As part of this adventure, I was going to look into my Italian heritage by exploring both my Grandfathers home towns, Bari and Trapani, Sicily. Since both of my grandparents were Italian citizens when my parents were born, it is possible for me to have a dual citizenship, both US and Italy. Having this citizenship will provide me with dual passports and the luxury to stay longer than the three months the law now allows. To start, I needed to have in my posession my grandfathers birth certificate, so while visiting Bari, I set off to retrieve the documents from the local government offices. We arrived bari on May 5, got situated with accomodations, saw the local sites and then set off to do some homework. I did the research, found the local government office here in Bari to retrieve the documents, and then set out to find exactly where in town the office was located. The best way to find these locations is to use what is known as an information stand. These stands are located in the center of most larger cities, Bari being one of them. I walk inside, went up to the clerk and found I was pleasantly suprised to hear she spoke some English. This being said, I explained what I had in mind to accomplish, she takes out a city map, shows me the location I wanted to visit, and circles in pen the spot I need to find. Then comes the first curveball. She explains that here in Bari, for the next three days, there is a festival, a big one, the festival of San Nicola, in English: The festival of Saint Nicholas, yes, you heard it right, Santa Claus. The curveball; government offices are closed for the festival. So what’s this festival about? turns out that in 1087, both Venice and Bari vied for the remains of Saint Nicholas, yes, he’s real all right, and was burried in Maya but both towns were worried that his remains might be raided by robbers so off they went to preserve the sanctity of his bones. Seems Bari’s sailors got there first, retrieved the bones and brought them back to Bari where they built a Basilica in his honor with a crypt below the church where his remains lie in state. OK… so I enjoy the festival and get the documents later, and enjoy we did. We managed to get behind a celebtatory procession, you know the kind, you’ve seen them in films, the ones with crosses and banners on poles along with religious cantors and priests. We followed the procession down the streets and alleyways, not knowing where we will be headed. Along the way, these processioners are chanting crying, praying and the sincerity of it all really is quite overwhelming. We finally get to the Basilica of San Nicola where we find ourselves able to go inside, seems that this particular procession is made up of local parishioners. We go inside for a small service and then, much to our suprise, the service moves to the crypt in the basement of the Basilica. Normally, the crypt is unavailable to guests and visitors, the sign says so, so while the procession moves downstairs, we force our way into the procession as if we belonged there with them. The chanting and crying becomes even more sincere as we approach the crypt and much to our surprise, each one of us got to stand in front of the crypt and pay our respect to Saint Nicholas. A once in a lifetime experience, both moving and spiritual. I am glad we got to be a part of it. The photo shows the actual crypt of Saint Nicholas, so I can say we were actually at the site where Santa Claus is burried. Now…. back to the documents. The festival was 3 days and we arrived on Wednesday and saw the city and the town, For the weekend, Suzy and I decided to go to Lecce, a town in the far south of Italy in the heel of the boot. We return again to Bari on Monday, Tuesday morning Suzy and I set out for the government office to retrieve the documents, we have breakfast and arrive at the office at 1:30, a respectable time, there should be plenty of time to spare since it is early. Curveball #2: the government office closes at 12 noon, so, we leave and will have to come back tomorrow. I get up early, arrive at 9am, the office opens at 9am, and I am excited to get busy. I go inside, go to the information desk, tell the clerk what I intend and then…. curveball #3; although the office is open today, the entity that provides birth certificates is closed on Wednesday. Is this a great country or what ? Can I get a job here ? Nobody works in Italy, everybody is on vacation, closed for siesta every day between 2-7pm. When you hear everything takes time in Italy…. It’s absolutely true. The adventure continues………
