Sigonella, Sicily (Italy)

We planned our departure from Ramstein Air Base for around 0900 but, before that, we had lots of trouble with flight plan. In addition, the field went IFR, along with freezing rain. Luckily, it didn't require de-icing, but you can imagine that I was getting worried we wouldn't be able to leave. In fact, I held on to the rental car until the last possible minute.  Fortunately, all our problems eventually vanished and we finally got off the ground by 1500.  We tentatively crossed the German-French border and passed through Dijon's airspace - this time, they didn't even say anything.  Everything seemed to be going great - the weather improved and the radios were working - until we hit the Italian border. After we checked in with the controllers there, we never heard from anyone again all day. We made calls everywhere we could, but it never worked... Flew right by Roma and Napoli with no comms - started to see Mount Etna pretty far out and noticed that there was LAVA flowing down the side of it!  The contrast between the surrounding darkness and bright orange/red flames was striking.  We finally reached some controllers near Sicily and they passed us over to people in Catania. That was a relief, actually. Etna was something - it looked like the lava came more than half way down the mountain - meanwhile, people acted like that was normal. This was my first time at Sigonella and, fortunately, we had very little trouble getting a place to stay. The Ship had left a message for us to get there by noon tomorrow, so we minimized crew rest to make sure we make it. My only complaint (and it seemed ridiculous at that point) was that the room wasn't very nice - lots of bugs and the ceiling was peeling...  Reminding myself that the Big Gray Boat (and its even more Spartan accommodations) was waiting for me, I happily fell asleep.