Messina
is the port we docked at in Sicily and from there we visited several villages.
Messina was founded as a Greek colony in the 8th century BC. (hard to get my
mind around ) It played a major role in European history, through the Roman
Empire and the Middle Ages. We had booked a private tour with 8 other cruisers
to visit a once little known Sicilian villages, way up in the mountains of
Sicily. It was called the ‘Godfather Tour” by the local Sicilian who picked us
up from the port.
Our
driver took us to his own village first. We drove through the city streets,
over the surrounding hills and then high up into the mountains on narrow
switch-back hair-pin roads. The mountain and valley, were breathtakingly beautiful as
the mists and clouds were still rising from the floors of the valleys.
Our
first village visit was to Savoca, where our driver lives. He very proudly
described life in the village and then showed us around. Savoca is a small
medieval village which was only a dot on a map with no tourists, until it was
chosen as the location spot for the movie “The Godfather”. Today thousands of
movie buffs and inquisitive tourists visit this tiny village perched on the
edge and top of a mountain. How large tourists buses manage to negotiate the
snake like roads is a wonder to behold. We watched in wonder from our spot on
the small Savoca village plaza courtyard as a coach backed up and back and
re-backed, back and forth on every bend until the load of tourists was
delivered safely. They then would have had to repeat this exercise on their
return.
We
visited ‘Vitelli bar’, the local bar/restaurant used in the movie. Ken posed
for a photograph, beneath the window and in the chair where in Al Pacino was
sitting when he was shot at. Then we continued our walk through the tiny
mountain village. We passed the local homes perched on the edge of the narrow
walkway some small shops with Godfather merchandise and a bakery. We’d smelled
the aromas of freshly baked bread, long before we were enthusiastically offered
samples of crunchy peanut biscuits, slithers of garlic bread and olive bread
knobs.
Next we
began a long, slow climb up an ancient, narrow cobbled panoramic promenade
towards a large grey church building, seated above the mountain-hugging
village. On the way we stopped to look at the archaeological ruins of a
synagogue whose arched entrances are still standing. I had to wonder why this
worshipping place for Jewish believes had been built in such a remote place.
Could it have been to escape Roman persecutions at the time?
After
stopping several times, to enjoy the mountain views we finally reached our goal,
where the promenade ended, at the Santa Lucia Church which is now famous
because it too was used in the “Godfather ” movie for the marriage of Al Pacino
and Apollinia. It was built in the 11th century and is very plain on the
outside, probably because of its’ isolation , the great sculptors we employed
in larger cities and the villages would not have had he finances to hire
artisans or cart heavy marble slabs to decorate their church. However, the
inside is a joyous sight to behold. Brightly coloured frescoes cover the walls,
ornaments and a carved wooden communion table and chairs adorns the altar area
and the stain-glass windows whilst modest are beautiful. The Santa Lucia church
building is not small for such a tiny village and It does have an impressive
bell tower which peeled as we were walking up to the church entrance. The walk
back down was easier but we still stopped to ‘drink in’ he amazing views over
the mountains and enjoy the peacefulness of this village even as the hoards of
tourist could be seen arriving in the tiny parking spot near the Vitelli bar
which they headed for, with cameras at the ready. We left in our small van and
headed down the hair-pin trail , heading to our next village .
Our next charming medieval village was Forza D’Agro , a great name to pronounce- so Italian! But then it IS! Without a doubt it is the best example of a typical village of the Province of Messina. It still has its medieval street layout and on all sides of the town there are incredible views back over the coast.
Many of
the homes are built right on the ‘walkways’, so that their entrance doors open
out onto the cobbled streets. Others are built up high on the mountain hillside
and can only be reached by steeply curved stone stairways. These people must
have so much stamina when it comes to getting the shopping up to the kitchen!
Matthew and Ken cart my shopping to the kitchen from the garage down 4 steps so
we get it easier by far. We passed some of the village market stores on our way
around the town and we realised just how high up we were when we looked through
an archway where we saw a view of the modern city and beaches, way, way, way
below us.
own
Our
final village tour was Castelmola. The views of the ocean as we travelled lower
down the mountain were spectacular. It had a pleasant stroll around this
medieval town with its narrow, winding, cobbled, volcanic stone walkways which
were lined with row upon row of narrow triple-storey attached houses. In
medieval times the bottom storey was used as the barn for storing grain,
animals like cows, donkeys and a few sheep or goats. The middle level was where
the family cooked and ate and the upper room was the sleeping room. A ladder
led from the barn to the other levels. Today people still live in these ancient
dwellings but they have added electricity, water and a bathroom in the barn
area. They also have steep, narrow stairs instead of ladders and the barn is
used as an extra bedroom or for an elderly family member who cannot climb the
stairs. Today there are also buildings which have been converted into larger
stately homes by redesigning and combining several of the older homes together.
Sadly many of the young people have left these villages to find work in bigger
cities and we saw many homes that are deserted because their owners have moved
away and only come back here for short holidays away from the stress of city
life. Others have left and cannot sell their tiny 3 storey buildings as need
many repairs and are falling into disrepair because the cost of updating them
is exorbitant. What they will become of them is a worry for the local council
as some rock-cancer decay causes parts of these old structures to fall and the
owners are not contactable. In Australia, councils can condemn a dangerously
neglected property and either, demolish it or take over the property, repair it
and sell it. The Italian councils either cannot afford to carry out these
procedures or do not have authority, if the owners of such property cannot be
found or if the owners refuse to make their property safe.
Just
below this village lies the ancient city of Taormina which presented another
whole adventure which you can read about under Sicily 2.
