SUMMER TIDES, 2015

On summer days when those of us lucky enough to have settled lives or the means to take a holiday in the sunshine are likely to head for a sea which we regard as friendly, thousands of people are heading for the Libyan coast for quite different reasons and will attempt to make an extremely dangerous journey across the same sea in the hope of reaching Europe.  In the nine years that I have been writing about migration in the Mediterranean, these attempts have always increased in summer, but this year there will be more than ever, as people who feel they have no choice flee not only poverty, hunger and hopelessness, but violence, abduction, persecution and war.

Between May 29th and June 2nd 5,000 such people were saved in the Mediterranean and sadly,  the Italian Coast Guard found 17 dead bodies on three separate migrant boats that weekend. There is as yet no information on how these migrants might have died. Another 5,851 people were saved last weekend, 2,000 of these in the Sicilian Channel on June 6th alone. Irish, Italian and German naval ships participated in the rescues, as did Mr and Mrs Christopher Catrambone, the American couple who are on a humanitarian mission in their own boat in the Mediterranean.

Another 15 ships, including the British naval vessel HMS Bulwark, rescued around 3,000 more people. The Bulwark at one point had the British Defence Minister Michael Fallon aboard and he was clearly shocked by what he saw.  Mr Fallon called upon the navies of more countries to join in the search and rescue missions and also said that the migration problem should be tackled "at its roots". He did not say what he perceived those "roots" to be or suggest how this could be done and I found this statement from a representative of the government of my own country, which has refused to take a migrant quota, quite staggering in its hypocrisy.

Today 1,400 of the migrants rescued at the weekend were brought to Sicily and UNHCR estimates that 46,000 have arrived in Italy in 2015. Therefore it is no surprise that Italians are unimpressed by the attitudes of Britain and of France and Germany, who are also objecting to migrant quotas. Meanwhile, in Northern Italy the Governors of Lombardy, Liguria and the Veneto are refusing to take more migrants - many are transferred to other regions after being processed in Sicily - and the Lega Nord is saying that it will have its representaives physically stop any buses bringing more migrants to the Emilia-Romagna if the government does not stop sending them. In view of the intransigence of some other European states with regard to migrant quotas, one can perhaps understand, though not condone, this stance.

Europe may be cooperating on search and rescue but it has a long way to go on helping the migrants once they are here. Such a perilous journey and what a cold welcome at the end of it!

SPRING TIDES - 6

Still they come, the inadequate vessels with their human cargoes fleeing situations which, for most of us, are unimaginable, and the Italian Navy, Coast Guard and other personnel are now saving an estimated 2,000 migrants a day. Operazione Mare Nostrum, the Italian humanitarian mission in the Mediterranean, has become highly controversial as it is being suggested, in some quarters, that it is encouraging migration and helping people traffickers to ply their trade.

On Wednesday alone 2,262 migrants were rescued at sea and brought to safety in Sicilian ports by the Italian Navy. Of these 1,142, among them a new-born baby, were brought to Augusta and 298, including 19 minors, to Pozzallo. Sadly the body of a young Eritrean man was found on one of the migrant boats. Police say he could have died from the hardships of the journey or from injuries sustained prior to it. Murder has not been ruled out as I write this on Thursday. Italian military saluted as the man's body was carried ashore.

This afternoon hundreds of migrants who had been rescued at sea yesterday and taken to the reception centre at Siculiana [Agrigento] escaped and put themselves in danger walking along the motorway towards Agrigento itself. This is only one of many such incidents in recent weeks, for all reception centres in Sicily are now overcrowded and have inadequate facilities.

Most of the migrants want to go north anyway and a lot further north than mainland Italy, where several mayors have made it clear that migrants would not be welcome in their towns. The Mayor of Chieti [Abruzzo] has written to Interior Minister Alfano saying that his town does not have adequate facilities for the migrants and suggesting that those already there are causing "social tensions" in the community. Here in Modica a group of parents protested last week because, having heard that some migrants had been diagnosed with scabies, TB and AIDS, they did not want their children to go on a school trip in a bus that had been used to transport migrants from Pozzallo to Ragusa.  Yes, I know there would be outrage and cries of "Racism!" if such a thing were to happen in the UK but here most people have some sympathy with the parents. None of this, of course, makes for happy communities.

Therefore a certain politician who landed on this island on Monday must have thought he would find fertile ground for his views. I refer to Mr Matteo Salvini, Federal Secretary of the Lega Nord. Mr Salvini said he had been "called" by the Sicilian people and had come to help them "because Sicily and Italy are [dealing with the situation] alone, while Europe doesn't care." Hmmm - last time I checked Sicily was still part of Italy, Mr Salvini but it is true that Europe, viewed from here, seems to be doing nothing. Mr Salvini believes that Operazione Mare Nostrum should be stopped as the money would be better spent on aid to migrants' countries of origin. Aid may well, in the end, be the only answer, but as I've said many times before, Italy cannot leave desperate people to die just metres from its shores.  It is interesting that the leader of a party whose very existence is founded on its disowning of the South suddenly finds himself "called" to be the saviour of Sicily.

SICILIANS WOW VENICE

Audiences and critics at the Venice Film Festival have been impressed not only by Sicilian directors and films featuring Sicily, but also by a certain female politician who has become Sicilian "by adoption".  She is Michela Stancheris, Regional Councillor for Tourism and  Governor of Sicily Rosario Crocetta's right-hand woman.

In Venice to introduce two of the Sicilian films, Miss Stancheris's handling of questions about her possible candidacy for the office of Mayor of her home town of Bergamo was masterful: The idea had first been announced by Mr Crocetta when he was in Bergamo for a meeting and it delighted some residents of that beautiful town whilst surprising others, including the incumbent, rather negatively. Miss Stancheris said she would first like to complete her work in Sicily but that she would consider the proposal seriously if invited to stand. Asked what would be the first thing she would do if elected, she replied that she would create an entertainment centre in Bergamo as, although the city is well-served by its airport, once young people arrive there, there is nothing to do in the evenings.  As for any romantic plans, Miss Stancheris said that she already has a fiancé whose name is Sicily.

But could it be that another career beckons the 31-year-old? An unnamed British film director who saw her at Venice is said to have cried,

"But you look like Diana!"

What do you think? Are they alike?

Michela Stancheris

Diana, Princess of Wales

I'll be watching developments in Bergamo with interest as it was the first Italian city I ever saw and, despite the fact that it is a Lega stronghold, I have a lasting affection for it.

Now, I'm sure you'd like to know about the films in the Festival which have been made by Sicilian directors or which are set in Sicily, so here they are:

Con il fiato sospeso - Costanzia Quatriglio

A 35-minute film but none the less powerful for that and based on a true story:  Anna, a pharmacy student at Catania University, begins some research in the chemistry laboratories there. She soon realises that her working environment is unhealthy and indeed, her fellow-students become ill. Anna's friend Stella, who has dropped out of university, tries to persuade her to stop working in the laboratories but Anna has a dream - to become a qualified pharmacologist. Throughout the film, we hear readings from the real diary of a student called Emanuele, who died of lung cancer in 2003. Five years later the laboratories were closed, after 36 people working or studying in them had become ill.

Via Castellana Bandiera - Emma Dante

Everyone is talking about this film! Two women drivers, one of them played by the director Emma Dante, cause a traffic jam in Palermo and a stand-off ensues. The film can be seen as a homage to the Western but Emma Dante says it is also about principles and the inability to compromise.

Le Donne della Vucciria - Hiam Abbass

Screened in the Giorni degli autori - Venice Days section for independent filmmakers, this is a very short film created as part of the Miu Miu Women's Tales series. Palestinian director Hiam Abass was in Palermo when she was invited to make a film for the project and she immediately knew that the vibrant Vucciria market had to be the background. At the beginning of the film we see Sicilian puppets dressed in Prada clothes and then we see some of the real women of Palermo in celebratory mood. Hiam Abass says she wanted to showcase the city's music, craftsmanship and a "certain kind of femininity".

Summer 82 When Zappa Came to Sicily - Salvo Cuccia

In the Fuori concorso - Not in Competition section: In 1982 Salvo Cuccia, who was doing his military service in the North of Italy, set off for Palermo to see a Frank Zappa concert. Sadly, he didn't arrive in time. Thirty years later, he retraces his steps and remembers his youth. We also meet members of Frank Zappa's family, who are visiting the land of the rock star's ancestors. The film contains previously unseen images from the 1982 concert.

Future Reloaded - 70 Directors for Venice

In addition, Franco Maresco has a short film in the Future Reloaded section, in which 70 directors who have been instrumental in the development of the Festival have been invited to make a short film to celebrate the 70th edition.

Con il fiato sospeso - Trailer

Via Castellana Bandiera - Trailer

Le Donne della Vucciria - Trailer

A MIRACLE IN THE RUBBLE

If the fates were not smiling upon Italy this weekend, someone or something was looking out for little Vittoria Vultaggio from Obici, a hamlet of Finale Emilia [Province of Modena], yesterday:  At 4.04 am, when the quake struck, the five-year-old was sleeping in her room in a house which comprised some restored seventeenth century structures, including a tower. As the tower collapsed onto the roof of Vittoria's room, it seems that two beams protected the little girl's body.  

Vittoria's father, who, with her mother and two-year-old brother, had been able to exit the house, searched for her frantically with the help of neighbours, among them a Mr Ziosi.  Mr Vultaggio climbed onto the remains of the roof, calling Vittoria's name all the time.  Suddenly he heard her respond.  He and Mr Ziosi managed to locate her and remove rubble from her face but they could not free her body.  

Power lines were down and cellphones were not working so the family were unable to contact the emergency services but Vittoria's mother,  hardly aware of what she was doing in her anxiety and distress, kept tapping numbers on her cellphone. At last, a call somehow got through and was answered by a doctor she knew. Unbeknown to Vittoria's mother, the doctor was on a trip to New York but he immediately grasped the situation and called the emergency services in Rome, who in turn passed on the information to their colleagues in Modena.  Thus the rescue and ambulance teams knew exactly where to go and within another half an hour they managed to pull Vittoria out of the rubble.

In the meantime, Mr Ziosi's son Marcello, who was also in New York, had called his father to find out if he had been injured and for a little while, in the confusion, the Vultaggio family thought that it was Marcello who had made that vital call to Rome.  But Marcello said later that the fact that he had called from New York was just a coincidence and that it was definitely the good doctor, whose name Mr and Mrs Vultaggio cannot quite recall, who had made the call.

Vittoria has suffered some injuries to a leg and is obviously still very frightened but has no fractures.

Today we are thinking of all who have been affected by the two terrible events in Italy over the weekend and of the members of the emergency services, hospital staff and others who are helping them.  Let us also salute the courage of the students of the Istituto Morvillo Falcone in Brindisi, who went back to school this morning, two days after a bomb outside the building killed one of their fellow-students and injured ten others.  Like Vittoria's father, the neighbours who came to his aid and our as yet unnamed doctor, these are the people who represent the real Italy.

BENVENUTI A TAVOLA

On Monday to Friday and Sunday evenings I am incognita from 8 - 8.15 pm., for that is when it is time to listen to The Archers [BBC Radio 4] on the internet:  the phone goes unanswered, as does the doorbell and even the computer is switched off.  My other unmissable appointment with the media takes place on Thursday evenings from 9.10 - 11.30 when I am engrossed in a series called Benvenuti a tavola - Nord vs Sud on Italy's Canale 5.

The story takes place in Milan where two chefs, one local and one from Southern Italy, have restaurants opposite one another.  The Northern chef, Carlo Conforti [Fabrizio Bentivoglio], produces sophisticated food but always with respect for tradition whilst the Southern chef, Paolo Perrone [Giorgio Tirabassi], concentrates on simpler, traditional fare from his own region. Both chefs are helped by their families and  Conforti has the additional "advice" of his father-in-law who thinks that cookery should be exactly as it was 50 years ago.

We see some of the dishes as they are being prepared and I must admit that every episode makes me ravenous!  In addition, at the end of each double episode, each chef quickly gives instructions for a recipe and viewers can vote for the one they prefer, with a chance of winning a prize. [I haven't won yet but I'm working on it!]

But this is not just a story of two rival kitchens:  it is also a tale of two families and of the tensions between North and South. These are sensitively dealt with and stereotypes are avoided whilst the comic potential is retained:  Perrone's restaurant, for instance, is called Terrone [an insulting word, which can roughly be translated as "yokel",  used by some Northern Italians to describe Southerners] because Conforti played a joke on him. Perrone's two teenage daughters are having a hard time at school because of their southern origins and, unbeknown as yet to Conforti, his son, Federico,  is in love with the elder girl, Alessia.

One day, Federico Conforti shyly goes to buy tickets for a concert by the Neapolitan singer Alberto Selly in the hope of impressing Alessia Perrone.  When he finds that the tickets are sold out, he manages to obtain two from a friend of his mother's.  Alessia, however, plays hard to get at first and says she does not want to go to the concert.  When she changes her mind, Federico, to save face in front of his friends, says he is not interested in Alberto Selly so Alessia takes a friend to the concert instead. You can see part of this episode here.

There may be another love affair budding, between Conforti's beautiful, childcare-challenged waitress Pilar [who always makes me want to put a binbag over my head] and Perrone's cousin-in-law Cecio,  but this one could be more complicated.  And with Paolo and Carlo continuing to play tricks upon and threatening to kill each other whilst their wives look on in exasperation, complications abound.

Now we have, in addition, the Benvenuti a tavola book, written by Andrea Grignaffini and Pietro Valsecchi as if they were Carlo and Paolo and filled with photos of characters from the series and recipes .  It does not, alas, contain photos of the food.  Of course the test of any cookery book is whether the recipes actually work and I'll let you know about this as I try them out.

But right now I have to go as I need to publish this post, take Simi the dog out, catch up on The Archers and prepare supper before I unplug the phone, say "See you later" to my twitter friends and settle down to another two and a half hours of sheer joy at 9.10 pm.  Ciao e buon appetito!

SABATO MUSICALE PER I TRENI DELLE DONNE

I am dedicating this week's sabato musicale to the women who have travelled to Rome by train today from Bologna and Palermo in order to demonstrate in defence of the Italian Constitution.

The founder of the movement, Sicilian architect Nella Toscano, points out that the country's recent troubles have hit women, who comprise 51% of the population, particularly hard and feels that it is time for Italy's women to join together to defend the Constitution, in particular Article 1, which states that "Italy is a democratic republic,  founded on work", Article 11, which repudiates war and Article 41, which states that public and private economic activity should be coordinated to social objectives.

The two trains converging upon Rome from the North and South of the country also symbolise the unity of Italy.

Sergio Endrigo - Il treno che viene dal sud

MIDNIGHT IN MANTOVA

The time has come to reveal my whereabouts at the end of last week and those of you who guessed Verona were the nearest.  I was, in fact, spending a few days with a friend who lives within the Province of Mantova and about ten minutes from Mantova itself by car.  Verona is also nearby.

I very much enjoyed a drive to see the panorama of Mantova by night and by day, watching people strolling along by the three artificial lakes which surround the city, I was reminded of the tranquillity of Roath Park in Cardiff!  Mantova was named Italy's most liveable city for quality of life by Legambiente in 2005.

My clue about violins and tea on Sunday was a bit of a cheat as Mantova's Palazzo Te has nothing to do with tea but was named for the island, called Teieto in medieval times, on which it was built.  The Palazzo was built as a summer residence for Duke Federico 11 Gonzaga by Giulio Romano between 1525 and 1535.

The original frescoes can still be admired in the Palazzo and it also houses collections of Mesopotamian and Egyptian art as well as mementoes of the Gonzaga family.  Our visit happened to coincide with an exhibition about Maria Callas so we were able to see some of the singer's gowns and jewellery as well as learning more about her life.  We also enjoyed watching the arrival of guests for a 1930s -themed wedding reception which was about to take place in the elegant Palazzo!

No photos can be taken inside the Palazzo Te but here are some views of the exterior:

How cool the Gonzaga must have been in summer!

I was last in Verona some thirty years ago and I just had to go and see that most famous of balconies again:

The city traffic was heavy so I only managed a wave at the Arena but things were calmer down by the river:

These Roman remains were discovered in the city centre in recent years:

I gasped at the beauty of the city from one of its hills:

Tripoli is a hamlet within the Province of Mantova so no, I didn't see any retreating colonels!

Letters to Juliet

GUESS WHERE I AM?! - 4

.... and violins and tea.

GUESS WHERE I AM?! - 3

GUESS WHERE I AM ?! - 2

My location also involves one gentleman and a balcony ......

GUESS WHERE I AM?!

I'm having a little break and I'm going to post some clues as to my whereabouts over the next four days.  It involves Northern Italy....