ADDIO, MAESTRO

"When writers die they become books, which is, after all, not too bad an incarnation", said Borges and it is true that we still have the works to console us. However, when a writer as great and as dear to the people of his birthplace as Andrea Camilleri dies, the feeling that something irretrievable is lost prevails and it would not be an exaggeration to say that Sicily is in mourning.

I didn't know until this morning that Andrea Camilleri had named his most famous character, il commissario Montalbano or Inspector Montalbano in English, after the Spanish writer Manuel Varques Montalbán, which I think is a nice touch. I also learned this morning - and I mention it because it makes Andrea Camilleri seem more like someone I'd have enjoyed having a coffee with - that, like me, he had been unable to get through any book by Dan Brown.

Most of us, of course, were introduced to Camilleri through the Montalbano books and TV series and I remember being in Sicily (eleven years before I settled here) when the first book featuring the gastronome detective came out. "This is by a new author", said a friend. "You might find the dialect parts difficult but try it." Now, I am not a fan of detective fiction but I think we can all admit that Montalbano is different and when the series was first shown I have to say it helped that he was played by Luca Zingaretti! 

The stories have certainly played their part in putting Sicily on the tourist map and nearly every town in this area offers versions of "Gli arancini di Montalbano" or "Montalbano's rice balls". Distrustful of food not prepared by a home cook or at least by the  restaurant owner Calogero - who shares the author's second name - Montalbano is witty and also knowledgeable about food, as are most Sicilians I know.

"Mangiarono parlando di mangiare, come sempre accade" - "They ate while talking of eating, as often happens", wrote Camilleri in La forma dell'acqua and in Sicily indeed it does.

Camilleri's sense of humour was sometimes dark, always down to earth and often ironic and, along with his defence of migrants and fearless criticisms of certain politicians, sometimes it made him enemies as well as friends, a fact that sadly became apparent when he was hospitalised in June and again today. Let us use British understatement for a moment to say that there was no love lost between Matteo Salvini and Camilleri but Salvini did have the decency to tweet a brief tribute this morning. Some of the latter's fans, unfortunately, demonstrated little of that virtue. But, as the author said,

"Un autentico cretino è difficile a trovarsi in questi tempi in cui i cretini si camuffano da intelligenti" - "A real idiot is hard to find in these times in which idiots disguise themselves as intellectuals."

The Montalbano books, set in imaginary Vigàta and filmed mostly in and around Ragusa, Punta Secca, Scicli and Modica, combine tales of the commissario's investigations with asides on Sicilian food and life, feature current events and have a cast of characters that all those who read them feel they know personally. 

I would like to add to the tributes by thanking Andrea Camilleri for bringing the place I came to love so much that I have made it my home to world attention in a positive way.

In 2017 Camilleri said of the blindness that had afflicted him in old age,

"Sono cieco, ma perdendo la vista tutti gli altri sensi si riacutizzano, vanno in soccorso. La memoria è diventata più forte, ricordo più cose di prima con molta lucidità e scrivo sempre."

"I am blind, but losing my sight made all my other senses more acute. They have come to the rescue. My memory has improved, I remember more things than before with great lucidity, and I still write."

When asked what he missed, he said,

"Mi manca la bellezza delle donne" - "I miss seeing the beauty of women."

The last Montalbano book awaits publication in a safe, where Camilleri had intended having it kept until the time was right, a decision which is now presumably in the hands of his publishers.

Camilleri recently said that he felt something approaching but didn't know what it was, adding that he liked to call it Eternity. Sì, maestro, let's call it that.

Andrea Camilleri:  6.9.1925, Porto Empedocle, Sicily - 17.7.2019, Rome

Actors' caravans for filming of Montalbano in Modica,
May 2019. The caravans are for Mimi Augello and Fazio.

BOOK REVIEW - "PESCE D'APRILE"

Pesce d'aprile: Lo scherzo del destino che ci ha reso più forti by Daniela Spada
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The name Cesare Bocci is not a household one in English-speaking countries, but if I were to say "Mimì Augello" and post a picture of Cesare, many of you would recognise him as the actor who plays Montalbano's deputy.

It is often true that we can look at people, particularly celebrities, and think that everything must be fine in their lives but we usually have no idea what those lives are really like. Until I read an interview with Cesare Bocci and his partner Daniela Spada in an Italian TV listings magazine, I had no idea what they had been through in the last 16 years:

This part of their story begins in Rome on 1st April 2000. The day before, they had brought their newborn baby, Mia, home and today all is well until suddenly Daniela cries out that she has a terrible headache. Her condition worsens with terrifying speed and she is rushed to hospital, where the doctors are convinced that she is having a panic attack after a row with Cesare, who has to fight to get her seen by a neurologist. She has suffered a massive stroke. She lies in a coma for 20 days and when she wakes, her body has changed forever and , though she recognises Cesare as someone she loves, her memory is affected. Tragically, she cannot hold her baby daughter.

What follows is the story of Daniela's long road back, Cesare's unstinting support , the family and friends who in turn support him, his battles with hospital staff and bureaucracy alike and the bond that grows between him and his daughter. Cesare at last finds an Austrian doctor who treats Daniela as a human being first and a patient second and this proves to be the turning point. Slowly, and with great determination, Daniela is rehabilitated, not to her old life, but to a life which she can lead. There are still heartbreaking moments, such as those which describe the reactions of strangers to her disabilities or when she thinks of all the things she will never be able to do for her daughter. However,

"Never, never give up", she says, and Cesare says of her,

"Daniela taught me that, in difficult times, your uncertainties, fears and frustration can bury you or they can motivate you to start again."

Daniela Spada decided to think of sweet things so as not to think of her illness and became a cook and pastry chef. She now runs a cookery school, which she insists has the atmosphere of a welcoming family kitchen, in Rome.

This book is for anyone who has suffered, or been close to someone who has suffered, a stroke or other brain injury. It is also for everyone who has ever kept a long vigil at the bedside of a loved one, not knowing if they will wake up, or who has had to make a hospital corridor their home. It is, above all, a story of courage, determination and of course, love and so it is a book for all of us.

Note:  Pesce d'aprile = April fool

View all my reviews

A VERY SPECIAL DETECTIVE

When I was young and even more foolish than I am now, one of my Italian lecturers at university suggested that, as an occasional change from Dante and co., we read the weekly Topolino [Mickey Mouse] comics that are so popular in Italy. They were, and are, enormous fun and I've always thought one of the best parts is the retention of onomatopoeic words such as "bang, crash, thud, gulp" in English.  The comics are still selling like hot cakes here and long may they continue to do so.

Every now and then there is an edition based on a parody and this week sees the arrival of Topalbano, a parody, of course, of Andrea Camilleri's famous Sicilian detective, Inspector Montalbano, in a deluxe edition. [Topo = mouse.] Unlike most parodied characters, Salvo Montalbano is not drawn as Topolino, but has his own mouse likeness, because the editors wanted to keep the well-known identities of both characters in the two stories in the edition.

What does Andrea Camilleri think? He is delighted and said that seeing a preview of the comic in Catania was "better than getting the Nobel Prize" [for which he has been nominated].

Copies don't seem to have reached newsstands in Modica yet but you can see a picture here.

This is the cover of one of the first Topolino comics I read, dated 17th August 1969.  [Yes, I still have them all!]

THE INSPECTOR IS SAVED

In September I reported that Sicily was at risk of losing one of its most beloved fictional characters, il commissario Montalbano [Inspector Montalbano]. This was because the company that films the popular television series felt frustrated at what it perceived as a lack of support from the Sicilian region.  Given that "Montalbano tourism" had generated millions of euros for the island over 15 years, the dissatisfaction of the company's executives was understandable.

Happily, the situation now seems to have been resolved, as under an agreement signed last week between the production company and the Mayor of Ragusa the town has committed itself to supporting the productions. In addition, each council in Ragusa Province will have a representative who will liaise with the production company to offer both practical and logistical help. 

But what's this? In the same week, Sicily was warned that it is at risk of losing the UNESCO World Heritage Site status of some of its attractions due to poor maintenance or poor or non-existent infrastructure. Sometimes I want to scream in exasperation at the lack of planning, foresight and even common sense that could allow this to happen. Come on, Sicily! You've saved the inspector - now save his island.

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

ASKING THE WAY IN SCICLI

Balcony in Scicli

Tonight the Baroque town of Scicli and other locations known to many outside Italy because of their connections with a certain Inspector Montalbano on television feature in this photo gallery in La Stampa.  I would like to thank my friends at Siliquia for pointing this out to me.

I like Scicli and it deserves the coverage but recently I found that that old adage about people taking longer to tell you they don't know the way to somewhere than to give you instructions when they do was particularly true there:

Some friends and I were trying to find a particular address in the town and I should explain that the friend who was driving has a truck, does not have satnav and even if he did, he would probably be reluctant to use it;  yes, I did print out the Google Maps instructions, but he doesn't trust those, either.  Like a lot of people here, he prefers to ask the way as he goes along and he doesn't see the logic in asking policemen or other folk who might actually know. "Pazienza."

By 7 pm on this misty, drizzly February night, he had asked several pedestrians for directions and we had kept going round in circles, always ending up near the same mobile butcher's store. The fourth time we saw the mobile butcher's, our driver friend relented enough to go into a shop to ask for more directions and was followed out by an elderly gentleman who said he knew where the address was and would come with us. Walking stick notwithstanding, he leapt into the truck and began enthusiastically telling my friend which streets to take. We still seemed to be going round in circles but eventually ended up in a hilly street which we had not passed through before. Then our sprightly navigator told us to stop and I had a sneaking suspicion that he was now lost, too. We didn't have much time to think about it, though, as, with another sprightly leap, he bounded out of the car and into a grocer's shop. Inside, he held a long conversation with the lady owner and then came out with her and two other customers, who all started pointing in different directions and telling us to take this or that street at the top of their voices.

Finally, our energetic guide - by now carrying a sack of potatoes as well as his stick - said he would lead the way on foot and the car should follow him. This we did, with our map-spurning driver manoeuvering the truck through some incredibly narrow streets; it was getting so misty that all we could see was the outline of the crook of the gentleman's walking stick and we were all losing the will to live. Suddenly, our leader stopped at a deserted crossroads and, waving his stick frantically in the direction of a balcony in the narrowest of the streets leading off it, yelled, "Siamo arrivati!"  With that, before we could thank him properly or offer him a lift to wherever he was going, he disappeared into the mist, walking at the speed of light.

The moral of this tale is that, if you visit Scicli on a misty evening, you might need Inspector Montalbano to show you the way!

A GREAT DAY FOR DONNAFUGATA

One of my favourite places in the Province of Ragusa, the Castello di Donnafugata, was the centre of public and media attention on Saturday as the romantic setting for the wedding of the gorgeous Luca Zingaretti [of Montalbano fame] and his long-term partner, the Neapolitan actress Luisa Ranieri.

Among the guests were the actress Isabella Ferrari, Montalbano producer Alberto Sironi, the actors Cesare Bocci [Mimi Augello in the Montalbano series] and Peppino Mazzotta [Inspector Fazio] and, of course, the couple's one-year-old daughter Emma. There was a red carpet,  from which Mr Zingaretti greeted well-wishers, the castle walls were bedecked with soft lighting, the dinner was cooked by chef Ciccio Sultano and the cake was made by the Di Pasquale brothers of Ragusa's Pasticceria Di Pasquale.

There will be no immediate honeymoon as Mr Zingaretti is completing filming of a Montalbano series.  Although born in Rome, he says he always feels at home in Sicily.

Congratulations to the happy couple- I'm off to hurl myself on the bed and cry now.

MUCH ADO ABOUT SOMEONE

There has been much ado - and understandably so - in the Sicilian media about the presence on the island this week of the Oscar-winning actress Emma Thompson.  Miss Thompson has been here to film scenes for the forthcoming BBC documentary Shakespeare in Italy and visited Messina, Castellammare del Golfo and Palermo, where she graced the Antico Caffè Spinnato, much to the delight of the staff and their early-morning customers.

The documentary, presented by the historian and broadcaster Francesco da Mosto, will focus on the Italian locations and strong theatrical traditions which inspired the bard as well as pointing out the ways in which Shakespeare has influenced and continues to influence Italy.  According to a BBC press release, there might have been another, secret reason why Shakespeare was so fond of Italian settings and to find out more we'll just have to wait for the screenings.

According to the Palermo edition of La Repubblica, Miss Thompson, when asked what she thought about the theory that Shakespeare was not only Italian but Sicilian, replied that she did not think it mattered.  She believes he came from a mixed background and that the coming together of different cultures can save humanity.  She also said that the British and the Sicilians share a sense of irony and an awareness of the closeness of tragedy and comedy.

The "Shakespeare was Sicilian" theory has been around for some time and Professor Martino Iuvara from Ispica wrote a book about it, Shakespeare era italiano, in 2002.  In this volume he claims that Shakespeare was born Michelangelo Florio Crollalanza [or Scrollalanza] in Messina and that his family later fled to London to escape religious persecution.  "Crolla" can be translated as "shake" [verb] and "lanza" is almost "lancia", which can mean "spear", a theory with which the author Andrea Camilleri [of Montalbano fame] and his friend the director Giuseppe Dipasquale had much fun when they turned it into a play in 2010.

What do I believe? For what it's worth I believe that William Shakespeare was indeed from Stratford-upon-Avon, England but, like Miss Thompson, I do not think that it matters.

MEETING IN CATANIA

It was a great pleasure to meet my twitter friend, the catanese actress Nellina Laganà, in person in Catania yesterday.

Nellina has appeared in many plays and films, including L'Onore e il Rispetto, parte seconda and the Commissario Montalbano film, Le ali della sfinge.  Here are some more photos of Nellina:

Here's to meeting up with you again soon, Nellina!

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?