Theresa Maggio

A lovely photo posted by Palermitano Curioso - B.V. on Facebook.

Vermont Public Radio did a piece on the installation of the third iteration of the goddess Ceres (aka Demeter) , goddess of agriculture, atop the golden dome of the capital building in Montpelier. Interesting Vermont/Sicily connection:

Demeter is the goddess of agriculture in Sicily. Her daughter, Persephone, was abducted beside a lake in central Sicily and spent the dry months underground in Hades.

Here is the link:

http://digital.vpr.net/post/ceres-statue-once-again-adorns-vermont-statehouses-golden-dome

Sicilian towns have won four of the six annual national competitions for Il Borgo Piu` Bello dell'Italia, the most beautiful town in Italy. This year the wnner is Petralia Soprana in the Madonie Mountains of Sicily, not far from Polizzi Generosa.

On Saturday, September 15th, 2018 Pope Francis had lunch at Fra Biagio's Citadella homeless refuge near the Palermo train station where it all started decades ago. The pontiff broke bread ( actually home-grown olives, caponata, breaded chicken, warm organic bread and olive oil, then dolci, all grown and prepared by the homeless residents and volunteers) with the mostly African immigrants and other guests. The following day was fra Biagio's birthday, Sept. 16. I think he was satisfied with how things went.

Last year, fra Biagio Conte carried a wooden cross frm Palermo to the Vatican where the pope granted him a half-hour private audience. This week, Pope francis returned the visit. here they are busy getting ready for the visit on Sept. 15.

 

 

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From La Repubblica:
Last night about midnight a sailboat landed on the beach of Fontane Bianche outside Syracuse and disembarked 53 immigrants from Iraq. The sailboat, piloted by a man with red hair, had left Turkey a week before. 25 migrants, among them women and children, were found this morning at 5, but the boat captain and the other migrants have disappeared. Read More 

From The Guardian:
"The deaths at sea of a mother and child have further exposed the flaws in a pact between Italy and Libya that has led to thousands of migrants being forcibly returned to the chaotic north African country.

Their bodies were found last week in the drifting wreckage of a boat off the Libyan coast by rescuers from the Spanish ship, Proactiva Open Arms. A woman from Cameroon was also found clinging to a piece of wood.

Sharing harrowing images of the bodies and the terrified survivor, the NGO accused the Libyan coastguard of abandoning the trio after they refused to be taken back to Libya, the main point of departure for migrants attempting the perilous crossing to Europe, with the rest of the intercepted group." Read More 

He died at home on his island, Favignana, after a three-month illness. He was the last rais of the Favignana tonnara. His photo was on the cover of my first book, Mattanza. There was no one like him, a soft-hearted giant, a demi-god of the sea.
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