Taking the Godfather Tour in Sicily

My boyfriend, Chris, is sitting in the exact spot where Al Pacino informed Appollonia's father that his name was Michael Corleone, and that "some people would pay a of lot money for that information, but then your daughter would lose a father, instead of gaining a husband."

I, on the other hand, am in the spot where Michael's bodyguards lounged around while offering up such enlightened commentary as, "In Sicily, women are more dangerous than shotguns." Still, my lemon granita (the Sicilian version of sorbet) is the perfect combination of tart and sweet. I've got an excellent view of an olive tree-covered hillside. And for the first time since I touched down at the Catania airport, I actually feel like I'm in Sicily.

Everything I know about Sicily, I learned from "The Godfather." (That's "Godfather I" and "II." "Godfather III"? Forgeddaboutit.). However, after spending two days in the resort town of Taormina, where most visitors to Sicily's eastern coast wind up, this Italian island has started to feel more like a cross between "Jersey Shore" and "Beverly Hills 90201" than the romantically rustic terrain of my cinematic imagination. And after one too many strolls down the Corso Umberto in the company of tourists all apparently in the market for an Il Padrino (Sicilian for Godfather) T-shirt with Marlon Brando's tea bag-stuffed face on it, I am longing for the patriarchal simplicity of Signore Vitelli pulling up his suspenders in preparation to defend the honor of his daughter.

Town's many charms

Sure Taormina has its charms - the impossibly blue Mediterranean, the crumbling Greek Theater, the upscale shops scattered among the tacky postcards and painted pottery. But it's not what I think of as Sicily. In other words, it doesn't look like a still from one of the two arguably (although not by me) greatest American movies of all time.

Which is why Chris and I have fired up our rented Fiat Punto (a car that resembles the unholy mating of a Prius and a Pinto) and set off on The Great Sicilian Godfather Tour. A tour we are perfectly situated for, because nearly all of the Sicily scenes in "The Godfather" and "The Godfather Part II" were filmed less than 15 miles from Taormina

First stop is Savoca, an unspoiled hill town north of Taormina that acted as stand-in for the less unspoiled (and apparently less Mafia-free) Corleone. After nearly trapping our Punto on the narrow, winding streets, we end up at Bar Vitelli, which looks exactly the way it did when Michael managed to ask for Signore Vitelli's daughter's hand in marriage and threaten him with an untimely death in the same sentence.

For such an iconic location (and potential tourist trap), Bar Vitelli remains pretty low key. From the outside, it looks like every other stone-fronted cafe-bar in every small town in Sicily. Sure there are some dusty movie stills and photographs of the crew on the stone walls inside, and somebody's drawn little rifles on the menu. But as far as cashing in on the Bar Vitelli/"Godfather" notoriety, that's about it. Which is about as refreshing as that granita.

We have an espresso, repeat what in retrospect is an embarrassing amount of dialogue from the Bar Vitelli scene, and then stroll around town. Savoca promotes itself as a Citta d'Arte. But who are they kidding? If you don't have relatives here, you come to visit Bar Vitelli, and the church where Michael and Appollonia got married. Which, by the way, is a right turn out of the bar, then a left up Via S. Michele to Santa Lucia, which is the locals' name for Chiesa di S. Nicolo (the Church of St. Nicolo), and the only way to ask for directions so that anyone who lives in Savoca knows what you're talking about.

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