EUROPE 2025 PART III

 Are you ready for more ruins and history . . . there’s so much more to share.  Can’t quite decide whether to do this chronologically, as in It’s Tuesday, It Must Be Belgium*, or to pick off temples and ruins, Greeks and Romans, or hill towns and cities.   There’s also the possible discussion of Sicilian food and competing Agriturismos where we most often had lunch.  

Guess I’ll start with Roman ruins, no Greeks involved.  In the outskirts of Piazza Amerina, like way outskirt, up a narrow windy road, you will find Villa Romana de Casale.  I shall include

some pictures, however if you are at all interested mosaics and frescoes I suggest you “Google” it.   This is the ruin of a 63 room, private Roman villa, built circa 300 CE with the most amazing, I do not use that word lightly, collection of mosaics in the world.  The reason they have not been destroyed or vandalized, they were covered by a mudslide!!  I really have little else to share as the historians and archeologists have little else to share.  We did spend a pleasant afternoon there wandering the site and hearing descriptions of the allegories associated with the many mosaics but alas I remember none of them.  

Next up should be Agrigento and Selinunte but I’m not sure which is which.  It seems I need to do a little research so as not to tell too many falsehoods.  Suffice it to say they were both overwhelming examples of Greek and Roman temples.  Some in total collapse; others amazingly preserved.  

Instead I think I shall write about food . . .  First off, according to our guide here are some dishes that really aren’t Italian or maybe more specifically have other names in Italian

• Spaghetti Bolognese more accurately is Tagliatelle al ragu.  The Italians are a little picky about what sauce you serve with which form of pasta and “ragu” generally refers to a meat sauce.  

• Chicken Alfredo no, no, a thousand times no.  Alfredo is definitely a creamy sauce heavy on the parmesan and it may even be served over pasta.  However when you add chicken you are mixing your first course, pasta, with your second course chicken.

• Hawaiian Pizza might be tasty but I never once saw it on a menu.  KISS, Margherita, Marinara or Diavola.  The fewer the ingredients the better.

• Pepperoni Pizza only if you want your pizza covered with pickled peppers.  If you want a spicy salami, ask for Pizza Diavola.  

• Spaghetti with Meatballs much like Chicken Alfredo.  Italians definitely eat meatballs (polpette) but not on their pasta.  They are reserved for the second course.

• Garlic Bread, just not done and really, don’t expect butter.  Olive oil, for sure but sometimes you do have to ask.  And that little pool of balsamic in your olio, another Americanization.  

• Side note if you want something really special in the bread category ask for bruschetta — and yes, it’s broo-SKET-ta, not “broosheta.” A tasty, toasty piece of bread most frequently topped with tomato but not uncommonly chicken livers or mushrooms.

  
  
  

• Latte when what you want is milk and coffee.  If you order  “latte” the waitperson would be totally accurate if they brought you a glass of milk. Mind you,your American accent would probably give you away but if you want coffee, ask for a caffè latte. Miss out that one word and the meaning changes entirely.. 

• Salad Dressing  there’s always olive oil, vinegar, salt and pepper on the table, apply it to your own taste. I don’t believe I ever saw a pre-made salad dressing.  

Other thoughts and observations along the food line include 

• Expect fish and seafood.  Shrimp and octopus are really common.  Generally prepared very simply, just sauted or grilled.  I did get a seafood pasta which seems to break the rule about which course is which and I have to admit to not being thrilled.  

• Don’t expect much in the way of vegetables as a side to your main course.  They generally show up in salads or antipasto.

• The Italians seem to be pretty focused on what you eat and in what order.  Were you to go to white table cloth restaurant  you might encounter the following courses:  

• Aperitivo  a pre-dinner drink 

• Antipasti a starter or hors d'oeuvre  

• Primi a first course of pasta, risotto or soup 

• Secondi a second course of meat, fish or other substantial protein

• Contorni  these are your side dishes of vegetable . . . if you see them at all 

• Insalata - Salad.  Growing up this is when my father’s family served salad.  Must admit we have never seen this in our travels. 

• Dolce - dessert

• Breakfast is not an Italian thing.  The reason you seem to get reasonably substantial lunches is because a cornetto, aka a croissant, a dry cake like pastry often flavored with plum or just possibly chocolate cake (no icing) with an espresso are much more traditional ways to break your fast.  

• Dessert is an Italian thing.  Cannoli is quintessentially Sicialian.  If you have never tasted cannoli check with your favorite Italian restaurant.  They are deep fried tubes of

  
  pastry dough filled with whipped ricotta, lightly sweetened.  My preference is with the ends dipped in candied fruit or pistachios but chocolate is also pretty common.

• Antipasti (plural of antipasto) you could make an entire meal out of what we were often offered.  Arancini (deep fried rice balls sometimes filled with cheese or ragu), chickpea fritters, caponata (eggplant with tomatoes and peppers), bruschette, copa or other salami style cured meat, parmesan and other cheeses, stuffed peppers, stuffed zucchini flowers. Olives, the list goes on.  

  
  
  

Our tour group was subjected to the battle of the Agriturismos, as that was our most common stop for lunch.  So what exactly is  an agriturismo . . .  according to the world wide web:

"The practice of agriturismo began as many people in small towns across Italy abandoned their rural life for more modern day opportunities in the 1950’s through to the 1970’s. Large farmhouses, built to house generations of family members emptied out to just a single family. In 1985, in an effort to breathe new life into these agricultural homesteads, the Italian government officially recognized the concept of agriturismo. This new practice began to revitalize flailing family farms and bring in much-needed income. Agriturismo has another benefit as well. It allows for the preservation of a way of life that was all-but disappearing 50 years ago. Family farms, rural landscapes, farmhouses and entire communities benefit from agriturismo in Italy." . . . and part of the deal, they still must make the majority of their income from agriculture.

* It's Tuesday, It Must be Belgium" A 1969 film with Suzanne Pleshette about a group of American tourists on a bus tour of Europe.  If this rings no bells, congratulations or condolences.  Either you’re not as old as me, or like so many of us in this age group your memory has begun to fade.  There is another option, of course, you don’t really care and my brain retains the most ridiculous things. Most specifically the name of a film that I don’t really remember, but has a title that says so much about traveling abroad. 

EUROPE 2025 PART II - REPRISE

 Shall I try again . . . 

You may remember our acronym for touring in the UK.  ABC - another blood church, another bloody cathedral, another bloody castle.  We have amended it to reflect travels in Italy and Spain . . . ABCM.  Definitely not ICBM which is what my head keeps saying, but ABCM.  Another bloody church, another bloody cathedral, another bloody castle, another bloody convent, another bloody coliseum and last but not least, another bloody Madonna.  Individually they are enlightening, informative, beautiful and often awe inspiring.  Collectively, I never really recognized that we, as human beings,  were so intent on recreating the same structures, institutions and art.  Of course, it's not just the number of Madonna(s). Spain and Italy are replete with temples dedicated to various Greek and Roman gods not to mention Jewish synagogues/temples, and Moslem/Muslim mosques, palaces and forts.  

More of a history lesson than you may wish but as an excuse to include some pretty amazing pictures our next stop in exploring coliseums and temples was in Siracusa (Syracuse) with a visit to the Neopolis Archeological Park.  This complex is home to the Teatro Greco, originally constructed, or more accurately excavated by the Greeks in the 5th century BCE.  It was subsequently rebuilt/remodeled by the Romans somewhere in the 3rd century CE.  This is an ongoing story in Sicily, first the Greeks established cities, but they were a long way from home and didn't seem intent on creating colonies.  They did a little battling with the Phoenicians but mostly became “Sicilians”.  A couple of centuries later along come the Romans, very much intent on establishing colonies and conquering the world.  They establish themselves in the Greek cities and reuse existing Greek construction.

The Latomia de Paradiso, in the park, is a limestone quarry which was the source of the building material for the emerging Greek (I think) city of Syracuse.   We’re talking BCE here and there were apparently as many as 5 different neighborhoods within this “archelogical” park. The area, a giant quarry or hole in the ground, is peppered with multiple caves, large and small making their way up the cliffs.  It is a lovely area shaded by magnolia and citrus

trees with pleasant walks and art installations.  However it's history is a little darker as it was also used to house as many as 7,000 prisoners of a war in conflicts between Syracuse and Athens.

In the spirit of ABCM, another coliseum is within this site.  In this case the Romans didn’t repurpose an existing Greek coliseum but created an entirely new arena.  It is the Anfiteatro Romano, originally meant to host gladiator battles and horse racing.  The center of the amphitheater is a flat, elliptical area covered in sand, remember arena=sand.  There were steps, covered with marble slabs and divided into tiers so the spectators of different social standing did not have to mix. You can still see what was an underground corridor that had eight entrances to the main arena.  This is how the gladiators, wild animals and assorted other entertainments entered the arena.  I don’t know if it happened here but history tells us that the Romans did enjoy their entertainments.  Not only did they have horse/chariot racing and gladiator battles a la Ben Hur, but they were known to flood the arena and have mock ship battles . . . 

We are actually staying on Ortygia, a small island (which you can access from a pedestrian bridge) off the coast of Syracuse.  It is the original center of Syracuse. And as a consequence has plenty of historical structures.  There is the Duomo, built in the 7th century which incorporates Doric columns that were originally part of a 5th century BCE Greek temple to

Athena. So yet again, Greek gives way to Roman.  But it doesn’t actually stop there, at some point there was an earthquake and now it looks pretty classically Baroque with the original columns still supporting the walls.  Oh and did I forget to mention, at one point in its history it was Muslim mosque.  

I missed out on most of the walking tour of Ortygia but not the boat ride to explore the harbor or the marionette museum and show.