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Henry Festing Jones
Castellinaria, and Other Sicilian Diversions
Published by Good Press, 2019
EAN 4064066210762
Table of Contents
CHAPTER III MARIONETTISTS AT HOME
CHAPTER VI THE ESCAPE FROM PARIS
CHAPTER VII THE BUFFO’S HOLIDAY
CHAPTER XIII OMERTÀ AND THE MAFIA
CHAPTER XXII O FOUNTAIN ARETHUSE
PREFACE
It is probable that every book contains, besides misprints, some statements which the author would be glad to modify if he could. In Chapter V of Diversions in Sicily it is stated that the seating arrangements of the marionette theatre in Catania would be condemned by the County Council, which I believe to be correct, but, on visiting the theatre since, I find I was wrong in saying that there are no passages; I did not see them on my first visit because the audience hid them.
Again, in Chapter XVI it is stated that Giovanni Grasso enters in the third act of La Morte Civile, whereas he enters in the second act. I have since seen the play several times, and, though it is tedious, it is not so much so as to justify a spectator in thinking any of its acts long enough for two.
In Chapter IV I say that the Government makes an annual profit of £3,000,000 sterling out of the lottery, but I do not say whether this profit is gross or net. There is a paragraph in the Morning Post, 12 September, 1911, which states clearly that never since the union of Italy has the State lottery been so productive as in the present year of Jubilee; the gross yield has been £3,715,088, and the net gain, after deducting commissions and prizes, £1,489,180.
In Chapter XV it is stated that the words of the play in Signor Greco’s marionette theatre in Palermo are always improvised except in the case of Samson. This is incorrect. The words of the long play about the paladins are improvised, but they have in the theatre the MSS. of several religious plays by the author of Samson, who was a Palermitan, Filippo Orioles. All who are interested in the legends, folklore, popular entertainments, superstitions, and traditions of the