#23 Loving the Spring and dreading Summer

St Leo at Sinagra

Hello Friend,

Whenever seasons change, from winter to Spring or autumn to winter, I go through restless nights and anxious dreams. And this week, I've been amid one of these transitional periods.

Over the years, I have gone from being a summer-loving person to someone who dislikes summer's inevitable sweat, humidity and overwhelming heat. I don't know if it's because I'm getting older or how climate change has made the summers here in Italy more humid and unbearable. Either way, this week's distinctive Spring warmth has filled me with dread.

I have enjoyed the sunshine; it feels good to take my morning walks in the sun, but I would be happy with an eternal springtime kind of heat; perhaps turn up the temperature slightly so I can get a few days at the beach, but then turn it back down to Springtime temps, please. That'll be fine with me if the weather gods could be so generous.

I also feel the Italians' pressure to get into shape for the summer. The 'prova costume' or swimming costume test is an expectation. Women, in particular, are expected to get back into their bikinis without any problems effortlessly.

I haven't had a bikini body since my 20s, and even back then, I never felt confident enough to wear one. So I'm happy to keep my 40-something, postpartum, plump body just as it is. As long as I can manage to take care of it and make sure it gets exercise every day, I don't want any added pressure.

What I enjoy about the Spring in Sicily are the rich religious celebrations of Easter. April and May are my favourite months to travel in Sicily; I would encourage everyone to visit the island in Spring as everything is at its best. It isn't too hot, not too many tourists and plenty of things to see and do.  

Springtime in Sicily is splendid, witnessing how nature thaws out of the chill of winter; the days become filled with blissful golden sunshine, bathing the island in a unique colour tone. It is by far the most pleasant time of the year, and together with the pageantry of Easter, it is irresistible.

The Easter celebrations of Sicily are as numerous as petals on daisy chains, with an endless procession of Holy Week festivities to choose from. Every small town has its Via Crucis, which reenacts the final moments of Jesus Christ's life for Good Friday. The week from Palm Sunday to Easter Day is filled with many colour variations according to the island's historical and cultural influences.

So please do come and visit in the Spring.

Try to avoid the summer in Sicily. There is little relief during a long, humid Sicilian summer. I don't fancy a Sicilian scorcher like last year.

My journey into sleepy Sicilian places began with my current home, Sinagra.

My husband and his family adopted the town as they gradually moved towards the coast away from the once agriculturally rich mountain regions whose decline began after the post-World War II period.

Sinagra is one of those ancient towns that staunchly survive. It is close enough to the coast to be considered a cheap alternative for summer vacation. It is an essential connecting node in the transport system for trips towards Catania and the interior regions such as Randazzo and Enna.

Like so many other little villages, Sinagra is small but steadfast. Its three thousand inhabitants are tenacious and hold onto their little town as faithfully as they do their patron Saint Leone. Even the many Sinagrese who I have met in Australia never fail to have a picture of good old Leone in their house or some other memorabilia dedicated to their birthplace.

The primary feast day of San Leone at Sinagra is coming up soon on the eighth of May, where a procession of the Saint's statue is paraded through the town and nearby countryside to herald the beginning of Spring. His promenades aren't limited to May; Leone also sprints over the town's main bridge on Easter Sunday amongst a suggestive pyrotechnic display. And he has been known to make excursions to his wintertime home in the country church with his same name, where he resides from early November until Easter.

Those mad keen Saint lovers of the past used to run San Leone over the rocks of the river that cuts through Sinagra, barefoot and in the middle of the night, where it has been said not a single pilgrim was ever hurt. The Saint seems to have blessed little Sinagra; he helps keep the place alive despite the decay of small townships in Sicily.

Every town has its own patron Saint that they love and celebrate. I'm looking forward to walking with St Leo for Easter, as I've missed him over the past few years. It was a bleak time during the pandemic when we didn't see him being celebrated.

I hate to be long-winded, so I will stop here now.

I'll keep trying to write something worthwhile here every week, perhaps more often if I get in some karmic writing zone.

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Speak again soon.

With love and light from RDB

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