December 8, 2011
Christmas season starts here with a bang! Literally.
Firecrackers boomed loud enough to make your heart disintegrate and drums beat wildly as the Immaculate Virgin Mary sallied forth from churches all over Sicily today (Feast of the Immaculate Conception) and took her annual spin around town.
Mary came out after dark in my village, Ragusa Ibla, so I drove to Scicli where she made an appearance earlier in the day while it was still light enough to photograph.
The priest sang Ave Maria into his mike while onlookers made the sign of the cross and wiped tears from their eyes. Notes flew from tubas and trombones.
If you’re thinking of making a trip to Sicily sometime in the future, consider the Christmas season. The weather’s pretty nice and the traditions are rich. There’s spirituality in the air rather than commercialism. Check out Sicilia&Folklore for some wonderful photos of Sicilian pageants, and for a great list–in Italian–of upcoming celebrations (prossimi eventi on the right-hand side of the blog).
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November 2, 2011
*first published Nov 2, 2009*
A few years ago, I wanted to buy a ruin of a house on a solitary road out beyond the Ragusa cemetery. Sicilian friends (perfectly rational, well-educated ones) said I was matta, insane, that I’d be visited at night by dead souls.
“What do you mean?” I hollered. “I live two blocks from a cemetery in the US and I’ve never seen a ghost!”
They looked at me mournfully and insisted that the danger was real. They themselves would absolutely never pay me a visit there!
So I gave up the idea of that house with its faded pink walls, shocked at how alive the dead are in Sicily.
Sicilian cemeteries are always set well outside of town behind imposing walls. Below is the Scicli cemetery, full of mausoleums, magnificent pines and tall cypress.
Cemeteries here are well-tended, with custodians and on-site florists. They seem to be open most of the day, even during the long lunch break.
Many of the tombs show pictures of the dead.
Streets have names, just like in a real town.
Today is il Giorno dei Morti, Day of the Dead. Sicilian families flock to cemeteries—arms overflowing with lilies, mums, roses, and daisies—to spend time with their dearly departed.
October 2, 2011
Yes, Sicily’s folk culture is endangered, her old way of life fading away. I lose sleep over this.
But Franco and Salvo are trying to stop the march of time. The men have a vision and a passion: to save an old flour mill, to grow ancient varieties of wheat for grinding, and to produce Sicily’s old-time bread. The mill in question, Mulino Soprano, had been in Franco’s family since it was built in 1822, but it had–like all the other flour mills in Sicily–gone to seed, closing in the early 1980s.
 Salvo Arena and Franco DiStefano Thanks to “progress,” flour is industrial in Sicily today, pretty much devoid of nutrients and high in hard-to-digest gluten. The ancient varieties of wheat that grew on the island in Roman times have given way to a few globalized varieties.
But Franco, 50-something, can still remember a childhood when the mill was a hub of rural life Sicily and a center of gossip, when he ran in fields of wheat and fell asleep to the sound of swooshing water.
So Franco and Salvo spend all their spare time on weekends, while scraping together their own money, to bring back a slice of Sicily’s past.
 The old water wheel  It's amazing how long it takes to grind a bag of flour!  Franco is proud of his antique varieties of wheat.  Salvo with his experimental breads There’s still work to be done. The men are experimenting with ways of baking bread; they plan to open a bakery, too. Already they’ve got a deliciously chewy brown bread–something that you can’t find in any bakeries here.
 Bread made from ancient grain Way to go, guys! You’re local heroes to me!
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The mill in Contrada Cifali on the road between Chiaramonte and Ragusa, but is impossible to find unless you go with someone in the know. And that person would be Consuelo Petrolo, an adorable tour guide with excellent English. You can reach her at consuelo.petrolo@tiscali.it or visit her website. Consuelo can also find holiday housing for you in Southeast Sicily.
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June 28, 2011
I caught them hiding in my alleyway.
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May 30, 2011
Like a bolt from the blue, the Madonna storms out of the skies on a mighty white stallion, sword at hand, slashing and slaying an army of Saracens.
Not your version of the Madonna?
Well, this is Sicily, where everything’s a little different.
The year is 1091. The place is Scicli, near Sicily’s southern coast.
 Madonna delle Milizie The Normans ruled Sicily at that time. Norman knights were battling Saracens and getting creamed. The Norman leader, Roger de Hauteville, prayed to the Madonna for help, and–miracle of miracles–she swooped down to save the day.
Almost a thousand years later, la Madonna delle Milizie is still revered and celebrated in this stony little baroque town. The entire 1091 event is re-enacted each year in late May.
 The Normans  The Saracens What do the locals eat to celebrate the 1091 event?
Turkish heads.
That’s right. They feast on testa di turco, a large cream puff in the shape of a turban. Never mind that the Turks came nowhere near Sicily until the 16th century.
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All photos and text on BaroqueSicily are Copyright of Jann Huizenga ©2009-2015, unless otherwise noted. Material may not be copied or re-published without written permission. All rights reserved.
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