Italy

L’école buissonière

Posted on by MELewis

I played hooky last week. Skipped off school and went AWOL. Or, as we say in French, went to ‘bush’ school.

That’s not really true but it is how it felt. I signed up for a week’s retreat on the remote Sicilian island of Pantelleria with a group called Wide Open Writing (WOW).

It was a chance to go off the path and enjoy a holiday break while devoting time to myself — and to writing. Not the PR work I do for a living, or the blogging I do here, but in pursuit of the storytelling muse that lives inside us all.

For a week our group enjoyed the rugged beauty of this volcanic island that is actually closer to Tunisia than Italy. That did not mean warmer, however, as it was windswept and chilly a good part of the week. But when the sun came out it was wonderful!

All week long we met twice daily to think, write, read our work and share thoughts. The idea wasn’t to critique each other’s writing so much as to give positive feedback. It was an experience at times intense, hilarious, emotional, beautiful and moving. I found a sense of kinship with this group of writers from all walks of life and at different stages of finding their voice. There was also yoga and meditation for those so inclined.

I stayed in a dammuso, the thick-walled stone cottages unique to Pantelleria. They are designed with domed roofs to capture the rain water.

Water so essential for irrigating the capers, olive trees and vines that grow here…and these days also for more leisurely pursuits.

Walled gardens are also part of Pantelleria’s unique heritage. This one in a vineyard was built to protect the precious lime tree growing within.

On our last day we visited the Donna Fugata vineyard where a variety of the ancient Muscat grape called Zibibbo is grown to make the island’s famous Passito, a sweeter apperitif wine, among others.

Throughout the week, we also ate and drank copious amounts of Sicilian food and wine.

This dessert is called bacio pantesco. It’s a kind of waffle pastry filled with delicately perfumed ricotta.

One of the things I love most about living in France is how close we are to so many amazing places. It wasn’t easy to get to Pantelleria, as it involved three flights via Rome and Palermo. The last one on this Air Mistral plane operated by the Italian Post.

You can learn a lot when you skip school, or ‘faire l’école buisonnière’, as the French call it. It was a bit of a splurge, but well worth it. Besides, getting away is good for the soul.

Do you remember skipping school?

Beauty and the beast

Posted on by MELewis

IMG_1267They call it ‘l’île de beauté’. But beauty is only half of the story. Here’s why Corsica is the preferred vacation spot of the French…and why it took me twenty years to get there.

When the rest of the world descends upon the south of France, the French flee to their most cherished summer vacation spot: la Corse. Situated just above Sardinia, the rugged Mediterranean island is actually closer to Italy than France, and the Corsican language resonates like Italian.

For years friends have been urging me to visit Corsica. “C’est magnifique…You won’t regret it….Small, private beaches….Perfect weather….Wild and uninhabited…Food that combines the best of French and Italian.” Hmm…sounds like my kind of vacation place. In fact, with so much going for it, I’m not sure what was holding us back.

Actually, I do. My husband. He had a very negative preconception about les Corses. Macho types who refuse to speak French and want their independence. And I’d heard so much in the news about mafia-style murders and bombs going off in Corsica, I wasn’t keen to go anywhere near the place.

But then someone explained that Corsica lives almost entirely off tourism and none of the violence actually targets holiday-makers. The acts of terrorism that make the headlines are règlements de compte (settling of scores) between the locals and outsiders who try to encroach upon their territory. So this summer we decided to find out for ourselves.

Here’s what we discovered about l’île de beauté:

  •  Island of beauty: Corsica really does live up to the claim. The mountains and coastline are breathtakingly beautiful, and everywhere you go offers postcard views. It’s rare in France to see so much flora and fauna with so few people. And the weather was indeed perfect: hot and sunny with the right amount of sea breeze to keep cool.
  • Steeped in history: The birthplace of Napoleon Bonaparte is Ajaccio, the regional capital of Corsica; there’s a museum in his ancestral home, Casa Buonaparte, and places all over the island named after him. Over the centuries the island has changed ownership several times and even enjoyed a brief period of independence…so it has a lot of stories to tell.
  • Geography is destiny? Corsica is shaped a bit like a fist sticking its finger in the air. This may have something to do with the strong sense of identity and revolutionary bent of its inhabitants.carte-corse
  • One region divided in two: Corsica is a full-fledged region of France with two administrative departments: Haute-Corse, the more mountainous and uninhabited north, and Corse-du-Sud, the southern half that draws the most tourists to its beaches.
  • Two official symbols: a moor’s head, which is shown on the official Corsican flag (along with license plates, beer labels, etc), and the wild boar (le sanglier) which is also one of its denizens — also frequently on the menu. We saw this little guy by the roadside near the route des îles Sanguinaires.IMG_1310
  • Charcuterie and cheese: Two of the island’s gourmet specialities, along with superb seafood and some very nice wines.
  • Polyphonic choral music: No, these guys don’t have an earache, they’re just blocking each other’s voices out in order to focus on their own. The result is hauntingly beautiful, if you like that sort of music. I am a fan, at least for the first five minutes.
  • Famous people: Many well-known French personalities have summer homes in Corsica. Other than Napoleon, and, some claim, Christopher Columbus, famous Corsicans include Laetitia Casta, an iconic French model and actress.
  • An amazing hiking trail. The GR (Grande Randonnée) 20 is a challenging trek across the island from north to south. I dream of returning one day and doing at least a segment of it. Assuming I can put aside some of these local attractions long enough…IMG_1315