What didn’t fit in this month’s letter from Sicily
I sat down to write this month’s letter of everyday life in Sicily, as I always do. I was thinking I would tell my subscribers about a birthday lunch in the Sicilian hills near Corleone. I did tell them that story. But it led me back to a village we visited years ago in South Africa, which in turn reminded me of Borgo Parrini, not far from Palermo. I told them how Parrini had come back to life after years of abandonment, and how we went into its bakery looking forward to buying bread but left empty-handed after spotting flies beneath the glass counter. I reported on the eleven new…
When Selinunte’s port filled with seagrass
Selinunte is the kind of place we go when we need to remember why we live here. It is not a big town. It does not try very hard. It simply sits there, sunlit and sea-faced, with the temples nearby and the scent of salt always in the background. We go for a meal out, a change of scene, a small and easy escape from the farm. But Selinunte is not just a pretty coastline and a few tables set out for summer. It has a small working port. And when a port stops working, the whole place changes. This year, following the arrival of Cyclone Harry in January, Selinunte’s…
The day my garden turned into a lake in Sicily
One Saturday recently we woke up to find a lake in our garden. It had appeared overnight. The cracks in the earth created by the summer heat were gone. Replaced now by shimmering water that was soaking the ground and moving towards our actual lake as the ground fell in that direction. Thankfully, our own lake has an overflow pipe, otherwise the damage to the property could have been far more extensive. Where had it come from? With no rain for months, this was not that. On closer inspection, the water was gushing from a large pipe used for agricultural water, provided by the province. It is a service we…
Driving in Sicily: Expect the Unexpected
I was reading a Reddit board the other day and had to smile. An American tourist was questioning the way people drive in Sicily and asking whether bad driving was prevalent, or whether he had simply been unlucky. He had been on holiday here for two weeks and, during that time, had almost had three serious accidents. Someone replied: “Only three? Rookie!” Welcome to driving in Sicily! So, what is driving in Sicily actually like? Having lived in seven different countries around the world, I can honestly say that driving in Italy, and Sicily in particular, is definitely not the worst I have experienced. That particular honour goes to the…
Futtitini: A Sicilian answer to modern stress
I have a favourite Sicilian word. It doesn’t translate nicely into English, but here’s my best attempt: f*ck it, don’t worry about it. We have sayings in English that are a little milder. ‘ There is no point crying over spilt milk.’ Or, ‘There is no point shutting the stable door once the horse has bolted.’ The Sicilians are more economical with words for this sentiment. Futtitini. Said with feeling, often with hand gestures unique to Sicilians and Italians in general. It’s stronger than “don’t sweat the small stuff.” It’s more final than “let it go.” It means: this problem is not worth what it is currently costing you. Put…
