The Sican Network: partners
The “taxi driver” in love
with St. Elizabeth
and his life on the road
Domenico Fragapane’s Taxi Noleggio sole proprietorship
founded by his father who returned from Germany
An adolescent passion that became the work of the heart, away from the claustrophobic anguish of the four walls of an office that would have denied him the vastness of the sky, with its mutability of clouds that come and go, as if chasing each other.
Domenico Fragapane ‘s one-man business Taxi Noleggio is based in the small village of Santa Elisabetta, a town of just over two thousand inhabitants in the hinterland of Agrigento, at an elevation of about four hundred meters in the hills between the Platani and Salso rivers.
Founding the chauffeur-driven rental company in 1986 was his father Giuseppe, who left Sicily for Germany in the 1970s in search of work.
“Reluctantly,” says his son Domenico, “Dad was forced to leave his beloved Santa Elisabetta, but with the firm intention of returning there as soon as possible. His goal, in fact, was to work in the construction industry as a bricklayer, in order to put aside the money needed to build a house in his hometown; and he succeeded in his purpose. I was born in Germany, in Cologne, but already at the age of three I was in St. Elizabeth.”
country where he still lives with his family and with which he is in love; although, he confesses, there is also a special place in his heart for nearby Sant’Angelo Muxaro, a village where his wife Giusi is from and where he lived during the first 12 years of their marriage.
Under 50, Domenico Fragapane is one of those lucky ones who knows he is because he does a job he enjoys.
“The job of a driver,” he says, “has always fascinated me; I am a taxi driver in my soul. Since my adolescence, when I accompanied my father, this traveling around Sicily gave me a sense of freedom that accompanies me even now. I am a free spirit; I could never stay at a desk all day. When I was eighteen, as soon as I got my driver’s license, I immediately started working with my father. Then, in 2010, when he retired, I became the owner of the company. The further I go, the happier I am with what I do-it’s really my job, it gives me a unique sense of freedom, and then it allows me to meet so many people.”
Domenico Fragapane personally travels as much as one hundred and twenty thousand kilometers per year. His services are available twenty-four hours a day, 365 days a year for business and pleasure trips, travel to and from the Island’s airports. In addition to car rental with driver, minibuses from 9 to 18 seats are also available, and it is also possible to organize customized sightseeing excursions.
Domenico Fragapane’s Taxi Noleggio sole proprietorship is part of the Sicani Rural Quality District.
“Networking,” he says, “is fundamental. And for me, being part of the Sicani Network means above all believing in a project that allows us to grow both from an individual point of view and as a territory. A beautiful territory that must be loved and made known, promoting its traditions, its most genuine flavors and its most authentic soul. Dad thought he was wrong to return to Italy. Maybe, he said, if we had stayed in Germany, he could have guaranteed us children a better future… I, on the other hand, am glad he decided to come back: Santa Elisabetta is my country and I like living here.”
Text by Angela Mannino
