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Theresa Maggio

Sicily
and Vermont

A restored palace in Via Maqueda

July 13, 2015
Tags: palazzo Gravina, Palermo, sicily, palace, Restoration, chandeliers, fresco, ceiling, proud, Beauty, urban
You cannot tell a book by its cover. From the outside this palace does not look like much. The man who showed me around has a workshop downstairs. He went to school in this building, now a private residence owned by the family who once owned Palermo's soccer team. And a pasta factory.
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The poor give to the Poor. BRAVI!!

July 12, 2015
Tags: falsomiele, Palermo, poor, immigrants, refugees, welcome, gifts, clothes, food, shelter, generous, big-hearted, Imigration, Mediterranean Sea, morti, dead, drowned, shipwreck
One of the 117 refugees who arrived in Palermo today. 12 people died in a shipwreck, relatives of those who survived.
In just under 24 hours, one of the poorest and toughest neighborhoods of Palermo mobilized to welcome and care for the 717 refugees, including survivors of shipwreck, who arrived in Palermo yesterday, according to La Repubblica. Volunteers from the Falsomiele neighborhood brought clothes, shoes and tee shirts to distribute to thewomen and children, people who arrived,  Read More 
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717 immigrants made it to shore

July 11, 2015
Tags: immigration, human trafficking, shipwreck, mediterranean, Africa, sicily, siclia, Libya, Libia, bottom of the sea, marine graveyard, Frontex, Bossi, Lega Nord, racists, murderers, law
Immigrants at sea in the Canale di Sicilia.
The Italian Coast Guard ship Dattilo moored at the port of Palermo and disembarked the 717 refugees saved from a Thursday shipwreck off the shores of Libya along with 12 cadavers. The Dattilo picked up the victims and the survivors along with the ship Corso and two motorboats that left from Lampedusa.

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arms, legs broken

July 7, 2015
Tags: Words or phrases to categorize this post for the tags section
One of two Nigerian men thrown from the 4th floor of a building by traffickers looking for more money.
Two Nigerian immigrants broke their arms and legs when they were pushed out of a fourth floor window by human traffickers because they had not paid their way yet. Sicilian authorities think it was a last-minute attempt to get more money out of their family members back in Nigeria. Doctors in Sicily are treating  Read More 
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Descent into a qanat

July 6, 2015
Tags: qanat, water distribution, Palermo, sicily, Italy, Arab
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New arrivals

June 30, 2015
Tags: refugees, Palermo, ports, Ireland, ship, mediterranean, arrivals
Immigrants cross the sea on a rubber raft
An Irish military ship , Le Eithne, picked up 647 migrants in trouble at sea and brought them to Palermo. Among them were 95 women, two of whom were pregnant. A group of 180 migrans were transferred by ferry from Lampedusa to Porto Empedocle where they will arrive this evening.
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The Unwilling Expat interviews me

June 23, 2015
Tags: unwilling expat, blogger, australian, sicily, Interview, Theresa Maggio
Rochelle Del Borrello asked me some interesting questions, and I answered.
https://unwillingexpat.wordpress.com/2015/06/23/the-poetry-of-theresa-maggio/
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Mafia stronghold given to scouts today

June 23, 2015
Tags: altarello di baida, Palermo, mafia, scouts, Italy, confiscated, andreotti, matarella, assassination, collusion, state, pre-Riina
Judge Giovanni Falcone talking outside the heavy metal gate to the mafia compound in Altarello di Baida in 1980
The first property Judge Giovanni Falcone confiscated from the mafia in 1980 will be given officially to the Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts of Italy today, although they have been camping and working here for years. The rual compound also contains a qanat and a sirocco room which I visited with Geologist Dr. Pietro Todaro. The  Read More 
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I cry for Sicily when I watch this

June 23, 2015
Tags: Giovanni Falcone, state funeral, pantheon, San Domenico, anger, state, assassins, the state killed him


The state funeral of Giovanni falcone, and his police escort, blown up on the highway in Capaci, at the Church of San Domenico, Palermo's Pantheon of illustrious Sicilians. Falcone is buried here foever, after having been transferred from his family vault.  Read More 
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Italians have heart

June 23, 2015
Tags: italians, immigrants, border, Italy, France, cell phones, solar panel, heart, generous, thoughtful, off the grid, peasant, farmer


From La Repubblica. A peasant farmer whose own home and farm is off the grid, set up a solar panel for the immigrants who are sleeping on the rocks at Ventimiglia, the border between  Read More 
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Refugees become Volunteers for New Refugees

June 20, 2015
Tags: refugee, Palermo, caritas, help, volunteer, sbarchi, arrivals, immigration, illegal, Africa, mali, ivory coast, ships, mediterranean, port
Last year's refugees helping fresh arrivals at the port of Palermo.
A beautiful story by my favorite La Repubblica reporter, Claudia Brunetto. I translate it here:
They arrived last June at the port of Palermo, picked up on the high seas by a military ship. And since then they live in the parish of Falsomiele, guided by Father Sergio Mattaliano, director of the Catholic charity  Read More 
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