Castello di Lombardia

After a breakfast of ricotta, salami bread and of course eggs, we said goodbye to agritourismo Bannata after a chat with an American couple, fellow hotel guests who were waiting for their flat tyre to get fixed. We heard about the delights of St Louis and their return trip plans before extracting ourselves and heading off to Enna, Sicily’s highest town. Perched on top of a peak we wound upwards in the car and after stoodgjng around for a bit managed to find a spot to park. The views across the landscape to other mountains and hilltop villages were spectacular- even on a stormy day with enormous, deep grey blue dramatic clouds hovering not too far from where we were perched, around 900m above sea level.

We explored the medieval castle - an excellent lookout point and managed to sneak into the baroque cathedral just before it closed for lunch. By this time we were getting hungry so went in search of lunch ourselves. Pretty much every restaurant that google offered us was closed. Early season we guessed. Just as we were starting to give up hope of finding anything to eat, we came across a place that was little more than 4 tables and a counter of food. We fell on it gratefully, went with the owners recommendations and enjoyed a smashing lunch of pasta in a tomato seafood sauce, stuffed sliced aubergine (no idea what it was stuffed with but it was delicious) fried corgette, more aubergine things and roasted potatoes. Happily full we walked back to the car as rain clouds darkened the sky and ducked into the car as the first fat raindrops began to fall. By the time we were on the outskirts of enna the rain was hammering down.

We worked our way down hairpin bends at a cautious 20km/hour as the road became a mini river and the windscreen wipers worked furiously away. By the time we were at the bottom though the rain had eased up - gone as quickly as it arrived.
The road to Catania alternated between glorious countryside, dramatic peaks with lush meadows to grim industrial zones where some or another form of resource was being extracted. There was the Inevitable small toll road drama where the driver behind me had to show me where to get my ticket from an unmanned booth.

Views of etna were somewhat limited with the rain and cloud but we saw glimpses of her snowy slopes through the mist

We arrived at the somewhat luxurious Donna Carmella, our home for the last 3 nights. the weather was unusually rainy and cold and although it meant the anticipated stretching out by the pool was looking unlikely, it’s nice to have underfloor heating and soft surroundings when the weather isn’t trying as hard as it might. We sank into the soft beds and let the journey drop off us. Dinner at the hotel restaurant was a smart affair and well executed with oozing burrata, tender/firm clam spaghetti, saffron laced risotto, delicate lemon tart and cannoli with a sweet/salt ricotta kick.Okumaya devam et