February 23, 2026

Buongiorno amici,

      As I near my third month away from America and my seventh week away from the love of my life, Julie Schnepf, I’ve had some interesting and thoughtful, chance encounters, in the city of Trapani. It seems to be a place that people like to escape to… near the sea, historically interesting, but still filthy enough to be cheap and run down enough to attract all sorts of creative people.

   First, I saw a fellow who looked about my age walking down the street carrying a ukulele. After the third time running into him I had to stop and say, "hey are you a ukulele player?" We had a pleasant chat, I gave him on my business card and one of my picks and thought I’d probably never see him again. He had a British accent and his name was Roger Godfrey. Two days later, I saw him again with an entourage of middle-aged ladies. They were heading to board the ferry boat to the island of Favignana. Laughingly, I told him we have to stop meeting like this. I then asked him if he also played guitar in addition to playing ukulele and he said…well….yes. One of the ladies then picked up her phone with his website proudly displayed and pushed it in my face. She said, "Obviously you don’t you know who he is?" Then I said, "Of course I do, he  introduced himself to me yesterday. He’s Roger Godfrey. Don’t you know who I am?" At which point Roger barked out, "He’s John Bernunzio, he’s an international dealer of guitars, mandolins, ukuleles and banjos. I have his website bookmarked right now!" 

      Then, while having cappuccino at a local café, I met Malgosia Stepnik, a Polish-born, UK-based interdisciplinary artist.  She recently had an exhibit in Trapani (Rivolta Femminile. Female Subjectivity in Contemporary Sicilian Art Curated by Anda Klavina September 12 – October 31, 2025) and currently is part of a larger exhibit in Palermo.
This is from a recent article about her art: 

"Her work stands for solidarity against gender-based violence, asserting that not a single woman’s life, voice, or freedom should be lost or diminished. The Italian phrase “Non una di meno” translates as “Not one [woman] less.” It’s both a literal translation and the name of a feminist movement in Italy, inspired by the Latin American movement “Ni Una Menos” (“Not One Less”)."

    It continually amazes me that this small town on the western edge of Sicily has attracted so many interesting people…not just now but, through throughout the course of its history.

Cu la paci,

John Bernunzio 

The artwork of Malgosia Stepnik

The artwork of the back alley

The art work of music at the Sunday night Jazz jam at Enotecca Versi Rosso…

The artwork of the creator!