Fri Aug 2, 2024
Hi Gang! Today we are in Sicily! Well, technically we were anchored off the coast of Naxos in Sicily which is at the base of the city of Taormina. Taormina dates back to before Ancient Greece established its first colony on Sicily. The town is perched high on a cliff overlooking the Ionian Sea. But looming over the area is the always rumbling volcano of Mount Etna. It actually just had a small eruption this past Monday!
But since we had just been to Taormina last year, we decided to look for a different area to visit. So when I asked the excursion desk for one they said “We’ll make you an offer, you can’t refuse!”. So we booked The Godfather Tour! Lol. Actually the excursion was called “Hidden Sicily – In the Footsteps of The Godfather”.
The real story of the Godfather is actually based in the town of Corleone which is on the other side of Sicily near Palermo. But when the director, Francis Ford Coppola, went there to film it he felt it was too modern looking so found the two villages of Savoca and Forza d’Agro near Taormina and filmed many of the scenes there.
Our tour started by driving to the village of Savoca where Michael Corleone (Al Pacino) was taken to hide out after he killed the Mafia Boss Sollozzo and the corrupt Police Captain McCluskey in retaliation for the attempted assassination of his father Vito Corleone (Marlon Brando). It was there that he met Apollonia, his bride to be. Our first stop in Savoca was to Bar Vitelli where he met Apollonia’s father and asked him for her hand in marriage.
Our next stop in Savoca was to the Church of Santa Lucia where Michael and Apollonia got married. We also walked to the town square along the cobble stone and narrow street where Michael, Apollonnio and their wedding party walked after their wedding. It’s there where we saw the steel silhouette sculpture of a film director that was dedicated to Francis Ford Coppola.
After that we drove to the village of Forza d’Agro. After walking around this quaint little village we came to the Church of the Holy Trinity. It was out in front of that church where friends of Vito Corleone, when he was a young boy, placed him in a sack on a donkey to get him out of the village and away from the Mafia that had just killed his entire family. This allowed him to eventually come to America and start the Corleone Mafia family there.
Being that The Godfather is my favorite movie of all time, needless to say, I LOVED this excursion! But I have to give a huge shout out to Kathy for coming along with me since she had never seen the movie before! But she did love all the beautiful scenery in both villages!
After we got back to the boat, we got our afternoon popcorn snack and just relaxed. It was pretty warm today but not as hot as yesterday. That’s all for now, I’ll do an update after dinner. TGIF to all!
The Wandering Italian 