Italians are still fanatic about wearing branded clothes (and don’t even get me started about their attitude towards shoes). In fact, one guy I met today in Sant’Agata di Militello had “Fashion Marky,” yes Fashion Marky, written on his sweatshirt.

Naturally I want to be part of the designer name game. That’s why I set out on today’s 38-kilometer MedTrek from chic Capo d’Orlando through sweet Acquedolci to sunset-on-the-seaside Caronia wearing my “Trust Me…I’m an Alcoholic” T-shirt.

Not only to show off my brand but also to illustrate that a multiplicity of meanings can be associated with a few words on a T. I tried to explain to Fashion Marky, in my constantly improving Italian with a Sicilian twang, that the phrase “Trust Me…I’m an Alcoholic” could mean that “you can trust me with your life because I drink a lot” or “I personally know that I have a problem with alcohol” or “I’m a drunk and anything I tell you is questionable.”

Fashion Marky, though his eyes were hidden by his sunglasses and his hair was too gelled to show much emotion, wasn’t buying any of it. He refused a trade when I tried to exchange my T for his sweat. In fact, no one else made an offer for my shirt during the day and, between us, I don’t think very many people understood what it said.

Incidentally, if the self-portrait of me wearing my fashion T doesn’t look quite right, it’s because I wanted to give my neck an inebriated twist. And tomorrow I’m wearing a T that says “EVEN BIGGER GIANT F**KING ROBOTS ARE COMING.” That’ll get ‘em.

Sicilians didn’t seem to understand what this T meant either. Not one comment about “F”**king” as I walked 25 kms from Caronia to Tusa on April 27.

Text and Photos: Joel Stratte-McClure

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About Joel

Joel Stratte-McClure has been a global trekker since the 1970s. He lived in France for over 30 years, working as a journalist, before he turned his attention to a unique life-time-project of walking the shores of the Mediterranean. The first 4,401 kilometers are explored in his inspirational and entertaining first book "The Idiot and the Odyssey: Walking the Mediterranean." The next 4,401 kilometers are covered in the gods-filled sequel, "The Idiot and the Odyssey II: Myth, Madness and Magic on the Mediterranean,” published on Valentine's Day 2013. The last 4,401 kilometers will be discussed in the last book of the trilogy currently entitled "The Idiot and the Odyssey III: Alexander the Great Walks the Mediterranean."