MarBELLA

Our first Italian city was Palermo. We were wined and dined with all it had to offer and on the whole were incredibly impressed. It was everything that everyone makes Italy out to be, and we definitely knew we could get use to this lifestyle.

When we arrived in Catania, I was flaberghasted. MARBLE,MARBLE,MARBLE. So THIS.. this is what they're talking about. And I'm not even kidding you, a huge cathedral every block, piazzas where it looks like Marble was the only stone that got the invite. Statues that make your mind spin when you remember that they were HAND MADE. All of them, all of the thousands of statues all around Catania, hand made. DECADES, people! Not to mention the upkeep of shining and buffing, preventing general wear and tear... When you finally think you have a 'grasp' on Catania, and all its beauty, you turn down an alleyway. Of course all of the alleyways are adorned with beautiful lace sheets and brightly colored towels hanging out the window, plants, and people talking balcony to balcony... quintessential Italy. All of the sudden this 'alleyway' over flows into a random marble fountain with statues, or a park with all marble benches, or a college building with marble stair cases and marble trim.

I only bring this up because it never gets old. It's not something you appreciate, store away, and then move on. You are in constant appreciation. I'm sure people walking behind us get tired of the 'wow' 'whoooaa' and 'looks!'..The preservation of this city is such that you enter a piazza (square) and you feel back in time EVERYTIME. EVERYTHING seems to be as it was. It's like a renaissance fair for the marble fanatics.