PORTELLA FEMMINA MORTA (NEBRODI PARK) CHARCOAL BURNERS ENCAMPMENT 1994.

POSTSCRIPT ITEM - a trap of sorts found in 1995 amongst the debris of the 1994 encampment - see details below - this trap now labours under 15 plus years of London dust. On its rear end wall just visible through the wiring there is an illustration of a large spider and the SANTA CLAUSE laid inside was a 1995 addition found elsewhere during my MADONIE and NEBRODI walking excursions that year. It was a proper primed if somewhat small trap contraption.

Nebrodi Woodland 1994 Carbon Burners Encampment remains in July 1995.

Another July 1995 shot of the 1994 encampment.

One of the encampment structures under construction in June 1994.

Two of the fellow Carbonai Group.

The same two Carbonai jovially toasting their joint efforts.

Taking a break for a glass of vino!

Ongoing Carbon fire preparations.

Products of the Carbonai Group Labours - shot 1.

Products of the Carbonai Group Labour -shot 2.

Products of the Carbonai Group Labours - shot 3.

Showing me the ropes!

Getting things together - another shot.

Carbon fireside scene.

Further Carbon work in progress.

Sat resting in one of their newly built shelters.

Shot of the Nebrodi Woodlands Carbonai Group

who made me so very very welcome.

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DOUBLE CLICK on any of the above IMAGES to ENLARGE.

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In the 3rd week of June 1994 I took a Sicilian 2 weeks Parco dei Nebrodi and Parco delle Madonie excursion and after arriving by air at Catania then took a mid-day coach that travelled via CESARO so as to be able to drop me at PORTELLA FEMMINA MORTA. From there I struck out on foot as I had done in earlier years towards LAGO MAULAZZO and LAGO BIVIERE DI CESARO. Not very far down the winding inviting peaceful roadway towards the above destinations (and before the MONTE SORO bivio) in woodlands to the right hand side were folk who to my recollection were from (relatively nearby) SAN FRATELLO and SAN AGATA di MILITELLO - all these named places can be found on the NEBRODI locations map linked at the bottom of this page. These folk had just about begun to establish their above temporary CARBON production encampment. Basically as I understood things they'd chosen a section of the woodlands where they'd prune the trees, build fires and accomodation shelters (as above) and produce Carbon. Apparently the work that these Sicilian CARBONAI do is "CARBONAIO". They were a truly unexpected novelty for me and maybe hailing from the UK solo I was for them too. Certainly they made me very very welcome indeed and gave me food - pasta, meat, fruit and wine. It remains one of my very memorable encounters.

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LASCARI SALINELLE 1998 - "THE WAY IT SEEMED AT 4am" - a poem.

GOOGLE EARTH AERIAL SHOT OF LASCARI SALINELLE BEACH

AND ADJACENT FIELDS - BEACH AREA PUBLIC SEATING

OVER TO THE RIGHT HAND SIDE.

Un-useable badly damaged Salinelle beach area seating - summer 2009.

Beachside fieldscape 2009 cleared for car parking.

Summer 2009 beachside fieldscape.

Sole wooden post remaining (2009) from earlier times - see below.

Salinelle beachside nearby fieldscape before modern clearances.

Beachside nearby fieldscape 1980's through 1990's.

Fieldscape "high wirings" featured in 1998 poem.

"High wirings".

"High wirings" from which a night-time "Star" was toppled.

THE WAY IT SEEMED AT 4am

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Imagination had

a faintly

fishy smell,
a clear sky, lit

by a thigh high

almost full moon

was slowly but surely

sinking to its knees,

waves crashed,

rolling and receding

along the nearby shore.

In the distance

a dog barked.

Right above me

balanced on a very high wire

that truly I could see

a Star was toppled

by a single puff of passing cloud.

Nobody moaned out loud

(as only nobody can)

"Oi shut it man

d'you know

what time it is".

I.C.

Lascari Salinelle.

6 July 1998.

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The above poem came through at 4am on the night in question when sleeping in the open I awoke just briefly from my summer slumbers amid the fieldscape shown above. In those days it was somewhat helpfully comfortably overgrown with vegetation. That vegetation has all now been removed as have all the wooden upright posts and also of course the "high-line wirings" that so suprisingly crept into "The Way It Seemed" poetic imagery on that summer's night .

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The fieldscape in question, which runs immediately adjacent to salinelle beach, has now been entirely cleared and is used during the summer season for car parking. Just one of the old wooden post survives - now on the horizontal - as shown in one of the above foto's.

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Over the 1987 - 2003 period I peacefully slept out at Lascari Salinelle on some 40 occasions altho' not always in the above fieldscape - there are also quiet peaceful woodlands in the relatively nearby Salinelle area.

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The beachside area nowadays is not as invitingly hospitable as it had been hitherto - for example one of the above foto's made in the summer of 2009 shows that almost all the public seating was smashed and un-useable. To update this smashed seating comment having very recently (late Sept 2010) returned from a Lascari re-visit the seating has now been repaired.

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Anyway it is pleasing to acknowledge that I mainly have very nice memories of my numerous LASCARI SALINELLE visits some of which have already been featured in previous SICILY ABLAZE blogspots - see - HERE & HERE & HERE .

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PARCO DELLE MADONIE ON BIVIO MADONNUZZA ICE. WAS NO CHRISTMAS PANTOMIME!

CLICK on the above image to ENLARGE it

and evaluate its message more easily.

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"AT-CHRISTMAS-EVERY-DAY-OF-THE-YEAR"

The genuinely amazing ancient geological story of the beautiful Parco delle Madonie countryside goes that many millions of years ago the Madonie was deep under the sea. No end of resonances may spring to mind. Nowadays away from the northern Sicilian coastal beaches - one or two locations of which have been alluded to in postings to this SICILY ABLAZE blog - there isn't any actual sea lapping around in the inland Madonie. However for the most part Madonie folk just like folk elsewhere enjoy eating fish and a curiously unpleasant passing 2003 Madonie holiday experience provided a stark reminder of that.

At Bivio Madonnuzza a locality southwards immediately beneath the hillsides upon which the township of Petralia Soprana is built there had been in the above period a smallish supermarket that had then recently moved to newer larger premises. Bivio Madonnuzza is a smallish peaceful locality and the vacated premises to my surprise had been re-opened to sell solely deep frozen fish from freezer units and ice boxes. I was shocked and unhappy by this development and still had it very much in mind when I wrote and reproduced the above poem and image as an end of year 2003 greeting.
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Of course such fish stacked deep freezer ice box outlets exist in many other places too including London and they are both hideous and haunting. I shun them big time 24/7 x 365.

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MAMMA MIA! REGINA ELISABETTA IN VIA LUPO REALE. PETRALIA SOTTANA.

VIA LUPO REALE. PETRALIA SOTTANA.

SEPTEMBER 2009.

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MIO PRIMO NOTTE DORMIRE SOTTO SICILIANO MADONIE STELLE - S GANDOLFO SOTTO POLIZZI GENEROSA. LUGLIO 1987.

Click on above image to ENLARGE details.

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On 3rd July 1987 at the end of my first ever foot-slogging

Madonie Mountains day between Caltavuturo and

Polizzi Generosa I slept like a log beside the main chapel

door (foto 2 above). I'd walked the quiet beautiful track

passing below the original elevated autostrada -

the autostrada I'd passed along by coach in the previous year

which revealed what an amazingly peaceful beautiful

countryside region the Madonie was - hence my vow

that year to somehow come back on foot - and so I sure did.

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I must have been very tired when I arrived at S Gandolfo

(I was in 2009 when I made the walk again). It was the

beginning of a real adventure as I'd no clear idea of what

lay ahead and the next night I slept above Petralia Sottana

in a very different setting.

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GERACI SICULO - FOOTBALL, TENNIS, SLAUGHTER, CEMETARY and RELIGION.

In a nut-shell and memorable.

My preferences? Thank goodness for all those in-betweens.

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"LASCARI LASCARI MOLTO POPULARI" - a poem.

ETNA.
POMPEII.
LASCARI - SALINELLE BEACH.
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I visited Lascari Salinelle beach on various occasions during my ON THE ROAD Sicilian travels. I stayed close by the sea for 3 days in early July 1998 having crossed the Nebrodi mountains on foot via Capizzi to Caronia and then caught a coastal train to Lascari. I'd previously visited Lascari Salinelle in both 1995 and 1997 so I had a good idea what to expect in terms of beach-side life, it was a very popular place though fortunately not as sardine-packed as nearby CEFALU.
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Lascari Salinelle was to change in the years ahead for the worse with parts of the beach area being privatised and in the longer term that's had a negative affect on beachside area facilities, so that nowadays it is nothing like as easy going, accessible and pleasant a place to visit.
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This poem which is infected with my own brand of dry humour seeks to attest to the great popularity of Lascari Salinelle and was written during my 3 day stop-over there in 1998.

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"LASCARI LASCARI MOLTO POPULARI"

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Domenica.

How many Sicilians

came down to their beaches

here today?

Start counting backwards

bindfolded

from the top of Etna

facing towards Pompeii.

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Notebook 1998 (p79).

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