We stumbled upon a story on our way home from Catania. We had gone to Catania to taste the wines of Etna. The wines of Etna are slowly reaching towards the skies of the wine world, and we wanted to see if there was anything to be said for the renown. Poul has no interest in swirling wine around in his mouth, spitting it out and talking endlessly about it, so he instead busied himself in the museums of Catania. When we compared notes in the evening, he showed us the following photo – taken in the WW2 museum housed in the old sulphur plant in Catania.
We talked about it and looked up the names of the towns mentioned here. Chance would that some lay exactly on the route, which we had planned to take the next day going back to Palermo. The old route through the plains and mountains going up past the Etna and south west to the sea – the opposite way of the troops coming in from the sea – a smaller part of the route, which the young Canadians took while working their way up from the coast and liberating one town after another.
It must have been a very difficult assault. These towns are perched on hill tops and the Canadian troops had to fight the Germans and Mussolini ´s army from hilltop to hilltop. The towns are built as fortresses and even today seem foreboding in all their beauty as you near them from the bottom and up.
We took this route the next day. And passing through the present day tranquil landscape we encountered a sign post…
Pictures from this most serene and undisturbed of war memorials…
Studying the the inscriptions and the register on and in the wall…
In all 562 young men lost their lives in the campaign. It was the beginning of the end for Mussolini and Hitler. The Canadian troops assisted in paving the way for entering Italy and Europe from the south. Not that it is any consolation to the bereaved families, but for what it is worth, I felt a deep sense of gratitude – Europe has since been at peace.
Canadian names still living on the pages of a register – names of the 490 Canadians buried in this cemetery.
The cemetery itself – the saying “may ye rest in peace” was here truly a fact. It was exceptionally well tended to and lay on a hill overlooking the pastures and meadows around the town of Agira.
The town of Agira itself – liberated by the Canadians on July 28, 1943. We had our morning coffee here.
Scenery which these young troops may have encountered on their way – such a stark contrast to war and their later plight…
Sheep as dots among the flowering mustard…
The washing everywhere – here from a house to the walls of a church…
One of the towns built up against the cliffs…
The Madonie mountains on a cloudy day – today a national park – then a forbidding passage…
For those of you who may have an interest in following up on the story:
http://www.veterans.gc.ca/eng/remembrance/history/second-world-war/canada-Italy-1943-to-1945#cemeteries
And lastly let us restore the peace. Our traveling companion waiting to taste wines under a lovely tree – to taste the wines of the Benanti estate run by the Benanti twin brothers and their cousin Bianca.
Ciao from Sicily
