catena fiorello
Picciridda

Through the voice of a Sicilian girl raised to the tune of Modugno, Peppino di Capri, Rita Pavone, Nino Ferrer, during the golden times of Gassman, Monica Vitti, the early Sordi, and the legendary Brigitte Bardot, against the backdrop of Léto (Letojanni), along the Ionian coast between Messina and Catania, Miss Fiorello tells us about the early Sixties beyond their carefree summers, marked by that economic boom not yet strictly Sicilian. Lucia, the daughter of the "black hen," argot present throughout the novel, lives with her paternal grandmother because her parents and brother have emigrated to Germany, where they hope step by step to earn enough to buy a house and provide a minimum of well-being for their two children, depicted almost as two new Luca and 'Ntoni from I Malavoglia. Back then those who migrated—a fact not insignificant—were a black hole in society. Lucia was left alone with her grandmother, the "general" Donna Maria Amoroso, and she did not like it at all... moreover, her best friend would commit suicide due to depression, and the picciridda would soon understand that her life is made of small problems, pains, sacrifices, and renunciations; among them, spending Christmas of her first year of middle school—also marked by mourning—at the home of tata Franca without her family assisting her in person. However, the child will grow rapidly and manage to confront without crying—overcoming—events much larger than herself, an emotional factor I greatly appreciated. Additionally beautiful are the descriptions of nature that frame the events described in the story, with some philosophical aspects (nature).

In the heartbreaking finale, Lucia, as a fulfilled adult, will demonstrate courage and determination of notable magnitude, continuing to live amidst Etna, the zàgare, and the sea, which will fit her perfectly.

The events masterfully narrated here by the wise Catena Fiorello reflect a definitive slice of life in the early post-war period in southern Italy, whose extensions are felt up to the present day.

I wish you the best reading of the year,

Salesuliveires