Sep 19, 2024
From the train windows in Sicily, the most common sight was abandoned farms—brick houses without roofs, their surrounding lands overtaken by weeds and cacti. Sicily is grappling with a climate crisis: drought, rising temperatures, and wildfires. Experts warn that a third of the island could become desert by 2030. These disasters are forcing generations of farmers to abandon their homes.
Amid the swarms of tourists, there’s an undercurrent of counterculture—a frustration evident in the anti-police and anti-mafia graffiti we saw in both Catania and Palermo. For young people here, opportunities are slim beyond tourism.
There's a certain irony here: this sacred land beside the Mediterranean where the Ancient western civilizations flourished and now exists in our collective imagination as a paradise of sun-drenched villas and crystalline waters, is not quite the same when you look inside.
...
Yet Sicily's soul still shines through. The best meal we had was a three-course Sicilian feast at A Putia Do Calabrisi for just ten euros.
It began with olives, caponata, and a tomato salad, followed by Pasta alla Norma and sardines. The server noticed us eyeing the Braciole di Cotenna (pig skin roll-ups) at another table and brought them over for free. They were delicious. The owner sent us off with a big glass of Marsala wine, which we gulped down, leaving us pleasantly tipsy by mid-afternoon.
...
On our last day we visited a small natural wine producer, Cantina del Malandrino, beneath Mount Etna. The owner, Diego, spoke passionately about sustainable farming and the history of winemaking on rich soils of the volcano. We got to learn a lot about the traditional winemaking process and also tasted some samples still in the fermentation process.
As he drove us back to the train station along dark, winding roads, past more abandoned farms, Diego asked what I did for work. When I explained, he suddenly turned and asked my thoughts on artificial intelligence, its threat to knowledge workers, the middle class, and democracy itself. I can’t remember his exact words, but I do remember being left momentarily speechless in the car.