“If this sauce was a person, I’d get naked and make love to it.” Sophia Petrillo, The Golden Girls
One of my favorite TV shows growing up was, The Golden Girls. My favorite character on the show? Without a doubt, Sophia Petrillo. She even has a Wikipedia page.
Honestly, I was too young to get the jokes at the time but it was always bonding time between me and my late grandmother Rosemary, who we lovingly referred to as Poshie. We would make popcorn, cozy up in the twin recliners in her living room, and watch The GG’s together.
As I got older I enjoyed the show, the writing and its characters even more. Today, I still watch the old reruns and laugh hysterically.
Sophia was savage. She had brilliant one-liners. She was a no-nonsense, off-the-cuff, witty, funny, doesn’t care what anyone thinks, tells it as she sees it, Italian – but more specifically, a Sicilian.
Her famous line was, “Picture it, Sicily…” and then would add a date before telling a story from her youth to the gals. She was the best. I wanted to be her…a part of me felt like a piece of her was buried deep in my heart…and my sarcastic mouth.
So when my friend Marie invited me to visit her in Sicily, I had to say, “YESSSS!” 🙌
Sophia would want me too.
I met Marie (from France) in February when we were practicing yoga at the Ashtanga Yoga Bali Research Center in Ubud, Bali. The faithful readers of this blog know how much she impacted me, but if you’re new here, you can read about it here.
Before we get to the meat and potatoes of this post, I want to give a special, “Hello!” to Mrs. P, Marie’s mom. Apparently, she enjoyed my posts about our adventures in Bali so much that she became a paid subscriber and faithful reader of my blog. Thank you, Mrs. P for supporting my art! ❤️ Hopefully, one day our paths will cross in person and I’ll give you a proper hug.
Also… Today, July 19th, the day this post goes live, also happens to be Marie’s 40th birthday, so let’s all give her our well wishes for another fun trip around the sun! 🥳
I arrived in Trapani on the first, and only, flight out of Pescara to this airport. They only have three flights a week. It left at 5:45 am and landed around 7am-ish. Marie came to pick me up and let me just say, the 20 minute ride to the place she is living for the season was an in-your-face foreshadowing of what was to come in Sicily. There are no rules. And if there were rules, they were made to be broken. There is absolutely no judgment here, but Marie drove through, from what I remember, every stop sign.. Don’t worry Mama P, it’s normal. Granted nobody was on the roads but still. It’s how they do things in Sicily. Don’t stop, just be prepared. And I’m only kind of kidding about this.
Since I arrived so early, which meant I had to wake up at 3:30 am, I took a nap as soon as I arrived. You know you’ve got a good friendship with someone if as soon as you see them you say, I need to sleep and they don’t take it personally.
For as much as Marie and I are different, we are similar in the fact that we both had corporate jobs and left them to see what this great big old world has to offer us as we globetrot our way around it.
The Universe gave Marie a magical opportunity. While she was traveling in India last fall she met an Italian man named Andrea. Andrea owns a cute yoga retreat center between Trapani and Marsala in the most Western part of Sicily. It’s called The Place Yoga and Kitesurf. If you are into yoga, kitesurfing, beaches, and a laid-back atmosphere with good food, definitely check out this place.
Oddly enough when they met, he was looking for a cook for the season. The requirements (I think) are cooking breakfast six days a week (but Marie is amazing and usually does seven because she enjoys it so much) and dinner every other night for the guests. Plus, other duties as assigned. Which could entail picking someone up at the airport or helping the guests with little needs here and there.
Remember how I told you Marie is an inspiration? Well, she took the opportunity even though she was not a cook and especially not a cook making food for groups of people on a daily basis.
While we were in Bali, she was training/practicing at a local restaurant to prepare herself. She found an owner of a restaurant who was willing to teach her some things and then he would let her have the kitchen to try out recipes.
Seriously, nothing will ever stop this woman.
I can think of many times I’ve turned down an opportunity because I didn’t feel qualified. Not Marie…she takes it and then becomes qualified. She is so impressive to me.
And let me tell you, I ate her food. IT IS FREAKING DELICIOUS! One morning there was a pasty that I actually thought, “no way she made this…she must have bought it.” But no, she baked it herself. I mean, she is French so maybe pastry-making is in her DNA, but dang it, it was amazing. It might just be better than the chocolate croissants I hold so near and dear.
Plus, she was making traditional Sicilian dishes for dinner and people said they were legit. You know it pains an Italian to compliment a French chef. Ha!
To top it off, she is making all this deliciousness in this cute little outdoor kitchen. What a life!
After my nap, we rode bikes to the beach…Oh, I love the beach. Plus, it’s blazing hot in Sicily at the moment so the water was extra refreshing. On our way back, we rode past the lagoon where they harvest salt. It was beautiful but it was so hazy from the humidity, the photos don’t do it justice. Here is a link to the location with some beautiful photos of the area and the windmills. So if you ever buy salt and it’s from Marsala, this is the place. ❤️
The next day, Marie had a busy day grocery shopping and preparing the meals for the guests so I took the train to Trapani and the cable car up to the medieval town on Erice.
Trapani is a beautiful old Sicilian town. I didn’t spend a ton of time here but I loved the buildings, beautiful flowers, and the people seemed pretty chill.
I know, it looks like the camera lens is dirty but it was so hot and humid, there was a permanent haze.
Once I made it up to Erice, I stopped in the tourist office which is where you buy the passes to tour the churches. This city is O.L.D. It is mostly made up of churches, convents, castles, walls, and restaurants but it does have some great views.
There was one moment that really stood out to me while I was there and I actually didn’t get an answer to my question until I reached Palermo and asked a tour guide about it.
While I was walking around the St. Martin Church (Chiesa di San Martino), I noticed a painting that seemed very odd to be in a Catholic Church. For those of you who like or study art, maybe you already know of this painting.
There was no plaque or marking saying the name of the painting but according to the tour guide in Palermo, what I saw was a copy of the original, Madonna di Custonaci. The original is somewhere in Trapani. It depicts The Virgin Mary preparing to breastfeed Jesus. Why I found this so shocking was that the Catholic Church never shows “private parts” on art. They consider it shameful. I’ve even heard stories of nuns breaking off the private parts of statues around Italy! Haha!
So why is it located so prominently in this church?
Well, apparently, this is not just any old painting. It was found on a sunken ship…completely intact! No water damage. So it’s a “miracle painting” – or the original is. Very interesting, I think.
This statue and sign were also in that same church. So someone on the staff has a fabulous sense of humor.
But hands down, the best day Marie and I had together was when we went to the Island of Favignana to ride bikes and swim. This is one of the most beautiful places I’ve been. The bike ride was fun (an e-bike makes every ride a good time), our salads were delicious, the views were stunning, and the water was cold and refreshing to swim in. If you ever make it to this part of the world, definitely visit Favignana.
Remember, the hikers Beatrice and Stefano from the Via Francigena? They recommended this place to me as well and I’m glad they did! I’d like to come back and stay a week!
I was so thankful Marie invited me to visit. It was just what I needed. I would have never had these amazing experiences without her. Plus, I’ve been traveling for a while now, and it was really nice to have a place to relax and be a bum. She was a fantastic hostess. I’m also grateful to Andrea for letting me stay at his retreat center on the friends and family discount. It was a much-appreciated gesture.
Here is a recap video of our adventures!
Marie is continuing to inspire me so I hope we meet up again in another part of the world…with cooler weather. 🩷
Goodnight and much love & gratitude from Italy! 🇮🇹
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Porta Garibaldi. Garibaldi’s Gate to represent when he arrived in Marsala in 1860. For those who don’t know, Giuseppe Garibaldi is the guy who was behind the efforts to unite all the City-States to make Italy a unified country in 1861. He was an important dude.
