{"id":2336,"date":"2013-12-11T14:16:00","date_gmt":"2013-12-11T13:16:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rickzullo.com\/?p=2336"},"modified":"2021-12-08T04:31:12","modified_gmt":"2021-12-08T03:31:12","slug":"christmas-in-sicily","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rickzullo.com\/christmas-in-sicily\/","title":{"rendered":"Christmas in Sicily"},"content":{"rendered":"

Christmas Eve dinner 2011 at my girlfriend\u2019s family\u2019s home for my first Christmas in Sicily. Her mom is a great cook and I knew that I was in for an epic feast. And as I watched the parade of food coming out of the kitchen, I was not disappointed. I couldn\u2019t believe both the quantity and the variety of seafood being served.<\/p>\n

\"feast
“Only” Seven?<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cIs this the Feast of the Seven Fishes?<\/strong>\u201d I asked in my tentative Italian.<\/p>\n

My future mother-in-law responded, \u201cWho are these seven fishes that you speak of?\u201d<\/p>\n

She caught me off guard\u2026did I pronounce something wrong. \u201cNo, not \u2018fishes,\u2019 I meant seven different \u2018dishes\u2019 made from seafood.\u00a0 Seven\u2014you know, it represents the seventh day when God completed His work. We celebrate the completion of The Lord\u2019s promise of the Messiah through baby Jesus.\u201d<\/p>\n

She didn\u2019t respond immediately. I was still assuming that she couldn\u2019t understand my horrible Italian. But as it turns out, it wasn\u2019t a language issue. She glanced around the dinner table, and then counted the different seafood dishes, pointing to each one.<\/p>\n

\u201cUno, due, tre, quattro, cinque, sei\u2026 ci sono sei pietanze. Scegliti la leggenda che vuoi\u2026<\/em>\u201d\u00a0 There are six different dishes\u2026make up whatever story you like.<\/strong> Then she promptly turned on her heel and marched back into the kitchen.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

I must say, I was a little let down. My knowledge of Italian-American culture had always implied the importance of this holiday tradition<\/a>. Imagine my disillusionment when I arrived at the alleged source of this sacred rite only to find out that it is\u2014and had always been\u2014false.\u00a0 An American invention. It\u2019s like traveling to the North Pole and discovering that Santa Claus doesn\u2019t live there after all. Alas…<\/p>\n

Sicilia, il ritorno<\/h2>\n

A few weeks ago I wrote a whole post about that trip to Sicily in the winter of 2011-12. Indeed, Christmas in Sicily is a magical time to visit that enchanting island, when you can witness all the colorful traditions and participate in the festivities of the holiday season.<\/p>\n

\"palermo,But December and January are pretty darn chilly, even as far south as Sicily. This Floridian prefers more balmy weather, when you can stroll outdoors in short sleeves during the day and enjoy a slow sunset with a long drink overlooking the Ionian Sea, contemplating the smoldering fury of Mount Etna in the distance. To me, this is Sicily; a warm, inviting, endless panorama of beauty and wonder.<\/p>\n

I have started a small travel business, and we\u2019ll be leading private groups around the island beginning this May.\u00a0 We\u2019re partnering with some professional guides, as well, who have access to a few special locations. \u00a0So in addition to your host\u2014me with my magnetic personality and charming wit (cough, cough)\u2014you\u2019ll also have the benefit of some knowledgeable experts who are very familiar with the fascinating history of all the sites we\u2019ll be visiting\u2026not to mention some great places to eat! \u00a0(Yes, there will be plenty of \u201cfishes,\u201d although not necessarily seven exactly.) \u00a0For transportation, we\u2019ve also hired a donkey cart and a driver\u2026I mean, a modern mini-van with A\/C and comfy seats.<\/p>\n

\"sicilian
Perfect in its simplicity: the humble cannolo<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

This is going to be a grand tour of Sicilia, hitting all the major towns and ancient sites.\u00a0 We\u2019ll be visiting Greek ruins in Agrigento, street markets in Palermo and baroque villages in the Iblean Mountains.\u00a0 We\u2019ll eat in quaint trattorias, stop at a few wineries to sip their products, and sample some of the best desserts in the world.\u00a0 \u00a0Sure, we\u2019ll visit a museum or two, and for the adventurous, we\u2019ve planned an optional excursion to the top of Mount Etna.\u00a0 But we\u2019ve also scheduled for some down time to relax, wander, shop, or whatever suits your fancy.<\/p>\n

Remember, this is going to be a small group, so once it\u2019s is full\u2026it\u2019s full! For now, you can just send me an email (rickzullo@gmail.com<\/a>) to express you interest.\u00a0 No forms or deposit or commitment at this point\u2026we\u2019ll handle all that starting the first week of January.<\/p>\n

I hope to see you in Italia in 2022!\u00a0 Buone feste a tutti!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Christmas Eve dinner 2011 at my girlfriend\u2019s family\u2019s home for my first Christmas in Sicily. Her mom is a great cook and I knew that I was in for an epic feast. And as I watched the parade of food coming out of the kitchen, I was not disappointed. I couldn\u2019t believe both the quantity […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2339,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[95,9,43],"tags":[49,67,180,15,381,70,25],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rickzullo.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2336"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rickzullo.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rickzullo.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rickzullo.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rickzullo.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2336"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/rickzullo.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2336\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rickzullo.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2339"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rickzullo.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2336"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rickzullo.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2336"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rickzullo.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2336"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}