Quiet days in Riposto

37° 43′ 50.1528” N 15° 12′ 31.9068”

May 7, 2018

“Etna releases gas today. That’s a good sign”, says my taxi driver, Emanuele, as he drives me to Catania Airport. When Etna releases gas, it’s a sign of peace and no danger, when on the contrary she pauses for many days, it may be because she is building up to a major eruption, he explains.

Emanuele lives himself at the foot of Etna, in the town of Giarre, and it is part of his daily routine, that he starts the day watching the volcano to assess what mood she is in today. Etna’s mood is part of the reality of life when living at the foot of the volcano, and Emanuele makes few concerns, because the recent eruptions have stopped just before the lava wiped out the first village on its way. So, no worry.

I ask him if it’s cheap to buy land and property, when living on the edge of a volcano. No, he answers. It is expensive to live in the metropolitan areas of Sicily and cheap to live in the country. But it is not cheaper to live on the edge of Etna than elsewhere in the country. And the earth is amazing. It is lush. Wine, flowers, grass and trees bubble of vitality.

 

Ronja is moored in “Porto dell ‘Etna” just below the volcano, in the town of Riposto, and it is a perfect starting point for trekking on Etna, visiting the tourist resort of Taormina, swimming in the Mediterranean in late April or exploring the city centers in Catania and Syracuse.

Riposto is not much to write about in itself, except that it is a city, that is completely unaffected by tourism. The city lives its very own life. The inhabitants fish, grow tomatoes, oranges, wine or they drive to work in Catania or Taormina and the city do not need to please the tourists. Everything – shops, cafes and traffic – is aimed at the city’s own inhabitants. Only the marina adds a modest touch of tourism.

Riposto, along with the neighboring town of Giarre, has a common train station, which brings you to Catania or Taormina for typically three euros and to Syracuse for eight euros. And if there is anything, Italians are good at, it is running trains precise on time. They export all of their technological train-wonders to Denmark, sticking themselves to their old trains. Out of our eight train-trips only one was delayed and only by five minutes.

Taormina is a hit. We are sometimes a bit annoyed by over-touristed Italian cities, and Taormina is over-touristed, but it is so with a lot of good reasons. It’s an unlikely beautiful city, glued to a mountain side overlooking the sea, ancient as Metusalem, green and charming, and with a cable car down to the sea, where in particular Lido la Pigna is a balm for the soul with the sound of waves, lovely sand and lush swimming waters. The mood of holiday that is good to be a part of.

Syracuse we should have spent more time in. It is full of history and culture. A beautiful city, which we will revisit with Ronja one day instead of by train.

Catania is Sicily’s second largest city, youthful, dynamic with beautiful churches, theaters and art museums, while colossal elongated rock formations in the form of stiffened lava at the outskirts of the city bear witness to the days, when the city was washed in the sea by a violent eruption from Etna. It is only 300 years ago.

And then we’re back to Etna. Everything depends on the volcano. Does it release gas today? Or does it take a break and build up to something big? On the one hand scary but at a paradox also conforting and fascinating.

 

Our stay in Riposto will be 14 days, partly because Per travels a few days to Denmark to work, but also because the harbor is calm and well functioning, and the city appears as a more unspoilt Italian province than many others we have visited.