[July 2024] After a delicious lunch on Procida, a small island in southern Italy, we boarded a tourist boat that departed from the port in front of us.
That said, it was a small boat and we were the only passengers.
The boatman was Giuseppe.
He took us around the island for €50, the same price as the taxi tour we had taken earlier.
It was also fun to see the island from the sea.
It was surrounded by nature, and it was hard to imagine that there were houses crammed inside.
There was a cave under the hill where the castle, which used to be a prison, was located.
It is said that nuns used to swim here secretly so that they would not be seen by others.
We listened to explanations and took photos of the red hunting houses of the nobles, the plateau where they cooked and ate what they caught, and the tower that looked like a milestone, and so on.
We passed under what was once an aqueduct, and Giuseppe pointed to a house on the slope of the uninhabited island, which is now a nature reserve, and said, “That’s Pablo Neruda‘s house.”
“Huh? Neruda‘s the Chilean, right?” I said to my husband, and then I remembered that Neruda had once taken refuge in Italy.
I thought to myself, “So that’s where he lived.”
After being dropped off at the port where the boat back to Ischia departed, we had a rest in a cafe, and when we searched, we found out that there was no record that Neruda had lived on Procida.
However, when the movie “Il Postino” was filmed on Procida, the house on the island in the nature reserve was used as the house where Neruda lived.
I had assumed that “Il Postino” was a light comedy, but it turns out that it’s a drama about Neruda’s interactions with a local postman while he was evacuated to Italy.
Actually, Neruda lived on the island of Capri while he was evacuated to Italy.
I didn’t know him until we went to Chile a few years ago, but I saw his real house in Valparaiso and heard the story of his tragic end.
He’s a memorable person, so I’d love to see this movie if I get the chance.
That was the end of our excursion to Procida Island.
We were reunited with our tour companions and returned to Casamicciola, the port of Ischia, on the designated boat.
However, the car that was supposed to pick us up was nowhere to be found.
My husband called the person who had negotiated with us when booking the tour, and finally, a rundown minibus that was just big enough for the tour group arrived.
I regret that I forgot the name of the tour company, but it was a store with a booth on the main street of Forio.
It’s definitely better not to use it.
