NOTO to NOW
Diary of a No Med Summer
When it comes to Leo Szn, or “Peak Summer” as Emahn calls it, I often find it harder to stay inside, on task and checking things off my ongoing (read: NEVER-ENDING) to-do list. It’s also my birthday in Summer, the time of nap-inducing swelters. Hence I do try to get away for the solar return. But this one which I am dubbing “No Med Summer” is different. Instead of napping I’ve been multitasking... It’s all about home renovations (yay dust!), new jewelry capsules (yay shiny stuff!), clay (literal earth, wind and fire!) and experimenting with our newly acquired pizza oven (more on this + recipes to come).
USUALLY, for my vacations, I hustle my butt to any place touching the Mediterranean Sea. I love it there for the beauty and variety (of culture, topography, architecture, food, and lazing activities). But largely I go for this feeling I’ve always had there, that I am somehow near… source. The bellybutton of so much human history “Know Thyself” to the Minotaur and Ariadne’s thread. The calls to prayer humming above ancient Moroccan cityscapes to the Dodecanese islands. The Antikythera mechanism, pulled from the brilliant blue waters to the Corinthian columns, all covered in shells, still relegated to the sea floor– which we actually saw snorkeling in Sicily. So in the spirit of throwing back a’la Mercury retrograde, I am going to actually revisit these places of pics and poems, and begin an “FBF Summer” tradition of reliving my holidays, for YOU and ME on here :)
This past year, I turned my birthday clock to a new decade and took what my lovely husband still calls “the trip of a lifetime” even though I very much intend to take more holidays like it (I mean, I’m only half way to 100!). As is my usual—this holiday included more than one destination, because for whatever reason (Gemini rising) I can’t ever seem to decide on one place to go.
Oh Wanderlust, my old friend, you alone know why I can’t ever stop at just one solitary port.
We started our sojourn in the quaint and formerly illustrious hills of Noto Sicily, where the palaces are currently being reimagined as truly imaginative homes, hotels and art studios, and who’s outdoor dinner tables and cute Deco cafe tables are the gathering spaces of locals and dreamers. I was blessed to have our time there planned to a perfect pistachio-flavored, blue-sea-colored, love fest with Vivian and Marcella. Our most generous, inspiring hosts who started each day with a perfectly set breakfast table before being introduced to many inspiring creative people we came to adore.
We ventured to the beautifullllllly renovated space of artist Julia Martins Miranda where we marveled at the glorious privacy they created among her colorful paintings, the welcome green of plants, mirrors and pivoting steel frame doors, plus a lovely lil outdoor tub… It was a nonchalant yet scientifically executed balance of refinement—gorgeous art, sunlight, swooping curtains and brass bedecked sinks and counters that shone against the stones of the place. From the hallway in and all throughout, the building still bore the evidence of its original makers. This dreamy open plan space was cherry-topped with a modern pink sofa I wanted to lounge on for hours.
Speaking of sweet treats, we encountered oodles of pistachio (pis-tah-KEE-oh) which I enjoyed in fine cakes (Caffe Sicilia), in the best damn granita with a view of the local jail (Forno Piano Altro) and, naturally, on a pizza (Dammuso Noto, also don’t miss Norma Bistrot up the street if you go by my list!).
The highlights are many. So I will only briefly say, the food and friends hit all the notes of a Summer sway, including the Rosé!
We dove into the sea with snorkels and made out the immense scrolls of ancient columns long ago fallen into the crystalline water, now flocked with muscles. On the fisherman’s boat, our captain set a webber alight, right there on the deck, for fresh caught seafood served with an immense buffet of homemade fare. The tiny, local sun dried tomatoes along with his epic smile and blue eyes to match his speedo have been filed under legendary.
At a private dinner in the Spiaggia Marianelli preserve, we gathered at the exquisite home (and garden!) of designer Michele Longoni + artist Nicholas Peall. Silhouettes seen from the roof were like the black bits of a Darren Waterston painting against a blur of flora and tertiary swaths of sunset sky. They served us, naturally, delicious pizza from the wood-burning oven with wine from Luigia, another of the bright stars in the constellation of our Noto stay. The feast of stars and and pitch dark road headed home made the ride home an adventure, all the more magical.
We had been to the Barone Sergio winery the day prior for a gathering that was utterly delightful with wine, DJs and a Summer wine sunset. Luigia herself is amazing and the murals she commissioned made the place feel all the more special for the history they honored.
While exploring the hilly seaside towns and perusing shops, I came to love the Sicilian Trinacria. A symbol of triangular shape, like the island itself, with three sheaves of wheat, representing fertility and abundance, and three legs, bent at the knee forming a sort of spiral. My favorite bit of course is the Medusa head at the center serving as a protective symbol, to ward off evil and misfortune. Medusa is also associated with coral.
In these times, a talisman for strength and passion that also leads back –like that mythical thread–to the well-traveled waters of the Med, well, its talisman enough for me to wear it everyday. And occasionally to un-hoard from my stash of gems and offer up in new amulets, yours for the taking like these Coral Droplets. I had them in my cache for years, awaiting this inspiration.
I hope you have felt the hot hot heat of the Med reading my words…. stay tuned for more on Puglia, Portugal, Greek islands, in and around Sevilla and maybe some Amsterdam too!
With love and passion for long winded posts,
XxA