A month and counting
Plus, Casa Balla and notes from the Po Valley
There’s only a few weeks to go now until my book The Invention of Sicily hits shops, and things are starting to get exciting. I received my author copies in the post the other day, and I have to say after 5+ years of looking at the text on a computer screen I’m enjoying the real-world confirmation that it is not all a figment of my imagination. Verso, the publisher, have done amazing work on the production side, and I couldn’t be more pleased with final product. I’ve also been overwhelmed by the support from everyone that has pre-ordered, or posted on social media or generally reached out to chat about it. So thanks to all of you. If you haven’t heard anything about the book yet, it is - in essence - an introduction to Sicily’s history. At the same time, though, I’ve also tried to frame the narrative in provocative terms in order to raise some questions about the modern world more generally, and particularly the status of concepts we often take for granted, like ‘nation’ or ‘state’ or ‘progress.’ Publisher’s Weekly has a succinct and generous overview here, which - I think - well-captures the book’s tone. If you’re interested in purchasing a copy do please consider ordering directly through the Verso website here. They’ll be with you sometime around 13 July I’m told…
I’m writing this note from a small town just beyond the cinque terre. It therefore seems an apt time and place to give a quick update on tourism and Covid-19 restrictions. Based purely on my own experience over the past few days, things are picking up around the coast: most of the hotels are open and, though fairly quiet, there are plenty of tourists. Liguria is now in zona bianca; which means there are very few restrictions. Restaurants, beaches, bars and so on are all open, the curfew has been abolished and outdoor mask-wearing is due to be scrapped on 15 July. On a national scale, 51% of the population has now been vaccinated with at least one dose. Borders are open with most countries (bar India, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka). That said, I’m afraid if you’re reading this from the UK the news is less encouraging. While you can currently enter with a negative test, the Italian government has just announced that, if ‘delta’ infections continue to go up, they may be forced to impose a quarantine on British tourists, or close the frontier entirely. Even flights that are currently scheduled are subject to sudden changes. The Local Italy, for example, is reporting that Ryanair, EasyJet and BA are all cancelling flights to and from the country at the last minute. Booking a holiday here, for now, alas, remains a risky business.
Football fans have had a lot of celebrate the past week. Since the European cup kicked off in Rome last Friday Italy have won two consecutive 3-0 victories against Turkey and now Switzerland. Even against such relatively easy competition this is very welcome news. I’m not particularly invested in the competition - I’ll be honest - but it’s good to see some change after a decade of lukewarm performances by the squad. Italy’s manager, Roberto Mancini, has abandoned the strategy-heavy approach, and instead focused on training young players, and encouraging some camaraderie. You can really feel the difference. The New York Times has an excellent feature about why and how this re-birth has come to pass, and whether or not you’re into football I recommend reading to get a sense of the bigger changes going on in Italian society, from the north-south divide, to generational shifts and class politics. The mood, for now, is quietly optimistic, and the sense of the street is that the team could really be in with a chance this year.
Arts and culture: Bygone Innovations
It’s been a long time coming but as of today Giacomo Balla’s house - Casa Balla - is open to the public in Rome. Balla was one of the most influential of the futurists, perhaps the most influential after Marinetti. His work, though, is quite different to the militaristic, violent, war-obsessed pieces that so often characterised that movement in Milan. Unlike some of his modernist colleagues, Balla was primarily interested in abstraction as a form of transcendence; rather than machines per se he was focused on capturing light, motion, and eco-systemic consciousness. The house itself, which has been restored thanks to financnig by the Banca d’Italia and MAXXI, is filled with lesser-known paintings, but the building is also an attraction in its own right, as another strong New York Times feature attests. I particularly enjoyed the quote by the art historian Fabio Benzi here, who said of Balla: “I don’t know of another artist at that time who advertised in the newspapers to publicize his own home ... If he were alive today, he’d love Instagram.”
Author and journalist Tobias Jones is busy at work researching for a book about the Po, which, having spent a fair bit of time in the area, I’m really looking forward to. He’s currently undertaking a journey along the river, and he’s been publishing some updates about that trip on the website ‘Engelsberg Ideas’ which I’ve been really enjoying. The most recent of these ‘The Secret Life of Hemp’ explores the town of Carmagnola, which up until the early 20th Century was one of biggest producers of cannabis sativa - the form of plant used to make bags - in the world. I knew that Italy was once Europe’s biggest exporter of hemp. I had no idea, though, that production has now declined to 1.4% of what it was 100 years ago (!) Leaving aside the question of cannabis legalisation, THC, recreational drug use etc, it’s clear that investing in the sector could open the way for innovation in fashion, construction, healthcare and foodstuffs, and benefit the economy as a whole. Jones ends his piece by noting that, in the Italian context, investing in hemp isn’t so much a radical idea as a question of re-instating now things were a century ago. Here, interestingly, state-sanctioned cannabis production would be a return, not a revolution.
Recipe of the week: Pesto trapanese
A handy alternative to the better-known genovese. This pesto from Western Sicily is made with ground up tomatoes, lots of garlic and almonds instead of pine nuts. Traditionally it’s served with busiate; which are a little like flattened, curled-up fusilli; though any short pasta will do. The first couple of times I tried this dish at home I ended up with a final product that was too watery and lacking in flavour. That was until I discovered Diana Henry’s version in Crazy Water, Pickled Lemons, which she adapted from a local trattoria in Trapani, and which uses sun-dried tomatoes for some extra punch. It is, hands down, the best recipe for this dish and it’s become a staple mid-week go-to in my house. You can find a lightly adapted version of it online, here.
That’s it for this week - as ever I do hope you enjoyed this instalment. If you haven’t already, please do follow the ‘Week in Italy’ Facebook page, or my twitter, for a few extra links and easy-access to the substack archive. If this email was forwarded to you, or you’re accessing on the web and would like to receive further updates, you can subscribe using this link below. Thanks!
About Me
My name is Jamie Mackay (@JacMackay) and I’m an author, editor and translator based in Florence. I’ve been writing about Italy for a decade for international media including The Guardian, The Economist, Frieze, and Art Review. I launched ‘The Week in Italy’ to share a more direct and regular overview of the debates and dilemmas, innovations and crises that sometimes pass under the radar of our overcrowded news feeds.
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