Taormina & Etnea, May 29

Between CATANIA and our next destination, the up-market inn, Monaci delle Terre Nere, in ZAFFERANA ETNEA, we have several hours to fill, before our room is ready. We will drive north on the west coast to make a short visit to TAORMINA.

TAORMINA is nestled on a steep hill with a view that has made it a must see town for at least a century. It sits atop a mountain. It's main street is narrow. The streets that cross it are even narrower. Those cross streets, on one side ascend the mountain. On the other, they descend and end with a vista of the sea. They are all, picture postcard perfect, with cobblestones and bougainvillea. Add a little blue sky, some puffy clouds, sunshine, maybe a cocktail or scoop of gelato, and life feels very good.  Our moment in TAORMINA is on a weekend. It is busy. There are many people. Wes leads us through the streets, past the small, black lava churchs and through the elegant gates of the Hotel Timeo. Then through the elegant lobby and out to the expansive terrace where at the rail where the terrace ends there are large pots of bright red geraniums. Beyond them are palm trees, and bougainvillea, and vistas of the town ascending the mountain, and of the sea, and of, the star attraction, Vulcano Etnea, The Etna.  

The Hotel Timeo is elite and expensive. The terrace is not crowded. We sit at a shaded table facing the view. The waiter takes our order. He returns with a juice concoction where the bowl of the goblet is first lined with mint leaves, then filled with crushed ice, then juice of blood orange and passion fruit. It is garnished with a stem with nine tiny red currants and two long swirls of lemon zest. It is tart and perfect in the warm weather. We also have a goblet with two flavors of granita: strawberry and lemon. The strawberries here have a particularly exotic, perfumed aspect. To wipe our dainty fingers, we have tiny beige ironed linen napkins. And there are patatine (potato chips), hazelnuts, salted almonds and plump green olives. Life is good at the Hotel Timeo overlooking The Etna from TAORMINA.

From the Hotel Timeo, en route to the car, we visited a ceramics shop. Wes recognized, through the shop window, the work of Giacomo Alessi from CALTAGIRONE. The shop owner had a broomstick across her shop door while she ate from her bowl of spaghetti with eggplant. She sensed we were in a buying mood and let us in. A few minutes later we walked out with five small pieces. She was happy and Wes was, too.

One hour later, we arrived to hotel known as, Monaci delle Terre Nere. The name is great practice in Italian pronunciation of the letter "e", which sounds like the "ay" in hay. Delle Terre Nere, goes like this, repeat after me, day-lay tay-ray nay-ray. Bravo studenti! The hotel occupies many sloped and hilly acres, most of which are orchards of kiwi, cherry, apple, fig, olive, apricot, peach and orange trees. The buildings include and old two-story mansion and several new out buildings which house the majority of the rooms. Between the buildings, there are terraced green lawns and a pool for shallow swimming, and chaises.

In just five years, they have built up a loyal clientele. There is so much that is good, that the few things that seem off, stand out to me in stark contrast. I will only mention one of them: the music which played loudly in their esteemed dining room, from a speaker three feet from my head, was American. We are in Italy. I am absolutely thrilled for my hosts to share with me what they love most about their country. That is not their management style. On another level, the staff which takes care of us has some wonderful members, such as Veronica. During our short stay, we have seen her doing excellent work at poolside, in the reception room bar and taking care of clients during dinner. She gets a gold star!

Today, we made an excursion. We drove half-way around The Etna. Our destination was RADAZZZO for lunch at the Trattoria San Giorgio de Il Drago. Along the drive, the vegetation was astounding. Cherry trees heavy laden with fruit. A chestnut tree reputed to be three-thousand years old, or more. Apple trees, olive trees, vast fields of low profiles ferns, and mountain sides covered with shrubs abloom with bright yellow flowers. And their are poppies and roses. As I remarked today, their problem here is not getting things to grow, it is preventing them from growing. The plants I have mentioned are not all cultivated. They are wild. Growing everywhere. Self seeding. Every so often, we see a large swath of black lava that just stopped and hardened on it's way downhill. The drive is a feast for the eyes. And if you have a moment to stop the car and snitch some fruit, it is a feast for the nose and mouth, too. I am reading an Italian book (in English). Called The Leopard, it was written, sixty years ago, about the life of a prince in Sicily one-hundred and forty years ago. Prince Salina has estates all over the island of Sicily. They are described in the book. Life was different then, but we passed today a few houses, with long stately driveways, that could have belonged to a Prince Salina, though now they look forlornly in disrepair.

As I mentioned, the scenic drive took us to lunch. Trattoria San Giorgio de Il Drago is in RANDAZZO. RANDAZZO is a small, functioning, non-tourist town. It's streets are narrow. It's buildings are mostly made of black stone. But there is some indescribable charisma to the town. Saint George killed a dragon from his horse with a spear. At the end of a cul de sac is a church by that name, maybe it is a monastery, and this trattoria also by that name. The main room has a very high pitched ceiling. Our waitress was outstanding. The man at the bar played the best Italian music. The chef is Paola. She is someones mama and someones nonna. We had maccheroni fatto a mano in casa (made by hand in house), with tomato sauce. A simple sauce with a few salty olives and a few pine nuts. The maccheroni, about as long as my hand, were thick with a tiny pin-hole running through the core. We sprinkled a few spoons of parmigiano cheese. Mama Paola made us happy. Then we had fagottini, which was a stuffed beef cutlet. Inside was ham and smoked scamorza cheese. Outside, it was breaded and sautéed.  Delicious. The music was first, Vinicio Capossela, then Rita Botto. It was Sicilian. The trattoria house staff loved it, mama Paola loved it. They shared it with us and we loved it, too. With the meat we had cicoria selvatica saltato in padella. Chicory sautéed in a pan, simple.  We finished with two deserts. Hazelnut semi-freddo with tiny carmellized hazelnut bits. Wes ordered an espresso and drizzled half the cup over it to create his own affogato (ice cream in espresso). We also had Tiramisu, usually drizzled with coffee, this one, instead, was drizzled with house-made almond milk. This meal, like the one in SCICLI, turned into a lovefest. We, so clearly, expressed our appreciation and respect and interest and pleasure and they responded with open arms. They brought, as a final necessity, a bottle of their house made amaro digestivo, which bears their name, Amaro dell'Etna, San Giorgio de Il Drago.

Wes and Marlow
Taormina & Zafferano Etnea & Randazzo, Italy
May 29, 2016