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Wednesday, August 12th, Santa Marina, Salina,
Aeolian Islands, Italy
In
1091 AD, Sicily was completely under the control of the
Normans, Viking invaders from Scandinavia, who had
conquered the Saracens or Arabs, who had in turn ruled
over the island since 831 AD. One hundred years
later, the Kingdom of Sicily fell under the control of
the Holy Roman Empire. German and French rulers
had little success but the Spanish house of Aragon, with
the Pope's blessing, maintained control from 1282 until
the early 1700s.
The feudal system established by the Normans remained
throughout this period, by which the best property in
the kingdom was either retained by the crown or granted
by the king to faithful knights who excelled in the many
wars of conquest, through military or financial
commitments. Noble families thus fell in and out
of favor. The patchwork of communities or feuds,
consisting of farms, vineyards, olive groves, gardens
and tuna stations were thus passed from generation to
generation or simply lost to one family through debt or
misconduct, and passed along to the next up and coming
family. With the abolition of feudalism in the
early 1800s, these communities became autonomous
communes grouped together in regions.
The princes of San Vincenzo was one of the various
family lines that branched off from the noble Pisan
family of Vanni-Calvello. Through marriage with the
Mantegna family in 1934, the Barony of Solanto became
part of the family's possessions. Through an old
high school friend, we had the privilege of meeting
Vincenzo, the prince, and his family at the castle of
Solanto last July.
We met up with them again this year, in the Aeolian
Islands off the northeastern coast of Sicily.
Luckily, Uncle Mike and Aunt Susan were able to join in
the fun. We made the trip up from Taormina on
Thursday, leaving at 3 in the morning in the hopes of
catching a favorable current through the Straits of
Messina.
.JPG)
The busy channel was teeming with ferries carrying
passengers and cargo between the mainland and Sicily.
Less than two miles wide at its narrowest point, the
waters are famous for their treacherous currents and
whirlpools. Although much mellowed after the
terrain-changing earthquake of 1908, the strong flow of
water between the Tyrrhenian and Ionian Seas, combined
with the swift change in depth from 1,000 feet to 200
feet and back again through this narrow passage produces
an amazing diversity of water flowing in different
directions within a very small area. It was
fascinating to watch the bow of Zia being pushed one way
and then the other as we entered and exited the various
currents, water swirling around us in all directions.
Arriving in the Aeolians in the late afternoon, we found
a spot to anchor in the packed harbor on Vulcano.
We had already climbed the volcano twice last year, and
Mike and Sue weren't too interested in doing so in the
90º temperatures, so we satisfied ourselves with a pizza
at the popular beachside restaurant Zammara and several
wonderful, long swims from the boat to the beach and
back. The people watching is excellent in the
crowded holiday month of August, although the myth of
topless European beaches was shattered for poor Uncle
Mike. Strangely enough, virtually the only topless
sunbathing we have seen in the Med this summer has been
at the ultra swanky resort my parents stayed at in
Crete. The average, middle class, family beaches
are surprisingly free of bare breasts, although the
brevity of the bottoms perhaps makes up for this
deficiency.
Fleeing the blaring music that started up around sunset
(which we didn't remember from our visit last year), we
hurried over to Punta Lingua on the south end of Salina,
treating ourselves to a delicious plate of
spaghetti alle vongole
(spaghetti with clams - even Joe likes it!) at "Il
Defino," followed by a top notch granita
or Italian ice at "Alfredo's." The few jellyfish
we spotted around the boat had us a bit leery about
jumping in, but with a mask on and a watchful eye, we
were able to cool off without suffering any nasty
stings.
Vincenzo motored up to us the next day in his little
dinghy. They were half a mile north at the marina.
We made plans to talk later, but when his outboard
engine failed to start, we found ourselves ferrying him
back to his boat, picking up his wife Paola and his
sister Bianca along the way. They were out for a
long swim and had spotted an octopus hiding beneath a
rock close to shore. Trying to grab it for lunch,
they were a little too squeamish as the ten inch long
creature would start to wrap itself around their arm as
soon as they touched it. No fear, Vincenzo dove in
and dislodged it on his second attempt. He
surfaced with it clinging to his wrist, squirting
columns of black ink ten feet in the air. We
watched amazed as Vincenzo struggled to unwrap the beast
from his arm. It let loose several more clouds of
ink in a vain attempt to evade it's enemy. It
wound up, as a gift, on the dockmaster's table for
lunch!
.JPG)
It
was Alessandro's 6th birthday and the girls were invited
for the party. The family's 54 foot motorboat was
already hosting twelve plus three more local guests, so
the Zia adults dropped the girls off and went out to
celebrate Mike and Sue's last night onboard. They
were scheduled to catch the morning ferry to Palermo and
a flight from there to London. Our meal at
"Portobello" was sensational, with fresh clams and
mussels to start and an array of dishes ranging from
swordfish to pasta to insalata caprese.
You know, it is all about the food in
Italy!
.JPG)
Our early morning and sad goodbye behind us, Vincenzo
picked us up on "Blue Blood V" for a day of boating at
28 knots around the islands of Salina and Lipari.
It was incredibly relaxing to be out on the water on
someone else's boat! The kids had a blast riding
on the bow, getting towed to the beach on boogie boards
and riding back in the dinghy.
.JPG)
Vincenzo and Paola, despite the intimidating titles, are
down to earth, fun, joyous people and it was a pleasure
to spend time with them again this year. We
had the crowd on Zia for dinner that night, with "Blue
Blood" rafted up to us on our mooring ball in the
anchorage.
.JPG)
The conversation was surprisingly easy despite the
language issues. I was thrilled when my
bruschetta was received
with rave reviews by the three Sicilian ladies.
Paola provided the homemade sauce for the pasta I cooked
on Zia. Luckily, the kids were all tired,
providing the adults with the necessary excuses to go to
bed around midnight or else we would have all been up
talking until the early hours of the morning.
When the jellyfish appeared in the anchorage in greater
numbers the next day, we broke out our
NettleNet Boat Pool.
The nine kids who moments earlier were looking wistfully
at the water soon were swimming happily in the safety of
the Boat Pool. The meduse
menacing the anchorage can't pass through the fine mesh
net that drops down from the inflatable 15 foot ring
that forms the perimeter of the pool.
.JPG)
"You Americans think of everything," says the Prince, as
he takes one of our friend's, David Nolte's, business
cards to see about ordering one up for himself.
Blue Blood was planning a three hour, 55 mile passage to
the north on Tuesday, so we shared a final meal together
at Portobello, leaving the kids all with Carmello on the
big motor boat. Vincenzo was anxious to leave the
Aeolians, just 50 miles from Palermo, as he could not
avoid running into people he knew from the city.
He was ready for a real vacation away from all of that
and looking forward to exploring a little further afield.
As
for the Zia crew, we were having fun revisiting places
we had already been. There is a certain comfort in
knowing exactly where to go for groceries and laundry,
and the best place to tie up your dinghy. We had
met another American catamaran in Taormina who was
supposed to be in nearby Filicudi, so we took off on
Tuesday morning thinking we would stop there, a mere
fifteen miles away. Plus, it was a place we hadn't
been to yet.
Next Entry
>>>>>>>>>>>> (written
underway and posted at the same time as this one)
Many thanks to our friend Craig Homenko for his assistance in setting up the website.
We also would like
to thank our buddy Scott Brunner who has been kind
enough to host the website on his server.
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