Sicily: Calatabiano

Last saturday S. decided to go for a short trip to a small village not far of here: Calatabiano.

It was the day of a famous religious feast: the inhabitants celebrate San Filippo (Saint Philippe) in a particular way and S. wanted to show it to me.

We spent a lovely afternoon, taking part of the event, enjoying nature, visiting Calatabiano's monuments (the ruines of the arab-norman castel and some churches), having dinner outdoor.

I want to show you some photos we took.

The firts photos are about the San Filippo statue carried by devots in red clothes: according to the tradition they bring this heavy load from the ancient church dedicated to Crucified Christ (on the hills) to another church at the center of the village (in the valley). And they do that running (yes, running) on a downhill lane (link in italian).

They probably are a bit crazy to be brave enough to do it!

But this tradition fascinates me a lot!

Processions with statues or other images of Saints, the Virgin Mary or the Crucified are usual in Italy (I wrote something about it in my post about Saint Lucy for Pam's blog), but this is very unconventional!

When the run finished, we visited the church and, on the top of the hill,  the castel:

We enjoyed a great sight from here. 

These ruines are a sort of a panoramic balcony when you can see the Ionian sea, Taormina on the left (it's in the center if this photo, on a peaked hill... can you see it?) and Mount Etna (fuming) on the right:

So evocative! :)

I think spring is the perfect season to take your car and a good pair of cosy shoes and explore the world!

Quality time, new things learned, some exercise done and great photos to look and edit when at home!

We want to do it more often, since Sicily (but the whole Italy, honestly), thanks to its story, offers so much to see!