Seeking Sicily: A Cultural Journey Through Myth and Reality in the Heart of the Mediterranean

by John Keahey

  Countless books have been written about Sicily. My challenge was to make this one different from the typical travel narrative. I wanted to put the island and its people in proper perspective to show why they are Sicilians before they are Italians, and why no amount of time under the control of Rome will ever change that.

  I had a lot of help.

  Perhaps one of the most fortunate friendships I made was with Conchita Vecchio, a Brooklyn-born Sicilian-American who has spent several years on her ancestral island teaching, writing, serving as a tour guide, and interpreting for businesspeople and government officials. When I needed help in Palermo with interviews, she would rearrange her schedule to accommodate me and act as intermediary when my poor language skills let me down as I attempted to schedule interviews. Her interpreting abilities made it possible for me to have extended, quick-paced conversations with key individuals. And one of my fondest memories is her generous invitation to join her group of friends for Palermo’s festival of Santa Rosalia. It was a wonderful evening of food, conversation, and spectacle.

  Good fortune struck when Linda Graci, librarian at the Leonardo Sciascia Foundation in Racalmuto, put me in touch with Vito Catalano, grandson of the famous author who figures so prominently in this book. Vito, a published writer, and his wife, Anna Kowalska, drove me one hot July afternoon to the Sciascia family home at Noce a few miles out of Racalmuto and introduced me to Maria Sciascia (who is Vito’s mother and Sciascia’s daughter), and her husband, Nino Catalano.

  Vito, over a period of a few days, led me on tours of Sciascia’s two homes: the one at Noce and his apartment in Palermo. While there, Vito also orchestrated a tour, led by his father, of the Inquisitor’s Prison in a wing of the Steri Palace, also known as Palazzo Chiaramonte.

  I owe gratitude to a number of bed-and-breakfast folks who sent me off in directions that yielded gold for this book. I particularly am in debt to Marisin and Salvatore Tranchina of Scopello, who showed generous hospitality during two of my trips while I lodged in their Pensione Tranchina. They spent the better part of an afternoon on their nearby property that overlooks the Mediterranean Sea explaining the ins and outs of Sicilian bureaucracy and how it has affected them and their land.

  Most particularly, I thank Giuseppe Andini and Paola Prandi, who became among my closest friends in Sicily and with whom I stayed, during four trips, at their bed-and-breakfast Tra i frutti (Among the Fruit), on the outskirts of Racalmuto. They are transplanted northern Italians who have absorbed much of their adopted village’s lore and legends. Paola stayed in close contact during the writing of this book, finding answers to questions about the village. Giuseppe offered thoughtful suggestions and information about places around the countryside that would add to my understanding of Sicilian country life.

  Preparing to write this book began with conversations with university professors in Vancouver, British Columbia: Dr. Franco de Angelis of the University of British Columbia and a historian of Sicily’s archaic period under the Greeks, and Dr. Sam Migliore, an anthropologist at Kwantlen Polytechnic University. They spent an afternoon discussing Sicily from a historical and cultural perspective. Sam claims Racalmuto as his ancestral home, and he encouraged me to devote a lot of time in that southern Sicilian village to get a sense of place and a feel for the Sicilitudine expressed by the village’s favorite son, Leonardo Sciascia.

  And I give special thanks to two women who helped me navigate the world of Sicilian food: Renée Restivo of Soul of Sicily, who arranged five days of tours in Noto and Siracusa and demonstrations of actual Sicilian cooking and pastry making; and Polly Franchini, who was involved with the New York City publishing house Oronzo Editions. It produces beautifully written and illustrated books on regional Italian cooking. Renée and Polly gave permission for me to use carefully selected recipes that accurately portray authentic Sicilian cuisine. And I owe thanks to colleague Lesli Nielson who helped edit the recipes.

  Steve McCurdy, one of the most sensitive travel photographers and film documentarians I know, was a wonderful companion during my fourth trip. He showed me how to be a traveler and not a tourist. His language skills served us well during our two-week drive around the island; his affability softened my sometimes edginess about meeting schedules, and his willingness to approach people in small towns made many scenes in the book possible.

  Still to thank are two of my dearest and most loyal friends, both Sicilian-Americans, without whom this book would have been a very difficult task: Alissandru (Alex) Caldiero, poet, performer, linguist, social critic, and teacher; and Dr. Leonard Chiarelli, a historian and specialist in Sicily’s Arab period. Brooklyn-born Leonard, whose roots go deep into the soil of southwestern Sicily, considers his lineage Arabic; Alex, born in the southeastern quarter of the island, claims Greek DNA.

  Alex was the first person I talked to about how to approach this book, and his insight was invaluable. He shared mysteries and other information about the Sicilian language and offered thought-provoking theories about Greek myths as they pertain to the island of his birth. It was he who opened my eyes to the realization that Sicilians view themselves as living north of Africa rather than south of Italy.

  That realization is a major step on the path to understanding Sicily and its people.

  Leonard helped shape this book more than anyone else. For years, we have met nearly every Saturday morning for breakfast, and then for cigars on my front porch or on his grapevine-covered terrace. Like Sam Migliore, Leonard’s ancestral village is Racalmuto. I had heard stories about his visits there, about his conversations as a young man with Leonardo Sciascia, and his kinship with his cousin Laura Sciascia. He also told me what it was like growing up Sicilian and described the impact of the Arabs on Sicilian culture.

  When I started, Leonard scoured the Marriott Library at the University of Utah, where he works as Middle East librarian, for books, articles, dissertations, and various tracts and pamphlets to help light my way. He took time from finishing his own definitive history about the Arabs in Sicily to read my final manuscript and to save me from numerous embarrassing mistakes.

  I also thank my editor at Thomas Dunne Books/St. Martin’s Press, Kathleen Gilligan, whose insight and gentle suggestions did much to improve this book. My manuscript editor, Frances C. Sayers, also has my deepest gratitude. And I recognize the friendship of my friends Bette Joe Caldwell Clapp and Jerry Clapp. They made their Lake Cascade home in central Idaho available to me during one particularly productive writing period.

  Once again, I know for a certainty that none of this could have been accomplished without the continued support of my wife and partner, Connie-Lou Disney, also a lover of books and one who has the enviable job of designing them. She understands that doing what I love involves long weeks of sometimes-solo travel and endless hours of research and writing. She accommodates and supports me, keeping outside distractions at bay. Her constructive insight as a final reader of my manuscript proved invaluable.

  —John Keahey

  Salt Lake City, Utah

  July 2011

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  INDEX

  The index that appeared in the print version of this title does not match the pages in your e-book. Please use the search function on your e-reading device to search for terms of interest. For your reference, the terms that appear in the print index are listed below.

  A-19 autostrada

  Abulafia, David, The Mediterranean in History

  Aci Catena

  Acireale

  Acis (son of Pan)

  Aci Santa Lucia

  Acis River

  Aci Trezza

  Aclá’s Descent into Floristella

  Adam, Madame (Juliette Lamber)

  Addiopizzo

  Adelaide del Vasto

  Aeschylus

  African-Americans, condition of, compared to Sicilian peasants

  Aghlabid court

  Agira

  Agnello, Giuseppe

  agriculture

  Arab practices

  modern-day

  Agrigento

  Greek temples at

  Agrigento-Caltanissetta highway