thoughts from the villa

i don't know who this man is, but i just had to take his picture. as i saw him sitting there, on a bench outside of the little cathedral in villa cianciafara, i thought "this, this is sicily." every day i see these older men, short in stature, balding grey hair, dressed in a nice suit, out on their little passegiato. they embody this sense of pride. the pride that comes with knowing you are sicilian; with knowing that everything in your life is this ancient, beautiful story, and you are lucky enough to be even a small part of it. to me, nothing makes a historical site more important than seeing someone who deeply knows it's their history. to me, the villa cianciafara was simply a beautiful place to visit, but to this man it's a part of him. a piece of him that was on this earth before he was even a thought in anyone's mind. and getting to see him there  helped me see this place in a way that no amount of entrancing citrus trees ever could have.