie's grandfather is the little boy, third in front row.

Tree view of children of Liborio Lombardo + Vincenza Mule. Aside from Jamie and John Pinella, I've identified one other DNA match in this family group, Virginia Lombardo Esely, and one family tree / records match, Danette Fitzgerald. 

Ancestry Profile Pics of cousins from this family group. Does anyone notice family resemblances?

This was exciting to solve, especially since it was early in my genealogy efforts. However, I was a bit puzzled: For this level of relationship (around the 5th cousin range, depending on the person), the amount of shared DNA seemed too high. A bit later, my puzzle was solved when I made another discovery: This family group was related to John another way! Vincenza Mule and John's maternal grandfather Giovanni Impellizzeri were distant cousins.

Shared ancestors, in green, are Giovanni Impellizzeri + Benedetta Terrana. These are another set of John's 4th great-grandparents. Circled in red is John's line. Giuseppe Impellizzeri + Francesca Ragona are the parents of John's maternal grandfather Giovanni Impellizzeri. Giovanni Mule + Maria DeBlasi are the parents of Vincenza Mule. We have several cousins identified from this couple (e.g. Kelly Conrad, Marie Impellizzeri Woodrum, and Viviana Marrone), so they are also cousins to Jamie and her family group.

Another sample for family resemblance purposes. On the left, Milanos (Lombardos for our purposes here) and Impellizzeris, contemporaries of the Lombardo - Mules, on the right.

This was very interesting and satisfying. Then, in early 2022, I discovered that Maria Milano was also an Impellizzeri going back about 5-6 generations. That's too complicated to show here, but the basic takeaway is that now this family group is related to John a third way! Again on the Impellizzeri side, but going way back, at something like 11th cousin level. This wouldn't result in any shared DNA, but it certainly is fascinating!

So what does all of this have to do with Capo D'Orlando? Well, Jamie contacted me and said that she and her family would be making a trip to Italy, including several days in Sicily, and asked if we would like to meet up. Certamente! Since her family had a car, they came over to Capo D'Orlando for a beach day. We had a wonderful day visiting at the beach, having lunch, and going out for gelato and granita! 

New cousins! Jamie and her precious girls Emma and Aria. We had fun at the beach and our lunch. The girls were showing us things to do with editing and Snapchat. John was quite impressed with their video editing skills. And, of course, there were funny Snapchat things ...

Sampling granita and gelato at our favorite bar.

A lovely end to a lovely day.

In a case of small world, while we were chatting on the beach, Jamie and Ray mentioned meeting a man the day before at a beach closer to their lodging. The man was metal detecting on the beach, and they started chatting. They said his name was Pasquale. I said, "No way. We have a friend Pasquale who metal detects. I bet it's the same guy." So we compared photos, and yes it was. 

We met Pasquale the same way, and after chatting a long while, we asked if he'd like to go have a coffee. In the Sicilian way, he insisted on treating, even though we invited. Later, Pasquale sent me some Italian lessons via WhatsApp. It's exactly these types of interactions and this warmth and kindness that makes Capo D'Orlando so attractive. We're looking forward to returning in October. Non vedo l'ora!