It is Easter morning, and we’re staying in Caltanissetta, one of the most famous locations in Sicily for its celebration of Holy Week.  The church bells have just begun chiming, I think announcing the end of the day of silence of Holy Saturday.

We’re in Caltanissetta because it looked like a good spot for a chance at observing Easter processions; but in fact our timing is off.  We found a program of events for the week when we arrived here, and it describes major and famous processionals on Palm Sunday, Holy Wednesday, Holy Thursday and Good Friday.  It looks like there is a short processional this morning too, but it’s obviously minor.  So, we’re about three or four days late for what we were hoping to find here.  A planning error.  If you decide to come here at this time yourself, be advised; and book a room early, I’m sure.

So that’s a disappointment, but a small one really.  We had a great ride getting here, and a fine dinner last night.  Our restaurant last night helped us find one for today that still had seating (almost everything in town is either closed or booked for Easter Sunday), so we won’t starve - today.  We’re a bit more concerned about tomorrow though, which is Easter Monday, and a holiday.  Hopefully we can find a meal when we arrive tomorrow night in Petralia Sottana, a small mountain town.

In addition to not finding what we came for, we’re not finding much of a WiFi signal here.  It’s obviously not going to work to upload photos or videos, so we’re going to take a bit of a blog break at this point to celebrate Easter.  We’ll catch up in a few days when we relocate.

Buona Pasqua!

A postscript

Well, so I was wrong again.  Easter Sunday morning here is incredible.  There is a procession/ceremony/ritual that I don’t quite understand, that begins and ends at the cathedral and involves a ceremonial returning of the keys of the city back to I believe the mayor.  Much pageantry, great ceremonial finery, a marching band.  At its conclusion, the procession (sans marching band) enters the cathedral, and soon afterwards the Easter service begins.  What a wonderful event to witness!  I think I had a goofy grin on my face for a solid twenty minutes as we followed the procession through town.

So, still not enough WiFi to show you anything - but I have about a thousand photos and videos to cull through anyway.  See you soon.