SABATO MUSICALE

As one might expect, the Italian charts are full of songs by the late and much missed Lucio Dalla.  Here is another favourite of mine:

Lucio Dalla - La sera dei miracoli

QUIZ: SICILIAN PROVERBS - 19 [APRIL]

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Some proverbs for this time of year for you tonight.  See if you can match the proverbs 1 - 6 with their meanings a - f.  You will find the answers at the end of the post.

1.  Acqua d'aprile lu porcu ocidi, lu voi 'ngrassa e la pècura ridi.

2.  Aprile chiuvusu, maja vinturusu:  annu fruttuusu.

3.  Aprile, come mi vidi; maju, come staju; giugnu, come sugnu; giugnettu, tuttu jettu.

4.  Aprili, favi chini: s'un su' ccà, su' a li marini.

5.  Àrvulu chi d'aprili nun fa ciuri, mancu nni fa 'ntra l'àutri staciuni.

6.  Çiurietti e prirricaturi duoppu Pasqua nun anu sapuri.

a.  A tree which doesn't flower in April will not do so in any other season.

b.  The April rains kill pigs, fatten oxen and make the sheep laugh [meaning that wet grass is not good for pigs].

c.  In April the broad bean pods are full, if not here, by the sea [meaning that broad bean plants growing near the sea are ready earlier].

d.  In April, as you see me:  in May, as I am: in June, as I am, too:  and in July, everything off [ similar to the English proverb "Don't cast a clout till May is out", meaning that you shouldn't discard your winter clothing too soon].

e.  Broccoli and priests have no taste after Easter [meaning there is a time for everything].

f.  A rainy April means a windy May and a good harvest.

Highlight the space below to see the answers:
1b 2f 3d 4c 5a 6e

AH, BUT WHICH ASIAN?

Remember my grammar peeves post of two weeks ago?  Here is another example of the genitivally challenged, this time from Catania:

SEVEN MEDLEY SINS

No day in Catania is complete without a ragù-filled arancino and an ice cream, especially when the ice cream consists of a "medley" of sette strati [seven layers] of delicious, sinful ingredients:

IN HONOUR OF THOSE WITH NO TEETH - A "LET'S BLOG OFF" POST

Every two weeks, the blogosphere comes alive with something called a Blog Off. A Blog Off is an event where bloggers of every stripe weigh in on the same topic on the same day. The topic for this round of the Blog Off is "Cookies".


When I saw that the topic for this round of the Blog Off was "Cookies", I was first relieved that those whose idea this was meant the culinary and not the technological kind and then peturbed as I'm not sure when a cookie is not a cookie!  On this side of the pond we call them "biscuits", you see, but according to the dictionary a cookie can also be "a flat and crisp cake".  Does that mean that Welshcakes are cookies, then?  You'll be able to decide for yourselves by the end of the post!


Living in Sicily means being surrounded by cookies and their names and recipes vary from town to town and even from village to village.  There are cookies for every occasion and they are made on the premises of every pasticceria and self-respecting bar.


Why are the Sicilians so good at making cookies?  Well, the Greeks brought honey to the island, the Arabs sugarcane and the Spanish chocolate from Mexico.  Nuns in convents began to make pastries as a source of income and Swiss and French pastry chefs arrived in the nineteenth century.  With all these influences and the island's natural resources, successful pastry-making was ensured.


Then there are the wonderful names that Sicilians give their cookies [or little cakes]: among my favourites are "virgin's breasts", so -called because of their mounded shape and affogapreti or "priest drowners", crunchy little biscuits filled with honey.  These are popular at Easter time and get their name either because they are so hard that you can't talk and eat them at the same time, so giving some to a priest would cause him to stop telling you off or because if you ate them during a sermon the sound of your chewing would "drown out" the priest's voice.  

affogapreti

In Modica, the city of chocolate, impannatighe biscuits are especially popular and there are variant spellings - 'mpanatigghie, impanatiglie - of this dialect word which is a corruption of Spanish empanadilla, meaning a filling enclosed in pastry.   I promise you that if you make these and offer them to your friends, no one will guess that they contain beef!  Here is a recipe for them:

Pastry:

800 gr plain flour

250 gr sugar

200 gr lard

12 egg yolks [!]

a glass of water if needed

Filling:

350 gr finely chopped almonds

250 gr lean minced [ground] beef

400 gr sugar

90 gr bitter chocolate, grated

25 gr cinnamon

a few drops of vanilla essence

1 dessertspoon cocoa powder

grated rind of 1 lemon

4 egg whites

To make the pastry, rub the lard into the flour and sugar. Add yolks and a little water if necessary to make a dough. [It will be very sticky at first, but it gets better!]

Cook the minced meat in a little water and grind down in a processor. Add to the other filling ingredients in a bowl and mix all well together.

Let both the dough and filling rest in the fridge - for 24 hours if possible.

Roll out the dough and cut into circles using a coffee saucer. Put some filling on each round, then fold over to a half-moon shape. Stick the edges together and make lines with the prongs of a fork. Cut a slit in the top of each one.

Put the pastries on a lightly greased tin and bake at 150 C - 175 C for about 20 minutes. Keep an eye on them. Serve cold, dusted with icing sugar.

impannatighe

That's a recipe from Sicily; now, what of Wales?  I've mentioned Welshcakes several times in my Blog Off posts and some of you have asked for a recipe so here is how I make them in Sicily:

1 lb plain flour

A few drops of vanilla flavouring [sold in little phials in Italy] or vanilla essence [not an authentic ingredient but my Sicilian friends like the cakes better when I add it.]

8 oz margarine, chopped into cubes

6 oz sultanas

6 oz caster sugar

2 eggs

1 teasp mixed spice  [Friends send this from Britain. It's similar to pumpkin pie spice.]

a little milk to mix the pastry

The easiest way is to just whizz everything together in a food processor, using as much milk as you need to make a firm dough.  On a floured board, roll out the dough to about 0.5" thickness and then cut into rounds with a medium-sized fluted cutter.  

Now, you really need a flat griddle to cook them on but you can use a heavy frying pan.  I use an Italian pan called a "testo romagnolo" and I found out that it was the perfect flat griddle substitute by accident! Grease the griddle or pan very lightly with lard and heat it.  Lift the cakes on with a fish slice and cook for about 1 minute on each side.  You have to watch them carefully and flip them over quickly! As soon as they are done, lift them out onto cooling trays.  [I always end up with some that are more "done" than others but it doesn't matter.] Sprinkle the cakes with caster sugar while they are still warm.  They are traditionally eaten warm with butter and honey but they are good cold too and can be eaten just as they are.  All my Sicilian friends like them and think there is ricotta in them! 

Last Christmas I used dried cranberries instead of sultanas in them and this was a success but don't tell any Welsh friends that!

Welshcakes at the front
of my St David's Day table

I cannot finish this post without quoting my favourite Sicilian proverb again:

" 'U Signuri runa 'i viscotta a cu' nun avi rienti - God gives biscuits to those with no teeth."

Below is the full list of blogs participating in this week's theme:

"ITALIALICIOUS" GIVEAWAY - closing on 31st March

With just five days to go before this fantastic giveaway closes, I am reposting the details tonight:

Sicily Scene has linked up with the innovative Italian gift box company ITALIALICIOUS to bring you this blog’s first ever giveaway!

On offer is a handcrafted giftbox containing:

- Mint and Chocolato Cookies
- Chestnut Jam
- Dragées [hazelnut dark chocolate pralines]

What’s more, there are no geographical limits for this great giveaway!

Read on to find out how to enter:

Have you always wanted to send some delicious Italian food or wines to friends or family but been unsure of how to choose? Or perhaps you’ve been put off by the cost of postage or worried about packing your gift securely. Worry no longer for you need look no further than the young and innovative ITALIALICIOUS company who will take all the worry out of selecting and sending your best gift ever!

This forward-looking company, based in Viterbo [Lazio] Italy selects only top quality products which its managers use themselves and then they pack them into beautiful, handcrafted gift boxes and dispatch them worldwide for delivery within 72 hours of order placement.

You can choose from organic pasta, different types of rice, sauces, olive oils, chocolates, jams, creams, biscuits and standard and luxury wines. There’s even a wine gift box complete with corkscrew and glasses!

Choosing your gift couldn’t be easier because the ITALIALICIOUS team have broken it down into easy steps: you just pick your box, customise it with your message and then select the products to fill it. There is a choice of payment methods including Paypal and prices start at just €29.00. It’s all so easy and comfortable to do but the recipient will think you spent hours choosing their present and will be thrilled. And don’t forget that he or she will be enjoying these quality products within just 72 hours! What could be simpler?

So next time you are wondering what to send for that special occasion, to thank a client or just to let someone know you are thinking of them, THINK ITALIALICIOUS!

Now, to enter the giveaway competition, all you have to do is:

1. Register on the ITALILICIOUS site.
2. Like the ITALIALICIOUS page on facebook.
3. Visit the ITALIALICIOUS website, then come back and leave a comment here saying what you like best about it.

You have until March 31st to enter. On April 2nd a winner will be picked at random from the commenters on this and the original post.

THINK ITALIALICIOUS TODAY!

SABATO MUSICALE

I've spent a pleasant day in Catania so here is something to honour the great maestro of that fair city:

Bellini - Casta Diva from Norma:  Daniela Dessi

FRIDAY RISOTTO

Friday night is "comfort food night" and for me, the two great comfort foods of the world are mashed potato and risotto.  As I had a supply of the Sicilian asparagus I showed you yesterday, this evening it had to be asparagus risotto.

These quantities will serve four as a starter:

What really crowns a nice, creamy risotto is a little butter stirred in at the end and for this one I made some lemon butter.  All you do is add some grated lemon rind to about 125 gr unsalted butter, wrap the butter in foil and let it firm up again in the fridge while you prepare the risotto. 

Trim the hardest stalks from c. 350 gr asparagus, then cut it into small pieces [best done with a scissors]. Sicilian asparagus has small, thin spears which you will lose if you try to keep them separate from the cut-up stalks, as some recipes suggest, so just rinse all the asparagus together, then throw it into a pan of boiling, salted water and simmer until it is just tender - 15 - 20 minutes.  

Meanwhile, chop a small white onion or half a medium one finely with a stick of celery. [Sicilian celery is very thin so you won't need much if you are using another kind.]  Drain the asparagus and set aside.

Have 500 gr arborio or other risotto rice ready and in a jug, have ready 150 ml white wine and 550 ml water. In a wide pan, heat 2 tablesp olive oil and add the onion, celery and just a little of the rice.  Stir it all around but don't let the onion brown. After a couple of minutes add the rest of the rice, all the asparagus, seasoning to taste and enough of the water and wine mixture to just cover the mixture.  Over a medium heat, stir until the rice has absorbed the liquid, then add half the remaining liquid and simmer till the rice has absorbed this too. Now add the last of the liquid and simmer till absorbed.  [The whole absorption process will probably take about 20 mins.]

Off the heat, quickly stir in a generous couple of tablesp of grated parmesan, grana or ragusano cheese.  Spoon the risotto into serving bowls, add a generous knob of the lemon butter to each and you're done!  

As I've said many times before, there is no secret to preparing a good risotto.  In my opinion, you just need:

- the right kind of rice

- a wide but not too deep pan

- the patience to add the liquid gradually 

- to remember that Italians like their risotto "wetter" than the Brits

- that all-important butter to stir in at the end!

This dish was just what I needed after a week at the chalk face!

ANOTHER SIGN OF SPRING

Sicilian wild asparagus

MIGRATION UPDATE - 2012

At the end of 2011 it was thought that would-be immigrants heading for Europe via Italy's southernmost ports, often travelling in unfit boats operated by people-traffickers, had been, for the most part, discouraged from beginning their perilous journeys which almost always end in loss of hope if not tragedy.

As I reported last year, many of the desperate souls who take their chances in what I call the "boatloads of sorrow" had been fleeing retribution after the "Arab spring" and had been disembarked [often forcibly] on or near the Italian island of Lampedusa where the inhabitants are not unkind but fear for their own situation and their tourist industry.

In September frustrated North Africans being held in the island's refugee centre set fire to the building to draw attention to their plight and the Port of Lampedusa, having nowhere else to accommodate them, was declared  "unsafe" for any future new arrivals.  

Now, with an improvement in the weather, it looks as if the boats are going to start arriving in large numbers again and the Mayor of Lampedusa has asked the Italian government to reopen the refugee centre urgently.  

Nearly 300 refugees were rescued from three inadequate boats off the island on Saturday and sadly five people were found dead on one of them.  A pregnant woman travelling on the same boat was airlifted to a Sicilian hospital.  

Meanwhile another near-tragedy took place in the Port of Palermo yesterday when a young Tunisian, realising that he was about to be repatriated, threw himself from the deck of a ship onto the quayside.  He suffered several fractures and has undergone surgery in one of the city's hospitals.

Aid agencies have joined in the call upon Rome to reopen the refugee centre on Lampedusa before another tragedy strikes. UNHCR estimates that 60,000 refugees landed in Italy during 2011.

SPECIAL PANCETTA

I found this special white pancetta, made by non-industrial methods, in the supermarket.  It has a very pleasant, mild flavour.  What did I make with it?  This old favourite.

STROMBOLI STOPS SMOKING

I am not referring to the volcano, however:  It seems that the only tobacconist in the little village of Ginostra on the island applied to have his licence renewed six months ago but has received no response.  Therefore it will be impossible to buy cigarettes in the village from Easter and, Italian bureaucracy being what it is, this situation may continue into the summer tourist season. 

The 40 or so villagers are protesting to the government and are urging tourists to do the same.  Personally, I think they should leave things as they are!

SABATO MUSICALE

Enjoy this track from Pino Daniele's new album La Grande Madre.  The Neapolitan singer will be performing in Catania on tour on 29th March.

Pino Daniele - Melodramma

QUIZ: SICILIAN PROVERBS - 18 [WEATHER]

At the end of a week in which the weather has gone from a three-day hurricane to what would be regarded as a heatwave in Britain, here is a Sicilian proverbs quiz in its honour.  I hope you have some weekend fun trying to match the proverbs 1 - 6 with their meanings a - f.  You will find the answers at the bottom of the post.

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1.  Cca çiovi supra ô vagnatu.

2.  'U suli quannu nesci, nesci ppi tutti [meaning everyone can find fulfillment in nature].

3.  L'aria pulita nun si scanta rê trona.

4.  A quattru cosi crèdito nun dati: amuri di donna e carità di frati, suli di 'nvernu e nuvuli di stati.

5.  Arco sirìtinu fa bon tempu a lu matinu, arcu matinali jinchi pùzzura e funtani.

6.  Quannu çiovi nun sicca nenti.


a. Clean air isn't afraid of thunder [meaning that someone with a clear conscience needn't fear malicious gossip].

b.  A rainbow in the evening means good weather in the morning; a rainbow in the morning fills wells and fountains.

c.  When the sun rises, it rises for all.

d. There are four things you shouldn't believe in:  the love of women and the charity of friars, winter sunshine and summer clouds.

e.  When it rains, nothing dries up [meaning there's plenty for all].

f.  Here it rains on the person who is already soaked  [meaning misfortunes do not come singly.]

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For answers, highlight the space below:

1f, 2c, 3a, 4d, 5b, 6e.

"ITALIALICIOUS" GIVEAWAY

Sicily Scene has linked up with the innovative Italian gift box company ITALIALICIOUS to bring you this blog’s first ever giveaway!

On offer is a handcrafted giftbox containing:

- Mint and Chocolato Cookies
- Chestnut Jam
- Dragées [hazelnut dark chocolate pralines]

What’s more, there are no geographical limits for this great giveaway!

Read on to find out how to enter:

Have you always wanted to send some delicious Italian food or wines to friends or family but been unsure of how to choose? Or perhaps you’ve been put off by the cost of postage or worried about packing your gift securely. Worry no longer for you need look no further than the young and innovative ITALIALICIOUS company who will take all the worry out of selecting and sending your best gift ever!

This forward-looking company, based in Viterbo [Lazio] Italy selects only top quality products which its managers use themselves and then they pack them into beautiful, handcrafted gift boxes and dispatch them worldwide for delivery within 72 hours of order placement.

You can choose from organic pasta, different types of rice, sauces, olive oils, chocolates, jams, creams, biscuits and standard and luxury wines. There’s even a wine gift box complete with corkscrew and glasses!

Choosing your gift couldn’t be easier because the ITALIALICIOUS team have broken it down into easy steps: you just pick your box, customise it with your message and then select the products to fill it. There is a choice of payment methods including Paypal and prices start at just €29.00. It’s all so easy and comfortable to do but the recipient will think you spent hours choosing their present and will be thrilled. And don’t forget that he or she will be enjoying these quality products within just 72 hours! What could be simpler?

So next time you are wondering what to send for that special occasion, to thank a client or just to let someone know you are thinking of them, THINK ITALIALICIOUS!

Now, to enter the giveaway competition, all you have to do is:

1. Register on the ITALILICIOUS site.
2. Like the ITALIALICIOUS page on facebook.
3. Visit the ITALIALICIOUS website, then come back and leave a comment here saying what you like best about it.

You have until March 31st to enter. On April 2nd a winner will be picked at random from the commenters.

THINK ITALIALICIOUS TODAY!

NO DYING - BY ORDER

This "late" news tonight is not a Sicilian story but it's too good not to share with you and it does come from Southern Italy:

In a country where the mayors of small towns have been introducing some absurd and incomprehensible bans over the past couple of years, the Mayor of Falciano del Massico, a town of 4,000 inhabitants in Caserta Province [Campania] has issued the "ultimate" prohibition - he has forbidden the town's citizens to die.  

You may, like me, be wondering what exactly the punishment will be for those who dare to flout this new law but this is not known. 

The problem is, you see, that Falciano del Massico was a hamlet of neighbouring Carinola until 1964.  In that year, the town gained its autonomy and own administration but the one thing it did not gain was a cemetery.  The boundary changes meant that the cemetery became the property of the Carinola administration and it is now full.

The Mayor of Falciano del Massico, Giulio Cesare Fava, says he issued the ban to draw the attention of the relevant authorities to the town's plight and he has certainly drawn the attention of the media!

Funnily enough, recently a "friend" of mine has been telling me that I should start thinking about my funeral arrangements, despite my reassuring her that I am not planning to leave just yet.  I think I'll tell her I am going to live in Falciano del Massico.

COMING THIS WEEK - "ITALIALICIOUS" GIVEAWAY!

Sicily Scene's very first giveaway competiton, in conjunction with ITALIALICIOUS, is coming this week!  Don't miss it!

Find ITALIALICIOUS on facebook.

GRAMMAR PEEVES - A "LET'S BLOG OFF" POST

Every two weeks, the blogosphere comes alive with something called a Blog Off. A Blog Off is an event where bloggers of every stripe weigh in on the same topic on the same day. The topic for this round of the Blog Off is "What's your grammar pet peeve?"

Oh, what a gift this week's topic is to a language teacher! I could go on and on and I probably will!  As those nice folk say over on the Blog Off site, nearly everyone is publishing at least some content on the internet these days and "the English language is being abused like never before." 

Yes, everyone is a "writer" these days and, by prefacing their names or twitter handles with either that word or "author", many are making sure that we know it.  Grammar rules are being broken everywhere and there are already societies for the protection of the apostrophe, semicolon and comma.  

The point is, does this rule-breaking matter?  That will depend to a large extent on who the target reader is and if he or she is someone like me the answer is "Yes" because if the writing is ungrammatical I will stop reading. 

Ridding the publishing world of the "men in suits" might be a good development in some ways but with them we are losing the quality control that used to make reading a joy and what the self-publishing outfits won't give you is an editor.  If, as a consequence, we are all to become our own editors, then, we need to take extra care and respect the reader by making our offerings legible - and yes, that means grammatical.

So what are the grammar mistakes that really drive me mad?  Number one has to be misuse of the apostrophe.  I cannot for the life of me understand why so many people find its use difficult because the rules are actually so simple. In my hometown of Cardiff I used to want to go around with a red pen to correct the signs of traders offering "potatoes' " or "carrots' ". I wish I'd written a book about it before Lynne Truss got the idea and I'm sure the erudite Stan Carey won't mind if I quote here a ditty I made up for a competition on his site a while ago. [No, I didn't win!]

Oh, what a problem is “it’s”

It’s driving me out of my wits

When “its” means “belong”

the apostrophe’s wrong

but students think “its” is the pits!

I wish that my name were Lynne Truss

who, spotting this error in us,

put it all in a book -

you should have a look,

She made a few million thus.

I took the photograph below in Modica Bassa some years back and it illustrates perfectly the kinds of mistakes that are made with the possessive apostrophe.  I would add that there is some excuse for the non-native speaker of English but none whatsoever for someone brought up and educated in the UK!

In case any of my students are reading this post I have explained the rules here on the EIS blog.

Other pet grammar peeves of mine are "could / should / would of" for "could / should / would have", the fairly new habit of using the continuous tenses with "state" verbs [ as in "I am loving"] and the use of "sat" for "sitting". 

Of the mistakes that Italians learning English most commonly make, "use to" to express a present habit [as in "We use to go to the sea every summer" for "We go to the sea every summer"] is the hardest to eradicate and I'd better not even get started on the present perfect tense ["have done" rather than "did"] because you Americans use it less often than the Brits.  The placing of "very much" in a sentence is also a nightmare and day after day I have to remind students that it is usually placed at the end. ["I like English very much", not "I like very much English."]

Any linguist will tell you that much erroneous grammar eventually becomes acceptable in the language - if that were not so we would still all be speaking Elizabethan English - but this is a slow process and it is almost as if there is an invisible consensus.  The jury's still out on the apostrophe so I will continue, when in the UK, to carry a large red pen with me wherever I go.

I have been loving very much this topic.

Below is the full list of bloggers participating in this theme:

THE MARCH WIND DOTH BLOW....

...and it certainly blew over the weekend in eastern Sicily!  Cyclone Athos liked Sicily so much that it stayed for over 48 hours, uprooting trees, blowing down road signs, destroying roofs and making the heck of a noise about it all.  It was pretty scary, actually, and the worst weather I've known in seven years in Sicily.

As for the rain, well, it wasn't enough to stop a Cardiff girl going out and about as usual but I got splashed so many times by cars in the process that by Saturday evening I was considering starting a new life as a duck. "You can't walk home in this", said my hairdresser in the afternoon.  "Why not? It's only a drop or two", said I, thus convincing him, if he needed further convincing, that I am going dotty in my old age.

The main problem here is not the amount of rain but the fact that houses are not built to withstand it so this was the scene in my bedroom by Saturday morning:

By this time Modica's mayor had ordered schools to remain closed - Saturday is a school day here -  as had the mayors of several other towns.  Power lines were down in the countryside, boat services to the smaller islands were suspended and the 19 crew members of a tanker which had run aground off Capo Santa Panagia [Siracusa] had to be airlifted to safety by coastguard.

And soon we'll all be grumbling about the heat....

ARE SICILIAN MEN GOING GAGA?

You can find out by reading my article today on the Times of Sicily site!

SABATO MUSICALE - UN PO' DI NOSTALGIA

If I cared about sport, I could have had divided loyalties today as Italy played Wales in the Six Nations Rugby Tournament at the Millennium Stadium in my home town of Cardiff.

My plan to fly the flags of both nations on my balcony was foiled by atrocious weather so, in honour of the two cultures, here is an old favourite of mine - Jimmy Fontana singing the Italian version of the Tom Jones hit, Delilah:

Jimmy Fontana - La nostra favola

COSTA CONCORDIA - THE SONG

In January I wrote about Antonello Tonna, the catanese pianist who survived the Costa Concordia disaster.  Well, now Mr Tonna and another survivor, the Dutch singer Justine Pelmelay, have written a song about the tragedy, Il tempo si è fermato - Time Stood Still and here it is:

Antonello Tonna e Justine Pelmelay - Il tempo si è fermato

Mr Tonna told lasiciliaweb that all proceeds from the song will be made over to the Island of Giglio shopkeepers who helped passengers on the night of the disaster. 

FESTA DELLA DONNA 2012

Following last week's St David's Day bash, I had no energy left to make sweet goodies to celebrate International Women's Day so I got some squisiti biscuits, told my students about the Suffragettes and decided that the S shape could represent those brave ladies today:

A friend gave me these mimosa blossoms, as is traditional for the Festa della Donna:

Why do Italians celebrate International Women's Day with mimosa blossom?  It was the idea of the partisan, politician and women's rights campaigner Teresa Mattei, who suggested mimosa as a symbol of the day in 1946 for the simple reason that the flowers are in season at the beginning of March and could be obtained at little or no cost.  Thus the pretty blossoms continue to brighten the lives of women all over Italy on this day.

Teresa Mattei

"ALL THE WORLD'S A SMALL TOWN"

Tax evasion is rife at all levels in Italy and the current government believes it is the cause of many of the country's problems.  In recent weeks the Financial Police have carried out several much publicised raids on businesses in various parts of Italy but it will take a sea change in habits to put a stop to day to day, small -scale evasion.

Hats off, then, to enterprising Palermo restaurant owner Filippo Lucchese, who is offering a 20% discount  to any customer in possession of a fiscal receipt issued on the same day or the day before for a service or purchase costing at least €40.00.  Mr Lucchese explains that his idea is simple - to raise awareness and involve all citizens and consumers in his town in the fight against tax evasion.

Talking of receipts, Mr Fargione of Modica  - who likes to write wry comments in dialect on his - has some advice for his customers and this wise counsel can be roughly translated as "Watch out for your short and curlies ", the implication being that everything is now being taxed to the hilt.

However, there is also solace for Mr Monti, whose image has been sellotaped to the side of one of Mr Fargione's serviette holders, thus according the Prime Minister true fame at last!

Tuttu 'u munnu è paisi - All the world's a small town.

- Sicilian proverb

SIGNS OF SPRING

Two signs of spring in Modica's Sorda district today:

The borage flowers are out

and a temperature of 16°C is sufficient for signor Fargione to start making his gelati.  Congratulations to him on being "first" again!

RUNNING WITH NINO

I've written about Nino Baglieri, Modica's much loved unofficial saint, both on this blog and for Italy Magazine and I am happy to be able to report that, five years after his death, the request for his Beatification has been made.  


For the past few days, Nino's house in Modica has been a place of pilgrimage and his family were particularly pleased to welcome young people from the Salesian movement at the weekend.  


"Nino", said his sister, "encouraged young people to fight against the difficulties of everyday life, to go forward and never give up."


Nino Baglieri was 17 years old in 1968 when a fall from some scaffolding left him tetraplegic and for ten years afterwards he lived in self-imposed isolation, cursing both God and his fate.  Then, in 1978, during a prayer meeting in his house, he found God again.  From that moment he offered his suffering to Christ and, having joined the Salesians, became an inspiration to young and old alike.  He offered guidance to others who were suffering and, holding a pen in his mouth, began to write.  He travelled, too, spreading his message of love everywhere he went.  Those who visited him in Modica say that it was always Nino who comforted them and not the sick man who needed solace.

On his death bed, Nino asked for his tracksuit and sports shoes to be put out so that he "could run into the arms of God." It is for this reason that the young Salesians who gathered in Modica on Sunday adopted as their slogan the words, "Corro verso la santità. Come Nino, l'atleta di Dio" - "I'm running towards sainthood, like God's athlete, Nino."

Although five years is the minimum period that has to elapse between a person's death and the beginning of their Beatification procedure,  it usually takes longer.  ["Exceptional circumstances" were cited in the case of Pope John Paul 11.]  The formal request for the Beatification of Nino was made by Don Pascual Chavez, Rector General of the Salesians, in Noto Cathedral on Saturday.

Corriamo con Nino!

SABATO MUSICALE - LUCIO DALLA

The world of Italian music is in mourning this weekend for one of its greatest lights, the singer-songwriter Lucio Dalla, who died suddenly on Thursday morning.  He is probably best known outside Italy for the song Caruso.

As one who came to Lucio Dalla's music late in life, I appreciated the melodies as oases in a world of noise and I loved the beautifully crafted lyrics.

Grazie, Lucio.

Lucio Dalla - Cara



"Buonanotte, anima mia 
adesso spengo la luce e così sia"

"Goodnight, my soul
Now I'll put out the light and so be it."

BRUNCHING IN SICILY

Throughout Italy it has become fashionable for bars and restaurants to advertise lunch as "brunch" when what they serve bears no relationship to a brunch at all.  So yesterday, for St David's Day, I decided to do the thing properly for a few Italian and expat friends.

There was sausage and baked bean casserole in the kitchen for those who wanted it - the beans came from Cristaldi in Catania - and my main table looked like this:

I like to make "Glamorgan sausages" - which contain cheese, not meat - in round shapes and there they are on the left. Those are Nigella's "Welsh Rarebit muffins" next to them - what my muffins don't have in height they make up for in breadth - and that's homemade chutney and cranberry sauce being served with the cheese.

I know my bara brith, which I'd made on Sunday, didn't look perfect but sliced and served with butter and a friend's homemade marmalade, everyone thought it tasted good!

Those are my "chocolate thingies" on the cakestands, with my strawberry tiramisù at the back and almost-Cadbury's chocolate fingers on the right.  [Thanks, Lidl.]

My "tipsy cake" became rather an Italian one as, given the unavailability of sherry,  I used Maraschino in it.  I'd found the sugared sheep in the supermarket and decided they would be an appropriate decoration:

And of course there were Welshcakes:

A Welsh male voice choir CD,  my blown-up plastic daffodil, good company and a singalong completed the occasion.

DYDD GWYL DEWI SANT 2012

Remembering that other lovely country today:

Katherine Jenkins - Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau - National Anthem of Wales


Happy St David's Day, everybody!