NO DYING - BY ORDER

This "late" news tonight is not a Sicilian story but it's too good not to share with you and it does come from Southern Italy:

In a country where the mayors of small towns have been introducing some absurd and incomprehensible bans over the past couple of years, the Mayor of Falciano del Massico, a town of 4,000 inhabitants in Caserta Province [Campania] has issued the "ultimate" prohibition - he has forbidden the town's citizens to die.  

You may, like me, be wondering what exactly the punishment will be for those who dare to flout this new law but this is not known. 

The problem is, you see, that Falciano del Massico was a hamlet of neighbouring Carinola until 1964.  In that year, the town gained its autonomy and own administration but the one thing it did not gain was a cemetery.  The boundary changes meant that the cemetery became the property of the Carinola administration and it is now full.

The Mayor of Falciano del Massico, Giulio Cesare Fava, says he issued the ban to draw the attention of the relevant authorities to the town's plight and he has certainly drawn the attention of the media!

Funnily enough, recently a "friend" of mine has been telling me that I should start thinking about my funeral arrangements, despite my reassuring her that I am not planning to leave just yet.  I think I'll tell her I am going to live in Falciano del Massico.