On the Road May 2015
On the tenth day of my adventure, I am in San Leone at a seaside cottage in Agrigento Province. On this morning, I saw the natural wonder of La Scala dei Turchi in nearby Realmonte. I spent some time in the presence of this great beauty. Now I understand how myths are formed. I wouldn’t be surprised to find that on moonlit evenings, sea nymphs lounge on the steps. After a lunch break and a little rest, I headed into Campobello di Licata to meet a friend I had made via social media. I was excited and expectant as to what this meeting could bring. We’d not met in person and I took it on a leap of faith that this could be fun.
This small town is tucked away in Agrigento Province about one hour’s drive from Licata which is near the sea. The roads are graceful, winding around cultivated fields of grain, olive and citrus trees, grapevines, and vegetables. The island so far, doesn’t have large stands of forests. I have yet to see an evergreen tree. The day was light and airy with fresh breezes ruffling the meadows. Campobello in English means beautiful field.
The day before this visit, I had been in Naro, a neighboring town steeped in medieval and baroque architecture. Naro felt ancient compared to Campobello. The streets are wider. The buildings are constructed of honey colored local stone with a fine stucco of light butter cream. Relatively speaking, the town actually is newer than Naro. Campobello relocated from the original settlement, as the water source was low lying and a breeding ground for malaria. Before one stone moved, a steady spring of clean water was found. The well in this picture was built in 1056 and was the original water source for the old town. This had been the center of activity for centuries and the place women walked to daily for water. Now, it is quiet, if only this well could talk, the stories it could share.
The commune’s formal name is Campobello di Licata Citta d’ Arte or the City of Arts. I was soon to find out why. My social media friend, Giovanni is a physiotherapist with a private practice on Van Gogh Street. Right away, I felt at ease in his company. He has a quiet way of moving about and took pride in showing me his business and accomplishments. He is intelligent, soft-spoken and generous. I got the impression this guy has a funny bone that given more time, I would have come to know.
After we exchanged greetings, and gifts, he quickly introduced me to another artist of prominence associated with the town named Silvio Benedetto. We spent quite some time in exploring this man’s art. Giovanni was kind enough to arrange a tour. His daughter Francesca, Piera and Uncle Giuseppe Rotolo, joined us. Signor Rotolo had lived in the United States and spoke English. My Italian was weak but growing stronger each day. Between the two of us, we managed to exchange quite a bit of history about the town.
One of the reasons I liked this town so much is that the main square is wide open and flat. The walk into the Chiesa Madre San Giovanni Battista or St. John the Baptist, was only a few steps and not a dramatic 50 or 100+ easily encountered in Sicily. The church had been built by the Baron of Campobello di Licata, Raimondo Raimondetta who bought the village in 1681. The family emblem of the rose was visible inside the knave and outside on the sidewalks around the square.
We toured Piazza Aldo Moro with its lively, large fountain splashing around sculptures of children and stones. We went into La Fenice café for gelato. My favorite flavor is nocciola; hazelnut ice cream blended with nutella. Gelato has a creamy, smooth texture on the tongue. The basic recipe includes eggs, heavy cream and whole milk. It’s not too sugary, just naturally lovely and satisfying. While we were being served, I noticed everyone sitting down in the café were men. This was around 3 o’clock in the afternoon. There were photographs of Marilyn Monroe and Audrey Hepburn on the walls. I asked Piera where all the women were? At home she said. This is a pattern I noticed in every Sicilian town. The men congregated and chatted at cafes, barber shops, and the bar. I must have given them something to talk about for days. I don’t think many Americans visit Campobello di Licata.
The main corso was unusual in it had trees growing along the walkways for shade and beauty. Apart from flower pots and balcony gardens, trees on the main boulevard in most cities were uncommon. There were kids drawing with chalk in the city square preparing for an art exhibit. The town municipal buildings are painted with several murals by Silvio Benedetto. He is a popular artist in Italy known for painting grand murals on public buildings in several Italian towns. Benedetto (which means the blessed) is a sculptor, illustrator, photographer, poet, dreamer, and visionary. He also has a keen eye for town planning. He came to Campobello di Licata during the 1980s and assisted with the major restoration of the downtown area. He brought a conceptual design to the squares, monuments and sculptures. The area surrounding the Chiesa Madre or Mother Church flows from one outdoor space to another. Benedetto likes curves and I 
tended to experience everything in a round shape. His art was so important, that he was given the entire municipal building as a canvas to paint on. Here is a photograph of his work. Clearly, the town embraced his vision and art for generations to come.
I was taken to view the Parco della Divina Comedia currently under construction. There are 102 stones all with characters and scenes from The Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri. The exhibit had been on display in Rome and was now being permanently placed right in Campobello di Licata. Dante is so well admired beyond Italy, that I can well imagine this becoming a destination for both fans of Benedetto and Dante. Giovanni talked about a museum for Silvio Benedetto at, Le Gole Alcantara Parco Botanico e Geologico near Taormina in the Province of Siracusa.
On a practical note, the Sicilian need for locked doors took on a deeper dimension in Naro and Campobello. When I visited with Giuseppe and Giovanni both were at work with the shops open for business. An optometry shop and physiotherapist. However, the front door at both places is locked during business hours. People arriving for appointments are buzzed in. Curious! There wasn’t a lot of foot traffic in either town. They are not tourist destinations. Naro’s streets are so narrow that only tiny Fiat’s could make it around certain parts of the city. The town hall was open when I met Piero’s mom. Churches are open. But, a business is locked?
All in all, I had a wonderful visit to Campobello di Licata, and like everywhere I had been in Sicily, there was more to see and appreciate. I promise myself to return with better language skills and to devote more energy to exploring these quiet corners of Sicily. I wanted most to stay in Agrigento Province with its rolling hillsides, cool evening breezes, and soft sunshine. I am grateful to the Nigro and Rotolo family for taking the time to fill me with precious memories of a wonderful day.
The walk is about fifteen minutes along the shoreline. The sea is on the left and a tumble down hillside angles up to the right. The slope increases, as I get closer to the cliff. Strange, the thing missing at all these seaside places is shore birds. Gulls are so common a sound and sight back home that it always feels like something is missing here. The aroma of sea air is also milder. The Atlantic Ocean makes itself known with a strong scent of seaweed, surf and sun when approached. The Mediterranean is more subtle, content to dazzle the eye at first.
The sea fills the horizon and laps over the foot of the cliff. Tender waves turn the mottled white surface pigeon grey. This cliff face is made of marlstone, a lime-rich clay. When it’s wet, the stone is sleek and looks like the skin of a whale as it rises to the surface to draw breath. There is sensuality in the movement of water touching the rock. If the cliff could talk, she would say, 
Stepping onto the cliff face is easy. It seems made for humans or animals to climb. The surface looks like chalk and may be soft. Underfoot, it feels slightly tacky. Up close, it is more solid, but not strong like marble. Marlstone is lime rich mud, mudstone? It’s clay and silt. This substance, found in riverbeds, is an old familiar friend. This is the sort of mush frogs and small freshwater creatures love to be in. Mix in some sand, ash, crushed shell and this forms the basic plaster used in homes on the floors and walls for thousands of years. This is so familiar. Some part of me remembers walking on this before. Somehow, nature crystallizes the calcite in the minerals and creates this substance.
Who is she? Aeolus is present in the wind. Helios lights the eyes. Keep going and the cliff face gets longer, wider and taller. Rounding a bend, it keeps going for about two miles. The grooves are now getting steeper to walk on. I wish I had my walking stick. A brave soul with cleats on the shoe could keep going all the way around. The cliff rises up and up, down and down to the sea. I can see coves below. Secret places the sea can enter into the land. I decided to stop and sit on the stone. This looks much like a natural amphitheater. The way it pitches up gradually and is comfortable. The theater is the sea and sky. There are enough seats for thousands of spectators. So, it is time to gaze at the sea.
It is hard to leave here. How fine it is to feel overcome by the senses and know for a while that nothing else matters. This is the land of Demeter and Persephone, Artemis and Arethusa. I met Arethusa in Ortygia and found her journey led here in this little fresh water stream coming down the hillside. Her fate took her underground to dwell in safe passages. Here she is, she made it to the seashore at last.
The Province of Agrigento contains well preserved Greek ruins. The Hellenic city of Selinunte is closer to the sea but also an easy drive from Naro. Akragas, the ancient name for Agrigento, was a major city of Magna Graecia and a few miles down the road, the famed Valle dei Templi is a short drive away. A casual way to determine if an area had been inhabited by Greeks is to look to the hillsides for acanthus. This flower grows in abundance at all Greek sites. Sicily has housed and fed external civilizations for ages. But, every town and city that flourishes today began as a humble settlement near a reliable source of water. Il Lago San Giovanni, an artificial lake completed in 1981, is fed by the river Naro. This area is dominated by agriculture and would need a plentiful, predictable supply of water. The translation of Naron in the Greek language is river. Perhaps the origin of the name.
I was fortunate to meet with Signora Eleanora Ognibene. A man named Enzo became a part of the small group I was with and helped with translation as Signora spoke no English and my Italian was basic. She was able to take a few minutes away from her job to say hello to a fan from America. 
I went on to visit with a contact I had made through social media. Luxottica Minio, Naro’s optical shop was only a few steps down the Corso Vittorio Emanuele. I always thought so highly of this man who managed three shops, was raising a family, had his own life to lead but took the time to support Piero. The families of Barone and Minio seemed to be neighbors and friends. Signor provided all the eyeglasses that Piero wore. Piero wears eyeglasses on stage. I was what made him stand out to me from the start. Most performers are highly conscious of their appearance. There are very few entertainers who would be seen wearing glasses at all. Yet, Piero was rarely seen without them. He’s a handsome young man but appeared most comfortable and not concerned with appearances. 
A guide was found with a smartphone app in English that helped during the tour of Chiesa di San Francesco and Chiesa di Caterina d’ Alessandria. The Baroque Chiesa di San Francesco, reconstructed in the late 1600s, was small and felt worn. Oh, it was clean and well-kept, but the floors seemed as if a thousand footsteps had passed over it. The walls were pure white with elaborate scroll work, paintings, and statuary everywhere. I was shown a relic of a pilgrim, bones and all, hidden behind a false door on a side altar. The guide took me behind the main altar at the front of the knave and into a room that smelled strongly of old, warpy wood. On three sides of the wall were heavily carved cabinets elaborately embellished. There was a font where the priests used to wash their hands before giving Communion. He showed me a cupboard that kept the most sacred objects of this church. There was a statue of Jesus, a crown of some sort and a carved object that looked like a sunburst with an eye in the center. The eye I had seen before in other churches in Noto and Modica: The All Seeing Eye.
We took a long narrow road up and up to the very top of Naro. Here is the 
The day was gloomy with a heavy, cloudy sky. Inside the structure, the stones gave off a cold, clammy aura and felt unwelcoming. The hallways were narrow with high ceilings. The rooms on the right formerly housed the horses. It must have been so long ago as it doesn’t look at all like a stable. Everywhere, it was too close. A staircase wound around and up one flight into a display area for gowns and accoutrements from the Baroque Period. The pictorial display showed the last family that lived in the castle. 
At one time, the castle was a prison. We were taken up into a large chamber with deep slotted windows. The walls were covered with etched graffiti from former inhabitants. What had they used to carve their names into the stone? As with every site visited in Naro, a person would become part of the group that knew quite a bit about the place. He sorted out I was keenly interested and started pointing out the markings. He showed me a carving of a mother and child. We found dates and names from so many years ago. Apparently, the light from the windows had been blocked out and the inhabitants left in the dark to ponder a hopeless situation. How many people have been here? What was their crime? Did they ever get out? 
If you do find yourself in Naro, stop at the La Vecchia Lanterna on Via Palmiro Togliatti. They were known for their homemade ravioli. The pasta was hand rolled and filled with a finely diced mixture of tomato, carrot, lean beef, and garlic served with Nero d’Avola wine. The ragu had just a little heat. The beef or veal served were tender, lean and well cooked. Everything was very fresh. Despite the full plate of pasta, meat and salad. I was able to eat it all and not feel stuffed. 
LuceStellare 