AN UNSQUASHABLE RUMOUR

Image:  Wikimedia Commons

I had a disturbed night, dreaming of cockroaches.  I've only seen two in my entire life, one on the Island of Elba many years ago and one here, in a drain, but last night, when Simi the dog became convinced that there was some sort of creepy intruder in the flat and that it was in the bathroom, I thought of cockroaches. This was partly because, well, everything seems worse at night and partly because last week on twitter I had read of a supposed "cockroach invasion" in Naples:  

Having no wish to be instrumental in spreading panic and discouraging tourism to that lovely city, I did not retweet the link to the article, whose accompanying photo had seemed to me a little contrived.   This it may or may not have been, for, as I am terrified of all creepie-crawlies, I did not linger over it.  The article told of a plague of American red cockroaches, each over an inch long, which had apparently finished off the city's native black ones.  It also suggested that the creatures had arrived in Naples on ferries from the Aeolian Islands, a possibility which I immediately doubted.

Then the news began to spread, particularly, says Luigi de Magistris, the Mayor of Naples, via the French press.  The BBC picked up on it too but today a more balanced article appears in the New York Times.  Mr de Magistris is, understandably, upset and sees the spreading and exaggeration of the news as both a manifestation of a political grudge held by those who do not particularly want to see his city cleaned up - at least, not by his administration -  and as yet another indicator of the tension between North and South in Italy.  It has to be said in his defence that few locals or tourists seem to have seen the "giant" cockroaches.

Meanwhile, Marco Giorgianni, the Mayor of Lipari, is also upset, as the Aeolian Islands are economically dependent on tourism and they do not need this rumour. He says that of course there are some cockroaches on the islands, but no more than anywhere else.

Disinfectation procedures are regularly carried out in Naples as in other big cities and, at the moment, the situation seems to be under control.  Now there are reports that the cockroaches have reached Rome but most people I have spoken to here merely shrug their shoulders and say that, in temperatures of up to 49 C, the appearance of a few cockroaches would hardly be surprising.  Provided people are careful about when and how they put out their rubbish and councils continue to carry out disinfectation, they believe that all will be well.

As for our nocturnal intruder, it turned out to be a small moth.

SABATO MUSICALE

One for that other lovely country on Bastille Day.  My favourite Frenchman sings a song for our times:

Charles Aznavour - Emmenez-moi

"Pour partir, je travaillerais dans

La soute à charbon

To be able to leave, I'd work in

the coal bunker."

Bonne Bastille à tous!

TREAT OF THE WEEK - 9

Stracciatella e limone

ROLL UP, ROLL UP! GET YOUR FINES HERE!

At this time of year there are sales all over Italy and you can get discounts of up to 75% on all sorts of goods if you know where, and when, to look.  Shopkeepers are desperate to get rid of their summer stock before everyone disappears for the two-week holiday around ferragosto.  By the time their customers return, en masse, to the cities, the shops will be stocking autumn goods.

This year Italy's beleaguered local councils are hoping to join in and the country's parliamentary Transport Commisssion is currently considering bringing in discounts on parking fines.  Yes, you read  that right - on  parking fines.  Under the proposal, drivers who pay their fines on the spot, by debit card, to the traffic policeman who wrote the ticket would receive discounts ranging from 10 - 20% .

Local councils have had their budgets cut so drastically recently that many have increased the number of traffic policemen on patrol in the hope of gaining more revenue from fines.  The problem is, though, that in reality only 20% of the money is actually received in revenue as the rest is spent on processing the fines.

In a country where parking illegally and badly is almost a national sport, motorists are said to be happy about the proposal.

On my next visit to Modica's open-air market, where the habitual cry of the traders is "Regolati!" - "Giving them away!" I fully expect to see a contingent of traffic policemen "giving away" fines.

SEA OF HEARTBREAK

What do you think of when you hear the word "Mediterranean"?  A bright blue expanse of seemingly endless water meeting a sky so blue that you cannot tell where the one ends and the other begins?  Holidays filled with lazy days passed on golden sands, the warmth of the waves massaging your body and people enjoying themselves all around you?  Or perhaps you think of the cookery of the region, replete with ingredients that were once thought exotic in Britain - olive oil, olives, peppers, aubergines, artichokes, okra... When I was a child, British people didn't holiday abroad as a matter of course and the Mediterranean seemed glamorous, mysterious and impossibly far away.  Young ladies from the USA or Britain who did arrive upon its shores had their heads turned by "that old moon above the Mediterranean sea", as Louis Prima sang.  Even now, I think I could have my head turned were some elderly prince to rise, Venus-like, from the waves.

"Mare Nostrum" to the Romans, the major trade route for peoples whose cultural heritage sings to us down the centuries - the Mesopotamians, Persians, Egyptians, Phoenicians and Greeks to name but a few - this was where the West began to meet the East, the crossroads of cultures and for many the centre of the world.

In our own era, though, as I've written many times before, this sea has come to signify tragedy and the end of hope for thousands of unfortunate souls who have found themselves trapped in horrific situations only because of their geographical position on the globe. Usually, however, their stories, though widely reported in Italy and Spain as the countries to which these "boatloads of sorrow" were headed, do not make world headlines.  Today, however, is an exception:

On Monday night, Tunisian fishermen in the Mediterranean spotted a young man clinging to a jerry can and the remains of an inflatable dinghy.  The fishermen immediately alerted the Tunisian Coastguard, who managed to rescue the 25-year-old man, who is now being treated for dehydration and exposure in hospital in Zarzis.

According to this survivor, the boat had left Libya 15 days before with 55 passengers hoping to reach Europe. Half of the passengers were Eritrean. After one day, the boat had almost reached the Italian coast but was blown back by strong winds. The passengers had not been allowed to take any drinking water on board so, in stifling heat, they began to suffer from dehydration and some, in desperation, drank sea water. Then the boat began to deflate.  The young man saw his fellow-passengers die one by one, among them three of his relatives.  

Image: Wikipedia

Laura Boldrini of UNHCR told La Repubblica that it is impossible that the boat had not been seen by the crews of other vessels in its 15 days on a sea full of military shipping. She said that sometimes crews are reluctant to help boats carrying migrants as the crews can often come under suspicion themselves or, at the very least, be held up while enquiries are made. T. Alexander Aleinikoff, the UN's Deputy Commissioner for Refugees, has made the following statement:

"I call upon all vessels at sea to be on heightened alert for migrants and refugees needing rescue in the Mediterranean. The Mediterranean is one of the busiest seaways in the world and it is imperative that the time honoured tradition of rescue at sea be upheld."

Ms Boldrini also explained that the Eritreans had fled their own country because of war and compulsory military service with no end date so they had not been able to return.

Another migrant boat, carrying 38 men, 11 women and one minor from Somalia was reported to be still at sea earlier today after its passengers refused the help of the Maltese coastguard.  This boat is believed to be the one later intercepted by the Italian coastguard. Its passengers, who are requesting refugee status, have been taken to the Sicilian port of Pozzallo, where they are being processed and helped.

ANSA has just reported that the Algerian coastguard has intercepted two stolen dinghies carrying 30 people, including three minors, and heading for Southern Europe.  

A SEMIFREDDO FOR THE ADVENTUROUS

As regular readers will know, I love ice cream but when it comes to making heat-busting dishes at home, I would much rather make a semifreddo than an ice cream.  A few days ago, inspired by some of the unusual gelati I've tasted at the Caffè Sicilia in Noto and having, for the first time, found candied [not crystallised] ginger here, I decided to see if I could concoct a semifreddo based on this ingredient.  Here's what I did:

Semifreddo di zenzero candito e cannella


Ingredients
200 gr candied ginger
6 savoiardi [lady's finger] biscuits
500 ml double or whipping cream [panna da montare if you are in Italy]
50 gr caster sugar
Grated zest of 1 orange 
a few drops of cannella [cinnamon] liqueur or orange liqueur
10 twists of cinnamon from a mill or a teasp powdered cinnamon, plus extra to decorate

Method

Line a 2lb loaf tin - preferably an elongated, rather than a deep one - with cling-film [plastic wrap] making sure there is an overlap.
Then chop the 200 gr candied ginger as small as you can. The easiest way is to use a kitchen scissors. 
Next, put the savoiardi in a freezer bag, clip the top of the bag and bash the biscuits into crumbs with a rolling pin. [I like this bit!]
Now whip the cream up to the soft peak stage with a hand mixer and add the caster sugar. Mix it well with a metal spoon.
Add the savoiardi crumbs and chopped candied ginger to the cream mixture with the grated orange zest, liqueur and milled or powdered cinnamon and mix it all together.
Spoon it all into the prepared tin and smooth the top with a palette knife.
Bring the overlapping clingfilm in to partly cover the edges and cover the whole tin with more cling-film. Then wrap it in foil. Put in the freezer for at least 8 hours.
Turn the semifreddo out onto a long plate - it should come out easily - and decorate.  Slice to serve.


Note: If you are in the UK, you could use drained, preserved stem ginger for this recipe.

A FIRST FOR D&G - AND FOR SICILY!

There has been much excitement in the fashion world and even more secrecy over Dolce and Gabbana's first haute couture collection, shown in Taormina's San Domenico Palace Hotel today.  Alas, only very important clients and three media outlets were invited so the details of the collection are not known to other mere mortals as yet. I do hear,though, that "transparency" is big.  [Perhaps a few politicians should take note.] 

This is not, of course, the first time that Sicily has inspired the designer duo and Domenico Dolce hails from Polizzi Generosa [Palermo Province].  In 2009 their "Miss Sicily" bag arrived and is still going strong and Madonna famously played a Sicilian housewife for the photographs of their Spring / Summer 2010 collection.  In addition, the pair are said to have been strongly influenced by the romantic, floaty gowns in Luchino Visconti's film of Il Gattopardo.

The San Domenico Palace Hotel is no stranger to celebrities either and has the honour to be known as the place in which Elizabeth Taylor smashed a guitar over Richard Burton's head.

Ah... a twitter search has revealed that there are some pictures here.

Claudia Cardinale and Burt Lancaster
in the ballroom scene
from Visconti's Il Gattopardo.
Image: Wikipedia Italia

SABATO MUSICALE

From the Concerto per l'Emilia, held in Bologna on 25th June to raise funds for the earthquake-stricken region, a return to the stage after 42 years for Modena-born Caterina Caselli.  Here she joins Francesco Guccini in singing his song, Per fare un uomo:

Concerto per l'Emilia: Francesco Guccini e Caterina Caselli - Per fare un uomo

TREAT OF THE WEEK - 8

Here's how they serve a melon and chocolate ice cream at Modica's Vecchio Caffè:

BOOK REVIEW: "THE MARCHESA"

The Marchesa by Simonetta Agnello Hornby 

Simonetta Agnello Hornby is the author of the better-known The Almond Picker, an entertaining tale of family squabbles and revenge which is not without a hint of sadness. 


In The Marchesa Agnello Hornby embarks upon another family saga, taking as her main character Costanza Safamita, later the Marchesa Sabbiamena, who really lived: Adored by her supposed father but unloved by her mother, the young Costanza turns to the servants for solace and the story is told through the memories of her one-time wet nurse, Amalia Cuffaro, as she tells them to her disabled niece Pinuzza. 


Now, I always have trouble with books that have so many characters that you have to keep turning to a list of them, and several times I lost track of who people were in this saga. The second problem I had with the book is that each chapter has a heading which tells you what happens and I found this irritating as it made me wonder if there was any point in reading on. Alastair McEwen has effected a fine translation but I couldn't help feeling that some restructuring of the narrative was also necessary for the English edition. That said, I am glad that I did choose to read on, for I became caught up in the tale from about half-way through. 


The book also offers an unusual insight into how the Sicilian aristocracy of the second half of the nineteenth century lived and into their mores. The Mafia features in this novel but I feel that the organisation's shadowy presence adds little to the tale and would be muddling to anyone not well versed in Sicilian history. 


We know from the beginning that Costanza dies young so we read the book in full awareness that there will be no happy ending. Her love story is also heartbreaking. I wanted to know more about Amalia Cuffaro and Pinuzza: we are not told why Amalia squandered the property and money given her by the Safamita family, nor do we learn the precise nature of Pinuzza's illness.

Therefore I would say the book is unsatisfactory in several ways but it is readable for what it is: a good yarn set against real historical events.

A TASTE OF THE EAST

As my friend Katia Amore of loveSicily says, Sicilian cookery owes much to the flavours of the Middle East and North Africa so it is right for today's Sicilian cooks to explore the fusion possibilities open to them by looking further afield.  Therefore I was delighted to be invited by Katia to participate in a La Prova del Cuoco cookery lesson entitled I Profumi dell'Oriente at the loveSicily cookery school on Saturday evening.

La Prova del Cuoco is a lunchtime TV programme which takes its format from the BBC's Ready Steady Cook and it is immensely popular in Italy.  Our lesson was conducted by the director of the La Prova del Cuoco Schools, Palma D'Onofrio.

First, participants got to know each other whilst chatting and taking refreshments on Katia's balcony, which affords stunning views of Baroque Modica:

Then, to get us in the mood, we were offered breaded prawns flavoured with lime and served with a sweet soya sauce:

Next, Katia [left] and Palma got down to business:

Palma cooked:

beef fillet with peppers and lemongrass

fried chicken with ginger, pink grapefruit and Marsala

stir-fried vegetables using the best of Sicily's beans 

and flavoured with a Balsamic vinegar sauce

and Cantonese rice with eggs, ham and peas.

After the lesson, we all repaired to the balcony again to enjoy more tastes and a feast prepared by Katia

whilst basking in the Modican twilight:

I've even got a La Prova del Cuoco certificate!

Grazie per la lezione e la bella serata, Palma e Katia.

REMEMBERING THE "ARANDORA STAR"

Today is the 72nd anniversary of the Arandora Star tragedy, the result of bigotry, racism and stupidity on a massive scale and one of the most shameful episodes in the history of World War II.  The information below is from a post I wrote about the disaster in 2009. Since then, a memorial to Welsh victims of the tragedy has been unveiled in Cardiff but there has still been no apology from a British government. A "facebook" group is campaigning for a major documentary about the tragedy to be made and shown on British television.

At the outbreak of World War 11 "enemy aliens" living in Britain were divided into three categories: those in class A were deemed to represent a high security risk and were interned; those in class B were "doubtful" and were subject to some restrictions; and those in class C were thought to pose no security risk at all. However, following the Fall of France in 1940 Churchill decided, in his own words, to "collar the lot" and the majority of class B aliens were interned. When Italy declared war on Britain and France on June 10th the internment of Italian males was ordered. Many of the Germans interned had opposed the Nazis or were German Jewish refugees. Most of the Italians interned had lived in Britain virtually all their lives and many had sons who were serving in the British military. Others were in Britain because they had opposed Mussolini and later fled their country in fear of their lives. The majority of the men were detained in internment camps on the Isle of Man or Orkney, where they were treated inhumanely.

A policy of deporting internees was in place and on 1st July 1940 the SS Arandora Star, a converted cruise liner, sailed from Liverpool for Canada with 1,864 people on board. Of these 734 were Italian internees, 479 were German internees, 89 were German prisoners of war and the rest were guards and crew, 80% of the crew having been newly signed on that morning. The internees were forced to sail in appalling conditions, packed onto a ship built to carry only 250 passengers and extended, in wartime, to carry 200 more.

The ship was painted battleship grey, making her look like a troop carrier, and displayed no Red Cross flag, which would have distinguished her as a vessel carrying civilians. On her second day out from Liverpool the ship was torpedoed by a German submarine off the west coast of Ireland. There had been no lifeboat drills, the rafts were immovably strapped to the sides of the ship anyway, and few lifejackets had been issued. In addition, the decks and the lifeboats were separated by walls of barbed wire - a measure which the Captain had protested about before sailing. Most of the Italians did not stand a chance , as they had come from mountainous areas of Italy and had never learnt to swim. A total of 486 Italians lost their lives and those who did survive the freezing sea were again harshly treated after being rescued. Some were later deported to Australia.

When the British media reported the tragedy, the public were told that Nazis on board had dashed for the lifeboats knocking everyone else out of the way. No mention was made of the fact that respectable people who had made positive contributions to British society had been on board, along with refugees who had risked their lives, in their own countries, for the very freedoms the British now claimed to be fighting for.

No apology has ever been made by a British government.

You can read personal stories regarding the tragedy here . The story is also told in Mary Contini's Dear Olivia and figures in a novel by Francine Stock, A Foreign Country.

Update, 2.7.12:

A memorial to the 241 London Italians who died in the tragedy was unveiled in St Peter's Italian Church in London yesterday.

READY

I don't think my red, white and green plastic necklaces were the kind of jewellery the late John Lennon had in mind when he famously told an audience to "rattle their jewels" at a Royal Variety Performance back in 1963 but I'll definitely be rattling them for the Azzurri tonight!

I am otherwise prepared, too. [My nails just caused a sensation in the bar, by the way!]

Forza Azzurri!


The Beatles - "Rattle your jewels" [John Lennon] and Twist and Shout - 1963

SABATO MUSICALE

As you can imagine, there's only one topic of conversation in Italy today and it's not the monetary kind of "Euro"!  We are all holding our breath as Italy prepares to face Spain in tomorrow night's Euro 2012 football final so I think something patriotic is called for this week:

Paolo Fresu - L'Inno di Mameli

Thanks to my friend Nellina Laganà for drawing my attention to this version on twitter!

THERE'S SOMETHING MISSING.....

Modica: Duomo di San Pietro

Today is San Pietro or St Peter's Day and, as one of Modica's two Baroque cathedrals is dedicated to the keeper of God's keys, the feast is celebrated in earnest here:  the bells of the Duomo di San Pietro have been ringing loudly and clearly at 30-minute intervals all day, people have been leaving offerings of food for the poor, there have been firecrackers and later the statue of the saint will be carried in procession around the town.

But this year, something is missing: in Italy a festival usually brings bancarelle, or open-air stalls and, whereas in Modica for San Pietro these usually stretch for over a mile, this year there are none.  Why?  Because the town council wanted to move them from their usual pitch in Modica Bassa's Viale Medaglie d'Oro, at the lower end of the Corso or main street, to the far end where the bus station is.  This would have meant a re-routing of both local and inter-city buses and the prospective stallholders complained, with some justification, that the site was too far from the shopping centre.  The council had wanted to move the stalls to avoid traffic congestion and because of hygiene concerns but the bus station end of the Corso would, in my view, have been a ridiculous alternative, as it would have been difficult for people to reach on foot. I have walked from the Viale Medaglie d'Oro, where the buses would have stopped had the proposal gone ahead, to the bus station many times but I would not have attempted it in 40°C!  As so often in Modica, no thought had been given to pedestrians.

The parish priest of San Pietro is, however, happy about the absence of bancarelle as this is more in keeping with a religious festival.

Modica: the bancarelle di San Pietro 
of times gone by

St Peter is the protector of fishermen, fishmongers, cobblers, locksmiths, reapers, watchmakers and doormen. He must be very busy with all that and the gate to watch too, so I hope he enjoys his evening trip around Modica.

EUROPUD

No, not a way to solve the euro crisis using the culinary arts but a homage to the Azzurri who are, of course, playing tonight.

I've wanted to try this dessert for a long time and it's based on a Good Housekeeping magazine recipe that I've had for years.  Their version involves making and baking an egg custard and, as I can't stand baked custards, I've both simplified and Italianised the recipe:

First I made up three sachets of crema pasticcera [confectioner's custard, which we can buy in Italy] using 500 ml milk. Then I whipped up 500 ml panna da montare [use double or whipping cream if you are not in Italy] to the soft peaks stage.  I broke 5 small croissants into a deep serving bowl and added 100 gr finely chopped chocolate and most of a 500 gr packet of frozen raspberries.  I then quickly mixed the cream and the crema pasticcera together and poured it over the other ingredients, mixing everything well.  All that was left to do was to chill the mixture for at least a couple of hours and decorate with the rest of the raspberries and the little sugar footballers and flags  [found in the supermarket].

And "No" again to your next question:  I am certainly not going to eat it all myself!  Rosa and her family are the willing testers.

BROODING LADY

Dark, brooding Etna this morning.

A GREAT DAY FOR DONNAFUGATA

One of my favourite places in the Province of Ragusa, the Castello di Donnafugata, was the centre of public and media attention on Saturday as the romantic setting for the wedding of the gorgeous Luca Zingaretti [of Montalbano fame] and his long-term partner, the Neapolitan actress Luisa Ranieri.

Among the guests were the actress Isabella Ferrari, Montalbano producer Alberto Sironi, the actors Cesare Bocci [Mimi Augello in the Montalbano series] and Peppino Mazzotta [Inspector Fazio] and, of course, the couple's one-year-old daughter Emma. There was a red carpet,  from which Mr Zingaretti greeted well-wishers, the castle walls were bedecked with soft lighting, the dinner was cooked by chef Ciccio Sultano and the cake was made by the Di Pasquale brothers of Ragusa's Pasticceria Di Pasquale.

There will be no immediate honeymoon as Mr Zingaretti is completing filming of a Montalbano series.  Although born in Rome, he says he always feels at home in Sicily.

Congratulations to the happy couple- I'm off to hurl myself on the bed and cry now.

SABATO MUSICALE

I like this sound:

Stadio con Noemi - La promessa

  

TREAT OF THE WEEK - 7

A Modican breakfast on the go in 40°C comprises lemon granita with brioche.