Buona Pasqua from Trapani

April 14 – 17

I planned to spend Easter (Pasqua) in Trapani – the farthest west of would be on the island of Sicily – at least for this trip.  I had heard that the best Easter Celebration on the island was in Trapani and I decided that it would be cool to see & experience that.  In communications with the B&B host, I came to realize that arriving on Good Friday was not a good idea – as the entire town would be in celebration mode and it would difficult to drive in the city.  I also found out that the “procession” route (more on that later) would be a mere 50 meters from the front door of the B&B; finding the B&B during this time would be impossible.

I asked if the B&B had room for me to come earlier and luckily, they could extend my stay.  So I packed up my perfect little retreat at the beach and headed out.  With the stops in Selinunte and other towns that day, (see Selinunte post if you haven’t already) it took most of the day.  I arrived in Trapani in the late afternoon and the GPS took me on a bit of a wild ride, but I found it (down a really narrow street) and called the host to come grab my bags.  He put them inside the door and jumped in the car to come with me to find parking.   A few big blocks away, we found free parking, and that’s where the car stayed for the next 5 days.

Paolo, the host, was a great guy.  32 years old, really cute, and very accomplished.  He spent 5 years with Carnival Cruise lines as the 2nd officer of a ship.  He now works for a European line & owns / runs the B&B.  He told me his schedule is 4 months on the ship, 2 months off at home and then repeat.  He says while it’s been great to see the world, it’s so hard to find love with this schedule.  I told him a guy like him probably has “a gal in every port” . . he blushed!  I met his mother the next morning, as she oversees things when he’s gone at sea and puts together breakfast most mornings (but let me tell you, Paolo did breakfast by himself one morning and it was actually more spectacular than his mother’s spread, so the guy can cook!).  After a few days, I mentioned my niece, Misha, to him and told him I’d make an introduction.  I told him she was independent and spoke fluent Spanish.   Who knows if anything will come of it, but it was fun to try to make an international love connection!!

Anyway, Paolo does a great job of educating me on the geography of the city – and more importantly, on the festivities that will occur over the next 4 days.  Starting with Venerdi Santo (Good Friday) and the 24 hour procession that will start at 2pm the next day.  This is what I came for – so I’m listening with great interest.  But really, you have to experience it to really understand it.  I took a TON of pictures & some video so you can get a basic idea – but it’s a really hard thing to get pictures of, because you’re kind of fighting for space with everyone else who also wants to get pictures.  More on Vernerdi Santo later.

That first night, I walk the main streets of the city center and decide to stop into a little pizza place for dinner.  A little salad, wine & pizza and I’m set.  A couple comes in & sits at the table next to me and they are “ripe”.  If you’ve never been to Europe, you probably don’t know that Europeans (especially the French, don’t always use deodorant or bathe every day).  I’m listening to them & trying not to breathe through my nose, and end of asking them where they are from because I can’t really hear her, but he’s speaking English with some interesting accent.  She’s English, he’s French, she doesn’t speak French.  They just got married & live in England.  Really nice, but as I said, really ripe!  By the end of the meal, the waiter, who has introduced himself as Tony, and I are old friends.  He talks me into a parfait thing with chocolate & cream – he was right – it was delicious. 

I spend the first morning walking & exploring the wharf.  Like Sciacca, it’s a huge fishing port and has a terrific fish market (Mercato di Pesce).  There are all kinds of goodies fresh from the sea and a whole bunch of characters selling it all.  I get really good at saying “mi dispiace, no cucina” (I’m sorry, no kitchen) when they beg me to buy their seafood.  I stop at this one booth and ask if I can take some pictures and this old fisherman falls in love with me.  He’s asking me lots of questions in Italian and keeps holding my hand & telling me how pretty I am.  He asks me where I live and I say Seattle and he smiles and keeps saying “bella, so bella”.  Then he asks where my husband is and I say “he’s in Seattle, I came alone” and he gets so excited & is so proud of me for making the trip alone.  One of the younger guys in back chimes in in English, “He’s in Seattle? That’s great!” and he’s laughing & smiling.  Italian men seem very impressed with us woman traveling alone . . though I think it’s just for foreign woman, as I don’t believe they’d be as supportive of “their” women leaving to travel alone! 

Here’s a picture of my new friend - sorry, I never did get his name.

I continue to walk the town and take a lot of pictures of the buildings.  While the tour books have said that Trapani is not that much to look at, I find it really beautiful.  There are plenty of buildings that could rival any of the towns I’ve been visiting & the streets are very quaint.  You can check out the pictures and judge for yourselves.  There was one building that I saw that looked like a haunted house; I sent the pictures to Amy and said “this place gives your frequent house TP-ing raids a run for their money”!

I continue walking down the huge waterfront where all the commercial boats are and find my way to the edge of the city center that’s the farthest point from my B&B and the last point on the map that Paolo has used to educate me.  All around me, the festivities for Venerdi Santo are ramping up.  American commercialization is everywhere – Disney, comic characters, Hollywood, super heros & animals – all epitomized in balloon or toy form.  I took a bunch of pictures for Sienna & Viola, as I knew they would love them.

I move onto Via Garibaldi and find a bunch of little cafes and stop to have lunch.  I start with Pasta all Norma (one of the national dishes of Sicily) and then move to grilled swordfish.  Both pretty delicious.  I head to the main drag (Vittorio Emanuele – this street name by the way, is in every town) and the procession is in full swing.  First I hear the bands, then I see the crowds.  I look toward the crowd & see my first “mystery” – huge “float” representing the phases of Jesus Christ’s punishment, crucifixion and resurrection.  This is not just pomp & circumstance, this is tradition, and these Trapanese people take it VERY seriously.  I’d estimate that about 3000 people took part in this procession over the next 24 hours.  They literally stayed up all night long: men carrying these mysteries through the street, kids & adults marching in costume & demonstrating pretty impressive synchronized steps, bands playing & marching – and demonstrating those same synchronized steps, banners being carried, flags being waved, and tons of people following them and snapping pictures.  I found out later that they do take shifts, so no one really was participating for the “full 24 hours” – but nonetheless, pretty impressive commitment on the part of these people.  I also found out they have done this EVERY year for the past 400+ years.  Amazing!

I watched for about 4 hours, moving through the crowd as best I could & changing positions, even moving to different streets, to get as much exposure as I could.  I took a break & had some dinner (or maybe just a big gelato, I really don’t remember) and then went back when it was dark to get some pictures of these things all lit up, candles burning.  People were looking pretty tired at this point, but no one was really slowing down.  At 10pm, there were even 5, 6 & 7 year old’s marching in this procession.

I went back to my B&B, put in ear plugs and went to sleep – still hearing the powerful music that the bands had been playing all day.  I woke up about 8am, took out my ear plugs and the music was still playing (literally, not just in my head!).  After I had breakfast & got dressed, I went out to see how they were doing.  Surprising to me – they were all still there: marching, playing music & honoring the tradition.  I tell you – MOST IMPRESSIVE to see this kind of perseverance & commitment!

**Click on the link below to see pictures.  Please note that I have also included a number of videos - these are at the end of the reel.  The last 2 videos are of a girl that I couldn't stop watching.  She reminded me so much of my friend, Anna Kelly, who is an amazing performer.  I've had the pleasure of watching Anna dance at my wedding (when she was 5), as well as sing & perform in a number of youth productions - she's fantastic!  I had to stop video-ing this girl, as I was afraid she'd think I was some kind of weirdo.  She was so graceful & it was funny to see her completely ignore the boy who was so desparately trying to get her attention!! 

I jotted down some observations that afternoon, as I wanted to remember to share them with you.  Here’s my list . . just thoughts. . not edited for content, grammar or punctuation!

·       They were wearing so many clothes . . wool sweaters, full suits, black ensemble with decorative stuff on top, heavy boots, drapes on their heads, hats, smocks – SO MANY clothes

·       Some of the guys look like they are going to collapse under the weight of these mystery – others look like they had figured it out & had practiced a lot

·       There are all these bosses . . telling the kids, the band, the flag bearers, the other guys what to do – both men & women.  The men look like mafia bosses – all serious & commanding – they walk around with their arms crossed looking stern.  The women bosses are all pretty bitchy – dirty looks, quick quips to put someone in line, a mamma’s eye to keep everything perfect & in line.

·       Some of the bosses were younger woman – like the ones that had come up in the ranks and were now showing the younger crew what to do

·       I made note at the 4 ½ hour mark and I have to stay the participants are dragging . . some were dragging pretty bad at the 2 hour mark . . Paolo was going out while I’m coming back – so reinforcements are on their way!  Can’t wait to see how it looks tomorrow morning at 10am!

·       This is very serious business and lots of time & money has been spent to represent these churches, rotary groups, fraternities, etc(barbers & perfume shops).

·       Ecce Homo (Latin for “behold the man”) group – most scary and well organized (but the guys looked like they were going to drop) – one of the stronger bands, very ominous indeed.  Very mafioso.

·       All these guys accompanying the group – like godfathers!  I thought they were “extras” for when someone gets tired, but I changed my vantage point a couple of times (so saw some groups 2 and 3 times) and the guys were the same.  Go figure – just more people to boss the participants around. 

·       Bands playing serious, ominous music – same 2 or 3 songs.  I’m going to be hearing this in my sleep – literally & figuratively – as I can hear it loud and clear as I sit in my B&B room.

·       There a sort of constant movement by the participants and way of walking & standing with a sway – they do it as a group.   At first I thought was a way of getting some relief from all that walking & standing – but after really studying it – I think it’s to keep their movement / walking in rhythm with the music & the pace of the procession. 

·       Clapper thing used to coordinate “set down” and “pick up” of the float!

·       Drone came flying overhead to capture the events – everyone starting talking about the drone & kind of stopped paying attention to the procession for a few minutes.

·       Procession follows a route that’s about 2 miles as far as I can tell (I walked it today multiple times).  I had to go way out of my way AND cross the parade route (at an opportune time, as not to be a rude American!) just to get back to my B&B.  At least I’m really learning the city center!

·       They’re always smoking!

·       On a couple of the bigger mysteries, I counted up to 64 men carrying them.  Incredible!

Promptly at 2pm – the last mystery is taken inside the Chiesa San Francesco and the music stops.  The participants, all in glorious uniforms & costumes disband all over the streets reuniting with family and drinking LOTS of water.  By 3pm, the town is back to normal, but there is garbage everywhere.  Venerdi Santo is over – but the Pasqua celebrations are just beginning!

Points of clarity . . . I find out later in the weekend that there are actually 18 different mysteries.  As I mentioned earlier, they are a collection of scenes from the persecution, crucifixion & resurrection of Jesus Christ.  The groups carrying them are all “unions” of a sort . . my note about the barbers & perfumers was actually incorrect – it was barbers & hairdressers.  There was also the union of fishermen (not surprising in this neck of the woods) bread makers, shoemakers, etc.  I guess it would have been the groups of workers in place 400 years ago.  Anyway, if you’re interested in learning more, just click on the link & you can read about it.  

I spend the rest of Saturday wandering the streets and then had made a reservation earlier to have dinner at a steakhouse (I’ve had little protein “by my standards” on this trip).  Turns out I made the reservation for the restaurant next door in error.  So I end up with a nice eggplant dish for primi and some pistachio crusted tuna for secondo.  All fine – but I really had my heart set on steak.  (**If you’re asking why I just didn’t go next door, well, I had already gotten my wine & water & eaten some bread before I read the menu & was shocked to find no meat . . didn’t want to be a rude American!)

On Easter Sunday, Paolo has arranged for me to go on this boat trip to the islands off the coast.  He must get a cut from these guys, because he really wanted me to go.  My Dad was most concerned that I’d be spending Pasqua alone, so I figured this would be a way to spend some time with other tourists who didn’t have Mama’s house to go to.  Turns out it was mostly Italians that either are not religious and don’t celebrate the holiday OR were on holiday themselves!!  Fun group – see separate post on Easter Sunday.

Monday morning at breakfast, Paolo is thrilled to hear that we all had a good time on the boat trip (some other guests had gone as well).  My new friends, Vincenzo & Shelia, are leaving so I need to find something else to do.  **Just so you know, even though the holiday was yesterday, Trapani continues with their celebration on Monday – they call it Pasquino (Little Pasqua) and everyone has the day off from work & everything (but some restaurants & food shops) are closed.  I decide that this is the day to hit Erice, a town way up on the mountain that Mom remembers fondly.  My draw was Maria’s Pasticceria which according to the guide books is the best bakery in Sicily.  Paolo calls the funivia station to be sure they’re open – they are - and we talk about my taking the bus to get to the station. (See separate post on Erice)

When I return from Erice, I really just want yogurt & water for dinner so I drag myself out to a little mercato to find some.  On the way back, I remember a little natural food place that I got a smoothie from a couple of days ago and recall they have salads.  Thinking I’m in desperate need of some real veggies, I go in.  Turns out the place is run by a French family who knows & appreciates real food.  The salad turns out to be delicious and just what I need after days of weird meals on land & sea!

Tuesday morning is driving day – AGAIN!  I pack up my things – and Paolo packs me up some sandwiches for the drive (I’d fallen in love with these breakfast sandwiches that he & his mom make.  They are on this really good bread with sesame seeds and have olive oil, fresh tomatoes, parmesan cheese and my favorite Castelvetrano olives – YUM!).  Paolo, bless his heart, carries all my bags down the stairs and I retrieve what is now a VERY DIRTY CAR and meet him at the entrance to the B&B. 

I drive out of town using that silly GPS which takes me on the worst route winding through a bunch of very narrow streets.  I’m mad at myself for not just trusting my good sense of direction.  I’ve been walking these streets for 5 days and I know them well – I could have maneuvered downtown without the GPS. 

I leave not feeling any more religious than when I came, but definitely in awe of the traditions of Venerdi Santo & Pasqua that this city has shown me.  Impressive, indeed!   I’m so glad this is where I chose to spend my Easter in Sicily.  Unforgettable, indeed!