Pilgrimage to St. Lucy

Mary, Jacob, Clare, Sebastian and I went on a pilgrimage to Syracuse, Sicily, to visit the tomb and basilica of St. Lucy.  Lucy is one of the early church martyrs who died under the regime of the Emperor Diocletian. Although we do not have many facts about her life, we do know that at a young age, she refused to renounce her Christian faith. The perseverance of this young woman has served to inspire Christians for millennia. When Mary was born, Ron and I named her after Lucy--Mary Lucinda. On this pilgrimage, I begged for Lucy to pray for Mary through these next two years in Italy, her last two years of high school, that she would be given grace upon grace and emerge, too, a towering saint.
     Syracuse was at the exact opposite end of the island from our town. Driving across the island, we saw vast expanses of uninhabited, mountainous terrain, speckled with orange tree groves and farmland.

The oldest shrine to Saint Lucy

Lucy's Tomb

The basilica of St. Lucy, across the town from her tomb.  It has a baroque exterior but an ancient, Romanesque interior.  

Statue of St. Lucy on the front of the basilica

One of the many paintings of St. Lucy

Flipping Out

In classic Ron Rombs fashion, we were not content to see the beach from land.  Ron rented a motorboat for two days and explored every cove, bay and beach for a major stretch of the island.  Many of them can only be accessed from water.  It was a high point for all of us. When we were anchored, there were lots of flips overboard!

Sicily--Be still my heart!

Our family is taking a much-needed break: after an intense homeschooling year, after an international move, and after Ron's Summer Rome Program, we are all BEAT. The day after he finished the program, we hopped in cars from our new house in Frascati, drove 11 hours to Sicily.
    We are staying in Scopello, an adorable little fishing town on the remote, northwestern coast of the island. Scopello has some of the best restaurants I've ever been to, although they cost less than Macaroni Grill.  The best bottle of wine we've had here was so good; I asked the waiter where it was from.  He said it is from the town 5 km away.  That fits in nicely with the rage in Italy: "ZeroKM."  Eating food that is from zero kilometers away, i.e., that was not imported. That must be why every meal has octopus or clams or mussels or shrimp with long legs and eyes in it. Tasty! But definitely not for the faint of heart!

The beach is so beautiful. We have scouted around and tried three different ones.  The closest is a pebble beach; the next one is a large, sandy beach.  The third one is on the very tip of the island, north west, looking out toward Spain.  It feels like the edge of the world.  So gorgeous! 

Italian School

We've had the best month taking Italian classes in Rome!  Mary and Jacob were in one class, I was in another, and then Leigh and Clare got a private class for the two of them (since they are under aged but the school made an exception since. . . this is Italy). My Italian has never been better.  Now I know how much I do not know!
 

The four kids walking to the first day of class

Walking Tour of Carivaggio with the Italian school--A creative way to learn outside of class

Carivaggio's House in Rome (someone lives there now. . . can you imagine?)

We drove from campus to Anagnina train station, then took the metro to San Giovanni.  But one day, the metro was on strike!  Chaos! 

Mary and Jake on the last day of school--practically fluent :)