Tuesday, Oct 15th. Tuesday morning we got a ride in the hotel shuttle from our hotel to the port. First, one last photo of our hotel, the Borgo Eolie.
This was really a great place to stay with nice rooms, great amenities and a very friendly staff. We would definitely recommend it if you ever get the opportunity to visit Lipari. Just don't do it in July or August as it is very crowded and hot. Early October worked out great. Once you get into November the weather can get bad. One thing that worked out great is the taxi driver that we met when we first got to Lipare. Danielle served as our guide and driver when we drove around the island and helped us explore the cemetery. He seemed to be related to or best friends with at least half the people on the island.
We came over on a hydrofoil but we are going back to Sicily on a twin hulled catamaran jet boat. It was bigger than the hydrofoil and was just as fast. Here is a photo of it approaching the dock to pick us up.
The boat was running about one hour late but we were not pressed for time so it was not a problem. When we arrived in Milazzo, one of Danielle's friends met us at the port and drove us to our hotel in Villafranca Tirenna. This is the town where my maternal Grandmother was born and raised and she still has family in the area. Unfortunately, the address cards we had were about 50 years old and all of contacts were long gone. We checked into our hotel, the Viola Palace, had lunch in the hotel restaurant, excellent, and then walked into town. Here is a photo of the Viola Palace.
This was a very nice hotel and really the only one in Villafranca Tirrena but this is not a tourist area and they are not set up for tourists. There is a resort hotel but it is way out of town and up in the hills so we opted for this hotel and would recommend it. Rooms were good, food was excellent and the staff was very friendly. Here is a photo of the lobby and the gentleman in the red jacket is Mr. Viola who owns the hotel.
On our way into town it was obvious that this is not an overly prosperous town. We walked down the main street which was very narrow, sidewalks at time disappeared or were very narrow. If cars were parked on the side of the road, drivers had to cooperate to make it, especially if there was a truck as can be seen in this photo.
Some of the buildings had seen better days and in a few cases were not much more than ruins, as can be seen in these next two photos.
However, we did make it safe and sound to the center of town and we were able to locate Via Roma which according to Aunt Vera's address cards was were some of Grandma's family once lived. The section of Via Roma where they lived is in an area of Villafranca Tirrena that was once known as Bauso and was named after a castle that was built by the Spanish in 1590. Here is a photo of Via Roma.
As you can see it is very narrow and steep and cars are not allowed on it. Back in 1968, my Aunt Vera and cousins Grace Ann and Nancy visited Villafranca Tirenna and met with one of my aunt's cousins. They posed for a photo on the steps of one of the houses. Here is that photo.
We found that house and Chris and I posed for the same photo but the house in obviously abandoned and in very poor condition.
We met and talked with a woman who lived a couple of doors down but she did not recognize anyone in the photo and did not know about any Giacobbe's. It's possible that Grandma's family lived on another street but at this point there is no way to tell as the records we found do not show any addresses. However, Bauso is a very small area so we were very close. As I mentioned earlier, the area was named after Castello Bauso. We walked up to the top of Via Roma and there was the castle sitting directly behind the houses on Via Roma. Here are a couple of photos of the castle.
The old walls are still there but there is a new building in the center and there was nothing to indicate what it is being used for. Spain ruled Sicily for several hundred years and one of the Spanish lords who would travel from Messina to Palermo had this castle built for his use and also to protect the area from the Barbary pirates. Grandma's family was in the olive oil business and right next to the castle there was a valley with a number of farms. Perhaps this is where the Giacobbes had their olive trees. Here's that valley.
Right at the top of Via Roma there is a piazza named appropriately enough Piazza Castello and in the center of this piazza is a church, Chiesa San Nicolo di Bari who was the patron saint of Bauso. The church was locked up but here is what it looked like.
Because of its location this was obviously the family church of the Giacobbes. Here is another photo of the piazza taken from the side of the church. You can see the castle and the top of Via Roma.
Pasquale is the guy facing the camera. When we told Pasquale that we were planning on going to the Anagrafe office on Wednesday, he took a break and we all hopped into his car. He then drove us down to the Municipio and introduced me to the ladies that ran the Anagrafe office and told them about what we were trying to do. This proved extremely helpful.
By this time we were getting pretty tired and it was getting dark, so we walked back to the Viola Palace and called it a day. Tomorrow we will go the the Anagrafe office and then have a very special dinner which I'll tell you about in the next episode.
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