My 15-day trip to Sicily and Malta was shortened due to an unexpected adventure that occurred on the second day of my trip. Despite the limited time spent in Sicily, I have so much to share regarding its history and beautiful sites.

My mother’s father (my grandfather) was from Palermo. As a young boy, he came to New York through Ellis Island in the early 1900’s with his two older brothers. After settling in one of the Italian neighborhoods in Brooklyn, my grandfather worked and attended school. Eventually, he met my grandmother. They married and started a family which grew exponentially. My mother was the oldest of their eight children. There were six girls in a row and then finally two boys. My grandparents were the first in the family to buy a home in Bayshore, Long Island. This was a step up and a sign of prosperity to live in the country. My fondest childhood memories were of the house in Bayshore where the entire family congregated every Sunday. There was always lots of food, healthy conversations, plenty of fresh air, and lots of cousins. I was one of the oldest cousins and enjoyed everything about these visits. I learned to curl spaghetti on my fork at one of these many Sunday gatherings. I loved visiting my uncle’s pigeon coup in the backyard and roller skating with my cousins in the basement of my grandparents’ home.

Although I do not know any of the details about my grandfather’s early years in Palermo, I was excited to have the opportunity to visit the land of his birth. From the moment I stepped on Sicilian soil, I knew this would be a different experience. There was a sense of pride and familiarity in all that I saw as I explored Palermo.

One of the first familiar sites was the ***cannoli.***

***They were everywhere!***

The Sicilian markets were full of life and the place to see locals in action as they displayed fish and vegetables and so many other Sicilian treats. Peppered within the markets were little restaurants that provided good food and a close view of market transactions between sellers and buyers.

The video at the end of this blog captures all of this and so much more. But read on if you want to know about the New Hip noted in the title of this blog.

To prepare for this trip, I did a little research on Palermo and learned that Saint Rosalia is the patron saint of Palermo. Rosalia, according to Wikipedia, was a devout religious who lived as a hermit in a cave on Mount Pellegrino. Tradition tells us that she was led to the cave by two angels. On the cave wall, Rosalia wrote the following, “I, Rosalia…have taken the resolution to live in this cave for the love of my Lord, Jesus Christ.” Rosalia died in the cave in 1166. However, in 1624, a plague came to Palermo. During this time, Rosalia appeared first to a sick woman and then to a hunter. Rosalia shared with the hunter where her remains could be found. She then ordered him to bring her bones to Palermo and have them carried in procession throughout the city. The hunter did what she had asked in the apparition. After her remains were carried around the city three times, the plague ceased. After this Rosalia was venerated as the patron saint of Palermo and was recently invoked by its citizens in 2020 to protect the city from COVID-19.

My first visit in Palermo was the ***Palermo Cathedral***. In this cathedral is a beautiful chapel dedicated to Saint Rosalia.

The outside of the cathedral was stunning and on full display in the video below.

As I continued touring the city of Palermo, I came upon a woman selling roses outside of a church. I did not understand the significance of the roses and, therefore, declined the purchase and proceeded to walk inside the church. Upon entering, I heard beautiful organ music and singing. Although everything was in Italian, I realized that the congregation was praying and singing different parts of the Rosary. Soon after, I noticed that the altar was being prepared for Mass.

Men and women were entering the church with roses. Some were placing their roses in a vase placed in front of a statue of the ***Madonna and Child.***

Others were taking their roses through a side door and proceeding to what looked like a courtyard.

As preparations for Mass were being made, I peeked through the side door and noticed the beautiful courtyard leading to a small chapel. I then went outside to the woman selling roses and purchased a beautiful yellow rose. On my way back to the pew, I noticed the name of the church – Chiesa di Santa Rita da Cascia. In English the name is – Church of Saint Rita of Cascia.

During my visit I wondered who Saint Rita was and the importance of this beautiful church. When I returned home, I learned from google that Saint Rita, like Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton, was a wife, mother, widow, and member of a religious community. Her austerity, prayerfulness, and charity became legendary throughout Italy. When she developed wounds on her forehead, people quickly associated them with the wounds from Christ’s crown of thorns. On her deathbed, Saint Rita asked a nun who was kneeling by her bed for a rose from the monastery garden. The nun thought that Rita was delirious, but to please her, went to the garden and found roses blooming in the middle of winter. Saint Rita was beatified in 1626 and canonized in 1900. She has acquired the reputation as a saint of impossible cases. After Mass, I visited the courtyard and the small chapel and placed my rose in a vase in front of a beautiful statue of the Blessed Mother.

I continued walking the streets of Palermo and soon came upon the ***Teatro Massimo*** with a beautiful display of red poinsettias. The Teatro Massimo is an opera house known for its acoustics. It is the third largest opera house in Europe.

Seeing this building made me think of my mom and her beautiful operatic voice.

I stepped into several churches before coming upon the Quattro Canti also known as the Four Corners of Palermo. Officially, the area is known as Piazza Vigliena. The Four Corners is a Baroque square marking the center of the historic quarters of Palermo. The site is the intersection of two major streets in Palermo. Throughout the day, different performances are provided by locals in the Four Corners area – see video below which will also show the beautiful statues displayed throughout the Four Corners.

As I continued roaming the streets of Palermo, I came to the marina. It was a beautiful sight with the Sicilian mountains in the background.

Before long, the sun was going down and the beautiful Christmas lights were on display.

I found the Christmas markets located near my hotel. After a nice dinner in a local restaurant, I headed back to my hotel happy to have seen so many beautiful things in Palermo.

My list was still quite long for everything that I wanted to see in Palermo. On Day Two, one of the first things I did was walk to Palermo Centrale. This is the main railway station for the city of Palermo. On Day Three of my trip, I was scheduled to travel by train to Cefalu, a coastal city in northern Sicily known for its Norman cathedral, Byzantine mosaics, and twin towers. My goal on Day Two was to scout out the route to the train station and where I would be boarding the train. While in the train station, I noticed a beautiful chapel. I could not believe the beauty of this chapel in the middle of a train station – see video below!

From there, I headed to the ***Royal Palace*** and the ***Palatine Chapel.*** The Royal Palace was the seat of the Kings of Sicily. Since 1946, it has been the seat of the Sicilian Regional Assembly.

The Palatine Chapel, located on the grounds of the palace, is a mixture of Byzantine, Norman, and Fatimid architectural styles. It is hard to find words to describe the beauty of these structures. See the video below for footage of these beautiful sites AND keep reading to learn more about the New Hip!

After visiting the Palace, I headed back to the Palermo Cathedral where preparations were being made for the Feast of the Immaculate Conception. As noted in the Catechism of the Catholic Church, the most Blessed Virgin Mary was, from the first moment of her conception, by a singular grace and privilege of almighty God and by virtue of the merits of Jesus Christ, Savior of the human race, preserved immune from all stain of original sin (CCC135).

The ***Blessed Mother*** is the ***Immaculate Conception,*** and she is the one being celebrated on this holy day.

The Feast of the Immaculate Conception is celebrated on December 8. However, in the United States, the date changes only if it falls on a Sunday, which it did in 2024. In the United States, the Feast of the Immaculate Conception in 2024 was celebrated on Monday, December 9. However, in Italy, the Feast of the Immaculate Conception is an Italian public holiday celebrated annually on December 8 no matter what day it falls on. It was Friday, December 6 when I noticed all the preparations for the feast. I later learned from hotel staff that the festivities begin on Saturday, December 7 in the evening and continue through to the evening of Sunday, December 8. Businesses close early on the 7th to allow business owners and staff to participate in the celebration.

I then headed to one of the amazing food markets and stopped for some lunch.

I had an ***eggplant salad*** and ***calamari.***

***It was wonderful!***

I was carefully marking off things to see on my list and decided to get lost in the busyness of Palermo. I was walking on a pedestrian only street with many other walkers. Suddenly, a young woman on a bicycle, weaving through the crowds, clipped me on my left side and I went flying to the ground landing on my right hip. She stopped and helped me to my feet along with another couple. I felt stunned and rested for a while on a nearby bench. I then walked to the nearest restaurant for a piece of pizza. The restaurant was located near the Teatro Massimo. As I ate my pizza, I watched several workers decorate a beautiful Christmas tree in front of the opera house.

Giving no more thought to the aches on my right side, I limped back to my hotel. Before settling in for the night, I decided to go to the pharmacy located near my hotel for Ben Gay and an ice pack. Certainly, this would help what I thought was a sprain. With my phone in hand, I spoke with the pharmacist who knew very little English. I showed her a picture of Ben Gay on my phone. She then reviewed the ingredients and gave me what she considered to be the Sicilian version. Along with the purchase of several ice packs, I was on my way.

I slept well that night and wondered whether I should attempt the trip to Cefalu. I paced throughout the hotel room testing my leg. I seemed to be fine. I had a slight limp but figured that what I was experiencing was a bruise from landing hard on the concrete. I decided that what I needed to do was walk it off! However, rather than walk 20 minutes to the train station as I did the day before, I decided to take a taxi. Once at the train station, I paced throughout the platform periodically shaking my leg to help it get better. It was a beautiful 40-minute coastal train ride to Cefalu. I knew from my travel book that it was a 15-minute walk from the train station to the center of Cefalu. I decided that I would take a taxi from the train station in Cefalu to the center of town to see the cathedral. When I got off the train in Cefalu, however, there were no taxis in sight. So, I started walking. When it became more difficult to walk, I decided I needed a cane. I stopped at the first gift store on the route. I showed the owner of the store a picture of a walking cane on my phone. He spoke very little English but understood that I was wanting to purchase a cane. Two other women were in the store. One of them spoke English and Italian. After a few minutes of chattering, one of the women spoke of a business around the corner that sold canes. Suddenly the owner of the gift shop remembered the place and said that the owner was his friend. He then called his friend and asked him to bring over some walking canes. Within 15 minutes, I was the owner of a beautiful black cane that has a light in its handle. It is pretty fancy, and I was very happy to finally have something to lean on. By this time, however, it had started raining. So, I continued the journey to the Cefalu Cathedral with an umbrella in one hand and a cane in the other.

The ***Cathedral of Cefalu*** is a Roman Catholic basilica and one of nine structures included in the ***UNESCO World Heritage Site*** known as ***Arab-Norman Palermo and the Cathedral Churches of Cefalu and Monreale.*** The cathedral was built between 1131 and 1240. The building has a fortress-like character and can be seen from the train as it enters the city.

Before climbing the 30 steps to the entrance of the cathedral, I purchased tickets to tour the mosaics, sacristy, museum, and the oldest cloister in Sicily. It was beautiful. I struggled with the steps but made it through. As I walked back to the train station, I noticed several side streets that had lots of shops and restaurants. Because of the use of the cane, I decided to head back to the train station. I stopped briefly for a quick bite to eat and then boarded an earlier train for Palermo.

Once back at the hotel, I called my best friend, Chris and my travel agent, John. After a few minutes of brainstorming, I was given instructions on who to call to access my travel insurance. After making the call, I took a taxi to the hospital in Palermo and entered the Emergency Room. The security guard quickly assessed my issue, recognized my English only accent, and welcomed me into the Emergency Room area. As I settled myself in a seat and found a safe place for my cane, Sicilians in different colored scrubs chattered all around me. Finally, a beautiful young woman, Alicia, came through a set of nearby doors and approached my area. She spoke English with a heavy Italian accent. She was the hospital translator.

To get me registered to see the doctor, I needed to provide my passport and information about where I lived and what I was doing in Sicily. After a while, I was transferred to a wheelchair and introduced to the Emergency Room doctor and staff. Everywhere I went Alicia followed. The doctor asked questions in Italian and Alicia translated the questions into English. The reverse occurred when I answered the questions. It was quite an adventure.

After the initial examination, I was wheeled to the waiting room and told that the doctor ordered an X-ray. Within a short period of time, a woman in white scrubs came by, looked at my arm band, and mumbled something in Italian as she began moving my chair down the hall. I immediately raised my arms and shouted, “Wait!” Alicia came over and calmed my concerns. She confirmed that I was in good hands and that she would be waiting for me to return from the X-ray department. The woman was nice as she wheeled me through the halls to the elevator. Once on the elevator, she started talking to me in Italian. I said, “Sorry, only English.” She shrugged and we both smiled at each other.

Once in the X-ray department, I was greeted by a technician. Although he insisted his English was not that good, it was certainly better than my Italian. After the X-rays were taken, I was placed back in the wheelchair. A different woman arrived to take me back to the Emergency Room. At the elevator, I recognized the first woman who wheeled me to the X-ray department. We smiled at each other. She was assisting another patient in a wheelchair. The four of us got into the elevator.

The two women then began talking about what they were preparing for the feast day events. I do not speak Italian; however, I know all about the food. During their conversation, I heard the word antipasto. I also heard bruschetta, calamari, and lasagna. As I listened closely, I was getting hungry. Before long, I was back in the Emergency Room waiting area.

In my mind, I expected the doctor to come back and say that I simply sprained my leg, and I needed to rest. As I thought about how I would readjust my itinerary to include an easier route, Alicia came to me with a very somber look. She said, “I have some bad news!” A frown immediately formed on my face as she clearly stated that my right hip was broken. She then stated that the doctor’s recommendation was surgery. I swallowed hard and then sat up tall in my chair. I looked at her and with complete confidence said, “Not here. I am going home!” I then called my travel agent and said, “I don’t care what it costs, get me home!”

Within a couple of hours, my travel agent got me on a flight the following morning, December 8, at 6:00am. He also cancelled all my hotels and flights for the remainder of my trip. While my travel agent was busy on his end, Alicia was finalizing paperwork so that I could take my Sicilian medical records with me.

I was quite impressed with the entire ordeal and received excellent services. I wanted to say thank you in a special way to each of them. In my purse, I always carry a Miraculous Medal card from the Association of the Miraculous Medal in Perryville, Missouri. The card tells of the origin of the Miraculous Medal and provides a beautiful, blessed medal. I always leave one of these cards with a tip for the hotel staff when I check out of my hotel room. After signing many papers for release from the Emergency Room, I handed Alicia the Miraculous Medal card and thanked her for all that she had done to help me. She was so appreciative and immediately showed the card to the doctor. He immediately recognized the medal and with a very strong Italian accent said, “You have more?” I did not have any more with me. I had more in my suitcase at the hotel and more at home. Before leaving, I confirmed that I had the name of the doctor and the address of the hospital. I decided that I would send him medals when I returned home which I did along with a thank you letter that I was able to translate to Italian using a feature on Word. This was a new find for me!

And now for the journey home!

Alicia called for a taxi. By then I knew the time for my flight on Sunday. Once settled in the taxi, I made arrangements with the driver to pick me up from the hotel at 2:30am so that I could get to the airport in plenty of time. Once at the hotel, I called my son. I also called my friend Kathi, who is a nurse. After explaining my issue, she advised that I call the Orthopedic office near my home and speak with the on-call staff. I did as instructed, and before long received a call from the surgeon who did my wrist surgery in 2023. Before leaving the hotel, I had an appointment with the Orthopedic office for Monday, December 9. After all the calls were made, I packed my suitcase, took a long hot shower, dressed for the trip home, and watched the Italian food network on TV until it was time to check out of the hotel.

From the taxi, I walked into Palermo airport with my cane and carry-on suitcase by my side. The Italia Airways counter was not open yet. I saw a couple around the same age as me waiting. I said, “English?” And the woman responded, “Yes, Ohio!” It was so good to hear American English!

Once the airline counter opened, I approached one of the men behind the desk and explained my situation. I did not have my boarding pass in hand and the Delta app did not show the information needed for Italia Airways. It was 4:00am in the morning and perhaps this man woke up on the wrong side of the bed. He was the only glitch in the entire journey home. In a very strong Italian accent, he said, “Senora, I don’t have anything to do with Delta. You have to call them.” Delta and Italia Airways are partners. He did not want to hear it and abruptly shouted, “Next!” I walked away from the counter and immediately called my travel agent. We decided that we would both call Delta to get this resolved. Within a few minutes, I had a very helpful Delta agent on the phone who resolved the issue and instructed me to go back to the Italia Airways counter to get my boarding pass. When I did, the boarding pass was ready, but now I needed a wheelchair. The same grumpy attendant, who happened to be the supervisor, said, “Wait in the red chairs and we’ll get to you.” “Excuse me,” I said. “How long am I supposed to wait.” He had no words but only the familiar facial expressions and hands in the air that I knew very well from my Italian relatives. So, I went and sat in the red chairs and carefully monitored the time. I did not want to miss this flight.

Around 5:15am, a man with a wheelchair came to where I was sitting. He was so nice and helpful. I was brought through security in a special way without having to get out of the wheelchair. My carry-on luggage followed me throughout the entire journey. I was brought to the entrance of the plane. I walked to my seat with my cane as flight attendants placed my carry-on luggage over my head.

On Sunday, December 8, I took three planes to get home. I traveled from Palermo to Rome and then from Rome to JFK and then finally to Tampa. Everyone was so helpful. Wheelchairs were waiting for me at each stop. Big burly men helped me transfer from wheelchair to transport carts throughout the airports. I was not late for any flights and arrived at the Tampa airport on time where both my best friend, Chris and my travel agent, John were waiting for me. Once at home, Chris had a walker waiting for me in my home.

***Here I am with John, the best travel agent in the world!***

The next day, on December 9, Chris took me to my Orthopedic appointment where more X-rays were taken. The results were that my hip was beginning to heal but in the wrong way. The recommendation was a complete hip replacement. This was done on December 12 in a hospital in St. Petersburg, Florida.

We know that God is good, and the goodness of God was so evident in every person that helped me to get home. Scripture tells us in the Gospel of John that “the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” Having a broken hip in a foreign country was a dark moment, yet the darkness did not win. God’s light was evident in so many people and I am so grateful for each of them.

As all of you know, I am a solo traveler. When this first occurred, I thought that maybe I needed to travel differently. Yet, I have friends who travel in groups and were injured during their travels. Darkness comes in so many different ways. But, if you have the light of Christ, the darkness is defeated, and you will get through whatever mess comes your way. My next trip is scheduled for April 2025. I have plenty of time to recover and will move forward because it is always the right thing to do.

Enjoy the video!

Palermo and Cefalu were amazing. I will visit the rest of the Sicily and Malta itinerary sometime in the future.

Sign up below for updates on travel and the book launch for my next book – Book #4.

Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, and God bless all!