Day 5 meant my Italian class would finally get some Pirandello thrown into the mix. Right before my eyes and the camera lens of my iPad I discovered an original draft of one of my favorite Pirandello short-stories, ‘La Giara.’ La Giara explores class relations in Pirandello’s Sicily, all the while articulating man’s relationship with other humans and with the nature that Sicily encompasses man with. Some characters are compared to gnarly old trees and spend their days in the fields while others begin to value power and material wealth, and Pirandello sees these roles as static or staple, often pessimistic in the conclusions he reaches through the voices of his own characters. Seeing Pirandello’s “tomb” and learning about his odd death/burial story and a lack of coordination in meeting his demands was both poignant and fascinating, and, oddly, perfectly fitting to Pirandello’s legacy.
The Cathedral of Monreale
On Day 4, the gang checked out the gorgeous Cathedral of Monreale. This cathedral is one of the finest examples of Norman architecture on the planet, and its adjoining old cloisters are among the most well-preserved cloisters in all of Italy. To my delight, I found many lizards hidden in the cloisters, and I enjoyed following the various biblical and mythological stories engraved into the cloister’s framing column work. Pictured above is a hardworking man set on fixing up some of the old geometric tiles the church is famous for. As we have already noted, Sicily is a crossroads of civilization and thought, rendering it possible for there to be Muslim influences in buildings that have been used for Christian and Norman purposes. The thought artists put into the placement, creation and color of each individual mosaic tile, even during restoration, really inspires me.
Day 5: carinissime
I captured this moment in downtown Porto Empedocle, an obscure but surprising lovely place on the western coast of Sicily, right near Agrigento (where Luigi Pirandello is from). It’s famous mostly as the hometown of Andrea Camilleri, who wrote the wildly popular Inspector Montalbano series which is set in a town that resembles Porto Empedocle. This statue is of Inspector Montalvano himself, and it’s based on the description of him that Camilleri offers. Used to academic conversations of temples and authors, we all loved seeing our professors grinning over this character from a series they both happen to follow. –AG
Day 4: theater in Racalmuto
Towards the end of our evening in Racalmuto, where Leonardo Sciascia grew up, we ran into a jolly man who wanted to show us around town. He graciously let us into the Teatro comunale, a cultural center where, partially thanks to Sciascia, many major performers toured, even though Racalmuto is a small place.
The circular theater was adorable — the picture does it no justice — and the boxes that surrounded us displayed flamboyant costumes that belonged to a prominent local tenor. But this was a nice visit because Ghibgli and I were coaxed into singing onstage, which was a lovely experience. At first, I was like, “non penso proprio,” but then I realized it might be fun.
And it was! I’d never gotten the chance to sing with Ghibgli before, and we sang “Wild Mountain Thyme,” which is one of my favorite folk songs. Tori showed us up a few days later, however, when she hit some gorgeous high notes in an old Roman quarry outside of Siracusa. –AG
Maria Grammatico’s, Erice
(Photo cred to Michael Colbert)
In Erice, we were treated to the unique experience of baking various sweets with Maria Grammatico, owner of one of the most famous Pasticceria in all of Sicily. Maria Grammatico first encountered the Sicilian tradition of “dolci” in her time growing up in a convent. There she learned the wonderful art of making all kinds of sweets, most notably marzipan made from Sicilian almonds. After leaving the convent, Maria set up her own shop, which she continues to run to this day. In our visit, we worked with Maria and her attendants to make her famous, colorful marzipan. We playfully molded the marzipan into the form of various fruits, other food, and some really adventurous students even made the first letter of their first name! On top of this, we also learned how to make other treats colloquially refereed to as “nun breasts” and “beautiful uglies”. While our creations baked, we dined on a buffet of traditional Sicilian cuisine and afterwards, we were able to enjoy our handiwork as dessert.
- « Previous Page
- 1
- …
- 16
- 17
- 18
- 19
- 20
- …
- 26
- Next Page »