ITALY – Catania & Reggio di Calabria
finding my roots (sort of)
My Dutch friend, Meta, tells me it’s an American thing to say you’re “Italian” when you or your parents weren’t actually born in Italy. Well anyways, I have Italian ancestors, the Ciancio’s, and they were from Calabria, the southernmost region on the Italian peninsula. I’m taking a train today to Messina on the northeast tip of Sicily then a short ferry across the Ionian Sea to Calabria.
Bucita, population 161, is where the Ciancio’s lived near San Fili. It’s like one of those Russian Matryoshka dolls where Bucita is the smallest then getting bigger goes San Fili (municipality) – Consenza (provence) – Calabria (region) – Italy. Consenza is about two hours from where my ferry parks in Reggio Calabria, but unfortunately I don’t have time to visit it. I figure, there’s a chance the Ciancio’s took a trip to the beach one summer, and touched the same sand I did. Since Reggio Calabria’s a coastal town near Sicily, it’s essentially the same food. I guess you have to go farther in for true Calabrian cuisine. Another time…
Explore more of Sicily/Calabria
or fly to Naples
