#16 in this series celebrated a happy surprise; this episode documents a nasty one.
Italy has many attractive, spectacularly located, historically rich hilltop villages.
Sicily’s Motta Camastra is one such; it feels quite “remote”, but is in fact not far from Messina, and even closer to Taormina.
Taormina overlooks the Ionian Sea and is gorgeous…but hugely over-touristed/touristy, and chock with “luxe” boutiques et al. (all those aspects will be evident in future, multi-image posts)
Inland, and closer to Mt Etna, Motta Camastra is still resolutely real, rural.
It is noted for the excellence of its local produce, most especially nuts.
Our day trip coincided with its annual festa della noce, which proved good clean tasty fun.
The nut festival attracted many welcome/d visitors…plus one “toxic nut”/ conman.
Even a Sicilian village’s annual, essentially-agricultural festival is in Scientology’s sights!
I am happy to report that – at least when I was watching – neither visitors nor locals evinced any interest in L. Ron Hubbard’s brand of avarice-driven, pseudo-religious drivel.
Presumably, the Scientologists had hoped that their “eruption-themed” poster would prove a winner, so close to Europe’s largest active volcano.
(photo is copyright Doug Spencer, taken in Motta Camastra at 6.12 pm on 01 October 2023)