Cosa Nostra
When you think of Sicily you think of Mafia. When we decided to go cycling in Sicily in 1985 my travelling experience of Italy was restricted to some trips as kids with my parents to the beaches of the Adria and Riviera in the North and a couple of short trips on my own to Venice. Further south the country was considered to be in the hands of corrupt politicians, pickpockets, robbers and in particular criminal associations like the Mafia in Sicily or the Camorra in Napels. While we still selected Sicily I do not remember, but since it was begin of April we probably expected better weather than further north.
“the origins of the mafia are closely related to the origins of an untrustworthy state-the Italian state” (John Dickie)
Postings referring to a barbaric mafia massacre
In 1979, the Mafia clan of the Corleonesi under the leadership of Luciano Leggio and his lieutenant Totò Riina had started to attack anyone who would not comply with their needs. Politicians, journalists, magistrates or policemen were murdered. After April 1981, the war was extended onto other clans of the sicilian mafia with the goal of a Mafia domination. It became known as the second Mafia war. Within two years, hundreds of mafiosi along with women, children, relatives and friends had been murdered. The scenarios of all the well known mafia movies became reality.
“Men were shot in public places or strangled in deserted cabins, their bodies dissolved in acid, dropped in the sea, buried in concrete or fed to pigs.” (John Dickie)
We preferred more this advertisement poster
Law enforcement was frustrated. There was no help from politicians and witnesses remained silent. That is when Palermo magistrates Paolo Borsellino and Giovanni Falcone entered the scene. In 1984 Tommaso Buscetta was extradicted from Brazil to Italy. That had happened before, since Bruscetta had served an eight years sentence in italian prisons before taking refuge from the second Mafia war in Brazil after undergoing plastic surgery and an operation on his vocal cords. But while in Brazil before 1984, the Mafia murdered two of Bruscetta‘s sons, his brother, his son in law, brother in law and 4 nephews. Bruscetta was frustrated with the Mafia and decided to cooperate with the cops. Others followed. Falcone and Borsellino had their case.
“the mafia kills in the way a state does; it does not murder, it executes.” (John Dickie)
Starting the cycling tour south of Messina
We only had a vague idea of that situation when we arrived by night train at the strait of Messina to take the ferry to Sicily and pick up our bikes at the station. And the bicycles were there, undamaged. On the train we had met another German chap, who also picked up his bicycle in Messina. However, he preferred to tour the Island counter clockwise. His next destination was Palermo. Our first destination was the antique town of Taormina, a trip of 50 km along the coast. We thought we would meet him again. And we did. And he was not the only surprise encounter on this trip.
Sicilian countryside road in spring
The town centre of Taormina is quite a way up. Therefore we rang at the door bell of a hotel between the main road, the railway and the sea. They told us the hotel was still closed but when we would not mind to dispense with breakfast or dinner we could get a room. They already had guests staying under that condition. It turned out that before April 15th many places in the seaside resorts were still closed.
Etna smoking as backdrop to the antique amphitheater of Taormina
In 1985 the green party in Germany was just five years old but already had won seats in the federal parliament and in 1985 started to participate in the first state government. Our fellow guests were founding members of the party in Berlin who had escaped from their party’s ideological civil war to Sicily in an old VW camping bus. The other guest was a young german teacher who immediately got my undivided attention.
In the streets of Taormina
We originally had had the intention to carry on from Taormina after one night but we had such a great time the night of our arrival that we decided to stay. After we came back from a bit of sightseeing the next day our fellow guests announced that they would go to Syracusa the next day in their bus and that we were welcome to join. So we did not only stay a second, but also a third very pleasant night. The following morning my friend threatened to carry on alone on his bike if I would intend to stay another night. Reluctantly I joined him and with a heavy head from the long nights before we got on the bikes again.
The old harbor in Syracusa
We only had ordinary bicycles with 3 gears and with luggage the mountain road around the Etna was challenging. The narrow road crosses numerous lava flows, sometimes crystallised in the typical hexagonal columns. We had heard the worst about italian, and in particular sizilian drivers. However, there was little traffic, and everybody was very careful with us. Cars usually stayed behind us until there was a save spot to pass or we pulled off the road.
Lava flow behind the Etna
Finally we reached the town of Adrano and found a simple room for the night. When we had dinner in a cheap pizzeria in the evening, suddenly an untouched bottle of grappa appeared on the table. When we told the waiter that this must be a misunderstanding and that we didn’t order it, he pointed at a guy at the table in another corner of the room. He wanted to invite us for a couple of drinks. It turned out that the man spoke perfect german because he had worked as a migrant worker in Germany. Apparently he had had a good time there and was happy to meet us and refresh his memory. We emptied the bottle with him, again not the best prerequisite for the next day’s cycling.
The norman castle in the town center of Adrano
Our next destination was the town of Enna in the centre of Sicily. Like the neighbouring town of Calascibetta Enna sits high on a plateau of a mountain with steep slopes. It is Italy’s highest provincial capital. It is also called the belvedere or the ombelico (navel) of Sicily. However, apart from the beautiful vistas, the town gave a somber impression. The narrow streets were lined with dark buildings. There is a spectacular castle, a couple of other remnants of defensive buildings and a lot of churches, the biggest of which is the cathedral.
In the streets of Enna
View from Enna across the valley to the next town of Calascibetta
We arrived in Enna before Easter. This is the time of the processions of the confraternities. In a climax on Holy Friday hooded men, delegations from different neighbourhoods, carry the statue of Jesus from the cathedral and the statue of Mary from the Church of Sant Antonio to the cemetery in a more than 3 km long procession. In the gloomy town the hooded men in their Kukluxclan like attire and the mournful songs gave a spooky impression. The many posters warning against the Mafia added to the feeling. However, the custom relates back to the time of Spanish occupation of Sicily.
The good friday procession in Enna
South of Enna is the town of Piazza Armerina. We went there to visit the roman villa. However, the town was a sight by itself. Most of the beautiful baroque buildings in the town centre were in ruins. Roofs and windows were lacking or broken. Trees and weeds were sprouting from the walls. Even the counterbalance weight of a construction crane had grown weeds. Obviously it had not been used for quite a while.
Piazza Armerina
This construction crane was not moved for a while
We had taken the bus and left our bicycles at the base of the mountain of Enna. In a little bag on my bike I had left a sandwich and a soft drink package. Somebody had searched the bag, eaten the sandwich, drunk the soft drink and had nicely left the empty bags folded up on the luggage rack of the bike. That was the only case of theft we had to endure while in Sicily.
One of the temples of Agrigento
From Enna we continued to the south coast to the classical archaeological sites near the towns of Agrigento and further on along the south coast to Selinunte. Sicily had been one of the most important greek colonies and the temples in these sites are some of the best preserved anywhere. However, the towns were gloomy, dirty and frequently surrounded by a belt of skeletons of half finished constructions and of - sometimes burning - garbage. A big part of the road leading west was built on stilts, in our view completely unnecessary since the terrain is not very difficult. There was hardly any traffic.
Burning garbage and construction ruins surrounding some of the towns
On a little road between Agrigento and Selinunte the first cyclist we had seen since Messina came towards us. We both waved at him while he passed. Suddenly I heard him shouting my name from behind. It turned out that it was one of my best friends, who was busy to cycle around the island counter clockwise.
Old and new roads in Sicily
Via Sciaccia, Marsala and Erice we finally arrived in Palermo. In my faded memory Palermo is one of the most beautiful baroque towns in Europe. However, in 1985 it was completely run down. Houses were black and sometimes supported with beams or scaffolds on the street side. After sunset there was practically nobody in the street. The few cars rounded the street corners with screeching tires. Walking on the sidewalk was outright dangerous because people tended to throw their garbage bags down from windows into the streets in the hope that somebody would collect the spread out mess. We rented an almost empty room in a vast family appartment. We found few places open for dinner at night. Finally we ended up in a pizzeria. After dinner, the owner insisted to drive us home even so it was only a couple of blocks since he thought that walking at night was far too dangerous. We became his regular customers while in Palermo.
The town center of Palermo
Wrecks in the harbor of Palermo
In a parc in Palermo
The next day we saw somebody who looked familiar. It was the other german cyclist whom we had met on arrival in Messina. We were a bit surprised that he had only come as far as Palermo in the time while we had rounded almost the entire island. After he had arrived in Palermo, he had toured the town on his loaded bike with the headphones of his walkman on his head looking for a place to stay. A narrow street was blocked by a truck. When he stopped a couple of guys wanted to take his walkman. He resisted. Eventually they took the walkman, his bike, his luggage, his watch and his jacket. He was left with the rest of his clothes on his body. With his luggage he had lost all his money, his train ticket and his passport and now was still waiting for a money transfer from Germany and a replacement passport to be able to return home.
Mummified bodies in Palermo's famous underground cemetery
Although nothing comparable had happened to us I was glad that my mother had sewn a hidden pocket into my pants where I kept my passport, ticket and most of my money.
The norman cattedrale de Monreale outside Palermo is one of the most spectacular churches in Europe. Its ornate cloisters and bright gold mosaics of biblical stories are unique. We were the only visitors.
The cloister of Montreale cathedral
After WWII more than 14,000 people were homeless in Palermo due to the destruction by Allied bombing. There was a huge demand for new homes and construction was subsidized by public money. However, Palermo's Office of Public Works was infiltrated by the Mafia. Between 1959 and 1963, about 80 percent of building permits were given to just five people, none of major construction firms, probably Mafia frontmen. Other construction companies not related to the Mafia were forced to pay protection money. Many buildings were illegally constructed and Mafiosi intimidated anyone who questioned the dubious building activities. Many historic buildings were demolished and the new apartment blocks were of bad quality.
“The barons’ power on the ground was such that the central state’s courts and policemen could be pressurized into doing what the local lord wanted. Worse still, it was now no longer only the barons who felt they had the right to use force. Violence became ‘democratized’” (John Dickie)
The second Mafia war had shown that the Mafia was not an honourable organisation in the track of Robin Hood but a blood-thirsty killing machine. Wikipedia has a list of Mafia victims dating back to 1893. While we were in Sicily, on April 2nd 1985 Barbara Asta and her two little twins were killed in a car bomb intended for the anti-mafia investigating magistrate Carlo Palermo. High ranking police officers were killed on July 28th and August 6th. On December 12th Graziella Campagna, a 17-year-old girl, found a list of names of mafiosi inside a coat at the laundromat where she worked. She gave it to her Carabinieri brother. Shortly after, she was killed by five blasts of a shotgun. However, 1985 also was the year when the efforts of the duo of Falcone and Borsellino started to have success. Eventually 475 Mafiosi were imprisoned in a newly built steel concrete bunker with cage like cells. In February 1986 the Maxi process started and eventually, in 1987, 338 were convicted. It was the biggest trial in world history.
“Cosa Nostra has, for a generation at least, been more weapon than enemy of the byzantine Italian state” (Ed Vulliamy in a guardian review of Dickie's book)
The Mafia had connections and friends in high places. The famous movie “Il Divo” of Paolo Sorrentino hints at the connection of Italy’s powerful former prime minister Guilio Andreotti with the Mafia. Consequently there were appeals against the convictions in the Maxi process, and a decree of Supreme Court Judge Corrada Carnevale resulted in the release of many of the convicted Mafiosi. However, after Giovanni Falcone joined the ministry of Justice in Rome, the convictions of the Maxi trial were confirmed and the Mafiosi finally put behind bars, where they still remain today.
“Rather than being a ‘ship of state’, Italy often seems more like a flotilla of boats, each piloted according to a different chart, each competing for access to the most favourable winds, yet each afraid of being isolated from the other craft” (John Dickie)
The catholic church still plays an important role in Sicily
The Mafia took revenge. Both Giovanni Falcone and his friend Paolo Borsellino were assassinated in 1992 by Mafia bombings. They resorted to terror to destabilise the Italian state and frighten politicians. A series of bombing of tourist attractions went so far that a bomb seriously damaged the Uffizi gallery in Florence.
“The world has changed but the Sicilian mafia has merely adapted; it is today what it has been since it was born: a sworn secret society that pursues power and money by cultivating the art of killing people and getting away with it” (John Dickie)
And the Mafia is still there. In Sicilian it costs the economy more than €10 billion a year since around 70% of Sicilian businesses are forced to pay protection money. The Mafia is still active in drug trafficking, gambling, smuggling of immigrants, extortion and frauds by vote buying in elections. In 2018 alone almost 100 people were arrested because of suspected Mafia activities.
These old men on the liar's bench probably would have had a lot of stories to tell
In his book “Cosa Nostra: A History of the Sicilian Mafia" John Dickie recounts the rise of the mafia in Sicily as consequence of a weak state after the italian unification in the 19th century and their rising power, readiness for violence and rules of conduct. The book tries to put an end to the fable of nobleness created by Hollywood actors and directors and brings the Mafia back to what it is: a pitiless criminal organization.
The previous post can be found here
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