Etna, Catania, and More cousins

On Monday we travelled on the old Circumetnea Ferrovia - a train out of the 50's at the latest... It runs from Riposto to Catania and cirles about 2/3's of Mt. Etna.  

The train goes through the smaller country towns, getting higher and higher till it reaches Randazzo.   We got off the train in Randazzo so we could explore this historic Norman town.  Many of the old buildings and churches are built from blocks of volcanic rock.  One church had these awesome pillars inside, made entirely of volcanic stone.   I'm used to seeing marble and limestone... it was quite stunning.   Here are some pictures from Randazzo:

The black stone on the church front and tower are the volcanic rock.  The bell tower is what remains of the original Norman church - considered by some to be the "finest belltower" in all of Sicily.

Cool little arches on a little alley way.

The train is supposed to be all the way to Catania - but we found out they're doing some work - so at one point we got off the train and onto a bus, then back off of the bus and back onto a train.  The train terminates at the Catania Borgo station of the metro.  From there it is a quick ride to Catania Centrale Stazione - and a 20 minute ride back to Riposto on the treno regionale.

When we arrived home we had just enough time to freshen up before la cugina Elianna arrived to take us to her home.  Her mother, Nina, is first cousins with Lou's dad.  Another cousin - a 3rd cousin from what I could tell, Elio, was there.   Cicio, Rita, Nilla, and Maria all arrived in short order.  

After Elianna's we went to the small church that her husband is active in.   They recently excavated the basement and found the remains of many of the townspeople from 500 years ago.  It was also interesting to see how the original church had subsided a bit into the basement... but that was addressed about 200 years when the current church was restored/rebuilt after an earthquake.

Yesterday, Tuesday, we met Nilla for a walk along the shore to Architorre, then had a lazy morning before we headed to Catania by train in the afternoon.   We did some sightseeing:  The piazza di elefanti, the duoma, the basilica, etc... then we met Mariella, Pina's daughter, at the train station.  She took us to Pina's house - a lovely highrise apartment overlooking the sea.  Pina is another 2nd cousin - her grandfather is another brother of Lou's grandfather.   Mariella's English was about as good as my Italian.   Pina spoke very fast Italian that I had a hard time understanding.   Claudio - a 3rd cousin, showed up with his wife.  Both are (early) retired engineers who lived in the US for several years, working.  Their English was excellent.   The boys learned a Sicilian card game with Mariella's son, called "Sweep".   No language barrier for giocano le carte.

Piazza di Elefanti, Catania

Front Row:  Piero, Luigi, Pina, Mariella, Claudio's wife

Back Row: Rigo, me, Claudio, Lou

Not shown: Mimo (family friend) and Fillipe (Mariella's husband)