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Published: September 22nd 2008
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Mineo
Town of Mineo - Mums Home Town Sicily - Back To Home Roots
My next relative stop over was the small town of Mineo deep in the middle of Sicily, where two aunties (mums sisters) and one uncle have resided there their whole lives. Most of my cousins have since left for better prospects in bigger cities. A common trend for the younger generations, leaving the much older folk and the very young the main life line of the town. But every August this quite quaint little town of around 3000 residents, doubles it's population with families returning from main land Italy, Switzerland, Boston (USA) and as far as Australia to celebrate the town Saint Patron, Santa Agrippina in the last two weeks of August. Something i was looking forward too witnessing.
I arrived in mid August to await the much expected hot weather and to sweat profusely in the mid summer heat of 38 to 42 degrees that this town endures summer after summer. It's not uncommon to reach 28 degrees in the mid morning (9:00am), and by mid afternoon it's stifling hot, almost unbearable. Perched on top of a hill and the town typically of masonry construction with no cross wind across the
Mineo
Town of Mineo - Mums Home Town town, you feel the full heat of the burning sun....The only escape was to stay indoors down on the lower levels and have the typical afternoon siesta as most Europeans are accustom too. By this time the town very quickly becomes a ghost town between 1:00pm to 4:30pm and very few dare to venture out.
Late afternoon the town slowly becomes alive, local men come out and congregate together in small groups outside cafe bars or in the main Piazza and converse amongst themselves, as the afternoon turns into evening and the weather has much cooled down the remaining town folks, women children and visitors come out and go about their evening passegiata (evening stroll) up and down the main street - back and forth...exciting for the town folk but after completing a few circuits with my cousins night after night it was all too very exciting for me could not handle the pace...i wondered if they knew how many cobble stones are in the main street from one end to the other???...i stopped counting at 1090.
I had to spread myself thin across the few cousins i had in Sicily spending a few days here and
Vizzini
Town of Vizzini - Dads Home Town there which to my benefit had shown me around some of the near by towns and cities that are off the beaten track and well known touristy cities, as always the guides to have are the ones who live there. Caltigirone is a city known for it's ceramic art and Steps of Santa Maria Del Monte, approx. 147 steps to the top with each riser having ceramic depicting many historic stories. At the top you are rewarded with views of the city below. Catania almost 2.0 hours out from Mineo is a major city filled with Baroccan architecture and some Roman ruins is a busy metroplis, crazy drivers nudging their way thru the small city streets, road signs and traffic signals are just graffiti artwork to the locals, whilst the tourist negotiate crossing the streets. But in the heat of the day it can all be to much to bear.
I was fortunate to also have cousins in the Sea side city of Messina and spent 3 days near the beach side (my first taste of beach on this trip), and traveled on a day cruise visiting two of the seven Sicilian islands, known as Isole Eolie, Lipari and
Around Mineo
Streets are quite - Siesta Time Vulcano were the two islands i visited. Lipari is known for it's white Pumice stone once quarried here in the hills and it's big holiday resorts and you can quite often come across many international stars and celebrities, unfortunately i recognised no one on this visit. Volcano island is known for it's active volcano, the putrid smell of sulphur in the air and the sulphur mud baths if you dare to go in. Quite frankly this was not for me as i did not like the thought of smelling like sulphur for the whole week, even though they say the baths do good to you. I opted to go for a swim in the beach where the water was very hot, like almost boiling hot, it soon became evident at the bottom of your feet hot bubble's rising to the surface - the island releasing it's hot gases from below, slowly simmering the beach goers.
I wish to thank my two aunties and uncle and the many cousins, who made this visit a pleasurable and enjoyable experience and as i said it's not the last time i will be visiting Sicily, there is still much much more and
Around Mineo
Town Hall Building hope to be back very soon.
Ciao.
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