The Pizza and the Mafia, 17Aug, Day 4

I decided to continue the tradition of getting up well before my alarm and stopped counting salmon around 6. I think that this habit could lead to a very productive future if it didn’t leave me tired in the afternoon when there are things that are more worthwhile to be done…

On the way to school I tried to withdraw some cash from the Bank of Sicily bancomat to pay my rent, and it told me in greasy green text, “sorry you have no more funds today.” I believe that the time reference “today” on this statement certainly suggests an element of temporal ambiguity alluding to the fact that there were indeed funds at some point, and that although I evidently have no more today, they may return tomorrow by an act of God or otherwise natural process. If not, I should probably call the godfather to see if the mafia has taken over the bank. My adventure will certainly take an unexpected twist if I can’t extract cash from the machine.

After class I walked towards the centro with one of the girls in search of some lunch. We came upon a pizza restaurant newly opened after the vacations, and decided to give it a try. Their heavenly pie with mozzarella, tomato, olive, artichoke hearts, and ham, was the uncontested best pizza I’ve ever had.

Then I walked back to the apt to drop off my books before going exploring, but decided that there wasn’t enough time before the afternoon’s apertivo activity.

The apertivo is like a happy hour, but with the purchase of one drink one can graze from various mini sandwiches and other snack foods. Although the food could not compare to the pizza from lunch, this was a great environment for the graduate student left in me to try to have dinner for 5€. Depending where one establishes the minimum quota to qualify as dinner, this could be a contender.

They actually have a pretty nice setup along the river because at 8:00 they close off the street and pull the tables beyond the sidewalk. But unfortunately there’s a steady stream of street vendors trying to sell flowers, lights, other junk, or just asking for money. And then once it gets dark the mosquitoes also come looking for victims. None the less, the conversation was good, my Italian is improving, and with a tender eye I could accept the charm of this place.