Lido a Naxos

Lido a Naxos

By Ciro Attardo
 

Chiurriti i occhi
E sentiti u mare, scumazzata e frizzante,
chi vasa l’rina cauru,
cottu du suli,
comu muddica ncapu brodu azzurru.

 

Sentiti u ventu chi sciuscia,

Passanu capu i ficurrini nta muntata,

Frisculianu canzuni siciliani,

Capiddi sciunnuti e carne arrizzati.

 Sentiti u mare
Tronu luntanu;
l’acqua sbatti capu petri timpuliati,
bianchi cu sale mediterraneu.

 Mettiti i pedi nta l’acqua.

A scumazza furriannu i petruddi

catigghiannu i pedi.

A luci curri nta spina

Mizzica chi friddu.

 

Alternate Ending

 

Chiurriti i occhi
U ventu liscia u corpu
comu una manu friddu ncapu n’ iatta stanca.
Sonnati i navi grechi, antici, rancurannu;
Chini cu fimmini menzu nudi
Chi manciannu racina e vivinu vinu duci .

Poi…

Pla-chi-ti, pla-chi- ti, Pla-chi-ti, Pla-chi-ti.

Ti stuvigghi (ruspigghi)…sannali Tidisci.

Ce una puzza di birra nta l’aria,

Vuci strani, peddi bianchi,  e mutanni nici nici ,

Culi di fora

Grassati cu ogghiu,  si votannu nta rina

comu cutuletti nta muddica.

Translation:

Close your eyes
And feel the sea, foamy and sparkling
That kisses the hot sand,
cooked by the sun,
Like toasted bread crumbs and azure broth.

 Hear the blowing wind,
Passing over prickly pears on the hill,
Whistling Sicilian songs;
Disheveled hair and goose bumped skin.

 Listen to the sea.
Distant thunder;
The water smashed against battered rocks
White with Mediterranean salt

Put your feet in the water.
The foam twirls pebbles
Tickling feet,

Electricity runs through the spine
Wow it’s cold

Close your eyes
The wind smooths your body

Like a cool hand on a tired cat.

Dreams of Greek ships, ancient and groaning
Filled with half naked women
Eating grapes and drinking sweet wine

Then…
Pla-chi-ti, Pla-chi-ti, Pla-chi-ti, Pla-chi-ti.
You awake…German sandals!
There is an odor of beer in the air,
strange voices, white skin, and very small briefs, naked asses
Greased with oil, they turn in the sand
Like cutlets in bread crumbs.

 

Arabic Influence in Sicily

Catedrale

Granita

Cassata

Cappella Pallatina Palermo

San Giovanni

The Arabs occupied Sicily for two centuries (827-1092) and left a deep impact on all aspects of Sicilian culture.  Most people have heard of Marsala; the wine name after the city in western Sicily.  But most don't know "Marsala" means "port of allah" in arabic.  Traveling about Sicily one can see all sorts of Arab artifacts from food to architechure.  Durum wheat was used to make the Arabic dish, "Pasta cu i sardi" long before Marco Polo brought it back from the Orient in the 13th century.  Arancini (rice balls), granite (italian ices), and cassata (ricotta filled cakes) were Arabic in origin.  Arabic tuna fishing, salt and metal mining methods are still used today in Sicily. Even the gesture of turning the finger in the cheek indicating tastiness was Muslim. The examples are endless.


Marsala salt

What's most interesting to me is how the Arab culture was embraced by their Norman conquerers in 1092.  Rather than destroying traces of the Arabic artifacs, King Roger II promoted the arts and sciences by encorporating Arabic works in medicine, astronomy, and mathematics (Algebra).  He developed an enlightened court long before the "Age of Enlightenment" by employing Arabic scholars. The Sicilian School of Poetry, a movement that spread north through the European continent was inspired by Arabic poetry.


Pasta cu sardi
 

 The Catedrale in Palermo, the main church in Sicily, has an insignia on its door which states "Praise Be To Allah".  ....missed by church officials for centuries.



Praise Be To Allah



The Things We Do For Love and the Story of Donna Franca Florio

Franca Florio, the queen of Palermo, was considered one of the most beautiful women in Europe at the end of the 19th century.   Kings,dignitaries, and artists visited her Sicilian villa to meet her.  Ironically, her husband was known to have many extra marital affairs and gave her pearls after each fling to ease his guilt. (see long necklace in photo).   She believed that her olive complexion made her unattractive. (By the way, her husband was not a very attractive man). So she spent months in a Paris clinic to "porcelainize" her face with a series of painful chemical injections that dissolved her natural skin.  

All she had to show for this was more pearls ....but for just a while.  He squandered her wealth and eventually they had to sell the necklace to survive.