Anyone?

Keep your s.o. nearby- people there tend to be touchy on the females.

Taormina rules
Mediterranean Sea
The grapes like perfume

Que faccia brutta!

good, cause we're spending 4 days in Taormina.

Be sure to ask everyone why the goddamn trains are never on time!

wear a rubber

The Greek Theatre
On the top of the mountain
Public garden, best

Public garden - I didn't know there was one. That's fantastic, I love gardens. They're always what I seek out when I travel. My favorites so far are Kew, Edinburgh, and the Canadian botanical gardens, but it sounds like this might be a nice one.

I've been trying to haiku all day (don't ask), but I must break from that idiocy.

Taormina is on a hill- very steep, monastery on the top, and an ancient Greek theatre on another rise (this was featured in Mighty Aphrodite, by Woody Allen). A wall of the theatre is long since collapsed, and you can see the (still smoking) volcanic Mt Etna through the gap.
The whole town has an amazing view out over the sea- you can walk down to the beach through these awesome little narrow lanes.
The 'park' is small, but supremely beautiful- brick paths and patios, and an incomperable view down over the sea.

I'm envious.

Greek theatre/ volcano:

If you find a place that makes arrosticini have some - then bring your pal dook home a rosticcio.

don't place any bets on football you can't cover.

I've never been, but I have seen a few documentaries. Here's what I learned:

1) Don't ever ask about anyone's business.

2) Always have your S.O. start the car.

3) Don't go fishing with Fredo.







Seriously, though, I'm wicked jealous. Have a great trip!

Taormina has some pretty awesome pottery-

Syracusa is worth a day trip, too.
Avoid Catania.

And I'm serious about the grapes- you may never have had a grape like the ones in Sicily, I certainly hadn't...

That is gorgeous. I can't wait - this week is going to drag.
I think the grapes won't be in season yet, but I definitely plan to try the wine. Tomatoes and strawberries will be in, though.
And I totally plan to go fishing with Fredo, and I'm aware that Sicilian women do not have nipples.

Finally, what is arrosticini and rosticcio?

Monastary on top- you can walk up to this

Those photos are gorgeous!! I can't wait!!!

Arrosticini are mini lamb or mutton kebabs. The meat is marinated in olive oil and rosemary and pounded into a cube, partially frozen and then skewered and sliced.

The rosticcio is the gutter like grill they are cooked on usually with a bed of smoldering cedar or other aromatic wood.

They are delicious.

Topper sez Sicilians are 1/2 black... ergo Grape drink over there is awesome! fact.

Guess I'm married to a black man.
Cool.

Vincenzo Coccotti: Sicilians are great liars. The best in the world. I’m Sicilian. My father was the world heavy-weight champion of Sicilian liars. From growing up with him I learned the pantomime. There are seventeen different things a guy can do when he lies to give himself away. A guys got seventeen pantomimes. A woman’s got twenty, but a guy’s got seventeen… but, if you know them, like you know your own face, they beat lie detectors all to hell. Now, what we got here is a little game of show and tell. You don’t wanna show me nothin’, but you’re tellin me everything. I know you know where they are, so tell me before I do some damage you won’t walk away from.

Clifford Worley: You’re Sicilian, huh?
Coccotti: Yeah, Sicilian.
Clifford Worley: Ya know, I read a lot. Especially about things… about history. I find that shit fascinating. Here’s a fact I don’t know whether you know or not. Sicilians were spawned by niggers.
Coccotti: Come again?
Clifford Worley: It’s a fact. Yeah. You see, uh, Sicilians have, uh, black blood pumpin’ through their hearts. Hey, no, if eh, if eh, if you don’t believe me, uh, you can look it up. Hundreds and hundreds of years ago, uh, you see, uh, the Moors conquered Sicily. And the Moors are niggers.
Coccotti: Yes…
Clifford Worley: So you see, way back then, uh, Sicilians were like, uh, wops from Northern Italy. Ah, they all had blonde hair and blue eyes, but, uh, well, then the Moors moved in there, and uh, well, they changed the whole country. They did so much fuckin’ with Sicilian women, huh? That they changed the whole bloodline forever. That’s why blonde hair and blue eyes became black hair and dark skin. You know, it’s absolutely amazing to me to think that to this day, hundreds of years later, that, uh, that Sicilians still carry that ****** gene. Now this…
[Coccotti busts out laughing]
Clifford Worley: No, I’m, no, I’m quoting… history. It’s written. It’s a fact, it’s written.
Coccotti: [Laughing] I love this guy.
Clifford Worley: Your ancestors are niggers. Uh-huh.
[Starts laughing, too]
Clifford Worley: Hey. Yeah. And, and your great-great-great-great grandmother fucked a ******, ho, ho, yeah, and she had a half-****** kid… now, if that’s a fact, tell me, am I lying? ‘Cause you, you’re part eggplant.
[All laugh]

I was just trying to google a picture of that...

so topper spawned a word filter for the n-word but not its plural

What happens to Sicilian woman's nipples

Have you seen the Godfather?

No

the hair hides them.

I don't remember anything about them...

Watch the love scene between Michael and his Sicilian bride.

that makes 2 of us

This is possibly my most favorite scene in any movie, ever.

You dissin on Appolonia?

No, but the film blurred out her nipples, either that or she doesn't have any.

Not the version I saw- her tits looked a little weird, but she was anatomically correct.

BTW- Italians appear to be by and large some stylish folk- if you just pack shorts and jeans and t-shirts, you're gonna start feeling underdressed. Might need to get your fashion-on...

Hm. Wonder if there's different versions for different levels of censorship over time. The one I saw they were missing.

Good to know about the fashion. Palermo's got a high rate of robbery, so it's good to look the least touristy as possible.

Go get yourself a fake tan, some dangly hoop earrings, lots of hairspray, acid washed jeans, and a gold chain with a pepper on it...you'll fit right in.

You're thinking NYC Italian.

Fancy sunglasses are pretty ubiquitous.

Leave the gun, take the cannoli.




And seriously, watch out for the gypsies in the big cities. Keep your money very close. Both of my parents had pickpockets try to get at them. Of course, my parents have no idea how to look non-touristy so they stuck out like a sore thumb. My Dad had to bitch-slap a kid. He felt bad about it... I laughed.