La Bella Vita : Going Back to our Roots

First of all, 90TH BLOG ENTRY!!!!! I have about 6200 page views right now (can you believe that? Thanks for being such dedicated readers!) and I’d like to hit 7000 before I leave Europe? I think we can do it!!!

Also, sorry if the layout is weird or if the font is different from my usual entries. I'm not 100% sure that everything is perfect and honestly I'm not interested in spending my vacation in Sicily worrying about that!

Annnnywayyyyy…

Best part of our wine party : the cannoli.

The next day we started our journey to Altavilla Milicia, the town where my great great great grandparents lived.

On top of the incredible scenery on the drive there (mountains on our left and beautiful coast on our right the entire time) we stopped in a town called Cefalu for lunch. It seems like everywhere you look along the coast there are mountains and deep blue water. It’s unlike any place I’ve ever been!

We arrived at our hotel (can I even call it that?) and my mind was blown. It’s a modern, huge complex with 2 pools and ocean access, music playing all the time, and overall just anything you could ask for in a resort.

At 7pm we were set to meet up with Michele, a distant relative. We came here because this is the town where my grandpa’s grandparents came from…so Michele is my great great grandpa’s brother’s grandson. So basically we’ll call him a cousin and leave it at that.

We knew he didn’t speak English so we were hoping he spoke a little French (because we surely don’t speak Italian) and he does! So the adventure started there for me!

We did introductions and headed out so he could show us around the town. Look at the car we got to ride in! I was literally having the time of my life.

We got to his house and that’s where the parallels between my Pappy and his cousin started to become evident…his front yard is a HUGE garden, bigger than I’ve ever seen, and he grows all sorts of things from mulberries to basil to herbs I’ve never even heard of. Then Michele’s wife Angela and his daughter Marta came out to join us. Angela speaks a little English, so that made it easier for everyone to communicate, but Marta doesn’t speak any.

After that, Angela joined us and we headed up into Altavilla to find my Pap’s grandparents’ house and the church they used to attend. The town is a little bit run down but it still has all the charm of a cute little Sicilian town! On the way to their house, we ended up meeting some more of our distant relatives (on the Lima side, for those of you interested)! It was surprising how much they resembled my family! Almost creepy to know that there are people who look so much like your family living across the world…

Anyway, we found our way to their house! Nobody lives in it now and it isn’t in great condition, but Michele told us that his friend (who is a doctor) bought the house. He was trying to get into contact with him so we could see it but he was working :(

 Finally we finished our tour of Altavilla Milicia and headed back to Michele and Angela’s house. Michele is a lawyer and he just built his new big house. In the garage he has several cars and motorcycles…but on top of that, he collects old family relics (just like my Pap!). It was eerie how similar his basement felt to my Pap’s.

Michele played us an old record with traditional Sicilian music on it (a record, just like my Pappy used to play for us when we were little!) and then he made me dance with him…my cousin Chris took a video of it so I’m going to post that once I get him to send it to me!

After dancing, we had dinner with them! They ordered us pizza (because the market was closed yesterday) and we also had sardines and artichokes. It was soooo nice of them to have dinner for us all, yet I’m not expected because that’s just how Europeans are. Something I’ll definitely miss (remind me to write an entry about European hospitability). We ate dinner in the basement, which my Pap says is a characteristic Italian thing? He said his grandparents used to do it.

I won’t lie, there definitely was a bit of a communication breakdown during dinner. I sat across the table from Michele and Angela so I wasn’t there to navigate in English, French, and Italian (somehow I can understand quite a bit of it when they speak!) and there were some lulls but eventually the ice was broken! Their daughters Marta and Ilde ate with us as well. 

After dinner we went upstairs and ate gelato! Then it was time to leave so we made plans to meet up today and explore the church and the town cemetery.

So today that’s just what we did. The cemetery is actually just a large grouping of mausoleums because the water table here is too high to bury people since we’re on a mountain. We found my grandpa’s great grandparents’ grave and found out that his grandpa actually had another sister that we didn’t know about! And on top of that, one of the workers was actually a distant cousin of ours! As it turns out, it seems like everyone in this tiny town is related. (Incest anyone? Not going to think about it…)

After that we went inside the church. My Pap and his sister were really happy because their grandparents used to talk about the church all the time. I have to say that it really was a beautiful church and it’s crazy that I walked throughout the same church as my ancestors…weird!

As it turns out, somewhere the spelling of our last name got messed up! My last name is supposed to be spelled the way it is on this mausoleum. Should I change it?...

After that we had lunch and then we went back to the hotel! Tomorrow we all part ways again. I’ll be spending 5 days in Palermo with Sergio, my aunt’s former exchange student! From what I’ve gathered, it’s going to consist mainly of parties, the beach, and food. And I’m totally okay with that.

One week until I’m home! I’m excited but also sad. I’m still going through the ups and downs of reverse culture shock/regular culture shock (but honestly it’s probably just the ups and downs of everyday life) but I really wouldn’t want to spend my ups and downs in any place other than where I am right now.

I'm so lucky to have had the opportunity to travel to my homeland (can I call it that?) with my family. This is a trip that I'll never forget.