Sicilian Ceramics

It seems that no matter where you go here in Italy there is a regional style of ceramics: though many of the items - particularly those made for mass consumption in locations far removed from Italy - bear striking similarities there are colour, themes and designs that are specific to Umbria, Tuscany, the Veneto, Napoli or Sicilia.  Its hard to avoid the shops crammed with wall plaques, holy water stoops, pots, Christmas ornaments, jars, urns or table wear of dubious provenance.  However it is still possible to find the work of local artists that reflect the tradition of the region but with a twist that also reflects the approach of the creator.

Though, god knows, we don't really need more things in the past four years the household inventory has been augmented by a few items, particularly the Christmas ornaments - yes I know as if we really need more Christmas ornaments.  However a wall plate, a Beaulieu-Hobbs name plaque and a large jar, all created by Valentina Pietrosanti in Sermoneta, will also be making their way back to Canada come July.

I'm pretty sure that Nicky thinks the sunshine that he loves so much comes out of this ceramic pot - and Nora is willing to let him do the ground work and she'll just bask in the rays afterwards.  The pot itself shows the distinct style of ceramics from the Lazio region - particularly the lemon branches.  It was created by the very talented Valentina Pietrosanti at Labratorio Uscio e Bottega in Sermoneta.

And they will be kept company by a few little items that were picked up on the trip to Sicilia. The style there seems to be a bit more naive and colours at times more primary than in many of the other regions.  Having said that I saw a plate in Erice and a platter in Ragusa -  though both are the work of artists in Caltagirone, a town famous for its ceramics, on the east side of the island - that had subtle colourings and simple almost primitive designs but still, I find, had echos of some of the antique patterns of Siciliana.  

I bought this plate in Erice however it was produced by Giacomo Alessi in his workshop in Caltagirone near Catania.  The town is renowned for its ceramics and Alessi is one of the better known artists in the field.  What attracted me was those pomegranates - they are as exuberant and as light hearted as the island itself.

This piece is also from a studio in Caltagirone though again bought in another part of the island.  Francesco Boria is perhaps better known for his pieces in the antique baroque style so this subtle use of the green and simple line drawing is surprising when compared to much of his work.

Equally fascinating are the ceramics of Agosto Fiorito who works in miniatures as part of an artisan collective on Via Bara all’Olivella in Palermo. His ceramics have a charming naivety and his creation of presepi has led him to adapted the multitude of small items that fill the scenes of these traditional Nativity scenes and turned them into, of all things, fridge magnets.  Taking his inspiration from the rich world of the Sicilian kitchen he has platters of sea food, pasteria trays of dolci and paper cones of the fresh vegetable on the shelves of his clutter corner of this wonderfully atmospheric shop.

Agosto Fiorito's miniature ceramics - a left click will show them in actual size - are tiny representations of the riches of the farms, seas and pastry shops of Sicilia.  Those vegetabls would made a wonderful caponata and the casatte and canoli look good enough to eat.

Fortunately Fiorito's little gems will pack easy and may well find their way into various Christmas stockings as a reminder of the time spent here  The other pieces are going to require some special handling so I'll have a few words with the movers and Sant'Anna, their patron saint, to make sure they arrive back in Canada in one piece.


28 maggio - San Just

Sicilia or Bust

Well after months of anticipation and planning the vacation to Sicilia has come and gone. Its been a busy – at times maybe too busy – 16 days: food, wine, sights and sites. I'm not sure how many kilometres were clocked up on the car but its probably more in that two weeks than have been put on it in four years in Italy. And I'm not sure that even driving in Mexico City, Cairo and Roma had prepared Laurent for the singular style of driving that we encountered in the towns and road of Sicilia. Ah well we're in one piece which says more about him than it does the local drivers.  One thing: I wouldn't have wanted to do it without the help of a GPS – that smarmy British voice telling us to “bear left” may be irritating at times but damned he knows the roads – or a least the ones that haven't been changed and not updated. Note to TomTom – there's an entirely new subdivision on the main road in Gela that nobody told you about!

The overnight crossing (12 hours) from Civittavechia to Palermo was smooth sailing however the good ship Splendid was not - splendid I mean.  Grandi Navi Veloci should either update their website or their fleet.

The first and last legs of the trip were on car ferries – Roma to Palermo/Catania to Napoli. The Grandi NaviVeloci to Sicily was, to put it kindly, an interesting experience. Shabby would be too polite a word. Let's just say that the boat had seen better days and I was afraid of walking barefoot on the carpeting.   The TTT ferry back from Catania to Napoli, though smaller, was clean, cabin at the bow spacious and staff helpful - too bad they don't do the Civettavecchia to Palermo run.

The first part of our travels took us from Palermo along the Tyrrhenian Sea to the West and than eastward along the Mediterranean Coast.

Laurent has written extensively on his blog about the various stops on the itinerary and I'll be posting a few items on thing that caught my fancy as we travelled from Palermo to Trapani, Erice, Marsala, Mazara del Vallo, Agrigento, Ragusa, Siracusa, Noto and Catania. Looking at that list – and a general sense of fatigue at the end of the trip – make me aware that this is a trip that should have broken into two trips; in fact I said only the other day that had we been wise we would have spent a week in a different area of Sicily each year that we were here. But should, would and could are all conditional verbs – and in this case conditional past – so no point in labouring over what we should have done; just sit back and enjoy the memories of what we did.

Continuing on from Agrigento we headed a bit inland to Ragusa and then back eastward to the Ionian coast and the two major seas ports of Siracusa and Catania.

And the memories are varied.  Wonderful music - an emotionally charged performance of A Greek Passion in Palermo; wonderful food - an unexpected lobster fest at a local trattoria in Marsala were the room was filled with groups of men sharing a meal with their friends and only three women in the whole place and no it wasn't a gay restaurant; great wine - quite a few Enoteche but particularly Michelle's in Trapani and Salvatore's in Marsala; over the top baroque churches - the Duomi in Mazara del Vallo takes the prize with Ragusa running a close second; antiquities galore - the Valley of the Temple leading the pack; and friendly, warm, welcoming, if at times slightly suspicious of strangers, people. 

The departure from Catania and the trip up to the Straits of Messina  on TTT's Partenope was a bit on the rough side but once into the Tyrrhenian it was a smooth sail up to Napoli and then on to Roma by road.

The one thing that struck me the first time I went to Palermo and was confirmed on this trip as I saw more of the island is that Sicily may be part of Italy but it isn't really Italian. It shares a common language and some history but the people, the food, the landscape has been molded by the influences of the Mediterranean in a way that makes it a place unto itself.  A succession of occupiers - the Greeks,  the Phoenicians, the Carthaginians, the Romans, the Byzantines, the Arabs, the Normans, the French and the Spanish - have left their mark. As it always is Nature has been both kind and cruel: the sea, earthquakes and volcanoes have formed, enriched and scarred the terrain making it both welcoming and hostile. Religion – Pagan and Christian – has molded the architecture of cities and minds. And a wry sense of survival on the part of the inhabitants has taken all these things – the good and the bad - and created a place that is Sicilia.


24 maggio - Santa Maria Ausiliatrice

Sharing

With half of Rome gone on holiday and the other half preparing to go its been quiet in the neighbourhood. But if last night's crowds at Largo Argentina are any indication the void, in Centro at least, is being filled by tourists on a Roman Holiday. We haven't joined the general exodus and really won't be going much anywhere except Pesaro on the Adriatic for a few days at the end of the month. Laurent is busy at work, his dad is coming over for a visit mid-month and we're getting ready to move - so much for Feragosto being the time for rest and relaxation.

Overlooking the Latina Plain from the belvedere at Sermoneta.

But a few of my lucky blog buddies have been doing some travelling and sharing of photos and tales. And two weekends ago we did a Sunday jaunt down to Sermoneta with our friends Lorraine and John. Sermoneta is one of those incredibly charming medieval hillside towns that dot the Latina countryside As always I took a few pictures.

Of course every Italian hill town has to have its castle. After all that's why the town is there. Il Castello di Sermoneta dates from the 12th century.

And every Italian hillside town has to have steps; flights and flights ...

... and flights of steps. That's what you get when you build on a hillside.

• Larry and Vincenzo have been spending the past few weeks in Sicily including a visit with Vin's family in Enna. And they've been touring around the island with stops in Castelbuono , Cefalù, and Erice. This B and B that they stayed at near Palermo looks wonderful. And needless to say they found some incredible beaches. Now I let Laurent postpone Sicily this year because he wanted to spend a few weeks in Japan in October but I am serving notice - publicly - we are going to spend at least two weeks in Sicily sometime in the next year.
  

This is the view down to a belvedere and small piazza from ...

... the top of this flight of stairs.

The town hall on the piazza betrays its origins as a monastic building .

In another part of town an Eternal (electric) Flame burns in memory of sons of Sermoneta who died in the many wars that have raged in the area over the past 200 years.

• And my darling Dora was off to New Orleans, accompanying her Beastman on a business trip, and knocking the town ass over tea kettle in a fabulous new red dress. And being our Dora, she and Madame Destin had a meeting on a rainy street that turned into a lovely and touching experience and started a friendship. And she has... ahem... ahem... promised to give us some shots of her in that red dress!

I did a double take when I saw the Irish lace curtains - shades of my childhood - then I realized it was an Irish pub. Honest! They're everywhere even hill town Italia.

Even amongst the marble, concrete and cobblestones people here make sure there is greenery surrounding them.

The crowds from a bicycle regatta had dispersed by the time we reached the central piazza and it was getting close to pranzo (lunch) so strollers where starting to turn attention to their stomachs.

• Jeff is famous for those drives through the Los Angeles area that he's been taking us on every Sunday - the radio playing classic rock, camera at the ready he has captured the often fantastical architecture that is SoCal and LA. Last Sunday we drove through Beachwood Canyon and found out the real story behind that Hollywood sign. And two weeks ago we had the pleasure (?) of a sleep over at the Madonna Inn. I can only echo Dora on that one: Words fail me.

Il Duomo di Maria Vergine Assunta in Cielo is a fine example of the Fossanova style but sadly in need of restoration. I found this St Joseph with the young Jesus oddly touching.

The most notable treasure in the Duomo is Benozzo Gozzoli's altarpiece of the Madonna holding Sermoneta protectively in her lap.

This family was taking no chances: St Joseph with his flowering staff protected the door way and St. Michael defends against Satan in the entrance way. Hopefully between the two of them they defeated any attempts of evil to enter.

• Back in June Cowie and Brownie at Around Britain with a Paunch - and by the way I'll be damned if I can see a paunch on either one of them - spent a weekend in Burgundy. As always the produce and food photos make the mouth water and the soul yearn for such a weekend. Hell weekend let's make it a week.

A deserted street in an Italian town at 1 PM on a Sunday can only mean one thing: everyone must be at ...

... pranzo. As indeed they were and we joined them in the garden of Simposio, a wonderful restaurant overseen by the ebulient Flabio Stavali. He can charm in five different languages.

But all the charm in the world wouldn't matter if the food wasn't exceptional. And Fabio's food is exceptional. We managed two portions of antipasti (including the best fried artichokes I've ever tasted) between the four of us, a tasting of 4 different pastas, and this secondi of beef and a wild boar sausage, a docle (heavenly pana cotta smothered in Fabio's brandied cherries) a pleasant local prosseco, Fabio's home made grappa and coffee. Colour us well fed!

• And it was wonderful to see comments yesterday from my Blog Mother Lynette- she's been missing for far too long. And though it is travel of a different type she took me down memory lane and frankly made me homesick with her most recent post. Whither she's writing political, social, biographical or nostalgical she always captures with her thoughts and her words. Welcome back Belle!

06 agosto - San Sisto II

More Sharing

Our friend Jack is arriving from Beijing tomorrow so I'll be out and about for a few days showing him Rome; so I thought I'd do a bit of "stay at home" and blog read like crazy. Here's a few more things that are definitely worth a peek:

• Auld has a new porno site - well not really porno more like erotic cookery. The first post of Naughty Nibbles has a recipe to keep you heart (that's heart okay) strong - Hoppin' John.
• Larry at AMOROMA has two posts about the Holiday season. Some great shots of their Christmas with Vincenzo's family in Sicily; and a rather specialized Roman menu for the New Year.

And now for a few more totally unrelated and gratuitous photos from the back log of 2007. These were taken in late summer on Via Nomentana - the main street from our area into Centro - it was one of the great "roads that lead to Rome" and still is 2000 years later.
A public fountain - part of the Aqua Marcia, the aquaduct system that supplied water to Ancient Rome and still does today.
It appears that someone was killed at this intersection - probably a motorino driver - and friends have built a memorial at the site. This is common sight along highways, less so on city streets.
Shrines are found all over town and there are local societies or Schola that look after them. This one is in the wall surrounding the Russian Embassy - ironically an old convent.
Nomentana was once lined with Villas, many like ours, have been turned into condominium parks. Owners of others, such as this one, have sold off the surrounding land and then abandoned what is probably designated as a historical building.

02 gennaio - San Bassilio

Far San Martino (Doing the Saint Martin)

Sounds either like some sort of disco dance or a strange sexual position doesn't it. It actually means observing the traditions of the Feast of St Martin of Tours. There are all sorts of customs attached to this day throughout Europe and the Christian East.*

A stroll past the window of Dagnino today after our visit to the Rothko and Kubrick exhibitions introduced us to a few Sicilian food (of course) traditions.


We decided to observe a few of the traditions ouselves so we had a bottle of the Bordolino Novello with Sunday dinner and some biscotti di San Martino with our tea.

11 novembere - San Martino di Tours

*Many of the traditions are covered in this entry in Wilson's Almanac, however McAfee Site advisor suggesst that there may be chance of spyware attached to this site but a quick scan after several visits has revealed nothing thus far. Just thought it was only fair to give warning.