[…] Be aware that Sicily is changing: active, full of
energy, extrovert, capable of creating endless re-
sources and new skills. But don’t forget, at the
same time, to value the most enduring aspects of
Sicily: that sky, that sea, miraculously resistant to
the insults of chemicals; blazing volcanoes, gently
rolling hills, the valleys where rivers with names
as sweet as honey flow; legends that still live on
people lips in an atmosphere of mythology; small
shops where incomparable craftsmen repeat the
ancient actions of hard labour; the windows with
blossoming terracotta pots, behind which a bru-
nette smiles; the churches of blond stone, as deli-
cate as fleshy creatures; the squares where every
day billboards anticipate a new episode of the
Opera dei Pupi, which shows life that never changes;
men, the millions of small dark men, with a welcom-
ing heart, even if bristling with plausible insincerity
and fiery as molten lava…
Get on board this triangular ark of stone that floats
on perpetual waves. It escaped the many tempests;
it will outlive the missiles… And put a Greek Dic-
tionary in your pocket: you might meet, emerging
from waters and eager to exchange a word or two,
Aphrodite Anadiomenes….
Gesualdo Bufalino
6
