3,000 companies, 12,000 properties and €2bn in bank deposits. Read all about it here in the Guardian in English. Now I have a better idea of the temptations that tantalized Judge Saguto, stripped of her duties and salary as Palermo's head minder of confiscated Mafia property. Click on the caption to read the Guardian's story.
Sicily
308 African immigrants arrived this a.m.; one dead
November 15, 2015
A corpse arrived in Trapani along with 308 immigrants around 8 this morning aboard a Doctors Without Borders ship,, according to La Repubblica. It seems the dead person suffered some health problems while aboard one of three motorized rubber raft rescued two days ago from waters off the coast of Libya by three ships,
the Spanish Read More
the Spanish Read More
Police video of extortionist at work
October 31, 2015
The mafia charges monthly protection money even from traveling street vendors, like this guy who sells produce from his three-wheeled Read More
1,000+ immigrants just saved at sea, crossing from Africa to Sicily
October 28, 2015
Palermo: more than a thousand immigrants were saved in aid operations about thirty miles off the Libyan coast last night. They were trying to reach Italy aboard six motorized rubber rafts and one old fishing boat. Aboard the fishing boat were crowded 400 migrants, who were saved by te British ship Enterprise. Three other ships, Read More
Signora Maria from Ciolino
October 24, 2015
Signora Maria and Dottoressa Riccobene in Ciolino.
I just came across an old photo of Signora Maria, who was the subject of the first chapter in Stone Boudoir. She is being held by one of the twin Riccobene sisters, either Antonietta or Rosaria, the pharmacists in Ciolino.
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Palermo has the largest Ficus macrophylla on the continent
October 22, 2015
Here it is: Ficus macrophylla at Garibaldi Park at Piazza Marina, near the sea
Its siblings in the Orto Botanico (Botanic Garden) are rivals for the title of largest Ficus macrophylla in Europe. I love their aerial roots, majestic girth and shade.
8 immigrants found dead
October 19, 2015
Seven women and one man were found dead aboard a rubber raft rescued off the coast of Libya today. The dead had apparently died from asphyxiation and struggle, according to La Repubblica. The other 113 aboard were taken to a safe place by an Italian military ship. Over the weekend a total of 1,300 immigrants were rescued at sea. Read More
662 immigrants saved yesterday
October 18, 2015
662 people fleeing from Africa were saved in four rescue operations off the coast of Libya yesterday.
Rick Steves at the Ballaro` suq in Palermo
October 15, 2015
Rick Steves did a good job on this short clip of merchants singing their wares.
A raft to save them
October 7, 2015
A group of young German utopians on Sunday moored a rescue platform for migrants off the Sicilian coast. They designed it, built it and financed it with crowdfunding. A delegation from the collective Zentrum für Politische Schönheit literally Center for Political Beauty- left the port of Licata shortly after dawn and at Read More
402 immigrants arrived Lampedusa yesterday
October 7, 2015
Last night 402 immigrants arrived at Lampedusa, a Sicilian island, the part of Europe closest to north Africa, aboard a the Coast Guard boat which rescued them. They were Somalis, Eritreans, and Syrians.