Frederico De Roberto’s I Vicere’ or The Viceroy’s was another accidental discovery for me, thanks to the Italian’s flare for rich television series period drama. I fell in love with De Roberto’s characters thanks to the screen adaptation I watched a few years ago on the RAI television network in Italy (2007). I was so…
Continue reading ➞ Literary Islands: Federico De Roberto
My son loves knights and dragons. He keeps begging me to buy him one of these marionette puppets, he would be drooling if he saw this big guy. I love the Pupi Siciliani as a form of Sicilian theatre that originated in the 18th Century and retold epic battles and tales of old. It nearly…
Continue reading ➞ Postcards from Sicily: Pupi
Small town life is always insidious, the reality in Sicily is ever more so. Not only do you find everyone knows about everyone else’s business but they have been sticking in their noses for generations and so if you are a newcomer you will be a target for gossip. I’ve been living here for a…
Continue reading ➞ Political intrigue in small town Sicily
I stumbled upon Vitaliano Brancati quite by accident in a bookstore at Messina. I was attracted by the title of one his books, I discovered after he was quite a prolific novelist and later his most famous novel Il Bel Antonio was developed into a movie starring Marcello Mastroianni, which became a classic of Italian…
Continue reading ➞ Literary Islands: Vitaliano Brancati
Most language students who study Italian at university level are familiar with Giovanni Verga as his short stories in the simple realist style are a perfect introduction to Italian Literature as they are easy for first-year students to follow. Verga’s short tale Cavalleria Rusticana was made into an opera libretto which together with the…
Continue reading ➞ Literary Islands: Giovanni Verga
If I could take only one emblematic book with me from Sicily, I’d defiantly choose Salvatore Quasimodo’s complete poetical works. One of Sicily’s Primo Nobel’s in Literature, Quasimodo illustrates all the colours of his native island. His lifetime’s work, themes and forms span from sparse expressive poetry, experimental pieces, poems inspired by mythology, politically charged…
Continue reading ➞ Literary Islands: Salvatore Quasimodo
According to the Roman Catholic traditions in Sicily the first two days of November are known as ‘All Saints day' and 'All Souls day' (respectively dedicated to the churches’ canonized Saints and the deceased). As with most traditions they have become colourfully interpreted by popular culture and anticipated by the thirty first of October, good…
Continue reading ➞ I morticini Halloween in Sicily
It’s become a tradition at this time of year to attend a series of Festa’s or celebrations dedicated to patron saints that are common to most towns here in Sicily, not out of any particular religious desire but simply to have a day out, rummage through the endless stalls and perhaps start buying those pesky…
Continue reading ➞ Festa time at Capo D’orlando, Messina.
I’m surrounded by people who love the sport of hunting. What’s a poor passive greenie like me supposed to do? There’s nothing much I can do, other than hoping whatever game is being pursued gets away and everyone comes home empty handed. This year it seems everything is going well for the animals and I’m…
Continue reading ➞ Run, cinghiale, run!
This September has been a sombre month, the end of summer and the prelude to winter it is a transitional period in the cycle of life with the promise of new beginnings. The month began with the funeral of a friend's great grandmother who was the matriarch of the family. Carmela was elderly and she…
Continue reading ➞ A funeral, a wedding and a baptism in Sicily
Since a picture is worth a thousand words I thought I'd share some random picture from my holidays, when I get a moment. Here is the warm welcome Messina gives to it visitors arriving on the ferry, an open armed statue of the Virgin Mary greeting and blessing every visitor as they pass into the…
Continue reading ➞ Postcards from Sicily: Welcome to Messina
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