Holiday lights - Via Roma

Looking down Via Roma during the Santa Lucia festival ...

Santa Lucia is the patron saint for Belpasso.

Her feast-day is 13 December.

She is quite popular in Sicily. 

She is also Syracusa's (south-east corner of the island) patron saint.   Every year Sweden sends a girl to Syracusa to portray Sta. Lucia during the festival in Sta. Lucia's honor.

thinking outside the box

Someone had a good idea to paint the normally bland and boring TV antenna and give it some character.  Would have missed seeing this entirely if I hadn't climbed a staircase to look in a shop window while in Taormina.

Taormina

DH, a friend and I took a Sunday drive up to Taormina (on the eastern coast of Sicily about an hour and a half from our apt).  Wonderful little town ... a bit of a resort area. so there are frequently lots of tourists from cruise ships wandering around the town.  This is looking down one of the walking streets back through the old city wall which goes back at least to the early 1400's, and may be much older.    Taormina is famous for its marvelous Greek Amphitheatre ...but it was closed today.

Calcio rules!

Sign at the Belpasso Calcio Club (soccer club) office

"People of Liberty"

Posted in the main piazza here in Belpasso ...
 Berlusconi was the Italian Prime Minister until recently.

Ho Ho Ho in Nuremburg

Santa and Rudolph DH and I saw while visiting this year's 

Nuremburg Christmas Market.

He gave candy to the kids whether or not he was given money.

We stopped by to watch him every night we were there

Ho Ho Ho ... Merry Christmas everyone!

Street view

Looking out of my doctor's window onto the street below ...

Via Roma in Belpasso

Looking up Via Roma (the main road in Belpasso)

 toward the Mother Church (you can see it at the top of the road).  

Way more traffic than you would normally see. 

You can tell it's the central part of town ... lava cobblestone road.

St James candlelighting - Caltagirone

This year's luminaria design on the steps of Sta Maria in Caltagirone (Catania province).
Each year a contest is held - the winner's design is re-created for the St James Festival (he's the patron saint for Caltagirone) held the 24-25th of July.
Made for a long day ... DH and I didn't get home until nearly 2am ... but it was worth it.

Yum ... roasted chicken!

Generally cooked on a brace over a wood fire .... good stuff!

DH and I could eat this just about daily.

Maletto Strawberry Fest

The main street in Maletto ...

 flag performers have finished one performance and are off to another. 

Yum .... Italian Ice!

Some of the best specialty ice I've had ... my favorite is jasmine flavour.
They make all sorts of flavours on-site ... chocolate and pepper, various wines...lots and lots more.
Hey honey.... let's go to Ragusa Iba!

St Michael

St Michael on top the Mother Church in Piedemonte Etnea (northeast side of Etna).

What a Difference a Day Makes!

This is what I saw when I left for lunch yesterday ...

...and this is what I saw while on the way to work this morning ... snow level is not that much higher than our apt.  No wonder the cat and I are both cold!

Sicilian Bagpiper in Monterosso Almo



Sicilian Christmas bagpipers are known as Zampognari. The bagpipe is traditionally made of reeds and a sheepskin.
 Now the reeds may be plastic and the sheepskin imitation .. the Zampognari always are dressed traditionally.



Christmas in Monterosso Almo (Ragusa province)

DH and I visited a living nativity in Monterosso Almo, a small town in Ragusa province. The evening opened up with Joseph leading Mary on a donkey through the main streets of the town, stopping at a few places to ask for shelter. You had to buy tickets to go through the nativity ... and your entry time was determined by the number on your ticket. We were lucky in that we were able to enter in the first hour.


This one was more than just the manager scene... you trudged up and down various streets and looked at small village life scenes ... such as men making rope. a bakery, a cheese producer and so on ... the townspeople would explain what they were doing, the history and other facts. At the end was the cave with the Holy Family, the Magi and shepherds.

This is one of the churches on the main square.

MORE FROM THE AMPHITHEATRE IN POZZUOLI

This was both close to the ticket office ... have to wonder who was honored with a statue ... nothing left but the feet.

MARBLE DETAIL AT AMPHITHEATRE

Anfiteatro Flavio (Flavian Amphitheater) is in Pozzuoli, near Naples.  DH and I were up there a few weeks ago for the International Bazaar at base.   The amphitheatre wasn't too far from where we were staying  - so we spent a few hours exploring.  This detail was on a panel just inside the entrance.

CHECK OUT THE SUNFLOWER

This sunflower was nearly a foot across ... haven't seen one like this before.  DH and I saw it over in Maniace while out exploring.

IRONWORK FLOWERPOT

Check out the flower pot on the railing ...I think it's so cool!  
Saw this while wandering around Militello.