L'Italo-Americano

www.italoamericano.org 8 THURSDAY, DECEMBER 25, 2025 L'Italo-Americano T ravelling along the s t a t e r o a d t h a t connects Palermo t o A g r i g e n t o , about 30 kilome- ters from Sicily's capital, you r e a c h M a r i n e o , a t o w n perched on a ridge beneath a dramatic rocky outcrop that p o e t s h a v e d u b b e d t h e "Canine Tooth of Sicily" or the "Tomb of Polyphemus." Its history is closely tied to the Beccadelli Bologna fami- ly, who obtained the licentia populandi –permission to establish the settlement – from Emperor Charles V in 1552, after paying a consider- able sum. Under Francesco Bologna, the first hundred houses were built around the castle; his son Gilberto later added another two hundred and carried out the recon- struction of the castle itself, where he chose to live. By then, the fortress no longer h a d i t s o r i g i n a l d e f e n s i v e form: instead of a stronghold, it featured granaries and a wall with arrow slits along the ramp leading to the piano nobile. Although the Bologna family built the castle, it was their successors, the Pilo fami- ly, who enriched Marineo's churches and donated works from their collection to the Collegio di Maria Foundation. The castle's layout reflects the steep terrain on which it stands: the ground floor once contained storerooms where agricultural products were gathered and processed, while the upper floor holds several r o o m s , s o m e s t i l l b e a r i n g traces of their original decora- tion. Since 2003, the castle has housed the R e g i o n a l Museum of the Eleuterio Valley. Where grain was once s t o r e d , t w o e x t e n s i v e a n d valuable collections are now displayed: one archaeological, the other ethnographic. The museum preserves artistic, documentary, and archaeolog- ical evidence from the entire area along the Eleuterio River, as well as the ethnographic heritage specific to Marineo. Among that heritage is the August festival dedicated to S a i n t C y r u s , t h o u g h t h e event that draws thousands of visitors is the Dimostranza, held every four or five years: the town honors the saint by reenacting episodes of his life in theatrical performances s t a g e d a c r o s s M a r i n e o ' s squares, involving around two h u n d r e d a m a t e u r a c t o r s . These celebrations are accom- panied by food festivals, tast- ings, and conferences that promote the region's tradi- tional activities – modernized yet still rooted in family prac- tices – especially the cultiva- tion of ancient and mod- ern grains used to produce excellent bread and pasta. Olive oil, wine, and cheese production also remain cen- tral to local tradition. During the Christmas season, the castle square, its small garden, and the sur- rounding spaces become the stage for a living Nativity scene. What makes it dis- tinctive is its medieval stag- ing: set in the 1200s, it recre- ates the first living Nativity organized by Saint Francis in Greccio, a small town in t h e p r o v i n c e o f R i e t i . O n Christmas night, actors in period costumes reenact the birth of Jesus with historically inspired settings and staging bringing visitors back to a long-gone time. The tableau includes all the figures men- tioned in the Gospels, along with the carpenter, the shep- herd and his flock, and other classic characters. Visitors c a n w a t c h s h e e p b e i n g milked, olives being pressed, and other demonstrations of traditional rural and artisanal work. But Marineo and its castle have much more to tell than stories of folklore, craftsman- ship, and ethnographic her- itage. In 2025, the town cele- brated the fiftieth anniversary of the Marineo Interna- tional Poetry Prize, a cul- tural milestone supported by the Gioacchino Arnone Foundation, which oversees t h e e v e n t a n d e n j o y s a respected place among Italy's literary competitions. The prize's living memory and dri- ving force is Ciro Spataro, himself a poet, winner of the 1974 Sciacca Poetry Prize, co- author of several publica- tions, and a former mayor of Marineo. Over the past fifty years, countless poets have been honored here, arriving from the United States, Spain, France, Iran, Ireland, and Peru, some world-renowned, others less known, all chosen for the quality of their work. And the award has not been limited to poets: among the recipients are the Russian dis- sident Andrei Sinyavsky, his c o m p a t r i o t Y e v g e n y Y e v - t u s h e n k o , S p a n i s h p o e t Rafael Alberti, journalists B r u n o V e s p a a n d P i e r o A n g e l a , a c t o r s M i c h e l e Placido, Giorgio Albertazzi and Pamela Villoresi, Cardi- nal Pappalardo, the celebrat- ed ballerina Carla Fracci, and musician and singer Franco Battiato. In 1992, the prize went to Luc Montagnier, the French scientist who discov- ered the AIDS virus and later received the Nobel Prize. For several years, the com- petition included a section dedicated to Italian emigrant poets, underscoring Sicily's – and, more broadly, southern Italy's – historic ties with the United States. The first win- ner was Mauro Maulini, who lived in Falls Church, Virginia, followed by the Cal- abrian poet Benito Gallilea. According to the prize's history, the idea originated among the young members of Marineo's Catholic Cultural Circle after Ciro Spataro's vic- tory at the Sciacca Prize. Poet- ry became the catalyst for a program of cultural initiatives that, fifty years on, continue to flourish. From the outset, Italy's national broadcaster RAI took an interest in the Marineo Prize and regularly reported on it; today the com- petition enjoys wide recogni- tion among poetry enthusi- asts and the general public, who eagerly anticipate each new edition and the chance to r e t u r n t o t h e B e c c a d e l l i Bologna Castle to experience once again the emotions that this beloved event evokes. Its five decades encompass half a century of poetry, art, jour- nalism, and, sadly, times of war. In moments like these, poetry can – and should – offer us a language for p e a c e a n d a r e n e w e d humanism, something we need now more than ever. With the help of the Muse Calliope, perhaps we can rediscover the humanity that s o m e t i m e s s e e m s t o s l i p away, yet is never entirely lost. TERESA DI FRESCO A view of Marineo (Photo: By Virgilioferrara - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org) Marineo: tracing the past of a Sicilian community ALL AROUND ITALY TRAVEL TIPS DESTINATIONS ACTIVITIES The town's Medieval castle (Photo: Kcho/Dreamstime)

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