Lipari Caper

Sono a Lipari sull'isola di Lipari nelle Isole Eolie. 

I am in Lipari on the island of Lipari in the Aeolian Islands. As I climb the thirty-six steps to my room, open windows in the stairwell let in the fragrance of jasmine so thick I almost trip on it.

I arrived on the ferry from Salina. My car is parked in a pay parking lot about two blocks from my hotel. The man at the desk told me I could park it in a nearby free lot, which sounded like a good idea until he told me I had to leave a new slip of paper on the dashboard every hour from 8 a.m to 8 p.m. showing the time I'd parked there, as it's really only one hour free parking but you can stay longer if you keep on changing your time. This sounded charming and Italian and more than a little insane to me, so I opted to pay instead of play.

As in most places I've visited in Sicily, wild caperi (caper vines) are everywhere. They tumble voluptuously from cracks between weathered bricks and in ancient stone walls.

Capers are a big deal in Sicily, as well they should be. Not only are they pretty as jewels and delicious in most everything but panna cotta...

...they also hold the honor of having the most peculiar propagation method of any plant I know personally.

You already know, being a foodie, that capers are actually the bud of the capparis spinosa. What you may not know is that caper plants also make a fruit, an oval pod which is quite edible if picked and pickled young. If not picked and pickled, the pod ripens and then the pod pops open. Now this is the part that gets good.

Inside the pod are the seeds of the capparis spinosa. These seeds are immersed in a liquid, a libation of which lizards are inordinately fond. When the lizards come to drink this liquid, the lizards step in the liquid and the seeds stick to their toes. I know, you think I'm making this up, and I don't blame you, but I'm not. Then the lizards go capering and climbing up stone walls, as lizards are compelled to do, inadvertently proceeding to plant caper seeds in every crevice to which they caper! And that, my dears, is how capers are disseminated by capering lizards.

Do not ever say this not an educational column.

And now, on with the show.

 

I hadn't planned on visiting Lipari, to tell the truth. It is one of the more touristy spots in the Aeolians and I was shying away from touristy spots after being in Taormina. But my glimpse of it from the deck of the ferry on the way to Salina made me less wary. In late September, many of the tourists had gone home. Lipari looked appealing.

Lipari is, in fact, enchanting.

As it turns out, the town is small and walkable, and although busy in the evenings, has a fine combination of locals and visitors. The first early evening, I found Cafe La Precchia on the main street, which is mostly a walking street. I stopped for a pre-dinner Aperol spritz, a libation I like as much as lizards love caper-liquor. That's when I met Roberta, who brought me my spritz accompanied by a little munchy.

"Roberta!" I said, in English, as Roberta speaks excellent English. "You expect me to eat this before dinner?" I shouldn't have said a thing, as the following evening she brought me two of them.

Roberta studied English in London but she speaks with an American accent. She doesn't know why this is true, but she doesn't mind a bit. She actually was just in Lipari for the summer season waiting tables. The rest of the year she lives near Venice where she works in marketing and communication for Italy's rugby team. Things were slow up there during the team's hiatus, so she decided to go south and make some money. Roberta and I hit it off immediately.

Her fellow waiter, Francisco, lives in Lipari and seems to know everyone at the restaurant.

Talking with Roberta, witnessing Francisco in action, and sipping excellent Aperol spritzes are three big reasons I went back to La Precchia. The other is the people-watching. 

I discovered that, in the evening, the passegiata passed right past my table. I have heard passegiata described as "the art of taking a walk in the evening". That is a perfect definition.

I believe everyone in town comes out to stroll. I saw families large and small, groups of teenage and pre-teen girls and boys, couples young and old, groups of women and groups of men. The older men often walked with one or two hands behind their backs, except for the ones who were holding babies. Nobody hurries. People greet each other as they pass. Even the young children say "ciao!" to adults they know. Gelato cones are popular for every age. 

I can't help, of course, but reflect upon this social custom compared to evenings in the U.S. and other countries where people separate into their own compartments at night. This same old custom exists in many towns of Mexico. People come out to show off a new baby, to exchange news, to flirt, to chat, to see one another and to be seen. 

Eventually I tore myself away and found a restaurant that had been recommended to me. And yes, even after Roberta's antipasto, I had plenty of room for this dinner.

Afterwards, I took a stroll of my own through pretty Lipari.

Then one morning a few days later, a gynormous ferry from Naples appeared from around the point and swallowed my car and me in one bite.

Nothing else happened. That's my story and I'm sticking to it. 

 

Comments

[Char]

I love the capering lizards...and the 'art' of taking the evening walk...perfectly lovely. The Italians seem to know the art of slowing down and enjoying life to it's fullest, just 'being'...no wonder it's such a wonderful country...glad to hear Mexico is similar.

[Sheri]

Wow what a beautiful place! I wonder if we can get them to make us Aperol Spritses at La Playa. I tried to make them in Colorado but it wasn't quite the same.