Altavilla, Sicily: Memories of a Happy Childhood

154 Pages·2002·0.807 MB·English

by  Calogero Lombardo

Altavilla, Sicily:
Memories of a Happy Childhood
Legas
Sicilian Studies
Volume VII
Series Editor: Gaetano Cipolla
Other volumes published in this series:
1. Giuseppe Quatriglio, A Thousand Years in Sicily: from the Arabs to the
Bourbons, 1992, 1997;
2. Henry Barbera, Medieval Sicily: the First Absolute State, 1994;
3. Connie Mandracchia DeCaro, Sicily, the Trampled Paradise, Revisited,
1998;
4. Justin Vitiello, Labyrinths and Volcanoes: Windings Through Sicily,
1999.
5. Ben Morreale, Sicily: The Hallowed Land, 2000.
6. Joseph F. Privitera, The Sicilians, 2001.
Calogero Lombardo
:
Altavilla, Sicily
Memories of a Happy Childhood
© Copyright Legas 2003

No part of this book may be translated or reproduced in any form, by print,
photoprint, microfilm, microfiche, or any other means, without the written
permission from the copyright holder.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Lombardo, Calogero, 1950-
Altavilla, Sicily ; memories of a happy childhood / Calogero Lombardo
P.cm. — (Sicilian studies ; v. 7)
ISBN 1881901-36-X (pbk.)
1. Altavilla Milicia (Italy)—Social life and customs. 2. Lombardo, Calogero,
1950- Title. II. Series.
DG865.6 .L665 2003
945’.823—dc21
2002152880
Acknowledgments
The publisher is grateful to Arba Sicula for a generous grant that in part made
the publication of this book possible.
For information and for orders,write to:
Legas
P.O. Box 149 3 Wood Aster Bay
Brooklyn, NewYork Ottawa, Ontario
11204, USA K2R 1D3 Canadaa
Legaspublishing.com
To the memory of my grandmother, Maria Costanza,
and to all the Lombardo children of all ages.

Contents
Chapter I 9
Chapter II 51
Chapter III 107
7
8
Chapter I
On the twenty-fourth day of the month of Juno in the Annus
of our Dominus nineteen-hundred-and-more-than-half the
woman who would go on to make me Mr. Judy Kemp was born in Caro,
Michigan. Contrary to popular myth and tradition, and with apologies
to the Archbishop, and further, adversely affecting the earth-dating
methods of the creation “scientists” (?), this was not the beginning of
the universe as we know it.
It was for Ms. Kemp, however.
I, on the other hand, was born in a limestone brick building at via
San Gaetano number twelve in Sicily. Two of my brothers and one of
my sisters were also born there. My oldest brother was born in, of all
places, a hospital in Palermo. My youngest sister was also born in a
hospital, but that was more understandable since most Americans born
in Chicago in annuit coeptis nineteen six oh were born in hospitals.
I believe my father built the house on via San Gaetano. I say I
believe my father built it because I do not know. That is the essence
of belief, that element of not knowing for sure. I suppose I could ask,
since there are some left who would know, but speculation is more fun.
Since my father built almost all the rest of the houses in our town of the
high village of the Milicioti, I have extrapolated that he had a hand in
making the house I was born in and into, also. (I hope the assumption
is correct, Madonna mia!)
Beautiful little town, Altavilla Milicia. It sits on a bluff about two-
hundred-and-seventy meters above and overlooking the Tyrrhenian Sea,
see, and has a wonderful view of the Autostrada, which connects all
of Northern Sicily from Trapani on the west to Messina just south of
Sparta (not the one in Greece) and east of Frankie Milazzo’s eponymous
namesake town.
To the west of the village, a commune politically, is a wide ravine,
the Marturana, through which the river Milicia flows when it can find
some water. This is a very scenic gorge, steep but accessible. At least
we thought it was accessible when we used to play there as prechildren.
And play there we did. But more on that later. The river which runs
through it cut through it a long time ago. The Milicia river has never
9