WILL DAY

The subject of this post is not the second in line to the British throne but a much older Will, the bard of Stratford-upon-Avon, whose 450th birthday - or the generally accepted date of it - is being celebrated today.

Yesterday evening a friend who also comes from Stratford-upon-Avon gave a little party in the poet's honour, and tiramisù alle fragole, made to Matthew Fort's recipe which I've mentioned before, was my attempt at a themed dish:

As I tend to do everything arse-backwards, I'd decided on the quote I wanted to use first, and then tried to think of a dish. The quote, in case you cannot see it clearly, is,

"The strawberry grows underneath the nettle"

- Henry V

The "leaves" at the top were my best effort at making pasta di zucchero nettles and, by the time I came to the second one, I decided to leave out the fancy work on the edges. Most of the strawberries, of course, were underneath the mascarpone!

At the party the place settings were decorated with rosemary "for remembrance":

These were just some of the lovely treats:  Ah, sausage rolls!

 Another friend had brought hot cross buns all the way from the UK!

As you see, there was quite a mix of traditions

and in Sicily, in spring, there had to be ice cream!

My friend also provided what, as a teacher, I would call some "realia":

Then there were some readings from Shakespeare's works. [I read Sonnet XXIX, for  my Dad, who died 41 years ago this Easter.] Three friends made rather fabulous witches, I must say!  Finally, I lowered the tone by reading a little ditty I had composed: 

Will Day

Will Shakespeare, yours was quite a muse

from errors down in Syracuse

to propaganda for Queen Bess –

- your plays were thirty-eight, no less.

Poor Hamlet – what a tortured bloke,

for him existence was no joke.

He could have saved some brouhaha

if he’d just said, “Siamo qua.”

But let us find a cheerful fellow,

Macbeth won’t do, nor will Othello.

Bottom, Touchstone, Mistress Quickly

meddled in the plot quite thickly.

Down the ages comes their laughter,

hope it reaches the hereafter.

If it’s true what some folk say,

you never loved Anne Hathaway,

the sonnet lady was a lad,

we don’t care ‘cos your rhymes weren’t bad.

They claim that Bacon wrote the plays –

- one must admit, he turned a phrase,

but not like you, dear Stratford bard,

held for centuries in regard.

We celebrate your birth this eve

and some among us really believe

that though the thing is still the play,

you were Sicilian, anyway.

© Pat Eggleton, 2014

Notes

"Siamo qua" = "We are here" - a common Sicilian saying. It took me some time to realise that it is not an acceptance of physical location, but a reference to the fact that we are still alive and should be grateful!

The idea that Shakespeare was Sicilian is taken quite seriously here and books have been written about it.

A SONG OF HOME

It all started when, in response to this post, I was contacted by Maggie Ayre of the BBC. To be honest, at first I thought it was probably someone "having a laugh", as the British say, but I googled Maggie and found that she really was a BBC radio producer! I emailed her as requested, then she called me here and we talked about the Welsh song, Myfanwy.

Maggie explained to me that, in a news programme, people will put up with audio that is not of the highest quality because they understand that it cannot always be delivered, but in a radio feature programme, where there is obviously no visual backup, they will not. Therefore, she asked me if I knew of a studio where the recording of my contribution could be done. I didn't, but a student of mine did, and he kindly took me to a private studio owned by a friend of his in Scicli. No landline was available to us there so our next problem was possible interference on the mobile line but we got over this with the help of my student, who took the phone from my hands and dashed with it to the door before I answered each question. It was a bit of a performance but the studio owner knew what he was doing and was able to send Maggie a perfect audio file.

Now the BBC Radio iplayer link is up on the Soul Music programme website and, if you missed my minute of glory this morning, you will be able to hear it, for a while, by clicking the link. 

I am proud to have been interviewed on the same programme as Welsh singer Cerys Matthews and others to whom the song means so much. I love Cerys's version and here it is in full:

Cerys Matthews - Myfanwy

SABATO MUSICALE

Renato Carosone  - Buona Pasqua

Buona Pasqua a tutti!

HATS OFF TO MARCO

As a linguist, I'm always emphasising the importance of communicating with the people one is trying to attract to one's business, product or city in their own language and of making an effort to do it properly [which will probably involve employing a qualified, mother-tongue interpreter or translator, not using the awful translator sites]. 

Hats off, then, to Marco Zambuto, Mayor of the lovely city of Agrigento, for this advert in which he says a few words in Chinese himself at the end.  Mr Zambuto has not forgotten to invite the rest of us to "invade" his city as well!

Thanks to Corriere della Sera:

IF YOU'VE A MINUTE....

If you have a few moments around 11.30 am BST or 12.30 Italian time next Tuesday, 22nd April and can tune into BBC Radio 4,  you will learn a lot about a very beautiful Welsh song and a certain "Welsh woman living in Sicily" may say a word or two!  The episode will also become available, for a while, on the Soul Music programme website. 

BBC Radio 4 [known as the "Home Service" when I was a child] has, for as long as I can remember, formed the background to my life and I missed it desperately when I first came to Sicily, before you could listen live on the internet. I'm excited to feature in a Radio 4 programme, even for a few seconds and I'll tell you more after the broadcast!

WITH A LITTLE HELP FROM....WHO?

House arrest, in Italy, is not an unusual sentence in cases where the defendant is not deemed dangerous, has health problems or if the person has nearly completed a prison term. Its conditions, contrary to popular belief abroad, are strict, though it is not difficult to imagine that the time would pass more pleasantly if it were "served"  in a luxurious mansion. 

A Milan court  has, since Thursday, been considering whether Silvio Berlusconi should serve the remainder of his sentence in this way or do community service - a far cry, it would seem, from the case of a 54-year-old man from Ragusa who has decided that prison is preferable to eight months at home with his wife. After just 25 days of house arrest, the man has begged police to take him back to prison and "escaped" from home so that they have to do so. 

But we all have our difficulties and house arrest, for Mr Berlusconi, would severely limit his networking possibilities. As it is unlikely that he will be allowed to do community service as patron of an as yet unbuilt centre for the disabled, I understand he would like to help the elderly. Hey, Silvio, that includes me and I could sure do with a little help! 

This bit of nonsense from The Guardian - which I enjoyed immensely -  has made its way into every Italian newspaper I have read, both local and national, and has been reported with amusement here, though also with some bemusement at how the British may spend their time.

SABATO MUSICALE

This thoughtful love song from Francesco Renga came fourth in the overall Sanremo classification this year:

Francesco Renga - Vivendo adesso

SPRING TIDES - 4

Even as I write, migrant boat after migrant boat is heading for Italy from North Africa and last night the Italian Navy and Guardia di Finanza saved a further 800 migrants travelling on rust buckets and dinghies, this time 70 miles off Lampedusa. This was only one of several rescue operations carried out over the last 24 hours and brings the total number of migrants saved by the Italian Navy, Coast Guard and others involved in Operazione Mare Nostrum to 6,000 since Tuesday and almost 20,000 since October.

In response to criticism of Mare Nostrum - I have personally heard people saying that the operation is encouraging migration because people know they will be saved - the Chief of Staff of the Italian Navy, Admiral Giuseppe De Giorgi, has said that the increased numbers are not due to the military operation but to social and political problems in migrants' countries of origin.  He has also said that the rescues are costing Italy €9 million a month and has voiced the opinion that the EU should send funds rather than more ships. 

Melissa Fleming of UNHCR has today called for more help for Italy from its allies. Meanwhile, Sicilian mayors and regional government representatives have requested an urgent meeting with Prime Minister Renzi and relevant ministers and this is expected to happen on Tuesday or Wednesday next week.

Several people traffickers, some of whom had tried to hide among their former "passengers", have been arrested by Italian police in the last few days.

Sadly, a 20-year-old man from Mali who was rescued on Thursday night has died in hospital in Ragusa.

SPRING TIDES - 3

Looking at the situation from Italy, it often seems that the rest of the world notices the migration crisis only when there is a tragedy but today the sheer numbers of people who have had to be rescued, mostly in the Sicilian channel, have made international headlines. The figure this afternoon was estimated at 4,000 since Monday and Italian Interior Minister Angelino Alfano has said that 15,000 have been rescued since the beginning of this year.

Over 1,000 of the migrants rescued on Monday have been brought to the Sicilian ports of Augusta and Pozzallo and a naval vessel carrying a further 300 is tonight heading for the Port of Catania. Sadly, this ship is also transporting a dead body found on one of the inadequate boats which got into trouble at sea. 

Mr Alfano has repeated his earlier claim that 300,000 - 600,000 people are currently preparing to risk the voyage from North Africa so no let-up is expected during the summer months. Whether or not this figure is correct, Mr Alfano has, with justification, again lamented the fact that there has been little help from the rest of the EU. 

At the end of March José Angel Oropeza, Director of the International Organisation for Migration's Italy and Malta Coordinating Office, advocated the setting up of "migrant stations" along the routes from Africa so that people can receive assistance and information on how to reach Europe legally. In Italy, it is being said in some quarters that Operazione Mare Nostrum is encouraging people trafficking but how can a humane country which, whatever its problems, is the fourth largest economy in Europe and ninth in the world, leave people to die in its waters?  Dr Christopher Hein of the Italian Council for Refugees says the mission must continue and that legal and safe channels for migration must be opened. 

Meanwhile, with Italy's reception centres bursting at the seams, many of the migrants rescued so far this week are being taken to private accommodation such as hotels. The cost of such measures has already scandalised some Northern League politicians, who recently challenged Prime Minister Renzi and Mr Alfano to put migrants up in their own homes. [I think they should do just that, not only to call their opponents' bluff but also to show humanity.]  Silvia Canciani of Asgi points out that many of the problems which ensue once the migrants are brought to safety in Italy are caused by the country's outdated system for dealing with asylum-seekers.

Update at 12.47 pm., 10.4.14:

A friend told me this morning that she had seen, in Modica, a large group of migrants, some without shoes, who had obviously run away from a reception centre. They were just walking in the middle of the road, presumably with little idea of where they were but trying to continue what they hope will be a journey to Northern Europe.

Interior Minister Alfano has said,

"At the moment Italy is the reception centre of the world. Our ships are going as far as 30 miles off the Libyan coast in order to stop the Mediterranean from becoming a cemetery, to prevent people from dying in their thousands. This is a job we are willing to do, but we ask not to have to do it alone."

A TRUE ART LOVER

Here is a heartwarming tale of honesty:

One day in 1975, a Sicilian man who had moved to Turin to work for Fiat attended a lost property auction at a railway workers' recreational club. As the man was an art lover, his eye was drawn to two particularly attractive paintings, a still life and a portrait of a young woman in a garden. He bought the two paintings for 45,000 Italian lire, worth £19 or $31 in today's values and, until a few weeks ago, both paintings hung in his kitchens, first in Turin and then back in Sicily following his retirement. There, in the heart of the home, he could gaze at them to his own heart's content.

Recently the man's son, an architecture student in Siracusa, happened to be looking through a catalogue of paintings by Gauguin and noticed some similarities with one of the paintings on his father's kitchen wall. After further research by his son, our honest Sicilian pensioner alerted the police and an extraordinary story came to light:

The paintings, now verified as a Gauguin from 1889 and an undated Bonnard, had been stolen from a London collector in 1970 and he, in turn, had bought them at a rather more prestigious auction in 1961. No one knows exactly how they ended up in the lost property office of the Ferrovie dello Stato but it is thought that the thieves were carrying them on the Paris to Turin train when they realised that there was to be a check at the border, so they abandoned them. They are now, obviously, worth a lot more than £19!

Having made enquiries in London, the Italian police have discovered that the art collector was a relative of the Marks and Spencer family and had no direct heirs. At the moment the paintings are still in police custody but, if there are no claims, it is possible that our Sicilian pensioner will be able to continue to enjoy them if he so wishes.

SABATO MUSICALE

I like this new song from Italy's favourite rocker, Vasco Rossi . This week the song is no. 2 in the Italian charts.

Vasco Rossi - Dannate Nuvole

JUST DESSERTS

A selection of lovely, light cakes flavoured with fresh fruit, pistacchio and chocolate at a small party for a friend who is leaving Sicily last night:

This morning, I happened to walk into my local bar for a coffee at exactly the right moment, for I discovered it was the owner's birthday and he was about to cut this very clever cake and offer a slice to all his lucky customers:

Yes, they all tasted as good as they looked!

MUST BE SPRING

TOURISM - IN A WORD

Modica, Santa Maria di Betlem

I've often said that a lot of the problems Modica has with promoting tourism could be overcome if the tourist board and council would realise the importance of one word - aperto [open]. Nothing is more frustrating to a tourist who only has a day to spend in a certain location than to arrive at the most interesting or beautiful building in the place only to see a notice saying, "Chiuso - torni domani" ["Closed - come back tomorrow"].

To be fair, it doesn't only happen in Modica, in Sicily or even in the South but I do have to say that every time I have passed Modica's Church of Santa Maria di Betlem in recent years - this is the church with the famous crib featuring Sicilian characters - I have noticed that it has been closed and felt sorry for any hapless tourists visiting the city that day.

Now, though, an agreement has been signed between officials of the churches of Santa Maria, San Giorgio and San Pietro, a consortium of tourist companies and the cooperative Progresso Ibleo, which will be charged with the security of the churches during opening hours. Under the agreement, the churches will remain open all day during the tourist season.

Far be it from me to be cynical but I do hope that those concerned realise that the tourist season includes August and that "all day", to folk not from these parts, encompasses the hours between 1 and 5pm!

You may be interested in this 2010 article of mine for Italy Magazine, "The Bells of Santa Maria".

SABATO MUSICALE

There's a lot of truth in this eighties song from Fiorella Mannoia - "What Women Don't Say":

Fiorella Mannoia - Quello che le donne non dicono

BROCCOLETTI CON DATTERINI

In case you're wondering what I did with that kilo of broccoletti on Tuesday, here's the salad I invented!

Broccoletti con datterini

Trim, wash and drain 1 kg broccoletti. Bring a pasta pan of salted water to the boil and plunge the broccoletti in. Cook for about 3 mins, then drain. Heat 4 tablesp olive oil in a 2"-deep, wide pan or small wok and cook 1 crushed clove of garlic in it for 1 min. Add the broccoletti, season and stir round for about 5 mins. Add 20 or so datterini tomatoes or the smallest cherry tomatoes you can find and cook, stirring, until these just begin to soften - about 2 mins. Then add a few pinenuts, cook for a further minute and add the juice of 1 lemon. Give it all a good last stir then use a slotted spoon to transfer the mixture to a serving dish. A few shavings of Pecorino stagionato over the top and you're done. 

This is great served warm but it's also pretty good cold!  Serves 4 as a contorno.

A MENTION

It's always nice to be mentioned favourably on other blogs and sites and I am delighted to have received this nice write-up on Ville in Italia. Do take a look, as it's a very interesting site and I'm in good company there! Thank you, Ville in Italia!

"ANOTHER THING"

We all get nervous when speaking in public so let us be kind to poor Davide Tripiedi, a Movimento 5 Stelle politician who, when he stood up to speak in the Camera dei Deputati yesterday, began by announcing that he intended to be "brief and circumcised" instead of "brief and concise". He was corrected by the Deputy Speaker, who informed him that "that is another thing" and, though momentarily embarrassed, Mr Tripiedi apologised, smiled and continued with his speech. I rather think he made the Chamber a more interesting place for a few minutes! Thank you, Corriere della Sera:

UN' ABBONDANZA

... di broccoletti

SABATO MUSICALE - SISTER ACT

There is only one performance that everyone in Italy is talking about this week, and it is this one by Ursuline nun Suor Cristina on The Voice of Italy talent show. All I can say is, "Wow!" and I am sure you will, too.  I am doubly wowed by the fact that Suor Cristina is Sicilian, from Comiso.

She chose the rapper J-Ax as her mentor as he was the first of the panel to turn round. He told Suor Cristina,

"If I'd met you when I went to Mass as a child I'd be Pope by now!"

When asked why she wanted to try her luck on The Voice, Suor Cristina said, 

"Because I have a gift and I offer it to you."  

As to what the Vatican might have to say about her appearance on the programme, Suor Cristina said she was expecting a phone call from Pope Francis. There is no word yet as to whether this has happened, but I, for one, believe that it will and that he will be delighted.

Go for it, Suor Cristina!

Suor Cristina - No One 

MISSING THE BUS

Public transport, as Modicans would be the first to admit, does not work well in this town and I have often lamented the fact that, whilst I can get a bus from Modica Bassa to Catania and arrive with no trouble in less than two hours, it sometimes takes almost as long to get from the Sorda district of Modica where I live to Modica Bassa in the first place.

Therefore, whenever I go to Catania, I feel as if I'm in paradise as soon as I see a city bus. It feels normal! But oh, dear, what is going on? It seems that the Catania bus company is not doing well, the reason being that over 60% of its passengers do not bother to purchase tickets and a further 30% of those who are fined for this omission do not pay that, either.  The problem, it is reported, is widespread in southern Italy but less so in the north, where only 30% of passengers habitually travel without tickets. This, we are told, is not because northern Italians are more honest, but is due to a basic mistrust of bus services among southerners, dating back to a time when the service offered was, indeed, poor, even in large cities like Catania.

In order to combat the problem, more ticket inspections are promised in Catania from April but I would like to suggest another solution: make the system for buying tickets easier! Granted, it is mostly local people who use the city's buses but a stranger or a tourist is likely to be very perplexed at the lack of information about where to buy tickets and it is not obvious to someone from another country that you can buy them in most bars and tobacconists.

Once I found myself stranded on the outskirts of Catania and needed to get into the city at a time of day when everything was closed. I boarded a hopeful-looking bus but, being British, became so terrified of an imminent ticket inspection [despite the driver's assurances that the inspectors don't work between 1 and 4 pm] that I got off three miles from my destination and walked.

Make the ticket-purchasing points more obvious, Catania - and it would help enormously if they were actually open as well!

The Hollies - Bus Stop

SPRING TIDES UPDATE

It is now being reported that the body of a migrant was found on board one of the boats saved by the Italian Navy on Tuesday night. The cause of death is being given as inhalation of hydrocarbon fumes on the boat. Another migrant from the same boat was airlifted to hospital in Catania after he or she was found to be experiencing serious breathing difficulties.

Now it is estimated that a further 1,000 migrants have been rescued by the Italian Navy and Coast Guard in the last 24 hours.

Once those migrants who survive the incredibly dangerous crossing arrive on Italian soil they are helped to an extent but facilities for them are inadequate. Most do not wish to stay here and either escape from the holding centres and try to make their way north - in which case they may again fall into the hands of people traffickers -  or wait for permission, which may not come, to move on. And then what? Some are lucky and manage to legally stay in northern Europe; others are not.

Throughout history, people have fled persecution, poverty, danger and war and no one has the right to prevent them from doing so. And no one, least of all me, knows how to tackle these sources of the problem.

SPRING TIDES

Spring has come to the Mediterranean and better conditions at sea bring with them more boatloads of desperate souls seeking a better life.

On Monday night alone, 13 boats carrying, between them, around 1,532 migrants were rescued in the Sicilian Channel by the Italian Navy and Coast Guard. Rescue ships were still trying to reach other migrant boats that had run into trouble as these figures were being reported.

South of Lampedusa naval ships saved 596 migrants, including 141 women and 116 minors. The majority of these, like the migrants rescued from other overloaded and inadequate boats, are believed to be from Syria, Palestine and Eritrea. The migrants were transferred to another ship on which they were given medical care and where representatives of the NGO Fondazione Rava NPH were on hand to help. Police were also on board to try to identify the migrants. Today some of them were brought to Pozzallo.

Latest estimates are that, in the last 48 hours, the Italian Navy, Coast Guard and three Italian Merchant Navy ships assigned to Operazione Mare Nostrum have saved 2,128 migrants.  UNHCR has said that the operations were an example for other countries to follow.

The Italian Navy has been involved in 76 rescue operations since the launch of Operazione Mare Nostrum in the autumn and 10,134 migrants, including 713 women and 1,019 children, have been rescued at sea.

Tonight, as so often since I came to Sicily, my thoughts are with all migrants and those who seek to save and help them.

APPRECIATION

This cheered me up:

SABATO MUSICALE

Belgian singer-songwriter Stromae certainly impressed as a guest star at Sanremo this year and this track has entered the Italian charts at no. 5:

Stromae - Tous les Mêmes

PROF

I am honoured to have had my portrait taken by photographer Luca Migliore 

and to feature in his 11 Donne ["11 Women"] project here.

Grazie, Luca!

THURSDAY, THURSDAY

I've mentioned before that I'm not fond of Thursdays, partly because Thursday is not Friday and partly because it's - well, Thursday. I also think the BBC is to blame for my aversion as, when I was a child, the Watch with Mother schedule ran thus: Mondays - Picture Book, which was sometimes interesting; Tuesdays - Andy Pandy, which at least had the virtue of a loveable teddy bear; Wednesdays - The Flower Pot Men, which only children could understand; Thursdays - Rag, Tag and Bobtail, a hedgehog, a mouse and a rabbit who were as dull as can be; and Friday - The Woodentops, which I loved, mainly because the programme featured "the very biggest spotty dog you ever did see." So there you have it - Rag, Tag and Bobtail spoiled Thursdays for me for evermore and the only duller thing I've seen on television was the much hyped live announcement of the winner of last week's Masterchef Italia final - also on a Thursday.

As regular readers will know, Masterchef Italia has, for three years, been a programme which I have followed avidly and there were some great episodes in this third series. Rachida from Morocco and lovely 67-year-old Alberto from Cremona were eliminated a couple of weeks ago and the semi-finalists were the worthy and non-temperamental Enrica, Almo of the glowing shoes - I have several times had to put my sunglasses on when there have been full-length shots of Almo - and Federico, an analytical and serious torinese doctor, who deservedly won the title.

It has been fun, too, watching the three judges - Carlo Cracco the "sexy chef" [who actually writes extremely good cookbooks], Bruno Barbieri, whose jackets and glasses stunned viewers week after week, and the entertaining and unpredictable Joe Bastianich, whose best trick was to throw dishes he disapproved of across the studio. Fun, that is, until the final went live when, awaiting Almo and Federico in a packed studio, the three were obviously at a loss as to how to fill the agonisingly long minutes. As one tweeter pointed out, they are, after all, chefs rather than professional anchormen and it was all a bit much for them. Even when the two finalists arrived, Cracco played the suspense for all it was worth and, along with several million others, I had started to wonder if he'd ever put us out of our misery by reading out the name. "Please don't go live again!" begged tweeters all over Italy and eventually Sky Uno staff had to admit that the idea had been a mistake.

But now it is all over and here I am on Thursday evening wondering what to do with myself: Junior Masterchef Italia starts tonight and two of the judges are Bruno Barbieri and Joe's mum Lidia Bastianich. [Presumably the producers believe that the audience would not tolerate Joe chucking around dishes created by children.] However, I'm not sure I'm up to the rigours of following such a contest, so roll on, Masterchef Italia 4 and the return of chef Cracco - on Thursdays again if you can manage it, please, Sky.

Masterchef Italia logo - Wikipedia Italia

COURAGE

On International Women's Day last Saturday a 67-year-old Sicilian woman was received by President Napolitano at the Quirinale [the President of the Republic's official residence] and invested with the honour of the Ordine al Merito della Repubblica Italiana.

The woman was Franca Viola, a tenant farmer's daughter from Alcamo [Trapani]. At the age of 17, Franca was kidnapped by her former fiancé, Filippo Melodia and some of his friends. Franca's father had ended the betrothal because Melodia was a member of a Mafia gang. The Viola family home had already been burned down as a reprisal.

Franca was held for eight days and repeatedly raped. Her father pretended to be cooperating with Melodia's gang but actually he was helping the police, who on the eighth day found and released Franca. Her kidnappers were jailed.

In those days, rape in Italy was regarded as an offence against public morality rather than an offence against the person and a man who had raped a woman could be absolved of the crime if he married his victim. The woman would agree to the marriage to save her reputation. 

Franca, however, refused to marry Melodia and her father supported her. This took incredible courage amid the threats that the family received and in the cultural climate of the time but both were determined.

The story has a happy ending, for Franca married her childhood sweetheart in 1968 and had two children. She is now a proud grandmother.

The law whereby a rapist could be absolved of his crime by marrying the victim was abolished in 1981 and Franca Viola was instrumental in bringing about the change. Rape was not designated an offence against the person in Italy until 1996. 

On International Women's Day 2014 the Quirinale was bathed in red light in remembrance of victims of femicide in Italy.

Franca Viola

"A FORGOTTEN VILLAGE"

Do you ever wonder how talk show presenters prepare their programmes? You might think that they would read everything they can about people they are going to interview, bone up on geographical locations that are going to feature or, at the very least, make sure they are well-briefed by people who can do this for them. 

Miss Barbara d'Urso, the presenter of the Sunday afternoon programme Domenica Live on Canale 5, appears to have done none of these things this week and has caused a Sicilian storm by referring to Siracusa as "a forgotten village in southern Italy" whilst interviewing the teacher who arranged a school concert to welcome new Premier Matteo Renzi to the city.

Siracusa: 2,700 years old, the birthplace of Archimedes and the most important city in Magna Graecia. Siracusa: UNESCO World Heritage Site. The city has a Greek amphitheatre to rival those in Greece itself and classical plays are performed there to this day. It also has a Roman amphitheatre and Cicero described Siracusa as "the greatest and most beautiful" of Greek cities.  

Teatro greco, Siracusa being prepared for the performance of a Greek play

Mayor of Siracusa Giancarlo Garozzo is understandably appalled and points out that the city is ranked fourth in Italy [after Rome, Venice and Florence] for its artistic and architectural heritage. He also thinks that Miss d'Urso should have glanced at Wikipedia before the programme went on air. This morning his administration sent a written protest to Mediaset [Silvio Berlusconi's group of television channels, which includes Canale 5]. Both the city council and the tourist board are now likely to invite Miss d'Urso to visit the city. 

Ironically Miss d'Urso is from Naples and changed her name from Maria Carmela - judged "too southern" by her bosses at Tele Milano, a precursor of Canale 5 - to Barbara in 1977. What a pity she didn't change her reading habits too.

IMAGINATION.....

Imagination, especially in the kitchen, is always to be commended in my opinion so I was delighted, on Saturday, to be offered this "mimosa cake" in my local bar. Mimosa blossom is the symbol of International Women's Day in Italy, because it is plentiful at this time of year and women can obtain it without spending money. It was originally the idea of the WW2 partisan and later one of the "mothers of the Constitution", Teresa Mattei. "Teresita" died almost exactly a year ago.

Those are minute pieces of yellow-coloured sponge cake decorating the torta and it was filled with fresh strawberries. Needless to say, it tasted good, too!

SABATO MUSICALE

Here is a song for International Women's Day - Le donne lo sanno ["Women Know"] and men would do well not to forget this fact!

Ligabue - Le donne lo sanno

Buona festa della donna a tutti!

THE CANNOLO THAT FELL TO EARTH

Look out, NASA! You've got competition from Sicily, no less, in the form of the "Sicilian Space Program"! This was the brainchild of three young people from Enna - Antonella Barbera, Fabio Leone and Paolo Capasso - who one evening had the idea of sending a cannolo into space.

Our determined space pioneers paid for the mission from their own funds and equipped themselves with two video cameras, an empty ice cream carton, a GPS system, a helium-filled balloon, a small parachute and, of course, the "cannolo", made from modelling paste.

Next, they had to get permission from Enac [the Italian Civil Aviation Authority], Enav [the company which provides civilian air traffic control to the Italian state] and the military at Sigonella - all of which took 45 days, during which time the three friends finalised the details of their project.

At last, the launch date of 2nd February arrived and the cannolo took off from Rocca di Cirere in the Enna Geopark. It reached a height of almost 30,000 metres before the balloon disintegrated two hours later and the parachute brought the adventurous cannolo back to earth as planned. It was retrieved by the "Sicilian Space Program" team at Bompietro in the Madonie [Palermo Province], 25 km from the launch site. 

Antonella, Fabio and Paolo say they see the cannolo flight as a gift to Sicilians and hope it has made them smile. I think it is safe to say they have achieved this, as the video has now gone viral. They also say they celebrated with a cannoli party - let's hope that this time they were well-deserved real ones!

CARI CORSISTI....

I dedicate this song to all my students who had to have a lesson this afternoon instead of enjoying the last day of carnevale. I'm very impressed that you came!

The Seekers - The Carnival is Over

SPRINGTIME RISOTTO

Even though it's started raining again, you can tell it's spring by the armfuls of Sicilian asparagus being sold from vegetable lorries at the roadside and the other day I decided I could resist no longer!  As there's still a bit of pumpkin to be had, I saw no reason for not combining these two favourite risotto vegetables of mine:

First, take a piece of pumpkin weighing about 250 gr and separate the flesh from the skin. Discard any fibrous bits and the seeds, then chop the flesh into small chunks. Now prepare the asparagus - as I said, I got about an armful! Wash it, then cut it diagonally about an inch below the spears. [Sicilian asparagus is very tender so you can leave more of the stalks on if you wish, or chop and add them separately.] Cook the pumpkin in a pan of salted, boiling water for about 10 mins or until tender, then add the asparagus for just a minute or two. Drain.

In a wide pan at least 2 inches deep, soften a chopped white onion in 4 tablesp olive oil.  As I've said before, there are only two secrets to making a good risotto: one is to use the right kind of rice and the other is contained in that word I would ban in other circumstances - pazienza. Once the onion is softened, add about 2 tablesp out of 500 gr arborio or other risotto rice and stir it around for about a minute. Have ready 1 litre of vegetable or chicken stock. [If you are awfully good and have had time you'll have made the stock from the asparagus stalks and some other vegetables but I'm not and I didn't.] Now add the rest of the rice and about one third of the stock. Stir everything, turn the heat down and go and do something useful such as checking that the world didn't end while you weren't on facebook. Come back, check that the rice has absorbed the stock and if it has, add another third. [If it hasn't, stir and wait!] Repeat the process, adding, with the final third of the stock, some seasoning - I decided it was time to use that nice lemon and mint flavoured seasalt I showed you a couple of weeks ago - some chopped fresh sage and the pumpkin and asparagus. Add the juice of a lemon, stir and let the rice absorb the last of the stock. Once it has and is al dente, stir in a couple of tablesp grated Parmesan, Grana Padano or Ragusano cheese and add a few knobs of butter. Stir vigorously and serve.

Serves 4 generously.

SABATO MUSICALE - ST DAVID'S DAY 2014

HAPPY ST DAVID'S DAY!

Katherine Jenkins - Welsh Medley

BEST I COULD DO.....

It's St David's Day tomorrow and today I gave up on the kitchen table daffodils, though they did [just] provide me with a buttonhole for school. Out came my trusty plastic daffodil again!

Some of my youngest students enjoyed making their own Welsh lovespoons today:

And you can't have a St David's Eve without Welshcakes!

If that's not flying the flag, Wales, I don't know what is!

OUT OF TIME

Spring may have come to Sicily but in Modica there is still a distinct shortage of ice cream. I don't mean the mass-produced stuff, which can always be obtained, but traditional gelato made from the freshest ingredients and, usually, on the premises where you eat it.

Most Sicilians can't understand why anyone would want ice cream in February and even if it were 40°C out there it wouldn't make any difference. It's just not time, you see.

In Catania on Saturday, though, a friend and I did partake of these sinful specimens and very glad we were to have found them!

The Rolling Stones - Out of Time

OF AGE, SENATORS AND HASHTAGS

Italy's new Premier Matteo Renzi is a man who likes to make an impression and he certainly did that in the country's Senate yesterday when, a few minutes into the speech in which he asked for the chamber's confidence, he admitted,

"Non ho l'età" - "I'm not old enough."

You have to be 40 to be elected to the Senate, you see and Mr Renzi is a mere stripling of 39 - old enough, therefore, to lead his country but too young for its upper chamber. Yes, I know this is absurd, but pazienza - we are in Italy! Those of you who are as old as I am may remember that the line is the title of the Italian song which won both Sanremo and the Eurovision Song Contest in 1964, when it was sung by Gigliola Cinquetti.  

The joke, along with the rest of Mr Renzi's speech, went down quite well with young people, although some expressed concern on twitter that he doesn't know any more modern songs. And I take my twitter hat off to the tweeter who first came up with the idea of changing the hashtag #nonholeta to #nonholetta - "I don't have Letta"!

Gigliola Cinquetti, now aged 66, said she was pleased that the song had been quoted and hoped it was an omen for an efficient government.

For me the masterstroke of Mr Renzi's speech was the assertion that he hoped he would be the last Prime Minister who would have to ask the Senate for a vote of confidence - a reference to reforms of the parliamentary system that he wishes to bring in. He also said that education will be a priority. I do not wish to be cynical but where have I heard that before?

Gigliola Cinquetti - Non ho l'età 

DOMENICA MUSICALE

Sanremo 2014 had its high points - among them standing ovations for guest stars Gino Paoli, Claudio Baglioni, Ligabue and Cat Stevens - but I can't say that there was any one song in the competition which made me want to rush to my phone and vote.

This song from Arisa was the winner and it probably was the best of the bunch:

Arisa - Controvento

A ONE-TRACK MIND?

Trains are generally held to be unreliable in Sicily and sweeping service cuts by Trenitalia since December have not exactly restored confidence. However, the unitiated might have been impressed by the company's announcement that on the Palermo-Messina line, a train would leave Cefalù at 06.56 and arrive in Castelbuono a mere seven minutes later, while a train running in the opposite direction would leave Castelbuono at 06.53 and arrive in Cefalù at 07.00 precisely.  The only detail the planners had overlooked was the fact that this segment of the line is single-track.

Needless to say, commuters in the area are not happy and I can't help wondering what Mr Tim Parks would make of it!

ONE!

I am hopeless with plants - they see me and die - but, like Welsh folk everywhere, I feel honour-bound to obtain some daffodils for St David's Day [coming up on March 1st.]  The carpet of daffodils that is Wales in the spring is something I really miss.

Daffodils are hard to find here but a couple of weeks ago I found a few bulbs, which I have been nurturing on the kitchen table. I was so pleased to discover that one of the plants had actually flowered yesterday! As you see, I am hardly likely to produce "a host" of them but I'm trying, Wales, really!

Paul Child - My Wales

SATISFACTION

I was very pleased and touched when my student Giorgio put this photo on facebook with the caption,

"Un amico mi disse: 'Investi su te stesso, fai un corso di inglese - ti servirà.' Be che dirti avevi veramente ragione. A friend said to me, 'Invest in yourself - do an English course because it will be useful.' I have to say you were right."

For my part, it's always nice to be someone's first English teacher. Thank you, Giorgio!

LONZA WITH CRANBERRY SAUCE AND CAMPARI

Here is yet another variation on a whole piece of lonza [pork loin]! This time I had decided I needed to use up the cranberry sauce I'd made just after Christmas, and had the idea of using it with lonza. I knew it needed a kick of something but couldn't think quite what. Then, in the middle of the night, I thought of campari. I didn't have any in the house but the owner of the bar opposite was happy to give me some in an espresso cup! Here's what I did:

Ask your butcher to make a few incisions in a 1.5 kg piece of lonza so that you can insert slices of orange in them. [This time you don't want the lonza in butcher's netting.] When you get the meat home, insert half an orange slice in each incision, along with a leaf of fresh sage and a couple of rosemary needles. Rub over some coarse seasalt [I used pink Himalayan salt] and a couple of grindings of mixed peppercorns and tie the lonza at intervals with kitchen string. Put it in a dish and pour over the juice of an orange and 200 ml white wine. Marinate in the fridge for 2 hours or so, turning once.

When you are ready to cook, turn the lonza back over and place it in a smallish roasting pan lined first with foil and then with baking parchment. Pour the marinade over it and cook for 1 hour at 180 C.  [Italian ovens tend to be fast so I turned mine down to 160 C half way through cooking.]  Baste the lonza after half an hour.

Just before the cooking time is up, mix about 200 gr cranberry sauce with the juice of another orange and half an espresso cup of campari. Place in a shallow pan on the hob and cook, stirring. When the mixture bubbles, turn the heat down and keep stirring for another 2 mins. Pour this over the pork and give it another 5 mins in the oven.

Cut off the string, carve the pork and serve with the sauce.

Serves 6 - buon appetito!

SABATO MUSICALE

Sanremo 2014 begins next week and last year's winner, Marco Mengoni, has this week released this lovely Spanish version of the 2013 winning song, L'Essenziale. I hope you enjoy this as much as I do:

Marco Mengoni - Incomparable

"NOW I'M 64"

And the only way to deal with it, I've decided, is to view it as the new 35!

I've had a pleasant day, with lots of lovely greetings from friends.

Simi sneaked out by herself in the week and got me these jimjams:

No birthday in Sicily is complete without some local pastries, including, as it's Carnevale, some chiacchiere:

Naturally, I have had to play me this song all day and inflict it upon others, having waited 47 years in order to do so. Ah, how impossibly old 64 seemed way back then! The "many years from now" have flown by and, although some of them have been hard, including the last one, I've lived long enough to know that we should be grateful for every one of them.  

Here's to you, dear readers.

The Beatles - When I'm 64

BOOK REVIEW - "ITALIAN WAYS" BY TIM PARKS

Italian Ways: On and Off the Rails from Milan to Palermo by Tim Parks
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

There are some writers whose style is so pleasant, whose humour is so gentle and to whom you return so often that you feel you know them personally; to sit and spend an hour in the company of one of their books is like chatting to your dearest friend over a cup of tea and they have that rare talent of making you think without distressing you. Among my "comfort writers" I would number Alexander McCall Smith, Maeve Binchy and, when it comes to books about Italy, Tim Parks.

It is difficult to point out the disadvantages of living in an adopted country without causing offence but Tim Parks is one of the writers who has always managed it and he does so again in "Italian Ways". This is not a travel book, though there are elements of travel writing in it, nor is it about life in any one part of Italy: rather, it is about the author's journeys on Italian railways over a period of some thirty years and his encounters with people, conflicting systems and bureaucracy in the process. Through these stories, we also gain a fair knowledge of the history of the Italian railway system and the trains that run on it - a lesson presented in a most entertaining way.

No reader who knows Italy will fail to identify with Parks's dealings with the "pignoli" - whom we would call "Jobsworths" in Britain - of Trenitalia and other operators and I had to smile at his descriptions of southern resignation as he travelled down Italy.

Yes, Mr Parks even made it to Modica by train and, disappointingly, has little to say about the town. True, as he himself has said and as I have said above, this is not a travel book, but I hardly think it is fair that Lecce gets more space than Modica. Of course, I could be biased! Or could it be that Tim Parks, as he travelled deeper and deeper into the South, became more southern himself?

"Don't be concerned that you may have nothing to say about these places. Just be here, on the journey, at every moment of the journey."

- Very southern Italian and not a bad philosophy of life, really!

View all my reviews

This review is also posted on Goodreads.

FEVER SOUP

Red onion soup made with brodo [stock] is an old Italian cure for colds and flu and when I was feeling poorly last week I knew that onion soup was just what I needed. I didn't have any red onions and lacked the energy to go and get some but I did have some white ones. I also wasn't really in a brodo frame of mind, so I decided to concoct my own onion soup using passata. [I like the rustica type that is a bit thicker]. Here's what I did:

For 1 - 2 people thinly slice 6 medium white onions and chop 2 cloves garlic, then soften them very slowly, in a heavy pan, in 55 gr butter and 1 tablesp olive oil.  This will take about 15 mins.

Now, what's this lovely stuff?

It's coarse seasalt flavoured with lemon zest and mint and I found it in Catania at Christmas. I've been dying to use it so in some went!  You can of course just add normal seasalt, some grated lemon zest and chopped herbs of your choice. Add a good grinding of mixed peppercorns, too.

Now add 680 gr passata or homemade tomato sauce. Simmer, stirring, for about 20 mins.

To serve the soup you can put buttered toast in the bottom of the bowl if you like, but I just added some small squares of ordinary bread as it reminds me of the soups I ate as a child. Don't we all need to think of being cossetted when we're unwell?

I felt heaps better the next day. It could have been the medication the doctor gave me but I'm convinced it was the soup!

SABATO MUSICALE

I've always enjoyed the piano music of Ludovico Einaudi, so here is some for all of you:

Ludovico Einaudi - Stella del mattino

A TO-DO AT THE DOCTOR'S

Having given in to la febbre on Wednesday, on Thursday I reluctantly took myself to the doctor's; "reluctantly" firstly because I'm British and we carry on and secondly because of the inevitable wait that the occasion would involve.

In my doctor's surgery there is a collection of numbered metal discs on a desk by the door and a notice asking patients to take one, but no one does as this would be too much like organisation and would also limit the possibilities of social discourse. Sicilians think it is much more fun, after you have passed the time of day with all your fellow-patients individually, to look around and ask, "Who's the last one?"  L'ultimo having piped up, you know who you have to watch, and watch is what you do, for no magazines are provided and no one takes along anything to read.

If, however, one of the "patients" is wearing a suit, sitting in a self-assured way and has a bulky briefcase at his feet, you know that your wait will be even longer than usual, for this is a pharmaceutical company rep and one of these gentlemen is allowed to go into the consulting room after every two patients.  This system seems most unfair to me when there is a roomful of sick people but "Pazienza - What can we do?"  Yesterday my heart sank when I saw not one, but two self-assured gentlemen with bulky briefcases in the waiting room and summoned my reserves of hard-learned Sicilian resignation.

Just after I had arrived, a couple came in and asked the usual question, "Chi è l'ultimo?" The elderly man next to me was about to say that he was when a woman dashed in and said the honour was hers, explaining that she'd been outside.

"If you're waiting you can't be outside", said the elderly man, continuing, with unarguable logic, "because inside is inside and outside is outside."

At this everybody except me - I still felt too ill - joined in, all at the same time, of course and one patient shouted,

"Anyway, how do we know you were outside?"

That did it!

"Are you doubting my word?" asked the young woman in a horrified tone.

"No", chorused the company, "we're just saying that inside is inside and outside is outside and you should be inside because how do we know you're inside if you're outside?"

By this time the wife who had started the whole thing with her question was on the phone to her daughter, relating the incident in even louder tones than the shouting and everybody else had turned to the person next to them for confirmation that outside was outside, an assurance which was given at full volume in every case. One of the reps had completed his sales spiel to the doctor, too and, when he left the consulting room, silence suddenly fell as we all held our breath for a fight over who would go in next - the elderly man or the inside-outside woman. But Sicilian chivalry won the day:

"Si accomodi, signora " ["After you"], said the elderly man with a dignified nod of his head, looking around as if it was the most obvious course of action in the world and as if he was wondering what we were all gaping at.

Just him and one more rep and I was in, too!

IN WHICH I SUCCUMB.....

I have been fighting a cold for a few days - ever since, on Saturday, we experienced what Sicilians term "a hurricane" but would just be thought of as " a bit of wind and a shower or two" back in Cardiff, UK.  The lack of proper double glazing and the ease with which water seeps through balcony shutters makes for miserable conditions indoors though nothing, of course, like those caused by the floods taking place in some areas of Britain at the moment.

Yesterday my cold developed into what I had to admit is la febbre and, according to Sicilians, this means I should be in bed under a pile of blankets and hotwater bottles. However, I am still British enough to defy them right up to head-spinning point and then even I had to come home, cuddle up with Simi and give in gracefully.

While I was perusing some death proverbs for Monday's post, I came across a few to do with illness that made me smile and here they are:

Cattaru, vinu cu lu carru - For catarrh, you need wine by the cartload.

Marva ti sarva - Mallow will save you [also said about sage in some versions].

Ogghiu di cumuni, sana ogni dolore - Normal olive oil cures everything.

Cu havi a frevi,  macari u meli ci sapi amari - Even honey tastes bitter if you have a fever.

Pri la rifriddatura cci voli nidi di picciuna - To get rid of a cold, you need a pigeon's nest [ie., the warmth of your bed].

And finally, just to cheer myself up as I edge nearer to my three-score and ten:

Quannu lu mali è 'nvicchiutu, mancu Ippocrati cci pò dari aiuti - When the sick person is old, not even Hippocrates can help him.

BORN ROUND.....

I've never been to the town of Misterbianco in Catania Province although its name has always fascinated me. Disappointingly, it only means "white monastery" so there is no "Mr White" floating about in those parts. In recent days, however, I have been consoled by the thought that if I don't manage to get there in life, I may well do so afterwards, for the town's cemetery is to become the first in Eastern Sicily to offer cremation facilities. They are not going to stint on it either, with a crematorium in a space of 2,000 sq metres, a green area and a special room for the Committal.  

A couple of years ago, someone professing to be my "friend" told me I should start thinking about my funeral and I must admit, I was somewhat taken aback.  Italians can be disconcertingly direct when it suits them so I asked another Italian friend whether this could be considered a normal thing to say. He assured me that most Italians would not even make such a suggestion to a 95-year-old. 

Funding has already been guaranteed for the Misterbianco project and, from the end of April, the town's council will begin evaluating three bids for the work, which should be completed one year after the decision. Meanwhile another crematorium project is envisaged for the main cemetery in Catania but no funds have yet been guaranteed. As "a year" in Sicily can mean anything from a decade to a century, I think I'd better disappoint my erstwhile friend and attempt to hang on!

Just for fun, here are a few Sicilian proverbs about death that I have found surprisingly comforting:

Ogghi a ttia rumani a mmia, siemu tutti 'n cumpagnia - You today, me tomorrow; we're all in the same boat.

Morti e malasorti dovunque vai sempri ta puorti - Wherever you go you take death and misfortune with you.

'A morti conza ogni cosa - Death fixes everything.

Cu' nasci tunnu nun po' morire quadrato - If you're born round you won't die square [the implication being that if you're born stupid you won't become intelligent].

How cheering!

SABATO MUSICALE - FOR VERA

A departure from Italian music today as two events this week brought this song to mind: one was Vera's story for Holocaust Remembrance Day and the other was the death of Pete Seeger, which made me think of The Weavers and Ronnie Gilbert's version of the song. It is about Chile but I would like to dedicate it to all the Disappeared, to the displaced and, in particular, to Vera Vigevani Jarach and her daughter Franca:

Ronnie Gilbert and Holly Near - Hay una Mujer Desaparecida