As you know, my favorite saints are Barbara and Thecla, so when I saw that there is a church outside Catania named for Thecla, I had to go and pay my respects.
Saint Thecla is the patron saint of the city Tarragona in Catalunya and has churches in her name all over, She and the apostle Paul co-star in their own apocryphal text from the 2nd century, the Acts of Paul and Thecla. They were like the early Xtian Bonnie and Clyde, getting into scrapes and narrowly escaping town with the authorities on their heels.
In Sarajevo, The Old Serbian Orthodox Church (officially the Church of the Holy Archangels Michael and Gabriel), located in the historic Baščaršija neighborhood, permanently houses her holy right hand. This makes it one of the most important pilgrimage sites for her veneration in the Balkans. I reported earlier that I was able to get a souvenir token there this year.
She is the patron of the internet and computers -- her name sounds like the Spanish word for computer key.
Anyhoo, on Monday before last I had the hotel arrange a taxi and went to the parrocchia in Acireale, which is on the coast about half way towards Taormina. The church has a nice shrine to her to the left of the altar, but I could not find a priest. I asked around, and they said he would be there for evening Mass, but I wasn't going to stick around that long.
A few blocks up from there is the piazza named for her, and there is one restaurant located on it, called FAO 37. They were dragging tables out on to the piazza and I sat down for a quiet lunch with a priceless view of the Ionian Sea. They brought out the best mixed seafood frittura that I have ever had; it was enough for three or four people, but I did my best to get through almost all of the squid, prawns, sardines, octopus, mackerel (I think), and flat fish and and and, --- there were 8 different animules at least, all very lightly coated and fried whole. I used the bread basket to put the shells and heads and spines that I didn't put down below the table for the local cat named Mario. He was very pleased to meet me.
Even the bottled water was exceptional -- Vera 750ml decorative glass that I actually saved and is right now in my fridge here at home as my new filtered water holder.
I gave the taxi driver's card to the restaurateur and he graciously called and explained where we were; I basked in the perfect scene until the driver walked on to the piazza and waved at me a little later. Communication was not easy with this driver, but when I clicked my seat belt and said "Amuni!" he smiled.
Restaurant
https://www.facebook.com/p/FAO-37-61578627675345/
Apocryphal text:
https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/religion/maps/primary/thecla.html