03-21-05 Savoca (June 3)
Seeing my name on every street sign and manhole cover perhaps gave me a false sense of celebrity – I owned this town.
Granted, there wasn’t much to own. Most of the buildings were empty, boarded up, rotting, inhabited only by pidgeons and dust. Dad and I mused briefly over the real estate possibilities of a place like this, but having to farm for my own food is not on my list of specialties or desires.
The one establishment that brought any life at all to the town was the Bar Vitelli, famous for its role in The Godfather as the place where Michael meets Apollonia’s father. After we mentioned our last name to Maria D’Arrigo, the bar’s proprietor since before Pacino sat on her porch, she handed us a postcard and offered to sell us paper-thin t-shirts proclaiming her as Mama del Mundo (mother of the world). Of course, as they listed the name of the village, we couldn’t resist. Ahh, the only thing worse than a tourist is a tourist who’s a sucker for gimmicks.
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