University of Minnesota- Literature

lunedì 15 aprile 2013

Travel Writing - Coming to Taormina

When you first step off the plane at the Catania airport, it doesn’t feel much different from mainland Italy. Sicily is a few degrees warmer, to be sure, but nothing strikes you as particularly special. Then again, once you’ve been to one small airport you’ve been to them all. Once you get out into the city, the real Sicily starts to show itself. The buildings are generally less ornate than in Florence, but there is a certain indescribable air of history and timelessness about them. Largely untouched by the renaissance (of Florentine origin), Catania’s landmark churches instead feature Muslim and Norman influences. The city is far less crowded than Florence, and what few tourists there are seem to be more interested in the food than anything else. Catania maintains the small-town feel that eludes many populous cities, despite being the second largest city in Sicily and boasting nearly 300,000 inhabitants.

However, the truly distinct feel of Sicily doesn’t fully hit you until you escape into the lush countryside. The coast is littered with picturesque towns that overlook the Ionian Sea. Red clay roofs and pastel colored houses contrast beautifully with the green grass and sapphire sea. Around every corner of the winding road out of Catania lies a view even more breathtaking than the last, culminating with Taormina. Perched high on a promontory some two hundred meters above the sea, Taormina is composed of a cluster of sandstone buildings. Directly beneath the town lies Isola Bella, a quasi-island nature reserve and beach surrounded by crystal clear water. The entire scene is stunning, but even more so when you turn to see Mount Etna, an active volcano, looming over the town. Bringer of both fortune and destruction to the region, Mount Etna dominates the skyline. Words do little justice to this awe-inspiring setting; there is truly no substitute for feeling the steady breeze and breathing in the array of fragrances while soaking up the timeless view from Taormina.

domenica 14 aprile 2013

Visions of Taormina.

The first stop on our week long adventure in Sicily was to Catania, which is the second largest city in Sicily, and built on top of the lava of Mt. Etna. Catania has been given the nickname of “the black city”, which was the opinion I had before I even learned of it. A large portion of the building material used in Catania is stones made out of the hardened lava, which is black, thus giving the buildings and therefore the city, a dark look and feeling. Catania was nice, but I wasn’t overly impressed, and was a little worried that Taormina would have a similar feeling to it, seeing it too is close to Etna. I couldn’t have been more wrong. Taormina was a tiny picturesque town that I would love to live in. The first full day we had in Taormina made me instantly fall in love. The language school we were attending, Babilonia, was absolutely breathtaking and I felt like I was in paradise. Everything from the warm rays of the sun, to the sweet smells of the wisteria, made me fall in love and never want to leave. Taormina definitely was a tourist attraction and a coastal city, but strolling the streets of the city was an experience unlike that of Florence. English is not the language you hear by most tourists passing by you or inside a shop. Perhaps it is because of the language school, but most people speak Italian, or at least attempt to. Many times inside the shops, owners asked if we went to the school, helped us with our Italian, told us they would tell Alessandro, the director of Babilonia, that we spoke only in Italian, and gave us a discount for being a student there. Many times in Florence, when I or other students, try to speak Italian in a shop the workers will often respond back in English, which can be very frustrating to a student that is trying to practice and make an effort to speak the native language. Those in Taormina were very friendly and encouraging to us, which made each encounter more pleasant than the last. Taormina, despite being a tourist attraction, has a very small town feel. It was not uncommon for me to see the same people every day, and start to build a rapport with them. I often witnessed locals running into each other on the street, saying a quick hello, or seeing what the other was up to for the day. Despite the beauty and rich history of the town and the immense presence of Mt. Etna, Taormina had a simplistic, peaceful and genuine feel to it that was quite enchanting. During my trip I made an effort to try many of the typical Sicilian dishes and I was not disappointed. Everything was absolutely delicious, and I wish that I could find such dishes in Florence. One of the things that I liked the most was all of the restaurants that were located on the little side streets and staircases. Even if we didn’t have a view of the sea, the cute back corners and tables scattered about the stairs made for a pleasant and picturesque evening. It definitely was a perk that the town was built on the side of the mountain, because you could use the direction of the slope to help you find your way. I did not use a map at all during the week and did not get lost once. We often decided to just wander through the streets and take little mini-adventures and see where the road would take us. While Florence is an old city with a rich history, it feels very connected to the present and has its own share of daily problems. While I have been in awe of the history and beauty of the city and I'm miles away from home, I never feel completely separated from reality. The feeling of crazy city life and daily politics is always there, unlike in Taormina. Overall, Taormina felt like its own little world, where there were no problems and everyone got along. It was quite surreal, and I loved every minute of it.

E. Montemurro

giovedì 21 marzo 2013

April Blood and the Pazzi Conspiracy

Let' s talk about Florentine history in literature.

The Pazzy Conspiracy (1478)

mercoledì 20 marzo 2013

CSI Florence: Creative Writing Workshop with Marco Simonelli

Our writer and poet, Marco Simonelli, entitled our worshop "CSI Florence"

1) First Step Nick Cave and Kylie Monogue "Where the Wild Roses Grow" (murder, love, passion, possession, beauty and the wild side, etc)

2) What is a monster? Latin root "mostrare", to show = Gods used to send monsters as an omen that something horrible would happen

Dante's Inferno, Cerbero

3) Serial killers

Jack the Ripper

4) The Monster of Florence, first murder

August 21, 1968: Antonio Lo Bianco (29) and Barbara Locci (32), lovers, shot to death with a .22 Beretta in Signa, a small town to the west of Florence, while Locci's son Natalino Mele (6) lay asleep in the back seat of the car. The child woke up and, finding his mother dead, fled in fright. At 2 a.m. he arrived in front of a house nearby and knocked on the door, telling the landlord: "Open the door and let me in, I'm sleepy and my Daddy is sick in bed. Then you have to drive me home, because my Mommy and my uncle are dead in their car." Natalino initially said he had run away alone, then changed his story and stated that his father – or maybe an uncle of his, as he used to call his mother's lovers "uncle" – had driven him to the house where he asked for help. Years later he said again that he was alone, but was too shocked to remember exactly what happened on that night. Locci was famous in the town because of her multiple love affairs, and so she had received the nickname Ape Regina (queen bee). Locci's husband, an ingenuous man named Stefano Mele, was eventually charged with the murder and spent six years in jail, but even while he was in prison, more couples were murdered with the same gun.

5) Let's reenact the first murder
Sam = killer, Erin = woman, Andrew= her lover, Jack= kid