Katfish Kapers: Home of da Gawdfatha (part 1)

Sicily is as good a place as any to start talking about Italy. First of all - where is it? (yes, I know, I start every blog this way. The problem is, I'm a total geomoron - I'm always lost). Think of it like this: if the tip of the Italian "boot" was to kick something in the ass - it would be Sicily.

Messina Italy (our first Sicilian port of call) is just so quintessentially Italian. Take a look at the approach (from the North).

One side is Sicily and the other is Italy. Notice anything missing? No? What about a bridge? This is the Messina Straits (or Straits of Messina not Logins and Messina). It's not that wide. 2 miles, to be exact. Nope, no bridge. No tunnel either. So how do you get from one side to the other?

Ferryboats. Lots of them, and that's what makes the whole thing so Italian.

smuggler

The ferryboat business has been flourishing for years. Any business that makes money and has been around for a long time has very likely been infiltrated by "special gentlemen". Read - mafia. I can't prove it, but it stands to reason why the Italian government keeps considering a Messina bridge, but just never gets around to actually building one.

Latest proposed bridge

They've been toying with various schemes since the 1960's. The latest bridge plan would have cost $6B euros and was cancelled in 2013. What about a tunnel?

Up until 1994 there were, however, power lines crossing the straits.

Sicilian side

This are the Messina Strait Pylons that held up the wires. The pylons were a nice piece of engineering in 1954. These things are taller than the pictures gives them credit - 761 feet

De odder side

According to Wikipedia After their completion, the oscillation of the structures and their maximum deflections were determined in a very unusual manner: engineers mounted three rockets with a thrust of 9800 kilonewtons on top of the pylons and ignited them The lines carried 220,000 volts (330 mega watts) of power from the mainland. In 1993 the wires had reached their capacity and a submarine cable replaced them. Today the pylons have been declared national monuments and are used for high distance rescue training. If you want to have a free stress test (and you're not afraid of heights) since 2006 the Italians have let any hammerhead who wants to - climb them Be prepared for 1,250 steps and no snack stand at the top.

The entrance to Messina showcases the Italian love for statues.

The switch for the lights you see around the base of the statue is supposedly in the Vatican (wonder if the electric bill goes to the pope?). E Pluribus Unum (or whatever the hell the inscription is) translates to “We bless you and your city” and it is a quote from a letter the Virgin Mary sent to the population of Messina in the year 42. Legend has it that the Apostle Paul came to Messina around this time to convert the Sicilians to Christianity." Who knows? The history of Messina is extremely violent, starting in 800 BC when it was Greek. I won't bore you with the long sordid history of Messina except to say that Messina is considered to be the European entry point for the bacterium yersinia pestis (otherwise known as Black Death, or The Plague). Lovely....

Of course, what harbor would be without a fort to guard it?

A short (and very scenic ) drive from the harbor

will take you to the charming little town of Savoca. These roads are so twisty and demanding that you finally begin to understand why Ferrari and Lamborghini were inspired by Italians. Savoca would be a sleepy little backwater town if it wasn't for this guy.

Here's a picture of him

This is, of course, Francis Ford Coppola, Oscar winning director of The Godfather. In G1 Michael has to flee to Italy to escape the heat for whacking a corrupt police captain and Don Sollozo (the ones who tried to hit Don Corleone -if you've never seen the Godfather here's the plot- if your first name is Don, everyone will eventually try to kill you. Guys named Ralph, Bob, Peter, Poindexter, etc. seem to make out OK). While the movie depicts him as being in Corleone, it was actually filmed in Savoca. You can see why Coppola did this. Don Corleone is a much more poetic name than Don Savoca (or Don Bologna, or Don Naples, or Don Spaghetti).

This is the famous bar - Bar Vitelli, where Michael hung out and scared all the locals.

"Hey, wassamatta you, eh?"

This is what it looks like today

Here's me right next to the famous table (I didn't have any beefs with anyone so I didn't shoot anybody)

They've let the flowers grow up a bit, other than that, it's exactly the same as it's always been. Same bead curtains (but, fortunately, the bathroom got modernized).

(This is the inside of the bar, not the bathroom)

In the bar they have pictures from the movie

The road next to the bar got paved and they added a few streetlights

In the movie, Michael (Al Pacino) falls in love with the local hot babe - Apollonia (Simonetta Stephanelli).

They get married in this church (in the movie you don't see it much). Its not far from the bar.

The interior of the church is lovely

But, as usual, I had more appreciation for the old, beautifully built wooden lift they use to dust statues and change light bulbs.

The surrounding scenery is quite interesting.

Some homes have quaint ruins next to them

Talk about a renovation nightmare! I'm not sure what the local building laws are. I don't know if you can just bulldoze the wreckage and start again (I doubt it). They have some cool drain spouts on some though.