Rome, Naples, and Sicily, October 21 - November 5, 1999
Thursday, October 21, 1999 - We fly to Amsterdam then arrive early afternoon on Friday, pick up Al Italia to Rome; View of Tiber from St. Thomas Villa; Vatican Museum; Courtyard at Vatican Museum.
Friday, October 22 - Land in Rome, rent car, and drive to Victoria Hotel in evening, walk Via Veneto; Saturday, 10/23 - Tour St. Thomas new facility, then to Vatican; The Sistine Chapel, lunch and Sty. Peter's have clearly overwhelmed Jack! St. Peter's Basilica.
Sunday, October 24, 1999 - Sightsee Rome; First, the Coliseum; Updated guards.
The Forum.
San Pietro in Vinculo. Peter's chains, a really good relic; Monday, October 25, 1999 - Drive to Naples; Vesuvius at sunset; San Gennaro, patron saint of Naples.
Tuesday, October 26 - Tour Herculaneum and Pompeii; Entrance to Herculaneum.
Not depth of ruins beneath present day surface at bridge.
Herculaneum, then off to Pompeii; Unbelievably hot! Jack reads up.
Gorgeous wall paintings in Villa of Mysteries.
Wednesday, October 27, 1999 - We tour Naples. Start with Archaeological Museum then do a walking tour: churches, cloisters, custom creches; Thursday, October 28, 1999 - Fly from Naples to Palermo, walk around city, museums.
Friday, October 29, 1999 - We sightsee Palermo.
Wonderful mix of Byzantine and Islamic as a result of conquest of Muslim craftsmen.
Friday night, October 29, 1999 - Sicilian nobility who keep up the holdings by having formal dinners for paying guests at Palazzo Ugo; Saturday, October 30 - Palazzo Abitelli; Looks like Picasso Guernica horse, wonderful fresco at Regional Gallery, worthy of an entire Art History course.
Palermo street scenes; Saturday market walk replete with lookout and cats.
Market walk followed by a lovely lunch; Jack and I walk in afternoon around churches; Holy water served with style.
Sunday, October 31, 1999 - We leave Palermo and drive to Segesta.
We climb to the top and hear our guide speak and sing in the amphitheatre; Our guide sings to us from the center of the amphitheatre.
We then drive to Erice, a mountaintop town.
![Erice church; Sicilian transportation; Salt ponds in distance from Erice; Molly Taylor Simeti, author [Bitter Almonds] and host, Radcliffe '62.](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62e163b72ac2810ad9183578/28b5503d-45f0-4701-817b-36eb9854e987/Scan+24.jpeg)
Erice church; Sicilian transportation; Salt ponds in distance from Erice; Molly Taylor Simeti, author [Bitter Almonds] and host, Radcliffe '62.
We start with almond grinding to make the dough; Marzipan in the kitchen of Maria Grammatico; Perfect marzipan apricots; Maria picks out molds; Painted fruits.
Jack of course is bored with cooking so goes out and finds himself a witch and a Halloween celebration. First time for Erice, organized by some Sicilian Americans led by the witch.
Monday, November 1, 1999 - We leave Erice and drive to the sea to see sea salt harvesting; Then on to museum to see Greek boat; Donna Fugata, then to winery for lunch.
Selinunte; A nice bus.
The wonderful Morses, Alan and Cecily.
We tour an olive vineyard, buy his award-winning olive oil; Then see olives ground. We then drive on to Agrigento; Tuesday, November 2, 1999 - We tour the marvelous temples, tombs and towns of Agrigento.
Catacombs.
Agrigento group shot.
A Telamon, a male version of a Caryatid; A pleasant dinner in a country inn.
Wednesday, November 3, 1999 - Regaleali
We then watch and help(?) with the cooking. David Dassari. After a lovely lunch we ride to the winery; To the winery.
Jack and our hostess discuss real estate tax problems; A Madonna oversees the wine vats; We drive back to Palermo, walk around with Morses, then end with a group dinner; Jack and Stuart Parsons.
With Ann and Frank Porter; Thursday, November 4, 1999 - Farewells to the group. Jack and I do another day of sightseeing and fly home on Friday, November 5; Enna. Views from Castello di Lombardia.
We leave castle and come upon a Veteran's Day parade; Part of the Veteran's speech was translated for us, a mixture of concern that Northern Italy was taking advantage of Southern Italy and part a paean to Italy during the War, on the side of the Allies, interestingly enough; A dynamic, moving speech even though all in Italian; City officials; We then walk through the town and head to our next destination, Jack driving me and tour guide.
The beautiful Piazza Armerina
