WE LEFT

We left today. Leaving beautiful Taormina behind. Time really flies when one is having fun. On our last evening together, we discussed one of our textbooks on Sicily, Mary Taylor Simeti’s On Persephone’s Island. Mary, an American expat who moved to Sicily in the 1960s, describes her life in Sicily and her amazing transformation into a Sicilian in her original book, part journal, part autobiography, part history book.  At the center of the narration is the estate her husband Tonino inherited from his family, aptly named Bosco.

At a time, the 1970s and early 1980s when Italian women were leaving the home and demonstrating in the streets (often led by public figures such as our recent guest Dacia Maraini), Taylor Simeti describes her very traditional life between Palermo and nearby Bosco.  Hers is a tale of privilege,  an upper middle class life made of houses, land, travels, private schools. And yet, she manages to describe Sicilian life at the time accurately, with not a single hint of stereotype. She observes, but does not judge.

I write this as I fly to my next destination, already speaking another language and thinking about the other half of my family.  As we fly, I miss Sicily already,  as our trip has already become one of the highlights of a Summer that has yet to start.

Perhaps, if or, rather, when we do this again, we should stop at Bosco.

Check it out: http://www.boscofalconeria.it

The group standing in line for check in at Catania Fontanarossa airport this morning