The Mafia's black hand, migranti in Siracusa & Buon Pasqua

Guarda! This is what happens in Sicily when someone makes you "an offer you can't refuse" and you refuse. Or at least that's the word on the street. This small unextraordinary pizzeria on Via Giudecca (the main one- not the smaller Viale Giudecca) was firebombed last Sunday night at 2am in the morning. The blast woke my friend Carlo, of "Mom invasion" fame, who lives down the street. This is the old Jewish ghetto in Siracusa a popular neighborhood among young locals since there's not much tourism here- several buildings are still pretty distressed and rent is cheap. There's a popular wine bar down the street called Tinkite and I'm particularly fond of one of the sisters who runs it- ciao Maria...
Anyway, the folks who ran this little negozio are also supposedly very nice. The pizza wasn't anything to write home about- (and yet here I am) but it wasn't bad and it was very cheap. Perhaps too cheap- because everyone says this place was targeted by the local MAFIA for not paying the piper. La Cosa Nostra qui in carina Siracusa! Non! Non posso credere. But apparently so. Interesting. ... because one morning I went into this place- and a well dressed guy with a large briefcase came in a sat at the counter. The owner came out and- as far as I could make out- the guy was there to fill an order form and the owner was saying he really didn't need anything- but the guy just sat there and looked at his watch as if to say, "listen you and I both know you have to order SOMEthing, so... why are we wasting time." And after that, I went back to the Hostel I was staying in at the time and announced "I think I may have seen Mafia today." But I didn't really think I had. But NOW... I'm pretty sure I did.
Anyway... there IS Mafia in Sicily- and there was some of it right here in Siracusa today. This morning- Easter Morning (Pasqua in Italy) a sbarca, or a peschebarca- a fishing boat- was spotted 26 miles of the coast of Sicily carrying 87 Egyptians- and the boat was brought in to Siracusa. This is interesting because 1) I'm not aware of any boats making it to Siracusa... as you're probably aware- most of these boats are landing in Lampadusa, Sicily's southernmost island. But those are mostly Tunisian and these were 2)) Egyptian refugees. E diversi. and #3) accompanying them were 13 smugglers. They were immediately arrested and are suspected of being part of a mafia refugee smuggling operation. According to the Italian telegiornale only 18 Egyptians were allowed to disembark here- the rest were taken south to Portopalo- (except the smugglers who were arrested). Anyway- I'm going to follow up on this- if not tomorrow then Tuesday with Ramzi. Ramzi speaks Arabic and I'd like to see if we can talk to some of the guys who got off the boat here. But he's out of town until Tuesday. It's very interesting- no? I will follow up.
BTW I fully support Berlusconi's initiative- why not give the migranti (the refugee immigrants) papers to travel throughout the EU for 6 months. THe rest of the EU nations have self righteously lectured Italy about the immigration "problem" and completely refused to help or provide any humanitarian assistance. They've ignored repeated requests by the ITalian foreign minister to meet and discuss the problem. So Il Cavalieri simply issued them papers. Brilliant. For a while France responded by shutting down the north-bound train- I think it's one that goes from Genoa to Marseille (not sure about that). But it's running again and finally Sarkozy is coming here on Weds to talk to the PM directly. See- that's government Mafia-style, sometime you just have to make them an offer they can't refuse.
Meanwhile I've been hosting some migrants- or one migrant. This is Nicholas, a very nice French biker who contacted me through couchsurfer. He's biking the entire Meditteranean- here's his route (see pic). He's already biked Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia and put something like 20,000 KM on the bike (over 5 months). It was a pleasure to host him for three days last weekend. The weather was horrible, but he ate everything I put in front of him and rested up. We took a small bike ride together to Plemmirio (about 15 KMs away. Give me a break. Sono vechio- I'm an old man) on the opposite side of the bay. It was a beautiful spot- a spit of land that juts out into mediterranean. There are some pillbox bunkers left over from WWII. Would be a beautiful place to camp. I'll try to load a picture. We got caught in the rain on the way back. The following morning he was off to Catania- bon voyage Nick! It was amazing to see how efficiently he was traveling- two rear saddlebag, two saddlebags on a rack mount on the front wheel, a small duffel sandwiched between the saddlebags on the rear rack- and a small handlebar bag with a weatherproof clear plastic pocket for his map. Incredibile! BTW Nick said he had no problem using couchsurfer throughout North Africa- the people were incredibly generous and hospitable- a sentiment echoed again and again by people who've traveled there. In fact, he said he was finding it more difficult to line up couches in Europe- . Nick's website where he's blogging about his trip is www.nrichaud.eu, but I think it's in French.
Anyway, he's off.. but there are other couchsurfers on the way... I think next weekend. I better look into that and get my dates straight.
Allora Buon Pasqua from Siracusa. uova ciocolata per tutti.

"Mom invasion" - the morning snails

Domenica mattina. Sunday morning.
I started the day with a box of snails. It's a strange way to kick of the day gastronomically- but they were cooking pots of them outdoors by the market and I couldn't resist. But I'm feeling a little regretful now- because i think I feel those f++ckers sliming their way through my entrails. Oh mio dio.
Mio dio- or mio madre de dio- is actually how I start Sunday mornings here in Ortigia- because my bedroom is directly across the street from La chiesa della Santa Maria dei Miracoli- I live on Via Santa Maria dei etc.- and the bells start peeling around 9 maybe a little later, and then don't stop until the congregants (are Catholics called congregants?) are in the pews by 11.
My own madre was in town for the past week. It was a full on "Mom invasion," as Carlo put it. I think Judy was particularly charmed by my friend Carlo who variously referred to her as "Meees Jewdeee" or "Sewper Jewwdee"- he was particularly kind enough to drive us out to the mall in Syracuse so Mommy could by me a knife and a cutting board for the Cucina- thanks Carlo.
We had a good time- I think... The regina stayed in the Hotel des Estranges, a elegant hotel near the Fontana Aretusa- her room had a beautiful view of the harbor. The price of the room- which we can only guess at- included breakfast (colazioni) every morning on the rooftop dining area, bar. A lovely view of Ortigia from up there.
La madre rented a car for two days and I played navigator- she did very well. We drove south the first day almost to the southeastern tip of Sicily, to a tiny fishing town called Marzememi with a now defunct tuna processing plant. Wholesale or commercial tuna fishing has been illegal here since- I think- the late '80s, early '90s... but they're still for sale at the markets and on the menu at most restaurants (I bought a beautiful piece of one today at the market). So I suspect local fisherman are allowed a quota- as long as they don't use the nets, maybe? Once again, I should probably investigate but I'm not sure I want to. Because I'll wind up feeling bad about the piece I just bought.
On the way back from Marzememi we stopped in Vedicari- an estuary and protected park along the coast- and that really is a beautiful spot, and a secret to most travelers to Sicily. Here it's regarded as a sort of paradise- you can walk there and swim there- but there's no garbage, and there are rangers- or the italian equivalent- who give you a map of the protected area. There are flamingoes- which we didn't see, and white herons (airon bianco) which we did. There are lots of geckoes. ... and plenty of other things for the nature/ wildlife lover to see... it was all but empty the day we went. I want to go back- it's only accessible by car.
The next day we drove north to Taormina- which is known as a sort of vacation spot for the well to do Italians and tourists. Lots of bars, hotels and restaurants- lots of nightlife in the summer. It has a bit of a Cote d'azure feel to it but it's very dramatic. It's built into a cliff overlooking the sea. I think Judy, la madre, was particularly taken with Taormina- not necessarily the driving, which is precarious- lots of switchback turns up a steep incline... but the town, which has a gorgeous view of the sea and, of course, the shops- all the big ones are there, and they're not cheap. But I think she bought a few scarfs there- if I'm not mistaken.
Also we visited the bagno ebraio (the Jewish Baths) here in Ortigia- which are very old... They discovered them twenty years ago some 18 meters beneath a B&B in the the old Jewish quarter and I hadn't visited them yet because- the girl who runs the desk at the B&B is the same person who takes you down the stone steps to the baths- she does double duty, and she's never been at the desk when I've gone by. Perhaps she's been down in the baths.
According to her the baths date back to 79AD... which makes them very old indeed, according the study of medieval whatever association in Siracuse they're the oldest Jewish baths in Europe.
They're beautiful actually- they were filled in with sand during the inquisition. They dug a lot of sand out excavating the baths which now recieve very clear natural spring water- so they're full. But the inquisitors also walled up the egress for the water to naturally flow out... so they've rigged up a pump which pumps the water 18 meters up into a new well on the ground floor of the B&B... otherwise the baths would be completely submerged. Getting up and down was a little tricky- but the feeling in these large rock cut chambers with pools of water and water dripping from the ceiling- is stirring- not unlike the aptmosphere in a deep cave. Very quiet and deep and sense of a timeless place.
So that was nice- and it was nice to see a bit of the island outside of Syracuse. I don't have a car or a moto (which makes me a complete niente in Italy) so I've only been able to visit places that I can get to by bus or train- and there aren't that many actually. You can get to a beach just south of here called Fontan Bianche- certainly not as lovely as Vendicari- but the bus is only a Euro and it takes maybe 15 minutes to get there. THat's exactly what I did on Saturday, and I got in the ocean for the first time since I've been here... the Sicilians, who were at the beach, looked at me like I was nuts because it's still too cold- and the sea was cold, but no colder than the Atlantic on any given day- and I've felt invigorated ever since then.
And I believe "Mees Jew-Dee" is now back home, having arrived safely yesterday morning.