L'Italo-Americano

www.italoamericano.org 8 THURSDAY, JUNE 25, 2026 L'Italo-Americano A l t h o u g h S a i n t C a l o g e r o appears on the Christian calen- dar on June 18, in parts of Sicily – and espe- cially in Agrigento, where he is the patron saint – he is cel- ebrated far more extensively. The festivities last eight days, from the first to the second Sunday of July. In Santo Ste- fano Quisquina, celebrations begin on June 17 with a pro- cession to the small church on the mountain, while in Petralia Sottana torchlight processions, dawn Masses, and a solemn parade behind the saint's statue mark the occasion between June 17 and 18. It is fair to say that Saint Calogero, the Black Saint, enjoys a particularly special place in Sicilian devotion. "E chiamamu a cu n'aiuta, evviva San Calò!" ("And we call upon the one who helps u s , l o n g l i v e S a i n t Calogero!"): repeated rhyth- mically by devotees and by the bearers of the saint's stat- ue, affectionately known to the people of Agrigento sim- ply as San Calò, this chant accompanies the procession through the city streets. It rises above the beat of drums and the lively notes of the Zingarella, a traditional folk tune similar to a tarantella, played on the accordion and faintly reminiscent of Romani music. B u t w h o w a s S a i n t C a l o g e r o , a n d w h y i s h e depicted with dark skin? Tradition places his origins e i t h e r i n C h a l c e d o n o r i n North Africa and describes him as an itinerant preacher w h o s p r e a d t h e G o s p e l between the fifth and sixth centuries while living as a hermit, but popular legend offers a different explanation. A c c o r d i n g t o o n e t a l e , h e threw himself into the flames of a fire in order to save his brother's harvest, and the smoke and heat permanently darkened his skin. A third i n t e r p r e t a t i o n , r o o t e d i n pagan traditions and religious syncretism, traces his image to ancient fertility cults that employed dark-colored effi- g i e s , l a t e r a b s o r b e d i n t o Christian devotion. According to local tradi- tion, the Black Saint arrived in Sicily to preach Christiani- ty and care for the poor and the sick. His remedies were the sulphurous waters found in volcanic caves, identified t o d a y w i t h t h e t h e r m a l baths of Sciacca, known as the Stufe di San Calogero, where he is said to have with- drawn to live as a hermit. D u r i n g a n o u t b r e a k o f plague, the saint went into a village seeking bread to dis- tribute among the poor. He found the inhabitants barri- caded inside their homes, fearful of infection. Yet they did not refuse his request. Instead, they tossed loaves of bread to him from their win- dows. To this day, the people of Agrigento commemorate t h a t e p i s o d e d u r i n g t h e saint's procession by throw- ing small loaves covered with sesame and fennel seeds. The c e l e b r a t i o n a l s o i n c l u d e s market stalls displaying local products, livestock fairs, and a g r i c u l t u r a l e q u i p m e n t . Some devotees walk barefoot to the sanctuary in gratitude for prayers answered, while children wear simple white tunics. The festivities begin at dawn with Mass and the alb- orata, accompanied by the firing of ceremonial mortars. At noon, the vara bearing the s a i n t ' s e f f i g y i s c a r r i e d through the oldest streets of t h e c i t y b e f o r e r e t u r n i n g briefly to the church. In the afternoon it emerges once more to process through the town center alongside civil and religious authorities. The celebration concludes with a torchlight procession and a maschiata, a spectacular fire- works display, before the saint's final return to the sanctuary. Yet Agrigento is not only the city of Saint Calogero; throughout its history, fig- ures who passed through, or chose to stay, have left lasting marks on the city's architec- tural, artistic, and cultural heritage, enriching the home- town of Luigi Pirandello. One of the most remark- able was undoubtedly Sir Alexander Hardcastle. A f t e r s e r v i n g i n B r i t a i n ' s colonial campaigns, the Eng- lish captain arrived in what was then still called Girgenti i n 1 9 2 1 , j u s t a s h e approached his fiftieth birth- day. The city would reclaim its ancient name, Agrigento, only six years later. Hardcastle's passion for archaeology quickly made h i m a w a r e o f b o t h t h e immense value of the Valley of the Temples and the state of neglect into which it h a d f a l l e n , a c o n d i t i o n already lamented by Goethe during his visit in 1787. He stayed. For the next twelve years, assisted by archaeolo- gist Pirro Marconi, who became director of Palermo's Salinas Museum in 1929, he devoted himself to restoring the ancient site. Hardcastle purchased a v i l l a a l o n g t h e w a l l s o f ancient Akragas, between the Temple of Concordia and the T e m p l e o f H e r a c l e s . H e named it Villa Aurea, after the nearby Porta Aurea, the g a t e t h r o u g h w h i c h t h e Romans entered the city in 210 BC. Restoration work, land acquisitions, and the devastating effects of the Wall Street Crash gradually consumed his fortune. Even- tually he lost everything. Driven into poverty and mental decline, Hardcastle spent his final years in Agri- gento's psychiatric hospital. Before his death on June 27, 1933, he sold Villa Aurea to the Italian state, though the transaction could not save him from financial ruin. In accordance with his wishes, he was buried in the monu- m e n t a l c e m e t e r y o f B o n a m o r o n e . H i s g r a v e stands near the boundary wall, beside a small window that he himself requested, through which his beloved temples can still be seen. The people of Agrigento have never forgotten him: t h e y e v e n r e m e m b e r h i m through a local saying: Pare l'inglese scordato ai templi, "He looks like the English- man forgotten among the temples," used to describe someone absent-minded or slightly bewildered, as Hard- castle was said to appear in his later years. In many ways, the Eng- l i s h m a n s e e m s t o l i v e o n through the cultural activities still held at Villa Aurea. Most recently, the villa hosted the exhibition Fausto Piran- d e l l o : T h e M a g i c o f Everyday Life. Organized to mark the fiftieth anniver- sary of the artist's death on November 30, 1975, the exhi- b i t i o n w a s p r o m o t e d b y Rome's National Academy of San Luca together with the Archaeological Park of the Valley of the Temples, in col- laboration with the Fausto Pirandello Association, and curated by Fabio Benzi and Flavia Matitti before arriving in Agrigento. T h o u g h b o r n i n R o m e , Fausto Pirandello, son of Nobel Prize-winning writer Luigi Pirandello, spent sever- al summers of his youth in Agrigento. Those stays left a lasting impression, filling his m e m o r y w i t h t h e c o l o r s , landscapes, and scenes of everyday life that character- ized Sicily and later found their way into his art. F o l l o w i n g i t s R o m a n debut, the Agrigento exhibi- tion presented a narrative of ordinary life imbued with deep symbolic and cultural significance, shaped by the artist's enduring connection to Sicily. Around thirty works were displayed, with particu- lar emphasis on works on paper and pastels, a medium that Pirandello developed extensively after the Second W o r l d W a r a n d w h i c h h e described as an "impromptu flutter of butterfly wings." T h e e x h i b i t i o n a t V i l l a Aurea may therefore be seen as an ideal homecoming, a symbolic return by Fausto Pirandello to the family and cultural roots that helped shape both his life and his art. TERESA DI FRESCO A city of saints, art, and a thousand faces, between devotion and timeless beauty LA VITA ITALIANA TRADITIONS HISTORY CULTURE Saint Calogero, the Black Saint, is the patron saint of Agrigento, but he is celebrated in many parts of Sicily with tradi- tional processions and rituals (Image generated using Adobe Illustrator AI); bottom right, the Valley of the Temples, near Agrigento, is one of the world's finest surviving examples of ancient Greek architecture (Photo: Martin Molcan/Dreamstime)

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