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| The sun returns this morning...blue skies and fair weather--just like we like it. We are heading towards Caltagirone, a very famous ceramics town about an hour to the north and west. The town is also noted for its "Scala Santa"....a long stairway (142 steps) in the center of town where each riser is decorated with ceramic tiles of different designs. Again the scenery along the route makes the drive worthwhile...even if there were no destination. Still more fields full of wild flowers...yellows, reds, purples...along with rolling hills and dramatic vistas. Entering town (after only one wrong turn when we miss the centro sign), we find the roads to the center well marked but extremely narrow with many tight turns. After a couple of tight squeezes and a very sharp left turn, we emerge in a broader street--just at the bottom of the famous staircase. We make another circle and find a legal parking space only steps from the center of town. After buying the required parking ticket, Diana walks into the first ceramics store that we pass. She is very taken with the workmanship in the store but hesitates to buy without checking out some other shops, so we continue on. While I climb the 142 steps of the Scala Santa, Diana checks out a few other stores. Today the stairs also have colorful plants arranged in elaborate designs that are apparent only when you look at the whole thing. When I come back down the stairs, Diana tells me that the first store is far and away the best. We stop for a cold drink at a nice outdoor bar....and give the bar man a quick pronunciation lesson when he asks us how to pronounce the word "straw". We continue walking around the centro...window shopping in other ceramics stores and admiring the very handsome "centro storico". Finally, we return to the first store--the lady is somewhat surprised to see that we came back--and buy a few items--including a pair of candlesticks. We drive to the bottom of town looking for the public gardens and the Museo della Ceramica. We make a quick visit to the Museum...there are some very nice pieces--especially Greek vases from the 5th century B.C. - how sophisiticated and modern they appear - and some examples of local Caltagirone work from the 16th century. We eat a picnic lunch in the very beautiful public gardens...it is carefully tended and virtually trash free; we have it just about to ourselves and enjoy the "best tomatoes" in the world, prosciutto, calabrian salami, cheese, olives and delicious bread--a real feast. Next stop is the nearby town of Grammichele--notable for its plan drawn up to rebuild the town after the 1693 earthquake. There are six streets that radiate from the main piazza and the plan was to continue the plan with piazzas at each of the proposed concentric rings that were to be buillt around the center of town. The system broke down after a while and only a few of the first ring of piazzas were built....the project is more appreciated in theory than in its actual execution. Back on the road again...the drive from Caltagirone to Grammichele was full of beautiful scenery and lots of wild flowers but it was topped by the drive out of Grammichele towards Vizzini. We were not even sure that we were on the right road, but the drive was so lovely--green rolling hills and the everpresent flowers--that we didn't care. It turns out that we ended up in the right place and headed for a long, roundabout route to our next destination--the hill town of Chiaramonte Gulfi--famous for it's embroidered lace. Heading out of Vizzini, we are blissfully enjoying yet another scenic masterpiece.....when the road begins to deteriorate--very badly. Soon it is basically a mud track and we are forced to concede that we have taken the wrong road. We manage to turn around and head back to Vizzini.....approaching from this direction, the directional signs to the next town (Monterosso Almo) are more visible. This road has even more spectacular scenery....the hills are more rugged and the road is even more winding. We pass by Monterosso Almo (you can't stop in every interesting town you pass by--otherwise you would never get very far) but we later read that the town was used as a major location for a film we liked very much--The Star Maker--and we wished we had at least driven through. Meanwhile, the weather is taking a turn for the worse....a steady drizzle begins as we near Chiaramonte Gulfi. We have a dramatic entrance into town...the road has brought us in above the town and we have a steep descent to reach the center. We are also arriving around 4:30 when the town is coming alive....usually a good thing. However, in this case, it is almost impossible to park near the center and the narrow winding streets make it difficult to stop anywhere. The town is very inviting and there is very nice signage everywhere...but my parking karma deserts us and we are tired--so we reluctantly give up and head back to Ragusa. We will try to come back another day. Back at the hotel, we find that our second replacement credit card has finally arrived...after a late delivery in Palermo and a long conversation with MBNA and Federal Express, they have redirected it to Ragusa. We hang out in the room until dinner time.... Since it is so unpleasant out, we decide to return to Fasolo, the restaurant we had enjoyed so much on our first night. The waiter seems very pleased to see us again and he gives us our "regular" table. When we tell him we had gone to Caltigirone during the day, he tells us that some relatives of his came to visit during the weekend and all they wanted to do was go to Caltagirone and buy ceramics. I decide to have a local "rustic" pizza...with sausage and mozzarella; it is the best pizza I have eaten in Italy--not great praise in itself since I am not a fan of Italian pizza--but it is really very good. Diana has a marinated shrimp dish to start--they are like ceviche and not cooked before marinating; she is taken aback by the texture at first but ends up enjoying them. She then has a repeat of the dish she liked so much the first night--fagottini (pasta pockets) filled with pear and cheese with a delicious sauce. The waiter explains that the ingredients are gorganzola, cream and cacciocavalo cheese- she now understands why it tastes so good.. The Italian family at the next table has a small baby and we end up playing with her and her sister and talking to the mother.....even though I fear that our Italian is worse now than it was years ago, we manage to communicate. We also enjoy watching the two single men at separate tables having a lively conversation with each other and then simultaneously getting on their mobile phones. We tell the waiter that we hope to see him again and he says that he would like that very much. The rain has stopped as we walk back to the hotel. |
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