La Festa di San Giacomo

On Saturday, Dorota, a Polish girl I met in Bologna last year, arrived in Catania for a language course. Yesterday, we took a bus to Caltagirone, a hilltop town an hour an a half away from Catania to attend the Festa di San Giacomo, a festival celebrating the town’s patron saint that occurs on the 24th and 25th of July.

As I began to research my thesis topic back in the winter, I came across this festival and knew that I had to see it, regardless of whether I would concentrate my research on city plans, or architectural decoration. This is entirely because of La Scala Illuminata, “the illuminated staircase,” when La Scala di Santa Maria del Monte, a monumental staircase of 142 steps, is decorated with candles placed inside of colored paper bags. Through my limited research, I came across photographs of the staircase from previous years, and I knew that I had to see it in person.

The trip was haphazardly planned: I mentioned to Dorota that I wanted to see this several months ago, and we had been planning on going, but then we found out there were no late buses back to Catania on the weekend (the latest leaves Caltagirone around 7:00 pm). We briefly contemplated staying up all night, then taking the earliest bus at 6:00 am, but then decided that that was a poor decision, as we both had things to do on Monday. Unfortunately, there are no hostels in Caltagirone (which is why we entertained the idea of staying up all night), then 3 hours before our bus we made some calls and found a room for 35 euro per person. Not cheap, but definitely not the most expensive option. Having figured that out, we felt more comfortable bringing our cameras, which was well worth it in the end.

The bus ride to Caltagirone was crowded with kids from Palagonia, the only other stop, returning home on the last bus at 5:30 after a day at the beach. I sat next to a lawyer from Caltagirone, and we chatted about my thesis, America, Italy, and Sicilian Baroque. He ended up giving me advice on a few places to see (mostly places in Noto and Palermo). Also, the countryside near Caltagirone was gorgeous, and I could not stop taking pictures of it.





When we arrived in Caltagirone, the first thing Dorota and I noticed was that it was not hot! There was a cool breeze and the temperature in this hilltop town was closer to 80 than the 95 we had been accustomed to in Catania. Toward the end of the night, it was getting quite chilly, and I almost wished that I had packed my light sweater.

After checking into the hotel, we went on a mission to find the staircase (easy: just follow the crowd), and were distracted my some more beautiful panoramic views of the countryside, and beautiful churches in the centro storico. We eventually found the staircase, just in time to take pictures of it, and views from the the top of it, before nightfall.







The pattern shows San Giacomo (St. James) on a horse. After a brief search (http://www.santiebeati.it/dettaglio/21250) I found out that he is the patron saint of pilgrims (think pilgrimages to Santiago de Compostela in Spain), knights, soldiers, and rheumatic illnesses. (To me, the first three seem related, the last one not remotely.)

At 9:00, the procession began at one church in the centro storico, and then wound around the town for the next several hours. It began with a giant tent, followed by church officials, monks, people in 17th century dress, a reliquary, a statue of San Giacomo under a baldacchino, and a marching band. Upon seeing the reliquary and the statue, most people crossed themselves and some shouted "Viva San Giacomo!"

At 9:30, the staircase was lit by hundreds of people. They covered the staircase beforehand, slowly lighting the candles and moving away to eventually reveal the masterpiece.





It was an amazing trip, and there's another festival with La Scala Illuminata August 14th and 15th, and I'm sorely tempted to go.

Cupcakes and Barbara Beach

My weekend began this week on a Thursday, with a "Cupcake/Alcol Party" planned by me and a couchsurfer I've been seeing a bit lately, Vale. She wanted to cook some "American sweets" so we made chocolate chocolate chip cookies, peanut butter cookies, chocolate cupcakes with buttercream frosting, and chocolate chip pancakes. Besides a few burnt cookies, it all turned out well, and we invited over a few of Vale's friends, and many couchsurfers I'd met. It was an international evening, with Italians, Americans, a Swede, and a Korean, who was a friend of another couchsurfer. The Swedish girl stayed the night, as she was visiting Catania from Modica, where she lives in a B&B and teaches English to the owner's children, and coming to my party was a last minute decision.

The next day, I woke up too early (it's getting to be so hot here!) and cleaned. (Aside: maybe I should have more parties, the apartment is always cleaner afterward) The Swede and I went to get a granita (I got almond a strawberry) before she got on the bus back to Modica. She invited me to Modica, a 2 hour bus trip from Catania, which I should take her up on, as it's known for its "Baroque center."

Then, last night I went out with Vale and a friend of hers I had met the week before to another discoteca on the beach called Barbara Beach. (Before getting there, I thought it was Barabara beach.)

This discoteca is unusual in that, while it does have the mandatory "house" dance floor, it specializes in rock, and the rock dance floor is much larger, and much more crowded. The night started at 11, and we got there maybe around 11:30. There was a live band from Palermo playing, which was very good, but no one was dancing yet. Instead, we got a drink, sat in the sand, touched the water (it always seems warmer at night) and chatted. After the band, the dj came back on and started playing rock music, and everyone started to dance.

What was also unusual about this place was that just as many men, if not more, were dancing here: in my previous experience, in Catania, Bologna and Rome, much more women are on the dance floor, and the dancing men are just trying to find women. Instead, most people were just jumping around, punching fists into the air, and moving too a music. There was very little sexy-dancing, let's call it, and hilariously, most of it came from guys, which was hilarious (one was dancing on a table).

The music was like a trip into the past. There were a few recent songs, like one by the Arctic Monkeys, but the majority was 90s favorites: Nirvana, REM, Weezer, Offspring, etc., and there were even some older favorites, like the Beach Boys and the Beatles. We danced for hours and had no unwelcome advances (thank goodness) and it was a great time.

Tonight, a friend I studied at the Bologna language school arrives in Catania, I hope I can show her the best of Catania, and even get some traveling done.

A summary of the past few weeks

While I do have internet at home, it's incredibly slow. Dial-up slow. So adding images to blogs, or sometimes even trying to look at a blog, is like watching paint dry at Lascaux. I'll try later to add some photos - now you'll just have to use your imagination.

Anyway here are some highlights from the past few weeks:

My roommate, Teresa, has invited me three times to have lunch at her mom's apartment. We travel by vespa, and arrive around 1:30 for lunch at 2:00. Lunch in Sicily is like a big family dinner in the US - multiple courses (pasta, salad, meat, eggplant parmigiana, followed by fruit - usually watermelon - and gelato) over about 1.5-2 hours. The last two times her brother's family was visiting. His wife is French, they live in London, and have a 4 month old baby, Carla. She was super cute, and sometimes when you smiled at her she'd stop fidgeting and smile back.



A few times Teresa and I have gone to visit our other roommate, Angela, at the hostel, where she is more than she's at home. I might have mentioned before that the alley is full of kittens, but now I have photographic proof! We also watched the World Cup final there, among a very international crowd staying at the hostel.



I've decided to start using couchsurfing as a way to meet more people and practice my Italian. I've been having a pretty good track record meeting interesting people, and I've decided it's a bit like trying on shoes: some you figure out relatively quickly that they're not for you, others you never want to take off. I met up with one girl, Valentina, and we talked for several hours walking around Catania and going to the Internetteria (an internet point and cafe). She invited me to Ragusa and we went on Thursday. It was incredibly gorgeous Baroque town.







We walked around, had lunch with her friends (who were as kind as she is) and had fantastic gelato at a gelateria/enoteca (wine store) called DiVini (a play on words meaning "divine" and also "of wines"). They had gelato flavors like white wine, red wine, rosé, ricotta, pistacchio, carob, and many, many more. I got carob and ricotta, and I'm still dreaming about it.

To understand the discoteche

The music you could hear in a discoteca is a mish-mash of English/American, Italian, and house music. Sometimes they play real oldies - like "The Twist," Beach Boys, and the Beatles. Other times, some American rock music may come on - but usually it's at least 5 years old. One night I was laughing the entire time - the DJ played everything from U2 to Good Charlotte. A friend asked my what was so funny when Good Charlotte was on, and I said this music is 10 years old; almost exactly 10 years ago I received my first CD for my 11th birthday - Good Charlotte's self-titled album. And then, of course, there's the house music. The pounding, pulsating beats and electronic voice of house, which you cannot listen to without dancings at least a little bit.

So in addition to the previous post about the beach clubs, this video provides a bit of audio - "the most popular song of the summer" they're calling it. To get the full impression - start the video at 0:47 - you never hear the full version on the dance floor.

Shopping, and the Wild West

In addition to supermarkets and mini-marts, Catania has great open air markets, which, unfortunately, occur from about 9-1, when the library's open. So today I took the day off and went to the Museo Civico and did some shopping.

One market takes place in the newer part of town (i.e. ugly fascist architecture) and when I went there to look at an apartment last week, which was really lovely, all I saw of the open market were stalls filled with cheap clothes, shoes, and general knick-knacks. The other market, called "la pescheria" or the fish shop I think because it was originally just that - is almost entirely made up of food stalls. It's in the older part of town, and takes up several "blocks" of windy streets near the Piazza Duomo. Each block has a different theme - fruit and vegetables, meat, cheese, fish, bread, etc., and behind some stalls are some mini-marts.



It's an incredible sight to see - so much food and color! Also, the prices are incredible: I bought 3 plums and 2 peaches for 50 cents (that's 62.6 cents US).



Yesterday, I also did a bit of shopping, but of a different variety. In July, many, many stores in Italy have "i saldi" - something similar to Labor Day sales or Presidents' Day sales in the US, but lastly most of the month. I walked around via Etnea with my roommate, Teresa, and found a gorgeous pair of heels - something I had been looking for since realizing how uncomfortable my stiff metallic flats were, and also realizing that, although Italians are on the shorter side, the women usually go out in some sort of heel. Fortunately, these gorgeous shoes were "in saldo," so I gave in.



After that, I met up with Daniele, who told me that a shooting had taken place in Piazza Dante - where many humanities-esque departments are located. There was a protest against this "far-west" American-style shooting - with speakers saying that Catania was a civilized place and this would not be tolerated. Many people were there - including the chief of police, who Daniele knew (of course) and introduced me to - but no politicians showed up, and many people kept saying how terrible it was that there weren't there to support this "manifestazione" (protest).

I looked up the shooting the next day, and it turns out that two relatives had been fighting all day in the piazza, with one taunting the other by making the "corni" gesture at him - where your hands in a fist with the pinky and index finger extended towards someone. It's basically a non-verbal way of saying "go to hell." Around 1 pm, the man became so sick of his relative, that he pulled a pistol on him and fired several shots. Neither of the men were hurt, but he wounded a female university student who was walking through the piazza. The police arrested him later, who defended his actions by saying he was provoked.

At the protest, Daniele also introduced me to an archeology professor from Palermo who studied ancient Rome and Jerusalem. He told me that the 18th century church in Piazza Dante was never finished because the Vatican didn't want any church to be taller than Saint Peter's. That may have been true, but I went in this morning, and there was only a pamphlet saying they ran out of funds. Either way, it's interesting to see because it looks so strange - half finished with half columns and the upper brickwork exposed. The inside is bare and mostly under construction - with the most interesting part being the "Meridiana" - a line that runs through the majority of the transept and reveals the date due to the direction of the sunlight. Unfortunately due to the construction, you can only see the southern part of this - where July, August, and September are.

La Biblioteca Regionale Universitaria

(If you are not interested in Italian libraries/doing research in Italy this post may seem a bit boring. Ok, you’ve been warned.)

I mentioned a bit of this in my previous post, but I’ll risk repetition for a complete story:

I began research on Monday by taking a trip to the main library of the University of Catania (a whole 3 blocks from home), La Biblioteca Regionale, in Piazza Università. I then explained my project, showed my presentation letter from Chicago, and a woman, Geraldina, began to help me with finding books, and showing me around the library in general.

I first noticed how small the place is. There are a series of 3 small rooms, maybe each about 10’x15’ – the first has a small desk where you receive an entry number and have to put your bag in a “security bag” that only the staff can open and close. The second room is where the entire catalog is – rows of filing cabinets organized by author and subject, with drawers full of notecards. You fill out a request by hand including the catalog number, and wait for it to be retrieved for you. The last room is for photocopying and checking out books (I haven’t figured out which ones can be checked out – apparently none of the ones I need.) Off the last two rooms is a larger reading room with some reference books. There are eight large tables, which are never full, where you’re supposed to do all your reading.

What baffles me the most isn’t the lack of air conditioning, technology, or people, but how they handle their older books. In Chicago, requesting a rare book requires going online and requesting it maybe a day in advance, then going to the rare books collection, signing in after locking everything but a pencil and a notebook in a locker, signing a form, and then sitting in a glass room supervised by the staff. Here, requesting a book from the 18^th century is as easy as requesting one from the 21^st – submit that same form, and then get it 10 minutes later.

What was even more incredible is that one of the books I was reading, Vito Amico’s Lexicon Siculum Topographicum pub. 1757, was categorized as a dictionary, and therefore shelved with the reference books. Nothing needs to be submitted – you can just walk in and pick up a centuries-old book off the shelf.

Some of these older books I’m looking at have folded up maps on the inside – which to me seems crazy. I am almost certain that at the Reg they would remove these and then carefully unfold them, trying to cause as little damage as possible. Here, they are torn, missing pieces, and usually illegible along the folded lines. On one hand, I’m shocked that they would treat these books in this way. On another, I’m kind of pleased that they are kept like this – after all, they were meant to be read as books with map inserts and handled in this way.

Overall, I’m pleased with the amount of books – especially books containing 18^th century prints! – I’ve found in this library, but there are so many other libraries and archives I need to see! I feel as though I could drown in all the information I could potentially unearth – the task now is to narrow down so Geraldina will stop telling me how vague my topic is.

Settling into Catania

I have officially been in Catania for just over a week. Tara and I arrived after doing the “best of” in Rome for about 24 hours. We went from the Colosseum to the Vatican, and everything in between.

We arrived around 11 last Monday, and checked out the apartment I found online. It wasn’t exactly what I was hoping for. Yes, it did have a terrace and a large room, but we found a cockroach in the bathroom on the first tour of the place, and everything just seemed kind of dirty. Also, there was incredible traffic noise outside seemingly 24/7. Tara finally convinced me to search for another place, and off we went.

We first found about 20 numbers advertising apartments by looking at a bulletin board in a university building. After calling those, only one place was in the correct location, and also willing to rent to me for only 3 months, so we went to search for more. We found a paper of apartment listings, and managed to get 3 more appointments to visit.

We ended up looking at 4 places - one of which was horrible (sharing an apartment with a grandmother terrified of thieves, and wanted me to pay 700 euro at the beginning, all in cash), the other two all right, and the last one, the one I chose, was perfect. There are 4 female roommates, though I’ve only met two so far, it’s in between Piazza Dante and Piazza Università, and each has a library that I’ll probably be using in my research.



Here's a picture of the street next to mine - you can see all the way to the Mediterranean!
The view from my terrace - you also can see the sea, but it doesn't really show up in film.


My kitchen!

The other major plus is that the landlord’s son, Daniele, who seems to take care of pretty much everything with the apartment, happens to be the most social person in the world. He has decided to take me under his wing, which means accompanying him to all the beach parties, his "country house" (i.e. a house on a hill just north of Catania, with a pool and overlooking the sea), showing me around Catania, and introducing me to Catanese food/drink/dessert. And he knows everybody. Every place we go, be it a cafe, a beach party, or the market, he has to great at least 10 people. It's incredible.

The beach parties are amazing. Imagine everything you'd think of with the Mediterranean - flowing white curtains, beautiful people, overlooking the sea, blaring house music - and I don't know if that even does it justice. Daniele gets in for free, doesn't have to stand in line, gets his friends in for free, and gets a coupon for free drinks – one per person. (Did I mention he knows everybody?) Everyone he introduces me to says how I couldn't have found a better person to show me Catania. And these parties last until the wee wee wee hours.

My favorite food that I've tried here, again, thanks to Daniele, is almond flavored. There's this one drink, latte alla mandorla, which is milk with sweet almond syrup. Another amazing almond thing is the granita di mandorla - like sorbet in that it's not made with cream, but is more like cold flavored ice. It's texture is more like gelato than an Italian ice, and its absolutely amazing.

I also began my research yesterday. Thanks to Daniele (again!), I knew where the university's library was - literally 3 blocks from my apartment - and it's going very well. The library doesn’t have any air conditioning, but there are so many books and so much information. In Chicago I was afraid of not finding anything, and now I have to really narrow down my field quickly so I don’t drown in the many books I could potentially read. In any case, I’ll probably stay at the library for a while and get more background information so when I visit the other cities and ask to see the archives, I will know what I’m looking for.