One memorable moment in Taormina will be Saturday, November 23rd, 2013, the sunny day when I experienced a larger than normal Mount Etna eruption. Returning from my walk to the Madonna della Rocca and entering the main street and Piazza IX Aprile, I heard a strange noise that sounded like hail. With the sun up and people around the sound did not seem to make sense at first. What was it?
It was from the eruption of Mount Etna, raining down chunks of rock and ash.
Looking at the pieces on the ground and taking pictures of them, people were just curious at first. I joined the crowd and soon our hair was getting full of ash and the pieces were becoming too big for comfort.
Most people began walking around with their jackets pulled over their heads. The crunch-crunch under people’s steps became louder and soon most were walking around under umbrellas. The guys selling them on the street must have thanked Allah for the ash that was falling from the sky. I also seen an improviser, having a brand named paper bag over her head with holes cut out for eyes.
What a spectacle! The sun was still up but a big cloud of ash was extending from the top of Mount Etna all the way here, to Taormina. A lot of people took refuge under patio covers while employees and restaurant owners were hitting the awning fabric with broom sticks from underneath to remove the weight of accumulated ash, dropping more onto the streets.
With ash on my head and in my ears I pulled my hat out of my backpack. At times I could hear and feel a bigger chunk of ash landing on my covered head, while smaller pieces would find their way down my neck and under my T-shirt. About half an hour later, sitting down in the sun on an ash covered bench by a church, small pieces of ash were still dropping onto my notebook.
A local guy of 52 years in Taormina told me that the fine ash from Mount Etna eruptions is normal for the place, but not big pieces like this. Just this year he had seen it this way.
While store keepers were sweeping away the ash in front of their stores and lovers were writing their names in it, I crunch-crunched my way to the fantastic Teatro Greco.
Back at Gianni House it would take us two hours to clean the ash from the terrazza, and the following day we helped to clean up the streets. Much of the ash is bagged and will be used in construction while other will be picked up by the city.
I fell in love with Taormina, Sicily the first time I visited. Taormina was an unforgettable place I had been waiting to return to for an extended stay, to work on my Italian and immerse myself in the local culture. I have enjoyed my stay, I still love Taormina, and I think I can “safely” say now that I have truly experienced some of the local Sicilian culture 🙂
A Few Photos: Taken from Taormina, Sicily during and after the Mount Etna eruption November 23, 2013. For a closer look at the ash on the streets and embers in the sky, click an image once and it will enlarge on the photo comment page. Click the image a second time to view in full screen on your computer.
