BELLA SICILIA

For my 21st birthday I didn't go out to a bar.  I didn't pretend I was going to attempt to take 21 shots.  I didn't go to a liquor store and show my ID.  I went to Sicily to see Giorgio's home and life.

In January I was hanging out with Giorgio here in Siena when he asked where I had been and where I want to go.  Along with some other places I said I really wanted to see Sicily. "Anna, I'm Sicilian. I'm from Sicily. Come with me."   It is one of those perfect opportunities that doesn't always come up, a way to see into the areas of locals past the superficial level you're stuck at as a tourist. When you get those opportunities, you have to take them.

With him I got to walk into to so many Sicilian houses and apartments.  It all felt a little surreal.  He drove me around Sicily with an intention to hit all the major sites and beaches.  On every car ride we would suddenly pull over to the side of the street and he would say something along the lines of: "hey, let's go say hi to my grandparents/uncle/aunt/inset relative name here." and we would go inside.

His grandpa is an artist and paints Sicilian horse-drawn carts that are never used anymore except in festivals.  He is one of the only two people left alive who still have this skill.  His grandma is the tiniest old Italian woman.  She stared at me like she was terrified, and I can imagine that having a 5'10 blonde girl come walking into your living room might be a little startling.  She spoke to me only in Sicilian dialect.  Giorgio tried to convince her to speak in Italian so I could understand but she refused to break out of dialect.

The Italian dialect in Sicily is truly another language.  It isn't Italian spoken with a heavy accent, it is a different language completely.  Sicilians, and all Italians, learn the dialect of their region but they also learn the basic Italian, Italian that I have learned.  When Italians travel to other regions, they just speak regular Italian but any Italian could distinguish the region they are from based on their accent.  Around me, Giorgio and his friends and family would only speak in regular Italian so that I could understand.  But still, every now and then they would suspiciously say a few sentences in dialect.

When we went to his aunt and uncle's apartment I met two of his cousins too.  His cousins were about 3 and 13.  The 3 year old boy came into the living room at one point when we were sitting on the couches talking to his aunt and uncle. He demanded that we "chiuda gli occhi!" "shut your eyes!" and waited until we all had our hands over our eyes to yell "TA DA!" and throw fake coins all over the room.  His parents automatically laughed and clapped "Oh, bellissima! Bellissima!" "Oh, beautiful! Wonderful!" It was such a stereotypical, laid-back Italian reaction.

Also on these trips I met the Sicilians that hang out around parking lots and tell you whether or not you can park somewhere.  I never quite figured out who they were or what the purpose was, but Giorgio was often arguing with them or slipping them a euro coin so we could park somewhere.  The entire country of Italy, but especially Sicily, is still under the control of the mafia and although I don't know, I'm guessing this has something to do with that and the corrupt powers in control of the area.  I said to Giorgio once (in Italian, but here in English), "I don't understand. You aren't allowed to do anything here.  But, you actually are allowed to do everything.  There are rules for everything but there actually aren't rules for anything." He laughed and said, "That's exactly it. That is Sicily. You have understood everything now."

Which brings me to the fact that I can't actually accurately quote anything we have ever said to each other.  His English and my Italian are at about the same level, proficient but not fluent.  He has a strong, strong Italian accent.  I have an extremely strong American accent.  One of his friends couldn't get over it, "You sound just like American actors speaking Italian sound on TV.  Just like them!  Say 'troppo' again." He would then turn to Giorgio and say "e cosi americana. COSI americana." "she is so American.".

Giorgio and I had language confusions all weekend long and I never stopped finding it hilarious.  Once he showed me pools of water and tried to explain what happened there in the past.  I could swear he said, in italian, this is where the fish were "elevato".  "Elevato?" I said.  "Si, elevato."  Elevato means elevated and all I could imagine was a bunch of fish mystically floating over pools of water.  "Ma, elevato significa ... " "But elevated means ..." I mimed slowly lifting my hands.  We both laughed.  It turns out I misheard and the word was similar in sound to "elevato" but I'm still not sure what the fish did there.  He also made me laugh so many times by somehow incorporating obscure English words into his vocabulary.  

I wish I had written then all down because I can't remember any now.  But every time all I could think was, "Where do you learn these things? Who would ever teach you that obscure/difficult word?" Other times he would throw in funny references that he must have gotten from music or movies.  "Look at him," he whispered to me once, pointing at his friend who was wearing a suit with the suit jacket draped over his shoulders at the bar, "He's trying to look like a boss."  "Like... a boss?" I said, laughing.  "You know, yes, like a boss." Pop culture references all over the place.


On top of the joy I got from language barriers and the beauty of Sicily itself, I enjoyed eating and drinking with his family so much.  His father Pippo is a "wine expert".  He trains sommeliers.  He is also a cheese and olive oil expert.   We share the same birthday, so for our birthday we went out to a Sicilian restaurant. He took over ordering completely, sending more Sicilian food to our table than we could possibly eat. He took the process of selecting a wine very seriously. He also asked me if I knew the Italian song "Volare". When I said I did, he called the accordion player in the restaurant over and requested the song. Soon our table and every other table in the restaurant erupted into a group song of "Volare".

Overall, it was the best birthday I could have ever asked for and I will never forget Sicily.



And here are some more photos of the trip to look at as you play "Volare":