Sicily
Doctors Without borders rescue ship attacked off Libyan coast
August 26, 2016
While searching for shipwrecked immigrants 24 nautical miles off the Libyan coast on August 17 the Doctors Without Borders ship Bourbon Argos was fired upon by unknown men in a motor boat who then boarded the ship, then gave up their enterprise when they found that all crew had secured themselves in parts of the ship Read More
Earthquake in central Italy
August 25, 2016
Governor Crocetta has sent personnel and equipment from Sicily to aid in rescue attempts, according to La Repubblica. The Guardian has a brief video here:
Click on the caption to read live updates The Guardian in English.
Click on the caption to read live updates The Guardian in English.
Kilometer of copper wire stolen, park in the dark
August 24, 2016
A linear kilometer, about .6 mile worth, was stolen from La Favorita Park between downtown Palermo and Mondello, according to La Repubblica. 70 lights went out in the park.
Il capo market in the morning
August 21, 2016
Il Capo street market, Palermo, 11 a.m. Photo: Rosa Maria Zito
One of Palermo's historic street markets.
New wave: 534 migrants saved, five found dead at sea
August 20, 2016
Per the Italian news agency ANSA:
Two days ago 534 immigrants were saved in 11 rescue operations in the Strait of Sicily.Five bodies were recuperated. The migrants were aboard rubber rafts and nine small boats, according to the Italian Coast Guard, ANSA reported. Involved in the rescues were Italian Navy ship Sirius, the German Navy Read More
Two days ago 534 immigrants were saved in 11 rescue operations in the Strait of Sicily.Five bodies were recuperated. The migrants were aboard rubber rafts and nine small boats, according to the Italian Coast Guard, ANSA reported. Involved in the rescues were Italian Navy ship Sirius, the German Navy Read More
Waiting for the next wave
August 15, 2016
It's been more than a week since choppy seas have prevented traffickers from sending their clients, indigent migrants and asylum seekers, off to find their own way to Europe. They are expecting the next wave of migrants to be a huge surge of people who have been backed up on the shores of Libya, waiting to embark. The traffickers are cruel. Read More
Fantastic Sicily video
August 8, 2016
The great videographer Bill Livingston, who made the double Emmy-winning film "The Italians", just sent me a link to this three-minute promo for Sicily. WOW what a great job and what JOY the video maker must have had making it.
Prison wall art at Palermo's Inquisition jail
August 8, 2016
I have toured this place a couple of times. It is incredible.
From the Guardian:
By age 20 Francesco Mannarino had seen more of life than was good for him. The son of a Sicilian fisherman, he had been seized as a boy by Muslim pirates and converted, perhaps forcibly, to Islam.
In the early 17th century apostasy was not an offence so long as the convert reported promptly to the officials of the dreaded Inquisition after being ransomed or recaptured. Mannarino did so, but something must have failed to convince them he was still truly a Christian and he was thrown into the dungeons alongside Palazzo Steri in Palermo. Read More
From the Guardian:
By age 20 Francesco Mannarino had seen more of life than was good for him. The son of a Sicilian fisherman, he had been seized as a boy by Muslim pirates and converted, perhaps forcibly, to Islam.
In the early 17th century apostasy was not an offence so long as the convert reported promptly to the officials of the dreaded Inquisition after being ransomed or recaptured. Mannarino did so, but something must have failed to convince them he was still truly a Christian and he was thrown into the dungeons alongside Palazzo Steri in Palermo. Read More
tricked
August 7, 2016
From the Guardian:
It’s just after 9pm when the first Nigerian women start to appear on the streets of Asti, a small city near Turin in northern Italy. Some stand in groups of two or three, flagging down passing cars or checking their phones. Many are alone – solitary figures backlit by the stream of headlights moving into the city. Princess Inyang Okokon slows down her car as she spots two girls standing on a corner. Even with heavy makeup they look no older than 15 or 16. “So many new faces,” she says, shaking her head as she pulls her car to the side of the road and gets out to speak to them. Read More
It’s just after 9pm when the first Nigerian women start to appear on the streets of Asti, a small city near Turin in northern Italy. Some stand in groups of two or three, flagging down passing cars or checking their phones. Many are alone – solitary figures backlit by the stream of headlights moving into the city. Princess Inyang Okokon slows down her car as she spots two girls standing on a corner. Even with heavy makeup they look no older than 15 or 16. “So many new faces,” she says, shaking her head as she pulls her car to the side of the road and gets out to speak to them. Read More