SABATO MUSICALE

Enjoy:

Franco Battiato e Carmen Consoli - Tutto l'universo obbedisce all'amore

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.

AN ENIGMA

A cloudless sky, a temperature of 25 C and the 8th December holiday ensured that everyone was out and about for the final day of Modica's Chocobarocco 2010 Festival and the fun went on well into the evening.   Needless to say there were piles upon piles of chocolate, plus chocolate pasta, chocolate sculptures, chocolate beauty products - chocolate everything, in fact.

But no Sicilian festival is complete without cannoli and these pistacchio and ricotta-filled ones made by the good folk of Bar Elena in Piana degli Albanesi were just irresistible:

"Please don't ask us to cut a cannolo in half", pleaded a notice.  My question was, "Why would anyone want to?"

SIGNS OF CHRISTMAS

Tomorrow is the Immacolata Holiday, when Italians traditionally decorate and get ready for Christmas.  In Sicily in particular, a crib is set up in nearly every home.  The figurines are often family heirlooms and the baby Jesus is added to the scene on Christmas Eve.  These days more and more families have a Christmas tree too and I see more Santa figures around than I did when I arrived five years ago.  These scenes have cheered me up this week:

I always know it's time to get decorating when Raffaele the hairdresser puts his tree up!

I liked this fellow in Modica Bassa:

A Sicilian winter scene: café tables on a terrace, Christmas tree surrounded by winter fuchsias and a palm tree - all in the December sun.

PRETTY PASTA

We have the Chocobarocco Festival in Modica this week and I was fascinated to come acoss these pretty, multicolured lasagne by CioMod.  The sheets are made from the hard wheat flour of Puglia and the colours are worked by our Modican chocolate makers, using cocoa, spinach, beetroot,  paprika and turmeric.  I can't wait to try this in a recipe!

PIZZA AND CHIPS....

.... for a quick lunch in Catania yesterday.  Because calories don't count when you're out.

SABATO MUSICALE

Enjoy:

Laura Pausini - Invece no

ITALY MAGAZINE ROUND-UP - 25

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

First of all, if you're heading down towards the Italian islands in January, here is an event not to be missed in Sardinia.

Student protests against education cuts continued across the country all week and, although I can understsnd the frustration of tourists who found their way into sites like the Leaning Tower of Pisa barred, I have to say that I admire the young people for standing up for what they believe in and proving that Italy is still a democracy.

Pisa is about more than the Tower, however and the city is host to an interesting Joan Mirò exhinition until 23rd January.  In Rome, another famous tourist site is to get a makeover  while down in Naples the EU wants some money back.

For my Patti Chiari column I wrote about Sicilian surnames and some of the nicknames associated with them.

Happy reading.

WORD OF THE YEAR

The Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera has invited readers to choose a word which would sum up their private lives in 2010 and email their choices to the newspaper's website.

The top ten words in 2009 were:  amore [love], lavoro [work], crisi [crisis], famiglia [family], amici or amicizia [friends or friendship], facebook, casa [home], speranza [hope], cambiamento [change] and futuro [future].  There were only slight differences in the words submitted by men and women, with "facebook" coming above "family" in the men's list and "Obama" coming in at number ten.   "Trans" [transsexual] also appears in the men's list.  The word "delusione" [disappointment] came in at number ten in the women's list. ["Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose."]

There were some regional differences, with "crisi" being the top word in Central and Northern Italy.  The word "Berlusconi" also makes it into the top ten at number seven in the North.  But I am proud to say that "amore" remains at number one in the South, including the islands.

Other popular words were:  ragù, soldi [money], stress, sesso [sex] and briscola [a card game].

What word would you choose to sum up your 2010?  Mine would be "CRAP"!

AGEING

The fruit seller who usually calls me bambina called me mamma this morning.  It comes to us all, I suppose....

My grandmother, Mary.

NEW PLAY ABOUT ARANDORA STAR TRAGEDY

Regular readers of this blog will know that I follow the Arandora Star Campaign with interest, not least because 53 of those who perished in the 1940 tragedy were Welsh Italians and I was pleased to be able to report that a memorial to these men had been unveiled in Wales in July this year.

Now a play has been written about the disaster and here is the article I wrote about this for Italy Magazine last week:

New Play About Arandora Star Tragedy

Italy Magazine followed the lead-up, this year, to the seventieth anniversary of the Arandora Star tragedy, in which 486 British Italian internees were drowned. Rounded up by the British government without consideration for their families, these respectable men who had made their lives in Britain were regarded as a security threat and were treated cruelly by their guards.

On July 1st 1940, 734 of them were put aboard the Arandora Star, which left Liverpool with 1,864 passengers and crew, bound for Canada. On July 2nd she was torpedoed.

Now the tragedy has been turned into a play by Alfo Bernebei, an Italian who has been living in Britain for 40 years, reports the Telegraph. “The Tailor at the Bottom of the Sea” tells the story of a real-life character, anti-fascist campaigner Decio Anzani, and a fictional British camp commander. Mr Anzani died in the tragedy.

The play will open in Jesi [Marche] on 4th December and later Mr Bernebei hopes that it will be performed in Britain.

The Arandora Star tragedy remains one of the most ignominious episodes in British war history and the campaign for a government apology continues.

LEMON CHICKEN WITH ONIONS AND POTATOES

For those of you in Italy, this recipe is from the Conad Supermarket Chain's November edition of their free magazine, Bene Insieme.  I've altered the recipe slightly so will give my version here: 

First of all, oil the base of a deep, oval roasting dish well.  Cut 3 large potatoes into rounds - as you all know, I refuse to peel them - and arrange them in the dish. Then cut 3 medium onions into rounds - the recipe says white ones but I used a mixture of white and red - and add to the dish.  Cut 2 lemons into rounds and squeeze another while you're at it.  Of course, I am convinced that this works so well because of the flavour of Sicilian lemons but if you are in the UK, try to get unwaxed ones.  Now put 2 fresh bay leaves into the cavity of your chicken and add a bunch of fresh herbs such as rosemary,sage, thyme, basil, mint and oregano.  Don't bother chopping the herbs - that's for wimps!  Now stuff in as many of the lemon slices as you can, too.  Pour a little olive oil into the cavity, then sit the chicken on top of the vegetables in the dish.  Pour the lemon juice over the chicken and put any remaining lemon slices around and on top of it.  In fact, I cut up another lemon to do this.  I put some more sprigs of rosemary around the chicken, too, just because I like it that way.  Season to taste and cook the chicken at 200 C for 50 minutes, basting now and then. 

Breathe in  the aroma and then serve four lucky people.

SABATO MUSICALE

A golden oldie for you all today:

Mina e A Lupo - Parole, Parole

ITALY MAGAZINE ROUND-UP - 24

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

Everyone is talking about the rubbish crisis in Naples but, in the run-up to Christmas, let us not forget a more positive claim to fame that the city has.  Everyone also continues to talk about Mr Berlusconi and you really would think that the Prime Minister's manhood had caused enough trouble;  then this story broke.  If, on the other hand, you are fed up with stories of the airheads who surround him, here is the perfect antidote.

Immigrant workers in Brescia found a unique way of drawing attention to their plight but the day after this story appeared torrential rain forced them down from their crane.  

Tired of politics and protests?  Here you can learn why it will shortly be time for tea in Rome 

With an early genereal election in Italy looking increasingly likely, I wrote about my personal experience of participating in Italian elections for my Patti Chiari column.

Happy reading.

THREE GOOD THINGS

The fruit seller who calls me "bambina" called from his lorry that he was "giving away" oranges this morning.  By that he meant, of course, that they were especially cheap but I was determined to resist - until, that is, I saw one word on the crates:  "vaniglia".  Sicilian vanilla oranges really do taste of vanilla and everyone should try one before they die.

Later slabs of Valgrana cheese from Piemonte were on offer in the supermarket and what better to go with one than cotognata [quince paste]?  A marriage made in heaven.

 

BILL AND ERIC DAY

It is several months since I received an email entitled, "Avid blog reader wants to meet you in Modica" and made the online acquaintance of Bill, the writer of the mail and his partner Eric.  Through further emails, I also got to know Toby, Bill and Eric's cute Yorkshire terrier and of course, they all got to know Simi.  From Bill I also learnt about the autumn beauty of his home state of Vermont and more about Bill the man by reading the poetry on his blog. 

Bill and Eric invited me to lunch in Modica and today I met them for real at the Osteria dei Sapori Perduti.  We had a long, leisurely meal and discussed a wide range of topics including, of course, Sicilian food!  Without further ado I'll get on with showing you some of that:

You absolutely cannot visit the Sapori Perduti without partaking of their magnificent antipasti, so we happily tucked into these dishes:

Then Eric ordered two primi, cavatieddi with aubergine sauce and pasta with maccu, a kind of broad bean paste

while Bill had fastola, a bean soup

and I had my favourite sweet ravioli with a pork sauce:

While Eric finished his primi, Bill had coniglio stemperato [the traditional Modican dish of rabbit cooked in wine vinegar] while I had grilled veal:

Finally Bill had gel alla mandorla [almond gel] while Eric and I had gel al limone:

And here we all are:

Afterwards, Bill and Eric came home with me to meet Simi, as Toby, I'm told, is expecting a full report:

It was great to meet you, Bill and Eric.  Enjoy the rest of your Sicilian trip!

"SE VIENE, ARRIVA"

A superb example of Modican pazienza as I arrived at the bus stop for Modica Bassa this morning: When I asked an elderly gentleman if the bus was due, he made the hands in the air gesture and replied,

"Se viene, arriva"  -"If it's coming, it will arrive".

XV CENTURY PORTAL CRUMBLES IN GELA

The city of Gela found itself in the news again at the weekend following the crumbling on Friday night of part of a fifteenth century portal leading to the Santuario Maria SS d'Alemanna.  At one time the portal was the entrance to the Sanctuary but the area around it, already deemed dangerous two years ago, had been sealed off.

The Salesian brothers who care for the Sanctuary, which is dedicated to the patron saint of the city, are brushing aside comparisons with Pompeii, saying that only a few stones and pieces of plaster fell from a disused structure.

You can judge for yourselves from the pictures in this video:

This incident comes at a time when Italy's Culture Minister is facing a vote of no confidence over the crumbling of the House of Gladiators at Pompeii and amid concerns about the stability of the Greek and Roman amphitheatres at Siracusa, among other ancient monuments in Italy.

THE BEST KIND OF PLANNING MEETING....

The best kind of planning meeting takes place over afternoon tea, when everybody brings some cakes or biscuits they have made, as the ladies - and one or two gentlemen - of Modica's "foreign legion" did on Friday.  We were planning our annual multilingual carol service and we got that part of the meeting concluded in no time!