Pants for all, mostarda, crocodiles, Arabs and much more

In this episode of the Cannolo Report:

Ancient Sicilian items: early XIX century ceramic tiles; mostarda and cotognata pots of terracotta; the collection of the Florio family

Giovanna Battaglia tells us about them

The Sicilian crocodile

Sicily is a never ending – container of history. It was Sicilian the last contemporary marine crocodile of the dinosaurs.. This tooth, discovered in the Trapani area by our Gianni Insacco, the scientific director of the Civic Museum of Natural History in Comiso, dates back to 120 million years. The crocodile was about 8 meters long and in this photo this is how it must have been while swimming in the waters near Trapani.

Our Sara

Sara Favarò of our Cultural Department wrote her seventieth book dedicated to Sicily! The Land of the Gods: Sicilian myths and divinities. Congratulations!

Two proverbs by our Splendid Teresa Hartley, the Sicilian Mama

Stefania Hartley, best known in England as The Sicilian Mama, is a writer of Sicilian stories and folklore.

You can find her books on Amazon and at www.stefaniahartley.com

Almanac of the past

On June 17th of the year 827 the Arabs landed right here, at Capo Granitola. Besides a new God, Muhammad, the Arabs brought prosperity to Sicily. Of all the dominations that Sicily had certainly the Arab one was the most influential and still today many customs and names have Arab reminiscences.

Ancient Folk Medicine: Vista curta, or Short sight – Take human poop and dry it in the sun. Then grind it and mix it with cuttlefish bone powder. Blow the powder into the eyes and the short sight immediately will heal.

The farmer’s advice : in June the wheat of which Sicily is particularly rich is harvested. Figs and cherries are picked. This month is the end of milking the sheep.

In this video from the Luce Istitute we are on the island of Vulcano. It is 1937 and the beautiful island of the Aeolian archipelago at that time was almost uninhabited. Today it is a popular tourist destination. And today, as then, it is famous for its volcanic mud.

A photo from 1928 when many Sicilians emigrated in search of a better future. These remained instead. We are in Canicattì, along a country road near a drinking trough, among bulls and mules loaded with hay and containers for water. There are young people, the eldery and children. Men with the coppola and women with headscarves.

Next weeks in Sicily

Weather forecasts

The fruit seller

Slurp slurp … let’s see what the greengrocer propose this time

The fish seller

Slurp slurp … let’s see what the fishmonger propose this time

Feasts and events

THE CULTURAL DEPARTMENT “SEBASTIANO TUSA” OF SPLENDID SICILY HAS PRESENTED THE CANNOLO REPORT