We are headed to Taormina today, a resort city on Sicily's east coast, at the eastern foot of Mount Etna. But first...

Breakfast at the Hotel Colaverde is very nice:

• A few kinds of rolls and bread;
• plain, pastry cream, and preserve-filled croissants;
• an assortment of fresh and stewed fruit;
• plain and flavored yogurts;
• an assortment of cereals;
• currant cake;
• apricot jam tart;
• coffee cake;
• slices of ham and cheese;
• juices and coffee;
• Oh, and hard boiled eggs for Brigid.

Then we're loaded up on the bus, and on our way to Villa Romana del Casale. This is a Roman villa, built as a hunting resort by the ruler of the western Roman empire, Maximilian, in the 4th century AD.

There's a little urgency, toward the end of our trip, as several tour members reach their bladder limitations. Enzo, our bus driver, tries to find us a toilet stop, but without any luck (the gas station was closed). So he races for the Villa Romana, and almost before the bus stops in the lot, the most anxious tour members race ahead, instantly converting the bathrooms to unisex...

mosaic at the Villa Romana

cherubs can fish?

more fishing cherubs

I'm sure glad I don't need to go right now!

The great hallway, with a small section wet down to bring out the colors	another beautiful mosaic	some patterns Brigid liked
an impressive hunt	the 'bikini' girls	ostrich racing

Anyway, the most significant remaining aspect of the Villa Romana is the huge collection of original, intact, colorful and intricate mosaics. These have been covered with glass structures to protect them from the sun and weather, and walkways have been provided for visitors. Some of these mosaics are really stunning. Others are subtle and elegant. These mosaics are intact and colorful only because of a mudslide that covered them up from around 7th century AD until, essentially, the early 20th century.

It turns out that Enzo, our bus driver in Sicily, is from the town in which the Villa Romana resides, Piazza Armerina. We get a bit of a surprise as we head to lunch -- Enzo has convinced our guides to try a different place for lunch -- Azienda Torre del Renda, a 17th century home and farm that was used by the bishop. It turns out that the roads to the Azienda are too narrow for the bus, so Enzo has called ahead for assistance. The bus stops at a convenient place, and four cars pull up, to ferry us to lunch. When we arrive, we find a beautiful facility in top shape and with a wonderful view of the town and surroundings.

lunch at the hacienda

Enzo returns

Lunch. That is NOT an appropriate description of this meal. Imagine that you have an Italian grandma who is a gourmet cook, and she wants to stuff you with amazing quantities of deliciousness.

We knew something was up when we saw the place settings: THREE forks to the left of the plates, TWO knives to the right, and a dessert fork above. Okay, here's what we were served (and I'm embarrassed to say that I ate a good sized portion of all of them):

first helping of antipasto

prosciutto and melon

grilled eggplant and salami

fritatta and peppers stuffed with meat

• Slices of an excellent, fresh bread;
• Red and white wines;
• Acqua, gassata e non gassata;
• A slice of (provolone?) cheese on a slice of some kind of lean, preserved meat -- I can't describe it any better. It was good, but not special;
• Absolutely the best caponata I have ever placed in my mouth -- perfect in every way. The flavor was balanced between the eggplant and the tomato, and the texture was just right, with the eggplant holding together on the fork, but turning creamy in the mouth;
• Small marinated mushrooms (delicious);
• Prosciutto and melon (I'm not a big fan of prosciutto, but the local cassava melons are sweet and refreshing);
• Grilled and lightly marinated eggplant slices, sprinkled with oregano -- soooooo good!
• Frittata -- relatively plain, but very nice;

...and that was just the antipasto course! We resumed...

pasta in tomato, mushroom, and meat sauce	more?	salad
some meat?	tenderloin and sausage	beef and tendon stewed in tomato sauce

• The pasta course is a fairly thick spaghetti-like pasta in a tomato and fresh mushroom sauce -- perhaps oyster mushrooms? It's very good, but I've got to save room somewhere, so I stop only halfway through;
• The main course consists of slices of pork that have been seasoned and sauteed (good, but...), a fresh sausage (remotely similar to what we call breakfast sausage. nice), and finally, chunks of beef brisket and tendon that have been stewed in a tomato sauce (pretty good);

And finally, it turns out that Enzo has provided our dessert:

dessert?! I can't! Can I?

I can't believe I ate the whole thing!

Enzo's wife, Maria, baked a cake that is light as a feather -- absolutely perfect for such a meal. And he provides Lambrusco wine to accompany the cake. Absolutely perfect.

Enzo and the chef take a bow

We celebrate Enzo and the Azienda's chef with cheers, bravos, and many photos.

display bottle and still

a couple more interesting bottles

Piazza Armerina, Enzo's hometown

A press of some sort, in the Azienda's courtyard. Notice the planter pots?

The ferry crew shows up to bring us back to the bus (I don't know why -- they could have just rolled us all down the hill!). While waiting for our turn, some of us play with the Azienda's owner's dog, Chicho (well, that's how it's pronounced, the spelling could well be Cicco) -- he's widely adored by many of the ladies.

By the way, you could do worse than to stay at the Azienda Torre di Renda. Several tour members checked out the rooms, and found them to be as well-appointed as the restaurant. And there's a pool. And all sorts of activities are available. And (while the place is still relatively unknown) the prices are extremely attractive! And if you visit, be sure to tell them that Enzo sent you!

Now, we're on the road to Taormina.

packing the mold with clay

opening the mold

removing the molded item

the unbaked terracotta vase

'throwing' a bowl (and a 3 meg movie)

demonstrating the glazing process (and racks of product)

hand-painting a glazed kitty

an owl

shapely vase!

We make a brief stop at a ceramics factory in Caltagirone, where the process is demonstrated, from clay to glazing to painting to firing. Nothing tempts me, but a few things catch Brigid's eye, and a couple of tour members make significant purchases, to be shipped home. (I learned one thing, at least: terracotta starts out as gray clay. It doesn't turn orange until it has been fired.)

chocolate is chocolate!

Mount Etna

Pretty soon, Mount Etna comes into view, capped with clouds. It just keeps growing and growing, and the cloud details change minute by minute. I didn't manage to capture it, but at one point, there was a perfect example of "mountain wave" cloud formations above Etna, and downwind of it (at least 3 bounces).

twilight view of Taormina coast, as seen from our balcony

Our hotel in Taormina is down by the beach, just a brief cable car ("funivia") ride away from the main street. It's still twilight as I take a panoramic shot of the ocean view from our balcony. The air temperature is perfect.

Robin leads us up the funivia into town, for an orientation. This is most definitely a resort town. Gelaterias, pasticcerias, ceramics shops, jewelry shops, and ATMs.

From a cliffside viewpoint (did I mention that Taormina is cut into the seaside cliffs?), we look out on the seaside vista, consisting mostly of a plethora of street and building lights. And there's something else: A mottled red diagonal line in the distance. Yes, that's lava, flowing down the side of Mount Etna! Cool! Well, not exactly cool, I guess.

marzipan selection 1	marzipan selection 2	marzipan selection 3 (prickly pear, tangerines, mushrooms)
marzipan selection 4 (different prickly pears and tangerines -- and even marzipan ham sandwiches!)	chocolate-covered torrone	more sweets, including some beautiful marzipan apples and figs

We decide to eat light, after that gargantuan lunch. But we can't resist having our first Sicilian cannoli (€1.70). And it's every bit as good as I was hoping for. The ricotta is sweet and creamy, and has been augmented with bits of candied fruit and chocolate chips, and it's been freshly piped into a cannoli shell of just the right balance of strength and crunch. Mmmmmmmm. I'm going to have another one tomorrow. Okay, I'll share it with Brigid.

our first cannoli in Italy

We also split a bar of pistachio nougat (torrone?). Very sweet, but packed with pistachios, and really good. (€3.00!!)

fellow travellers enjoy a Taormina cafe, complete with live music

our musicians

items inspired by the 'phlying phallus' from Naples' Secret Cabinet?

A little more window shopping and we take the cable car back down to the hotel. We share an apple and a pear, as our dinner.

Enough. We're meeting Robin at 8:40 AM tomorrow. Time to sleep!