Sicily: Land of Love and Strife

Filmmaker Mark Spano hosts this wide-ranging, lush tour of Sicily, described as an island state whose cosmopolitan culture as a crossroads of the West (invaded and affected over millennia by everyone from the Romans to the "Viking" Normans) goes unappreciated by many outsiders. Sicilian society is hailed not only for giving pasta to the world, but also maintaining a racially and LGBT-tolerant atmosphere. Some interviewees (authors interviewed include Joseph Farrell, Andrew Edwards, and John Dickie) even speculate that the reputedly severe Catholic heritage is—like legendary Sicilian puppet shows—more theatrical than anything else (local patron Saint Agatha had her breasts tortured in her martyrdom, so mammary-shaped cakes are presented as a tribute). Although more time is spent on volcano eruptions than Sicily's infamous organized-crime syndicates, everyone here disdains the Mafia (traced in folklore to a trio of long-ago Spanish knights gone rogue) and vows that the longstanding protection-money tradition ("pizzo") is on its way out. Still, even Palermo mayor Leoluca Orlando (lit as menacingly as a Don in a gangster movie) admits that hardly any economic project can be done legitimately in the local bureaucracy. While there is no mention of legendary bandit Salvatore Giuliano, of Mario Puzo's bestseller The Sicilian, a visit is made to the ornate museum of nobleman-author Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa. Making an offer that travel shelves cannot refuse, this is highly recommended. Aud: P. (C. Cassady)