Circling Sicily on Its Regional Trains

I was frustrated and roaming in a hotel room on Etnea Street, one of the main boulevards in the center of Catania. Looking out from the balcony, I thought the rain would stop. I arrived early in the day on the east coast of Sicily and planned to complete a 2.5 week trip to record the culture of local train travel on the Italian island, but the weather was I couldn’t expect it.

The idea for this project came to me a few months ago when I was traveling by train on the slopes around Mount Etna, a famous active volcano in Sicily, while on vacation with my partner.

The view from the window was great, but at least I was intrigued by the old-fashioned, quaint, romantic, seemingly outdated diesel train that shuttled us past lava fields and olive groves. I decided to come back for a photo essay.

upon Trenitalia website, I narrowed down to three routes where commuters depended on the old-fashioned trains I was interested in. Ferrovia Circumetnea, a narrow-gauge train that connects the villages around Mount Etna. The Syracuse-Gela-Canicattì line that follows the southeastern coast of Sicily. A route near the western end of Sicily that connects the village of Pirainet and the town of Trapani via the town of Castelvetrano.

Imagine a trip to get on and off a local train, visit a rural village with a beautiful Italian name, and experience the charm of a local train trip at this southern tip of Europe. I also wanted to take portraits of the people I met (daily commuters and train drivers) living in this corner of developing Southern Italy, which is poorer than the relatively wealthy Northern Italy.

I am also a good planner for the Dutch. Based on the train timetable, I made an itinerary and booked a hotel in a place I didn’t know existed. But I soon learned that I would experience the charm of a rare and slow train journey only if I was willing to let go of my overly nasty schedule.

Looking down from the balcony with flip-flops, I saw the street below turning into a river. The car got stuck. The alarm went off. Tables and chairs on the terrace floated in the swirling flood.

I didn’t want to lose another day due to bad weather, so I left the hotel the next morning, bought the biggest umbrella I found, and hurried to the station. There I learned that all trains on the first track were canceled until further notice.

To save the second section of the trip, and because the train was still running, I traveled to Syracuse and took a short trip to the city of Noto, about 20 miles southwest, in one of the colorful and almost empty. I decided to do it. -Wagon train. Giuseppe Mandolfo, one of my few passengers, said he would take the train five days a week to complete his studies at the police academy. “I can’t wait to buy my car,” he said. Because this particular train is “infrequent, slow and unreliable”.

Immediately after he told me this, the train stopped suddenly. We waited an hour for another train to arrive, then boarded and continued our journey.

Worried that he might get stuck again, I decided to return to Syracuse and wait for the incoming Medicane or Mediterranean Cyclone to pass. Immediately the entire city seemed to be closed. Using rusty Italian, I found that a bus was planned as an alternative to some of the routes on my list. I returned to the station and soon a big travel bus left in front of me.

The bus driver, Stefano Gilno, was happy to see me, one of his passengers. He steered a bus with impressive agility through flooded streets and curved alleys, arriving in the town of Rosolini.

And it went on a lot of trips. I never expected to see so few trains on a local train trip, but I could still continue my journey by bus, get on and off at various stops, and get a glimpse of the many old stations on the outskirts of the country. I did. Of Sicily. The fading atmosphere of the shed building was a good reason to celebrate. It was also intriguing that the station was used as a communal gathering place, especially for young people who want to escape from crowded houses and relax.

From my previous trip to Sicily, I knew that it would be difficult to use public transport on Sundays, so I planned a relaxing day in the hilltop city of Ragusa along the Syracuse-Gera-Canicattì line. .. But on Monday, I was disturbed again: the train was canceled due to a religious holiday. Unlucky, I spent another day in the beautiful place of Laguza, spending most of the day in a magnificent cemetery at the northern end of the town.

Finally I was able to resume my journey — this time by train, according to the timetable. And one day it was exactly what I had imagined. I slowly winded through the breathtaking landscape of an outdated wagon train, and finally the sun appeared late.

Eventually I arrived at Gala, a coastal city with no women at the station. Local men gathered to gamble at the bar. Feeling a little uncomfortable around them, I started a conversation with the railroad machinist Giancarlo Zaccaria. I saw him walk to one end of the train, remove the red filter from the light, carry it to the other end and attach it there. Something about his manners reminded me that I liked about my time around the local trains — a little spirit, informal.

In the sunny western part of Sicily, my trip went in a more predictable direction. I divided the 100 mile route into three travel days: one day each for Castelvetrano, Marsala and Trapani. In the process, I learned that trains are mainly used by African immigrants in this often forgotten part of Sicily. The conductor learned not only to check passengers’ tickets, but also to manually control the traffic lights. And I learned that most Italians don’t want to rely on the train. Trains are often slow and unreliable.

Still, despite the very bad weather, local rail and alternative bus services were able to travel Sicily for less than $ 100. This is a recommended challenge for those who want to leave themselves to the charm of a slow trip. A little tip: Check the weather forecast before you go.

Sanne Darks A freelance photojournalist and anthropologist in the Netherlands.You can follow her work Instagram..

Her project on local trains in Sicily PictorightA writer’s rights organization for Dutch visual creators.