April 25, 2025 • 49 mins
Sicily on your mind? If it's not, perhaps it should be. Hear the travel stories of exploring this wonderful island from our guest Brie, who listened to her heart and headed to Sicily for countless adventures on land and by sea.
Read the full episode show notes here > untolditaly.com/270
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Editorial Information
The Untold Italy travel podcast is an independent production. Podcast Editing, Audio Production and Website Development by Mark Hatter. Production Assistance and Content Writing by the other Katie Clarke
Read the full episode show notes here > untolditaly.com/270
NEW! - the Untold Italy app - DOWNLOAD FOR iOS • DOWNLOAD FOR ANDROID
The app is FREE to download and check out our Milan guide and general travel content. Upgrade to PREMIUM for a one time fee to access Rome, Florence, Venice, Sorrento, Cinque Terre, Amalfi Coast, Capri, Ischia, Tuscany, Lake Como, Lake Garda, Veneto, Lombardy, Campania and Lazio with much more to come
Support the show
Join our mailing list and get our FREE Italy trip planning checklist - subscribe here | Join us on tour: Trip schedule | Discover our Trip Planning Services | Visit our online store | Follow: Instagram • Facebook • YouTube • Italy Travel Planning Community • Online travel assistant
The Untold Italy travel podcast is an independent production. Podcast Editing, Audio Production and Website Development by Mark Hatter. Production Assistance and Content Writing by the other Katie Clarke - yes there are two of us!
Support the show
- Subscribe to our mailing list and get our FREE Italy trip planning toolkit - subscribe here
- Need help with your trip? Check out our Trip Planning Services
- Join us on tour. Browse our Trip schedule
Editorial Information
The Untold Italy travel podcast is an independent production. Podcast Editing, Audio Production and Website Development by Mark Hatter. Production Assistance and Content Writing by the other Katie Clarke
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Sicily is always a good idea. A smoldering volcano or two,
exciting culture and amazing wine.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
What's not to love?
Speaker 1 (00:08):
Today, we're going to find out what it's like to
explore this incredible island from a base in Catania by
both train and car. On episode two hundred and seventy
of the Untold Italy.
Speaker 3 (00:18):
Podcast, Tawatuti and Benvenuti tu One told Italy. The travel
podcast to where you go to the towns and villages, mountains,
the lakes, hills and coastlines of Bella, Italia. Each week,
your host Katie Clark takes you on a journey in
(00:40):
a search of magical landscapes, history, culture, wine, gelato, and
of course, a whole lot of pasta. If you're dreaming
of Italy and planning future adventures there, you've come to
the right place.
Speaker 1 (01:03):
Dreaming of arriving in Italy, strolling into a gelatia and
ordering your gelato with confidence. If you've been learning Italian
with language apps but still can't string a sentence together,
it might be time to try another approach. My friend
Michelle from Intrepid Italian offers a practical way to learn
travel ready Italian. Thanks to her unique eighty twenty method.
(01:24):
Michelle teaches you exactly what you need to know to
connect with locals and have more authentic travel experiences. There's
no getting bogged down in awkward phrases and unnecessary grammar.
As an adult learner herself with Italian heritage, Michelle really
knows how to bridge the gap between English and Italian.
As Roma from London said, the learning methodology is great.
(01:48):
I progressed much faster in the last four weeks than
I ever did on my own or using other language apps.
To find out more and claim your free Italian travel
phrase guide, visit untold Italy dot com, forward slash Italian
or visit the link in the show notes. As a bonus,
you'll also get an exclusive twenty dollars coupon code to
use on any of Michelle's online self paced courses. So
(02:11):
visit untold Italy dot com, forward slash Italian and accelerate
your Italian language of journey today.
Speaker 2 (02:18):
Jao Adudi hope you all had.
Speaker 1 (02:21):
A lovely Easter if you celebrate, we had a busy one,
which is why I took a little break last week.
But here I am back with an episode full of
insights from one of our listeners who may not have
an Italian background, but truly has an Italian soul. First though,
I'd like to mark the sad passing of the Pope
Papa Francesco. Even though I am not Catholic, I held
(02:41):
a lot of respect for this man who used his
power and influence to support some of the poorest and
most vulnerable people around the world. And yes, sure he
could have done more. But in a time where things
seem to be driven by extremely transactional and mean decision
making processes, someone with his position, operating from a place
of compassion will be sorely missed. Rest in peace, Papa Francesco.
(03:05):
Now let's take a little trip to Sicily with my
new friend Bri, who I share an affinity with Italy
despite having no genealogical connection there. Brie was smitten at
first sight and then managed to move to Sicily, where
she soaked up every last minute of her time in
beautiful Italia. She's here to share her adventures with us,
including a train trip that I get quite a few
(03:26):
questions about, so andiamum Let's dive in ben Venita.
Speaker 2 (03:31):
Brie, Welcome on to the Untold Italy podcast.
Speaker 4 (03:34):
Thank you so much for having me, Katie. I'm really excited.
Speaker 1 (03:37):
I'm absolutely thrilled to have you here on the show today, Brie,
because you reached out to me wanting to talk about Sicily,
where you once lived, and I thought, oh, we haven't
done Sicily for a while, so I was very excited
to have you on and hear all your thoughts about
when you live there. But you are joining us today
from beautiful Canada, so maybe tell us a little bit
about yourself and how a Canadian woman and her husband
(04:00):
came to me living in Sicily.
Speaker 4 (04:03):
My husband and I we first visited there probably about
ten years ago, and I fell in, like fell hard,
hard for Italy. We did it via a cruise, which
I wouldn't probably do now, but at the time that's
what we did. And I remember we were in a
different place like we were in Greece Malta, and then
(04:27):
we had a day in Sicily, and going from Malta
to Sicily, I don't know, it was very dry in Malta,
very like it looked like things weren't growing. Might have
just been the area that we saw. But the day
we arrived in Sicily, I'm squeezing my husband's arm on
the bus and I'm like, this place is like to
(04:49):
see the lemon trees everywhere, just it's so fertile, things
growing all over, kind of wild looking. Yeah, I fell
in love with it. And in preparation that trip, I
tried to learn a little bit of Italian, And when
I got to use what I learned there, it was
so rewarding for me. Just the little bits that I
(05:10):
got to use, asking like where is this or the
bathroom or it was really rewarding. And so when I
came home, I continued learning Italian and you couldn't keep
me from anything that had to do with Italy, reading books,
watching programs, listening to your podcast. Yeah, so I fell
(05:32):
in love with Italy, but particularly Sicily was what stayed
with me the most amazing.
Speaker 1 (05:38):
Do you remember which port did you go into on
that cruise? Messina?
Speaker 4 (05:43):
Messina? And then but we got on a bus and
went to Tarmina, and I'd never seen anything so beautiful.
It's so beautiful there. After living there now, I still
love it there, but there's so many people that go now,
so it was fun to just over other other places.
But yeah, that was my first love was Tarmina.
Speaker 1 (06:05):
Yeah, I think White Lotus has a lot to answer for. Yes,
even though a lot of it wasn't actually filmed in
that area. It was actually filmed in Scheffalou, I believe.
Speaker 2 (06:15):
But it's very beautiful.
Speaker 1 (06:17):
I mean, you have the smoking volcano, you have the
Greek ruins, you have the beautiful sea.
Speaker 2 (06:23):
What's not to love? Really? I think it's spectacular.
Speaker 1 (06:27):
So how long was it before that original trip before
you went back to Sicily to move.
Speaker 4 (06:32):
It would have been five six years. Just before the pandemic,
I discovered that I was entitled to European citizenship. I
hadn't really realized it in my life until then, and
so we had a trip planned in March twenty twenty
to go to Sicily for two months. Of course, it
(06:52):
did not happen. I think a week before we were
supposed to leave was when everything started to happen. But
my way of kind of coping with my seeing that
trip was working towards my citizenship. So I worked on
that during the pandemic. Got my passport. It went really well,
went fairly smoothly. At that point I said to my husband, like,
(07:13):
if I get this, if I get my passport and everything,
I don't want to go for a visit. I want
to move, And so he started to. He had some
time to mull it over to you know, come to
my side.
Speaker 2 (07:29):
Good for him though, amazing.
Speaker 1 (07:31):
It's one of those things living abroad and I haven't
lived abroad in a country where they don't speak English.
But I think it's so changes you in a way,
and it's an adventure and you're tested in so many
different ways and I think you'll never regret it.
Speaker 2 (07:46):
Actually, And how did you decide where to leave? When
you got there?
Speaker 4 (07:50):
So we knew some people. We had friends in Catania.
That was a big factor because they were our connection
for some things like an apartment. We basically got our
apartment through these friends, which I think would have been
challenging otherwise. And you know, knowing people got us familiar
with the city, helped us to get things done. They
(08:12):
would come with us to the comune, you know, to
try and get some of our documents and paperwork done.
But also we wanted to live somewhere with no car.
We didn't want to have a car, and Catania is
great for that. It has its own airport, so if
you want to travel and you don't have a car
you can get there easily. Yeah, having no car and
(08:33):
the friends knowing people there were it was why we
picked Katanya.
Speaker 2 (08:37):
Ah, that's very interesting.
Speaker 1 (08:39):
I think it's always good to have, like, yeah, touch point,
even if you don't maybe spend so much time with them,
but like, if you've got someone who can help you,
I think is pretty cool. We are they Italian or they.
Speaker 4 (08:51):
Yeah, some somewhere. We had a Canadian friend who was
married to a Sicilian there. Yeah, so you have people
who can speak Italian. That really helps you in the beginning.
And then of course having people that you can kind
of also relate to and be able to kind of
have chats about how different things are there then where
(09:12):
you're from.
Speaker 1 (09:13):
Yeah. I honestly, I think it's very romanticized moving to
Italy a lot of the time, and I think the
hard reality is there are some things that are very
very difficult, especially the bureaucracy. Is if you're used to
doing everything online and quickly, I know, I get frustrated
if it doesn't happen immediately.
Speaker 2 (09:33):
So I have this maybe we.
Speaker 1 (09:36):
Will spend an extended period of time in Italy at
some stage, But for me, I look at some of
the team and what they go through, and I just go, WHOA,
I don't know that's for me, but yeah, Brather for
doing that. And what was the things that you loved
about Katania when you live there?
Speaker 4 (09:54):
At first? There were things to get used to. My
husband probably struggle a little bit more than me. I
just I don't know, just soaked it all up. Loved it.
But it's chaotic, it's loud, there's garbage kind of all over,
so that you have to get used to. But I
loved how close everything was, Like we got used to
(10:18):
going to the deli and the butcher that was below
our apartment. We always went back to the same bar.
Our pizzeria was down the road. Like everything is so
close to you. It's so different from where I live
right now. And so we could also walk everywhere, which
we love. Before we went to Italy, we had really
(10:38):
become walkers during the pandemic and so you know, just
getting that exercise in every day because you have to
go walk for your groceries and things. The market, I
think the market in Katanya, I think it's the best
in Italy. I really really love it. It's cheap. I think
(11:00):
we had a lot of friends say that of anywhere
they've been in Europe, they've never had as affordable of
groceries or food as Catania, and so many things come
from Mount Etna. Yeah, the food was definitely a highlight.
Even when we would travel outside of Sicily to other
parts of Italy, you kind of get a little eye
(11:21):
roll sometimes when you would tell other Italians like you
live in Sicily, like they have their view of Sicily,
but they would all comment on the food. They say, oh,
but the food, the food, it's so good. So we
felt like we were in a bit of a food
heaven down there. That was probably our favorite thing.
Speaker 1 (11:41):
That market is so like I think the word in
some words in travel that are really overused, and vibrant's
probably one of them. But that one is literally vibrant.
And it's fun, isn't it. Where they're all shouting at
each other in dialect and it's just noisy, chaotic, and
there's so much going on. And I level the little
restaurants around the side of that market too.
Speaker 4 (12:02):
You know, it was an experience every time because we
obviously don't look Italian. I have way too fair of skin.
It's especially to be Sicilian. I don't think at that market.
It's so busy. They never got used to us, like
seeing our faces, and so they would, you know, try
little tricks, and it was just kind of fun to
(12:23):
kind of combat their tricks. Like I would keep track
of how much I was spending, and you know, they
would throw a number at you after you'd pick out
some of your veggies and stuff, and I would go, ah, no,
I think it's only two euro not four. Oh oh, okay, fine.
You know they've got lots of tricks of their sleeve
(12:46):
with foreigners. But that became not a game, but it
became something very funny in our daily life to kind
of face that. I think we miss it now.
Speaker 1 (12:56):
Well, I mean, you just pop a price on it.
It's boring, like let's go haggle. But it's a really
fun city too. I love that locals get out, don't
they Like That's what I noticed when I was in Katani.
They are out on the streets of walking passagata, enjoying
each other's company.
Speaker 4 (13:14):
Super nice, yeah, and relaxed. Like you know, sometimes you
would see tourists and they're maybe like dressed to the
nines because they're in Italy. They you know, they want
to look really good. But it's much more casual there,
I think than in some parts of Italy, and so
you can just kind of, like, I don't know, I
(13:35):
feel like you can relax in that you don't have
to look a certain way. You can just put your
hair down, wear flip flops if you want. Like, it's
it's a bit more anything goes. You know, you won't
stand out too much amongst the chaos.
Speaker 1 (13:51):
Yeah, I mean, like it's a port city, so maybe
I don't know, maybe they're but I think Port City
is always a bit more relaxed and a bit more
more chill. Everyone's just having a good time. I mean
I found Messina really like that as well. We were
there for one easter, which was crazy in a good way.
But yeah, it's a really it's a city where people live,
(14:13):
and I think that's probably what you're found in Katania too.
Speaker 4 (14:15):
Right, Yeah, for sure, it's very lived in, very I
don't know if you want to use the word real.
That's what I loved about it. As opposed to maybe
living somewhere a bit more pristine and magical. It felt
like you were really living somewhere, you were on an
adventure every day.
Speaker 1 (14:32):
Yeah, amazing and did you go on many trips from
your base, like I know for me when we're overseas,
we live overseas, like I'm off every weekend, let's go,
how about you.
Speaker 4 (14:44):
We had a lot of friends from abroad come visit
us while we lived there, and we tried to keep
our kind of bigger trips to when they came, so
we would do little things, the two of us. We
actually grew to love taking the train to Rome overnight.
I love the overnight train to Rome and back. But yeah,
(15:06):
we would save our bigger trips for when friends visited.
And once we did a road trip around Sicily with friends,
rented a car, and it was in November December, so
you would think maybe not the best time of year,
but it was so beautiful. Things are still growing everywhere,
you know, you still have the bugomvihlia growing oranges, so
(15:29):
it doesn't feel like you're there in the winter, or
that you're traveling in the winter. But yeah, that trip
we loved. We visited some of the places we had
already seen, like we did many day trips to Ortija
while we were in Catania. We'd been to Raguza a
few times, but with those friends, we went to the
West coast, which we actually didn't do a lot. We
(15:52):
ended up sticking mostly to the East coast. It's easy
to get around on the East coast, a little bit
harder on the west, especially with a car. But Rice
so beautiful, Trapani Chuffalou. We had been a few times
with friends. Of course, friends want to go to the
places that they've heard of, yes, or you know, the
(16:13):
places that come up in their research. So it was always, uh,
you know, we want them to have that experience, but
we'd always try and draw them away to somewhere quiet
or small that they might not have heard of. But
probably our most memorable time was going to the Aeolian Islands.
We loved it there. We stayed on Selena, loved Selena
(16:34):
so much. We sometimes with the friends that we went with,
we still say like, was that place real? Like were
we actually there? Is like I don't know, a mix
of Hawaii and Italy or I don't know. You even
felt like as you approached the islands on the ferry,
like you're at Jurassic Park or something like it feels
(16:58):
like you're somewhere special, somewhere people haven't been. And we
were really shocked to by how few people were there
we went in June.
Speaker 1 (17:07):
I think when you have to make a little bit
more effort that that's when people maybe get a bit
more challenged about whether they want to go. That's my experience,
and I guess that's why we do our tours the
way we do, so people can then have that experience
if they're feeling a bit nervous about going a little
bit further off the beaten path.
Speaker 2 (17:25):
But it's just rewards you every single time, doesn't it.
Speaker 4 (17:29):
Yeah, it feels like it's your own little secret when
you go somewhere off the beaten path and you don't
see tourists or I don't know, it just feels special.
At least the island we stayed on, Selina, we could
hear a neighboring island a little bit each night in
the distance. I think that was more of the bit,
more of a party island. But the one we stayed
(17:50):
on was so sleepy. One night we went to dinner,
we were the only people in that restaurant the whole evening.
I remember we after a boat tour, we got back
leader at night, maybe like ten thirty, and the entire
place is absolutely asleep, like nobody is out. But we
really liked that. We liked that it was so quiet and.
Speaker 1 (18:11):
It sounds like my type of place. I'm definitely the
ten pm bed person. You know, there's no staying up
till midnight here anymore, but that sounds ideal.
Speaker 2 (18:22):
I'd love to do that.
Speaker 1 (18:23):
Yeah, magic, you can't get more special than that.
Speaker 2 (18:27):
If you're just feeling like you're the only person there.
Speaker 4 (18:30):
Yeah, have you been there, Kitty, Not to.
Speaker 1 (18:32):
The Aeolian Islands, but it's on the list, you know,
the ever growing list. Never the list never stops growing.
That's the unfortunate.
Speaker 2 (18:39):
Pus gives us more reason to go back to Italy.
Speaker 1 (18:44):
And I know, you know, my family is very keen
to go back to Sicily because we went. I think
we went in twenty seventeen, so yeah, we're getting on
a few years when since they've been there.
Speaker 2 (18:53):
I've been back since. But yeah, it's so nice now.
Speaker 1 (18:57):
I think you mentioned something before that I think people
would love to know more about it, and that's about
getting the train from Sicily to Rome and back again.
Speaker 2 (19:05):
I think people.
Speaker 1 (19:06):
I actually often have people say, oh, what about these
overnight trip And for me it's like, yeah, I've done
some overnight train trips. They haven't been my favorite, But
tell me why you loved it.
Speaker 4 (19:17):
You know, we also took it during the day, and
I have to say, I understand on vacation you don't
want to waste a whole day on the train because
it's a long journey. I think it's like eleven hours.
But it's so beautiful and to go through so many
regions on your way, go past Vesuvius, like I'm like
a dog, like just looking out the window the entire time.
(19:39):
Would you know, how you bring things with you in case,
like you get to read or no, I can't. I'm
addicted to just looking out the window. It's so beautiful.
But the overnight train we really loved because, I mean,
you need a place to stay anyways for a night,
so this is sort of like you're combining your transportation
and your hotel kind of in the same in the
(20:00):
same deal. But I'm sure you can pay more. But
we always stayed like in the rooms where there's four
to a room, so we would have a bunk and
there was always somebody else in the other bunk. But
we had really interesting experiences with people in the other bunk.
We had a couple from Argentina once and chatted with them.
There was a man who insisted that he wasn't going
(20:24):
to sleep the entire night. He was going to stay up,
which we thought, oh, no, like, but he actually just
I don't know, I don't know if he felt like
he couldn't sleep, but he was Italian and he wanted
to talk to me, and so I had the longest
conversation I ever had was with this man, probably two hours,
and I was sweating. Oh my goodness. I could only understand,
(20:47):
you know, maybe half of what he would say. I'd
have to ask him to repeat a lot, but he
was super patient. But yeah, he really tested my Italian
that night, and eventually I had to say, like, I
have to go to bed, like I know you're doing
the you're staying up all night apparently. But yeah, we
had interesting little encounters like that, but never anything strange
(21:09):
or you know. The fun thing of it taking the
train from Sicily to the mainland is they have to
board the train onto a boat to cross right, and
so you can leave your train car during that time
and go up on the ferry and look at both sides,
say goodbye to Sicily or hello to Sicily. It was unique.
(21:30):
It's a unique experience.
Speaker 1 (21:32):
Oh that kept threatening to put that bridge up there,
but I'm pretty sure the ferry company has got a
vested interest in keeping the ferries running.
Speaker 2 (21:42):
But it's an interesting it is an interesting experience.
Speaker 1 (21:44):
But I had no idea that it was actually a
scenic trip, because you know, sometimes people think when they're
going by train, especially on the fast speed trains, that
it's going to be scenic, but you actually can't see anything.
Speaker 2 (21:54):
And there's a lot of tunnels.
Speaker 1 (21:55):
Especially up when you're going up north, so it's good
to know that that trip is seen.
Speaker 4 (22:00):
Yeah, I don't know if there is a tunnel maybe
around Maraateea in Pasilicata around there, but I think that
might be the only one. And what I would do
is because a lot of it sticks right along the coastline,
so as we would approach places that looked incredible, maybe
an incredible beach or the town looked beautiful, I would
(22:21):
start pinning these places on my Google Maps to save
them and be able to look back later and be like,
where was that. It's a great trip. We would always
look into flying to Rome instead, and for us sometimes
it made more sense to do the train just because
of getting from the airport to Rome or vice versa.
(22:42):
You know you're a right in the center of Rome
when you get there. Yeah, even the cost often made
more sense to do the train.
Speaker 1 (22:49):
So do you think the way you traveled changed a
lot when you started living in Sicily?
Speaker 4 (22:54):
Yes, I do, Like I said earlier, like you know,
we did a cruise the first time we went to it,
and you know, that's a good way to see a
lot at once and maybe get a feel if you've
never been before. But I can't imagine now, like it's
not something I would desire because I think when when
you live somewhere, and even in Catania there's quite a
(23:16):
bit of tourists for a pretty good chunk of the year,
it makes you want to go places where there aren't tourists.
And then you also get some inside tips and things
from Sicilians, like where they like to go, because they
want to go places too that are you know, aren't
going to have too many people around. But I think too,
(23:36):
when you know, when you're abroad and you're planning a
trip to Italy or anywhere you do research you plan,
people tell you like places they've been and it starts
to kind of spiral into all these things you feel
like you have to do because I think for a
lot of people, they go when they think, I don't
know if I'm going to get back here or when
(23:57):
I'm going to get back here, so I need to
see all of this at once. But when you live there,
you can, I don't know, you feel more relaxed, Like
you never feel like I think this is the only
time I'm ever going to see this place. You can
kind of wing it a little bit. You don't have
to do as much research as you would from abroad.
But unfortunately that mentality has stayed with me a bit, so,
(24:18):
you know, in planning future trips or one that we're
going on soon, I didn't want to overdo it in
the planning and tried to really pick places where I
feel like people don't go. A great way is like
if you look up a place on like YouTube or
online and try and find more about it, and if
(24:38):
you cannot find anything, that's where I want to go now,
like parts of you know, we're going to southern part
of Chilento, and I have scoured the internet and tried
to find, you know, information, It's hard, it's really hard,
but that makes me really excited that nobody has really
documented this yet. That's exciting to me.
Speaker 1 (25:01):
It's a hard one, especially for someone who does this job,
because you know, you want to share these places with people.
But also I think the effort of discovery is super
fun too, and having those special moments where you've just
you know, you stumble across something and you're like, wow,
I can't believe, you know, like you said that this
even exists in the Aolian Islands. It's a really interesting
(25:23):
way to travel. And I like, look at the way
that I traveled, and you know, like when I was
in my twenties and I was doing all this train
travel back in the days when that was the norm,
and you know, like when I had kids, that all change.
We had to be a bit more structured around what
we did and all of that.
Speaker 2 (25:40):
And now I love they're a bit older, we can
wing it a bit more.
Speaker 1 (25:44):
But I think if people are just a little bit
you know, they'd like to try, but they don't know.
I think even if you just allocate a couple of
days of your trip just to going somewhere that you
know is really a little bit different and not something
that you're definitely going to find on the internet. It's
so with it because I notice in my travels online
social media, it's always the same place as that come
(26:06):
up and up and up, and you know, if then
it becomes like I'm not like Disneyland, but just it
just becomes a bit you know, like everyone's there, everyone's
taking the same photo. I think we may be at
a tipping point where maybe everyone's you know, thinking, hmm,
everyone's dressing the same, everyone's looking the same.
Speaker 2 (26:25):
How can I be a bit more individual?
Speaker 4 (26:27):
Yeah, it's true. I agree. I think like even if
you know, if you're going for two weeks or something,
and there are more popular spots you really want to
go to, if you can just like a couple of
days or you know, like a quarter of the time
somewhere that you don't know too much about, then you
learn like, oh did I love that or did I
love you know, the busier places. It helps you to
(26:50):
figure it out.
Speaker 1 (26:51):
I mean, like, you know, Rome is popular for a reason,
like it is amazing, Like I can't get enough of it.
Speaker 2 (26:57):
I haven't even scratched the surface half the time.
Speaker 1 (26:59):
I've making discoveries in the little area I feel my
lame sometimes, but I'm always finding like three or four
new things to do in this one tiny you know
area where I can walk in ten minutes. So it's
it's a true joy to be able to travel there.
So when you're in Sicily, let's go back to how
you were getting around. So you mentioned you had a
(27:20):
car for one trip, and it's it is challenging, isn't it.
Like I feel like people think, oh, it's the same
as being at home, but I think you need to
have your wits about you, don't you.
Speaker 4 (27:31):
Yes, we had I remember, and I think it was
in coltagerone we visited that trip, and we were trying
to make our way out of the town and leave,
and Google Maps wanted us to go to go down
US streets and so we started, but then we saw that,
(27:52):
like it was such a steep hill we couldn't see
what was below us. So one of us got out
of the car just to you know check. It was stairs,
so we would have went down these stairs in our car,
So yeah, you got to watch for that. The only
times I've ever been stuck too in a car, like
where you've had to do like a one hundred point
(28:13):
turn is in Sicily. I haven't had it anywhere else
but in Sicily a couple of times that's happened. And
in Sicily too, it's important to maybe rent something a
little bit simple, not too flashy, because we've had many
people we know come visit and they've rented a car
and something's happened. You know, like if you rent something
(28:36):
that's a bit too noticeable, maybe too new, too fancy,
it can be a bit of a target. So embrace
the like simple little panda Fiat or something if you
can for the trip.
Speaker 1 (28:51):
Yeah, and easier to part too, because like those parking spots.
You know, my brother just turned up. He's got a
new car and it's this huge thing. I go had
you even park that in in Australia and we have
big car spaces and he goes on, I don't know,
so how do you even get out if if you're
next to someone in the car space, but in Sicily
they're just like driving right up on the curb that
(29:13):
ain't care?
Speaker 2 (29:14):
Yeah you don't, Yeah, you're right. You don't want it
to be flashy.
Speaker 1 (29:17):
And then you also mentioned that you got around Sicily
a bit by train, and I think that's another interesting thing.
Speaker 2 (29:22):
For people who there are a lot of people that don't.
Speaker 1 (29:25):
You obviously don't want to drive for the reasons that
we've just mentioned, but yeah, you still can get around Sicily.
It's a little bit slower though, isn't it.
Speaker 4 (29:33):
Yeah. I mean the whole where we lived, that whole
east coast, especially along the water, is pretty accessible by train.
Even some of the baroque towns you can get to
by train. I still think you can have an amazing
trip without renting a car. When we went to the
Aeolian Islands, I mean, you don't want to have a
(29:54):
car because you'd just be leaving it in Malatzo for
the length of time you're on the islands anyways. So yeah,
that's a great place to go if you don't want
to rent a car because you don't need it. But
getting between Palermo and Catangna's pretty simple. Even the bus
can be really great, especially getting from one side of
the island to the other, because it cuts through the
(30:15):
middle of the island where the trains stay along the
coast or closer to the coast. And to see the
interior of Sicily, it's so beautiful. I think it's underrated.
The interior people tend to stick to more of the
beach areas and the coastal towns, but the interior is stunning.
It's pretty dramatic too, you know, where you think of
(30:38):
like Tuscany as these rolling light hills, but there it's
much more dramatic, much more like I think, mountainous than
people think it would be.
Speaker 1 (30:48):
Yeah, and when it's springing, the wildflowers are at It's
just stunning, isn't it.
Speaker 2 (30:53):
There's nothing better. It's just magical.
Speaker 1 (30:56):
And of course there's not a lot of people that
go in there, probably go up into Piazza Amarna or
across to og Vijento, but people are missing that beautiful
wild nature that that's in the middle there. Yeah, it's beautiful.
What were some of your favorite places? Breed are the
place is that stick in your mind? Apart from the
Aeolian Islands and Katania.
Speaker 4 (31:17):
I will say to you on Selena and the Alien Islands.
We had this day just to because I think, you know,
this would appeal to people. We don't often book tours.
We like to explore things on our own, but really
our friends kind of not pushed us, but encouraged, like, oh,
we'd really like to do a boat tour and it
was so great. We used I think it was called
(31:38):
Selena Relaxed Boats. We couldn't help ourselves from saying the
name of that company throughout our trip. We just found
it really funny, Selena Relaxed both. But in that day,
you know, you get to go swimming, you get to
visit a few of the islands, but the highlights, you know,
you go to Strombolie, which is an active volcano, and
(32:00):
once it gets a bit dark, they park the boat
in view of where the volcano is constantly spewing lava.
So about every ten minutes you get this explosion of
lava in the air, and it's so everyone on the
boat was so excited. I don't know, there's something about
seeing a volcano explode that just makes people kind of
(32:20):
go crazy. You're yelling every time it happens. That same day,
we also, obviously this isn't always a part of the
tour or anything, but we had about maybe like forty
or fifty dolphins following the boat at one point, playing
in the waves, little baby dolphins. People went crazy for
that too. Might have been us actually that we're going
(32:40):
the most crazy, but that's a special place I definitely
suggest going there if you can. But Maudica is my
favorite baroque town. I feel like it doesn't get maybe
as much love as Raguza or Noto, but it feels
lived in. It feels like a real place, like where
Secily are working. And we also had a super memorable
(33:03):
meal there, which helps. When you have a super memorable meal,
that place always stays with you, I think. But beautiful
architecture there, the way the houses kind of cascade is
really beautiful. One thing I do in a lot of
places that we go in Italy is when it's like
lunchtime or dinner time, I try to find somebody to
(33:25):
ask like where do you think we should eat? And
in Modica, I remember there was a woman she was
either like a crossing guard or in construction. She was
wearing like a highlighted vest, and she completely stopped what
she was doing and was like, okay, okay, you're anywhere,
You're okay if I suggest anything, and I'm like yeah,
(33:47):
and she goes, okay, I'm going to call for you
right now. And so she calls this restaurant that she
loved and she's like, these four foreigners are going to
come and like they'll be there in like ten minutes,
like save us table for them. Things like this. I love.
I love asking, especially like an elderly man who's like
sitting on a park bench or something. He's the perfect
(34:07):
guy to ask where should we eat? They always lead
you to the right places. But yeah, I loved Monica
and Ganji is not super well known, but I think
it might have been the very first one year O town.
That's how I heard of it, like I don't know,
many years ago, and I remember marking it down. It's
(34:30):
very pretty because a lot of people the initiative worked
really well and a lot of people bought houses. But
really really pretty little town. And oh Rendatso. I love Rendatso.
It's a town on Mount Etna. You can get to
it via this old little train system, so not like
(34:52):
the regular train system on the island, but this little
train system that goes from Catania around Mount Etna. It's
very loud, it's old, it's rickety, but it's really it's
a fun trip. And they take you up to Rendatzo
and in Rendat So they have We thought of it
as like a FOODI destination, even though it was such
(35:12):
a small place because there's this place called Mussumechi Pastichieria.
I think it's been featured in some articles and things
around the world. You know, the claim sometimes like the
best gelato in Italy, these things that are put out
there sometimes, which is hard to you know, there's a
lot of good gelato, but this place is amazing. It
(35:34):
was so good the granita too, and they really stick
to like Sicilian flavors, orange, almonds, pistachio. My husband loved
that one. I couldn't get away from the nut ones.
I love the nut grenitas, especially almond with like pour
a little bit of your espresso on it.
Speaker 2 (35:53):
Were you doing your grenada with Briosh for breakfast?
Speaker 4 (35:57):
Oh? Yes, grenita. You know, I think a couple of
foods like it makes me emotional almost to talk about them.
Granita and the Chino. It's just seems so embedded in
the culture. They love it so much and they love
to see you enjoying it. Yeah, but grenita in the summertime,
(36:19):
when it's hot, you don't want gelato in Sicily. That's
what you want, is grenita. It's like a little bit later. Yeah,
oh y.
Speaker 2 (36:28):
I'm making your home seat now.
Speaker 1 (36:30):
Yeah, I think you're right though, the local flavors we had.
Speaker 2 (36:33):
We went down to Marts and Meemi.
Speaker 1 (36:34):
One time and I had that really good Jelousy down there,
which is Chelsea's mulberry for people who don't know that flavor.
And it's but it's not like the one from North America.
It's a different variety. I think that it's very dark
purple and it's delicious and very refreshing.
Speaker 4 (36:52):
Yeah, so refreshing. Yes, you have to do grenita for
breakfast when you're in Sicily or anytime. I mean, we
would go out with friends. After you've had dinner, you
go out for grenita. You meet people in the morning
for grenita. Like it's okay. I can't even tell you.
We lived pretty like locals, and we bought food like locals.
Like we never desired to like really make things that
(37:16):
we would make in our home country or you know,
search those things out. We would really stick to what
was local. But I don't know if locals go out
for grenada as much as we did, like probably like
four times a week.
Speaker 1 (37:30):
Now, I'm going to ask you a few questions because
we're going to start these off. Actually, you gave me
this idea from your website so can you tell me
this is very quick fire. What's your favorite city in Italy?
Speaker 4 (37:43):
Matera? Oh, I would say Matera in Italy, I would
say Matera. I've never been anywhere like it.
Speaker 2 (37:52):
Have you been there, kiddie, Yes, it's amazing.
Speaker 4 (37:54):
Yeah, it's so unique. And at night, the atmosphere is
like incredibly romantic. And I swear they're all told like
where to buy their light bulbs because it has the
same warm lighting all throughout the city. Obviously you think
of Italy as old, but I've never experienced any place
(38:15):
like that. In Italy.
Speaker 2 (38:17):
You must stay overnight.
Speaker 1 (38:18):
It's a real shamey fee yes, rush through on a
day trip, I think.
Speaker 2 (38:21):
Yeah, all right. How about your favorite small town.
Speaker 4 (38:24):
I'd have to say that one on Mount Etna Rendat
So I love that town. It's very like, I don't
know how many people know about it, but to just
kind of wander around, be able to take pictures of
I don't know, just the rusticness of a small Italian
town that not a lot of people go to and
(38:44):
have little encounters and chats maybe with like some of
the locals. Because you I love when you go to
a town and they're all kind of staring at you
because they're like, who is this person? Why are they here?
You know you're somewhere good and that happens. But yeah,
I would say randat self, go there, I love it.
Speaker 2 (39:03):
Okay, And if you could only eat one pasta.
Speaker 4 (39:06):
Dish, okay, we'll stick. We'll stick with Cecily. Maybe pasta consarde,
like the sodine pasta with pine nuts and fennel fronts
and onion toasted breadcrumbs on top instead of cheese. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (39:23):
Yeah, I think the different textures that they have there,
it's very, very different and probably not what people expect,
you know, when people are often thinking it's just.
Speaker 2 (39:32):
I mean pasta palmadoro is I mean, you just go
there and you go what is this? How how am
I eating?
Speaker 1 (39:39):
This? Is so different to at home? But it is
even like to try the different pastas. I think it's
just so good, all right? And is there I think
you did mention a memorable meal which is in Mightica,
But is there a meal that you really remember that
you loved.
Speaker 4 (39:53):
There's a place in Catania we would go sometimes as
a big group with our friends, and it's called La
Terrazza del Borone. And it's on this street called via
Pla Deeschito, which is a little bit crazy. It's wild,
the driving is pretty insane, it's super loud. But it's
(40:15):
also where they grill a lot of meat on the
street at night. It's very kind of like smoky at
night because they've got all the barbecues out. If you
want horse while you're in Catania, which is you know,
one of its famous dishes, that's the street to go to.
But this restaurant, like a lot of places in Italy,
it doesn't seem like the staff care about you in
(40:36):
a way, like it's just like what do you want?
You know, not particularly friendly, but not rude, like just
kind of all business. And the restaurant's always packed, so
you kind of have this lively atmosphere and the food
is very simple, like I think even one of the
salads is like I don't know, I used to be
(40:57):
like three or four euro and all all it is
is chopped small tomatoes with a few onions and salted ricotta.
But so good. Anytime we brought friends there, they loved it.
They would say like, I think this is my favorite
meal that we've had. And it's just because the atmosphere
and just the simple but really really good Sicilian food.
Speaker 2 (41:20):
Doesn't get any better than that, does it? And I
also do some delicious.
Speaker 1 (41:24):
Sweets, so can on eat grenita or something else?
Speaker 4 (41:28):
Oh, I mean Grenita's number one. When we go back.
If we don't have a grenada within the first ten
minutes of being there, as something's wrong. But I also
loved from a gelata ria that we went to a
lot the brioche with gelato in the middle. Yeah, it's
all about finding a place with a really good brioche.
(41:49):
If the briocha is really good. Oh it's I don't know,
it's so good. It's like a meal too. I would
eat it sometimes on the way. We would pass it
on our way to you know, being out for the day,
and things I would say like, oh, I'm just gonna
have a friosh with gelato because like I won't be
hungry again until Yeah, it's that's delicious. And I loved
(42:09):
Is this some I actually don't know Zupa and Glaize
gelato Is that throughout Italy?
Speaker 2 (42:16):
Yeah, you can usually get it. Yeah, I think I remember.
Maybe it's from Campagna. I don't know. My mother in
law mag super in glazing.
Speaker 1 (42:23):
Not the ice cream, but just as a general it's
like a custard almost, you know.
Speaker 4 (42:28):
Yeah, the gelato, like one place we would get it,
oh man, they would only do it. Some places do
it with like little candies or something, but this place
just did little mini chocolate chips in it. But it
tastes like to us, it tastes like I don't like
eggnog and rum or something like that. Was probably probably
my favorite, you know, at my favorite place, it was
(42:50):
the best gelato. But I mean a good connoli too.
Remember on Sunday mornings only in the winter months, this
little bakery down the road from us would make canolis,
and my husband would go out and get them for
us every Sunday morning. And the reason they only make
it in the winter is because that's when ricotta is
(43:11):
its best. Sheep are eating grass, so you only eat
rikotta in the winter months. According to them, they have
the luxury of picking and choosing, you know, the time
of year, even to eat their foods. We would laugh
at a friend of ours. He's an older Sicilian man
and he had so many food rules, like he wouldn't
(43:34):
need a tomato at this time of year. He wouldn't
need an egg plant at this time of year because
he's like, oh, it's probably being grown indoors. And we
would say, we do not have that luxury where we're from.
Like it's so crazy that they have that wonderful luxury
of being able to eat things like just when they're
growing outside the food. The food. I can't say enough.
Speaker 1 (43:58):
We're on the same page, the same pat And lastly,
if we go out for coffee, what are you ordering, Maale?
Speaker 4 (44:06):
So just like I'm an espresso, a whole sugar packet.
A lot of the Italians they're like that, like they're
they like like a whole sugar packet. So I would
kind of follow their lead. And you have that little
bit at the bottom after you know, that's like some
of the sugar grains that and you know, if it's
(44:26):
breakfast time, probably like a just like a cream filled croissant.
Speaker 1 (44:33):
Yeah, Yu, It's like, I don't know, you feel like
they must be going billion miles an.
Speaker 2 (44:39):
Hour with and have so many diabetes issues.
Speaker 4 (44:43):
In Sicily maybe especially they are really into their sweets
down there, But I don't know, it's like a mystery
that we all can't solve. They walk slowly around. They
eat sugar, but they're somehow a healthier than all of us.
Speaker 1 (45:02):
They have a very strong connection to the land, I think,
and you would if you have that volcano bubbling away
behind you. But yeah, I think that's a really strong
pool for them. Now I know that you've really fallen
hard for easterly breeze. When you back next and what
are you going to be going to do?
Speaker 4 (45:21):
We go in a few weeks. I'm very excited. We
get to go for a month, so really linger We're
going to four regions I mentioned earlier. I think the
Chilento coast, but like the southern parts, yeah, kind of
closer to like Basilicata area. Really looking forward to that.
(45:41):
And then Abruzzo. We're saying kind of between Grand Sasso
mountain range and Mayella Mountain Range. Then Sardinia. We're doing
a road trip around Sardinya for ten days and we're
friends joining us for that part of the trip because
of Sicily, you know, I coastal places, yes, it's great,
but I feel like there's like a secret in the
(46:02):
middle of the island, and so same with Sardinia. I'm
so excited for the middle of Sardinia. To see the sheep.
I am very very excited, and then we're going to
go back to Sicily for the last bit. I don't
think we could go back to Italy and not go
back to Sicily. Just you have to go relive, you know,
we have to go to our pizzeria, We have to
go to all the places that we that we loved.
Speaker 2 (46:26):
Yeah, I get it.
Speaker 1 (46:28):
Absolutely. Oh great, Thank you so much for sharing your experiences.
This is being such a delight, and it's so great
to hear from people that do things, you know, a
bit differently to.
Speaker 2 (46:37):
The way that I would do them more.
Speaker 1 (46:38):
You know, you've stayed put in Titanian, You've traveled around,
and you've seen so many different things and had different experiences,
and I really appreciate you sharing them with everyone today.
Speaker 2 (46:50):
So grats me, l thank you for.
Speaker 4 (46:52):
Joining us, Thank you for having me.
Speaker 2 (46:55):
Thank you, Rady Chiao Choo.
Speaker 1 (47:00):
I know a lot of you have that feeling about Italy,
the one that Bri has that makes you.
Speaker 2 (47:05):
Want to go back again and again and soak it
all up.
Speaker 1 (47:07):
I definitely have unfinished business in Sicily as well, and
can't wait to go back to discover those Aolian islands.
Grat simuli to Brie for reminding me to bump that
up my list and for sharing her favorite spots, and
also for the insight into the train journey from Sicily
up to Rome. That is one that I get asked
about a lot, and it sounds like it might be
(47:30):
quite entertaining.
Speaker 2 (47:31):
So, if like Bri, you have a trip or.
Speaker 1 (47:34):
Experience you'd like to share, please reach out to us
at Chao at untold Italy dot com.
Speaker 2 (47:39):
Because we'd love to share your stories.
Speaker 1 (47:41):
But I will be upfront and say that we are
looking for unique places and experiences. We call them the
untold ones, so that we can inspire others to go
beyond the obvious connect with the places that aren't one
hundred percent set up for tourists. So if you have
personal experiences that fit that brief, please do ret We
(48:01):
will be declining business pictures in favor of personal experiences.
Speaker 2 (48:05):
I hope you understand now.
Speaker 1 (48:07):
To learn more about the places that pre mentioned and
get some more info on her travel tips, head on
over to our show notes at Untold Italy dot com.
Speaker 2 (48:14):
Forward slash two.
Speaker 1 (48:15):
Seven zero for episode number two hundred and seventy, and
once again, thank you to all of you, our wonderful listeners,
for your ongoing support of Untold Italy. We do hope
you enjoyed today's show. If you did, then it would
be amazing if you gave us a rating or review
in your favorite podcast app.
Speaker 2 (48:33):
It does mean the world to us.
Speaker 1 (48:35):
Next week on Untold Italy, we're going to bring you
some more useful tips and tricks for traveling in beautiful Italia.
Speaker 2 (48:42):
But until then, it's chow for now.
Speaker 5 (48:45):
The Untold Italy podcast is an independent production podcast editing,
audio production and website development by Mark Hatter, Production assistance
and content writing biby.
Speaker 4 (48:55):
Are they kJ Clark?
Speaker 2 (48:56):
Yes, there are two of us.
Speaker 5 (48:58):
For more information about Untold Italy, please visit untold ithly
dot com
Sicily is always a good idea. A smoldering volcano or two,
exciting culture and amazing wine.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
What's not to love?
Speaker 1 (00:08):
Today, we're going to find out what it's like to
explore this incredible island from a base in Catania by
both train and car. On episode two hundred and seventy
of the Untold Italy.
Speaker 3 (00:18):
Podcast, Tawatuti and Benvenuti tu One told Italy. The travel
podcast to where you go to the towns and villages, mountains,
the lakes, hills and coastlines of Bella, Italia. Each week,
your host Katie Clark takes you on a journey in
(00:40):
a search of magical landscapes, history, culture, wine, gelato, and
of course, a whole lot of pasta. If you're dreaming
of Italy and planning future adventures there, you've come to
the right place.
Speaker 1 (01:03):
Dreaming of arriving in Italy, strolling into a gelatia and
ordering your gelato with confidence. If you've been learning Italian
with language apps but still can't string a sentence together,
it might be time to try another approach. My friend
Michelle from Intrepid Italian offers a practical way to learn
travel ready Italian. Thanks to her unique eighty twenty method.
(01:24):
Michelle teaches you exactly what you need to know to
connect with locals and have more authentic travel experiences. There's
no getting bogged down in awkward phrases and unnecessary grammar.
As an adult learner herself with Italian heritage, Michelle really
knows how to bridge the gap between English and Italian.
As Roma from London said, the learning methodology is great.
(01:48):
I progressed much faster in the last four weeks than
I ever did on my own or using other language apps.
To find out more and claim your free Italian travel
phrase guide, visit untold Italy dot com, forward slash Italian
or visit the link in the show notes. As a bonus,
you'll also get an exclusive twenty dollars coupon code to
use on any of Michelle's online self paced courses. So
(02:11):
visit untold Italy dot com, forward slash Italian and accelerate
your Italian language of journey today.
Speaker 2 (02:18):
Jao Adudi hope you all had.
Speaker 1 (02:21):
A lovely Easter if you celebrate, we had a busy one,
which is why I took a little break last week.
But here I am back with an episode full of
insights from one of our listeners who may not have
an Italian background, but truly has an Italian soul. First though,
I'd like to mark the sad passing of the Pope
Papa Francesco. Even though I am not Catholic, I held
(02:41):
a lot of respect for this man who used his
power and influence to support some of the poorest and
most vulnerable people around the world. And yes, sure he
could have done more. But in a time where things
seem to be driven by extremely transactional and mean decision
making processes, someone with his position, operating from a place
of compassion will be sorely missed. Rest in peace, Papa Francesco.
(03:05):
Now let's take a little trip to Sicily with my
new friend Bri, who I share an affinity with Italy
despite having no genealogical connection there. Brie was smitten at
first sight and then managed to move to Sicily, where
she soaked up every last minute of her time in
beautiful Italia. She's here to share her adventures with us,
including a train trip that I get quite a few
(03:26):
questions about, so andiamum Let's dive in ben Venita.
Speaker 2 (03:31):
Brie, Welcome on to the Untold Italy podcast.
Speaker 4 (03:34):
Thank you so much for having me, Katie. I'm really excited.
Speaker 1 (03:37):
I'm absolutely thrilled to have you here on the show today, Brie,
because you reached out to me wanting to talk about Sicily,
where you once lived, and I thought, oh, we haven't
done Sicily for a while, so I was very excited
to have you on and hear all your thoughts about
when you live there. But you are joining us today
from beautiful Canada, so maybe tell us a little bit
about yourself and how a Canadian woman and her husband
(04:00):
came to me living in Sicily.
Speaker 4 (04:03):
My husband and I we first visited there probably about
ten years ago, and I fell in, like fell hard,
hard for Italy. We did it via a cruise, which
I wouldn't probably do now, but at the time that's
what we did. And I remember we were in a
different place like we were in Greece Malta, and then
(04:27):
we had a day in Sicily, and going from Malta
to Sicily, I don't know, it was very dry in Malta,
very like it looked like things weren't growing. Might have
just been the area that we saw. But the day
we arrived in Sicily, I'm squeezing my husband's arm on
the bus and I'm like, this place is like to
(04:49):
see the lemon trees everywhere, just it's so fertile, things
growing all over, kind of wild looking. Yeah, I fell
in love with it. And in preparation that trip, I
tried to learn a little bit of Italian, And when
I got to use what I learned there, it was
so rewarding for me. Just the little bits that I
(05:10):
got to use, asking like where is this or the
bathroom or it was really rewarding. And so when I
came home, I continued learning Italian and you couldn't keep
me from anything that had to do with Italy, reading books,
watching programs, listening to your podcast. Yeah, so I fell
(05:32):
in love with Italy, but particularly Sicily was what stayed
with me the most amazing.
Speaker 1 (05:38):
Do you remember which port did you go into on
that cruise? Messina?
Speaker 4 (05:43):
Messina? And then but we got on a bus and
went to Tarmina, and I'd never seen anything so beautiful.
It's so beautiful there. After living there now, I still
love it there, but there's so many people that go now,
so it was fun to just over other other places.
But yeah, that was my first love was Tarmina.
Speaker 1 (06:05):
Yeah, I think White Lotus has a lot to answer for. Yes,
even though a lot of it wasn't actually filmed in
that area. It was actually filmed in Scheffalou, I believe.
Speaker 2 (06:15):
But it's very beautiful.
Speaker 1 (06:17):
I mean, you have the smoking volcano, you have the
Greek ruins, you have the beautiful sea.
Speaker 2 (06:23):
What's not to love? Really? I think it's spectacular.
Speaker 1 (06:27):
So how long was it before that original trip before
you went back to Sicily to move.
Speaker 4 (06:32):
It would have been five six years. Just before the pandemic,
I discovered that I was entitled to European citizenship. I
hadn't really realized it in my life until then, and
so we had a trip planned in March twenty twenty
to go to Sicily for two months. Of course, it
(06:52):
did not happen. I think a week before we were
supposed to leave was when everything started to happen. But
my way of kind of coping with my seeing that
trip was working towards my citizenship. So I worked on
that during the pandemic. Got my passport. It went really well,
went fairly smoothly. At that point I said to my husband, like,
(07:13):
if I get this, if I get my passport and everything,
I don't want to go for a visit. I want
to move, And so he started to. He had some
time to mull it over to you know, come to
my side.
Speaker 2 (07:29):
Good for him though, amazing.
Speaker 1 (07:31):
It's one of those things living abroad and I haven't
lived abroad in a country where they don't speak English.
But I think it's so changes you in a way,
and it's an adventure and you're tested in so many
different ways and I think you'll never regret it.
Speaker 2 (07:46):
Actually, And how did you decide where to leave? When
you got there?
Speaker 4 (07:50):
So we knew some people. We had friends in Catania.
That was a big factor because they were our connection
for some things like an apartment. We basically got our
apartment through these friends, which I think would have been
challenging otherwise. And you know, knowing people got us familiar
with the city, helped us to get things done. They
(08:12):
would come with us to the comune, you know, to
try and get some of our documents and paperwork done.
But also we wanted to live somewhere with no car.
We didn't want to have a car, and Catania is
great for that. It has its own airport, so if
you want to travel and you don't have a car
you can get there easily. Yeah, having no car and
(08:33):
the friends knowing people there were it was why we
picked Katanya.
Speaker 2 (08:37):
Ah, that's very interesting.
Speaker 1 (08:39):
I think it's always good to have, like, yeah, touch point,
even if you don't maybe spend so much time with them,
but like, if you've got someone who can help you,
I think is pretty cool. We are they Italian or they.
Speaker 4 (08:51):
Yeah, some somewhere. We had a Canadian friend who was
married to a Sicilian there. Yeah, so you have people
who can speak Italian. That really helps you in the beginning.
And then of course having people that you can kind
of also relate to and be able to kind of
have chats about how different things are there then where
(09:12):
you're from.
Speaker 1 (09:13):
Yeah. I honestly, I think it's very romanticized moving to
Italy a lot of the time, and I think the
hard reality is there are some things that are very
very difficult, especially the bureaucracy. Is if you're used to
doing everything online and quickly, I know, I get frustrated
if it doesn't happen immediately.
Speaker 2 (09:33):
So I have this maybe we.
Speaker 1 (09:36):
Will spend an extended period of time in Italy at
some stage, But for me, I look at some of
the team and what they go through, and I just go, WHOA,
I don't know that's for me, but yeah, Brather for
doing that. And what was the things that you loved
about Katania when you live there?
Speaker 4 (09:54):
At first? There were things to get used to. My
husband probably struggle a little bit more than me. I
just I don't know, just soaked it all up. Loved it.
But it's chaotic, it's loud, there's garbage kind of all over,
so that you have to get used to. But I
loved how close everything was, Like we got used to
(10:18):
going to the deli and the butcher that was below
our apartment. We always went back to the same bar.
Our pizzeria was down the road. Like everything is so
close to you. It's so different from where I live
right now. And so we could also walk everywhere, which
we love. Before we went to Italy, we had really
(10:38):
become walkers during the pandemic and so you know, just
getting that exercise in every day because you have to
go walk for your groceries and things. The market, I
think the market in Katanya, I think it's the best
in Italy. I really really love it. It's cheap. I think
(11:00):
we had a lot of friends say that of anywhere
they've been in Europe, they've never had as affordable of
groceries or food as Catania, and so many things come
from Mount Etna. Yeah, the food was definitely a highlight.
Even when we would travel outside of Sicily to other
parts of Italy, you kind of get a little eye
(11:21):
roll sometimes when you would tell other Italians like you
live in Sicily, like they have their view of Sicily,
but they would all comment on the food. They say, oh,
but the food, the food, it's so good. So we
felt like we were in a bit of a food
heaven down there. That was probably our favorite thing.
Speaker 1 (11:41):
That market is so like I think the word in
some words in travel that are really overused, and vibrant's
probably one of them. But that one is literally vibrant.
And it's fun, isn't it. Where they're all shouting at
each other in dialect and it's just noisy, chaotic, and
there's so much going on. And I level the little
restaurants around the side of that market too.
Speaker 4 (12:02):
You know, it was an experience every time because we
obviously don't look Italian. I have way too fair of skin.
It's especially to be Sicilian. I don't think at that market.
It's so busy. They never got used to us, like
seeing our faces, and so they would, you know, try
little tricks, and it was just kind of fun to
(12:23):
kind of combat their tricks. Like I would keep track
of how much I was spending, and you know, they
would throw a number at you after you'd pick out
some of your veggies and stuff, and I would go, ah, no,
I think it's only two euro not four. Oh oh, okay, fine.
You know they've got lots of tricks of their sleeve
(12:46):
with foreigners. But that became not a game, but it
became something very funny in our daily life to kind
of face that. I think we miss it now.
Speaker 1 (12:56):
Well, I mean, you just pop a price on it.
It's boring, like let's go haggle. But it's a really
fun city too. I love that locals get out, don't
they Like That's what I noticed when I was in Katani.
They are out on the streets of walking passagata, enjoying
each other's company.
Speaker 4 (13:14):
Super nice, yeah, and relaxed. Like you know, sometimes you
would see tourists and they're maybe like dressed to the
nines because they're in Italy. They you know, they want
to look really good. But it's much more casual there,
I think than in some parts of Italy, and so
you can just kind of, like, I don't know, I
(13:35):
feel like you can relax in that you don't have
to look a certain way. You can just put your
hair down, wear flip flops if you want. Like, it's
it's a bit more anything goes. You know, you won't
stand out too much amongst the chaos.
Speaker 1 (13:51):
Yeah, I mean, like it's a port city, so maybe
I don't know, maybe they're but I think Port City
is always a bit more relaxed and a bit more
more chill. Everyone's just having a good time. I mean
I found Messina really like that as well. We were
there for one easter, which was crazy in a good way.
But yeah, it's a really it's a city where people live,
(14:13):
and I think that's probably what you're found in Katania too.
Speaker 4 (14:15):
Right, Yeah, for sure, it's very lived in, very I
don't know if you want to use the word real.
That's what I loved about it. As opposed to maybe
living somewhere a bit more pristine and magical. It felt
like you were really living somewhere, you were on an
adventure every day.
Speaker 1 (14:32):
Yeah, amazing and did you go on many trips from
your base, like I know for me when we're overseas,
we live overseas, like I'm off every weekend, let's go,
how about you.
Speaker 4 (14:44):
We had a lot of friends from abroad come visit
us while we lived there, and we tried to keep
our kind of bigger trips to when they came, so
we would do little things, the two of us. We
actually grew to love taking the train to Rome overnight.
I love the overnight train to Rome and back. But yeah,
(15:06):
we would save our bigger trips for when friends visited.
And once we did a road trip around Sicily with friends,
rented a car, and it was in November December, so
you would think maybe not the best time of year,
but it was so beautiful. Things are still growing everywhere,
you know, you still have the bugomvihlia growing oranges, so
(15:29):
it doesn't feel like you're there in the winter, or
that you're traveling in the winter. But yeah, that trip
we loved. We visited some of the places we had
already seen, like we did many day trips to Ortija
while we were in Catania. We'd been to Raguza a
few times, but with those friends, we went to the
West coast, which we actually didn't do a lot. We
(15:52):
ended up sticking mostly to the East coast. It's easy
to get around on the East coast, a little bit
harder on the west, especially with a car. But Rice
so beautiful, Trapani Chuffalou. We had been a few times
with friends. Of course, friends want to go to the
places that they've heard of, yes, or you know, the
(16:13):
places that come up in their research. So it was always, uh,
you know, we want them to have that experience, but
we'd always try and draw them away to somewhere quiet
or small that they might not have heard of. But
probably our most memorable time was going to the Aeolian Islands.
We loved it there. We stayed on Selena, loved Selena
(16:34):
so much. We sometimes with the friends that we went with,
we still say like, was that place real? Like were
we actually there? Is like I don't know, a mix
of Hawaii and Italy or I don't know. You even
felt like as you approached the islands on the ferry,
like you're at Jurassic Park or something like it feels
(16:58):
like you're somewhere special, somewhere people haven't been. And we
were really shocked to by how few people were there
we went in June.
Speaker 1 (17:07):
I think when you have to make a little bit
more effort that that's when people maybe get a bit
more challenged about whether they want to go. That's my experience,
and I guess that's why we do our tours the
way we do, so people can then have that experience
if they're feeling a bit nervous about going a little
bit further off the beaten path.
Speaker 2 (17:25):
But it's just rewards you every single time, doesn't it.
Speaker 4 (17:29):
Yeah, it feels like it's your own little secret when
you go somewhere off the beaten path and you don't
see tourists or I don't know, it just feels special.
At least the island we stayed on, Selina, we could
hear a neighboring island a little bit each night in
the distance. I think that was more of the bit,
more of a party island. But the one we stayed
(17:50):
on was so sleepy. One night we went to dinner,
we were the only people in that restaurant the whole evening.
I remember we after a boat tour, we got back
leader at night, maybe like ten thirty, and the entire
place is absolutely asleep, like nobody is out. But we
really liked that. We liked that it was so quiet and.
Speaker 1 (18:11):
It sounds like my type of place. I'm definitely the
ten pm bed person. You know, there's no staying up
till midnight here anymore, but that sounds ideal.
Speaker 2 (18:22):
I'd love to do that.
Speaker 1 (18:23):
Yeah, magic, you can't get more special than that.
Speaker 2 (18:27):
If you're just feeling like you're the only person there.
Speaker 4 (18:30):
Yeah, have you been there, Kitty, Not to.
Speaker 1 (18:32):
The Aeolian Islands, but it's on the list, you know,
the ever growing list. Never the list never stops growing.
That's the unfortunate.
Speaker 2 (18:39):
Pus gives us more reason to go back to Italy.
Speaker 1 (18:44):
And I know, you know, my family is very keen
to go back to Sicily because we went. I think
we went in twenty seventeen, so yeah, we're getting on
a few years when since they've been there.
Speaker 2 (18:53):
I've been back since. But yeah, it's so nice now.
Speaker 1 (18:57):
I think you mentioned something before that I think people
would love to know more about it, and that's about
getting the train from Sicily to Rome and back again.
Speaker 2 (19:05):
I think people.
Speaker 1 (19:06):
I actually often have people say, oh, what about these
overnight trip And for me it's like, yeah, I've done
some overnight train trips. They haven't been my favorite, But
tell me why you loved it.
Speaker 4 (19:17):
You know, we also took it during the day, and
I have to say, I understand on vacation you don't
want to waste a whole day on the train because
it's a long journey. I think it's like eleven hours.
But it's so beautiful and to go through so many
regions on your way, go past Vesuvius, like I'm like
a dog, like just looking out the window the entire time.
(19:39):
Would you know, how you bring things with you in case,
like you get to read or no, I can't. I'm
addicted to just looking out the window. It's so beautiful.
But the overnight train we really loved because, I mean,
you need a place to stay anyways for a night,
so this is sort of like you're combining your transportation
and your hotel kind of in the same in the
(20:00):
same deal. But I'm sure you can pay more. But
we always stayed like in the rooms where there's four
to a room, so we would have a bunk and
there was always somebody else in the other bunk. But
we had really interesting experiences with people in the other bunk.
We had a couple from Argentina once and chatted with them.
There was a man who insisted that he wasn't going
(20:24):
to sleep the entire night. He was going to stay up,
which we thought, oh, no, like, but he actually just
I don't know, I don't know if he felt like
he couldn't sleep, but he was Italian and he wanted
to talk to me, and so I had the longest
conversation I ever had was with this man, probably two hours,
and I was sweating. Oh my goodness. I could only understand,
(20:47):
you know, maybe half of what he would say. I'd
have to ask him to repeat a lot, but he
was super patient. But yeah, he really tested my Italian
that night, and eventually I had to say, like, I
have to go to bed, like I know you're doing
the you're staying up all night apparently. But yeah, we
had interesting little encounters like that, but never anything strange
(21:09):
or you know. The fun thing of it taking the
train from Sicily to the mainland is they have to
board the train onto a boat to cross right, and
so you can leave your train car during that time
and go up on the ferry and look at both sides,
say goodbye to Sicily or hello to Sicily. It was unique.
(21:30):
It's a unique experience.
Speaker 1 (21:32):
Oh that kept threatening to put that bridge up there,
but I'm pretty sure the ferry company has got a
vested interest in keeping the ferries running.
Speaker 2 (21:42):
But it's an interesting it is an interesting experience.
Speaker 1 (21:44):
But I had no idea that it was actually a
scenic trip, because you know, sometimes people think when they're
going by train, especially on the fast speed trains, that
it's going to be scenic, but you actually can't see anything.
Speaker 2 (21:54):
And there's a lot of tunnels.
Speaker 1 (21:55):
Especially up when you're going up north, so it's good
to know that that trip is seen.
Speaker 4 (22:00):
Yeah, I don't know if there is a tunnel maybe
around Maraateea in Pasilicata around there, but I think that
might be the only one. And what I would do
is because a lot of it sticks right along the coastline,
so as we would approach places that looked incredible, maybe
an incredible beach or the town looked beautiful, I would
(22:21):
start pinning these places on my Google Maps to save
them and be able to look back later and be like,
where was that. It's a great trip. We would always
look into flying to Rome instead, and for us sometimes
it made more sense to do the train just because
of getting from the airport to Rome or vice versa.
(22:42):
You know you're a right in the center of Rome
when you get there. Yeah, even the cost often made
more sense to do the train.
Speaker 1 (22:49):
So do you think the way you traveled changed a
lot when you started living in Sicily?
Speaker 4 (22:54):
Yes, I do, Like I said earlier, like you know,
we did a cruise the first time we went to it,
and you know, that's a good way to see a
lot at once and maybe get a feel if you've
never been before. But I can't imagine now, like it's
not something I would desire because I think when when
you live somewhere, and even in Catania there's quite a
(23:16):
bit of tourists for a pretty good chunk of the year,
it makes you want to go places where there aren't tourists.
And then you also get some inside tips and things
from Sicilians, like where they like to go, because they
want to go places too that are you know, aren't
going to have too many people around. But I think too,
(23:36):
when you know, when you're abroad and you're planning a
trip to Italy or anywhere you do research you plan,
people tell you like places they've been and it starts
to kind of spiral into all these things you feel
like you have to do because I think for a
lot of people, they go when they think, I don't
know if I'm going to get back here or when
(23:57):
I'm going to get back here, so I need to
see all of this at once. But when you live there,
you can, I don't know, you feel more relaxed, Like
you never feel like I think this is the only
time I'm ever going to see this place. You can
kind of wing it a little bit. You don't have
to do as much research as you would from abroad.
But unfortunately that mentality has stayed with me a bit, so,
(24:18):
you know, in planning future trips or one that we're
going on soon, I didn't want to overdo it in
the planning and tried to really pick places where I
feel like people don't go. A great way is like
if you look up a place on like YouTube or
online and try and find more about it, and if
(24:38):
you cannot find anything, that's where I want to go now,
like parts of you know, we're going to southern part
of Chilento, and I have scoured the internet and tried
to find, you know, information, It's hard, it's really hard,
but that makes me really excited that nobody has really
documented this yet. That's exciting to me.
Speaker 1 (25:01):
It's a hard one, especially for someone who does this job,
because you know, you want to share these places with people.
But also I think the effort of discovery is super
fun too, and having those special moments where you've just
you know, you stumble across something and you're like, wow,
I can't believe, you know, like you said that this
even exists in the Aolian Islands. It's a really interesting
(25:23):
way to travel. And I like, look at the way
that I traveled, and you know, like when I was
in my twenties and I was doing all this train
travel back in the days when that was the norm,
and you know, like when I had kids, that all change.
We had to be a bit more structured around what
we did and all of that.
Speaker 2 (25:40):
And now I love they're a bit older, we can
wing it a bit more.
Speaker 1 (25:44):
But I think if people are just a little bit
you know, they'd like to try, but they don't know.
I think even if you just allocate a couple of
days of your trip just to going somewhere that you
know is really a little bit different and not something
that you're definitely going to find on the internet. It's
so with it because I notice in my travels online
social media, it's always the same place as that come
(26:06):
up and up and up, and you know, if then
it becomes like I'm not like Disneyland, but just it
just becomes a bit you know, like everyone's there, everyone's
taking the same photo. I think we may be at
a tipping point where maybe everyone's you know, thinking, hmm,
everyone's dressing the same, everyone's looking the same.
Speaker 2 (26:25):
How can I be a bit more individual?
Speaker 4 (26:27):
Yeah, it's true. I agree. I think like even if
you know, if you're going for two weeks or something,
and there are more popular spots you really want to
go to, if you can just like a couple of
days or you know, like a quarter of the time
somewhere that you don't know too much about, then you
learn like, oh did I love that or did I
love you know, the busier places. It helps you to
(26:50):
figure it out.
Speaker 1 (26:51):
I mean, like, you know, Rome is popular for a reason,
like it is amazing, Like I can't get enough of it.
Speaker 2 (26:57):
I haven't even scratched the surface half the time.
Speaker 1 (26:59):
I've making discoveries in the little area I feel my
lame sometimes, but I'm always finding like three or four
new things to do in this one tiny you know
area where I can walk in ten minutes. So it's
it's a true joy to be able to travel there.
So when you're in Sicily, let's go back to how
you were getting around. So you mentioned you had a
(27:20):
car for one trip, and it's it is challenging, isn't it.
Like I feel like people think, oh, it's the same
as being at home, but I think you need to
have your wits about you, don't you.
Speaker 4 (27:31):
Yes, we had I remember, and I think it was
in coltagerone we visited that trip, and we were trying
to make our way out of the town and leave,
and Google Maps wanted us to go to go down
US streets and so we started, but then we saw that,
(27:52):
like it was such a steep hill we couldn't see
what was below us. So one of us got out
of the car just to you know check. It was stairs,
so we would have went down these stairs in our car,
So yeah, you got to watch for that. The only
times I've ever been stuck too in a car, like
where you've had to do like a one hundred point
(28:13):
turn is in Sicily. I haven't had it anywhere else
but in Sicily a couple of times that's happened. And
in Sicily too, it's important to maybe rent something a
little bit simple, not too flashy, because we've had many
people we know come visit and they've rented a car
and something's happened. You know, like if you rent something
(28:36):
that's a bit too noticeable, maybe too new, too fancy,
it can be a bit of a target. So embrace
the like simple little panda Fiat or something if you
can for the trip.
Speaker 1 (28:51):
Yeah, and easier to part too, because like those parking spots.
You know, my brother just turned up. He's got a
new car and it's this huge thing. I go had
you even park that in in Australia and we have
big car spaces and he goes on, I don't know,
so how do you even get out if if you're
next to someone in the car space, but in Sicily
they're just like driving right up on the curb that
(29:13):
ain't care?
Speaker 2 (29:14):
Yeah you don't, Yeah, you're right. You don't want it
to be flashy.
Speaker 1 (29:17):
And then you also mentioned that you got around Sicily
a bit by train, and I think that's another interesting thing.
Speaker 2 (29:22):
For people who there are a lot of people that don't.
Speaker 1 (29:25):
You obviously don't want to drive for the reasons that
we've just mentioned, but yeah, you still can get around Sicily.
It's a little bit slower though, isn't it.
Speaker 4 (29:33):
Yeah. I mean the whole where we lived, that whole
east coast, especially along the water, is pretty accessible by train.
Even some of the baroque towns you can get to
by train. I still think you can have an amazing
trip without renting a car. When we went to the
Aeolian Islands, I mean, you don't want to have a
(29:54):
car because you'd just be leaving it in Malatzo for
the length of time you're on the islands anyways. So yeah,
that's a great place to go if you don't want
to rent a car because you don't need it. But
getting between Palermo and Catangna's pretty simple. Even the bus
can be really great, especially getting from one side of
the island to the other, because it cuts through the
(30:15):
middle of the island where the trains stay along the
coast or closer to the coast. And to see the
interior of Sicily, it's so beautiful. I think it's underrated.
The interior people tend to stick to more of the
beach areas and the coastal towns, but the interior is stunning.
It's pretty dramatic too, you know, where you think of
(30:38):
like Tuscany as these rolling light hills, but there it's
much more dramatic, much more like I think, mountainous than
people think it would be.
Speaker 1 (30:48):
Yeah, and when it's springing, the wildflowers are at It's
just stunning, isn't it.
Speaker 2 (30:53):
There's nothing better. It's just magical.
Speaker 1 (30:56):
And of course there's not a lot of people that
go in there, probably go up into Piazza Amarna or
across to og Vijento, but people are missing that beautiful
wild nature that that's in the middle there. Yeah, it's beautiful.
What were some of your favorite places? Breed are the
place is that stick in your mind? Apart from the
Aeolian Islands and Katania.
Speaker 4 (31:17):
I will say to you on Selena and the Alien Islands.
We had this day just to because I think, you know,
this would appeal to people. We don't often book tours.
We like to explore things on our own, but really
our friends kind of not pushed us, but encouraged, like, oh,
we'd really like to do a boat tour and it
was so great. We used I think it was called
(31:38):
Selena Relaxed Boats. We couldn't help ourselves from saying the
name of that company throughout our trip. We just found
it really funny, Selena Relaxed both. But in that day,
you know, you get to go swimming, you get to
visit a few of the islands, but the highlights, you know,
you go to Strombolie, which is an active volcano, and
(32:00):
once it gets a bit dark, they park the boat
in view of where the volcano is constantly spewing lava.
So about every ten minutes you get this explosion of
lava in the air, and it's so everyone on the
boat was so excited. I don't know, there's something about
seeing a volcano explode that just makes people kind of
(32:20):
go crazy. You're yelling every time it happens. That same day,
we also, obviously this isn't always a part of the
tour or anything, but we had about maybe like forty
or fifty dolphins following the boat at one point, playing
in the waves, little baby dolphins. People went crazy for
that too. Might have been us actually that we're going
(32:40):
the most crazy, but that's a special place I definitely
suggest going there if you can. But Maudica is my
favorite baroque town. I feel like it doesn't get maybe
as much love as Raguza or Noto, but it feels
lived in. It feels like a real place, like where
Secily are working. And we also had a super memorable
(33:03):
meal there, which helps. When you have a super memorable meal,
that place always stays with you, I think. But beautiful
architecture there, the way the houses kind of cascade is
really beautiful. One thing I do in a lot of
places that we go in Italy is when it's like
lunchtime or dinner time, I try to find somebody to
(33:25):
ask like where do you think we should eat? And
in Modica, I remember there was a woman she was
either like a crossing guard or in construction. She was
wearing like a highlighted vest, and she completely stopped what
she was doing and was like, okay, okay, you're anywhere,
You're okay if I suggest anything, and I'm like yeah,
(33:47):
and she goes, okay, I'm going to call for you
right now. And so she calls this restaurant that she
loved and she's like, these four foreigners are going to
come and like they'll be there in like ten minutes,
like save us table for them. Things like this. I love.
I love asking, especially like an elderly man who's like
sitting on a park bench or something. He's the perfect
(34:07):
guy to ask where should we eat? They always lead
you to the right places. But yeah, I loved Monica
and Ganji is not super well known, but I think
it might have been the very first one year O town.
That's how I heard of it, like I don't know,
many years ago, and I remember marking it down. It's
(34:30):
very pretty because a lot of people the initiative worked
really well and a lot of people bought houses. But
really really pretty little town. And oh Rendatso. I love Rendatso.
It's a town on Mount Etna. You can get to
it via this old little train system, so not like
(34:52):
the regular train system on the island, but this little
train system that goes from Catania around Mount Etna. It's
very loud, it's old, it's rickety, but it's really it's
a fun trip. And they take you up to Rendatzo
and in Rendat So they have We thought of it
as like a FOODI destination, even though it was such
(35:12):
a small place because there's this place called Mussumechi Pastichieria.
I think it's been featured in some articles and things
around the world. You know, the claim sometimes like the
best gelato in Italy, these things that are put out
there sometimes, which is hard to you know, there's a
lot of good gelato, but this place is amazing. It
(35:34):
was so good the granita too, and they really stick
to like Sicilian flavors, orange, almonds, pistachio. My husband loved
that one. I couldn't get away from the nut ones.
I love the nut grenitas, especially almond with like pour
a little bit of your espresso on it.
Speaker 2 (35:53):
Were you doing your grenada with Briosh for breakfast?
Speaker 4 (35:57):
Oh? Yes, grenita. You know, I think a couple of
foods like it makes me emotional almost to talk about them.
Granita and the Chino. It's just seems so embedded in
the culture. They love it so much and they love
to see you enjoying it. Yeah, but grenita in the summertime,
(36:19):
when it's hot, you don't want gelato in Sicily. That's
what you want, is grenita. It's like a little bit later. Yeah,
oh y.
Speaker 2 (36:28):
I'm making your home seat now.
Speaker 1 (36:30):
Yeah, I think you're right though, the local flavors we had.
Speaker 2 (36:33):
We went down to Marts and Meemi.
Speaker 1 (36:34):
One time and I had that really good Jelousy down there,
which is Chelsea's mulberry for people who don't know that flavor.
And it's but it's not like the one from North America.
It's a different variety. I think that it's very dark
purple and it's delicious and very refreshing.
Speaker 4 (36:52):
Yeah, so refreshing. Yes, you have to do grenita for
breakfast when you're in Sicily or anytime. I mean, we
would go out with friends. After you've had dinner, you
go out for grenita. You meet people in the morning
for grenita. Like it's okay. I can't even tell you.
We lived pretty like locals, and we bought food like locals.
Like we never desired to like really make things that
(37:16):
we would make in our home country or you know,
search those things out. We would really stick to what
was local. But I don't know if locals go out
for grenada as much as we did, like probably like
four times a week.
Speaker 1 (37:30):
Now, I'm going to ask you a few questions because
we're going to start these off. Actually, you gave me
this idea from your website so can you tell me
this is very quick fire. What's your favorite city in Italy?
Speaker 4 (37:43):
Matera? Oh, I would say Matera in Italy, I would
say Matera. I've never been anywhere like it.
Speaker 2 (37:52):
Have you been there, kiddie, Yes, it's amazing.
Speaker 4 (37:54):
Yeah, it's so unique. And at night, the atmosphere is
like incredibly romantic. And I swear they're all told like
where to buy their light bulbs because it has the
same warm lighting all throughout the city. Obviously you think
of Italy as old, but I've never experienced any place
(38:15):
like that. In Italy.
Speaker 2 (38:17):
You must stay overnight.
Speaker 1 (38:18):
It's a real shamey fee yes, rush through on a
day trip, I think.
Speaker 2 (38:21):
Yeah, all right. How about your favorite small town.
Speaker 4 (38:24):
I'd have to say that one on Mount Etna Rendat
So I love that town. It's very like, I don't
know how many people know about it, but to just
kind of wander around, be able to take pictures of
I don't know, just the rusticness of a small Italian
town that not a lot of people go to and
(38:44):
have little encounters and chats maybe with like some of
the locals. Because you I love when you go to
a town and they're all kind of staring at you
because they're like, who is this person? Why are they here?
You know you're somewhere good and that happens. But yeah,
I would say randat self, go there, I love it.
Speaker 2 (39:03):
Okay, And if you could only eat one pasta.
Speaker 4 (39:06):
Dish, okay, we'll stick. We'll stick with Cecily. Maybe pasta consarde,
like the sodine pasta with pine nuts and fennel fronts
and onion toasted breadcrumbs on top instead of cheese. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (39:23):
Yeah, I think the different textures that they have there,
it's very, very different and probably not what people expect,
you know, when people are often thinking it's just.
Speaker 2 (39:32):
I mean pasta palmadoro is I mean, you just go
there and you go what is this? How how am
I eating?
Speaker 1 (39:39):
This? Is so different to at home? But it is
even like to try the different pastas. I think it's
just so good, all right? And is there I think
you did mention a memorable meal which is in Mightica,
But is there a meal that you really remember that
you loved.
Speaker 4 (39:53):
There's a place in Catania we would go sometimes as
a big group with our friends, and it's called La
Terrazza del Borone. And it's on this street called via
Pla Deeschito, which is a little bit crazy. It's wild,
the driving is pretty insane, it's super loud. But it's
(40:15):
also where they grill a lot of meat on the
street at night. It's very kind of like smoky at
night because they've got all the barbecues out. If you
want horse while you're in Catania, which is you know,
one of its famous dishes, that's the street to go to.
But this restaurant, like a lot of places in Italy,
it doesn't seem like the staff care about you in
(40:36):
a way, like it's just like what do you want?
You know, not particularly friendly, but not rude, like just
kind of all business. And the restaurant's always packed, so
you kind of have this lively atmosphere and the food
is very simple, like I think even one of the
salads is like I don't know, I used to be
(40:57):
like three or four euro and all all it is
is chopped small tomatoes with a few onions and salted ricotta.
But so good. Anytime we brought friends there, they loved it.
They would say like, I think this is my favorite
meal that we've had. And it's just because the atmosphere
and just the simple but really really good Sicilian food.
Speaker 2 (41:20):
Doesn't get any better than that, does it? And I
also do some delicious.
Speaker 1 (41:24):
Sweets, so can on eat grenita or something else?
Speaker 4 (41:28):
Oh, I mean Grenita's number one. When we go back.
If we don't have a grenada within the first ten
minutes of being there, as something's wrong. But I also
loved from a gelata ria that we went to a
lot the brioche with gelato in the middle. Yeah, it's
all about finding a place with a really good brioche.
(41:49):
If the briocha is really good. Oh it's I don't know,
it's so good. It's like a meal too. I would
eat it sometimes on the way. We would pass it
on our way to you know, being out for the day,
and things I would say like, oh, I'm just gonna
have a friosh with gelato because like I won't be
hungry again until Yeah, it's that's delicious. And I loved
(42:09):
Is this some I actually don't know Zupa and Glaize
gelato Is that throughout Italy?
Speaker 2 (42:16):
Yeah, you can usually get it. Yeah, I think I remember.
Maybe it's from Campagna. I don't know. My mother in
law mag super in glazing.
Speaker 1 (42:23):
Not the ice cream, but just as a general it's
like a custard almost, you know.
Speaker 4 (42:28):
Yeah, the gelato, like one place we would get it,
oh man, they would only do it. Some places do
it with like little candies or something, but this place
just did little mini chocolate chips in it. But it
tastes like to us, it tastes like I don't like
eggnog and rum or something like that. Was probably probably
my favorite, you know, at my favorite place, it was
(42:50):
the best gelato. But I mean a good connoli too.
Remember on Sunday mornings only in the winter months, this
little bakery down the road from us would make canolis,
and my husband would go out and get them for
us every Sunday morning. And the reason they only make
it in the winter is because that's when ricotta is
(43:11):
its best. Sheep are eating grass, so you only eat
rikotta in the winter months. According to them, they have
the luxury of picking and choosing, you know, the time
of year, even to eat their foods. We would laugh
at a friend of ours. He's an older Sicilian man
and he had so many food rules, like he wouldn't
(43:34):
need a tomato at this time of year. He wouldn't
need an egg plant at this time of year because
he's like, oh, it's probably being grown indoors. And we
would say, we do not have that luxury where we're from.
Like it's so crazy that they have that wonderful luxury
of being able to eat things like just when they're
growing outside the food. The food. I can't say enough.
Speaker 1 (43:58):
We're on the same page, the same pat And lastly,
if we go out for coffee, what are you ordering, Maale?
Speaker 4 (44:06):
So just like I'm an espresso, a whole sugar packet.
A lot of the Italians they're like that, like they're
they like like a whole sugar packet. So I would
kind of follow their lead. And you have that little
bit at the bottom after you know, that's like some
of the sugar grains that and you know, if it's
(44:26):
breakfast time, probably like a just like a cream filled croissant.
Speaker 1 (44:33):
Yeah, Yu, It's like, I don't know, you feel like
they must be going billion miles an.
Speaker 2 (44:39):
Hour with and have so many diabetes issues.
Speaker 4 (44:43):
In Sicily maybe especially they are really into their sweets
down there, But I don't know, it's like a mystery
that we all can't solve. They walk slowly around. They
eat sugar, but they're somehow a healthier than all of us.
Speaker 1 (45:02):
They have a very strong connection to the land, I think,
and you would if you have that volcano bubbling away
behind you. But yeah, I think that's a really strong
pool for them. Now I know that you've really fallen
hard for easterly breeze. When you back next and what
are you going to be going to do?
Speaker 4 (45:21):
We go in a few weeks. I'm very excited. We
get to go for a month, so really linger We're
going to four regions I mentioned earlier. I think the
Chilento coast, but like the southern parts, yeah, kind of
closer to like Basilicata area. Really looking forward to that.
(45:41):
And then Abruzzo. We're saying kind of between Grand Sasso
mountain range and Mayella Mountain Range. Then Sardinia. We're doing
a road trip around Sardinya for ten days and we're
friends joining us for that part of the trip because
of Sicily, you know, I coastal places, yes, it's great,
but I feel like there's like a secret in the
(46:02):
middle of the island, and so same with Sardinia. I'm
so excited for the middle of Sardinia. To see the sheep.
I am very very excited, and then we're going to
go back to Sicily for the last bit. I don't
think we could go back to Italy and not go
back to Sicily. Just you have to go relive, you know,
we have to go to our pizzeria, We have to
go to all the places that we that we loved.
Speaker 2 (46:26):
Yeah, I get it.
Speaker 1 (46:28):
Absolutely. Oh great, Thank you so much for sharing your experiences.
This is being such a delight, and it's so great
to hear from people that do things, you know, a
bit differently to.
Speaker 2 (46:37):
The way that I would do them more.
Speaker 1 (46:38):
You know, you've stayed put in Titanian, You've traveled around,
and you've seen so many different things and had different experiences,
and I really appreciate you sharing them with everyone today.
Speaker 2 (46:50):
So grats me, l thank you for.
Speaker 4 (46:52):
Joining us, Thank you for having me.
Speaker 2 (46:55):
Thank you, Rady Chiao Choo.
Speaker 1 (47:00):
I know a lot of you have that feeling about Italy,
the one that Bri has that makes you.
Speaker 2 (47:05):
Want to go back again and again and soak it
all up.
Speaker 1 (47:07):
I definitely have unfinished business in Sicily as well, and
can't wait to go back to discover those Aolian islands.
Grat simuli to Brie for reminding me to bump that
up my list and for sharing her favorite spots, and
also for the insight into the train journey from Sicily
up to Rome. That is one that I get asked
about a lot, and it sounds like it might be
(47:30):
quite entertaining.
Speaker 2 (47:31):
So, if like Bri, you have a trip or.
Speaker 1 (47:34):
Experience you'd like to share, please reach out to us
at Chao at untold Italy dot com.
Speaker 2 (47:39):
Because we'd love to share your stories.
Speaker 1 (47:41):
But I will be upfront and say that we are
looking for unique places and experiences. We call them the
untold ones, so that we can inspire others to go
beyond the obvious connect with the places that aren't one
hundred percent set up for tourists. So if you have
personal experiences that fit that brief, please do ret We
(48:01):
will be declining business pictures in favor of personal experiences.
Speaker 2 (48:05):
I hope you understand now.
Speaker 1 (48:07):
To learn more about the places that pre mentioned and
get some more info on her travel tips, head on
over to our show notes at Untold Italy dot com.
Speaker 2 (48:14):
Forward slash two.
Speaker 1 (48:15):
Seven zero for episode number two hundred and seventy, and
once again, thank you to all of you, our wonderful listeners,
for your ongoing support of Untold Italy. We do hope
you enjoyed today's show. If you did, then it would
be amazing if you gave us a rating or review
in your favorite podcast app.
Speaker 2 (48:33):
It does mean the world to us.
Speaker 1 (48:35):
Next week on Untold Italy, we're going to bring you
some more useful tips and tricks for traveling in beautiful Italia.
Speaker 2 (48:42):
But until then, it's chow for now.
Speaker 5 (48:45):
The Untold Italy podcast is an independent production podcast editing,
audio production and website development by Mark Hatter, Production assistance
and content writing biby.
Speaker 4 (48:55):
Are they kJ Clark?
Speaker 2 (48:56):
Yes, there are two of us.
Speaker 5 (48:58):
For more information about Untold Italy, please visit untold ithly
dot com
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