Montalbano

As many of you know, Terry is a major fan of Montalbano, a Sicilian detective series on SBS Television in Australia. In fact, one of our reasons for choosing Licata as our winter port was its proximity to many of the locations used in the series, as well as the birthplace of Andrea Camilleri who wrote the novels on which it is based. There is huge local enthusiasm for Camilleri and Montalbano: I think Sicilians appreciate having their island associated with a good guy for a change, rather than being known only as the home of the Mafia.

Back in November we took a trip to Agrigento, with a side visit to Porto Empedocle which is the setting for many of the books and close to Camilleri’s former home in the country. After much debate and discussion amongst various locals, we established that the old man is still alive (viva, non morte!), over eighty years of age, living in Rome and has another Montalbano novel coming out this year. There are statues in the town to both the author and the hero of his books.
Last week, Terry and several fellow enthusiasts organised a “Montelbano Tour” to several of the significant TV series locations. We tried to do it via a commercial tour site, but they didn’t bother to respond to repeated messages so we opted to DIY. We were to share a hire car with friends Bernard and Lora from La Lisa, while Ginny and Guy of Kirsty II and their visitors took another.
Unfortunately, our “hire car” which was somebody’s Zio’s car, had a dicky battery and wouldn’t start.  We’re sure they knew this as there were jumper leads in the boot!

As a backstop, we went in Bernard and Lora’s van.  Ok for Bernard and Terry in the front but not so good for Lora and Carol in the back.  Still, we had a bit of fun back there with a running commentary on the scenery coming from the front.

First stop was the castle of Donna Fugata. First glances would suggest that this castle has something to do with a Lady who Flees or is fleeing.  Nope, it is actually a derivative of an Arabic word that passed into the Sicilian dialect as Ronnafuata that means Source of Health.  To confuse matters, there actually was in residence the widowed Queen Bianca of Navarra who was fleeing a sod who needed to marry her to become King of Sicily but she wasn’t having any of that.  The Arabic/Sicilian predates her by a long way.  The castle was sold to the District of Ragusa some 20+ years ago and is very popular with locals and even northerners on holiday.  The grounds are very nice indeed.

Don Balduccio's Terrace

The Montalbano link?  In the series, it is the stronghold of one Balduccio Sinagra, the ageing but still revered Mafia boss of the region around Montalbano’s territory and Montalbano occasionally visits Don Balduccio on the terrace.

Next it was on to Ragusa to the restaurant A Rusticana, Montalbano’s eating house.  Old Ragusa is a locals-only car zone so we had to park a long way from the restaurant and walk down something like 3,000 steps, then up a similar amount.

Ragusa

The restaurant itself is a simple Trattoria so it doesn’t pride itself on anything in particular but what we had, all eight of us, was very nice indeed. 

There are photos and autographs on one wall of members of the cast (unfortunately, no pictures of Catarella!)

Lora and Terry outside Montalbano's restaurant

From Ragusa, it was off to Scicli, a very nice little city indeed, called by one Italian writer the most beautiful city on earth.   The town hall in Scicli is used as the site of Montalbano’s boss’s office, the pompous  Bonetti-Alderighi, the Questore of Montelusa. We asked the lady managing the office if she had ever met Luca Zingaretti, the actor who plays Montalbano. She fluttered a hand over her heart and said simply, 'Si!'

Old Sicilian men watching the world go by

 We were put back by our earlier mishaps and didn’t have time available to do all we wanted but it was nice to be able to visit some of the places we’ve seen in the series.  Ragusa and Scicli are very elegant cities to visit – no street rubbish and very few dogs (and dogs' doings).

Scicli

Unfortunately we enjoyed Ragusa so much that we ran out of time to visit Montalbano's villa at Punta Secca, but it's important to leave something for next time...

The Questore's Office with Terry sitting in Montalbano's accustomed chair

 

 

 

 

Palermo

We caught the inter-city bus directly from Licata to Palermo, capital of Sicily. The trip takes three hours, but the buses are very comfortable, the drivers skilled at negotiating the unpredictable traffic, and it’s an opportunity to take in some of the beautiful scenery. At this time of the year, early spring, the countryside is vividly green, the fruit trees are in blossom and wild flowers splash patches of yellow and crimson across the fields.

Palermo has lots of accommodation options, from exclusive hotels to B&Bs. This time we rented an apartment, Casa Vacanza Bellini, in the old town in what appears to be the Bangladeshi neighbourhood. The extra facilities enabled us to do a bit of our own cooking (with produce from the famous markets) and to wash clothes rather than packing a lot of stuff. It was a perfect location for exploring this beautiful and historic city.

 

Pretoria Fountain in the 'Square of Shame'

Like most of the Med, Sicily has been settled since human history began, and its position in the middle of the Middle Sea has made it a centre of wealth, power, culture and conflict throughout the last 5000 or so years. Palermo itself was an important port for the Phoenicians, followed by the Greeks, Carthaginians, Romans, Arabs, Normans, Spanish and Bourbons prior to the unification of Italy. Some of the oldest and most beautiful buildings date from the Norman occupation, making them nearly 900 years old. The amusingly named Roger the Norman was responsible for many of these, including the breathtaking Palatine Chapel. Almost every square foot of the chapel is covered in mosaics depicting Biblical themes, in rich blues and golds. The figures are Medieval in style, but much more fluid and expressive than the icons of the Eastern (Greek) church, and they are in perfect condition. It is one of the most beautiful religious artworks I have ever seen. (To quote Terry, “It beats the crap out of the Sistine Chapel.”) The Norman Palace and Monreale Cathedral (built by Roger’s son William) are also spectacular and well worth a visit. You begin to imagine these Norman Kings as enlightened and cultivated leaders until you read that Roger and William shared another hobby of personally devising new and excruciating tortures for their prisoners.

 Mosaics in the Palatine Chapel

 

We toured the lovely Massimo Teatro, where the last part of The Godfather III was filmed (Michael Corleone’s daughter is shot on these steps.) The Royal Box and antechamber never served the King of the time – he said the theatre was far too grand for a second-rate city like Palermo! Sadly, no performances were running while we were in town so we’ll have to make do with Cruisers’ Monday Night Singalong at the Las Vegas Bar in Licata.

 Steps of the Massimo

 

 The royal box - Al Pacino sat here

Palermo is a great town to walk around. It has the usual cafes, bars and restaurants, including some excellent ones representing the migrant groups who have settled there. The shops are fascinating. All the Italian and international brand stores are there, but also lots of tiny, specialised shops – the cravat shop, the beret shop, the puppet mender, the man who crafts inlaid wood, the artisan chocolates, the hand-made baby clothes – and the coffin maker right next door. The public buildings are stately and there are gardens, fountains and a fine waterfront.

Crafting marquetry 

 

Puppet maker's workshop

 

 Majestic ficus tree

The harbour

 

On Sunday we made our way to the famous weekly market, which took up about six full streets – the biggest and best market we’ve yet seen. The fresh produce was amazing, with oranges, strawberries (four euros per kilo!!), and winter vegetables in season. I’ve developed a serious wild asparagus habit, which fortunately is quite sustainable at two euros for a good sized bunch. It will be hard to see the season end, but I will try to console myself with cherries…  Meat, fish, cheeses and fresh pasta - so much to choose from! We bought what we needed, along with a bottle of local wine and enjoyed a fine home-cooked, market-fresh dinner.

 

 

 Sunday market scenes

I was curious to see the Cappuccin Mausoleum – a bit macabre, perhaps but I have rather a fascination with funeral rites and traditions. You learn a lot about a culture from the way it manages death. We made our way to the monastery by taxi as it is a bit out of town, then took the stairs down into the half-lit catacombs. The mummified bodies are either tied upright in niches, or laid out in shelves cut into the rock. All are dressed in the clothing of their time – the monks in their simple hessian robes, the priests in the rags of their regalia, the workmen in the uniforms of their trade, the ladies in remnants of their finery and the children and infants in lovingly stitched robes and bonnets. Most are little more than gaping skulls and skeletons, but some are better preserved, with skin, hair and even eyelashes. One child, known as “the Princess” sleeps perfectly preserved in her sealed glass coffin. A stroll through the various chambers (“the infants”, “the virgins”…) is a powerful Memento Mori which is exactly what the church intended, “to this end we all must come”. The effect was spoiled somewhat by a group of American tourists, laughing, joking and talking so loudly that the attendant had to settle them down. This was obviously their way of dealing with anxiety – as I said, you learn a lot about a culture from the way it handles death.
 

The catacombs (from a postcard - no photos permitted)

 



Another pleasant bus ride back to Licata, despite extensive roadworks, and now it’s time to do those last few jobs before setting sail again.

 

#13th Instalment of the Beer Tour of the World

Beer, Food & Liquor Reviews

  13th Instalment of the Beer Tour of the World

We arrived from Ithaka, Ulysses' capital, in Otranto, Italy.  The closest tavern/café we have is the Quarta Caffe, or the Dolfino, depending on when you knew the place.  It is a simple tavern with beer, coffee, wine etc.  Surprise surprise – he has Tennents on tap!  Nice after an overnighter in less than ideal weather.  He also has bottle beers and I had a Dreher (previously reviewed in these august pages).  A 660cl bottle goes for …….€2.50!    I asked him about wiffy.  He didn’t have wiffy in his bar.  He put his hand over his heart to say “sorry” but he couldn’t afford it in his small café/tavern.   At €2.5 for a 660cl bottle of Dreher (a fine lager for sure) I couldn’t disagree with him and said there was no need to apologise, I would sit outside and drink my Dreher/Tennents and eat the complimentary olives and snacks while watching the sun go down over the Aragonese Castle.  As castles go, I am a great fan of the Aragonese variety, with their fake “come in this way, it’s easy” points.  I commented on this in Malta and also in Kos.  There’s nothing quite like getting your enemy to march a bucketload of guys under fire down a slowly declining plane to find out it’s a dead end!  The sheer delight on the face of the Siege Master when it all came off must have been something to see.

 

G Marabrea e Figli

Blond and Strong. An old Italian brewery of considerable class and style.  This is good stuff.  I've run into it several times since then and it doesn't disappoint, excepting that the Rosso isn't much to write home about.
 

La Quaffe

http://www.achouffe.be/en

Brasserie d’Achouffe, Belgium.  A nice light Belgian, no extra-this or extra-that.  Just good beer.  Hasn’t been around long.  Go to the Website, visit the "Valley of the Fairies" and play the song!

 

Tonnaro – red and blond.  Local brewery, on tap in a busy pizza bar in Otranto.  Pizzas were exceptional and this beer was a good local also.  So small it doesn't have a web presence and the labels seem to be stuck on with Clag.

 

Mastri Birrai Umbri.  5.9% Blond.  750ml wire top bottle

http://www.mastribirraiumbri.it/index.php?idl=2

Artisan beer from a family who have had 7 generations producing fine Umbrian products.  Sour, fizzy.  Very nice, with strong hops flavour. 

 

Tuborg Green.

Have no idea what the Green refers to.  Perhaps a little less intense than normal Tuborg.  I prefer the Tuborg Gold you get in Turkey but this is OK.

 

Grimbergen

 http://www.grimbergenbeer.com/gl/en/products/

These guys have been brewing in their Abbey since 1128.  Superlative product.  Makes you want to go on a retreat there.  This is up with the best ever.

 

Angelo Poretti
Another fine Italian product.  Pick it up if it's what's on offer in the pub.  Certainly acceptable.

 

Moretti “Baffo d’Oro”

A special Moretti.  Despite Heineken, whom I despise, owning this brand now, this is a good drop, in contrast with their ordinary Moretti.

 

Prato Rosso
http://www.pratorosso.com/
Great website - you need to look at the opening scenes.
Great beer too.  Getting quite fond of red beer now.
&

Birra Bionda

Artisan beer.  A bit sharpish, like a wheat beer which I suppose it could nearly be.  Double malted, 6.6%
&
Chiara Cruda
https://untappd.com/w/birra-artigianale-khamen/25021

 
I like it better than the Bionda but really they are priced high because they are micro-brewery product and they are competing with beers that are just as good for lower prices.  Nothing against them but no point buying them.

iCavalieri

https://pirkanbeerlog.wordpress.com/category/italy/

Another Umbrian, again double malted and 7.5% ABV.  Not nice.  750ml wire-topped bottle - I could only drink a glass and a half.  Very strong grassy taste, sour and hits you fairly strongly on the alcohol level.  Threw it out.

ps – went back to the supermarket to discover that all the bottles had been removed from the shelf and the ticket was gone also.  The whole batch was off so maybe the beer is better than I thought but the production is questionable.

 

Berlin Premium Lager.
http://www.eza.gr/index.php?lang=en
 



Brewed in Greece.  Brewed to a price but OK for that.  No particular taste other than some fizz and it’s wet.  I do take issue with the company promotion that attempts to suggest this beer has a long and storied history - it doesn't.  If you read carefully, it was created in 2010, despite references in the narrative to The German Purity Act of 1790-something to make it sound older.

 

I also take issue with the claim that it is made with water from Mt Parnassus - it's made in Atalanta, near Piraeus, where we have spent quite some time and like it for its modern industrial vigour, and it sure is not the home of the Gods, Parnassus is. (Parnassus is about 100 miles west - you think they truck water 100 miles??)

 

Not that I am against new beers, unless they are IPAs, because in Australia we once had only Coopers making good beer and all the great additions to the menu are very recent.

 

 

Red Erik

http://www.royalunibrew.com/Default.aspx?ID=467&PageNum=5

 6.5%.  Red from added fruit juices.  Starts off OK but then it gets a little sweet for mine.  OK but only just.  Not to be chased after.  Humorous label, though.  The Scandinavians in the marina thought it was funny.

 

Eichbaum 4.8%  Pilsener.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eichbaum

Fairly sour, sharp beer.  Nice but you can’t drink it quickly.  Known locally in its home town of Mannheim as "Corpse Water",  because the brewery is located alongside the cemetery. Nice, eh?

2^nd large can (poured into a glass, naturally) on 18^th Nov. was just as good.  Moving up in my list of go-to’s

 

Warsteiner.

http://www.warsteiner.com/#/uk/

I’m sure I’ve had this before but I can’t find it in the records.  Another supermarket special but the brewery has been around since 1753.  Drinkable on a warm day at a BBQ and pleasant enough. 4.8%.  Only criticism is that it’s a bit on the bland side, but it’s not at all sweet, which is good, and not too sharp.  Available in several bars here in Licata.

 

Side Note.

We went to Agrigento for 4 days and while there took a bus down to Porto Empedocle, the port for Agrigento.  We went to see where Andrea Camilleri was born but we were told “a Campagno” so without a car, no go.  However, there is 1. A statue of him in town and 2. A statue of Montalbano (not of Luca Zingarelli, who plays him in the TV series.)  They were setting up for a beer festival in the square alongside the church.  In this beer festival, you could buy 5 (Five) different Hacker-Pschorrs, Paulaner, Becks, Stella Artois, Nastro Azzura and something called DAM which I couldn’t determine.  If you’re going to have a beer night, might as well have 3 of the best Germans, one of the best Belgian lagers and a top Italian also.  Trouble was, it began at 9pm and the last bus back to Agrigento was at 7pm

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hacker-Pschorr_Brewery

One of the world's great breweries, from Munich

 

Peroni Rosso

 A rich red from one of my favourite breweries. 

 

 

Had a couple with dinner in a restaurant called  "Opera", overlooking the Valley d'Templi

 

McFarland Red

Had this in an Indian restaurant in Catania, Sicily.  Weird combination - Irish beer in an Indian restaurant serving Indonesian Samosas in Italy.  Oh well, that's the modern world.

Made by Murphys Brewery.  Very nice indeed.  2.5 Euros for a 500ml bottle. 

 

Norbertus Heller Bock

http://www.allgaeuer-brauhaus.de/abk/

Now we are getting to the top end of the beer world.  I had this in bottles in Syracusa a year or so ago and liked it very much indeed then.  This time, we were walking back from the Vatican to our apartment in Rome and it began to rain.  We ducked into a nice modern suburban bar/café for a spell and this was on tap (La Spina in Italy).  Amazing - one of the worlds great beers over the counter and 3 euros for a 600ml glass.  Had to have a couple.

 

 Home in Oz again.

Coopers to the left of me, Coopers to the right.  Coopers everywhere.  Wonderful way to be.  Good to see some great new additions also.

 

Began to question my judgement on the way back so I went and bought a six-pack of VB and a sixer of Nastro Azzurro.  Had Carol pour them into identical glasses, remove the bottles and the caps and give me a taste test.  Sure enough, the VB was instantly identifiable as pure crap.  I managed to palm off the rest of the pack to my nephew.  Drank the Nastro.

 

Have tried a couple of Squires' offerings and liked them - despite being owned by a major brewery, they seem to have been left alone to do their own thing.  Had lots of Coopers. 

 

I was also introduced to Nail Brewery's Pale Ale - very nice indeed.

Currently drinking Lowenbrau, which I managed to score at BWS for $36 a carton, which is getting down to a very reasonable price.

 

There really is no reason to drink the rubbish put out by the likes of VB, XXXX etc when there are so many better offerings out there.

 





 

Living in Licata

We’ve been back on Common Sense in Licata for almost a month but we’ve been boat-bound for a lot of that time by wet, windy weather and a particularly bad bout of man-flu for Terry. He’s only just starting to recover with the first of the very welcome spring sunshine. The situation has been redeemed somewhat by the pleasant company of the international cruising community here, with all the usual happy hours, Sunday barbecues, fitness groups and other activities, along with typical Sicilian life in the town. On a normal day we might have a morning Pilates class with Dave, then a ten minute walk into town to pick up a few oranges or tomatoes from Frutteria Rosso or bread from the paneria, followed by a coffee at any number of great little cafes. There is usually a bit of boatwork to do – fixing something, cleaning or working on some improvement project. Lunch – soup, bread, cheese or whatever is good at the market – then rest, read, write, play boules or molkke, whatever you like until it’s time for a drink with friends, a passegiata around town, perhaps a meal at one of the many restaurants ranging from simple pizzerias to some very fine dining. A film from our ridiculously large collection, maybe, then sleep to the gentle rocking of the boat. Or in a few recent cases, heeling to starboard and listening to the wind howl. The marina is well constructed so at least we haven’t had any swell to deal with.

Playing Molkke

Walking around town is a pleasure. Almost everyone nods or greets you with a buongiorno or buona sera, and the well-to-do older people especially dress in their smart clothes to go for a stroll. Three quarter coats, smart hats and fine shoes are the look for both ladies and gents. Young people are pretty stylish – even five year olds have trendy soccer star haircuts and wear their scarves just right. The old blokes hang out at the cafes, just as they do through the entire Mediterranean, but here they are welcoming and jovial rather than stern-faced and a bit threatening as they are in some places. Shop keepers and restaurateurs treat you like their long lost best friend – a sign of hard financial times, perhaps, but I think it is the authentic Siciliano character, generous and expressive. Terry has become very close friends with the nice lady in the central Farmacia.

 I always enjoy the little architectural surprises that you find in towns that have been lived in for a very long time.

Grotesques on the bank, modelled on the board of directors?

So now we are just awaiting a new battery, then after the Easter celebrations (the crucified Christ icon will be carried through town this evening then he’s due to rise for another parade on Sunday) we will head off by land for a bit of sight-seeing. The plan is to do the Montalbano tour next – we’ll keep you posted.

Thousands gather to watch the crucifixion