Taormina Redux

Greetings:

Quiet day yesterday – laundry, groceries. We did have the pleasure of the company of our hosts, Grazia and Aldo Rompineve. Gini prepared some Bruschetta Americana, as Grazia named it. They were very gracious and brought wine and some local pistachio pastries and chocolate. We had earlier bought some bakery cookies as a small gift to them also.

The conversation was brisk and filled with a creative mix of Italian and English. Grazia is a lot like Chris with his Italian. She has a varied English vocabulary (better than Chris’ Italian vocabulary) but does not ‘hear it’ quite as well as she speaks it. Regardless, their company was wonderful. The only impasse came when Chris tried to explain that he taught mathematics and computers but, really, he taught ‘attitude’. Aldo was quick though and said “Ah – comportamento!”. We left it at that.

They will return Saturday night as we prepare to close up the apartment for our very early Sunday morning departure.

Today we had to return to Taormina. After Grazia boasted about all the ruins throughout Sicily we felt we had to do something cultural.

Taormina is next to Giardini Naxos, the first Greek settlement in Sicily (7th century BC). Naxos is on the coast and Taormina is up the cliffs on the coast. Even higher still is Castelmola:

A similar photo appeared in our first Taormina blog.

Upon arriving in Taormina we were not quite as lucky parking this time and after several swoops through Taormino Centro (Center) we were swallowed by a parking garage somewhere in the cliff. We were then left to negotiate the ‘lumbi’. None of the Italian dictionaries here have that word but there was an icon that implied ‘you gonna climb a lotta steps!’.

Our first stop was the Teatro Antico di Taormina. This was originally built by the Greeks but eventually taken over by the Romans and ‘remodeled’ throughout a couple of centuries.

This is one of the most breathtaking locations for a theater that we have ever seen. The stage is for current productions and made of wood. The area in front (orchestra) would have been for the Greek chorus with their choreographed movements and commentary. The middle archway behind the stage had collapsed and has not been reassembled as of yet.

There are definitely larger theaters throughout the Greco-Roman world such as in Siracusa and Ephesus. Here, however, the seating and overall construction must have been one of the most spectacular.

The arch in the lower left corner was for the tunnel that allowed animals to enter the amphitheater. This was after the Romans decided they were not making any money showing plays so they would go for sea battles and gladiatorial combat, WWF-style. This tunnel actually replaced the first two rows of seats which were made of marble stenciled with the names of the upper class Taorminians who had been given privileged berths. The Romans thought that this was a good way to show the imperial pecking order and introduce the local VIP’s to their new status.

Above the seats you can see small archways. These were each filled with a statue and flowers. Above the arches are the remains of a portico which allowed the patrons to walk around the semi-perimeter of the top along with providing shade through overhanging awnings.

We were fortunate to both have electronic aural guides (the ticket seller only charged us for one) and enjoyed the narrations as we were led throughout the theater. Behind the portico we saw the nearby straits of Messina and could visualize, to the narration, Odysseus’ encounter with Scylla and Charybdis and further south his encounter with the cyclopi at AciTrezzi. We were both weeping before long. Sigh!

To complete the immersion into paradise we entered the shopping district of Taormina which is experienced through a ‘pedonale’ or pedestrian-only walkway.

We could still hear the fading echoes of the grand conch shell that is blown every morning to gather the pilgrims of fashion and shopping.

Gini feels that some of the stores in Venice are still a notch above here but three figure prices in Euros for shoes abound here.

Thankfully everyone was still on midday break and temptation only allowed for coveting our neighbor’s goods.

As we walked there would be a break in the promenade along the stores for a piazza and a church with a breathtaking view of the Ionian Sea:

Those are cacti in the background.

So gather all your money and head here to Taormina in March through May, September to November. What a way to go.

Since eventually we did have to go, we took one last look north from the heights of Taormina:


Tomorrow will probably take us all day to gather our things and straighten the apartment as we prepare for our 6:15 AM drive to Catania Sunday morning to fly to Naples. Then we are on to Positano. We do hope to talk to Chip tomorrow via Skype, meet with the Rompineves once more and have dinner at the fish restaurant, La Vecchia Posta, before we bid Torre Archirafi arrivaderci.

In summary it would seem that in comparison to the winter in New Hampshire we have made a good choice for our first retroment escape. There is a constant reminder everywhere we go that Sicily would truly blossom in another month or two. The people have been either non committal or very friendly, mostly the latter. Torre Archirafi feels very safe and is well located for what we wanted to do. Palermo is a two hour drive but well worth it according to Grazia and Aldo. Maybe next time. Agrigento also needs to be visited and during better weather there are an incredible number of nature parks, hiking and biking trails and wonders of Mount Etna. As for the Mafia one would have to go to the west of Sicily to feel their presence – or so we are told.