I spent two wonderful weeks at the end of July and early August exploring Southern Italy and Sicily with Go Ahead Tours. It was a great experience, and our tour director, Emilio, was the best. We landed at the airport in Catania, Sicily.
Highlights of the Catania portion of our tour were wine tastings of Zisola Wines called Negro d'Avila as well as a 2015 vintage Achilles. We also visited Casa Bianca, a farm-to -able restaurant where we met an Italian Contessa. We ate so much, I fell into a stupor that could accurately be decade as a "food coma." The Contessa's pasta in lemon sauce was unbeatable for flavor.
We visited an amphitheater in Catania where St. Agatha was martyred. There is a local tradition of eating cakes in the shape of breasts in her honor. They are super-sweet.
We also visited a World War II Museum. It's the second largest war museum in Europe. Catania was bombed 87 times in two weeks by the Allies. There is a simulated bunker where we got to experience what an Allied bombing was like. Harrowing doesn't have enough syllables in it. The Nazi occupation must have been worse, because the Italians saw Allied troops not as invaders but liberators. The Italians still call chewing gum "American gum" from the time when U.S. soldiers gave out candy to hungry Sicilian children. I also learned the Mafia cooperated with the FBI in advance of the invasion.
Highlights of the Catania portion of our tour were wine tastings of Zisola Wines called Negro d'Avila as well as a 2015 vintage Achilles. We also visited Casa Bianca, a farm-to -able restaurant where we met an Italian Contessa. We ate so much, I fell into a stupor that could accurately be decade as a "food coma." The Contessa's pasta in lemon sauce was unbeatable for flavor.
We visited an amphitheater in Catania where St. Agatha was martyred. There is a local tradition of eating cakes in the shape of breasts in her honor. They are super-sweet.
We also visited a World War II Museum. It's the second largest war museum in Europe. Catania was bombed 87 times in two weeks by the Allies. There is a simulated bunker where we got to experience what an Allied bombing was like. Harrowing doesn't have enough syllables in it. The Nazi occupation must have been worse, because the Italians saw Allied troops not as invaders but liberators. The Italians still call chewing gum "American gum" from the time when U.S. soldiers gave out candy to hungry Sicilian children. I also learned the Mafia cooperated with the FBI in advance of the invasion.
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