Heading to Taormina

We are in the back of the car, with our favorite driver, Giovanni, regaling us with stories of his wife and child and the surrounding towns. We will be in Sicily do a few more days, but a different Sicily — the American version, I fear.

Noto is a tourist town, but a tourist town that caters to Italians. We did not meet many English speakers. It is run down by American standards, but that is the point — Brad said it took a lot of time to make this patina. Why do we feel the need to make everything perfect? The aging of the buildings here is like the aging of women and men — it gets more interesting, not less. Yes, you need to do repairs and maintenance, but isn’t it supposed to exude a bit of history? Shouldn’t you be curious about it’s past? There’s a mystery to it that speaks to me and always has. It’s why I hate Disneyland and love Europe — there is mystery and stories to discover. I’ve always preferred older men, older homes, older people — there is a depth to it all.

Taormina will be Sicily very well taken care of and suitable for framing. And I want to go, and it will be extraordinary, and we will enjoy it tremendously, but it won’t capture my heart the way Ortigia did 30 years ago, and still does.

The Sicilians, like the Maltese, are a very cosmopolitan bunch. They travel, they read, they discuss world politics over coffee and they realize how long it takes for things to change. They look at their centuries’ old towns and rest knowing that even if an earthquake comes and destroys it all, they will rebuild and go on. Now there is a whole group of mostly southern Italians that are so beaten down by generations of discrimination and suppression that are pro Putin and Le Pen. They like the strong man because he makes them them feel the power they will never have. I feel for them — they are lost, have been ignored and feel they will never be recognized. Their only hope is to throw their lot in with the aggressor that promises to protect them and gives them crumbs after taking the rest for himself. It’s an ancient tale, and one that survives. I see it more clearly here, as we always do when we’re away from our environment.