May 2006 - Bisaquino, Sicily - Vincenzo Lanza

This town built atop the hill next to that on which Chiusa Schalfani is perched is where my great grandfather Vincenzo Lanza was born and raised. I imagine that he, as a teenager not taken with the any particular woman in his home town, would often venture out on his white horse to the neighboring Chiusa Sclafani to perhaps "cruise for chicks".

Here's the view of Chiusa Sclafani from Bisaquino. It's literally the next town over and the only one visible for many miles.

As we drove into Bisaquino, we spotted this peculiar gothic-domed chapel.

We drove around for a while to get acquainted with the town and quickly figured out that the church above was the Duomo and this was the town's main square.

So, we parked the car, walked around a bit, had gelato, and took some pictures.

The church had a beautiful baroque facade flanked by two bell towers and was capped by a dome.

It had a very simple, elegant, mostly white interior with gold gilt flourishes here and there.

Most of the streets are pretty narrow with enough room for only one car to drive even if they are not "one-way" streets. Many of the buildings are made of irregular shaped stones and appear to be of medieval origin.

When we finished our gelato and returned to the main square, we got back in the car and headed out of town.

On our way out, we spotted this sign for Corleone, the home of the Sicilian Mafia. Intrigued and knowing it wasn't far away, we decided to visit the birthplace of the "Godfather", Don Corleone.

We made that left turn towards Corleone, and not even 5 seconds later, spotted this white mare in a field adjacent to town.

For half a second I considered jumping on it and riding to Chiusa Schlafani but she doesn't look like she wants to leave her baby behind. So off to Corleone we went.