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Louis Mendola on Sicily's Multicultural Legacy and Misunderstood History

Palermo Cathedral, erected in 1185

Sicily is steeped in multicultural heritage, and navigating the island's complex history can be challenging. Thanks to historians like Palermo-based Louis Mendola, we have several comprehensive yet approachable books to serve as a road map. A leading medievalist, Louis leads his readers through the island's layered past, challenging stereotypes, unearthing hidden and forgotten histories, and giving voice to descendants. 


I recently reached out to Louis after reading The Peoples of Sicily: A Multicultural Legacy, which he co-authored with Jacqueline Alio. The book serves as an essential starting point for exploring the region's roots, highlighting the many conquerors, wayfarers, and rulers who left their mark on its food, architecture, and language. Louis, who grew up in Upstate New York, has called Sicily home for the past 30 years. It's a return to the place of his ancestors and a base for first-hand research. He shared with me how he got his start, surprising discoveries, his favorite historical period, challenges, future projects, and his hopes for his readership.

 

What led you to specialize in Sicilian history?

Mostly because I'm Sicilian. I've been reading a lot of these things since I was a teenager. So, in my case, I like to say that I didn't look to join the field, but the field kind of sought me. It makes sense that somebody would study a field of history that pertains to their own ancestry instead of, let's say, just choosing someplace else. 

 

What are some of the most surprising discoveries you've made in your research?

It's the holy grail for historians to find original stuff that nobody else has published. In my case, some of the original things I've found have been slightly arcane. For example, I found a reference in the Vatican Library in an uncataloged manuscript to the Assizes of Ariano of 1140. We have two manuscripts of that, two codices that were discovered after 1700: one at Monte Casino, the other at the Vatican. And I actually found a reference to them. It was written about four or five years after that, which was rather interesting. So, it wasn't an earth-shattering discovery, but it reinforced the dating of the documents. 

 

How has Sicilian history shaped the island's identity?

In my books, I make the point that by 1300, we had what I refer to as a monoculture. It was essentially Latin. It's what you see today.  


We have to consider that the Jews of Sicily were expelled or converted in 1493, a year after Spain. So from that point onward, we ended up with the monoculture, and you might even refer to it sometimes as an ethnocracy, which is a government or a place based on one ethnic group instead of many.


In some of my recent books, I discussed whether there's a philosophy to the study of Sicilian history. Many of us believe that there is, and part of it is the multicultural element. Sicily had all kinds of different ethnic cultures, and for some periods, you had them all at one time.


During the Norman period, up until about 1200, there were Muslims, Jews, Latin Christians, and Orthodox Greek Christians. So, there were four essential societies.

 

Which period is your favorite?

I would say the Norman-Swabian period. It was more interesting than a lot of other periods of Sicilian history. It also represented a period when the Kingdom of Sicily was actually independent because in 1266, with the Battle of Benevento, the Hohenstaufen Dynasty of Frederick II was defeated. The capital was transferred under the Angevins to Naples from Palermo. And then a little bit after that, in 1282, with the War of the Vespers, it actually split. So, you ended up with the Kingdom of Naples and the Kingdom of Sicily. That was true sovereignty and with kings in the case of Roger II, then Frederick II, his grandson, and all the others. These were people born in Southern Italy, even though their dynasties had come from elsewhere.

 

What challenges do you face researching and writing about Sicilian history?

Oddly enough, the greatest challenge is not the research or even the writing, which is very labor-intensive. That's not even it. The real issue is that you end up either debunking misconceptions to set the record straight, looking into things more profoundly, or expressing it in a cohesive way. Those are the real challenges. The work itself, a lot of people can do, and a lot of people do. It's a question of presenting the work in a cohesive, understandable way. That's the biggest challenge. 

 

Where is the biggest gap in understanding Sicilian history?

A few years back, there was a book that was written, and I remember verbatim the first lines in the prologue: "What's the first thing you think of when you think of Sicily? If you're like most people, you think of the mafia."

 

The mafia has only existed since about 1800, and it's evolved from that. So it was tantamount to somebody writing a book about Germany or the Germans and only talking about Hitler.

 

That's really rather recent, and for that matter, Fascism in Italy is frankly rather recent. So it's unfortunate that people look at this, and even a lot of Italian Americans, because there are people—screenwriters like David Chase writing The Sopranos and people on social media—who seem to promote this mafia-thug type of culture. It's not just professional actors and actresses. I could give them a pass because they have to work. But a lot of this ties in with the Guido macho, tough-guy mentality. I think it's just extremely unfortunate that in those circles, mostly in the U.S. and Canada, it has developed in that way. Because if you look at the diasporic Italians in places like Argentina or England—for example, I have cousins in England—it's nothing like that.

 

It's a very different view of the culture of Sicily or Southern Italy. So that's a matter of concern over time because some people in these other categories that seem to glorify that lifestyle or that limited view of Southern Italy can be very vociferous. They're adamant about their beliefs. They can even be obnoxious. And I've seen that on social media. That's extremely unfortunate because they've been sold a bill of goods and deceived. And it's not just the mafia stereotypes; it's even the idea that the unification of Italy saved Italy and that Garibaldi was greater than he really was and Meucci invented the telephone. These are ideas that, unfortunately, a lot of even Italian-American organizations support.

 

What's more, they have nothing to do with the people of Southern Italy. Southern Italy had a kingdom of its own until 1860. A lot of people who don't study history don't know that.

 

What future projects are you working on?

The first one is called Sicily by Sicilians. It's going to be 17 or 20 chapters, each written by a different person. And what they have in common is that they all have roots in Sicily or Southern Italy. So it's autohistory, which is what I promote in my other work. It's people writing about their own history and their own ancestors. The topics range from philology, which is a study of linguistic origins, to music, to the history of women, which doesn't get as much attention as it deserves. And it's a very interesting group of people, some of whom have not really written that much in these fields before, even though they're experts. And as it stands right now, three-quarters of the work is going to be written by women, which, again, is a little bit unusual.

 

Another project after that will be a general history of Sicily, which goes from pre-history up until the present. 

 

How do you hope your work influences the understanding of Sicilian history and culture?

The greatest impact of my work is in anglophone circles because I don't usually publish in Italian. My work until now—the books themselves—is in English. Most of the readers are not actually Italian descendants, but that is the growing percentage that we see—for example, Canadian Italians, Italian Americans, and Australian Italians. So there's certainly an interest there. And it's gratifying that, in some cases, we're setting the record straight about the history of Sicily because people don't always get that from other things that have been published in English. 

 

 

 

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Solunto: Sicily's Ancient Coastal Ruins and Cultural Crossroads

Lindsay at Solunto

One of the highlights from my last trip to Sicily was a visit to the Solunto ruins just above my grandparents' former home in Porticello. Founded between the 8th and 7th centuries B.C. on the promontory of Sòlanto, Solunto was refounded after the tyrant Dionysius I's destruction of Syracuse on Mount Catalfano in the 4th century B.C. It represented a key settlement occupied between the Phoenician and Roman eras.

 

Getting there is part of the experience as you hike along a rambling path behind homes with wisteria-covered walls and sweeping views of the Tyrrhenian Sea.


I recently had the opportunity—thanks to the support of the team of Uncovered Sicily—to speak with Gabriella Sciortino, a Palermo-based archeologist specializing in Phoenician-Punic Sicily, who shared more about this special place, its multicultural roots, and its historical significance. 

 

 

What is the significance of Solunto and its location?

The location of the earliest Solunto reproduces a colonial settlement pattern that shows significant topographical similarities with the Phoenician foundations in the Mediterranean, particularly the ones of eastern Andalusia (such as Morro de Mezquitilla, Almuñecar or Toscanos). This colonial settlement was open from the most archaic stage to a multiplicity of socioeconomic relationships with the indigenous communities of this part of the island and the Greek communities, particularly with the very close colony of Himera.

 

FIG-1-Archaic-and-Hellenistic-Solunto.jpg


The site was open to the Tyrrhenian Sea and its traffic and people, such as the Etruscans or the Greeks. Solunto was a very important economic and trade route in the Mediterranean between the East and the West; moreover, it was strongly connected with Southern and Central Italy. So, the location, in this case, is a key element of the importance of this ancient settlement. It mirrors some patterns already outlined by other Phoenician settlements in the Mediterranean.

 

FIG--2Planimetry-of-Hellenistic-and-Roman-Solunto.jpg

 

How did various cultural influences shape Solunto?

Solunto was shaped by the influence of Phoenician and Punic culture, as well as Greek-Hellenistic and Roman elements. If we look at the name Solunto, we see the Greek name Soloeis or Solous, meaning "the rock." We call it by its Roman or Latin name, Solus or Soluntum. So, just beginning from the name, we can see how many layers there are about this culture. In fact, the original Phoenician name was connected to a toponym, Kfr, which is Semitic for "the village." We know that in the fifth century B.C., there were some coins with a double legend with the Greek name and also with the Semitic toponym Kfr. This strongly reflects the mix of cultures at this settlement.

 

FIG-3-Solunto--3-pillars-altar.jpg

 

Of course, we can recognize part of this cultural influence just by looking at the settlement and the ruins. For example, the sacred areas of the settlement are connected to the Phoenician and Punic religion. Along the main street, the agora street, there is a three-pillar altar, which is very typical of Semitic religion and culture. Another important area is close to the agora, on the terrace above the theater. It's a temple with two naves separated by a central wall and covered by a vault, where the niches and structural podiums in the rear must have housed two statues. The first is a bearded male statue seated on a throne, identified with Baal Hammon, in the Greek guise of Zeus, now preserved at the Salinas Museum. The second is the female one, probably depicting Astarte—the most important goddess of the Phoenician pantheon—seated on a throne, with two lions side by side, according to a widespread oriental iconography and dated in the Archaic period.

 

Tell us about the daily life of Solunto residents.

The settlement was very full of life. It can be demonstrated, for example, by the number of beautiful Roman houses that are quite well-preserved and also by the fact that there were important public buildings such as the theater. So it demonstrates that it was very alive. Moreover, along the main street, there were shops and commercial activities. So surely, the richest people of Solunto had to be involved in trade and agriculture. They had the possibility to have a rich life and enjoy all kinds of cultural activities.

 

What contributed to the downfall of Solunto?

The First Punic War was a very difficult period. At the time, Solunto was Punic. The city finally surrendered to the Romans in 254 B.C. Under Roman rule, we have information about Solunto, as Cicero names it, between the "civitates decumanae" vexed by Verre and later others. The historical source is a dedication on epigraph—dated between 202 and 205 A. D.—and some coins of the Commodo's age (180-192 A.D.). Finally, the city was naturally abandoned by its inhabitants since the beginning of the 3rd century A.D. as the territory was subjected to a progressive ruralization as usual during Late Antiquity.

 

FIG-4-P--Volpes-Rovine-di-Solunto---detail.png

The Ruins of Solunto. The Gymnasium by Pietro Volpes (photographed by Gabriella Sciortino)

What do you hope visitors will take away from a visit?

The experience can be strongly connected to the natural and cultural heritage, as it is possible to admire the painting by Pietro Volpes, The Ruins of Solunto. The Gymnasium (1891), exhibited at Villa Zito, the Pinacotheca of Fondazione Sicilia, in Palermo. There are very important archeological sites in Sicily, but Solunto's surroundings are very charming, and it is a very well-preserved settlement with a rich antiquarian constituting an added value for the visitors for a complete understanding of the site. It can be very interesting to visit and understand the daily life of a city on a mountain in ancient times.

 

 

 

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Storia Italia: Milwaukee Explores Brew City's Roots

I was born in Milwaukee, a place known for beer and bratwurst. But starting in the 1890s, it was also home to significant numbers of Italian immigrants, particularly from Sicily.

 

My nonna and her family settled in Milwaukee in the late 1930s. She and my nonno, who arrived after World War II, shopped at Sicilian-owned Glorioso's and Peter Sciortino's Bakery

In later years, Nonno would meet us at Milwaukee's Festa Italiana, the city's longest-running ethnic festival, where we'd eat arancini and cannoli, watch folk singers and dancers, and stay for the Bartolotta fireworks. 

 

I recently stumbled upon Storia Italia: Milwaukee, a documentary that aired on Milwaukee Public Television. While broadcast in 2015, the themes remain relevant, and it was a joy to see familiar names, faces, and storefronts. This was the Milwaukee that my family knew.

 

The documentary not only highlights Milwaukee's historically Italian neighborhoods—the Third Ward, Brady Street on Milwaukee's lower east side, and Bayview—but also shares personal stories of what these immigrants had to overcome, the contributions of Italians to Brew City, and reflections on what it means to be Italian in Milwaukee today. 

 

I reached out to producer Maryann Lazarski to learn more about the making of this important documentary.

 

A veteran broadcast journalist, television producer, and educator, Maryann produced and managed Milwaukee's ABC affiliate, WISN-TV, for 20 years. More recently, she retired after a decade at Milwaukee PBS, where she produced a newsmagazine program and documentaries for broadcast and digital. Maryann has taught broadcast journalism and communications at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and Cardinal Stritch University. She currently teaches a multimedia news storytelling class at her alma mater (and mine), Marquette University. She also serves as president of the Milwaukee Press Club, the oldest continuously operating press club in North America.

 

 

What inspired the creation of Storia Italia: Milwaukee?

This was the first documentary I produced for Milwaukee PBS (Milwaukee Public Television, MPTV, at the time). National PBS was airing a series called The Italian Americans, and the station wanted to have a local documentary to tie into the national broadcast.


So, I decided to visit Milwaukee's Italian Community Center, which displays hundreds of photographs of local Italian immigrants. At the time, I met with the center's historian, who was a wealth of information.

 

the-milwaukee-public-library-in-milwaukee-wisconsin-0e93cc.jpg

Milwaukee's Central Library. Carol M. Highsmith Photography

 

How did Italian immigrants contribute to the development of Milwaukee?

Many of the immigrants were artisans/sculptors who helped beautify the city's grandest buildings, including Central Library along Wisconsin Avenue, with Italian marble and tile. The immigrant men worked in factories and on the railroads, and others became entrepreneurs, primarily in the grocery business.

 

What challenges did the first Italian immigrants face when they arrived in Milwaukee?

As mentioned in the documentary, the language was a challenge for the immigrants. Even among the different "groups," they had different dialects, so it was often hard for them to communicate with each other. They didn't know how to read and write.


Housing was limited. Some lived with relatives who already arrived in Milwaukee.


Many were unskilled, so they learned trades or worked in the factories or on the railroads.

 

Tell us about the core neighborhoods where Italians settled and some of the businesses that reflect that history.

In Milwaukee's Third Ward—as mentioned in the documentary—was an area called Commission Row, where fruits and vegetables would be delivered. Other small Italian meat and grocery markets popped up there. Other Italians migrated to Brady Street on the lower east side of Milwaukee. 

 

Pink-Church.jpg 
Blessed Virgin of Pompeii Church. Photo courtesy of Pompeii Men's Club.

 

You mention the Blessed Virgin of Pompeii Church. What role did the so-called Little Pink Church have in the community? 

The Little Pink Church was a sacred space for the Italian immigrants to gather and share their Catholic faith. During this time, they also had church street festivals and honored Mary. The Italians were heartbroken when the church was bulldozed to expand the highway. There's still a marker commemorating where it once stood. That's when many moved to Brady Street and attended St. Rita of Casia church on the east side of Milwaukee.


The developer of the senior community center and housing is also Italian. He wanted to bring back the Little Pink Church, so he incorporated a new Little Pink Church into the complex.

 

FestaMass104.jpg
Fest Italiana mass. Photo courtesy of Pompeii Men's Club.

 

How have Italian-Americans preserved and celebrated their heritage in Milwaukee?

Festa Italiana is a popular summer festival along the lakefront on the Henry Maier Festival Grounds. Milwaukee is known for its ethnic festivals throughout the summer.  

 

Along Brady Street—where Italian immigrants once settled—there is an iconic Italian market called Glorioso's that's celebrating nearly 80 years. They just sold to new owners but will keep the traditions there intact. 


On another part of town, in an area called Bay View, there's another iconic Italian corner market called Groppi's

 

What do you hope viewers will take away from Storia Italia: Milwaukee?

Storia Italia is a story about immigrants and community. I would like viewers to listen carefully and appreciate what these immigrants went through to seek better lives and contribute to a city like Milwaukee. Their dedication to their faith is something to be admired and respected. Those of us who live here certainly appreciate the Italian and Sicilian culture and what they brought to our community, including a strong work ethic, camaraderie, Italian art, and, of course, great food! 

 

 

 

 

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Sicilian Roots in New Orleans Cuisine: The Untold Story Behind Iconic Dishes

NOLA's muffuletta has Sicilian roots.
Photo by Laura Guccione

New Orleans is renowned for its cuisine. But when it comes to several of its most iconic dishes, some credit should go to the area's Sicilian transplants, says Louisiana historian Laura Guccione


"If you think about something like shrimp creole with tomatoes in it, a lot of people have said that it definitely has a Sicilian influence," says Laura. "And if you go to a restaurant here, a lot of places have stuffed artichokes on the menu. That's definitely directly from Sicily."


Curious about the Sicilian origins of Louisiana's plants and foods, the Delgado Culinary School graduate pursued a master's in urban studies at the University of New Orleans. Her graduate thesis evolved into two New Orleans history book manuscripts, one on St. Joseph's Day and the other on Sicilians and Creole Cuisine, both currently under peer review by LSU Press. 


I caught up with Laura to learn more about how Sicilians colored New Orleans's rich history. She shared some of the more surprising food contributions and how Sicilian corner stores promoted what's become known as New Orleans cuisine.

 

 

What is your background?

I'm a native New Orleanian but grew up in the suburbs. My father's a hundred percent Sicilian. His story is interesting because his father was born in Louisiana, but in Lettsworth, Louisiana, which is north of Baton Rouge and sugar cane country. His grandfather did not like it here, so they went back to Sicily. So, my grandfather was an American citizen. He was born here but was raised in Sicily. He came back as a teenager at 17 and then lived in New Orleans. I still have direct cousins in Sicily because his brother stayed in Sicily.


My mother's family is from the very beginning of New Orleans. They're a Creole family, also Scots-Irish. 


I grew up here, worked in the service industry for about 30 years, tending bar, and then decided to go back to school after Hurricane Katrina. 


I went to culinary school, but I soon realized that as much as I loved restaurants, food, and cooking, I was really more interested in history. So, a few years later, I went back to get my master's degree from the University of New Orleans.

 

How did the challenges Sicilian immigrants faced influence their culinary contributions?

Sicilians assimilated quicker than most places, so I think it's harder to see what they've done. They immediately spread all over the city, including on the West Bank, uptown, downtown, and outside of New Orleans, because many of them came to work the sugarcane fields. 


They were basically migrant workers. They would come here, spend time in Louisiana, then go to Chicago and go up to where other things were being harvested. 


They went back and forth, which contributed to agriculture. Many Sicilians had small farms outside of New Orleans, almost within the city limits. 


What happened with the Sicilians is that they contributed a lot to Creole cuisine. It's not as obvious as an actual dish, with the exception of the muffuletta and a few other things that are obviously Sicilian.


They were changing cuisine here because what they were growing was what they were familiar with. They were coming back and forth so they could bring seeds and plants. They were going into the field of producing, growing, producing, and distributing fruits, vegetables, and even oysters and fish. 


In the history of recipes, you can see that as more and more Sicilians come here, you see a change in what's being used. For example, everybody talks about the trinity [onions, bell peppers, and celery]. Paul Prudhomme was the first one to start using that. I talked to his sous chef recently, and he said Paul only really cooked with celery once he got here. Where does celery come from? It comes from Sicily.

 

A lot of old gumbo recipes barely have anything in them. Through the years, you see more onions; you see more celery and peppers. Because what do they eat in Sicily more than anything? Peppers, onions, celery, and tomatoes.

 

What's a surprising Sicilian contribution to New Orleans cuisine?

If you look at the history of the poor boy, it was created by the Martin Brothers. But they went to their Sicilian baker neighbor to have the bread made. 


Baguettes from France are long and skinny with pointy ends. They went to their neighbor and said, "We need to change this because we want to make these sandwiches, but we don't want to lose that end. We want something rounder and wider."


So Sicilians and the Martin Brothers created this loaf of bread that is now synonymous with the city.  And what do people come here for? Poor boys.

 

Another contribution is the muffuletta. Can you describe its creation?

No one will probably be able to prove how it really started. There's Central Grocery and a place a couple of doors down called Progress. They both said that they created the muffuletta. Progress is gone, so it's pretty much accepted that it was created at Central Grocery. 


The story goes that Central Grocery sold the bread, which, if you go to Sicily, the muffuletta is just a round bread. Sometimes, people would serve it hot with olive oil and fennel seeds on it, but it's just bread. It's not a sandwich in Sicily.


Central Grocery had the bread and all the pieces; they would sell the salami, cheese, and olives in the big barrels and bundle up stuff for the men to go to work. 


One day, they said, "Why don't we just put it all together and make this easier?"

 

That's an example of a Sicilian-owned grocery store having an impact. What is the history of these stores?

At one point, probably in the early 1900s, maybe even heading into the mid-1900s, most of the grocery stores were owned by Sicilians or their children. They tended to be on a corner, and you didn't have a major grocery store, so that's where you probably got everything. You probably knew the people. And then there are lots of stories where the Sicilian families would let people buy on credit. So, there was definitely dependence upon the neighborhood, and the neighborhood depended on the grocers, who sold everything from flour to clothes.


Mandina's Restaurant and Napoleon House both started off as grocery stores. Most of these places started off as grocery stores, became bars, and then became restaurants. 


The story with Napoleon House is that the owner at the time said, "We'll make some sandwiches." And then it just evolved from there. Now, it's probably one of the most famous restaurants in the world.

 

What is your goal in writing about Sicilian-New Orleans cuisine and culture?

I really just want to shine a light on what I feel is a somewhat neglected history. I want something that could be used as a reference later. It's like all this work I'm doing is not just for me but for posterity. 

 

 

 

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Examining the Eggplant: A Historical Perspective

The incredible eggplant

Among the most commonly consumed nightshades, the eggplant is a favorite among market-goers.

 
Celebrated for their varying shapes and colors, these versatile vegetables (technically fruits) are rich in anti-inflammatory anthocyanins and the essential trace element manganese, which is important to bone formation. They are also full of fiber

 
It's no wonder they've taken a foothold in Sicilian cuisine. But there would be no pasta alla Norma, pasta 'ncasciata, or eggplant Parmesan without the arrival of the Arabs in the ninth or tenth century, says Clifford Wright, a James Beard award-winning author of 19 books on cooking, food, history, and politics. His latest tome, An Italian Feast: The Celebrated Provincial Cuisines of Italy from Como to Palermo, features more than 800 recipes from the 109 provinces of Italy's 20 regions.

 
We recently discussed the eggplant's fascinating history and how its perception and use have evolved over the centuries.

 

 

What is your background, and how did you become interested in Italian food history?

I began cooking in 1967. I'm part Italian [with family from Pago Veiano in the province of Benevento in Campania]. My mother cooked Italian-American food; it was my home food. I also worked in restaurants whose chefs were Italian, and lastly, I often traveled to Italy and loved the food.

 

How did the eggplant first arrive in Southern Italy, and what were the initial reactions to eggplants?

Although most botanists believe southeastern India is the place of origin of the eggplant, and some botanists make a case for China, as well as the Malay peninsula, the place of origin is still unknown. Nikolai Vavilov identified the mountains of central and western China and its adjacent areas as the place of origin and India as the center of origin. It seems clear, though, that India is, at least, a secondary area of origin. The cultivated eggplant appears to be an improved form of either S. insanum or S. incanum, both of which are native to India.

 eggplants.jpg

What is the history of the eggplant?

Arab agriculturists brought the eggplant to the Mediterranean from Persia and perhaps from the Arabian Peninsula in the ninth or tenth centuries. The Arabs seem to have discovered the eggplant already growing in Persia shortly after their conquest of that country in 642 A.D., although several ancient Arabic names for the eggplant seem to come directly from other Indian names, indicating that the plant may have arrived in the Arabian Peninsula in pre-Islamic times. 


The Arabs have long been fond of eggplant, and medieval Arabic cookery manuscripts always have many recipes. Although eggplant was initially treated with suspicion, it soon became a favorite vegetable. In fact, the medieval Arab toxicologist Ibn Waḥshīya (circa 904) said it was fatal when eaten raw. 


Sicily was one of the first places in Europe where eggplant was grown after being introduced by Arab farmers. They were grown in Spain by the tenth century, although the first clear reference to them in Sicily is from 1309, where they are called melingianas and are grown in a garden along with cucumbers and a kind of gourd (squash).


Although the eggplant was once called "mad apple" (mala insana) because it was thought to produce insanity, this expression is not the etymological root of the Italian and Sicilian words for eggplant, melanzane, and mulinciana, respectively. 


The Italian and Sicilian words derive from the Arabic word for the plant, bādhinjān, with the addition of the initial "M." 


There are numerous recipes for eggplant from thirteenth-century Spain. This is notable because eggplant was a relatively new vegetable in Europe, and this is an early date for its being common.


Tortilla de berenjenas, an eggplant puree tortilla from Seville, is a recipe from the thirteenth-century Arab-Andalusi cookbook of Ibn Razīn al-Tujībī, the Kitāb faḍālat al-khiwān fī ṭayyibāt al-ṭacam wa'l-alwān.

 

How did the perception of eggplant change?

The eggplant probably began as an ornamental in gardens as it was thought to be poisonous. Slowly, it became a Sicilian favorite. 

 

What's a favorite traditional Sicilian dish that prominently features eggplant?

Certainly there is eggplant Parmesan. Although also popular in Campania, it is typically Sicilian.

 

For further insight and eggplant recipes, check out Clifford's books, A Mediterranean Feast, An Italian Feast, and Mediterranean Vegetables, available at cliffordawright.com or through your favorite online bookseller. 

 

 

 

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Exploring the Sicilian Language with Gaetano Cipolla

Trinacria, the symbol of Sicily

My mother was born in the U.S., but she didn't speak English until kindergarten. Instead, she spoke Sicilian as she was brought up in a Sicilian-speaking household. She's retained the language and uses it to communicate with our family back in Palermo and Porticello. 


While I don't speak much Italian myself, I am most familiar with the Sicilian language. 


Notice I didn't say dialect? That's because Sicilian is a separate language with a rich history that predates the Italian language. Recognized as a minority language by UNESCO and the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages, Sicilian has its own Wikipedia section and is a featured Google Translate language.


For more insight into this unique Romance language, I sat down for a Zoom session with Gaetano Cipolla, a retired professor of Italian and Chairman of the Department of Modern Foreign Languages at St. John's University in New York City. Professor Cipolla additionally serves as president of Arba Sicula, an organization that promotes the language and culture of Sicily. 

 

 

What is your background?

I was born in Sicily. I am from Francavilla di Sicilia. I came here as an immigrant in 1955, and, well, it's been a long time. I taught at St. John's and several other universities in the metropolitan area: NYU, Fordham… and others. 


I became the president of Arba Sicula in 1988. I was also the editor for its publications.

 

I've published several books on Sicilian grammar. One is called Learn Sicilian, which is already in its fourth reprint. The second one is called Learn Sicilian II, which is a continuation. It presumes that you have studied Sicilian, that you know some Sicilian. It's an advanced course for Sicilian.

 

How are your books being used?

The first book, Learn Sicilian, is being used as a textbook in many different places. It's being used at Italian Charities of America here in New York. It was used also at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. And it is used in New Orleans, Buffalo, New York, and Rochester. The first grammar book was translated into Italian by a colleague of mine who teaches at the Manouba University in Tunis. He is the chair of Sicilian studies there, and he's teaching Sicilian using my textbook. 


I had no idea that I was going to be able to see my textbook being used anywhere because it's very difficult to introduce not only a new language into a program, for example, at St. John's. I mean, I could have done it there, but not as part of the curriculum because people would probably object. What is the need for it? But I am glad to tell you that the first book is being used and bought in America by many, many people. 

 

Tell us about your translation work.

I am a translator of Sicilian poetry. I translate all of the major poets who have written in Sicilian because, as you know, most people think wrongly that Sicilian is a dialect and a corruption of Italian, which is absolutely wrong. 


I have actually produced two series of books that introduce Americans to Sicilian poetry because I believe that poets are a country's best ambassadors. 

 

How did the various historical rulers of Sicily influence the Sicilian language?

If you study Sicilian, you will find that it has all the different words introduced into the language by the various people who have been there—mostly Spanish, Arab, French, even German, of course, Italian, and even English lately. Sicilian is an amalgam, a mixture of all different things. However, it retains its characteristics and its own language. And it is one of the very few original languages. Sicilian has been spoken in Sicily since the inception of civilization.


When the Siculi came to Sicily, they spoke a language that was similar to Latin. We don't know for sure, but we think that they came from the region of Lazio. And so they spoke a language that was very similar to Latin. That was their original language. Some people believe that it actually survived all the different invasions and the different dominations that have come and gone, some of which left marks on the language and some of which didn't. For example, the Vandals came to Sicily, but not very many words of the Vandals or the Ostrogoths actually remain. 


For the first 150 years of Italian literature, whatever poetry was written in Italy, not just in Sicily, was written in Sicilian. Sicilians created the language in a sense, and then it moved up north after Frederick II, who created the Scuola Siciliana in the 13th century, died. So whenever people say that Sicilian is the corruption of Italian, it is absolutely wrong; Sicilian is its own language. If people say that Dante is the father of the language, which he truly is, then we must think that the mother of the Italian language is Sicily. 

 

Are there variations of the language across Sicily?

There are many variations. If you go to Sicily, when you go from one town to the next, even five miles away, you will notice differences because the language spoken there is part of their history. You have to go back into the history of the town in order to find out why things are different.


When I started working on the Sicilian language, most people, even my colleagues who don't know Sicilian that well, asked me which Sicilian I was going to teach. I said Sicilian is one language. It is not a hundred different languages. Of course, I know that they will speak in a certain way in Catania. In Palermo, the same word will be pronounced differently. In Ragusa, it will also be pronounced differently. For example, I'll give you one word, the word for door, which is porta. In Catania, it will be pronounced so the consonant becomes like two Ts, which sounds like "potta." Or if you say morte, in Catania, they say "motti." However, the same words in Palermo will be pronounced differently. Morte will be pronounced "moitti." 

 

So, it's almost an "oi" sound.

Yes. It introduced a little something, an "i" there, that colors everything. Each parlante of the 10 differences that we see doesn't impede communication. In other words, if there's someone in Palermo who says "moiti" instead of morte, all Sicilians will understand it. Sicilian is pretty homogeneous when you write it. So, if you write Sicilian, you will write it one way. I've never seen the word porta written other than porta. The variations exist, but not in the written language.

 

Is Sicilian more of an oral language than written?

Most people, except poets and scholars, don't write Sicilian because they consider it sort of an oral language. Most people don't even think that Sicilian can be written. Whenever I presented my mother with a page or word from my Arba Sicula journal, she would look at it; she would sort of verbalize it in her mouth. And once she knew what the word was, she said it perfectly. 


A couple of months ago, I was giving a lecture at the Italian Charities, and there was a man who's been a member for many, many years—he's in his seventies. He said, Professor Cipolla, all my life, I have thought that Sicilian could not be written. I learned that Sicilian could be written only when I saw your work.

 

What are some unique phonetic or grammatical features that distinguish Sicilian from standard Italian?

A feature that is probably difficult for Sicilians is the sound of words like the song "Ciuri, Ciuri." We have had difficulty actually coming up with a way of writing that sound. Most people would write it with a cedilla like in Spanish underneath the "C." But other people would just pronounce it with a "C," which is obviously not the right sound because that would be "Churi" and not "Shuri." So even words like shirt, for example, would be camicia, pronounced "camicha" in Italian, but "camisha" in Sicilian.

  

What do you hope that people will take away from your lessons and your writings about the Sicilian language?

My work tries to educate the American public about the values and contributions that the Sicilians have made throughout their long 3000-year history. And it's a job that is never finished because Sicilian culture is a vast microcosm. Sicilians have lived for 3000 years, sometimes independent, sometimes dependent on various different dominators. But Sicilians have always kept their identity. One of the goals of my organization is to not only promote Sicilian culture but to educate people. 

 

>>For more info and Sicilian language resources, visit arbasicula.org.<< 

 

 

 

 

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Exploring Sicily's Food History with Mary Taylor Simeti

In the wake of the popular series From Scratch and season two of The White Lotus, Sicily's having its moment as a destination. But that wasn't always the case. Little was known of the region in the U.S.—except for its ties to organized crime and mobster movies. 


Writer and native New Yorker Mary Taylor Simeti had a different view. Living in Palermo and working on her husband's family farm, she sought to share insights into the island's sacred festivals, colorful residents, and vibrant produce.  


The result, On Persephone's Island: A Sicilian Journal, transported to a whole new world, rich with introspection into what it means to be both a foreigner and a resident on Italy's largest island.


Mary spoke to me about the challenge of publishing such a book in the 1980s. Thankfully, the former regular contributor to the New York Times and Financial Times persisted and followed up with Pomp and Sustenance, the first English-language Sicilian cookbook.

 

Read on for our chat about the fascinating history of Sicily's food and how, at Bosco Falconeria, she and her husband paved the way for the island's certified organic farming movement. 

 

 

Tell me about your background.

Well, I am American-born and grew up mostly in New York City. But as soon as I finished college, I came to Sicily to work as a volunteer for Danilo Dolci, who had a center outside of Palermo for development work. Sicily was still extremely poor, and there was still a lot of bomb damage and other damage from the war and also from centuries of invasion and exploitation. I meant to stay for a year. I've been here now; well, it'll be 62 years next month.

 

Where in Sicily are you?

I started out in Partinico, and then I spent 25 years in Palermo. And then we moved out once our children had finished high school in Palermo and were off studying elsewhere. We moved out to my husband's family farm, which is halfway between Palermo and Trapani, which is the westernmost point of Sicily.

 

What drew you to Sicily, and why did you stay?

Well, what drew me was the possibility of doing volunteer work with a development organization. This was 1962. It was the period of the big period of the Peace Corps. I didn't want to join the Peace Corps. I wasn't sure that I wanted to work as a representative of the American way of life. I thought everybody was entitled to their own way of life. I thought I wasn't going to stay very long, but I met my husband, I married him, and we thought we were going to be traveling around the world.

 

He was an agronomist (an agrarian economist), and he had applied to the FAO. We imagined a sort of itinerant life in the developing world with our basis here in Sicily. But then, two years after we were married, his oldest brother, who was running what was left of the family farm and taking care of the aging parents, died very suddenly. And we were left holding the bag, so to speak, and it became a passion. We were reluctant in the beginning but very glad in the end. The whole thing is, my whole life has been sort of serendipous. It's not planned.

 

How has your perspective on Sicilian culture evolved since you first arrived?

I was a medieval history major in college. And so I knew that sort of Sicily. I knew very little about modern Sicily. I came with curiosity, and I had the good luck to work together for a couple of years with an American anthropologist who was also volunteering at the center. She gave me tools to read what I was seeing. I don't think I had a very clear idea in the beginning, but I was open to finding out. 


I didn't have a stereotype. Sicily was off the charts those days. People, it was considered a black hole of mafia and poverty and dried out wheat fields. I mean, a lot of people didn't have any idea of the enormous cultural heritage that is. And still, when my first book, On Persephone's Island, was published in 1986, the first editor I talked to about it in New York said to me, "Well, of course, you realize nobody wants to read the book about Sicily, but I like this idea… Why don't you develop that?" I said, well, I'm not interested in developing that. I'm interested in writing about Sicily. And I went elsewhere. I was lucky, but I managed to find people who were curious.

 

What was your goal with On Persephone's Island?

Well, I had always loved writing, but I had this feeling that I couldn't write a book about Sicily unless it were a definitive work, and it was obviously beyond me. I don't think there's anybody who could do the definitive work on Sicily because it's such an ancient and multifaceted place and culture. But I started writing the book because I had been asked to accompany a group of alumni from my American college around Sicily. Though I wasn't prepared to be an art history guide, I started telling people about what they were seeing in the fields, what was growing, how it was used, and how it was harvested. A lot of information that I had gained simply by living on a farm and because of what my husband did, but information that's not included in guidebooks. And I discovered that people were really interested. 

 

What unique aspects of Sicilian cooking have you shared over the years with your books?

Well, for one thing, its antiquity. I mean, it is fusion cooking over the millennia, basically because it was conquered many, many times. What are considered the indigenous people of Sicily were not. People were living here at the end of the Ice Age. 


There were three different peoples that came in: The Greeks came, and then the Romans came, and the Phoenicians were already here. Then, the Arabs came in and took over Sicily in the ninth century, and they were kicked out by the French Norman, a small colonizing force of roving knights. The Normans built a magnificent civilization that synthesized the great works of Norman architecture, the cathedrals, called the Arab-Norman Cathedrals, which have a combination of recycled Greek or Roman sculptures and mosaics from the Byzantine with Arab motifs. And they were glorious mixtures of all these traditions. And then we had the French, and then we had the Spanish, and then we had the Northern Italians, and so forth and so on. It goes on and on and on. Each of these people brought in not only new ideas and new art forms but also new plants and new vegetables and new fruits and new methods of cooking them. 

 

How was Sicilian cuisine influenced by its diverse historical rulers and cultures?

I do know that in a cave, in a cavern on the western shore of Sicily, they've found lentils, chickpeas, and farro, which were developed in Anatolia and the Mesopotamian Highlands around 10,000 B.C. So people came and brought with them the foodstuffs. The known prehistoric peoples that came to Sicily were probably eating much the same basic diet as the Greeks. 


One of the things that has determined Sicily's importance in history and how things have played out is the fact that it is mostly volcanic, extremely fertile soil. It's a big island. It's the biggest island in the Mediterranean, has a very central position, and very, very fertile soil yields much greater than anything the Greeks had ever seen in Greece, for example. Whereas classical Greece was praising the "Golden Mean" moderation of all things in terms of food. That was an invention of necessity. They couldn't indulge enormously because they didn't grow enough food. 


One of the reasons for Greek colonization across the Mediterranean was the search for new sources of food. When they got to Sicily, they went a bit wild and started developing a very elaborate cuisine. The first cookbook in the Mediterranean world was written in Syracuse, and the first school for professional chefs was in Syracuse. There are certain traits that are still very common that come from the Greeks, such as the use of dried currents together with pine nuts, which is often attributed to the Arabs but was in the Roman cookbooks, which were, in turn, inspired by the Sicilian chefs.


Sicily is famous for its pastry traditions, and there are two very different traditions. One is the simpler cakes and biscuits, and very often with a fig filling using sesame seeds, but the Greeks sweetened with either honey or had vincotto, a boiled-down grape must.  


When the Arabs came, they brought cane sugar, which arrived in Europe first through Sicily and then through Muslim Spain. It gave a much wider range of possibilities because it crystallized and remained crystallized, which honey or vincotto didn't. 


They brought in almond paste, and they brought in crystallized fruit, and together, with the sugar, a whole tradition that became in the 12th and 13th centuries an important economic export of Sicily, famous for the sweet stuff that they sent north.


Then, they brought in new vegetables. They brought in the artichoke as we know it today, probably the lemons and certainly the bitter orange. The eggplant was brought by the Arabs, but whether they came here first or whether it came back here later from Spain with the Spanish Muslims is a question.


The Arabs were the first people to bring in and produce dried pasta as we know it today. The Romans had things they did with wheat and water that were similar, but the idea of a dried thing that you then boil came here thanks to the Arabs. 

 

Tell me about your farm, Bosco Falconeria.

It's on the edge of the boundary between the territory of Partinico and the territory of Alcamo. But it's an area in which most of the land belongs to people from Alcamo. 


This piece of it was bought by my husband's grandfather in 1930. So it is close to a hundred years we've been here. My husband and I rebuilt the farmhouse, which was not in good shape but was quite badly damaged in the 1968 earthquake. And we used the government subsidies for earthquake damage to rebuild the frame of the house.


My husband's grandfather was a wine merchant maker. The wine that was made here on the farm was wine that came not only from his own grapes, but in that era, this was an area of small farms; there were no cooperative wine cellars. So, the small peasant with a few acres of vineyards was at the mercy of a middleman who would charge him outrageously high interest on the money. They advanced him so that he could get through the next year's cultivation. 

 

My husband's grandfather was a wonderful man, and he loaned money to anybody who asked him without ever charging any interest. So he had a fairly good-sized clientele; people who came brought him their grapes. The wine was made here and stored here. And then most of it was taken down in barrels, mounted on Sicilian carts, to the port, where there were the warehouses of the big vermouth companies. Because in those days, most Sicilian wine was not table wine. It was a very strong wine that was used either to make vermouth or was sold in Europe to be taken to Northern Europe to bring up the alcoholic content of the much weaker northern wines.


The alcoholic content of wine depends on how much sun the grapes get. It's the sun that brings out the sugar content, and in northern climates, wines tend to be much lower in sugar content and, therefore, less stable. The stronger the wine, the better it keeps and the better it ages.


So that's what Sicilian wines were: mostly really strong stuff still. The big transformation of the Sicilian wine industry started in the seventies, and now almost all the wine I think that's produced here is table wine. Some of it's still pretty undrinkable, but most of it is really excellent. The wine picture has changed totally since I've been here.

 

Aside from wine grapes, what else do you grow?

We have olives, we have table grapes, and we have avocados, which are a novelty here. We have a small mixed citrus orchard. We sell some grapefruit and some oranges, but mostly, they are for family consumption in one way or another. And we don't do much in the way of vegetables anymore. We used to, but they're so labor-intensive.

 

We went organic before there was organic certification in Italy in the second half of the 80s. And in the beginning, it was worth it. Even though we had to pay a lot in labor costs, it was worth our while to produce organic vegetables because there weren't that many producers of organic vegetables. Nowadays, there's a lot of organic produce in Sicily, more than any other region in Italy.

 

You've written six books. What do you hope readers take away?

Well, in the beginning, I really wasn't thinking about that. I was just hoping that there were some people out there who might be interested in things that I found so interesting about Sicily. I was first told nobody wanted to read about Sicily. And then, when I told my editor I wanted to do a history of Sicilian cuisine, she said, "Oh, is there one?" And Pomp and Sustenance was the first book in English on Sicilian cooking. Americans, for a long time, didn't even realize that there was anything more essential than the difference between the white cuisine of Milan and the red cuisine of Naples.  

 

In the beginning, it was simply to talk about the things that were interesting here and hope I could pay back Sicily for all it's given to me. I felt like a self-appointed ambassador.


I've had so many beautiful letters from people who say, "You gave me back childhood recipes my grandmother used to cook." That has been totally unexpected but very, very rewarding.

 

 

 

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Maria Carolina: The Legacy of Marie Antoinette's Sister

The next time you sip a cup of espresso, consider how it got there. I'm not talking about the production or import of beans. The very tradition of drinking coffee in Italy can be traced to a single source: Queen Maria Carolina of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies. A daughter of Austria's Habsburg Dynasty, Maria Carolina, who liked to be called Charlotte, was just as much a trendsetter as her ill-fated sister Marie Antoinette. She championed female artists, supported sciences, and exercised agency as a woman ahead of her time.


Whenever I visit my family in Porticello, I can't help but see the Norman fortress of Castello di Solanto, one of Maria Carolina's holiday homes. It's right across from the port in Bagheria. A self-possessed and highly educated queen, Maria Carolina touched many other places and policies. 


I first learned about Maria Carolina when I read Antoinette's Sister by historical novelist Diana Giovinazzo, who happens to be part Sicilian. I caught up with Diana to discuss what she learned writing her brilliant book and her thoughts on Maria Carolina's life and legacy. 

 

 

What is your background, and what drew you to Queen Maria Carolina?

I'm half Italian. My dad's part Calabrian and part Sicilian. So the Calabrian half that came was, as far as we know, just my great-grandfather and his wife. Nobody else came with them, which was just kind of odd. So we never really understood why that was. And as far as we know, there's family back there that we don't know what happened to them, and we could trace them back to World War II. That's about it. And then my Sicilian side of the family, his mother's side, came here from Sicily (just outside of Palermo, a little town called San Giuseppe Jato). So they're all here.

 

I've always been curious about my family genealogy, how we came here, and where my family fits in the history narrative. There are a lot of people who have families who are still back in Italy. We don't, and it's murky, but I was curious about it, and I started getting into the research of genealogy. The question of how we came to the United States turned into, "Well, why? What was going on during the timeframe of my family coming here?" My family came in the mid and early 1900s. And so when I turned to the question of why, that's when I started learning about historical fiction.

 

The history itself, the historical fiction, is going to come in a little bit later, but I first got into the history of Garibaldi, what Garibaldi did in the country, which led to Anita Garibaldi, which led to my first book, The Woman in Red


While looking into that book's history and doing research, I kept coming across sections that talked about the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies. I had put some of it in there, but I didn't really get into it in the book itself. And when we went to print, my editor was like, well, I want to know more. Let's put some more of that in there. I did what any writer would do, and I decided I was going to become an expert. And I just studied as much of it as I could. 


At the very beginning, I came across the stories of King Ferdinand. I was like, "Oh my God, who is the poor woman who was married to him and got stuck with this man?" And that's when I came across Carolina.


So, I pitched the story to my agent, and it went from there. I was so just taken by the history and taken by her and her family, and everything that she did, as well as historical fiction, came into play because I've always wanted to be a writer. My path to writing has been very windy, and I've done a little bit of this and a little bit of that. I was a paralegal for a while, and then I started writing The Woman in Red. Then, I said, "Well, this is going to be my new thing." And that's where it came about.

 

Let's discuss the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies since both of our ancestors were touched by it.

It's basically just north of Naples, going all the way to the island of Sicily, and the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies is such an interesting name for a kingdom in general. The way it came about was they were both called Sicily separately. Then Spain had control of one portion of it, and Austria had control of another portion of it. And there were wars fought between the two. Spain took it, and they said, "Okay, we're just going to call it the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, and we're going to be part of our crown." 


Then Austria took it back, and it became the kingdom of the two Sicilies as well. They kept that. So, it went back and forth for a number of years between the two until Carlos came in. And that's when it became its own country. I say kind of because it was kind of a puppet country of Spain for a number of years until Maria Carolina came in.

 

You talked a little bit about Ferdinand. Who was he?

He was such a character. He was a man-child, to put it in today's terms. One of his favorite pastimes was hunting. He enjoyed playing games, and the games that he played were things along the lines of fishmonger or innkeeper. He really loved the people, and the people really truly loved him. They called him Re Nasone, the big nose king, and he would spend his mornings playing chess with old men out by the sea. That's what he loved. 


He really didn't have an interest in ruling and didn't intend to be king. When Carlos II returned to Spain, he brought his eldest son with him to be his heir, leaving Ferdinand as King of Naples. And Ferdinand just was not fit for it.

 

When he was 18, he married Maria Carolina, who was 16 at the time. He continued to be this man-child, and she had to be the one to come in and take care of it.

 

So now let's talk about Maria Carolina.

She comes into this, and she really wasn't actually intended to be the queen of Naples. Maria Theresa had one of her older daughters who was going to be the Queen of Naples. In fact, Maria Carolina was actually intended to be the Queen of France. That's what Maria Theresa was training Maria Carolina for. And it is interesting because some corners of the web talk about what would have happened if Maria Carolina had been the queen of France. What would happen? Which is really weird and fascinating when you start getting into that.

 

But I digress. Much like the pandemics that we have going on today, smallpox just ravaged Europe. And because [two of her sisters, each assigned to marry Ferdinand, fell ill and died], Maria Carolina found herself getting married to Ferdinand.

 

Maria Theresa was the OG helicopter mom. There were so many ways where she had control over her children in their other kingdoms. Maria Carolina had to write to her mother about everything in her day-to-day life, even when her menses started, their plans for having children, and the policies they were discussing. She was very, very involved with her children. She considered every child she placed, and she had 16 of them [13 survived infancy]. She placed them in different countries. And so she considered those her colonies. They weren't separate countries; they were colonies. So when Maria Carolina comes in here, she's got her mother being controlling, and then she's got Spain. Ferdinand has no intention of being the king. 


So what she does—as a teenager, mind you—is manage to take over control and basically tell everybody to stay in their lanes, pushing out a lot of Spain's influence. She winds up running the kingdom her way. The way she does it is just brilliant. She utilizes her family to help her make the power moves against Spain. And then, she would take advantage of the fact that her husband liked to go out and play, and if she wanted something with him, she would do simple things. She would utilize herself in ways to get him to be like, "Okay, I'll give in." Because he loved things like taking off gloves, he thought that was the ultimate sexy thing. So she would slowly remove her rings and gloves as she talked to him, and he would give in to whatever she wanted. That was the kind of woman she was, and that's what she came into.

 

She's done a lot of things, and when you step back and look at Italy as it is today, you still see those remnants. You see the architecture of Caserta and the art in that palace; she finished a lot of that palace and what she did for the people. She did progressive things, like protecting the coral reefs and utilizing science to plant the olive trees. We have so many olives in Southern Italy; so much of that is because of her, and she never truly got credit for it.

 

She also contributed to the military and defense. Can you speak to that?

She knew they were in a precarious position, so she focused on building that up so that they could withstand themselves. Because even geographically, if you look at Italy, you've got the territories north; they were all separate countries, little city-state countries in and of themselves. There were wars historically up there, so they had to protect their northern border. When the French Revolution began, you truly saw a bit of a change in the historical record when it came to her. She went from being an enlightened monarch to being very bitter and upset about the murder of her sister [Marie Antoinette]. 

 

So, she built up the military and focused on building up that strong military force because she knew it was only a matter of time before France invaded. She just knew, especially when Napoleon came in, that it would happen. She did a lot to try to protect herself and the kingdom from what Napoleon was doing.

 

I'd read that Maria Carolina had French chefs who introduced potatoes to Italy. Didn't she also introduce coffee?

That was one of the things that surprised me the most when I was writing the book because when we think of Italy, we think there's always coffee. There was always coffee, but it was considered bad luck to drink coffee before she came along. So I put in the book that every time she would turn over her coffee cup, there would be a pepper in her cup because they considered it bad luck to drink coffee. But she brought it with her from Austria because she was like, "I'm not living without my coffee," which I can really, really relate to. So she had it with her. She had it every morning, and then it just became trendy to be able to drink coffee. And it has become such a huge part of Italian culture.

 

They put a pepper in her cup?

Yeah, they would leave a pepper by her cup; she'd turn over a coffee cup, and there would be a pepper to ward off the bad luck, the evil eye. And then you have this queen who's willingly tempting Mal'occhio. They connected the two because coffee was so bitter.

 

She was a patron of artist Angelica Kauffman. Can you speak to her support for female artists?

Yes. I find this really fascinating. This was something that I really, really loved because it had a tie to Bridgerton because the queens of that period—you have Charlotte in England, you have Antoinette in France, and then you have Maria Carolina in Naples—had this system where they would take female artists, not just Angelica Kauffman, but other female artists, and they would exchange them between each other. They would make references. And these female artists could go from one kingdom to another, and they were patrons of these women.


It's truly a beautiful thing that they never get credit for. I think this type of feminism, the idea that women's rights aren't just women's rights; they're universal rights, they're human rights. She lends a lot of that to what you see regarding rights in Italy today. I know there's a lot of feminism talk, and that's something that comes up a lot, but when it comes to Italy, it's very much a human rights issue. And I think she pushed for that because she did a lot of that. She had a female personal librarian. As much as she could, she would utilize female artists.  

 

What is Maria Carolina's legacy?

I think truly caring about the country, truly caring about trying to make the country a priority—and not in a nationalistic way—in a way that allows people to take care of each other.

 

>>You can read more about Maria Carolina in Diana's book, Antoinette's Sister.<< 

 

 

 

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