At the end of 2007 a rally in Tuscany had already been booked; unfortunately, in November, I underwent gallbladder surgery at the hospital in UD, so I had to cancel the booking; after a short convalescence we decide to set off anyway. Since the rally in Tuscany was limited to a fixed number and there was no more room, reading on the internet I found an alternative: a rally organised by the Campers' Association of Sicily in Adrano, a small village on the slopes of Etna in the province of Catania. I print out the programme and send the deposit. Unfortunately this rally was not organised in the best way; there were many discrepancies between what was listed in the programme and how it actually went. Before reaching Sicily we stopped at Castiglione del Lago, invited for Christmas by relatives of Tina, my wife.
After a huge Christmas feast, we continue southwards; inevitably we take the SA/RC, the torment of all travellers. We reach Adrano not by motorway and dual carriageway but by ordinary, scenic roads, but doing it in the rain and in the dark was almost an adventure, given the slippery and broken surface.
The programme of the rally said:
"N.B. this year we can bring the rally forward to 28/12/07 for those who want to get to know the Sicilian territory."
I communicated by 3 e-mails our intention to arrive early, we got no reply, besides us there were another 4 motorhomes, we stayed stopped for 24 hours outside the school waiting.....
The programme of the rally said:
"Arrival at the S.Giuffrida school via IV novembre, each crew will be given a brochure listing all kinds of partner businesses....., evening of presentations, relaxation and music and games, visit to the city, dinner with the famous Catania schiacciate..........."
Many found themselves in difficulty, because they were stuck in via IV novembre, a one-way and very narrow street, wouldn't it have been better to give the address of the back entrance???? and put up a sign "Motorhome rally"???? At registration my booking was not on record, thank goodness I had a copy of the payment made, and to be safer I had sent a copy by e-mail. No brochure was given to us. The evening with the schiacciata was pleasant, it would have been better if it had been hot. The gift of the Sicilian cart in lava stone was very nice, it was much appreciated.
The programme of the rally said:
"Wake-up, breakfast with homemade bread with the excellent olive oil........... Visit to one of the most modern oil mills.... Free lunch. In the afternoon visit to the fabulous nativity scenes and visit to the archaeological museum After dinner there's dancing, a comic sketch and tombola with prizes......"
At wake-up I already had my mouth watering for all that had been promised, but I was left with a dry mouth, the homemade bread with the excellent olive oil was not there. The visit to the oil mill was interesting, for us who took the first bus, but for the last ones, those on the third bus, it was all a rush, at last we tasted the homemade bread with olive oil. The nativity scenes were beautiful, though not all of them, the museum: I didn't see it!!!!!! A lifeless evening: the tombola????...... after a while I preferred to go back to the motorhome.
The programme of the rally said:
"Wake-up, breakfast with ricotta offered by the administration..... Visit to the castle, the museum and the majestic monastery...... In the afternoon transfer to the restaurant Big dinner......"
Once again left with a dry mouth, no ricotta, we found it later at the dairy, a remote place in the middle of the mountains, a nice place, a pity about the rainy weather and the usual single bus. No visit to the castle, the museum and the majestic monastery....... why?????.... The big dinner was: nice, good and abundant, I saw many people who enjoyed themselves and stuffed themselves.
The programme of the rally said:
"Wake-up and view of the majestic volcano..... Lunch....... We will return to the school...... we will go to see the traditional fireworks and we will toast with panettone and sparkling wine offered by the mayor...."
In the morning, the view of Etna repaid us for this long journey, the weather, with a shining sun, let us admire a marvellous panorama. Lunch was a continuation of the previous big dinner, with very good and abundant dishes. After the return to the school, having parked the motorhomes, in the evening we toasted and ate the panettone........ the fireworks????..........
The programme of the rally said:
"If there are bookings for at least 100 people, the tour of Etna will be made with the Circumetnea little train (€ 7 each)........ we will continue with the buses to visit nice little villages and there will be wine tasting........ You will be able to have lunch for € 8......"
On foot we crossed the whole of Adrano to take the train, Randazzo was very interesting, Linguaglossa was insignificant, lunch was not booked, only a few managed to eat at the restaurant of the station, others like us had to make do with stale sandwiches or little pizzas. On the way back we waited at Randazzo for an hour and a half for the connection to return to Adrano. No bus, no wine cellar, no lunch. All this because the 100 people were not reached, here the organiser made a big mistake: 1) he should have warned of these changes to the programme, many would not have come, or would have provided themselves with a packed lunch with sandwiches etc... 2) Not having reached the 100 participants, they should have communicated how much extra had to be paid to have what was listed in the programme and accept what the majority would have decided. It was a wasted day.
We would have continued the tour with others, unfortunately one of Tina's, my wife's, old dental bridges fell out, so we were forced to return, now the dentist will have to redo the whole thing, with a big expense and considerable suffering. Before leaving Sicily we went to Montemaggiore Belsito (PA) to visit some relatives, crossing the Madonie; the temple helped us, so that we could admire these beautiful mountains in all their majesty.
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