CUPPING IN SICILY

Image: WPClipart.com

I'm not interested in sport but I was interested to read of the popularity of cupping amongst today's athletes.  It is, as the article says, an ancient technique and in Sicily the practice, or something akin to it, has probably never stopped.  Here's what I wrote about it in 2007:

Some years ago a friend's son had a nasty chest cold and my friend got him to bend over and breathe deeply, then placed heated glass cups, open end downwards, all over his back. Next, she massaged his back with warm olive oil. After this, the lad was wrapped up in fleecy pyjamas, a fluffy dressing gown and as many blankets as could be found in the house and was sent to bed with half a dozen hotwater bottles. My friend who, like many Sicilians I know, prides herself on hardly ever switching on her central heating - they prefer to sit around in their own homes in jacket, muffler, cap and gloves in deepest winter - did switch it on that night.

Needless to say, in the morning the young man was fine and I'll never know whether it was some magic property in the heated cups, the olive oil, the deep breathing, the unaccustomed warmth in the house or just sweating the cold out but who am I to question something that works?

I hate to tell you, dear athletes, but the Sicilians got there before you!

THE COUNT AND THE PRESIDENT

Modican fencer and Olympic gold medallist Giorgio Avola, known in his home town as Il Conte, was among the 80 Italian Olympian and Paralympian athletes received by President Giorgio Napolitano at the Quirinale yesterday.

The President conferred the Order of Cavaliere di Gran Croce upon Coni [Comitato Olimpico Nazionale Italiano] General Secretary and Head of  the Italian delegation to the London Olympics Raffaele Pagnozzi and upon fencer and six-time Olympic gold medallist and 2012 flagbearer Valentina Vezzali. During the ceremony Valentina Vezzali and Paralympian flagbearer Oscar De Pellegrin  returned the tricolore carried at the London Olympics Opening Ceremony to the President.

President Napolitano said,

"I warmly welcome Coni President Giovanni Petrucci's idea that our athletes are one of our best made in Italy products, helping Italy to become known and appreciated all over the world. They are the result of dedication and the contributions of so many people, in Italian provinces both large and small."

Speaking about the modernisation of sport in Italy and referring to the country's tendency to favour what we would call in Britain "jobs for the boys", Valentina Vezzali said,

"I'm not sure if Italy is ready to scrap [the old ways]. An inexperienced young person on their own gets nowhere. But sport is a meritocracy in which no one gives you anything."

Well said, Valentina!

The Italian Male Foil Fencing Team wins gold in London, 5.8.12.
Left to right: Valerio Aspromonte, Andrea Baldini, Andrea Cassarà , Giorgio Avola
Image: Conad Scherma Modica via facebook

TREAT OF THE WEEK - 17

I have to admit that I felt quite nostalgic this afternoon as I watched the Team GB Athletes' Parade through London. There was just something about the grey sky, the orderliness and organisation combined with evident joy that made it beautifully and delightfully British and the tears were streaming down my face.  I was three years old at the time of the present Queen's Coronation and, though a lot of my "memories" of it have probably been embroidered by what I have seen and read since, I have a very clear memory of an atmosphere of joy and hope. I imagine that people in my own country are experiencing similar emotions now.

Later a student of mine - who knew nothing of the Parade but perhaps a little telepathy was in operation all the same - had the lovely thought of making a cake for me and we had afternoon tea. That's one of the nicest things anyone has done for me and suddenly London didn't seem so far away after all.

HOMECOMING KING

There's going to be quite a party for Modican fencer Giorgio Avola [on the right in the picture] in the town's Piazza Matteotti on Tuesday night!

The poster reads,

"We are proud of your strength and determination. Modica climbed onto the highest step of the podium with you. Thank you, Giorgio, for making our city golden too."

DON'T SAY THAT IN MODICA!

Beppe Grillo
Image:  Lucarelli via Wikimedia Commons

I am, on the whole, a fan of Beppe Grillo though I am beginning to believe that he falls into the category of people whom Lillian Hellman called "good rebels who are bad revolutionaries". [I rather hope I am one myself!] Here is what Miss Hellman has to say about such souls:

"Rebels seldom make good revolutionaries, perhaps because organized action, even union with other people, is not possible for them."
- Lillian Hellman:  An Unfinished Woman

Anyway, in April Mr Grillo, whose anti-corruption Movimento 5 Stelle party has been winning important local elections in Italy, offended Sicilians when he said that even the Mafia doesn't strangle its victims but takes 10% protection money instead, the implication being that the government, with its anti-crisis measures, is "strangling" the electorate.  Obviously this is a hurtful remark, especially to those who have lost loved ones in anti-Mafia campaigns, and a storm of criticism ensued.

Rosy Bindi

Next Mr Grillo turned his attention to Rosy Bindi, the President of the Pd [Democratic Party]. Ms Bindi has been much maligned in the past, most famously on television in 2009 by Mr Berlusconi, who said she was "more beautiful than intelligent". [The saddest thing about this remark, I've always felt, was that Mr Berlusconi probably genuinely believed it to be a compliment.]  In July Mr Grillo, referring to the Democratic Party's stance on gay marriage, said that Ms Bindi had "probably not had cohabitation problems with the love of her life", earning himself the accusation of being "worse than Berlusconi" from Pd Secretary Pierluigi Bersani and winning few women friends in the process.

As if all that were not bad enough, now Mr Grillo has launched an attack on the Olympics with the following statement on his blog:

"I don't know, nor have I ever known in all my life, anyone who practises foil or sabre fencing, yet when the Olympics are on I'm proud if my country wins. Then for another four years, I couldn't care less.  It's not the athletes who win, but nations.  It's the trimph of nationalism."

You'd better not say that in Modica, Mr Grillo!

Italian Male Fencing Team, including Giorgio Avola from Modica, wins gold in London:

A MODICAN HERO

The Italian Male Foil Fencing Team wins gold in London, 5.8.12.
Left to right: Valerio Aspromonte, Andrea Baldini, Andrea Cassarà , Giorgio Avola
Image: Conad Scherma Modica via facebook

I am delighted to be able to report that Modican fencer Giorgio Avola, who went to London as a reserve for Italy's male foil team, got his chance to participate yesterday and did his town, and his country, proud when the team won gold.

"To wake up, switch on the iPhone and realise it wasn't just a wonderful dream", wrote Giorgio on twitter this morning. What a homecoming his will be!

Tante congratulazioni, Giorgio, da un'inglese di Modica.

A MODICAN OLYMPIAN

Fencer Giorgio Avola, known here as Il Conte, is the first Modican athlete to compete in the Olympic Games and, as you see from this poster, the whole town is behind him.

Giorgio, who specialises in foil, is a reserve for the team competitions which are to take place on August 5th.   If he gets a chance to compete, we wish him well and if he doesn't, I'm sure he will have had a fantastic experience in any case.  Il Conte is only 23 years old, so hopefully he will have other opportunities to fulfill his Olympic dream.