FRIDAY ELEVENSES

.... Sicilian style:

SEA OF SADNESS

The sea at Pozzallo

The Mediterranean - a playground for some, but increasingly, in these times, a sea of sadness for so many. As the Sicilian summer brings clear, moonlit nights with open-air dining, dances, concerts and parties, so it also brings more of what I have come to call, in my eight years here, the "boatloads of sorrow" - that is, inadequate, overcrowded boats of would-be migrants willing to risk everything in order to flee the unimaginable and to seek a better life.

In the early hours of Tuesday one such boat ran into trouble in the Sicilian Channel and was saved because, at 4.30 am., one of the passengers managed to contact the leader of Turin's Egyptian community by satellite phone. Help was summoned and at 6.30 am Italian Coastguard boats managed to reach the migrant vessel.  On board were 119 migrants, including five women and 56 minors. All are thought to be Egyptian. The craft was sinking due to the length of the journey and the sheer numbers on board, some of whom had to be brought to Modica for hospital treatment.

A 26-year-old Egyptian man, whom police found after questioning the migrants, has been arrested on suspicion of people-trafficking.

A new law which aims at protecting the human rights of migrants, including refugees and asylum seekers, is before the Sicilian Regional Assembly at the moment.  Among its provisions are measures to ensure migrants' rights to health cover, education, help with housing and cultural integration. Barriers which prevent migrants from working in the voluntary sector would be lifted and there would be a job creation scheme. Anti-discrimination measures are also envisaged. 

If Sicily can pull this off, it would be a shining example to other regions affected by the migration crisis.

GELATO CALLS...

Well, wouldn't you?

SIGH IN THE SKY

I pride myself on being at my cantankerous British best whenever a Sky Italia employee calls, usually at the most inconvenient of times, to offer me a sports package and the conversation often runs like this:

Me: Sorry, but I hate sport.
Sky lady:  What, all of it?
Me: Yes.
Sky lady: But don't you want to see some of it? Didn't you want to watch the Olympics in your own country last year?
Me [for I have to grudgingly admit that even I was teary over the Olympics]: Yes, but I watched them very well on Rai, thank you.
Hapless Sky lady [the idea that you might live alone and dislike sport being too much for an Italian]: Well, isn't there anyone else in your house who likes sport? There must be!
Me: No, I'm afraid not. My dog's not interested in sport either!
Sky lady [despairing]: Allora, buona sera, signora.

But if I am the despair of the Sky sales team, I must admit that Sky often get their revenge - as they did two years ago when they cut the BBC Entertainment channel, for instance, and as they do these days every two months when they send out their bills: There I am after a hard day in the whiteboard jungle, unwinding by watching some inane repeat documentary about British royals, when all of a sudden, a message flashes onto the screen, accusing me of not having paid my bill. What bill? I haven't received one!

Angrily, I rush to the phone and when, after much sleep-inducing music and numerous useless messages, I actually get to speak to a real, live person, I am told that the bills have been sent out but that they must be delayed in the post. That, surely, is Sky's problem to resolve and, as they admit it is happening to everyone, I cannot understand why they do not do just that. Last month, the guy in billing said he was telling everyone to go to the tobacconist's or other Sisal [lotto outlet with a bill-paying facility] shop a few days before the bill is due, ask the shopkeeper to key in their client number on the lottomatica machine and lo and behold, the amount due would show. That's fine, but what about people who cannot get to a Sisal shop or do not have time to do so?  When I went to the tobacconist's to follow this advice on Friday, he told me that everyone who pays their Sky bill in cash has the same problem -  namely, that the bill arrives two weeks after the final date for paying it - and that they are all heartily fed up with Sky, who then add an extra charge!

Come on, Sky Italia: you have brought us HD, "My Sky" and have managed to incorporate Italian digitale terrestre channels into your little box, so surely it is not beyond you to change your private postal service and get the bills to your customers on time?

SABATO MUSICALE - PER FRANCA

This week's sabato musicale is dedicated to Franca Rame, the great actor, playwright and political activist, who died, at the age of 84, on Wednesday.

I was a young Italian graduate when I discovered the theatrical works of Franca Rame and her husband, Dario Fo and I felt that they spoke directly to me and for my generation. It has often been written that the literature of the twentieth century asks the questions rather than providing the answers but Franca Rame had some answers, too;  among them were being politically vigilant, questioning the policies of every political party and never giving up hope.

As the Mayor of Milan said at Franca Rame's lay funeral,

"She had the greatness of one who dreams and one who fights."

Franca Rame fought tirelessly for women and, some years after being abducted, tortured and raped by fascists in 1973, she courageously told her story in a monologue entitled Lo Stupro [The Rape], thus encouraging other Italian women to speak out against this most horrific of crimes. [ Rape was designated "an act of violence against women" in Italian law only in 1996].

At the funeral Dario Fo recited an unpublished monologue written by his wife:  in this story, Eve appears on earth not fashioned from Adam's rib but modelled by God in fine clay. When God asks the couple to choose between the fruits of immortality and the apple, Eve says,

"Just to have consciousness, consciousness, doubts and to experience love - come, death!"

Adam echoes her, saying,

"I have some doubts but I am very curious to discover the mystery of love, even if immediately afterwards I meet my end."

Dario Fo and Franca Rame's son, Jacopo, said, at the funeral,

"Dinosaurs are extinct and people with no love or respect for humanity will become extinct one day too.....I want you to go home with a little faith because, as my mother said, 'God exists and is a communist.' I would add that she is also female."

As Franca Rame had requested, women wore red and sang the partisan song, Bella Ciao at the funeral.  I would like to add my own thanks for the life and work of Franca Rame.

AND NOW, FROM CALABRIA.....

I'm having a very oniony week for not only are the large, white Giarratana onions in season, but it is also time for the famous red onions of Tropea to make their appearance. These onions are grown around the beach resort town of Tropea in Vibo Valentia Province and particularly between Briatico and Capo Vaticano.  

The soil of the area makes the onions sweet and they contain vitamins C and E, iron, iodine, zinc and magnesium. A few years ago it was discovered that they also contain nitric oxide, a component of that pill for the gentlemen.  Sweets for your sweetie?

BAKED ONIONS WITH APRICOT RAGU

Baked, stuffed onions are a favourite in Sicily during the Giarratana onion season and I used the largest ones I could find for this recipe.  The ragù with dried apricots and almonds is my own invention because I wanted to do something different, so all you Sicilians who are shocked by the mix of "sweet and savoury" had better look away now!

First, clean, trim and peel 6 large, flattish onions and then put them in simmering, salted water for 20 minutes or until tender but not falling apart.  Lift them out of the pan with a slotted spoon and let them dry on kitchen paper on a plate.

Heat the oven to 170 C while you make the ragù.  These quantities are enough to fill the 6 large onions and to have some ragù left to put around them:

4 tablesp olive oil + extra for drizzling
200 gr mixed, minced meat [typically pork and beef in Sicily]
200 gr pasta di salame [sausage mince]
125 gr mushrooms, chopped
6 fresh mint leaves, chopped
125 ml white wine
100 gr chopped almonds
100 gr dried apricots, chopped
coarse seasalt and black pepper
mint leaves to garnish

Brown all the meat in the 4 tablesp olive oil and add the mushrooms. Stir well, then add the wine, chopped almonds, chopped mint and apricots. Season the mixture, then turn down the heat and simmer for about 25 mins.

Meanwhile, scoop out the centre of the onions as best you can. [I used a small knife and a teaspoon.] Oil a glass or ceramic oven dish and place the onions in it. Now fill them with the ragù and spoon the remaining ragù around them. Drizzle more olive oil over the contents of the dish and bake for about 30 mins. Garnish with more mint leaves.

Buon appetito!

THE RETURN OF "IL POETA DEL PONTE"

"My poet", Antonio Lonardo, whom I also call "Il poeta del ponte", has been busy since he last appeeared on this blog. Since the collection of poems Il profumo del pensiero, which I translated into English, three more Lonardo anthologies have been published and Antonio has continued to be awarded honourable mentions in, and to win, numerous poetry competitions.

His latest collection is entitled Orizzonti sconvolti [Unsettled Horizons] and is divided into three sections: Storia, about historical events and people in history; Crisi, about the crisis in our values; and Speranze, about hope.  The author of this article calls Antonio a "determined" poet and, whilst I would agree with this, I would also describe his message as triumphant, for he always gives us hope.

Incidentally, I get a mention in the article too!

SABATO MUSICALE

A passionate song from popular Emma Marrone [who at last has a non-weird hairstyle]:

Emma Marrone - Amami

SAPORE DI SALE

Italians don't go in for food crazes in the way that the British do, and especially not in Sicily, where people still tend to eat seasonal food and are convinced that their own is the best.  

Lately, though, I've noticed a growing interest in different kinds of salt and I have collected these specimens.  I was particularly pleased to see grey Breton salt among the range as I hadn't been able to find any in eight years and I have missed it. Now I think the manufacturers should add Welsh seasalt, too.

I'm expecting a salt-admonishing blog visit from my friend James any minute but meanwhile it's time for that summer song:

Gino Paoli - Sapore di sale

"IDEAS LIVE ON"

 Giovanni Falcone
Image: Wikipedia Italia

"Gli uomini passano, le idee restano. Restano le loro tensioni morali 

e continueranno a camminare sulle gambe di altri uomini."

"Men die but ideas live on. Their moral power remains and they walk

 forward on the legs of other men."

- Judge Giovanni Falcone, 18 May 1939 - 23 May 1992

ZUCCHINI MOUSSE

It's always gratifying when a mousse, semifreddo, timballo or any other dish that is meant to turn out actually does just that, so I thought I'd show you this zucchini mousse. Admittedly , it would have looked better if I'd had the patience to cut the zucchini for the top into ultra-thin ribbons but I didn't have the patience tonight and sliced them in the processor. 

The recipe, for those of you in Italy, was in Donna Moderna about three weeks ago but I'm afraid I can't find the date on the pages I kept. You are supposed to use goat's cheese but, as I couldn't find any, I used Crescenza.  The dish also contains eggs, chives, basil, more grated zucchini and panna di cucina [cream for general cooking - it is thinner than British single cream]. 

SYNTACTICAL GALLANTRY

Speakers of other languages are often surprised to find that, in English, it is possible to string several adjectives together in one sentence and that there is an accepted order for these adjectives, according to their meaning.  We say, for example, "a nice young man" rather than "a young nice man".  The native speaker usually uses the correct order automatically and does not have to think about it but the English learner needs some rules to hold on to, so is taught that the "opinion" adjective comes first, then the "size" one, then the "age" adjective, then "shape", "colour",  "nationality", "material" and "purpose" ["a nice, big, new, rectangular, brown, British, wooden dining table"].

We were practising such combinations today in class and, towards the end of the lesson I asked students to use three adjectives together in a sentence describing a person and another three in a sentence describing an object.  One student wrote,

"My English teacher is a beautiful, middle-aged, Welsh woman."

Besides admiring his good judgement in his choice of "opinion" adjective, I could have hugged him for having the gallantry to leave "size" out of it and for not writing "old". What's more, he even remembered that I am Welsh! Could this mean that I am getting somewhere in my campaign to convince Sicilians that "Inghilterra" is not Britain and that Britain is not England? No.... that would be too optimistic!

Weren't these the days?
Image:  WP Clipart

SABATO MUSICALE

Good luck to Italy's Marco Mengoni, who returns to the stage with his winning Sanremo song, L'Essenziale, in the Eurovision Song Contest tonight:

Marco Mengoni - L'Essenziale

And, because the UK will be represented by a Welshwoman, I have to root for Bonnie Tyler as well!

Bonnie Tyler - Believe in Me

ANTIPASTI SURPRISE

As I've written many times before, the stuzzichini or antipasti served in many a Sicilian bar are often plentiful and delicious enough to form a meal in themselves.  Thus it was when a friend and I had dinner out last weekend and it was a nice surprise to get a mini-dish of pasta too:

SICILIANS' FAVOURITE SMELL

If I asked you what you think Sicilians' favourite smell is, what would you say? You might think it was the scent of jasmine or orange blossom wafting through the air at this time of year or one of these in perfume form. Or, talking of perfume, perhaps the island's women finish their toilette with a generous spray of Acqua di Parma's almond fragrance or D&G's Sicily.

Then again, maybe the way to a Sicilian's olfactory nerve is through the kitchen and you might imagine that the unmistakeable scent of vanilla as numerous pasticcerie set to work in the morning or the aroma of freshly prepared foccaccia, pizza or arancini in the evening would be at the top of every Sicilian's good smell list.

All of the above would make the list but I can tell you with certainty that none of them would top it: I recently  had to visit a non-medical establishment which had been spring-cleaned with particular vigour and everyone - man or woman - who came in while I was there stopped as they crossed the threshold, sniffed the air and declared joyfully, 

"Che bel profumo di pulizia!" ["What a beautiful smell of cleaning!"]

And that, dear reader, is Sicilians' favourite smell.  What's yours? Just for fun, do please vote in the poll in the sidebar. Thank you.

Image: WP Clipart

CHOCOLATE GODDESS

And I'm not talking about Britain's goddess of cuisine, Nigella! No, tonight's post is about another of my favourite ladies, the Greek goddess Demeter, and that most divine of foods, chocolate.  

Those clever people at Modica's Antica Dolceria Bonajuto have put the two together and produced a chocolate medallion featuring the head of Demeter. They got the idea two years ago when they worked on a project for the Museo Biscari with Sicilian goldsmith Massimo Izzo and Catania-born designer Marella Ferrera. Back then, they produced a gold chocolate impression of the goddess but now they have decided to produce a whole line of chocolate deities, each made with the same type of mould that Massimo Izzo uses to make his "real" jewels and presented in its own jewelbox. The line, appropriately, is called cioccolato-gioiello.

For those of you who do not know of Demeter and Persephone's connection with Sicily, here is an edited version of a post I wrote about this in 2007:

Persephone [Core / Kora], daughter of Zeus and Demeter [Ceres], was abducted by Hades [Aidoneus / Pluto] whilst gathering flowers at Enna*. Demeter's grief for her daughter knew no bounds and she wandered the earth trying to find her, neglecting her duties as goddess of corn and so causing a worldwide famine. Zeus, forced to intervene, persuaded Hades to allow Persephone to return from the underworld, but she was tricked into eating some pomegranate seeds, the "food of the dead". [According to Robert Graves in The Greek Myths, there was an ancient taboo on red-coloured food.] This precluded Persephone's return to earth. Sources vary in their accounts of how many seeds she ate - Homer says one, Graves seven, Tennyson assumes three, other sources six - but it was agreed that Persephone would spend a month with Hades for each one. Let us believe, for the sake of the story, that it was three or four. Thus Persephone spends the winter months with her husband, returning to earth and Demeter for the spring. She brings much-needed rain for the crops with her as the lucky girl had received Sicily as a wedding present. Therefore it is only fitting that she should take special care of it.

* The Sicilians, and I, believe it was at Enna. It could have been almost anywhere in the Greek world.

SABATO MUSICALE

This is the title track of Alberto Molon's first solo album. In the song he is trying to convince himself that he's fine, even without the one he loves.  Haven't we all been there?

Alberto Molon - Sto bene anche se

OPERATIC PIZZA

Pasta alla Norma is one of my favourite Sicilian dishes and I was thinking of it as I walked home past my local pizzeria last night. The aroma was just too much for me, so I went in and emerged, fifteen minutes later, with this delicious pizza alla Norma.

The pizza was of course enjoyed to strains of Bellini!

GNOME KIDDING

Those of you who know my politics will be surprised to read that I have achieved 15 gnomoseconds of fame in the expat section of the Torygraph and, for those of you who do not hail from Blighty's shores, I should explain that the Telegraph newspaper has this nickname because of its tendency to support the British Conservative party.

Anyway, on the May Day bank holiday I was mucking about on twitter, as is my wont, when I saw a tweet from @TelegraphExpat asking for pictures of garden gnomes belonging to expats. I sent them [the Telegraph people, not the gnomes] a  tweet asking if balcony gnomes counted and a nice lady replied that they definitely did, so I sent her this picture of Pierre gnome and his pals:

I explained that Pierre is from Cardiff, like me and that the dust on him is from Etna. That information found its way into the caption and, although it is true, I only added it because I wasn't feeling energetic or balcony-proud enough to dust Pierre before taking the picture.

Pierre and his little gang are very pleased with themselves but Simi the dog is somewhat miffed at not being in on the act!

The whole gnome gallery is here.

ADDIO, SIGNORA AGNESE

News of the death today of Life Senator and former Prime Minister of Italy Giulio Andreotti has gone around the world but I wonder how many of you have read or heard of the death yesterday of a quiet and courageous woman? Agnese Borsellino, widow of the anti-Mafia judge Paolo Borsellino, murdered in 1992, died in Palermo at the age of 71 after a long illness which she bore with dignity and acceptance.

Agnese Borsellino never wavered in her fight to find out the truth about her husband's murder and, when ill health prevented her from attending some of the demonstartions organised in support of her cause, she chose to send a message to young people, saying that, despite all that had happened and some moments of doubt, she continued to believe in the democratic institutions of her country, as had her husband. In a rare interview which she gave to ANSA last year, signora Borsellino remembered that her husband's sense of duty had led him to ask himself, every evening, whether he had earned his state salary that day. His conscientiousness, sadly, cost him his life.

Mourners in Palermo applauded Agnese Borsellino's coffin as it was carried from the church of Santa Luisa di Marillac this morning and the service was attended by both national and regional government representatives.  Governor of Sicily Rosario Crocetta said that signora Borsellino, who had been deeply aware of the injustices which exist in Italian society, had been an example of courage, strength and values. He said that she and her husband belonged to all who believe in justice.

SABATO MUSICALE

This is the first single from young songwriter Mario Cianchi. I like it:

Mario Cianchi - Sarà abbastanza

AS IT WERE....

I once taught the subjunctive to an Advanced Level French class, all of whom were also studying Advanced Level English Literature, by using French versions of lines from Shakespeare that they already knew, because they were more likely to find the subjunctive in Shakespeare than in modern English. The method, I am glad to be able to report, worked.

Here is a confession: I love the subjunctive. I love its elegance, its sound and the grammatical hoops you have to go through in order to use it.  But what is it? It is not a tense but what is known grammatically as a "mood", implying that what is important in the utterance is not what happens but the speaker or writer's attitude towards it.  A simple example in Italian would be, "Penso che sia buono" ["I think it's good"]. The second verb - part of essere [to be] - is in the subjunctive; the speaker or writer thinks something is good but it may not be - so the subjunctive is often an indicator of uncertainty. Half the fun of using it, in the Romance languages, is in judging the degree of uncertainty. In Italian, as in French and Spanish, the subjunctive is also used in certain set expressions and after certain verbs and conjunctions but the uses are not necessarily the same in the different languages.

Frequency of subjunctive use varies from language to language, too: The subjunctive is a rarity and a formal mode of expression in British English so it may surprise some of you to learn that it is more often used in American English. However, it does survive in British English and most of us are unaware that we are using it in forms such as "If I were you". It also survives in our national anthem, for the line "God Save the Queen" is the expression of a wish. 

Alas, even in French, a language passionately defended by its académiciens, the present subjunctive is drowning out the other forms and it is now quite common to hear "Penso che è" rather than "Penso che sia" in Italian - so much so, in fact, that Rosalba Occhipinti, a primary school teacher from Gela, has formed a Society for the Protection of the Subjunctive. All signora Occhipinti's pupils are members of the society and they have promised to seek out examples of the use of the subjunctive and to correct any errors that they come across. Next year, the school will run a competition based on exercises involving the use of the subjunctive. Long live [there's another one] the Associazione a tutela del congiuntivo and may signora Occhipinti's students continue to have fun with the subjunctive for many years to come!

MAYFLOWER

No apologies for reposting this lovely song on May Day!

Fabio Concato - Fiore di maggio

"Mai" flowers at Camarina

HAPPY MAY DAY, EVERYBODY! BUONA FESTA DEL LAVORO!

BENVENUTI A POLLICA?

If Thursday night, until a few weeks ago, was "sexy chef night" on Italian television, Tuesday night now promises my "treat of the media week" in the form of the return of the two fictional chefs from the north and south of Italy respectively, Carlo Conforti [Fabrizio Bentivoglio] and Paolo Perrone [Giorgio Tirabassi] in the second series of Benvenuti a Tavola.

By the end of the first series, the rival chefs' wives had become friends, constantly exasperated by the antics of their husbands and forever trying to keep the uneasy peace between them.  The beautiful Pilar has left the Conforti restaurant but another [alas] beautiful Hispanic cook-cum-waitress has joined the Perrone establishment. High-school lovers Alessia and Federico have gone their separate ways in order to continue their studies and the romantic focus is now on Perrone's younger daughter. Popular Sicilian comic Teresa Mannino, presumably busy on Zelig Circus, has also left the cast for now. Renato, Conforti's sous-chef and fellow-conspirator, has been grieving for Mannino's character Lucia but has become the reluctant carer of a very cute dog. He becomes less reluctant when he realises there is money in the offing as a reward for his trouble but wait, Renato! Your boss wants some of that money and last week proposed a merger of the two restaurants to Paolo Perrone. "Mai" ["Never"], said Perrone but later, due to another Conforti plot, he is persuaded. Perrone makes it a condition of the merger that the two families travel to Pollica [in Salerno Province, Campania] to sign the agreement, as the only notary he trusts lives there and this is where some real-life controversy began the day after the episode was aired last week:

As I watched the episode, I was enchanted by the scenes of Pollica and decided to add the little town to my list of places I have yet to visit in Italy. I was also amused by the Perrone family's elderly relatives, who, declaring that they had had little forewarning of the visit, apologised for the modest food they were about to put before their guests. They then, of course, unveiled a feast fit for several kings and I had to smile as that is exactly what would happen in Sicily. Having gone to all this trouble, the elderly lady cooks sagely nodded and said they hadn't liked Conforti all along when it was revealed that he was trying to trick Perrone.

But what's this? In the next day's news, there was the Mayor of Pollica, Stefano Pisani, lamenting the fact that the "Pollica" scenes were not shot in Pollica at all.  Mr Pisani was careful to say that he does not want to cause any argument - he just wishes to point out that he thinks the production team had lost an opportunity and he would like to invite them, with all the actors, to spend some time in the "real" Pollica and get to know its beauty, its nearby blue-flag beaches and, most importantly, the local food. He assures the TV team that the Pollichesi would accord them a fantastic welcome.

Never mind, Mr Pisani - Pollica is still on my list!

Note:  I can't find any videos from the second series on youtube but there are some clips on this page of the programme's website.

CAPPUCCINO?

Spotted in local bar.

SABATO MUSICALE

Francesco Guccini - Le piogge d'aprile

AUSTERITY FOIL?

Does anyone else remember when what we used to call "silver paper" was difficult to remove from a Kit Kat bar? It used to stick to the chocolate and you'd get a metallic taste in your mouth.

Well, I'm beginning to think that Italian manufacturers of kitchen foil have used the old-style silver paper as their inspiration, as their product has become noticeably thinner and sometimes sticks to the food - "austerity foil", perhaps?

Cling film [plastic wrap] went the way of all flesh years ago but I'd be interested to know if anyone else has noticed a deterioration in the quality of kitchen foil, either in Italy or elsewhere.

Some of you may remember that I've had an issue with kitchen foil before and no doubt the hapless Mr Letta, charged with the task of forming a new government for Italy yesterday, has other matters on his mind, just as Mr Monti did before him.  On the other hand, I'm sure that Mr Letta, like his compatriots, will wish to continue to eat well, crisis or no crisis, so what could be more important than turning his attention to the problem of l'alluminio della sobrietà?

AN UNEXSPECKTED PLEASURE

It's all right - I haven't gone completely off my Conad trolley or lost my English teacher credentials. I was just thinking about Speck [the prosciutto kind], a meat which, at one time, I failed to appreciate. Over the years, I have come to quite like it and I must say it was especially yummy in this pizza of Speck and datterini tomatoes which I enjoyed with friends the other evening:

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!

SABATO MUSICALE

A seasonal offering tonight:

Franco Battiato - Tiepido aprile

STINCO WITH HARISSA

The Moro Cookbook has a recipe for roast chicken which has been marinated in harissa and the other day, it occurred to me that this should work with stinco of pork.  Stinco is the shin cut and it is much beloved of Italians for Sunday lunch. Some of my friends just marinate it in red wine - preferably a Nero d'Avola, they all say - and herbs, then cook it slowly in the oven.  I decided to liven it up a bit and this is what I did:

Rub about 1 tablesp harissa all over a stinco. Put it in a bowl, season, and sprinkle a little dried oregano over it.  Leave in the fridge for a few hours or overnight.

Line a small roasting tin with foil and put the stinco in the centre. Slice 3 largeish, unpeeled potatoes and 2 carrots. Cut a red pepper into strips. Put the vegetables around the stinco and add about 6 unpeeled garlic cloves.  Season the vegetables and add some sprigs of fresh rosemary and thyme.  Pour 3 tablesp olive oil over the vegetables and drizzle a little over the stinco.  Pour the juice of 2 - 3 lemons over the vegetables, too.

Cover the tin with foil and put it in the oven at 170 C for 1.5 hours, turning the vegetables over half way through the cooking. Then take the foil off, add a little more oil and cook for another 20 - 30 mins.  Watch it carefully during this time.

Slice the stinco and serve with the vegetables.

This will serve 3 people. If you want to serve more hungry folk, you can always add another stinco!

Buon appetito.

LETTER TO A FATHER

My Dad as a young man, with the ladies.

My dearest Dad,

As the fortieth anniversary of the day I lost you draws to a close, I can hardly believe that I have got through all these years without you, that I am already ten years older than you were when you died, or that I have been unable to discuss with you so many events, both personal and of worldwide importance:  you knew nothing of the political excesses of the woman whose funeral took place in our country earlier today and, whilst you would have admired her resolve, you would have been horrified at her rigidity and hardness. The fall of the Berlin Wall; the Mandela release; the life and death of Diana, Princess of Wales; the death of the Queen Mother, for whom, though you were no royalist, you felt the affection of your generation of Brits; climate change, the euro, New Labour;  9/11, 7/7, the Arab Spring....  all these you have missed and I have held imagined conversations with you about every one of them.

You'd have pronounced the mobile phone a miracle, marvelled equally at the internet and "played" with the latter as you probably did with your train set as a boy. Post-it notes would have irritated you, the Rubik's Cube perplexed you and downloadable music delighted you. I'm  not sure what you would have made of e-books as I'm not certain what I think of them myself but I suspect that you, like me, would have held on to your library and been glad that you belonged to a generation that grew up with "real" books.

It was you, of course, who taught me to revere books, along with music, art and languages. You imparted to me your passion for Wales, the West Country and London;  you introduced me to Vichyssoise, Chop Suey and Welsh salted butter; you taught me to love dogs, yellowhammers and sparrows.  "Ah, he thinks it's there for him to dig", you would say as our various dogs, rather successfully, attempted to dig up our garden.  "If they were rare, people would travel miles to see them", you would say of the sparrows.

You could be impetuous, maddening, quick-tempered and outrageous but you were never unkind. Like me, you had probably absented yourself from the queue when patience was being handed out but I may just be getting better at this after eight years in Sicily!  

Italy is a country you never visited and sometimes I imagine what would have happened had you lived and been able to come with me. You adored sunshine and, though you were as fair-skinned as I am, the sun never dared to burn you. I like to think that you, too, would have enjoyed some "seasons in the sun" and appreciated the good aspects of what is still a wonderful country. And here we come to that other dimension of grieving, for it is not only when great events happen that I miss you. I miss you on beautiful days and on rainy ones, through all my "triumphs and disasters" and in so many daily, seemingly insignificant, moments of my life. Right now, I'm going through one of the most difficult periods I have ever experienced and I miss your sheer physical presence and the warmth of your hug - your hug that always made me feel safe.

Yet, as I write, I become aware that you gave me the mental tools to survive even this and that you also taught me forgiveness, tolerance and compassion.

My dear kind, imperfect, wonderful Dad, thank you for it all - especially the love.

For thy sweet love remember'd such wealth brings

That then I scorn to change my state with kings.

- Shakespeare

   Sonnet XX1X

PRETTY PECORINO

Spotted in the supermarket the other day.

BUON COMPLEANNO, CLAUDIA!

Today the actress Claudia Cardinale is 75 and I'm sure you'll all join me in wishing her a happy day.

Talking of ageing, as we were on Saturday, you will see from this BBC interview and from photographs on her website that Miss Cardinale knows how to do it elegantly.

For me, Claudia Cardinale, whose maternal grandparents and father were Sicilian, will always be associated with the island in her role as Angelica in Luchino Visconti's film version of Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa's  Il Gattopardo:

Il Gattopardo - American trailer

SABATO MUSICALE - ON AGEING

I am lucky enough to count among my friends many young people who are patient, considerate and compassionate and I am truly grateful to them for remaining a part of my life.

When I look back at my own behaviour as a young woman, I am sometimes ashamed but, where I didn't have patience, I hope I always had compassion.  Of course, when you are young you cannot imagine that your elders were ever the same age as you or that, having lived longer, they might actually know more than you do.

Recently I was on the receiving end of some unkind behaviour by a young person and believe me, it wasn't a pleasant experience!  Sadly, this person, too, will eventually realise that age has a habit of creeping up on us and one day you look in the mirror and there it is.

An author I discovered last year is Elizabeth Strout who writes well about ageing in her novel Olive Kitteridge :

"What young people didn't know, she thought, lying down beside this man, his hand on her shoulder, her arm; oh, what young people did not know. They did not know that lumpy, aged, and wrinkled bodies were as needy as their own young, firm ones, that love was not to be tossed away carelessly, as if it were a tart on a platter with others that got passed around again."

Here is Asaf Avidan's show-stopping Sanremo performance of One Day:

MANGIARI DI CAVALERI

Tumazzo, pani e pira, è mangiari di cavaleri. 

Mellow cheese, bread and pears are food for knights.

- Sicilian proverb

My thanks go today to a student who works in the food industry and was thoughtful enough to bring me two lovely books about cheese:

  

The one on the left, about Ragusano cheese, has fascinating stories and insights about how this product was and is made, as well as beautiful black and white pictures of the cheese itself, the production process and the Ragusan countryside:  

The book on the right, which is in English, is a comprehensive study of three Sicilian cheeses - Pecorino Siciliano, Piacentinu Ennese and Provola dei Nebrodi. As well as scientific information about the cheeses, the volume contains recipes, serving suggestions, flowcharts of the production processes and a list of historical references to each cheese. I was interested to learn that both Pecorino Siciliano and Piacentinu Ennese are mentioned by Pliny the Elder, whilst the first historical reference to Provola dei Nebrodi was in 1886.

Grazie, studente mio!

NUTTERFINGERS?

If there is one Italian passion I do not share, it is the enthusiasm of the citizens of my adopted country for the hazelnut and chocolate spread, Nutella.  I am therefore perplexed as to why anyone would want to steal some, let alone 5.5 tonnes of the stuff but that is what happened at the weekend when thieves took the jars, valued at €16,000, from a parked lorry in the city of Bad Hersfeld in the German state of Hesse.

There is no word as to whether or not the thieves have been caught but, unless they are from that lucky group of individuals who can eat chocolate-covered lard all day without feeling sick or putting on an ounce, they shouldn't be hard to find.

Now, 5.5 tonnes of gelato I could understand.....

WHAT PRICE CULTURE?

Dante Alighieri, attrib. Giotto
Image:  Wikimedia Commons

Dante Alighieri, in a cold Cardiff lecture hall, caused me much misery and not a few nightmares almost half a century ago. However, his poetry came alive for me the first time I visited Florence and its beauty amazes me all over again when I hear the verses recited by the great Roberto Benigni.

Benigni's ambitious Tutto Dante project, in which the actor-director explains and then recites selected canti from Dante's masterpiece, began in Greece in 2006. The project was then taken to Florence. Since then, the one-man shows have toured Italy, completed an international tour and returned to Florence in 2012, when more canti from the Inferno were added to the repertoire.

Rai 2 is currently showing the recorded 2012 shows and in this house Wednesday night has become "Dante night". Not everyone in Italy appreciates the shows, though, and one of the criticisms has been that what works in the magnificent setting of the Piazza Santa Croce in Florence does not work on the small screen.  Another criticism is that the programmes are too long and in addition there is controversy over Benigni's reported fee. A package comprising the Tutto Dante 2012 shows and a programme about the Italian Constitution which Benigni presented in December is rumoured to have cost over 6 million euros, including production costs. Audience share for Tutto Dante is down and it has been suggested that Rai is about to pull the programme from its prime-time slot.

Can you put a price on culture and, if so, can it be justified in a time of recession?  Well, let us imagine, for a moment, a world without culture, in which the lines of Dante, through a genius like Benigni, do not come to us down the ages; in which such lines do not uplift someone, somewhere, or cause  listeners to turn again to their copy of the Divina Commedia and find comfort in the revelation that human passion and suffering are universal and that Dante, as Benigni reminds us, is sympathetic to these emotions. When I hear Dante recited like this, I know what my answer would be. Please bring us the Vita Nuova next, Roberto!

LA SIGNORA DI FERRO

When I first saw the news on my twitter feed just before lunchtime yesterday, I decided not to retweet it or comment before I was sure it was true, as hoax tweets on this subject had been posted before. [Apparently some people who do not have a life find it amusing to spread rumours of the death of others.]  It was only when Alex Crawford of Sky News tweeted the announcement that I realised it must be true and just afterwards online newspapers reported it and the news went around the world.

How, then, is it being reported in Italy? Yesterday it was, here as elsewhere, the top story and most papers used Margaret Hilda Thatcher's most famous nickname and emphasised the fact that she was Britain's "first and only" female Prime Minister. Much coverage was given to David Cameron's statement and soon collections of the lady's most famous quotes were appearing in Italian sources. Several women's pages have given space to her dress sense and the online edition of Io Donna, Corriere della Sera's women's magazine, has an article entitled Addio al tailleur più temuto del mondo - Farewell to the most feared suit in the world. I rather liked that one.  [I don't remember Winston Churchill's or Ted Heath's fashion choices making the headlines when they died but those of other male world leaders might - you never know.]

Most online editions here made the funeral arrangements their top story for a few hours today but political turmoil at home has knocked Thatcher news off Italian front pages tonight and you actually have to search quite hard for it. When you do find it, you encounter Italian correspondents' puzzlement at the different grades of VIP funerals that can be held in Britain and genuine dismay that the funeral of Diana, Princess of Wales was "only" what is known in Britain as a "ceremonial" one [that is, with full military honours but not a full state funeral]. Baroness Thatcher is to be accorded this type of funeral.

The other element of this story which is being reported here with puzzlement and shock is the fact that some of my compatriots are celebrating the death of Margaret Thatcher. Corriere della Sera calls this type of rejoicing "macabre". The Italian press are also picking up on the fact that the "Iron Lady", though admired for her strength around the world, was, at home, a deeply divisive figure and remains so in death. The striking differences in the way newspapers in Britain have chosen to remember her are being reported with surprise and wonderment.

Meanwhile, film maker Ken Loach's caustic comment that the funeral "should be privatised because she'd have wanted it" is receiving more coverage here than it has at home.

People I have spoken to today seem to be under the impression that Britain is plunged into national mourning on a Diana-esque scale, which is not true, and do not understand why it takes ten days to organise a funeral.  I have told them that it doesn't because the funeral will have been planned years ago but that the time is probably needed to put in place the massive security that will be required.

Britons, then, continue to argue about Margaret Thatcher and the world looks on in interest and bewilderment.

SABATO MUSICALE

This cheers me up and gives me hope:

Jovanotti - Ti porto via con me

THAT TIME OF YEAR....

People are still in padded jackets with long scarves wound around their necks up to their noses despite a noon temperature of 20 C here. But fearless Mr Fargione - always the first bar owner to declare spring in the Sorda - has started making his ice creams! Bravo!

AN AFTERNOON IN CEFALÙ

Although I've loved Sicily for over twenty years now and have lived here for eight, I had, until last Sunday, never managed to get to Cefalù. You can see Cefalù as you come down from Gibilmanna and I hadn't realised how close its main buildings are to the sea or what a compact and prettily coloured town it is.

The name Cefalù comes from a Greek word meaning "head" and refers to the massive rock beneath which the town stands. The town dates back to at least Greek times but it was the Normans who rebuilt it nearer the sea and legend has it that King Ruggero 11, having run into a dangerous storm whilst sailing to Palermo in 1131, swore that if he and his ship were spared, he would have a cathedral built where he landed. San Giorgio appeared and guided the ship to safety at Cefalù. Well, I'm going to believe it, anyway!

The narrow, winding streets reminded me of Ligurian towns like Alassio, as did the pleasant, relaxed atmosphere:

The Duomo, begun in 1131 as Ruggero had promised, was restored in 1559:

The Cristo Pantocratore above the altar reminded me of the mosaics in Monreale Cathedral, with which the building is twinned:

We'd had a very early start so decided that we now deserved lunch in the main square. A plate of antipasti  with panelle [chickpea flour fritters] at the back and fried caciotta cheese with orange on the right was just what we needed!

Polpette of beef with pinenuts and sultanas for me

and an entrecôte with more of that orange-flavoured caciotta for my friend:

Time for a wander down to the harbour:

Another view of the bay in the late afternoon light:

Finally, there had to be a stop for a slice of chocolate and coffee semifreddo and I'm happy to be able to tell you that they don't stint on helpings in Cefalù!