Last Full Day in Sicily

Today our tour group went to the town of Catania. Our first stop was the Museo Storico dello Sbarco in Sicilia 1943 (Historic Museum of the Landing in Sicily 1943). It was a somber experience. One stop was a stimulated bomb raid and being ushered into a bomb shelter. Upon exiting there were pictures of the actual destruction in Catania during World War II. The Allied forces landed on the southern coast of Sicily on July 10, 1943. The invasion of Sicily is considered the beginning Italy's liberation from fascism. Over 150,000 Allied soldiers took part in Operation Husky, one of the largest coastal operation during World War II. The battle for Sicily, which according to Allied generals was to last between 5-15 days, took over a month and cost the lives of thousands of soldiers: the British and American troops lost over 2,500 soldiers each, while over 4,000 Italian and over 4,500 German soldiers were killed in action. There was one picture of Hitler and Mussolini together.

What was most sobering about the experience was the parallels between what happened in Germany and Italy prior to World War II and current politics in the US and the World. Former US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright wrote an editorial that was published in the New York Times on April 6, 2018 titled, "Will We Stop Trump Before It’s Too Late?" In it she states, "Fascism poses a more serious threat now than any time since the end of World War II." I encourage you to read this editorial.

Fish market

Cathedral

In the afternoon we had a walking tour of the town which included a visit to the local fish market, seeing the cathedral, and some Roman ruins. 

Roman Ruins

Today Mt. Etna was sending puffs of steam out of the crater at the top. That is what you see in the picture below. The white is not clouds.  -Nancy