Or How I Ended Up Talking to the Carabinieri

April, even late April is off season for tourists in Sicily.  Apparently, the season officially starts during the first week of May.  In Catania, this meant that the Piazza at the center of town was mostly empty.  Which was nice, because it was the first place we went, and where I started to try out my auto-didactic, learned it on the flight over Italian.  This was where we were hoping to shake off the tourist, just landed dust.  Unfortunately, what got shook down was me, or rather my pocket.  Continue reading “Haven’t You Ever Seen The Godfather?” →

Siciliy is an autonomous region within Italy, the random shape being kicked by the boot of Italy.  (As the Czech ambassador recently pointed out, geography matters people.)  Of the 20 regions within Italy, Sicily is one of only six that are considered autonomous, with special privileges regarding taxes and legislative power among other things. Sicily was not part of the Italian Republic until 1860; prior to that the island was a kingdom for seven hundred years.  Continue reading “Sicily – A Quick Primer” →

Wednesday 13 March was a rare boon for retailers. The supposed beginning of spring  intersected with Pantone’s Color of the year,  17-5641 Emerald, ‘a lively, radiant, lush green’ and National Jewel Day (the holiday Hallmark forgot.  I looked for a card but couldn’t find one.)   All the signs at this intersection were Green. Continue reading “Hey Kermit, Check Green Out Now.” →