"CENTOCHIESE" UPDATE

For those of you who have been following the short story A Bench for Vecchietta on the Tales from Centochiese blog, the last two installments are up on the blog:

Part 5

Part 6

I'm told that another story is coming soon!

LOOKING FOR LUIGI

Casa natale di Luigi Pirandello

As a French and Italian undergraduate back in the late sixties and early seventies, one of the authors whose work was to have a lasting effect on me was Luigi Pirandello, born 150 years ago today. Although or perhaps because his works were complex and posed questions rather than answering them, they immediately appealed to me. A recurring theme in the works of Pirandello is the nature of truth, probably most famously explored, for British and American audiences, in the play Sei personaggi in cerca d’autore (Six Characters in Search of an Author) but my favourite has always been Enrico IV (Henry IV). The title refers to Henry IV of Germany, Holy Roman Emperor and the plot centres around an actor who believes himself to be Henry in “real” life – or does he?

It is always difficult to justify a liking for authors whose political views you abhor and Pirandello, although declaring himself apolitical,  initially supported fascism.  However,  in 1927 he tore up his party membership card in front of fascist leaders and was thereafter watched closely by the régime’s police.

I knew that Pirandello had been born in the Agrigento or Girgenti countryside, but I never thought I would visit his birthplace or dreamt that Agrigento would become one of my favourite cities.

No one, then, was more surprised than me when, on a hot October day during my first visit to Sicily in 1992, I found myself standing outside the Casa Natale di Luigi Pirandello (Pirandello Birthplace) at 12.55 pm., five minutes before it was due to close. I had left Modica at 5 am in order to catch a bus to Gela, where I had despaired of the connecting bus to Agrigento ever arriving, let alone leaving. Once I arrived (late) in Agrigento, it had taken the rest of the morning to find the stop for the local bus that would take me, via a circuitous route on which it seemed to call in on every housing estate in the city's suburbs, to Luigi. I explained what had happened to the custodian and she kindly let me in and went out of her way to explain the exhibits. Then I walked down to the author’s grave under a pine tree, from which you can see the sea and, on a clear day, the coast of Africa.  Pirandello had written,

“Take my urn to Sicily and place it under a stone in the Girgenti (Agrigento) countryside, where I was born." 

I, less eloquently, said, 

“Luigi, I’ve come to see you. It’s taken me a long time and you weren’t always easy to study, nor were you easy to find today. But you taught me to look at life from many different angles and, although at times I've cursed you for it, today I'm here to thank you."

A page from my postcard album

Luigi Pirandello:  Agrigento, 28 June 1867 - Rome, 10 December 1936

RELIGION AND RAVIOLI

The weekend again saw the festival of the Sacred Heart or Sacro Cuore and, although I wouldn't describe myself as a religious person, there is something that I find very uplifting and restful about watching groups of people gathering together to celebrate their religion in a joyful, peaceful  way without causing any harm or disurbance to anyone.  It may be a small festival and it may not be very sophisticated but it is, quite simply, "good" in the Christian sense of the word.

I was invited to watch the procession from a friend's balcony and we had a great time chatting out there, intermittently watching the proceedings, listening to the music coming from the church courtyard, exclaiming at the fireworks and finally, eating.

For yes, there has to be food and this year the programme proudly announced the Sagra (food festival) of ricotta-filled ravioli in sauce - not any old sauce, you understand, but a rich tomato sauce that is lovingly cooked for a long time with 'strattu and pork.  The cook serving the trays of ravioli told my friend's husband that she had earlier made no less than 1,000 ravioli by hand! Well, faced with that information, I'm sure you would agree that it would have been churlish to leave any of the tempting offerings on the individual trays on which they were served. Everyone who bought a tray got ricotta ravioli with not just sauce, but a generous portion of the pork used to flavour it, a sausage, bread and cheese and some sweet ravioli to finish.  Of course, it wouldn't have been an Italian summer festival without ice cream and I had made and taken along some of  that old stand-by of mine which I call "chocolate thingies".

Keep gathering in peace, cari modicani, and I hope the "ravioli lady", once she has recovered from Sunday, gets to make many more!

SUMMER TIDES, 2017 - 2

Yesterday the UN and people around the world marked World Refugee Day. It followed a weekend during which 2,500 desperate souls were saved in the Mediterranean and fell the day after 1,096 of those rescued had been brought to Palermo and 495 to Pozzallo. These numbers are in no way unusual these days.

Among the migrants who disembarked at Palermo on Monday were the only four survivors of a dinghy which left Libya for Italy last Thursday with 126 - 130 people on board. Before long a group of people traffickers approached the dinghy and took the engine. Sudden movement among the migrants in the dinghy probably caused it to sink and the survivors were found clinging to the wreckage by Libyan fishermen, who deposited them on yet another migrant boat in the area. They were then rescued, for the second time, by the Italian Coast Guard.  The four survivors said that many women and children were among those who drowned.

Speaking on World Refugee Day, President Mattarella called for cooperation in finding long-term, rather than emergency, solutions to what he called a human tragedy to which Italy cannot be indifferent because migrant arrivals in the country are a daily, not an occasional, occurence.  He said that this would involve a commitment to preventing conflict in the regions most at risk, combatting climate change (which leads to "environmental migration") and making choices regarding the causes of conflict.  He emphasised that such action must involve the whole international community as the effects of migration are being experienced not only in the countries most involved but worldwide and because migration flows need to be managed on a global level.

UNHCR estimates that 2,000 lives have been lost on the Mediterranean migrant route since the beginning of this year. Of the 77,000 who have attempted this dangerous journey in 2017, 60,000 have reached Italy.

"This is not about sharing a burden. It is about sharing a global responsibility, based not only the broad idea of our common humanity but also on the very specific obligations of international law. The root problems are war and hatred, not people who flee; refugees are among the first victims of terrorism." 

- UN Secretary-General, António Guterres

HERE COMES SUMMER

And here comes Bertie-Pierrine with her summer haircut! It makes you feel waggy when you're cooler.

SUMMER TIDES - 2017

Today, it is being reported that 2,500 people have been rescued in operations coordinated by the Italian Coast Guard in the Mediterranean and the weekend still has five hours to go.  UNHCR has expressed its deepest concern at the latest deaths on this migrant route, as should we all.  The organisation also reiterates, as has the Italian government many times, that "solutions cannot just be be in Italy."  IOM reports that from the beginning of this year to 7th June, there were 61,234 migrant arrivals in Italy.

Now, no one can be more aware than a Brit this week that the world's leaders have other things on their minds but their willingness to ignore the migration situation in the Mediterranean and let the Italians and NGOs get on with the rescue and recovery operations is nothing short of disgraceful. Where, I ask again, is our common humanity?

As if this were not bad enough, now a row has broken out in which the Libyan Coast Guard has accused NGOs who help in the rescues of being in contact with people traffickers on migrant boats and waiting for the boats in Libyan waters. Yesterday they ordered them out. This is not the first time that such an accusation has been made as the matter has been brought into question within Italy and an inquiry is in process. MSF says it carried out the rescues this weekend in the normal way with guidance from the Italians and MOAS says it has never received calls from people traffickers. Not being a journalist and therefore not having all the necessary sources at my fingertips, I will make only two comments on a matter which is sub judice in Italy: Today I have read, for the first time, articles referring to the migration "industry" and the change of terminology may be indicative. However, someone has to save the migrants' lives and that is what the NGOs, under Italian Coast Guard coordination, have been doing this weekend.

Four of these ships yesterday saved 1,129 people and recovered three bodies. Eight people were confirmed to have died in a deflated dinghy off the Libyan port of Garabulli but at least 52 have disappeared.

A total of 716 migrants are being brought to Palermo along with one body. Of the survivors, 53 are children and 31 of these are reported to be four to five years old. 

This is only the beginning of the summer season so the attempts to sail in more clement weather are not going to end any time soon. MSF has again called for safe corridors for migrants.  The UNHCR article says that 1,770 people are believed to have died trying to reach Italy on the Mediterranean route this year and many of these will have died long before they saw the sea, in the Sahara desert. Others will presumably have died in what amount to slave camps in Libya and today, as a Save the Chidren ship brought 219 migrants, of whom 25 were unaccompanied minors, to Trapani, delegates from the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture (already in the area) were at the quayside.

SABATO MUSICALE

Sorry about the lack of posting this week, everyone - I've been somewhat distracted by events in my home country, as you may imagine. 

This morning I decided it was time to head for Catania for a change of scene and some ingredients I can't find in Modica. (I don't know why bay leaves have disappeared at the moment - they are like gold dust!)  Here is my catenese summer breakfast and my "haul" from Cristaldi:

Well, night is falling and I'm feeling sentimental, so here is a song for everyone who's ever lain awake missing someone:

Arisa - La notte

NEW INSTALLMENT ON "CENTOCHIESE"

Some of you may like to know that part 4 of the short story A Bench for Vecchietta is up on the Tales from Centochiese blog. Part 5 is coming on Wednesday.

DOMENICA MUSICALE

What else, tonight?

Stay safe, wherever you are.

Ariana Grande with Parrs Wood High School Choir - My Everything  #OneLoveManchester

"IL GATTOPARDO" TO BECOME TV SERIES

Back in 2009, in part 1 of two articles on books about Sicily for Italy Magazine, I explained how Il Gattopardo had inspired me as a teeneager and was perhaps even instrumental in eventually bringing me to Sicily. I've reread the book many times since then and I can't tell you how often I've watched Visconti's iconic film of the same title.

Il Gattopardo [The Leopard] by Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa was published posthumously in 1958 and now it is to be turned into a television series. The rights have been acquired by the Italian company Indiana Productions who will work with the book's original publishers, Feltrinelli, and have the support of Gioacchino Lanza Tomasi, Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa's adopted son and heir to his intellectual property.

The series will be internationally produced and will be filmed in locations mentioned in the book. Marco Cohen of Indiana Productions has said it will definitely not be a remake of the Visconti film, as that would be impossible but it will be authentic.

The production team are exploring the possibilities for an English language adaptation and the cast - top secret for the moment - will probably be international.

Carlo Feltrinelli said,

"Il Gattopardo not only put our publishing house on the map but also played an important part in the history of literature.  Today it allows us to relive a crucial moment for our identity as Italians and as Europeans. We are very happy about this new production which, nearly 60 years after the publication of the book, will help us discover the significance for our time of  Tomasi di Lampedusa's masterpiece and introduce it to a new generation."

Shooting is expected to start in Sicily in 2019.

SIGNING FOR AMATRICE

Last night on this blog I expressed the hope that something good would come out of last week's G7 summit in Taormina and here's a positive development from a project that even its creators didn't really expect to take off:

The enterprising owners of the clothing store La Pagoda in Taormina's Corso Umberto decided to display a canvas with portraits of the G7 leaders on it in the hope that some of them would sign it. They were quite surprised when President Macron, the First Ladies of Italy and Japan and Justin Trudeau stopped by to do so. You can see a video of President Macron signing the canvas and having a chat here.

The canvas will now be auctioned and the funds raised will go to Amatrice, the town devastated by the earthquake of 24.8.16 and which was struck again on 26.10.16. President Trudeau found time to visit Amatrice on Sunday in a gesture of solidarity.

NEW EPISODES ON SICILIAN STORY BLOG

I thought some of you might like to know that there are two new installments of the story A Bench for Vecchietta on the Sicilian story blog Tales from Centochiese. I am told that part 4 is coming next Wednesday:

A WEEK OF CONTRASTS

Italian G7 Presidency 2017

Tortelli with basil and pecorino in a Sicilian red prawn sauce; sea bream with cherry tomatoes and a basket of steamed vegetables; cannolo, cassata and "seven veils" ice cream; ice cream and brioche for breakfast - these were just some of the sumptuous Sicilian dishes enjoyed by the G7 leaders, their first ladies and the first husband at Taormina last week. At the same time, a MSF ship carrying 1,446 migrants who had been saved from 12 inadequate boats in the Mediterranean was not permitted to dock in any Sicilian port because of security measures in place from 22nd - 28th May for the summit. This meant that the ship was at sea for 48 instead of 30 hours and ran out of food and water. As the situation became truly desperate and a hygiene emergency developed on board as a consequence, the ship was allowed to pick up supplies at Palermo but no one was able to disembark. The ship finally docked at Naples on 28th May.

Paragraphs 24 and 25 of the G7 comuniqué make interesting reading, as while all this was going on in the very sea that served as a backdrop for the leaders' jolly photos, they promised to uphold "the human rights of all migrants and refugees." It is worth remembering that this meeting took place two days after 34 people had died in the Mediterranean, including seven children.  

The leaders have returned to their homes now, but there is no end to the scenes of devastation for those who have no home:  Yesterday 252 migrants were brought to Pozzallo. Of these, 135 had been on an overcrowded migrant dinghy which had sailed from Libya.  The middle section of the boat began to break up and 25 migrants fell into the sea. Two were rescued but sadly died later. One people trafficker has been arrested by Italian police in connection with the tragedy and a second alleged trafficker from another boat is in hospital. All the survivors are said to be in reasonable conditions of health and are being transferred to reception centres in other parts of Italy.

Some good, it is to be hoped, came out of the G7 and of course Italy had to put on its best show. The leaders were filmed strolling through the streets of a Taormina that had been cleared of all except residents and security personnel and they even visited a few shops. None of them, to my knowledge, visited a migrant centre.

La Repubblica reports today that 1,720 migrants have drowned in the Central Mediterranean this year and that 60,000 have attempted the crossing. Last week alone the Italian Coast Guard and other operatives saved 9,500 migrants in the Mediterranean.