For perspective. Levi’s description of the part of southern Italy to which he was exiled under Mussolini is a reminder of the appalling poverty from which many Italian families emerged during Italy’s “economic miracle”, little more than 50 years ago. Also a good antidote to the stereotype of “Catholic Italy”: “There’s no grace of God in this village,” says its drunken priest. “I say my mass to empty benches.” If you have an existing knowledge of the Sicilian Mafia and of general Italian history since 1945 then this book is a treat, adding as it does a context for those incredibly turbulent decades through to, well, through to the present. urn:lcp:midnightinsicily0000robb:epub:499dd689-fa41-49f0-895c-77da96ff9562 Foldoutcount 0 Grant_report Arcadia #4117 Identifier midnightinsicily0000robb Identifier-ark ark:/13960/t6n105182 Invoice 1853 Isbn 1860465978 Ocr_converted abbyy-to-hocr 1.1.20 Ocr_module_version 0.0.17 Old_pallet IA18206 Openlibrary_edition

Midnight in Sicily by Peter Robb | Goodreads

Peter Robb presents a labyrinthine tale that brilliantly juxtaposes essays on food and art with historical accounts.” — Sandra Mardenfeld, The New York Times Book Review Caronia, a little known town in one of the great forests of the Nebrodi National Park, a small part of the town, got some news coverage in 2003 for a series of unexplained electrical fires. Electrical appliances exploded and caught fire for no apparent reason. I’m sure the fact that the train line passes so close to the town must have something to do with it, all of that static electricity must affect the town.

Robb weaves Sicilian history, the Mafia, food, culture, politics and intrigue into a heady brew. None of these themes are explored in real depth, so if you want a recipe book or a detailed history of Cosa Nostra then look elsewhere. Extraordinary . . . As an introduction to post-war Italy . . . it can have few equals.” — The Times Literary Suplement (London) Writing isn’t brain surgery, but it’s rare when someone adept at the latter is also so accomplished at the former. Searching for meaning and purpose in his life, Kalanithi pursued a doctorate in literature and had felt certain that he wouldn’t enter the field of medicine, in which his father and other members of his family excelled. “But I couldn’t let go of the question,” he writes, after realizing that his goals “didn’t quite fit in an English department.” “Where did biology, morality, literature and philosophy intersect?” So he decided to set aside his doctoral dissertation and belatedly prepare for medical school, which “would allow me a chance to find answers that are not in books, to find a different sort of sublime, to forge relationships with the suffering, and to keep following the question of what makes human life meaningful, even in the face of death and decay.” The author’s empathy undoubtedly made him an exceptional doctor, and the precision of his prose—as well as the moral purpose underscoring it—suggests that he could have written a good book on any subject he chose. Part of what makes this book so essential is the fact that it was written under a death sentence following the diagnosis that upended his life, just as he was preparing to end his residency and attract offers at the top of his profession. Kalanithi learned he might have 10 years to live or perhaps five. Should he return to neurosurgery (he could and did), or should he write (he also did)? Should he and his wife have a baby? They did, eight months before he died, which was less than two years after the original diagnosis. “The fact of death is unsettling,” he understates. “Yet there is no other way to live.” There is a book by Australian writer Peter Robb which has contributed to my ongoing fascination with Palermo. After reading Midnight in Sicily , I imagined wandering through Palermo’s streets, exploring Norman palaces, experiencing the exotic food markets and discovering little hidden restaurants which cooked an endless array of seafood. A moving meditation on mortality by a gifted writer whose dual perspectives of physician and patient provide a singular clarity.

Midnight In Sicily - Macmillan Midnight In Sicily - Macmillan

I also like how the author did not refrain from highlighting the heavy responsibilities of the US authorities in WWII, when they supported the re-establishment of the Mafia structure in Sicily, in exchange for support in their occupation of the island - the famous Mafia boss Calogero Vizzini ("the boss of all bosses") was even made Honorary Colonel in the US Army.A neurosurgeon with a passion for literature tragically finds his perfect subject after his diagnosis of terminal lung cancer. Big refrigerated lorries carried off the entire catch every morning before dawn. Shellfish, however, abounded. They were for the locals. There were glossy mussels, sleek brown datteri di mare, sea dates who lived inside narrow holes they burrowed in the soft yellow tufa below the waterline, cannelicchi, which were Chinaman’s fingernails, pipis, taratafoli, vongole, others whose names eluded me, though not the memory of their shape and flavour, the smooth mottled shells and the dark grooved ones. Where else in Europe do you find an organised crime syndicate like the ‘ndrangheta, which uses rites that are grotesque parodies of Roman Catholic liturgy? Or a town such as Matera where, until the 1950s, much of the population lived in caves? Or a dish like pajata , made from the only partially cleaned intestines of milk-fed calves? Where but in Italy could an entire sentence-worth of meaning be conveyed with a single hand gesture? Chronicles the relationship of Italy's high-ranking politicians with the Sicily Mafia from the end of World War II to the present

Midnight in Sicily: on Art, Food, History, Travel and La Cosa Midnight in Sicily: on Art, Food, History, Travel and La Cosa

One of Letitzia’s pictures later came to national attention. At his trial in 1993, a photo taken of Andreotti standing next to Nino Salvo, a high-ranking mobster associate, was the sole piece of concrete evidence that Andreotti knew Salvo, which Andreotti flatly denied. Readers hitherto unaware of Andreotti and his fate can turn to Midnight in Sicily for further information, but can expect no comforting answers at the end of their reading. Fiumara d’Arte is an outdoor sculpture park located out in the hills of Castel di Tusa after Cefalu’.Off the southern coast of Italy lies Sicily, home to an ancient culture that–with its stark landscapes, glorious coastlines, and extraordinary treasure troves of art and archaeology–has seduced travellers for centuries. But at the heart of the island’s rare beauty is a network of violence and corruption that reaches into every corner of Sicilian life: “La Cosa Nostra,” the Mafia.In an intoxicating mix of crime and travel writing, Peter Robb, a writer who lived in Southern Italy for fourteen years, sets out to understand both the historical roots of the Mafia and its central place in contemporary Italian politics. And whether he’s touting the gustatory pleasures of Sicilian ice cream, unveiling the Arabic origins of pasta, or unraveling the criminal history of a bandit, Robb seductively brings Sicilian culture to life. Midnight in Sicily by Peter Robb – eBook Details