Sicily in my Blood

I have landed on the island of my ancestors.

The emotional connection was immediate, from the first smile from Peppe, the tall and gangly cabdriver sent to meet me, to the row of aged eucalyptus trees lining the road away from the Catania airport. We drove for nearly an hour south, through countryside marred in the Catania outskirsts with industry and factories. Quiet Peppe became nearly chatty on the drive, starting with my remark that this was sure a long tunnel. "Three kilometers," he replied...but the floodgates were open as much as they maybe ever are with him and he told me a bit about himself, that he was born in Siracusa and went to university in Siena. His pride was evident as we approached his hometown.

I am headquartered in the oldest part of Siracusa, called Ortigia. It is twenty-seven hundred years old, first settled by Corinthians from Greece. Traces of its ancient past remain, in the ruins of a major temple to Appolo which sit beside the bustling daily market.

Driving into Ortigia took my breath away. It is exquisite.

(Hmmm, how did that get in there?)

I was welcomed at my quirky rental apartment by Andrea and Barbara. Andrea speaks some English and presented me with my traditional Sicilian welcome package, innocuous looking enough, but each one filled with marzipan.

This is the view from the terrace upon which I write at this moment.

I napped that late afternoon, as I had arrived (is this becoming a pattern?) in the midst of a thunderstorm. The following morning, I went out to begin exploring this walkable island, only a kilometer long and half that wide, connected by short bridges to the mainland and Siracusa proper. Near the center of the island is the Duomo, and a continuation of the depth of the history lesson evident in Ortigia.

On this very site, in the fifth century B.C., the Greeks built a temple to Athena. It was big, as Siracusa was the most important city in the entire Magna Graecia, with a population of 300,000. The current Roman Catholic cathedral was built 1200 years later, incorporating the immense Doric columns of the original temple. Inside the church is a schematic showing which parts, and they are considerable, remain of Athena's temple.

From the outside, the church is elegant in its comparative simplicity to the ornate cathedrals of Northern Italy. The columns inside the entry are vine-wrapped and graceful

All down the length of the Cathedral are the weathered and dramatic columns of Athena's temple, still the structural supports of the church.

Ortigia is an island of goddesses. Legend has it that Artemis (Diana to the Romans) was born here, then (an infant of great resource) helped her mother Leta back to Greece where Leta gave birth to Apollo, twin brother of Artemis. Goddess of the hunt, of the moon, and protector of young women, Artemis, a daughter of Zeus, came to the aid of her handmaiden Aretusa who was being harrassed by an insistent suitor. She changed the nymph Aretusa into a spring of fresh water to save her from the unwelcome advances. But Alpheus, the suitor, was a god of water, so he turned himself into a stream of water and joined himself forever to Aretusa. You win some, you lose some, huh, Artemis?

This statue tells the story.

And here, according to legend and a block from where I am staying, is Aretusa's spring.

Athena and Artemis were women of strength, capacity, ingenuity and great power. They are two of the "virgin goddesses", which does not necessarily mean what it means nowadays. Rather, they chose to live independently and free of male constraint. They are two of my guides on this adventure. The world is yours, they say. Stand tall and stride. And so I do.

By the way -- yes, I did go out to eat when the rain stopped that thunderstorm night. Yes, I did visit the marvelous market the following day. And yes, I have met some delightful people...all of which I will share with you next.

Comments

[Robert Lee]

I love this post, and am following all of your Italy adventures with great interest. Thanks, as always, for the photos and for blogging in general. Lee

[Char]

Can't wait! Looks wonderful!

[Allen]

Home at last! I can feel your emotion as you write about Sicliy. Can't wait to read more. And although your food photos are quite wonderful (as previously requested)...photo #7 wasn't shabby. Haha!