We met Giovanni at the Messina Arch again and walked to the Greek Theatre not far from our hotel. It was built in the1400’s, but after WWII, parts of it were rebuilt in 1955. It overlooks the valley, and the Ionian Sea, crowned by Mt. Etna. It was used for Greek dramas and Roman gladiators. Now, it hosts many cultural events including concerts, opera and ballet.
Afterwards, we took a short walk to see a small amphitheater, Odeon, uncovered in the middle of town. Two years ago, my daughter and I ate at a small restaurant overlooking the theatre. It was a unique juxtaposition of old and current times.
While Giovanni retrieved the van we were using for the rest of the day, we enjoyed a visit to the public gardens. The garden was left to the town by an English woman to honor her love of the city. The trees and flowers were very similar to those we have in Mexico, giving us a comfortable feeling of home.
You never know what you will see as you meander around the streets of Taormina. We were delighted to see a couple going to the church for their wedding. They arrived in a VW bug convertible and we were told that there are many weddings per day. Everywhere you look, the vista is filled with flowering bougainvillea, charming alleys and small restaurants.
It was now time to take the many hairpin turns, past the beach area, on to the town of Forza d’Agro to start our Mafia/Godfather tour. While Taormina became famous from the second season of The White Lotus, the third Godfather movie was filmed in Sicily, and more specifically, in the small towns near Taormina, including Forza d’Agro. The churches were the stars of the film, looking much larger than they actually are.
It was time to take a break and have lunch at a small, charming restaurant. We started with a tomato bruschetta, followed by fresh pasta called “norma,” topped with dried and baked ricotta cheese in a fresh tomato-eggplant sauce. The brown cheese looked like mushrooms, but it was the ricotta. Finally, we enjoyed a delicious cannoli filled with a sweet cream.
Time to move on to the Santa Lucia church to see another location from the Godfather movie. The church was simple and mainly unadorned, but in a side room, they had a repeating video of the segment filmed in the church.
As we walked up to the church, there were remnants of an old synagogue, with a small plaque in the stone road just outside honoring Anne Frank. It was quite odd, I thought. In Amsterdam, plaques of those who died in the concentration camps, were everywhere. I didn’t expect this in Sicily. There also was evidence of an old mikveh or ritual bath where the synagogue supposedly stood.
Time to return to the hotel to rest a bit before heading out for a light dinner, hopefully pizza and a caprese salad. We said goodbye to Giovanni and will be going with Denice, our next guide, to go up Mt. Etna to see the volcano first-hand.
