{"id":41,"date":"2013-07-28T00:07:14","date_gmt":"2013-07-27T22:07:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/chris-mercieca.com\/?p=41"},"modified":"2016-02-13T09:38:11","modified_gmt":"2016-02-13T07:38:11","slug":"regno-delle-due-sicilie","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/chris-mercieca.com\/?p=41","title":{"rendered":"Regno delle Due Sicilie"},"content":{"rendered":"

Italy has always been one of my favourite countries to visit. It may be so close to home and so alike to Malta, but then again that\u2019s exactly why I like it so much. Similar enough culturally to be a home away from home, yet different in terms of its natural environment and architectural style.<\/p>\n

This time round, though, I found Italy almost too similar to comprehend. I\u2019ve been thrown into an identity crisis as everything I consider Maltese and my own turns out to be not so uniquely Maltese after all. Taking over some qag<\/i>\u0127aq tal-g\u0127asel<\/i> for my hosts in Palermo seemed like a good-enough idea, until it turned out that I was just giving them some more of their own daily teatime snack. The Castel dell\u2019Ovo in Naples is scarily reminiscent of Gozo\u2019s Cittadella<\/i> and Birgu\u2019s Fort St. Angelo. Not to mention that Naples also has its own Castel St. Elmo, which I unfortunately did not get a chance to see.<\/p>\n

To top it all off, when the time came to leave Naples for the US, I wanted to make the most of my last chance to buy some authentic Mediterranean ingredients and prepare some \u0127ob\u017c bi\u017c-\u017cejt<\/i>, a traditional Maltese sandwich, for the upcoming 10-hour flight. In the end I did not have any time to shop, and had already resigned myself to enduring five months without the real thing. The next morning, though, my host\u2019s mum offered to prepare some packed lunch for the trip which I accepted right away. Once on the plane I unpacked the multiple layers of foil and napkins, only to find \u2013 yep, \u0127ob\u017c bi\u017c-\u017cejt<\/i>. Just like I would have prepared it myself.<\/p>\n

\"Castel<\/a>
Castel dell’Ovo<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Hob\u017c<\/a>
Hob\u017c bi\u017c-\u017cejt Napoli-style<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

—<\/p>\n

Palermo itself is a great city. It\u2019s characteristically chaotic with a large part of the centre taken up by a vibrant street market selling everything from bicycle parts to fresh fruit. Stalls fill up the winding city streets, leaving barely enough space for shoppers to walk through (yet of course ample space for motorcycles to whizz past \u2013 I\u2019m still not sure how that worked).<\/p>\n

My time there was limited because I was spending the night with the family of Carlo, a friend whom I met in the Swiss Alps a few years back. They live in a small town around half an hour east of Palermo, in a wonderful house with a view which I will not even attempt to describe. Carlo was still caught up finishing exams in Milan, but his family was extremely welcoming. It got interesting when I found out they do not speak a word of English, and my own Italian is limited at best. I can understand a thing here and there when speaking to someone from Florence. The Sicilian accent, on the other hand, is a thing of its own. We at least got the basics across (I think). Grazie mille for your hospitality, no cipolle, no aglio, no latte, treno domani mattina, e tutto va bene.<\/p>\n

\"Palermo's<\/a>
Palermo’s street market<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"My<\/a>
My Palermo hosts with the qag\u0127qa tal-g\u0127asel<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"View<\/a>
View from my window at Carlo’s place<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The second and final day in Sicily was almost entirely taken up by train rides. My next planned stopover was to be in Reggio Calabria on the Italian mainland just across the Straits of Messina. I changed trains in Milazzo in sicily on the way there to board the InterCity headed to Rome to do the one thing I\u2019ve always wanted to do ever since I first heard of it \u2013 ride the Trenitalia train ferry. Though Sicily and Italy are only separated by 7 kilometres of sea (think of Malta-Gozo and just add on a bit), there is no other way across besides taking a ferry. Trenitalia, the national rail provider, came up with an ingenious, and as far as I know, unique, solution to the problem. Why not build special ferry boats, they said, which instead of boarding cars board trains? And that\u2019s exactly what they did. The train arrived at the port of Messina, split into separate carriages, each was pulled onto the ferry, and we were off. No action necessary on the passenger\u2019s part. You can even remain in the carriage and sleep through the roughly 30-minute trip if you want to, though I chose to leave the train and go up to the ferry\u2019s top deck for the view. We reached the port town of Villa San Giovanni, docked, regrouped carriages, and continued northbound. Or at least the others did. I got down a few metres ahead in Villa San Giovanni\u2019s station to change trains for Reggio Calabria.<\/p>\n

\"Messina-Villa<\/a>
Messina-Villa S.G. Train Ferry<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Reggio Calabria did a good job at continuing the Malta parallel with its seaside promenade. I got off one station before the central one, at Lido di Reggio, and instantly felt as though I had accidentally returned to Sliema. The photos may not give the full impression, but honestly \u2013 same kiosks on the pavement, restaurants across the road, the entire city out for an evening stroll, even the occasional Surfside and Exiles below the promenade. The only difference really was seeing the lights of Sicily across the Straits.<\/p>\n

\"Is<\/a>
Is it Reggio or is it Sliema?<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

My time in Reggio was not nearly enough to form a proper opinion of it since I had to continue onwards to Naples the next morning, but I had a great time there with my host, teacher and baker (hey Ahmed!) and the city definitely warrants a second visit.<\/p>\n

\"My<\/a>
My baker-host Ahmed<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The half-day train voyage to Naples was uneventful and surprisingly on time. I arrived, settled down with my hosts, and headed to the centre to explore the city. Thinking back, it\u2019s amazing how much I saw in Naples and how I got a good feel for the city considering my very limited two-night stay. Couchsurfing with locals helped, of course (thanks again Antonio, Jorge and Guido!). If Palermo was great, Napoli was simply amazing. I think I might just have found a new favourite place in Italy, one which has the unplanned and chaotic charm of Palermo and at the same time the grand architecture of Rome and Milan (complete with its own Duomo and Galleria Vittorio Emanuele \u2013 though in Naples they call it Galleria Umberto I), all set in the stunning natural setting of the Gulf of Naples with Vesuvius watching over it.<\/p>\n

\"Galleria<\/a>
Galleria Umberto I<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Vesuvius<\/a>
Vesuvius as seen from Castel dell’Ovo<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\n

And then, just as I was falling in love with the city, it was time to move on. But I\u2019ll be back Napoli, and soon enough too. For now, the US awaits. Next stop \u2013 New York City.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Italy has always been one of my favourite countries to visit. It may be so close to home and so alike to Malta, but then again that\u2019s exactly why I like it so much. Similar enough culturally to be a home away from home, yet different in terms of its natural environment and architectural style. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":44,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[3],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/chris-mercieca.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/chris-mercieca.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/chris-mercieca.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/chris-mercieca.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/chris-mercieca.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=41"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"http:\/\/chris-mercieca.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":61,"href":"http:\/\/chris-mercieca.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41\/revisions\/61"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/chris-mercieca.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/44"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/chris-mercieca.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=41"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/chris-mercieca.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=41"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/chris-mercieca.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=41"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}