Vulcano – Francesca Michielin (2640, 2018)
18 Marzo 2018
“V, come vulcano, e mille altre cose: La paura di vagare per troppo tempo a vuoto.”
Today en route to Catania, we made a quick stop at one of the rest stops on Mount Etna for about 45 minutes. Mt. Etna is recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage site, and is one of Italy’s few active volcanoes. While here, we attempted to climb up a steep hill of volcanic rocks to see one of the craters created by the Etna’s eruptions. Emilia and I made it half way up when we realized how much of a challenge the descent would be. Dino and Sarah made it to the top, but Emilia and I visited another crater that was much closer. Giovanni decided not to climb up either of the craters and relax with Prof.ssa Gavioli instead.
Before arriving in Catania, we made a quick stop at Aci Trezza, which was the setting of the short story Fantasticheria by Giovanni Verga. This was a very beautiful and relaxing place to visit, as the sound of waves hitting the rocks filled the air. For this picture I got up and close to the water, I was tempted to dive in and float away, but it wouldn’t have been a good idea.
We ended our day in Catania, a wonderful city rich in history and also the home of Vitaliano Brancati and setting for his novel Il bell’Antonio. One of the interesting oddities of this city, is that many buildings such as the one pictured above were constructed and painted with volcanic rocks to get the gray-ish rocky color. For most of the day, we were given free time to explore Via Etnea, full of clothing stores, a FlyingTiger and a Feltrinelli. I also got pooped on by a bird this day and Frankie witnessed the entire scene, but he also helped me clean my hair while laughing #ThankYouFrankie (you a real one pal). I can gladly say that Catania was a wonderful place to spend our last day in Italy.