Sicily, It's Not Quite Tuscany by Shamus Sillar

Author:Shamus Sillar
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: TRV009110
ISBN: 9781742693866
Publisher: Allen & Unwin Pty Ltd
Published: 2012-02-29T16:00:00+00:00

That night we emerge from the hotel to hunt for food again. A small restaurant called La Piazzetta is already filled with Lipari’s entire contingent of winter tourists. The manager asks us to come back in half an hour. We do so. Then he tells us to come back in another forty-five minutes. We do that as well. When we come back a third time, he looks at us and says, ‘Sorry, no tables.’

Under normal circumstances, Gill would give this guy both barrels of a verbal spray (while I hid to one side, nodding in nervous agreement). Here in Lipari, neither of us can be bothered raising a fuss.

As we stand there contemplating what the next disappointment might be, a woman walks past with a pile of takeaway pizzas tucked into the crook of her arm. The smell is delectable – the pizzas, I mean, not the crook.

‘How about takeaway pizza?’ I ask the manager.

‘Finished for the night.’

Gill quietly leans her forehead against my shoulder.

It’s after ten pm. We walk down to the port to check ferry times for the following day – we need to make absolutely certain that escape is possible lest we starve to death. Malnutrition is not a word synonymous with holidaying in Italy, but for us it’s becoming a distinct threat. Fortunately, there’s a boat back to the Sicilian mainland at midday.

Along the waterfront, gleaming like a rescue beacon, is an open restaurant. It specialises in organic salads. Under normal circumstances, I’d rather eat a computer mousepad. But I’m too hungry to care. We place an order and soon a bowl of leaves arrives which we chew methodically like giraffes, extracting all the necessary nutrients for survival.

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