Viva Via Cotturo!

The morning I left Palermo, I decided to use the same strategy that has worked for me for years- wing it.  Claudio had found a Facebook page for the church!

I sent them a message in Italian telling them I would be coming to Licata and would like to learn about the history of the church.  I hoped they would answer.  The page had been active as recently as October 4, so I hope this was a good sign.

Claudio suggested I leave my suitcase at his B&B because it would be easier to travel.  I was concerned that there could be something preventing me from returning to the B&B before my departure, so I declined his offer.  Claudio gave me and my suitcase a ride to the train station, and for a mere 10 euros, I boarded the bus en route to Licata. It was an easy 2 1/2 hour ride south.  I arrived around 2pm, and it was my intention to only stay long enough to take some photos of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Cotturo Church and head over to Agrigento.  First, I needed to find where the baggage deposit was.

I wandered over to the town hall, and finally asked someone, in my broken Italian, where I could put my bag.  Soon, I had a crowd of about 8 people around me all trying to help out. There is NO bag deposit like there was in every other town I had visited in Italy. I should have listened to Claudio.  I told them I just needed an hour or two to take some pictures of the Cotturo church.  They were kind of confused.  "Mi chiamo (my name) Cotturo!"  I showed them my passport. Ahh, now they got it. They said they thought the church is closed.

Someone pointed out a woman that she knew spoke English who was walking by.  As a matter of fact, she runs a Trinity English school in Licata.  Perfect!

She said, "I have an apartment I can rent for you just down the street and next door to mine for only 25 euros."  I had already booked 2 nights in Agrigento, but I decided to accept her offer anyway.  We walked down the street and up a steep staircase to the cute apartment.  The handle to my suitcase snapped as I was carrying it.  Oh well.

The dining / living room area for the apartment. There was a couch and tv in this room as well. The floors were a beautiful, old mosaic tile.  The apartment is around 200 years old, I am not sure of the tiles were 200 years old as well.

I chose to stay in the master bedroom.

The kitchen area with the bathroom off to the left.

After I dropped off my bag, we went over to Sorriso's apartment for some salad and tortellini soup. He apartment was colorfully decorated with artifacts from her world travels.  I noticed some masks on her wall that I instantly recognized as being from Sri Lanka.  I was impressed with how many Asian countries she has been to.

She called a friend that know a lot about the history of the area.  She asked her friend if he knew anything about the history of the church.

Her friend told her that there was a man by the name of "Cotturo" that lived in the neighborhood in the 1700s.  He saw that the church was badly in need of repair, so he decided to have it rebuilt.  The church was originally called "Santa Maria della Pieta", but then they named it after him, hence, "The Blessed Virgin Mary of Cotturo" church.

I don't know whether the man restored the church himself, or put up the money for it.  I would like to know his first name.  What about the rest of his family?  Why can't I find any trace of the name Cotturo anywhere else in Sicily?  Still so many questions to be answered.

I took a nap while she went back to work for a couple of hours.  After she returned she showed me the new Trinity English school that she was getting ready to open.

Sorriso and her English school.

By then, it was getting dark and Sorriso had an appointment with someone.  We agreed to meet for pizza at 9pm.  I decided to scope out where the Cotturo church might be.  I got my trusty Samsung gps and headed out in the dark.  

Licata at night and the oldest building in the city.

 I found Cotturo Street. There was only one stenciled sign that was so faded, it was barely legible.  It was on a hill, and I had lots of steps to walk up to the top.  The stairs were overgrown with weeds.  The street was very dark and I began to get an uneasy feeling.  There was a man standing in a dark corner glaring at me.  "Buona sera."  I said.  Nothing.  Silence and more glaring.  I started to get nervous.  I got to the top of the stairs.  There was the church, looking like an abandoned haunted house.  I quickly snapped a picture and made my way back down the street.  A man standing on his balcony above me addressed me.  "Non, parlo Italiano." I said.  I changed my mind, looked back and said, "Mi chiamo Cotturo," and ran off.

"The Cotturo Church" in the dark.  Very scary.

I met up with Sorriso for our pizza date.  I told her that I had ventured out to see the church.  Our waitress said something in Italian.  Sorriso said, "That area is very poor and a little bit dangerous."  The other woman said something indistinguishable.  Sorriso corrected herself, "Oh, it's not a little bit dangerous -it's just dangerous."  Nice.

After burning the crap out of the roof of my mouth on hot pizza, with potatoes on it, I retired to my room.  I wanted to get as early of a start as possible so I could catch an early train to Agrigento.

In the morning, I was scared of getting robbed, so I took no valuables; only my camera and gps which I kept hidden in my pants.  

I made my way over to the street as swiftly as I could.  I was a bit nervous this time around, but at least it was daylight. 

Going up the dodgy Via Cotturo street.

The only sign I could find indicating I was in the right place!

I finally made it up to the church.  It doesn't look much better in the light!  Sadly, I had gotten no answer from the Facebook message I had sent and the church didn't look open so I wouldn't be able to get any more info.

A close up of the sign outside the church.

A lovely view from the side of the church overlooking the sea.

Another view from the other side of the church.

Time to run back down the hill, so I could make the 8:45 bus!

I ran down and back to the apartment.  I grabbed my bags and started to run down the stairs.  Some old lady that lived at the top of the stairs opened her door and said something to me in Italian.  I had no clue what she said, so I went to my go-to phrase, "Non parlo Italiano!!" and kept running down the stairs.

I made my way over to the bus station as quickly as I could.  I screwed up and made a wrong turn and lost about 2 minutes of time.  I finally saw the bus and ran over as the driver closed the door.  I stood in front of the door waving my arms.  Prick totally ignored me, and finally drove off.  I was lived and cursed my head off.  He totally saw me and drove off anyway.  I had to wait an hour and a half for the next bus.  I was so annoyed.

UPDATE: It looks like the website was updated on October 16th!  I guess I missed it.  I wish I had known they had catechism on Tuesday (I arrived Wednesday though) and Friday, but I needed to be back in Palermo by Friday night anyway.  Hmmm.  But why haven't they answered my FB message?  Hmmmm again. 

UPDATE: Nov.22, 2013

I finally got an answer from the church:

Salve Signora, ci scusiamo se abbiamo letto i suoi messaggi soltanto adesso è non averle potuto dare aiuto quando lei è venuta qui a Licata. La chiesa è intitolata a"Maria Ss della Pietà" detta del Cotturo. La parrocchia porta il nome di"Cotturo" perché nel 700, che è il secolo a cui risale la chiesa, quella zona era una campagna dove gli agricoltori coltivavano. Cotturo era il proprietario del terreno dove si trova adesso la chiesa. Il signor Cotturo in quel periodo ha Donato tutto il suo terreno facendo costruire lui stesso questa, ed è per questo che porta il nome di Cotturo. C'è però dietro una storia molto lunga. Purtroppo però adesso la chiesa è inagibile perchè il tetto ed il campanile stanno per crollare e piove anche all'interno ed è chiusa al culto. La Chiesa si trova nel quartiere più disagiato è povero della città e infatti è proprio per questo che in questo posto c'è l'esigenza di una attiva proprio in qui. Ma purtroppo siamo noi siamo molto poveri e non abbiamo i fonti necessari per far sistemare la chiesa. Il parroco è in cerca di aiuto e di qualcuno che faccia della delle donazioni per poter sistemare questa bellissima chiesetta e per poterla riaprire al culto. Per tutto il resto restiamo a sua completa disposizione.

 Translated:

Hello Ma'am, we apologize if we read his messages only now is not having been able to give help when she came here in Licata . The church is dedicated to " Ss Mary of Pity ," said the Cotturo . The parish is named " Cotturo " because in the 700, which is the century of which dates back to the church , that area was a campaign where farmers cultivated . Cotturo was the owner of the land where the church now stands . Mr. Donato has Cotturo at that time all his land by building himself this , and that is why it bears the name of Cotturo . There is , however, behind a very long history. Unfortunately, the church is now unusable because the roof and the bell tower are going to collapse and it rains inside and is closed to worship . The Church is located in the most disadvantaged of the city is poor and in fact it is precisely for this reason that in this place there is a need for an active right in here . But unfortunately we are very poor and do not have the sources necessary to fix the church . The pastor is looking for help and someone to do the donations to be able to fix this beautiful church and to be able to reopen for worship. For everything else we remain at your complete disposal .

I sent this to my friend Claudio in Palermo and asked him about the date.  He is sure they meant 1700.  Some of this translation still doesn't quite make sense, so I am going to ask for some more clarification and update again.