Dirty Deals or No Deals?

Andrew Collins rang me this morning to do a phone interview for his afternoon ABC radio broadcast, describing the impact of Covid19 on Sicily. I told him that apart from last nights English tourist, there doesn't seem to be much of an issue.

After breakfast we took the Metro to the station where the train that circumnavigates Etna departs from and rode that up to Adrano. Apart from substantial expansion of Catania with large suburban apartment blocks, the route is pretty much as Edward describes it over the lava beds of 1669; the lapse of 2 centuries has produced decomposition sufficient only to restore limited portions of the surface to the purposes of cultivation...the rougher portions produce only a straggling crop of prickly pears , with a few olive and fig trees. Nearly another 2 centuries on and it still like that.

Edward hadn't intended to spend the night in Adrano but they heard that a river 5 miles out of town was impassable so they decided to make camp. They strolled out after dinner in search of amusement and entering the chapel of the convent of Santa Lucia, we heard some excellent music. 
Afterwards...we found the old keep, occupied as a prison, and a dozen starved looking men incarcerated within it. These inmates told Edward that they had to provide for their own food, which the warder confirmed, and begged him for money which they received with expressions of gratitude quite out of proportion with the gift. 

Undercover photo of St Lucia Convent with persons of interest outside

On our visit the convent was locked and silent although a cafe out the front was patronised by a particularly large and somber looking group of older men-no women. Was this the Adrano Mafia the tourist official had muttered about, taking care of business? We were not going to ask. The old castle keep is now a museum and the signage within confirmed it had been a prison until 1958. Wonder when they started feeding the inmates?

Adrano castle prison museum

We had a nice lunch at a more friendly looking cafe which did cater to ladies and the prices indicated that this is indeed not a town burdened by tourists. After lunch we walked to a lookout on the edge of town which had a nice view over a river valley, presumably the river that had kept Edward here. We then reboarded the train to travel on to Randazzo which is round the back of Etna. The further we went the bigger the farms became and the more greatly developed the agriculture, including some healthy looking flocks of sheep that Edward's squatter's eye would have undoubtedly approved of.

After an hour's stroll round Randazzo we returned to Catania where we discovered that tourist's dream; a little mom & pop trattoria selling very basic, but authentic and delicious, Sicilian food at very basic Sicilian prices, including local red wine in a plastic bottle, at 5euro a litre! When we finished they pressed a home made complimentary limoncello shot on each of us and by the time we left, I was having difficulty walking in a straight line