CHOCOMODICA 2017

Hello and yes, I know, it's been a while again. This can be put down to trying to keep up with, and fight, Brexit and the fact that, with age, I am becoming rather grumpy. Or is it Brexit that's making me grumpy?  (Whatever your opinion on the matter, the impact is serious for expats.)

However, something that makes me less grumpy is our ChocoModica festival, which always begins on the 8th December holiday and signifies, for me, the beginning of the festivities. Here are some pictures to give you a flavour:

The torta di Savoia cake being finished below left, of which samples were offered to everyone, was the best I have ever tasted. The gentleman on the right seemed justifiably proud of his sculpture:

Lots of intricate work to admire and not only on chocolate:

How to choose which chocolate to buy? In the end I bought a slab of white chocolate topped with forest fruits because it is just.... well, you'll have to taste it to find out!  No trip to Modica Bassa is complete without calling in at the Latteria and Modican chocolate ice cream goes down a treat in the middle of winter. Only next time, turn the heating on, guys - please!

More chocolate sculpture work:

Sculptures of a different kind on display, made from clay and wood. Regular readers will recognise the Duomo di San Giorgio, Castello dei Conti and Teatro Garibaldi:

And finally, some more lovely crafts, among many others at the stalls which always accompany a Sicilian festival:

Well done again, Modica!

FROGGY, FROGGY NIGHT

I was really cheered up by these frog sculptures on the façade of Modica's Garibaldi Theatre and I wish I had some on my balcony!

The sculptures, in recyclable plastic, are a Cracking Art Group project and proceeds from their sale will go towards the restoration of the theatre's stage.

A DUBIOUS HONOUR

Oh, dear, it's that statue of the Blessed Pope John Paul II again! The memorial, unveiled outside Rome's Termini Station in 2011, has been criticised since that moment, with the face being likened to that of Mussolini and the body to a "bloody big hole".  The open cloak gesture was meant to represent this beloved Pope drawing everyone in and loving them but it just doesn't work. The folk at CNN seem to agree and now the statue features on their list of the world's eleven ugliest monuments - a dubious honour if ever there was one.

Even though the statue has had a makeover and the lines are a little softer, it hardly evokes the idea of welcome and bears little resemblance to the late Pontiff. I still think our Giovanni Paolo statue in Modica is better!

"SAN PIETRO RI PETRA"

Modica is preparing to celebrate the feast day of one of her two patron saints, St Peter, on Saturday and, as part of these celebrations, a very special restoration has been unveiled.  It is a statue of the saint which has stood in a niche on the Corso Umberto  [Modica Bassa's main street] since the 1940s and is known locally as "San Pietro ri petra". I must admit, I had never noticed it before [which again proves the truth of the saying that you should not forget to look up when in Sicily].

The restoration was the inspiration of the Modica Rotary Club and one reason for their enthusiasm for the project was the determination of the war generation to have spiritual representations among the houses where ordinary people went about their daily business and lived their lives.  The restoration has been lovingly and faithfully carried out by Gaetana Ascenzo and the statue is now protected from atmospheric pollution by special glass. [Sorry about the reflection.]

Long may San Pietro, protector of fishermen, fishmongers, cobblers, locksmiths, reapers, watchmakers and doormen, continue to bless Modica. 

GOING, GOING, [NEARLY] GONE...

"Is it a bird? Is it a plane? Is it a Dalek gone wrong?" All of these thoughts and more went through my mind when I first saw the Christmas art installation on Modica Bassa's [non - functioning] fountain in Piazza Rizzone.  Then someone told me it was a comet. Silly me.

Image:  Corriere di Ragusa

The "comet", by Modican artist Angelo Ruta, has caused almost as much bewilderment, since it appeared, as the biblical one, and also a fair amount of controversy:  there are those who think it is a fine artistic specimen and others who criticise it for being unorganic and completely out of tune with its surroundings [which consist mainly of traffic].  

No one seemed to know if it was going to be there forever but yesterday all doubt was removed when the local Councillor for Culture announced that it is definitely temporary and will be leaving us after January 30th. However, as the temporary has a curious habit of becoming permanent and vice-versa in Sicily, I am not so sure about that and am waiting for a sign....

AN OLDER NATIVITY SCENE

Writing about the crib inside the Church of Santa Maria di Betlem yesterday, I was reminded that you can see another nativity scene along one of the exterior walls of the church.  This is the lunetta del Berlon, so called because it was originally part of the Church of Santa Maria di Berlon, one of four churches which the larger Santa Maria di Betlem replaced. The lunette dates from the fifteenth or sixteenth century and was sculpted by unknown local craftsmen.

A TALE OF TWO STATUES

The unveiling of a new statue of the Blessed Pope John Paul 11 outside Rome's Termini Station was a much heralded event which the citizens of the capital were looking forward to last week:  the likeness of the "people's Pope" would stand where millions of commuters and visitors could see it every day, near a station which had previously been dedicated to him.  The trouble is that the statue is not a likeness and nobody likes it!

The late Pope is depicted with his cloak open in what is supposed to represent a gesture of welcome but which, according to the Vatican's own newspaper, L'Osservatore Romano, resembles an "open tent" or, at best, " a bell".   In the opinion of many others, it resembles nothing so much as a "bloody great hole".  What is more, the statue's critics also say that the face is unrecognisable as that of the Blessed John Paul 11 and red-faced Vatican officials have had to admit that the finished work is somewhat different from the draft they were shown by sculptor Oliviero Rainaldi.

Romans have been voting in a referendum about the statue and yesterday a commission of art experts began meeting to pass judgement upon it.  The Mayor of Rome, Gianni Alemanno, has promised to abide by the decision of the people.

Personally, I think Modica's memorial to this most beloved of Popes is much nicer:

What do you think?

BUON VIAGGIO TO A SPECIAL LADY

A very special lady known as the Aidone Aphrodite or the Venere di Morgantina leaves California for Sicily today.  The fifth century BC statue, whose story is here, is, at last, coming home and will arrive in Sicily some time between tomorrow and Friday.

The statue is travelling in three pieces and on 21st March experts from the Getty Museum will fly to Sicily to put her back together.  

Her presence is likely to change the town of Aidone, where a special place is being prepared for her at the Museum, forever as it will become a major tourist attraction.  A joint ticket for the mosaics at Piazza Armerina, the archaeological site of Morgantina and the Aidone Museum is already being planned.

The lady has an as yet unspecified date with President Napolitano and I can't wait to go and welcome her home myself!

ITALY MAGAZINE ROUND-UP - 26

Here is my pick of last week's Italy Magazine articles:

The week began with the sad news of Mario Monicelli's death and all here were upset by the manner of it.  But, as Michele Placido said, we should respect the great director's wishes.  

In art news the original model for Michelangelo's Pietà was found and UNESCO inspectors headed to Pompeii to find out more about the recent collapse of buildings on the ancient site.

There were plenty of smiles too, as this was the week in which Julia Roberts became the smile of Lavazza , mythological smiles appeared on the Pirelli calendar and pets all over Italy, including my Simi, smiled at this news.

Preparations for Christmas are now in full swing in Italy and, if you thought bagpipes were a purely Scottish tradition, you may be surprised to read this.

For my Patti Chiari column I wrote about Christmas cards - or the lack of them in Italy - and seasonal confusion.

Happy reading.

RETURN OF THE LADY

I, for one, will be heading for Aidone in the spring to welcome a certain lady home.  This is my article about her for Italy Magazine this Tuesday:

Aphrodite Comes Home

A fifth century BC statue of Aphrodite is to return to its place of origin in Sicily during January following a long international argument and numerous analyses by experts. The “Aidone Aphrodite”, probably sculpted between 425 – 400 BC in Morgantina [Enna] was stolen in the second half of the twentieth century and was illegally sold to a London company. In 1986 it was acquired by the John Paul Getty Museum in the United States for $10 million. The Getty Museum’s administrators have always denied acquiring the statue illegally.

In 2001 a Sicilian court sentenced eighty-year-old Renzo Canavesi to two years’ imprisonment and imposed a fine of 40 billion lire for his part in removing the statue from Italy. Half of this figure represented the estimated value of the statue and the other half “moral damage” to the State of Italy.

The 2.2 – metre high statue is unusual for its period in that it is highly finished on all sides. Most statues of its time were finished only in front. The body parts of the statue are of marble but Aphrodite’s drapes are represented in calcareous stone. Some experts believe that the statue represents Persephone or her mother Demeter, who were both much venerated in Morgantina, rather than Aphrodite. The Getty Museum disputed the statue’s Sicilian provenance for some time but in 2007 experts proved that the stone used was from the Siracusa-Ragusa area of Sicily.

The statue is being returned under an agreement signed by Italy and the Getty Museum in 2007. It is the last of 40 antiquities to be returned to Italy by the Museum. The statue will be dismantled into three parts for the journey and a seismic wave isolator has been built to protect it from earthquakes once it arrives in Sicily.

Sebastiano Missineo, the Sicilian Regional Councillor for Culture, visited the Getty Museum to view the statue yesterday. He said that a special site will be prepared for it at the Archaeological Museum in Aidone. In the meantime, the statue will be displayed at the Palazzo dei Normanni in Palermo for Easter and will afterwards be moved to the Chiesa di San Domenico in Aidone.