Nancy and Peter in Sicily
Nancy Bellantoni & Peter Galipault
August update
Searchlights over the Pietre Nere amphitheater on the eve of Ferragosto
August is the month of Ferragosto
Before we moved here, we weren't expecting to live across the street from a beach. That's been interesting, becoming beach bums. August is a very busy time here. Most people in Italy take time off and it seems like they all go to the beach. The cities are empty and almost everything is closed. Richard once said that one should avoid getting sick or injured during Ferragosto, as all the doctors and hospital staff are away on vacation. Ferragosto is technically August 15 but everybody structures or plans their vacation around that date. It’s true that not everyone goes to the beach. Some go to the mountains or lakes. But we're here to tell you that A LOT of people were in Pozzallo enjoying the beaches. We have survived the influx of the vacationing hordes but it's not over yet. The weekend after Ferragosto is Pozzallo's Sagra di Pesce or Fish Festival. Also, a very big deal here in our little city. Every night in August there is food, music, arcade fun and things for sale along our beachfront promenade.
There are no rules about parking in our neighborhood, or in any other neighborhood for that matter. Well, there are, they’re just not enforced. Pozzallo, like many other cities, doesn’t have the resources, the man/woman power to go around ticketing and towing and what have you. Which means that it’s basically a free for all. Since we don’t have a dedicated parking spot, the strategy that we have developed has been; just don’t move the car, especially on weekends.
An enormous thunderhead to our west, just before sunset, somewhere near Santa Croce Camerina.
It’s been hot for sure
July was definitely hot. Now at the end of August the heat was back on again... on high!
with no appreciable rain for three months
We would love to see a good thunderstorm roll through here. Every time we see some cumulonimbus clouds developing into those familiar anvil shapes, always from the north, we check the radar. Oh good! It looks like they're headed our way. As they get closer, we can even hear the rumble of thunder. It seems like a sure bet that they'll strike, but no. Somehow the storm just dissipates before it reaches us and the beach. And its curses, foiled again.
The wind is in from Africa
First, it was ash from Mt. Etna covering the terrace during those big eruptions mid-month. Ashfall, this far south is pretty rare, as the volcano is about 80 miles north of us. Then secondly, for the last few days the terrace, sidewalks and cars have been covered with Saharan dust from Northern Africa. It is really hard to keep a car clean here.
Excerpted fromClaude.ai: “There's a major Saharan dust intrusion moving across Italy today (August 27, 2026), and it's arriving alongside an intense subtropical heatwave. A massive invasion of desert dust with particularly high concentrations initially over Sardinia, then extending toward much of central and southern Italy — Sicily included. The dust makes skies look opalescent and milky, with whitish or yellowish tones.
The mechanism: winds from the sirocco carry fine dust particles lifted from the hot surfaces of the Sahara toward Italy, wrapping the sky in an opaque veil and giving the atmosphere that characteristic yellowish tint that comes with Saharan air incursions.”
It’s true, it almost looks like fog settling in. But it never lifts. All day it looks like it's about to rain but it never does. The sea and the sky become indistinct from one another along the horizon. At sunset, the sun disappears into the haze before it even reaches the horizon.
Our dentist is in Catania
We stayed overnight in the city before our early Tuesday appointment because it's an hour and a half drive from home. We love staying at Cinque Balconi B&B when we're in Catania. Christina is the owner along with her brother, Ninni. They have an eclectic style all their own. As she puts it, they love everything and collect it all and that this is unfortunate because there are no rules. The decor is a fun spirited mishmash of items old and new.
The immediate neighborhood seems a bit sketchy at first, but it's not. Cinque Balconi is in a 19th century villa close to many points of interest: a short walk to the Castello Ursino, Pescheteria Catania, the famous Catania fish market and the Piazza del Duomo. Their breakfast is superb. Go and experience it, with a view of Mt. Etna from the balconies, it is fabulous!
We are grateful for our angels. Here are four of them, and us!
Our home continues to delight us. Living here in southeastern Sicily offers many challenges, not the least is the task of communicating. But, as our teacher, Marco, says: “Sbagliando, si impara.” By making mistakes, one learns.
In the meantime, have we mentioned the food?
Buon apetito!
Ciao for now, from the tourists who wouldn't leave!
Drop us a line when you have a chance and let us know how your summer went.
