In the summer of 1999 I performed in Catania, Sicily

with Joe Donato,

http://www.joedonatomusic.com

a highly regarded Miami saxophonist & bon vivant who happens to be Sicilian. Joe rediscovered his roots when we visited the old village of Jessup, he met with the local priest and they studied family records. We travelled to Messina and Taormina as well.

Sicily has a mysterious and indescribably romantic quality.

We visited many legendary spots including ancient churches and the seaside area where huge boulders, lying near the shore, were the inspiration for Homer’s account of the Cyclops hurling these giant rocks at Odysseus in “the Odyssey”.

Cyclops: south-east Sicily, near Etna and Lentini

(Wikipedia Article)

The food was incredible and the banquet and good times seemed never to end, thanks to our hosts, Italo, Carmelo, Lorenzo & Carlo.

The symbol of the city of Catania is u Liotru, or the

Fontana dell'Elefante. It was assembled in 1736 by

Giovanni Battista Vaccarini.

It is made of marble portraying an ancient lavic (lava) elephant and surmounted by an Egyptian obelisk from Syene.

Catania's coat of arms is a red elephant on a light-blue field with an "A" (Agatha's initial or the first letter of Aetna)

set higher above its back.