Day 28 Thursday 17 October
Cooler nights for which we are grateful.
Day spent in beautiful Sampieri, the next headland over from our campsite and small beach where we have swum first thing each morning . It's a 5 minute easy walk to one of the loveliest quiet clean long sandy beaches we have visited in Sicily, shallow, warm water, sandy bottom.
We walked along this beach to the ruins of a brickworks factory on one headland, 129 died in a fire there in 1920's. It has been used as a backdrop film set for several of the Montalbano Detective TV series episodes, where it has doubled as a tuna factory, usually involving Montalbano conducting clandestine meetings with informants.
We took the van to Donnalucata, a handsome working fishing village a few kilometres beyond Sampieri with its very own smart 'Montalbano' promenade.
The Blue Moon gelateria there sells the best gelatos we've tasted so far , huge variety and sugar free options too .
We drove on to the Baroque UNESCO town of nearby hilltop Scicli .A very kind Italian campervan person donated his parking ticket valid til 9am the next morning, such thoughtfulness lingers on in the heart, after we negotiated narrow streets, dodged unpredictable Vespas, and arrived at the small town car park with a sigh of relief. We arrived in time to climb to the top of the old town to take sunset photos; what a stunning sight , the whole area flattened in 1693 by an earthquake and rebuilt (along with 6 neighbouring towns) entirely in a Baroque architectural style. Warning of wild dogs spotted in the ruined church at the top. I located the Baroque style municipio town hall which doubled as a police station in (yes you've guessed it) Montalbano, I dragged Andy around a short tour of the mock up studio now a favourite tourist experience long after the popular series finished in 2008 (we are still getting repeats in the UK )
I could live in this town , old or new or Sampieri or Donna Lucata...
Hairy hairpin descents back to the campsite La Spiaggata (thanks sat nav)
Hairy hairpin descents back to the campsite La Spiaggata (thanks sat nav)
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| The abandoned brickworks - Montalbano episode venue |
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| Best gelatto! |
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| Montalbano's office |
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