Postcard from Catania, Sicily: Ambling about Acireale

Above: A version of a negroni created in honor of Mount Etna at Moro Acireale superimposed over a view of the simmering volcano in the distance.

Ambling sounded appealing, and, with a tenth of the population of bustling Catania, nearby Acireale beckoned. The predominant style of its architecture is Late Sicilian Baroque, sometimes referred to as “Earthquake Baroque.”

Then came an earthquake so horrible and ghastly that the soil undulated like the waves of a stormy sea, and the mountains danced as if drunk, and the city collapsed in one miserable moment….”

Account from an eyewitness to the 1693 Val di Noto Earthquake, The Genesis of Noto: An Eighteenth-Century Sicilian City, Stephen Tobriner, University of California Press, 1982

At the start of the new year in 1693, Mother Nature cursed most of southeastern Sicily with a triple whammy: Etna erupted; an earthquake believed to have measured well above 7 on the Richter Scale struck; and a tsunami hit. One way or another, more than 60,000 perished in the disaster.

All these cities, towns and manors are leveled without even the foundations showing. The city of Catania is like the palm of your hand, except for the seaward walls.”

Report from the Viceroy of Messina, The Genesis of Noto, Stephen Tobriner

So out of ruins, the center of Acireale arose Baroque. To help prevent future catastrophes rebuild all your churches and add more for good measure. So many churches that Acireale is known as the city of 100 bell towers. Three of its impressive churches are papal-designated basilicas.

The basilicas house reliquaries of saints important to the city. Those of Saint Venera, an early Christian martyr and one of the city’s patron saints, are found in Cathedral Maria Santissima Annunziata. The other patron saint of the city is San Sebastiano, with remnants of his left arm displayed in an elegant silver, arrow-pierced reliquary in a basilica bearing his name.

Then there’s the rather impressive full-body-reclining reliquary stretched out in the Cathedral and labeled San Clemente de Martire, Pope Clement I. Although Acireale heralds these relics on the pope’s feast day, the bones bear no kinship to the patron saint of mariners.

Around 1770, the mother church of Acireale appealed to the pope to obtain relics…. It is not known whether this request was made to give prestige to the church, recently repaired from the damage of the earthquake…. The pope granted the church of Acireale a body from the early Christian Catacombs of Praetextatus in Rome. These nameless remains were therefore brought to Sicily in 1778, analyzed by a special congregation, that of Indulgences and Relics, which considered them authentic and sealed them in their shrine, attributing them to a Christian martyr of the first century. However, this body could not remain anonymous, so it was decided to give it a name. It was called Clement, in honor of Pope Clement XIV who had granted the relics to the church, and who in the meantime had died. So the unknown martyr from then on had the name of San Clemente and began to be celebrated on the day of this famous saint of the same name, on November 23rd.”

“The Mystery of the Nameless Saint,” Samuele Schiro, Palermoviva

Supplementing the potency of the relics of saints and the unknown are abundant architectural grotesques, carved flourishes to ward off evil.

We encountered some transportation issues, not uncommon in Sicily, attempting to make the short trip to Acireale by bus. A scheduled bus that never came. We waited along with others. And waited until we stood alone. We ended up taking a train, then a cab into the historic center.

After wasting an unexpected amount of time, we didn’t want to fritter our afternoon stay away on lunch. We opted for a table with a view of the Cathedral and its plaza at Moro. A nice plate of arancini, a plump rustic sandwich, and avocado toast with salmon and fried egg left us more than satisfied.

We returned to Moro for apertivo hour before our early evening train back to Catania, and Lamar fell in love with the bartender’s Etna negroni. Madeira fortified wine was substituted for Vermouth, deepening the rich flavors of the Campari and gin. Perfect down to the single, clear ice cube remaining in the bottom of his glass. In his view, this cocktail topped with foam mimicking the smoke hovering over Etna should make Moro of Acireale famous.

Above: Lunch and apertivos at Moro on Piazza del Duomo