RIP maestro
Plus a borgho in Yorkshire and fried acacia flowers
The world lost one of its most talented artists this week. On Tuesday morning the singer and poly-instrumentalist Franco Battiato passed away in his castle home in the Sicilian town of Milo, after years of struggling with a neuro-degenerative illness. There are few things that bring Italians together. Without exception, though, all my friends here have shared some kind of tribute to Battiato. The man was and remains an icon. For readers unfamiliar with his work it is - alas - impossible to do justice to it here. Suffice to say Battiato was about as serious a musical figure as it’s possible to imagine: a kind of Italian Dylan. His 30+ albums range from experimental minimalism to art-pop, new wave, jazz, rock, psychedelia, and ambient-classical. Like many, I first got into his stuff thanks to the Blondie-inspired ‘Centro di gravità permanente’ (see below) though I’ve since learnt how much more to his output there is than that single tune. For a good English language overview, with more links, I recommend this piece by Marco Mancassola over at Norient, which captures the artist’s spiritual vision, and the lyrical, near-untranslatable qualities of the music.
Like most of the world, the news in Italy this week has, with good reason, been focused on the ongoing violence in Israel-Palestine. I won’t profess to offer an analysis of this complex geopolitical situation, except to say: a) all civilian deaths are unacceptable and b) given one side here is an ultra modern military with support from U.S. and the other is nothing of the sort, it is surely Israel that needs to de-escalate. The death toll in Palestine currently stands at 217 people including 63 children, and 12 Israelis have also been killed. Despite these atrocious (and mismatched) figures, Italy’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Luigi di Maio has put his cards firmly on the table by stating that: “Israel has the right to defend itself,” adding only that he “condemns the missiles fired from Gaza.” Many Italians - for what it’s worth - oppose this rather blinkered stance. On Monday, dock workers in the Tuscan port of Livorno refused to load an arms shipment headed for Ashkelon on the basis that they wouldn’t be complicit in the mass killings. Meanwhile, in Milan and Rome social centres and student organisations have taken to the streets and organised sit-ins calling on Israel to halt their bombings. These are minor gestures, in a sense. But they’re surely welcome as Italy’s contribution to the global chorus that’s calling for a ceasefire.
Every now and then I’m reminded that twitter is not entirely hellish. Scrolling though the site earlier this week I came across a post by John McGrath, an MA student from the University of Sheffield, who has just finished an architecture thesis with a really compelling premise. He has used a study of Italian hilltop towns, including Brescia, San Gimignono and Orvieto to form the template for a hypothetical urban development project in Yorkshire, in Northern England! Now, as a UK citizen living in Italy, and someone who generally loves cultural contamination and cross border creativity, this was obviously up my street. The images, like that above, look great, as I’m sure you’ll agree. You can see many more of them in the dedicated thread. There’s not much else to say here except congratulations John on a great project! And I for one hope to see it become a reality in the not too distant future.
Arts and culture: a don’s life
At the end of last week the author, classicist and TV presenter Mary Beard announced that she will be retiring from her position at Cambridge University later this year. What an amazing career she’s had. To my mind Beard is one of best popular writers on ancient Roman history: her book SPQR is the definitive ‘go to’ for a readable overview of the Republican era, and her BBC series ‘Empire Without Limit’ (which conveniently is up on YouTube) is one of the most inspiring documentaries I’ve seen about ancient cosmopolitanism. Thankfully, Beard has announced that she will continue to write for the media, and make broadcasting appearances. As a parting gift to the university, and in recognition of the inequalities that continue to mar her field, she is also setting up an £80,000 grant for two students of colour from low income backgrounds to study at Cambridge. It’s a small gesture, yes, but testimony to her ethical integrity I think. You can read her statement about it on the Guardian here. Beyond that, I highly recommend you check out the video below from way back in 2016 when she was on top form, trouncing the UK’s pseudo-intellectual PM Boris Johnson in a (ridiculously polemical) debate about Greece vs Rome… enjoy!
Somehow I missed out on this one at the end of 2020, but I’m glad to be catching up. In December the Milan based photojournalist Marina Spironetti published a beautiful-looking book about Sardinia’s ancient mountain costumes. Her project - titled ‘Sealess’ - collects images of traditional life as it is still lived in the island’s inland towns and villages. Most of the time when outsiders think of Sardinia they imagine the glistening sandy beaches and bright sunshine of the Costa Smeralda. Instead, Spironetti focuses on the lesser-known reality of the poorer, more isolated communities that still populate the the central provinces of Nuoro and Ogliastra. You can browse through some of the images over at VICE magazine which I highly recommend. If you’re interested, here’s the link to buy the book.
Recipe of the week: fried acacia flowers
The first time I came across this idea I was a little taken aback. Eating flowers sounds a bit sickly, doesn’t it? I’ll admit, the overpowering perfume of Turkish-delight-type ‘rose’ flavours is low down on my personal list of culinary preferences; I find it rather cloying. It turns out, though, that deep-fried elderflower, acacia and robinia all make rather wonderful crunchy-golden snacks. Who’d have thought? Letitia Clarke has a nice essay on her blog about how to do them justice here. Following her advice I cooked up some foraged flowers a few days ago and served them with a couple of strawberries and some powdered sugar. The result was, I have to admit, a lovely and satisfying mid-morning brunch. This sceptic is now converted.
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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