The Legend of Sicily - The Most Beautiful Places in the World

Author: Francine Pross
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-03-01
Features: It's easy to find happiness here, but it requires adjustment. Cultural adjustment is one thing, but there's also a lot of physiological adjustment to be made: learn to live by Sicilian time. Before 2 PM, almost no one eats lunch, and dinner is almost at 9 PM—when all the neighbors go out to eat pizza, and there's no pizza available at noon. Around 1:30 PM every day, everyone closes their shops and companies, leaves the office, and rushes home for lunch. At this time, road traffic suddenly comes to a standstill. Subsequently, within minutes, the suddenly silent streets of the city become deserted. At night, around 7 PM, especially on Sunday evenings, the locals step out of their homes and slowly stroll along the main streets as if it were a routine. On Monday mornings, the shops are closed, and Friday is also a slow-paced day. On Sundays, all (business-related) activities come to a complete halt. Sunday Messina is completely different from the Monday city that is reborn, filled with loud horns and a chaotic, madhouse-like atmosphere, making it almost unrecognizable. One Sunday morning, we drove into the Marsala Valley and found it looked like a ghost town from a nuclear weapon-themed horror movie. On the streets—or anywhere, not a single person was visible. Later, we entered the cathedral, where the entire town had gathered, talking with friends, praising newborn babies, examining the opposite sex, and giving an acceptable low level of attention to the pastor, who was droning on about the importance of the catechism manual. We left and, while passing through the arcade, saw some people who didn't want to go to the church—most of them were middle-aged or elderly men, reading newspapers, smoking, chatting, waiting for their wives and families. They were like members of a social club—a bird museum. The walls were lined with dusty glass cases filled with dozens of taxidermied birds and small forest animals, perfectly displaying their sharp little teeth in their fierce moments—even though they were just for the taxidermists. Finally, much later, the church bells rang, and the townspeople swarmed out of the church into the warm afternoon sun—it was lunchtime. P10-11