” Sciacca !! ” …say that three times and you can be forgiven for feeling like you have just insulted someones mother. More to the point, you probably haven’t pronounced it correctly. That is entirely besides the point, just the mouth-feel of the vowels rolling off the tongue speaks to the pleasure of pronouncing Italian words like these words out load. Like you really mean it.!
Pronounced “shaka”, this city rises quickly from the harbour shores to overlook the shoreline from a shallow promontory. Like many of the cities along the southern shore it most likely has origins in a Greek settlement. The nearby hot springs had attracted visitors for centuries in the past. A small industry arose suppling hospitality and bottled mineral waters to those seeking the healing powers ascribed to the sulphurous springs.
What should be noted about Sciacca is that getting to its main streets and ‘centro’ involves climbing stairs. Lots of very vertical stairs. Think Stair-Master type effort.!
Sciacca is a long stair climb for anyone making their way from the harbour to the city centre. Once atop the level of the main city plaza relief from the vertical is available for ¼ mile in any direction before having to scale yet more stairs or switchback roads.
Like the other cites we visited in the recent few days, apart from some charm in the main old town squares, the remainder of the town is somewhat shabby. We not seen many foreign tourists and the bulk of the summer traffic is Italian. This might be a blessing from the hoards that descend on Barcelona and Venice and have sparked a backlash from local residents.
We always manage to find an appealing place for dinner. That said, I am fed up with the seafood offerings since that is what predominates all the menus. Pizza is the easy alternative, available everywhere and cheap!
