Comunque andare – Alessandra Amoroso (Vivere a colori, 2016)
17 Marzo 2018
“E allora andare che le spine si fanno sfilare, e se chiudo gli occhi sono rose e il profumo che mi rimane”
Today we woke up in Siracusa, more specifically the island of Ortigia (once again another UNESCO World Heritage site) where we were able to spend most of our day and explore. In the morning we visited another archaeological site, known as the Parco Archeologico Neapolis (Neapolis archaeological park), where we saw a gigantic theater on one side of the park (under construction for the spring-summer theater festivals held at the park) and a smaller Roman amphitheater on the opposite side of the park. While at the archaeological park, we entered the cave known as the Ear of Dionisio which legend says Dionisio used to spy on his prisoners with the use of the echo produced by the height and formation of the cave. While in this cave, I sang a piece of Giovanni Caccamo & Deborah Iurato’s “Via da qui” (the song proposed for the 2015 Sanremo song contest), which started off pretty good but took a turn for the worst as I continued singing.
For the rest of the day, we were given free time to roam and explore the city of Ortigia. I didn’t take many pictures because I was really trying to enjoy my free time by absorbing the sounds, sights and aria (air and environment) of Ortigia. Dino, Frankie, Giovanni, Sarah and I then went into a store dedicated to Sicilian specialties, such as Sicilian Limoncello, pistachio butter, cheese spreads and tons of pastas. The saleswoman was very kind and spoke to us all in Italian, Spanish and English! She complimented our Italian, made us laugh a lot but most importantly reminded us to never give up in what we do and to never be afraid to dream big! She said she didn’t know us well, but that she knew we were up to great things. Not sure if she really meant it or if she just wanted us to keep purchasing goods, but it worked and it was nice to hear such encouraging words from a stranger. (I later ran into her as I was on my search for a music store to purchase Ermal Meta’s new album, which resulted in a wonderful 15 minute conversation about Italian music and Ermal Meta’s career path and the significance of his music.)
One of the things that I loved most about this city was that the streets were lined with these nice flowers that only opened up when the sun was out, and would close after sunset! For the rest of the day, I visited FlyingTiger and a couple of my other favorite Italian shops, and then took a break at a café called Biblios, which was super cool! I couldn’t really photograph the shop at a good angle or do it justice, however it was a space dedicated to relaxation and the exploration of creativity. While in the café, one would be able to purchase a book to read (they had a large selection of books written by Sicilian authors), tons of postcards and beautiful bookmarks, as well as paper and markers for those more interested in creating art during their free time. I spent about 2 hours in the café, working on job applications as well as writing letters and drinking Sicilian green tea (which I had no idea even existed). This was a pretty nice second-to-last day in Italy.