BALMY BREEZES

A lovely day on Sunday with friends who are both book lovers and dog lovers and what could be better after a long and delicious lunch than an evening stroll by the sea in Sampieri?

Blogger in balmy breeze

And the memory of a beautiful sunset
to take home.

BERTIE-PIERRINE SEES THE SEA

And yes, we did!

SAVING THE INSPECTOR

Old factory at Sampieri beach, often seen in the Montalbano films

Which fictional character has done the most, in recent years, to improve Sicily's image and attract tourists?  The answer, unsurprisingly, is Il Commissario Montalbano, both in Andrea Camilleri's books and in the TV films based on them, which have been shown all over the world. Now you can see Montalbano's supposed house [in Santa Croce Camerina], partake of Montalbano arancini [rice balls] and other gastronomic delights and tour the film locations in Modica, Scicli, Ragusa Ibla and at the beach at Sampieri.

Why, then, would the show's producers want to stop filming in Sicily and transfer the sets to Puglia? The answer this time, again unsurprisingly for anyone with a knowledge of how Italy works [or doesn't] is the production company's frustration at the lack of financial report from the Sicilian Region over the last 15 years and it seems that author Andrea Camilleri agrees. 

As you may imagine, there has been an outcry in Sicily and this evening producer Carlo Degli Esposti met [after a long wait] with Sicilian Governor Rosario Crocetta, who has said that no one had told him about the situation and that he would do all he could to resolve it.  

I can't help thinking that, whilst a British Prime Minister is tonight at risk of going down in history as the "man who lost Scotland", Mr Crocetta may be remembered as "the man who lost Montalbano."

Don't let it happern, please, Mr Crocetta - Sicily needs and loves her Montalbano!

Luca Zingaretti as Montalbano
Image:  Wikimedia Commons

SORROW IN SCICLI

Whilst the world continues to focus on the migration tragedy of 3rd October and subsequent migrant boats that have arrived on Sicily's shores, the town of Scicli has been remembering the 13 migrants who died off the beach of Sampieri on 30th September.

Their funeral service was held in Scicli yesterday in the presence of Domenico Manzione, Undersecretary of State for the Interior, the Mayor of Scicli, the Prefect, Police Commissioner and Mayor of Ragusa, other dignitaries, representatives of the emergency services and other citizens. Relatives of some of the deceased Eritrean men also attended the service, having travelled from other European countries where the men had probably hoped to settle.

A Coptic Christian priest spoke in both Tigrinya and Italian and described the migrants' ordeal as they were sold like slaves or objects from one people trafficker to another and then crossed the desert to Libya. From there, they set sail, believing that they were leaving behind hunger and war and travelling to a better life, only to meet death just metres from safety. Padre La China, who conducted the Catholic part of the service, reminded the congregation that the sea is often associated with evil in the Bible:

	And the sea arose by reason of a great wind that blew.
	So when they had rowed about five and twenty or thirty furlongs, they see Jesus walking on the sea and drawing nigh unto the ship: and they were afraid.
	But he saith unto them, It is I; be not afraid. - John 6:18-20 Mr Manzione brought messages of sympathy from President Napolitano and Prime Minister Letta. He said that he had not wished to speak yesterday as he regarded it as a "day of silence" but did say that he hoped the young men were now in a better world and that we who are left behind must guarantee humane treatment for those fleeing oppressive régimes. Mr Manzione had also been very moved by the Coptic priest's words and said that the genuine sorrow of both the Eritrean and Italian communities was an example of the real meaning of solidarity. All the coffins were draped in red, the colour of the city of Scicli, for the funeral. Relatives of the four Muslim men among the dead asked that their loved ones be buried in the Muslim section of the cemetery in Ragusa Ibla, a request that has been granted by the Mayor.

TRAGEDY AT SAMPIERI

Sampieri beach

Sampieri Google Map

It is with great sorrow that I have been following the news of a tragedy which occurred very close to home, on Sampieri beach [Scicli] yesterday. This is a beach where I have so often strolled, bathed and enjoyed myself and it is the beach which forms the background to many of the Montalbano films.

At around 10 am yesterday, some tourists and others on the beach raised the alarm when they saw a migrant boat which appeared to be in trouble.  The boat was crammed with desperate people, some of whom were already giving thanks to God because they thought they had reached safety as they were only 100 metres or so from the beach.

What the beachgoers saw next, however, defies imagination:  the boat, by this time, had run aground and the scafisti or people-traffickers were ordering the passengers to jump into the sea.  Those who were unable to swim or were frightened were clinging, literally for their lives, to anything they could reach and then, horrifically, the scafisti started to hit them with sticks and wet ropes, forcing them to jump.  The sea at that point was rougher and deeper than any of the passengers could have known and thirteen  young men did not survive.  Several newspapers, including a British one, have published pictures of the bodies on the beach and they are a sad and shocking sight indeed. 

An off-duty lifeguard and a carabiniere both plunged into the sea and rescued three people, then administered cardiac massage to save the lives of two of them. A bather who tried to help a man who turned out to be a scafisto received a punch in the face for his trouble. In all, 70 out of 150 - 200 Eritreans were brought to safety, including 20 children and a pregnant woman who was brought to hospital in Modica. She is reported to be still very unwell. One migrant who ran off to evade the authorities was hit by a car and was taken to hospital in Catania.

A survivor told the AGI news agency that the passengers had each paid €300 - €1,000 to make the journey. The scafisti had told the migrants that they would be left at Sampieri because it would be easier for them to escape from there and continue their journey towards Northern Europe, where most of them wanted to go. 

Two suspected scafisti were caught by Coast Guard and Guardia di Finanza immediately and later the "mother ship" of the boat was located by Ragusa police and Carabinieri together with the Guardia di Finanza from Modica. Seven Syrians have now been arrested in connection with the tragedy.

Five of the dead have so far been identified and the search continues for the body of another man thought to have drowned. Six other migrants were injured, one seriously. Police are also still searching for those who ran away.

President Napolitano has expressed his shock and sadness upon hearing of the tragedy and has thanked the emergency services and all who went to the aid of the migrants. Franco Susino, the Mayor of Scicli, has declared today a day of public mourning: Flags on public buildings in Scicli are flying at half-mast, schools have been giving lessons on the human tragedy unfolding daily in the Mediterranean and prayers for the dead will be said in the town this evening.  Minister for Integration Cécile Kyenge said,

"The Mediterranean, the cradle of civilisation, has become a cemetery. We are witnessing a human tragedy which concerns every country in Europe."

ANCHORS - 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 "The Edge of your World".

When we are children, the edge of the world is represented by the limits of the world we know - the comforting scent of a mother,  the bars of a play pen or cot,  a garden wall, familiar rooms - and  perhaps this is why so many of us scream at our first children's party at another house or on our first day of school. 

For most of us, there is always a loving adult policing our surroundings when we move from that edge

and if we feel we are alone, even for a moment, we become pretty miserable:

However, I think I wanted to test the waters from an early age

and go off on the big ships

but always come back:

As a member of Churchill's "island race" it is not surprising that I am drawn to islands

Me, Elba-bound in 1977

and one day, more than half a century after the black and white photos above were taken, I flew to the biggest island in the Mediterranean and knew that I would not turn back:

In Donnalucata, Sicily - 2005

Sampieri, Sicily

I've written before about how, even then, leaving the comfort zone of my house in Britain was scary but tonight I want to think about one of the things you lose when, having stepped off the edge of your world, you arrive in your new one:  you lose what Alexander McCall Smith calls your "anchor-points".  He puts it thus:

"Just as Freddie de la Hay was missing him, so too was he experiencing that sense of incompleteness when a familiar presence is suddenly no longer there. Such feelings can be profound and long-lived..... or they may be less substantial, more transient, as when a shop or coffee bar we like closes down, or a favourite office colleague is transferred. These may seem little things, but they constitute the anchor-points of our lives and are often more important than we imagine."

- Alexander McCall Smith:  The Dog Who Came in from the Cold

If this is the case even in a city where you have lived all your life, imagine how important such "anchors" are when you change not only your city but your country.  You find new ones, as I wrote here, and you have to cultivate them but when you in turn lose one of these, you can feel quite disorientated for a while. Perhaps that was why I was so upset when Mr T shut up shop.  Yet this regret, for the loss of landmarks in an unfamiliar place, also means that you have integrated, so can be celebrated in a way. These days, though I still miss Mr T, I have become used to the new folk in what used to be his shop, and the butcher who occupies part of it has turned out to be a treasure - an "anchor", in fact.

So for me, stepping beyond the edge of what was my world has meant finding new anchors and it is still an adventure!

I couldn't find a suitable picture of an anchor, so here is my paternal grandfather in naval uniform, complete with anchor on his cap:

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

Note: This is my last "Let's Blog Off" post as the project has now been wound up. I have enjoyed participating and would like to express particular thanks to Paul for inviting me to do so and for his unfailing support and courtesy. I've made some new friends along the way and I hope we can keep in touch. The "Let's Blog Off" archive can be viewed here.

DISCONCERTED

Every woman, whatever her age, needs a dishy man to dream about and I dream about Luca Zingaretti, star of the Montalbano TV series and presenter of the treno barocco video in the sidebar of this blog.

Image:  Wikimedia Commons

The Montalbano series is based on the novels by Andrea Camilleri about a Sicilian gourmet detective.  It is mainly filmed in Scicli and at the sea in Sampieri:

But I was disconcerted today to learn that in the new Montalbano series, which will feature stories of the detective's early career, the lovely Luca is to be replaced by Michele Riondino:

Image: Online Gratis

Now, Michele is not exactly the kind of guy a girl would want to chuck out of bed but he is not quite the mature woman's crumpet, either - or is he?

UNA DOMENICA D'ESTATE

A lovely, relaxing Sunday at the sea today, with friends Marco and Giovanna who have a house at Sampieri.

As soon as I arrived, Giovanna put a dish of pineapple ice cream, which she had just made in a bimby [I want one!] into my hand. It was delicious and I think I had about five helpings at various points during the day.




The whole family were at home and that includes four lads and two grandmothers. "Insomma .... siamo qua" sighed the grandmothers when I asked how they were. If you are going to say "Insomma" ["in brief"] in this context, reader, you have to precede and follow it by long sighs to indicate that you are dealing with life's burdens as best you can and then you must say,"We're here" as resignedly as possible, rather in the way in which Welsh people say, "There we are, then". I've only ever heard these responses in Sicily.

After quite a long morning dip Giovanna and I stopped off at the house of several of Giovanna's many cousins and there we were served antipasti of focacce and various savoury pastries.

Back at Giovanna's there was pasta al pesto to start. An interesting variation was that the pesto contained some tomato and this transformed it into pesto trapanese:




Next came cotolette di pollo and polpettone which Giovanna had filled with a ham and onion mixture:





Then there was more ice cream, anguria [watermelon] and finally this gel alla cannella [cinnamon gel].




When we could move after that lot, Giovanna and I sauntered down to a little market which has sprung up near the piazza and I found a cotton dress for 15 euros. [I do hope Rosa will approve when she returns tomorrow. She inspects the workwomanship on all my clothes very carefully and makes any necessary adjustments or reinforcements.]

Later we ventured into the sea again and I was introduced to yet another hairdresser! I do find it quite incongruous to be standing in the waves in next-to-nothing whilst greeting a new acquaintance with a [wet] handshake accompanied by all the formal forms of address and pleasantries that such an occasion calls for in Italian. "Oh," said he, giving me a professional once-over: "I knew you weren't Italian because you're so fair and you've got some red in amongst the blonde". Oh, well, in my opinion a woman can never be on friendly terms with too many hairdressers!

Here are some views of Sampieri for you to enjoy:





And, as I didn't post a "sabato musicale" yesterday [ what with all the excitement of Simi's new coat] I'll leave you with this tonight:

Seba - Domenica d'estate

DIFFICULT DAYS FOR DOGS

Now I am going to write about something so horrific and upsetting that I have been avoiding posting on it all week. Nevertheless, I really think I should, as [a] sadly, this has happened very near where I live [b] as far as I can tell, there has been little international coverage although the BBC has this report and [c] the event and reactions following it are indicators of attitudes here and how they are changing.

Here goes: Last Sunday, at the small beach town of Sampieri, a 10-year-old boy from Modica was pulled off his bicycle and killed by a pack of up to 50 wandering dogs. The whole community was plunged into shock and grief and one can only imagine what the boys' parents are going through. 7,000 people attended the funeral on Wednesday afternoon and shops in Modica closed for its duration.

On Tuesday a German woman tourist walking along the same beach was surrounded by the pack, mauled and horrifically injured, despite the brave intervention of passers-by and police. She still lies in a critical condition in a Catania hospital. Poor woman: if you are on holiday and have not read that day's local newspaper or you do not have the language or opportunity to talk to local people, how vulnerable you can be.

The authorities are of course doing everything they can to catch the pack and 30 of the dogs have been rounded up. However, it cannot be denied that stray dogs are a problem in southern Italy as local councils lack the funds needed for proper dog wardens and pounds. The Mayor of Modica ordered the shooting of stray dogs whilst animal protection groups have insisted the dogs be captured and treated humanely. The latter were backed up by the Prefetto of Ragusa who intervened in the situation. Tomorrow in Catania there is to be a demonstration against the killing of strays and this does mark a change in attitudes as more people seem to be aware of animals' rights here than, say, 15 - 20 years ago. At the boy's funeral, though, the priest suggested that humans are turning animals into icons.

As a dog-lover, I am angry, above all with the dogs' "custodian" who is now under arrest. Rumour has it that he took money to "look after" them, starved them and then abandoned them. If I were related to the boy or the woman tourist I might be out looking for the pack with my gun right now. However, I hope that I would be able to channel my anger in the direction where it belongs - towards the human being who allegedly ill-treated the dogs and thereby allowed these two tragedies to occur. I am also worried: if there is general bad feeling towards dogs, I worry for my Simi who has never hurt anyone. And I think of how many times I have walked along that beach with her and of how easily we could have been the victims.

A friend of mine posted this video on facebook earlier this week, in an attempt to remind everyone that few dogs are aggressive. The majority of dogs are cared for and caring, give far more than they receive and can even provide a lonely owner with a reason to go on living. In return they ask only to be loved.

Cani

A FILM SET, THE MED AND "UN MURO FIORITO"

On Sunday Irma suggested a drive out to the holiday complex of Marsa Siclà near Sampieri, to see something that has been created with tourism in mind, for once. We found a very peaceful and calming atmosphere and whiled away a pleasant couple of hours sitting on the bar terrace, which has wonderful sea views. But what absolutely fascinated me there were the walls constructed from plant containers: I think this is such a pretty idea and I want one on the balcony!

Down on the beach, we stopped at the old, burnt-out factory which is often used as a film set, especially for the Montalbano series on TV. There has been some talk of restoring it or turning it into something functional but I think it's rather romantic as it is.




Finally, the September sea has turned an even deeper blue so here are some views of it for you.

LA PITTURA DI GINO

This evening I thought I'd introduce you to the artwork of my friend Gino. He is a talented and prolific artist who paints for the love of it, uses all sorts of media and who will try his hand at any subject matter which inspires him. Well, I'll let the paintings speak for themselves: the first group consists of scenes of the nearby seaside village of Sampieri, as Gino remembers it and as it is now. I was with Gino on the evening portrayed in the last two pictures so can vouch for the fact that the colours of the sea and sky really were as you see them here. I don't think that Gino could have been born anywhere but in Sicily!

I'm sure Gino would love to know what you think about his work.

MEDITERRANEAN GIRLS

Today is the Liberation Day holiday and Simi and I have been for a stroll along the promenade at Sampieri. I thought you'd like to see what the Med looked like this morning.