Amuninni 'u mari(Let's go to the beach)

Amuninni 'u mari is the Sicilian dialect for 'Let's go to the sea'.

Summer in Sicily is about going to the seaside. Especially at weekends beaches are very crowded and people come from everywhere to enjoy their day out. People spend all day along at the beach and at the beach establishment and over there all the usual activities, like playing, eating, sleeping, etc., are done outdoors. All kind of people are seen, and it is a pleasure to contemplate at the same time so much of humanity enjoying and relaxing under the sun.

Since I was a little boy I used to go to the sea with my family, and I realize that the summer rituals have almost been the same through the years: people playing by the sea(beach tennis, football, cards, bowls, etc.), families having a big lunch under the umbrella(a classic is the moment of the watermelon, which sometimes is kept into the sea to be maintained cooler), couples of all the ages spending time together, people sleeping, etc. I think that people love to follow the same traditions and rituals through the years; rituals tell us who we are, where we come from, they bond us together as a community, through them our cultural identity is reinforced.

Sicily has got around 1000Km of coastline, I travelled around it in summer to document the peculiar life on the beaches.