Andrea Camilleri – author

Creator of Inspector Montalbano

Andrea Camilleri, pictured in 1980

Writer and film producer Andrea Camilleri was born on this day in 1925 in Porto Empedocle in Sicily.

Famous for creating the fictional character Inspector Montalbano, Camilleri is a prolific, best-selling novelist who has generated worldwide interest in the culture and landscapes of Sicily.

Camilleri studied literature and although he never completed his course he began to write poems and short stories. He was taught stage and film direction and became a director and a screen writer. He worked on several television productions for RAI, including the Inspector Maigret series.

He wrote his first novel in 1978 but it was not until 1992 that one of his novels, La stagione della caccia - The Hunting Season - became a best seller.

In 1994 Camilleri published La forma dell’acqua - The Shape of Water - which was the first novel to feature the character of Inspector Montalbano, a detective serving the police in Vigàta, an imaginary Sicilian town.

The book was written in Italian but had a real Sicilian flavour, with local phrases and sayings and descriptions of the classic Sicilian dishes particularly favoured by Montalbano.

Luca Zingaretti, instantly recognisable
as Inspector Montalbano

When the series was adapted for Italian television, featuring Luca Zingaretti as Montalbano, the popularity of the books increased even more.

Camilleri’s home town, Porto Empedocle, on which Vigàta is modelled, has now changed its name to Porto Empedocle Vigàta to encourage tourism still further.

In 2012, Camilleri’s novel The Potter’s Field, translated into English by Stephen Sartorelli, was announced as the winner of the Crime Writers’ Association International Dagger.

At the time of writing, Camilleri lives in Rome where he works as a TV and theatre director.

He has now written 24 Inspector Montalbano novels, whch have sold millions of copies. The translated versions have also sold well in the UK, Australia and America and the Montalbano TV series has become popular in the UK.

Well-known in Italy as a heavy smoker, Camilleri celebrated his 91st birthday today.

Travel tip:

Sicily is the largest island in the Mediterranean and, along with its surrounding small islands, a region of Italy. It has the tallest active volcano in Europe, Mount Etna, which casts black ash over the island with its constant eruptions. The island of Lampedusa, part of the Sicilian province of Agrigento, is the southernmost part of Italy, just 113 kilometres away from Tunisia.

The centre of Porto Empedocle, birthplace of Camilleri
and fictional home town of Montalbano

Travel tip:

Porto Empedocle, the birthplace of Camilleri, is a port town on the coast of the Strait of Sicily in the province of Agrigento. One of the main sights is the Torre del Caricatore di Girgenti, which was commissioned by the Holy Roman Emperor, Charles VI, to protect the area’s grain reserves.

Books:

Blade of Light, the latest Inspector Montalbano mystery by Andrea Camilleri, is available now. Also available in paperback.



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Tommaso Campanella – poet and philosopher

Friar had utopian dream to banish poverty

Tommaso Campanella, as depicted by the
Italian painter Francesco Cozza

Writer Tommaso Campanella was born on this day in 1568 in Stilo in Reggio Calabria and was baptised Giovanni Domenico Campanella.

As a friar who was also a philosopher, Campanella tried to reconcile humanism with Roman Catholicism. He is best remembered for his work, La città del sole (The city of the sun), written in 1602 which was about a utopian commonwealth where every man’s work contributed to the good of the community and there was no poverty.

The son of a poor cobbler, Campanella was an infant prodigy who joined the Dominican order before he was 15, taking the name Fra Tommaso.

He was influenced by the work of philosopher Bernardino Telesio, who opposed Aristotle’s ideas, and he became interested in astrology, which constantly featured in his writing.

After Campanella published his own work, Philosophy Demonstrated by the Senses, which stressed the need for human experience as a basis for philosophy, he was arrested, tried and imprisoned briefly for heresy.

Campanella then became interested in pragmatism and the idea of political reform, moved deeply by the poverty of the people living in his native Stilo.

Campanella's house in Stilo in Calabria

He became involved in a plot to overthrow Spanish rule in Calabria but the plot was discovered and he was arrested and taken to Naples.

He confessed under torture and, after feigning madness to escape death, was sentenced to life imprisonment.

During his 27 years in prison he wrote poetry, which is now considered to be the most original of the period, and books about religion and philosophy.

One month after his release from prison he was arrested again for heresy in Rome but because of his reputation as an astrologer he was freed after the intervention of Pope Urban VIII.

When he was again accused of plotting against the Spanish he fled to France and the protection of King Louis XIII and Cardinal Richelieu.

He spent the rest of his life in a convent in Paris and died in 1639 at the age of 70.

Travel tip:

Reggio di Calabria, often referred to simply as Reggio Calabria, or just Reggio, is the biggest city in the region of Calabria in southern Italy near the ‘toe’ of the Italian peninsula. Its seafront promenade facing Messina in Sicily across the Straits, has been described as ‘the most beautiful kilometre of Italy’.

The Cattolica di Stilo has survived from the ninth century

Travel tip:

Stilo, where Tommaso Campanella was born, is a town in the province of Reggio Calabria, where his house is marked with a plaque.  It still has a ninth century church, the Cattolica di Stilo, which was built in the Byzantine style. In 1940, the Italian navy fought the British navy in the Battle of Punta Stilo, just off the promontory of Cape Stilo, which is about six kilometres from the town.  It was known by the British navy as the Battle of Calabria.

(Photo of Campanella's house by Marcuscalabresus CC BY-SA 3.0)
(Photo of Cattolica di Stilo by Salli CC BY-SA 3.0)

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Saint Rosalia

Little Saint ended the plague in Palermo

Saint Rosalia, as envisaged by Anthony
Van Dyck in a 1625 representation

The Feast Day of Saint Rosalia is being celebrated today in Sicily, throughout the rest of Italy, in America, Venezuela and in many other countries.

Saint Rosalia, also known as La Santuzza, or the Little Saint, is the patron saint of Palermo as well as three towns in Venezuela.

Centuries after Rosalia’s death, the people of Palermo believed she ended the plague when what they thought were her remains were carried in a procession through the city.

Rosalia was born in Palermo in about 1130 into a noble Norman family that claimed to descend from Charlemagne.

She became devoutly religious and eventually went to live as a hermit in a cave on Mount Pellegrino in Sicily.

There is a story that she was led by two angels to live in the cave and that she wrote on the wall that she had chosen to live there out of her love for Jesus. She is believed to have died in 1166 when she would have been about 36.

In 1624 when Palermo was afflicted by the plague, Rosalia appeared first to a sick woman and then to a hunter to tell them where her remains were to be found. She told the hunter to bring her bones to Palermo to be carried in a procession through the city.

A statue of Santa Rosalia in
Monterey, California

The hunter found her bones in the place she had described to him and after they had been carried round Palermo three times the plague mercifully ended.

Saint Rosalia was chosen to be the patron saint of Palermo and a sanctuary was built in the cave where her remains were discovered.

Every year on September 4 it is traditional for people to walk barefoot from Palermo up to Mount Pellegrino.

In the United States a feast is held on September 4 in Brooklyn in New York and there is a statue of Saint Rosalia in Monterey, California, where her feast is celebrated every year by Italian fishermen.


Travel tip:

Sicily is the largest island in the Mediterranean, just off the toe of Italy’s boot. The ancient ruins, diverse architecture and wonderful cuisine enjoyed by visitors are all testament to the island’s colourful history. Watching over the island is Mount Etna, a volcano that is still active.

The Santuario di Santa Rosalia sits
on top of Mount Pellegrino

Travel tip:

Palermo, the capital of Sicily, is a vibrant city with a wealth of beautiful architecture, plenty of shops and markets to browse in, and a large opera house, the Teatro Massimo, which is the biggest in Italy. The Santuario di Santa Rosalia stands at the top of Mount Pellegrino, which overlooks the city.

(Photo of Santa Rosalia statue by Nheyob CC BY-SA 4.0)
(Photo of Santuario di Santa Rosalia by Giuseppe ME CC BY-SA 4.0)

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San Marino - world's oldest sovereign state

Republic founded in 301 as Christian refuge

The extraordinary fortress of Guaita in San Marino
stands at the top of one of Mount Titano's three peaks

The Most Serene Republic of San Marino, an independent state within Italy, was founded on this day in 301.

Situated on the north east side of the Apennine mountains, San Marino claims to be the oldest surviving sovereign state and constitutional republic in the world.  Of the world's 196 independent countries, it is the fifth smallest, covering an area of just 61 square kilometres or 24 square miles.

It is also the sole survivor of Italy's once all-powerful city state network, having outlasted such mighty neighbours as Genoa and Venice.  San Marino grew from a monastic community, taking its names from Saint Marinus of Alba in Croatia, a Christian who had been working as a stonemason in Rimini when he was forced to flee Roman persecution and escaped to Mount Titano, where he built a church and founded both the city and state of San Marino.

A constitution was written in the 16th century and its status as an independent state was accepted by the papacy in 1631.

San Marino managed to survive the advance of Napoleon's armies in the late 18th century and then had its wish for continued independence honoured during the Italian unification process after offering refuge to persecuted supporters of Giuseppe Garibaldi.  It remained neutral during the First World War and although it spent the interwar years in the control of the Sammarinese Fascist Party, it was able to preserve its independence during the Second World War.

From 1945, it was home to the world's first democratically elected Communist goverment, which survived for 12 years. It is now a multi-party democracy in which the two biggest groupings are the Christian Democrats and the Party of Socialists and Democrats.

San Marino's own Statue of Liberty in front
of the Palazzo Pubblico

Although not a member of the European Union, San Marino is allowed to use the euro as currency, and has its own postage stamps. The republic’s football team compete in the World Cup.  Yet despite its independence, there are no border controls with Italy.

Tourism is a significant part of the San Marino economy, with two million visitors a year.  Its capital is the City of San Marino and its largest city is Dogana.   Most of the attractions are in San Marino city, including the Three Towers, the Cathedral of San Marino and the medieval Palazzo Pubblico.

Every year, a festival is held on September 3 to celebrate the founding of the republic in 301.

Travel tip:

The Palazzo Pubblico is the town hall of the City of San Marino as well as its official government building. The overall design, featuring battlements and corbels, is similar to the Palazzo Vecchio in Florence, but on a much smaller scale.

The Cesta tops Monte Titano's highest peak

Travel tip:

The Three Towers of San Marino are a group of towers located on the three peaks of Monte Titano. The Guaita is the oldest of the three towers, and the most famous, constructed in the 11th century, and served briefly as a prison, the Cesta is located on the highest of Monte Titano's summits and includes a museum to honour Saint Marinus. The Montale, the only one of the three not open to the public, was built in the 14th century and was also once used as a prison.

More reading:

Little Tony - the Elvis of San Marino

(Photo of Guaita by Max_Ryzanov CC BY-SA 3.0)
(Photo of Cesta by Radomil CC BY-SA 3.0)

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