Rocco Galatioto, nice photos and good food

This is really the city on a mountain. It's original old area is flanked by endless apartment buildings that sit on a curving mountain range. It is amazing how this city grew. From its flat downtown it goes upward in all directions away from the sea. The original city lies on a small gulf that makes for a superb harbor.

Back in Sicily, this is the view from my friend Mimmo's villa. This lovely place is on a hill overlooking a splendid valley. From the foliage it's hard to believe that it's November.

After suffering it's greatest flood in memory, the city has bounced back. The flood impacted areas below the mountains as water from the mountains on which the new city is built rushed downward. More dangerous was the overflowing of its three rivers and the high sea levels that would not allow them empty. Saturday, a clean up began as teams of volunteers and civil protection crews began the cleaning up all the mud and removing all the damaged vehicles . When I landed here on Monday it all looked eerily normal. One photo is of Granarolo a hamlet above the city while the other is of the Fiumara district where the name itself denotes a wetland near a river. It is very clean. Here the river had little impact. The weather is naturally not as pleasant as in Sicily nor is the food, although the pesto, farinata and focaccia is excellent. The sea food is also very good. The bread..well that is another story. Sicilian bread is absolutely the best Italian bread in existence .

Pomegranate trees along with persimmons and quince adorn the Sicilian landscape at this time. The warm red color of the pomegranate with it's surface contrast with the matte greenish yellow of the quince and the neutral orange hue of the persimmon. They do make up a very colorful combination in an area full of colors at this time. It's fall but many plants are in full bloom.

These are boars that are not really wild but raised. They are owned by the farmer whose photo is below.

his stoic man owns and tends the farm from which many images I gave posted.

This view is the real deal. It's not "The View" seen on American TV hosted by a bunch of aging faccie brutte who are hanging on to life by the chirurgical thread of their face lifts. It's a view that makes you realize that in spite of the Earth's nastiness as witnessed by recent catastrophic events, it still has beautiful places. You can see all the way to the Thyrrenian Sea.These shots are from the villa of My dear friends Nene and Antonella La Torre. Truly wonderful people that show Sicilian hospitality at its legendary best.