What do you know about Sicily?
Maybe you know that it is the land of Mafia? maybe you watched the God Father 10 times in you life, thinking "the God Father is a masterpiece BUT I would never travel to Sicily.."..
mmmm, NOT FAIR!
SICILY is a masterpiece itself, masterpiece of history, culture, nature and PEOPLE..Sicilians.
What do you know about Sicily?
Where have you been?
How does your experience CONFIRM or DENIES the urban legend about Sicily?!
Reply to this <snip>
[Edited: 2011 Oct 31 19:12 - Mell:49612 - Please, avoid posting links on the forums, as a new member. 😊]
Reply to this Hello Mamma Sicily 😊
I snipped the links from your post, because you are a new member, and SPAM is a risk on internet communities these days. New members get less benefit of the doubt.
I was in Sicily 20 years ago. In those days it really was the land of the Mafia. I met one of them in Rome who told me the Mafia will look after me in Sicily. I told him I wasnt so sure I wanted that. He says they will look after me whether I want it or not.
I think, in those days the Mafia took it on themselves to protect tourists from petty street crime. I am not sure why they did this. Maybe it was their idea of the honourable thing to do.
When me and a guy from Germay were in Catania, a Mafia guy followed us everywhere. He didnt speak any English and never said anything to us. He just was always present. I presume, he was making sure we were not robbed. On our last day there, he followed us to the bus station. Then when I got on the bus, he waved goodbye to me, after not speaking a single word to us the entire time we were in Catania.
When I asked the bar man in a cafe who spoke English to ask the Mafia guy what he wanted, the bar man said he wouldnt ask. All the time we were in the cafe having coffee and eating, the Mafia guy stood at the bar facing us and drinking a glass of milk. When we looked at him, he would nod. He followed us in his car when we walked in the streets at the same speed we were walking at. When we looked at him he nodded. When we stopped walking he waited.
I havent been to Sicicily since, but I heard the Mafia are a thing of the past.
BUT I would never travel to Sicily..
I would travel to Sicicily. I dont see any real reason not to.
Mel
Reply to this Reminds me of a joke:
So three Sicilian guys want to join la cosa nostra. They go round to the local boss and ask to be let in, but the boss tells them they've got to pass a test first. He tells them to come back the next day and find out if they're worthy.
The next day, the three men return. The boss gives the first man a pistol and sends him into a room, saying that he has to kill whoever's in there. What the man doesn't know is that the gun has been loaded with dummy rounds.
The man goes in and finds his wife gagged and bound to a chair. He tries to shoot her, but can't even bring himself to point the gun at her. He goes back to the boss and admits his failure. The boss sends him away in disgrace.
The second man is given a gun, and finds his wife as well. He tries and tries, but he can't do it either. He leaves to return to his mundane life of poverty.
The boss then gives the pistol to the third man. This man goes into the room where they've tied his wife. A long time goes by, and there's some clattering and banging. Finally the man comes back out and hands the pistol to the boss.
"What happened in there? What was all that noise?" asked the boss.
The third man exclaims, "What happened? I'll tell you what happened! Your stupid gun misfired. I had to beat her to death with the chair!"
Reply to this About this legend of Sicily, I always think that it's true. And I think I'm going to try to find out about it next year on my trip to Italy, since I got a pretty good deal at <snip>. Hopefully, even if it's true, nothing bad happened to me. LOL!
[Edited: 2011 Nov 02 11:19 - Mell:49612 ]
Reply to this Hello!
Well easy jokes and nice stories about Mafia guys taking around tourists are pretty funny! :-)
As matter as the fact we are Sicilians..and therefore we actually know it, let's make us clear: Mafia is real and really affects life of Sicily and Sicilians..
..BUT let's think about this:
1. Do you think that Mafia people have no other business to do than walking around with nice (and maybe beautiful) tourists? maybe getting some free lunch or dinner? or maybe a TIP at the end...
2. Do you think that they stay around, in Rome..or anywhere else, waiting for someone who needs their help?!
WELL, it is SOOO nice of you to BELIEVE IT!
What we want to show is that often, people who are not Sicilians, have a misknowledge, as wrong information, about Sicily!
Let's stay focused, since the understanding of what Mafia is is still too difficult to be addressed here, and sometime it is misunterpreted even from Sicilians!
HERE we would like to GIVE A POSITIVE VIEW of what SICILY IS.
Sicily is NATURE, CULTURE, HISTORY (such a long history) of richness and domination..much more
take a look to our blog <snip>(hoping this link is ok), about the
-Vulcano Etna,
-Baroque in Sicily,
-Sicilian Food,
-Good..and BAD habits of Sicilians (mostly BAD and kind of funny!)
--MUCH MORE!!
In response to: Msg #146231
In response to: Msg #146266
[Edited: 2011 Nov 02 11:16 - mammaSicily:219915 ]
[Edited: 2011 Nov 02 11:19 - mammaSicily:219915 ]
[Edited: 2011 Nov 02 11:22 - Mell:49612 - No advertisements on the forums please. ]
[Edited: 2011 Nov 02 11:23 - mammaSicily:219915 ]
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