A MORNING IN GIBILMANNA

In Palermo Province, nestling in the Madonie at 800 metres above sea level, is the village of Gibilmanna and on Sunday a friend and I joined a trip organised by those nice people at La Terra to visit it.  

The Sanctuary of Gibilmanna is its main attraction and the original building is said to have been part of a monastery founded by Gregorio Magno [Gregory the Great] prior to his becoming Pope in 590. After the Saracen conquest of Sicily in 878 the monastery was abandoned but hermits continuued to care for the church.  Under the Normans, many churches were restored and in 1535 the Cappuccini took over the care of the church.  Brother Sebastiano Majo da Gratteri founded the convent on the site in the same year and the present church structure dates from 1623. Among the goods received by the new church from the old one was a statue of the Madonna commissioned by the Capuchin hermit Giuliano de Placia di Miselmeri in 1533.  It is thought to have been sculpted by Antonello Gagini or a member of his artistic family. The altar is a later work by Baldassarre Pampillonia and dates from around 1684.

The church also has this Assunzione, by an unknown artist, above the main altar.  It was given to the Sanctuary in 1623:

Next to the Sanctuary is a folk museum which also contains ecclesiastical objects. Looking at richly embroidered vestments is not really my thing so I concentrated on the items from everyday life and tried to imagine the people who used them:

As many of you will know, I love Sicilian carts and was glad to realise, when I looked at its sides, that the one above had had its moments of glory:

More artwork from a cart:

I like pestles and mortars too!

Oops - what's a mad Welshwoman doing here?

These instruments were used for cutting the Communion bread. They came with very precise instructions:

Local heel bar?

Gibilmanna, then, is well worth a visit.  Who can guess where we went in the afternoon?

"OTTOBRATA" TOMATOES

Yes, I do know it's the beginning of April but I have named this recipe for the Ottobrata festival where I bought some "balsamic honey" in October.  The other day it occurred to me that I ought to use it up so I invented this tomato recipe:

Put a rack in a roasting tin and cover the rack with baking parchment. Halve some cherry or other small tomatoes and place, cut side up, on the rack. Sprinkle over some coarse seasalt and black pepper, then add the herbs of your choice - I used rosemary and oregano.  Drizzle over some balsamic honey - if you can't get this make up your own, using 2 tablesp runny honey and 2 tablesp balsamic vinegar.  Roast the tomatoes in an oven pre-heated to 170 C for about 20 mins.  You can serve them hot or cold, as an antipasto or as an accompaniment to roast meats.

SABATO MUSICALE - BUONA PASQUA

Something intellectual is called for, I think:

BUONA PASQUA A TUTTI!

EASTER ORANGE

Well, it's not quite egg-shaped but about as near as an orange can get! As I've written before, I love the way that, here, imperfectly-shaped fruit is still sold, if it is good. I'm looking forward to my orange salad this evening:

PRIMA RI PARRARI...

Prima ri parrari mastica 'i palori.

Before you speak, chew your words.

- Sicilian proverb

Oh dear, oh dear - it all began so well! Some of you may remember that in November, the then newly elected Governor of Sicily, Rosario Crocetta, announced that he wanted a "committee of intellectuals" to be involved in governing the region. Among those he appointed were the singer and composer Franco Battiato, as Regional Councillor for Culture with Special Responsibility for Tourism and Entertainment, and the scientist Antonino Zichichi as Councillor for Cultural Heritage.

These were popular appointments but, sadly, both men were removed from their posts yesterday, Mr Zichichi mostly for absenteism but also because of policy disagreements with Mr Crocetta and a possible conflict of interests regarding the physicist's son. However, Mr Zichichi may continue to serve the regional government as a consultant.

It is the dismissal of Franco Battiato that has generated the most headlines, as it came as a direct result of comments he made at the European Parliament in Brussels, where he used a very offensive word, particularly to women, to describe Italian parliamentarians who were, he said, "ready to do anything". The comments caused shock all over Italy and Mr Crocetta clearly felt that an apology was not enough. Mr Battiato said that he had not been referring to the current parliament but the remarks have been interpreted as an insult to the institution itself and, therefore, to democracy.  

Personally, I don't think Mr Crocetta had an alternative but perhaps the problem with a "committee of intellectuals" is that its members may be too intelligent for politics?

"I have often regretted my speech, never my silence."

Franco Battiato - La canzone dell'amore perduto

BANGERS AND.....

"You're going to cook sausages with apples and almonds?!!" exclaimed my Sicilian friends with that incredulity which they manifest whenever a mixture of sweet and savoury is proposed [unless the hapless foreigner's intention is to cook coniglio [rabbit] in agrodolce, which for some reason doesn't feature on the "prohibited dishes" list].  Anyway, I made the dish of sausage roasted with apples, almonds, sage and lemon juice and the result was very good.  For those of you in Italy, the recipe is in the March edition of the Conad supermarket chain's free magazine.

SPRING BREAKFAST

SABATO MUSICALE

I'm feeling nostalgic tonight, so here's a singer who has been a favourite of mine for over 40 years. This version of Lara's Theme makes me cry and cry!

Orietta Berti - Dove non so

ALL I WANT FOR EASTER....

Ferrero have brought back the pineapple flavour in their Gran Soleil desserts range. It's OK but why won't they bring the chocolate one back permanently? Come on, guys, it's nearly Easter so what better time could there be?!

A SIMPLE SUNDAY LUNCH

Well......

My favourite - roast artichokes!

It wouldn't have been a Modican lunch without scacce.

There had to be arancini, too!

Did you think there wouldn't be pasta?

And here comes the main course!

Now for a nice siesta......

SAN GIUSEPPE'S WINDOW

As San Giuseppe's and Father's Day in Italy draws to a close, I think of my own lovely Dad and how he would have loved this portrait of the saint. I've posted the picture before but some of you may not have seen it. The window is in Modica Bassa and the grille across it is only open for a few days around the Feast of San Giuseppe.

San Giuseppe is believed to have saved Sicily from famine and in some towns altars of bread are created in his honour. San Giuseppe is the protector of artisans, carpenters, cabinet-makers, bursars, workmen, lawyers and, of course, fathers everywhere.

OF CHIPS AND CRACCO

Oh, yes, Sicilians love chips although they try to pretend that patatine consumption is a British vice. Chips appear here on and prior to pizza, with arancini,  as side dishes and with just about everything. People tuck into them using cocktail sticks so that everyone will think they are only having a little taste. As I've said many times before, chip calories don't count when you're out so what could be nicer than a plate of antipasti topped with some of the sinful morsels? 

I then had a main course of scaloppine al limone and very good they were, too. My culinary hero, Italy's  "sexy chef" Carlo Cracco, would say that the strawberry was out of place as it was not integral to the dish, but I thought it was pretty:

My companion enjoyed this fresh sausage pizza:

Some of you have already seen the gel al limone but here it is again [without chips!]

DOMENICA MUSICALE

Sorry posting has been light over the past week, folks - I have a very Italian febbre!

Here's a pretty little song from Sanremo 2013. It's all about missing someone:

Simone Cristicchi - Mi manchi

ANY UMBRELLAS?

Often it is the sideshows of great events that are most revealing about the nature of some of those attending them and so it was last night in Rome: As ecclesiastical history unfolded in the rain, spectators' umbrellas were refolded when they were asked to put them down so that everybody in the crowd could have a chance to see the new Pope. Italians can, at times, be among the most disorderly people in the world but at others, they will comply surprisingly quietly with a reasonable request and thus it was in St Peter's Square while the world looked on.

This got me thinking about umbrellas and I remembered that, when I first came here, it was difficult to actually buy one: they are not normally sold in supermarkets as they are in Britain and, if you couldn't run to a designer one, your choice was very limited. Those that were on sale at a reasonable price were either flimsy or had prongs that did not tuck in at the top, making them a menace to those padded raincoats so beloved of Italian women in winter.  Now better specimens are on sale in more shops, though rarely in supermarkets.

I've never really got on with umbrellas, I must admit, preferring a hood or my trusty Cardiffian hat, so when it does rain here I am often asked where my umbrella is.  This is a question which only someone addicted to their car would ask on a windy day for, as every Brit knows, rain and umbrellas do not mix. And when hailstones the size of eggs fall, as they did today in Modica, no umbrella would last very long. [Of course, I was the only person out and about in such weather once again.]

A beach parasol is known as an ombrellone or "big umbrella" and in the summer we were treated to the ombrellone strike. As I wrote then, Simi has her own version:

Earlier, I searched for umbrella quotes but the only one I liked, and which rather fits my mood at the moment, is this:

The rain it raineth on the just
And also on the unjust fella:
But chiefly on the just, because
The unjust steals the just's umbrella.

- Lord Bowen, quoted in Walter Sichel's Sands of Time.

My favourite Sicilian proverb about rain, by the way, is,

Cca çiovi supra ô vagnatu - Here it rains on the person who is already soaked [the implication being that troubles do not come singly, a premise with which I concur].

Does anyone know if there's still an umbrella repair stall in Cardiff Market?

Flanagan and Allen - The Umbrella Man

My favourite film featuring umbrellas is Les Parapluies de Cherbourg and I cry enough to make an umbrella necessary every time!

As it's nearly Easter, here's an umbrella song from Easter Parade:




Finally, here's a bit of inconsequential fun:

Enzo Jannacci - L'ombrello di mio fratello




If it's raining in your life at the moment, I hope a friend with an umbrella comes along soon!

ADDIO, TERESITA

Tonight Italy mourns Teresa Mattei, partisan, women's and children's rights campaigner and the last "mother of the Constitution".  

Born in Genova in 1921, Teresa Mattei graduated in Philosophy from the University of Florence and became an antifascist campaigner. During the Second World War she was known as Partigiana Chicchi.  In 1946 she became the youngest woman member of the Assemblea Costituente, the parliamentary chamber charged with drawing up Italy's Constitution, a document which she defended throughout her life.

It was Teresa Mattei who had the idea of making the mimosa blossom the symbol of International Women's Day [8th March] for the simple reason that the flowers are in season in early March and can be obtained at little or no cost. 

Of the potential of women in politics she said,

"Women, in contrast to men, seek knowledge, cooperation and solidarity. They are the bearers of new life. They do not see society as being divided into classes but as a multitude of men and women with the same problems. Women can bring this new spirit into politics, but we have to create the structures that can allow this to happen."

Referring to the Second Prodi Government and its six women ministers, of whom only two had portfolios, she went on to say,

"These poor women can have no influence, because a minister without portfolio is unable to do what a minister with portfolio can, that is, to use a budget to put a plan into action. This is a very serious situation."

I think that last but one sentence is a metaphor for women's powerlessness all over the world.

Teresa Mattei died in Lari [Province of Pisa] today at the age of 92.  I'm glad she saw this 8th March and, as she is laid to rest, the mimosa blooms for her all over Italy.

SPOONFED

Regular readers will know that one of my favourite Sicilian desserts is gel al limone and over the weekend I enjoyed it at two fabulous meals to which I was treated. There seems to be a new fashion for thrusting the spoon into it to serve:

SABATO MUSICALE

Tonight I'm sad and disappointed in someone so......

Zucchero - Per una delusione in più

QUIZ: SICILIAN PROVERBS - 21 [WOMEN]

Here is a  proverbs quiz for the evening of International Women's Day.  Just match the proverbs and one saying, 1 - 6, with their meanings, a - f:

1.  Essiri comu 'a matri ri Sampietru.

2.  Bona terra e bona mugghieri portanu all'omu beni.

3. Fimmina bona, vali chiù di 'na corona.

4.  L'òmini fanu i fatti: ma su' i fìmmini ca fanu l'òmini.

5.  Na fìmmina, na pàpira e un tammùru fanu succédiri 'a rivoluzioni.

6.  Fìmmini e vôi, di li paisi toi.

Duomo di San Pietro, Modica

a.  A good woman is worth more than a royal crown.

b.  Get women and oxen from your own town.

c.  To be like St Peter's mother [said to have been grasping].

d.  Men make events but women make men.

e.  Good land and a good wife bring a man wellbeing.

f.  A woman, a goose and a drum are enough to start a revolution [a reference to Sicilian history].

To see the answers, highlight the space below:

1c, 2e, 3a, 4d, 5f, 6b.

SCECCU PORTA E SCECCU MANCIA

Sceccu porta e sceccu mancia.

He brings donkey [meat] and eats donkey [meat].

- Sicilian saying  [usually said of someone who brings food  - probably a dessert - to a meal with friends or family and then is the first to eat it!]

Having followed the relevant twitter feeds here, I can't help feeling that Italians have rather enjoyed the UK horse-meat scandal, simply because it proves yet again that we know nothing about food.  How, after all, could we not have detected it over all these years? Only the citizens of a nation where sausages and bacon are eaten in the morning could have such undiscerning tastebuds, the reasoning goes. The French view it all rather differently, as they just can't see what the problem is:  "It's horse-meat - et alors?"

The laughter died down somewhat a couple of weeks ago when the management of a popular international furniture store banned meatballs from its restaurants in Italy and 13 other countries after horse-meat traces had been found in the product in the Czech Republic. Then traces were found in a pack of ready-made lasagne in Verona Province. Though not as nonchalant as their French neighbours, consumers here are scandalised less because the products may contain horse-meat and more because they do not contain the ingredients stated on their packaging or publicity.  But now - oh, no! - traces of horse-meat have been found in the ragù produced by a well-known Italian manufacturer of stock cubes and sauces.  Of course, any Italian woman with any pride makes her own brodo and ragù - or so we are led to believe - but if that were always true the products wouldn't sell, would they?  I do make my own ragù and freeze it in small portions, as you need it as an ingredient in timballi or pasta al forno but will admit I've been tempted, at times, to buy the new small portions of ragù made by this company. I'm glad I didn't!  

Image: WP Clipart

RAINY NIGHT PIZZA

Sometimes, when the rain outside is announcing its presence noisily as only Sicilian rain can, there are only two answers - ice cream or pizza. As it's too cold tonight even for me to indulge in ice cream, pizza it is. I wonder what's in this one? What do you think?

EPITAPH FOR A LANGUAGE TEACHER

Many an ESOL teacher will, I'm sure, groan with me when I mention the pronunciation of the -ed past simple or past participle ending. Students here insist on pronouncing the e, so that the -ed is pronounced as a separate syllable, for no one has ever told them that it is only thus pronounced after a t or a d [as in wanted or decided].  Of all past simple or participle forms, the word finished seems to cause the most pronunciation difficulties, with student after student pronouncing it as three separate syllables:  fin-ish-ed.

I have therefore made it my mission in life to teach my modicani students the correct pronunciation of this word and I have taken to yelling, "Music to my ears!" or playing the chimes of Big Ben when they get it right. Nevertheless, my mission seems doomed to failure and, to paraphrase Queen Mary Tudor,

"When I am dead and opened" [I mean op-en-ed] "you shall find finish[e]d lying in my heart."

SABATO MUSICALE

At the end of a Welsh-themed week, let's hear a song in Italian from Wales's sweetheart:

Katherine Jenkins - L'amore, sei tu

HAPPY ST DAVID'S DAY 2013

Over at English Matters, we've got Welshcakes for everybody today and the Welsh ladies looking on were made by some of our youngest students:

I was delighted when a student's mother sent me this perfect St David's Day boutonnière that she had made from fabric:

Now, this is for Welsh people everywhere, for those who wish they were Welsh and for all with a song in their heart. I would also like to dedicate it to the young people of Italy:

Only Boys Aloud - Calon Lân

CREAMY LEMON CHICKEN

I don't often get food cravings, except for ice cream, but the other day I decided I just have to have chicken with cream and lemons.  I rarely use cream in my savoury cooking as cooked cream upsets my stomach but Italian panna di cucina is lighter than British single cream and does not cause me any problems. 

Get the butcher to cut one skinned and boned chicken breast [that is, two breasts as they are sold in the UK and one as sold in Italy] crosswise into not too thin medallion shapes.  Soften a chopped, medium white onion in 4 tablesp olive oil in a wide, fairly deep pan. Don't let the onion brown. Turn the chicken pieces in about 2 tablesp flour and add them to the pan.  Seal them on both sides.  Add 300 ml white wine, the grated zest and juice of 1 Sicilian or unwaxed lemon and stir well. Add 250 gr chopped mushrooms, a little chopped fresh thyme and parsley and a little dried oregano.  Stir well and season.  Simmer for 45 mins, then add 200 ml panna di cucina or other thin cream and stir. Simmer for another 15 mins, then serve with orange salad and enjoy!

Serves 4.

THE MORNING AFTER

If ever a country needed a morning-after pill, it was Italy this morning. As Italians went to bed last night - those who did bother to turn in, that is - there was no clear general election result and things weren't any better when they woke up this morning.  As I write, the number of seats allotted to each group in both parliamentary chambers is still changing and this is everybody's nightmare scenario here; an outcome so close that no one will be capable of governing, or at least, not for long.

You can see the results for yourself on the Ministero dell'Interno site and at the moment the centre-left coalition led by Pier Luigi Bersani has 340 seats in the Camera dei Deputati or lower chamber, Beppe Grillo's anti-corruption M5S [Five-Star Movement] has 108, Mr Berlusconi's centre-right coalition has 124 seats and Mario Monti's Scelta Civica coalition just 45 seats.  This makes Beppe Grillo's party - but not group because it is not part of one - the most popular in Italy.  In the Senate, the upper chamber, where seats are allocated according to regional voting, Mr Berlusconi's coalition has 116 seats, Mr Bersani's 113, Mr Grillo's party 54 and Mr Monti's group 18.  [I repeat - the situation is constantly changing and both the ANSA news agency and Corriere della Sera are now giving the figures as 119 for Mr Bersani and 117 for Mr Berlusconi in the Senate.]

In the Senate elections, Sicily went with the Berlusconi coalition, with Beppe Grillo's party coming a close second and Mr Bersani's coalition third.  In the Camera, however, Sicily favoured the Grillo Movement, with  the Berlusconi coalition coming second and the Bersani group third [with almost 50% less votes than the Berlusconi group]. The difference in this region's results for the two chambers may be explained by the fact that you have to be over 25 years of age to vote for the Senate.

In this election young people have had their say and what they have said is that they are fed up with corruption and do not want more of the same. They want jobs and hope and in my opinion it is the lack of hope offered by the undoubtedly sincere Mr Monti that has lost him the vote. You cannot tell people who were not even old enough to vote when the crisis began that, because of a situation which could not possibly have been their fault, they have to accept ever-increasing austerity measures with no end in sight and no dream to follow.  

As for Mr Berlusconi, as usual it is difficult to find anyone who will admit to having voted for him and some people will tell you that they are voting not for him, but for his coalition [which is technically true]. "I wouldn't vote for him but as a celebrity he's fantastic", remarked a friend of mine after one of Mr Berlusconi's recent  television interviews.  "That's just the trouble", I replied. "He's not a celebrity but your former Prime Minister" ["and", I might have added had the conversation taken place tonight, "possibly a future one."] I'm willing to bet that this friend did vote for Mr Berlusconi! Why?  Because "everybody's Silvio" represents Italians as some would like to see themselves, because they admire his business audacity and because, many would say, "Who else is there?"

"Grillo", we might answer. The Left's criticisms of Mr Grillo have been levelled at the fact that he and his party members do not have governmental experience and certainly, this makes many Italians doubt his ability to really carry through.  But who, among those elected previously, has done so?  Mr Grillo is so suspicious of Italy's political establishment and institutions that at one point on Sunday he was urging voters to "lick their pencils" in order to make it harder for an unscrupulous vote-counter to erase their mark.  If I might venture a personal opinion here I would like to tell Beppe that, much as I have always admired him, his scant attention to hygiene in this instance would not give me confidence in a member of his party as Minister of Health. But I always was a fussy soul and anyway, do not have the right to vote in Italian national elections [only local and EU ones].

As the night wears on, desperate attempts are being made to form a coalition capable of governing but I am not hopeful: this is a country in which getting to the point is not regarded as a virtue and anyone asking a question at a public meeting or conference embeds it in the middle of so much flowery rhetoric that often the addressee has no idea what is being asked; writers do not use paragraphs, a contract is treated much like a used bus ticket and an appointment is a vague arrangement which probably means, "I'll call you if I remember to think about it."  What we should be wondering at, then, is not that the political system doesn't work but that anything, ever, works at all. When it does, it works beautifully and stuns the rest of the world and I wish this could be the case with this election result.

As I close my post, there is still no clear winner but I fear that there is a clear loser; its name is Italy.

ON THE CORSO

Corso Umberto, Modica

"What do you usually do on Saturday evenings?" I asked a student during an oral exam simulation today.

"I go out with my friends", said he.

"And where do you go?"

"To the Corso."

"What's the Corso?"

"It's - the Corso!"

"Imagine I'm an examiner from Britain, I've never been to Italy before and I don't speak Italian. What's the Corso?"

"It's.... you know ... the Corso, in Modica Bassa."

"No, I'm afraid I don't know. What's the Corso? Is it a bar?" [I stopped myself from inquiring whether it was a bird or a plane.]

At this point the student is looking at me as if I am particularly stupid but he then manages, "It's a street!"

"What kind of street? A little street?"

"No, it's the Corso!"  [At this point I'm sure he, in turn, stopped himself from adding, "Idiot!"]

Finally he volunteered, "It's the main street."

"Ah, the main street! And what do you and your friends do in the main street on a Saturday night?"

"We walk up and down the Corso."

Here endeth the lesson.

SABATO MUSICALE

A sabato musicale of divided loyalties today, as Wales and Italy face each other in Rome in the Six Nations Rugby Tournament.  No apologies for reposting this:

Max Boyce - The Glory That Was Rome

AND ONCE IN A WHILE....

Once in a while it's an unexpected and very welcome treat when a friend brings me fresh lemons from her garden.  These perfume the kitchen even more.  And when, on the same day, another friend brings me some of her pretty, handmade chocolates I know I'm in for a blissful evening:

I'll just let you have a closer look at the chocolates....

Happy weekend, everybody!

NOW AND THEN....

Now and then buying a bunch of Sicilian lemons, with their leaves still attached, perfumes the kitchen, reminds me where I am and brightens my day: