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Many Sicilian folklore songs of the time had been dedicated to immigration. Some refer to it as a prayer
Sicilia Mia (My Sicily)
My Sicily, My land, My beautiful Sicily, My Sicily
My land, in my heart you will always be my Sicily but to America I shall go
Where the language is foreign
But work I will find and money I will make
With you I want to stay
If I could, I would never let you go
How will I do without you, you are my land
When I think of you, nostalgia is at its greatest
All the memories of my heart, forever vivid here with me
Land of mine, like a daughter of the sun and of great company
Dressed in gold by the rays of the sun
The fruitful beauty of Sicilian women
My Sicily, My land, My beautiful Sicily, My Sicily
At the front door of my grandpa first house. It is now an office.
The Sacred Stairs
Enjoying freshly made granita: lemon flavored gelato
Minoa Eraclea beach with the mark of the Turkish Stairs.Wearing: Dress from ASOS, Zara shoes and Micheal purse and rocking a Fujifilm camera around my neck.
Hi,
I am now in Cattolica Eraclea in the Province of Agrigento in the southern region of Italy called Sicily. Sicily is particularly special to me because it is where my family is originally from before immigration in America in 1954. This part of the trip was dedicated to visiting the houses my grandparents grew up in and to really immerse ourselves in our Sicilian culture.
As I visit the small town of Cattolica, I see how simple it has remained and how it hasn’t changed much since my grandparents left in hopes of a better life. For them America was land of opportunity and growth. Three generations later, here I am living a great life with the chance to go back to my roots.
I dedicate this post to my grandpa, today would have been his 81 first birthday. He would have been so proud to know I’m writing about the time I visited his beautiful and humble home town of Cattolica.
Cattolica is a small town with less than 6000 inhabitants. It is surrounded by chalky mountains and cattle breeding along with sheep farms are commonplace. It is totally normal to see sheep randomly cross the road. Traditional roles are still in place, when visiting the town, I noticed mostly men wondered the streets.
The town was founded by Prince Francesco Isfar in 1612. Cattolica means Catholic with the feminine use of the word. Catholicism is still strong today and every public event is of religious festivities. This village has taken it’s name from the King of Spain who went by the name Sua maesta Cattolica which means His Catholic Majesty in Spanish. In 1874 it became Cattolica Eraclea because of the Greek colony.
We also visited Minoa Eraclea, an ancient Greek town with a beautiful, calm and serene beach marked with white cliffs at the end. The cliffs are called Scala dei Turchi (Stair of the Turks) because the Turks once conquered Sicily followed by the Arab administration. A time when Islam became the main religion without forced conversion. Mosques stood alongside Churches. Christians still had the freedom to practice their religion but had to pay tax. During the Islamic era, Christian girls who were also veiled used to learn verses of the Quran to impress Muslim boys in hopes of marriage. The Islamic period lasted a few centuries and eventually Christianity majority was restored in Sicily when the land became a region of Italy. The traditional Sicilian culture has maintained some Islamic influence since.
Sicily has been conquered so many times, each invasion, Greek, Arab and Turkish has left their marks with Greek temples in Agrigento, Arab Mosques in Palermo and Turkish Stairs.
For those who love The Godfather, Sicily is where the movie takes place. The characters speak the Sicilian Italian dialect, which is the native language I speak with my maternal grandparents. Sicilian is a mix of Arabic, Greek dialects and Latin. When watching the Godfather trilogy, I love to pay attention to the detail in the setting, the cultural mannerisms as well as how they use the language. It is incredibly well done and even if I hear the American accent when Al Pacino speaks Sicilian in the movie, I must say, they got it right! Unfortunately the Sicilian vernacular is dying out as ‘real’ Italian has taken over but I keep it alive haha.
Until next time,
Evelina
Our family is from Italy as well, immigrating to America long before yours. It is nice you can reconnect with where your family came from We hope to do this someday, too! Ciao!
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Interesting to know so many are from Italy but during different times.Yes reconnecting was lovely, wishing you happy future travels back to the homeland some day. Ciao!
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Evelina,
I’m very much enjoying your posts :). You are beautiful, as well as the land, the people, the culture, and your written descriptions of it all.
All good wishes,
robert
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Thank you so much! Once again, I appreciate the kind words towards me and the essence of my blog. All good wishes to you too. -Evelina
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It is so awesome to meet you and read about your little town. little towns are a blessing for they have what the larger ones do not, fellow feeling love and good conscience. Each religion has its beauty, it teaches us to be kind, generous, help people in need and stay together even if they follow a different religion.
I’m fascinated by the scenery of your little town. Thank you for posting all the pictures. Lastly, thanks a bunch for following my blog. 🙂
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It is so nice to meet you too. I enjoyed reading your ‘about’ section. Many from Bangladesh and Pakistan come to Montreal for studies and more. So glad to hear you enjoyed the essence of this special post. I completely agree, each religion surely has its own beauty and message of kindness. You’re welcome and thank you for enjoying and commenting on this post. Hope Newfoundland is treating you well.
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Great ! It’s on my list for more than a year. After reading your article, m very much excited to visit soon. Being an architect, It was really helpful to know the little bit of history and lifestyle.
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Thank you. Glad you enjoyed the essence of this special post. Italy is a great country to be a list.So much beauty to see. Glad my blog is helping you know about the history. Wishing you happy future travels.
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It’s amazing that you had the opportunity to go back to where your family came from! It must have been crazy to look at a house and know that your family once lived there. Your dress was also cute by the way!
http://thetatteredpassport.wordpress.com
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Yes it was one of the best, if not the best travel experience because there was so much to learn about where my family is originally from. Interesting to imagine such a simple life when used to big cities. Thanks, I love that dress too! More on Sicily to come, stay tuned. PS loved your about page! Thought I’d tell you here, I couldn’t find the like button haha
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Thanks! Definitely will stay tuned on Sicily!
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🙂
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Great pics, and post
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Thank you , thank you! Glad you think so.
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Evelina, this was a wonderful post. Thank you so much.
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Thank you so much for reading and enjoying. I am pleased to hear you have enjoyed this special post. More on Sicily to come in just a few hours.
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I loved visiting Sicily when I was in the Navy in the mid-1990s. I remember the narrow streets, looking off in the distance at Etna casually smoking away and the warmth. San Diego has the same climate. Tracing your family history and appreciating where they came from is wonderful. The cultural mix and history is amazing all over the Mediterranean.
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Wow such great memories and such a cool story of how you came about visiting Sicily. I loved San Diego too, I see what you mean, the weather surely is similar. Yeah, I think so too, it was a great experience to see where it all started and what life would have been like without immigration. That is also true, so much culture, I think its what makes visiting these area even more awesome.
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beautiful pictures of where your family was originated. It is a must to go back and visit the history of families and live with them for a while. I am sure your holiday must have also been wonderful as well as emotional. We all want to go home one day! Home is the best place!
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Thank you so much, it surely is a beautiful place. I agree, this was a great experience, not just for travel purposes but to see where it all began. Yes of course, but positive emotions. I agree, home is always the best place- my favorite even.
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Loved this post. It brought back so many memories. beautiful photos.
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Thank you so much, so glad to hear you this post brought back memories. Thanks again
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Lovely.
When do you plan a trip to East Africa
Next time you plan a trip to East Africa,We wish to be the people to welcome you into East Africa(Kenya,Uganda,Tanzania, Rwanda)
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We welcome everyone to East Africa,
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Thank you! I have not yet planned a trip to East Africa,but I’d surely love to some day. Wow, thank you so much. Sounds good, if given the opportunity I will some day make my way.
Thanks again, Evelina
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If welcome anytime, East Africa is open for you to visit, I and my team will gladly host and show you around ,Feel free to get in touch info@karibueafrica.com or +255759393978 or Hangout on akida61.ay@gmail.com ,Skype: yonafika.akida (Managing Director,Yonafika Akida)
Location: Dar es salaam, Tanzania
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Wow thank you so much, will keep you in mind in my future travels to Africa. Thank you again for your kindness.
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This post is fascinating, and now I want to learn more about the history and language. I wasn’t aware of the Islamic influence. I guess people of different faiths can live together if they want to. You look very relaxed, happy and at home.
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Thank you so much for this lovely comment. Glad you are fascinated. So much history in the region of Sicily, learn away haha. Of course they can, I would think it a misconception to think they cannot. I guess people choose not too but in the end, in my opinion people are people and the basics of life are all the same. Sarajevo is a great example of a place where all faiths live day to day alongside without any issue. Thank you again, I surely was relaxed, happy and visiting my roots. New post on Sicily in just a few hours.
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An interesting narration accompanied by amazing photographs… 🙂 Enjoyed the post….
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Thank you so much for complimenting. Glad you enjoyed the post. More to come on Sicily!
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You are welcome… 🙂
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Beautiful city! Love the pictures!
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Thank you, thank you. Glad you enjoyed the post.
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What a lovely post! And I had no idea that Sicily had such an interesting story with different cultures and such, depending on who was ruling it and when.
My parents were born in Serbia and my paternal grandmother is still there (there’s a rich history with my family living in different parts of the world and such). I would love to visit their hometowns someday, when money and time allows.
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Thank you so much. Yes Sicily is so rich in its past history due to being conquered to many times. Yup who was ruling would leave their mark which makes sense. Serbia is cool, I have been to Belgrade. Given the opportunity, I totally recommend going back to the roots to see where it sort of all began. Best of luck in your future travels.
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So nice you were able to visit the town your grandfather came from and find his first house.
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Yeah, it was really nice to see his humble home and how far they have come.
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Tuo nonno sarebbe stato contento di vederti lì dove è nato. Brava! E’ bello ritornare alle proprie radici…
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Si è vero. Mi è piaciuto vedere la sua casa. Davvero una bella esperienza. Grazie per aver letto il post.
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È stato un piacere! Ti auguro buona Pasqua, Evelina!
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Enjoyed! 🙂
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So nice to hear! 🙂
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So many of the seminal people in my life are of Sicilian background, from two of my maternal aunts-by-marriage, to one of my sisters-in-law. Sicily will be a key element in my planned sojourn of 2020-22, as will mainland Italy, and Sardinia.
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Really cool! I think that will be a great trip, I have not been to Sardinia but I have only heard good things and as for Sicily, I would totally suggest a trip here. There are so many different places to see, every region has its own interesting past and the weather is great. Every part of Italy is beautiful. Happy future travels.
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What a great tribute to your grandpa 🙂 The song lyrics are beautiful as are all the pictures! It is just breathtaking. Yes grandpa would be proud 🙂
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Thank you so much for all the lovely compliments. I appreciate it. Glad you enjoyed the essence of this special post.
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You’re welcome, and such a beautiful place Happy Easter, or good friday, or any holiday you are celebrating this week end 🙂
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Thank you! Hope you had a great Easter weekend.
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It was great!
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Wow, the photos are beautiful.
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Thank you so much, I appreciate the compliment and glad you enjoyed the post!
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The photography was wonderful, in your words you can hear the heart speaking.
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Thank you so much for lovely compliments. I’m glad you think so, I tried to evoke what I felt through my photos and writing.
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❤
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Great experiences.
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One of the best!
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What a wonderful post and you know I loved seeing all the great photos!!! I loved that you honored your Grandpa this way too as I have no doubt he is smiling down on you too! Cute outfit too! The shot of the lady in the chair is so full of soul – love it!
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Thank you so much for such lovely compliments. I’m glad you enjoyed the essence of the post as much as I loved putting it together. Yes, I thought is was a nice way to think of him on his birthday. I know right! Italian village life at its best. More on Sicily in a few hours-Stay tuned!
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Yea I’m excited to see more!!
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Beautiful post. I love the pictures. You look beautiful. I love your dress.
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Thanks a million,you know I always appreciate the compliments. More on Sicily in the next few hours. New pictures, new dresses and same me haha
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You are welcome. Awesome. I have a friend who is going to Italy for a few weeks. She’s leaving tomorrow.
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Wow awesome! I hope she has a great time travelling through beautiful Italy. Happy travels to her.
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I think so. Thank you so much.
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Lovely post. What a wonderful part of the world; the Sicilian part of my ancestry is the only part I’ve not been able to research yet: I’m hoping to find more information on where the family lived… beyond “somewhere south of Palermo” (!)
Thanks for bringing the place to life. 🙂
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Thank you so much. Glad to hear you enjoyed the post. I agree, it truly is wonderful. Cool, I would totally recommend a vacation in Sicily if given the opportunity. Sicily has so much to offer, every region has its own story and interesting history. New post on Palermo in the next few hours, stay tuned for more on the beauty of Sicily!
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Arrivederci, Sicily!
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Arrivederci! More on Sicily for my next travel post, stay tuned!
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Gorgeous pictures, gorgeous lady. Thank you!
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Thank you, thank you. I appreciate the compliments. Glad you enjoyed the post, more to come in a few hours.
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Thanks. Came early. Have a good weekend x
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New post in just a few hours.
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Great! Yes a lot of people, me included have heard of Sicily thanks to the Godfather movies.
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Thanks! Glad you think so. Yes of course, the Godfather is a very popular movie. I would think it to be considered a classic film now.
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