March 2nd, 2026

Buongiorno amici,

   As I start my third month in Sicily, I feel the pull of my family, friends and homeland more strongly every day. This Friday they will celebrate the birthday of my grandson Rocco whose birthday was yesterday and my youngest granddaughter, Talia, who will be celebrating her first birthday. I will miss this family gathering. Not that I have any reason to complain. Life is good here, I’ve made friends, I’ve had visitors, I have gone on a few adventures and I have sampled all of the fine cuisine available. My plan is to be here for the next three weeks and then move on to the Netherlands where I can hang out with my old friends. 

    I have given a lot of thought to why I did this. What was my purpose, and what did I plan to get out of it…. Other than escaping one of the coldest winters, the northeast has seen in years? The entire process has involved much more introspection than I’m accustomed too, but I really wanted to look at America from the outside…..and frankly, it’s not a pretty picture.

       I seldom discuss politics with friends and family, and I try to refrain from pushing my opinions. Everyone has to make up their own mind, but currently we are, without a doubt, involved in treacherous times. I sat in the large church of San Pietro on Sunday morning to reflect on the world which I’m leaving behind for my precious grandchildren. I have repeated it many times over…. wars are never won. They’re just grudges that get postponed. Fifty-six years ago I had close ties to people from Iran. I was in a Peace Core training program in Fresno, California. The language instructors were young men from Iran. They explained so much about their country, its history and they loved it with passion. But they had left Iran…. they were ex-patriots. They left because of a vicious dictator who used his private army to put protesters in jail, to torture people and keep a firm lid on any subversive activity. They told me that to impress the American president, Lyndon Johnson,  the Shah sent a video of how they deal with drug problems in Iran. They told me it showed some old opium addicts pulled out of the den, stood up against the wall and then shot in half. "That’s how we deal with drug addicts" said the Shah of Iran……and we now are supporting his grandson to take over the country. And that’s all I have to say.

    I’ve spent quite a bit of time photographing and recording various architectural restorations that are happening across the area. I recently read that Trapani is spending the equivalent of $100,000 per person (man, woman and child) on restorations in the city. There is so much to undertake because there has been a great deal of bad work over the years. There have also been wars that have shook ancient buildings to their core, including many churches which America bombed during World War II. So, most of the pictures are of interesting and perplexing architectural undertakings that I have observed this week. I hope you enjoy them..

 If you want to follow the adventures of a disabled traveler, living in Sicily and exploring the town of Trapani, follow me on Facebook to see lots of pictures and occasional bits of information and wisdom. If you like John’s Corner and you want to read more here is the link, there are over four hundred pages!

       https://bernunzio.com/johns-corner-archive/

Cu la paci,

John Bernunzio 

I capped off the weekend with some great music at my favorite hangout in Enotecca Versi Rosso