MIMOSA AND MOTIVATION

Mimosa blossom is very much the order of the day for the festa della donna [International Women's Day] so it was nice to be presented with a sprig of it with my Sicilian orange juice in the bar this morning and lovely to receive the gift on the left from a friend:

I thought it would be appropriate, on this day, to tell you about ten Italian women who have inspired me - well, more than ten, really, as there are whole convents of nuns involved - but it started at ten!

Teresa Mattei

Firstly, if you are wondering why the mimosa is the symbol of International Women's Day in Italy, it was the idea of one Teresa Mattei , activist, partisan and one of the "mothers of the Italian Constitution".  

The other great ladies on my list come in no particular order and I make no apologies for the fact that several of them are writers. I'm just made that way.

Oriana Fallaci has fascinated me since my student days and I learnt only recently that the woman once known as "Italy's most aggessive journalist" could be just like the rest of us when she fell in love!

Elsa Morante was another writer whose work I started reading as a student and in my opinion her greatest novel remains La Storia or History. Of that other literary lady who is so popular both here and in Britain, namely signora Ferrante, I have read only one volume, so I am reserving judgement for now.  If I get hooked you'll be the first to know!

The works of Natalia Ginzburg were a comfort to me in my student days and they are a comfort to me now.

Rita Levi Montalcini, who left us almost five years ago, was a scientist and Nobel laureate who, even at the age of 100, had a special empathy with the young, whom her achievements and words continue to excite. The world is poorer without her.

Rita Levi Montalcini depicted in flower petals at the Noto Infiorata, 2011

Franca Viola

No woman living in Sicily can forget Franca Viola, whose determination not to submit to bullying changed Italian law.  She lives happily today in Alcamo.

Maria Grammatico, Ericean pastry cook who told her story to Mary Taylor Simeti in Bitter Almonds, was brought up in a convent, where she learnt to make pastries. I have yet to achieve my ambition of visiting her pastry shop in Erice.

There are still convents in Sicily where the nuns make and sell pastries to raise funds for maintenance or good causes and I'll never forget the day I bought these, through a grille, from a convent in Agrigento. You have my admiration, dear sisters:

The story of Daniela Spada is one I read recently and who could not be inspired by this lady's courage and the determination with which she fought her way back from devastating illness? I learnt so much from this book.

Artemesia Gentileschi is a woman I've admired since the first film about her came out in the 1990s. More talented than her father and brothers, if ever a woman literally suffered for her art, it was she. Artemesia continued painting, against all the odds, and was the first woman to become a member of the Florentine Accademia di Arte del Disegno.

Finally, the word pazienza is not in my vocabulary and I've often said it should be banned in Italy as it is too often used to excuse inefficiency by the very victims of that inefficiency. However, when pazienza is employed to create great or small works of art, I wish I had it so, as we are coming up to Easter, I would like to express once again my admiration for The Palm Lady.

I hope you've all had a wonderful festa della donna!

DOMENICA DELLE PALME

This was one of my most popular posts of 2010 and, indeed, ever.  I am publishing it again on this Palm Sunday.

She has been there all week, the palm lady, sitting at the side of the road, deftly weaving fronds into objects of beauty.  She sets up her stall long before the morning rush hour begins, and she is still there as everyone hurries home for lunch.  She carries on braiding and plaiting, adorning her  finished palms with ribbons of all colours, through the silent siesta hours and as the shutters go up again for the evening reopening.  As darkness defeats her, she stops, but she is there again the following morning, bright and early.  On Sunday she continues her dexterous craft and only when the bells for the last Mass of this Palm Sunday morning have sounded does she pack up her wares for another year.  I hope she is having a rest.

A SORRY SIGHT

A couple of weeks ago I mentioned the fact that the two palm trees in front of the Sacro Cuore Church here in Modica have been infected by the red palm weevil and have to be cut down. This is how the entrance to the Church now looks.

SOME UNWELCOME VISITORS

Sicily has had some unwelcome visitors in the form of the punteruolo rosso, or red palm weevil, for two years now. This insect is destroying many of the island's lovely date palms and last night I was very sorry to learn that the two palm trees in front of the Sacro Cuore Church, under which I have so often sheltered from the sun, are affected. A student of mine who is an agronomist says that the weevil arrived from Egypt and that the only treatment is to cut affected palms down so that is the fate in store for the Church trees.

Image: Wikimedia

In Italy the red palm weevil has also reached Campania, Lazio, Puglia, Sardinia and Tuscany.

DAILY DOINGS - 13

This morning a letter arrived by recorded delivery: I opened it to discover that I am "invited" to pay 25 euros to the Azienda Sanitaria for the visit I made to Casualty [ER] in May. It is normal to pay for such a visit here and you also have to pay a nominal sum for outpatient appointments. I should point out that there would be no question of paying a fee if you were rushed to Casualty following an accident or other emergency and / or were subsequently admitted. I have no objection to paying this charge as I am grateful to be covered by the Italian health service at all, but I do wonder how much money is being spent on sending all such letters out by recorded delivery.

On my way out today I did the very thing that drives me crazy when I see the Italians doing it: I queue-jumped, reader! Yes, I ignored the ticket system in the post office and marched up to the counter to ask for a form for a recorded delivery letter of my own. This was duly handed to me despite the customer already at the counter, the notices about respecting customer privacy and all the people sitting waiting for their number to appear on the display boards. No one batted an eyelid but the Brit in me felt ashamed!

As I write, we are waiting for the water lorry yet again. I phoned the Comune to order a refill on Wednesday and I'm sure we are about to run out.

Saturdays seem to be Caffè Consorzio day, so yet another relaxing lunch was enjoyed there: interesting antipasti, a salad of radicchio, rocket, pear and grana cheese plus this beautifully presented ice cream:

Finally, there are worse places to be on a Saturday afternoon than sitting under a palm tree waiting for a friend. [A shame about the graffiti but you can't have everything.]

LA PITTURA DI GINO - 3

Cartellone is the old Jewish quarter of Modica and the first two pictures are Gino's depictions of houses there. [These now fetch quite a price, having been renovated!] Then what collection of Modican art would be complete without a painting of our glorious Duomo di San Giorgio? Next we have "Agrigento x 3" [you will work out why]. And finally, what collection of Sicilian art could be complete without a picture of a palm tree?

Now I confess that tonight is not quite the first time I have mentioned Gino on my blog, for some of you may remember that in the winter he painted Simi and me.

As I have said, Gino would love to have some feedback from you about his work.

A GROAN AND A SMILE

And finally, for tonight, a groan because earlier I listened to last night's Archers episode on the internet and have learned that the Eddie Grundy character is to attempt a "town cry" in Italian! I think I will have to stop listening until after this dire and painful event as I will not be able to stand it....

And a smile because Simi and I have just been for our evening walk and outside the greengrocer's the assistants are sitting on upturned crates tying together large palm fronds with coloured ribbon ready for Palm Sunday [when everyone here will carry one].

UN PAIO DI FOTO

Just a couple of photos for you this afternoon; we have got our blue sky back and so I went around snapping what took my fancy. The juxtaposition of the almond tree among the palms struck me in this garden as I passed and I have always liked the statue of Christ looking out over the town and, hopefully, protecting it, from the other side of the Sacro Cuore Church.