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Hello From Sicily - Italian Studies, a Pottery Lesson and a hike on Mount Etna

In a superb morning after a good night sleep after the cooking class last night I woke up at about 6 am and came out on the balcony of my hotel room. The sun had all right place and the sky was filled with shades of purple and pink. Distance I could see the outline of a strip of land: the Italian mainland, more precisely the region of Calabria, was visible in that specific day for the first time. The air distance between Taormina and the southern tip of Italy is about 40 km, and View the sunrise over the Ionian Sea is simply gorgeous.

I decided to get up early and take a walk through beautiful Taormina, before the bustle of the day would kick in. My hotel, the Hotel Villa Nettuno, is located on the north side the city on Via Pirandello, outside the gates of the city. I really liked the location because it was more quiet and yet just steps from the surprisingly busy Corso Humberto, the main street of Taormina in a pedestrian area.

After strolling in the north-east of Porta di Messina I came to a quiet place even in front of the Palazzo Corvaja, seat of the first parliament of Sicily and today, the location of tourist office of Taormina. Some of its inhabitants were already in place, the taxi drivers were preparing for their first rate, while the pedestrian street of Corso Humberto was still almost entirely devoid of people. I arrived in Taormina's main square: Piazza IX Aprile, which has a large terrace with a panoramic view of Etna and Mont-Mediterranean. Two churches, San Giorgio and San Giuseppe, decorate this place, and the famous Torre dell 'Orologio (clock tower), featuring the Porta di Mezzo door, and the famous Café Wunderbar anchor this public space on its western side. I could not even see most volcanoes today this day relatively clear. There are no views that compare with the beautiful views that unfold before me from this viewpoint.

My walk on the Corso Umberto continued to the west end of town where I went through the Porta di Catania, the west gate of the city with the coat of arms Municipality of Taormina. From there I went to a small park that provides another beautiful lookout facing right towards Etna. After absorbing this great shot, and trying to burn continuously in my retina I started making my way back, this time along the Via Roma, the scenic road southern outskirts of the city over the coast of the Ionian Sea. No wonder Taormina is a popular tourist destination, the physical beauty of this city and its neighborhood is beautiful.

Well, this time after time I walk really earned my breakfast and discussed a little on the beautiful Italian grammar terrace of the Hotel Villa Nettuno before I went to school Babilonia language. Promptly at 9:30 am our lesson started and our teacher Grammar Carlo us familiar with the "preposizioni semplici" - Italian contracted prepositions formed from a combination preposition with the real article. Prepositions are always complex topics in any language, and Carlo patiently and succinctly we explained the use of "in" or "by" to express time in different contexts. We continued with a variety games to help us address the use of prepositions Italian, a fun and effective way to learn and retain complex linguistic concepts.

Just before noon, I had the opportunity to complete another interview: Alessandro, Director Babilonia, I connected with Donatella Rapisardi, a local artist based in Taormina, which provides some of the decorative pottery classes for students Babilonia. For millennia, Sicily has been the confluence of cultures: the Phoenicians, Greeks, Carthaginians, Romans, Byzantines, Arabs, Normans, Swebians, Spanish and French have all left their mark this area rich in culture and the pottery was a major occupation in Sicily for several centuries.

I met Donatella at the local Hotel del Corso, right on Corso Umberto, where she offers classes in pottery decoration on the roof terrace with a perfect view of the Palazzo del Duca Santo Stefano with Etna in the background. The weather was beautiful, the sky was blue: I can not imagine a more scenic painting pottery retirement on the roof of Donatella.

Donatella Rapisardi is a talented local artists working in a variety of media. She also runs an organization called the Grupo Artistico of Perseo "which organizes exhibitions and artistic projects throughout the city and the region. The group consists of five permanent members artist and a number of other artists affiliated, coordinated by Donatella and her team. In addition to ceramics, Donatella also creates mosaics with marble and various types of stone) and handfuls of wood restoration.

She explained that the pottery decoration lesson begins with pieces of clay plain such as vases or tiles on which students apply the concept they want to paint. Two types of processes are used for pottery painting, Donatella explained in his machine gun in Italian: "lavorare a freddo" means that the parts are painted without pulling, and "a lavorare caldo" refers to pieces of painted pottery that is fired in a kiln to preserve the paint.

Traditional colors Sicilian as blue, yellow and green are often used in the process of ceramic decoration, even if the students are completely free to create their own design and color choices. Donatella guides them, makes suggestions and gives advice to students when they need it. She also explained that tiles offer an advantage because they are easy to handle and transport and offer a large area for landscape images.

The course includes three lessons week, and is particularly popular with students Babilonia language of Japan and the United States. Donatella said the Japanese students in particular, are extremely precise and meticulous and very gifted when it comes to painting decorative pottery. This may have something today with their exposure to the popular Japanese tradition of calligraphy.

Often students Donatella become friends and she Calls to her and made a culinary exchange: Donatella will create a variety of Sicilian specialties, while his taste for students to prepare different delicacies of their country of origin. She said that to this day, she received emails from some of his Japanese students years ago, and she enjoys every time when it receives the foreign correspondence of his former students.

After living in Umbria, another beautiful region of Italy, Donatella returned to Taormina several years ago that she really loves him and inspires creativity. It also art classes for children and volunteers for some schools in the region. She showed me some pieces that had been filled by students and three of his own works of art. I said, I loved seeing his studio to see more of his own art. Maybe next time.

Following this interesting side trip Another trip waiting for me punctually at 2:30 PM eleven people gathered outside the school Babilonia Language, ready to go hiking on Mount Etna, whose top is located at an altitude of over 3200 m. Peppe Celano, Babilonia activities coordinator social and a language teacher, was ready to show us firsthand the highest mountain of Sicily and an active volcano.

In fact, Etna had broken a few days ago, April 30th, but unfortunately I did not see it. The eruption was only a few hours of time, and one of my fellow students saw the red lava at night! So today, we would see the largest volcano in Europe closely.

Peppe had rented a van and a small passenger vehicle to transport all participants. Our drive to the parking area on the southern slopes of Mount Etna took about one hour and twenty minutes. We drove through the local towns such as Mount Etna where Giarre and Zafferana Peppe explained that the area near the Arabs used to cultivate saffron, hence the name.

The weather was overcast and rather cool, a windbreaker and a sweater Nice were definitely in order. We parked our vehicles on a parking lot, rather isolated and are preparing for our ascent. The lower our ascent, we crossed a wooded area, where the leaves were just beginning to emerge. Not surprisingly, nearly 2000 m altitude, the plant growth cycle is a bit slower, even on a subtropical island such as Sicily.

Peppe explained that the local wildlife including chestnut, oak and birch all have existed here since before the last ice age. We walked along a single file narrow steep path which has been punctuated by many roots and rocks along a precipice with many lookouts to the famous Valle del Bove (Valley of the Ox), site of layers of lava flows.

Our steep hike continued for about one hour and we had from 2000 m to 2400 m in an area with a perfect view in the face of recent lava flows in the Valle del Bove. The summit area view of the volcano in front of us. Our region has been a top side indicated by a cross and a broad ledge natural that our group has used as a perfect presents for our region group photos of our conquest of Mount Etna. We spent about half an hour at the top of the top side, chatting, snapping pictures and generally enjoying our mountain adventure.

On the way three women, one Swiss, one German and one from Austria (me) descends the mountain in about 20 minutes. Going down was a heck of a lot easier than climbing and sprint around the steep mountain path was rather exciting in itself. Once all the other mountaineers arrived we go to visit a local winery. The "Murgo" vineyards have been almost 15 minutes, located in the fertile foothills of Mount Etna and many people in our group bought red, white and sparkling wines. A lively discussion followed in the van and 7:00, we were back in school.

After a brief return to refresh the hotel, a group of We met local pizzeria called "Trocadero", next to the Porta di Messina, where we were going to have a good dinner. For some of us this Thursday night was our last night in Taormina, tomorrow night I would leave to go to Milazzo while Another person was going on an excursion to the Aeolian Islands. Most of our group members have left Taormina this weekend, and we were all commenting how what we were enjoying our experience.

Everyone around the table was a German speaker, we had three people from Germany, two from Switzerland and myself, originally from Austria. Given the differences in the language German speaking countries, we have all said that each we must speak of "Hochdeutsch" (German standard) to be understood by the rest of the group. We all speak dialects that strong enough would be essentially incomprehensible language other German regions, if we get by, speaking of the standard version of our language. For me this exhibition other Europeans was really nice. Having lived over 20 years in Canada, I never come into contact with German Speakers, to enjoy This experience of a good meal, talking in my native language, was a certain pleasure.

By 9:30 p.m., I started to become really tired since I'm already gone on a one-hour walk through Taormina before breakfast, followed by another walk through the city to meet Donatella, the artist pottery decoration, crowned by a short hike still fighting over Mount Etna. And tomorrow, after everything will be my last day in Taormina, so it was time to rest.

One thing is sure, when you come to Taormina for studies the language that you definitely do not get bored.

About the Author

Susanne Pacher is the publisher of
http://www.travelandtransitions.com
, a web portal for unconventional travel & cross-cultural connections. Check out our brand new

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