ITALIAN JOURNEY – PROGRAMME 1

SICILY – BEING SICILIAN

Further to the North is town of Taormina, one of the island’s smartest towns.

It might look like a hidden gem, but in fact the town was at the heart of the ‘dolce vita’ lifestyle in the fifties, and was frequented by the international jet set of the period.

James has an appointment with Chico Scimone. Chico lives high up in the mountains – very high up in the mountains above the town.

On the way up, there’s a beautiful panoramic view of the two bays down below. Chico lives at the end of the road.

James: Hi! Hi there!

Chico Scimone: Hey, hi! So you’ve come here to see my little paradise?

James: Yes. It’s so beautiful here! I had no idea!

Chico Scimone: Well I spend all my time up here. It really is splendid.

After a brief tour of Chico’s Sicilian Eden, Chico reveals how, at the ripe old age of 89, he still manages to keep in shape.

Chico Scimone: Look, I do this every day, I take a grapefruit…

James: Ah! Fruit juice.

Chico was once a competitive runner, and he certainly hasn’t let his age get the best of him.

Chico Scimone: Shall we sit down?

James: Yes, yes. So, Chico, why have we stopped here?

Circo Scimone: Because I come here every day for my training. I’ve counted 800 steps altogether. I’m in training because every year I take part in a competition at the Empire State Building in New York. You have to climb 86 floors, that’s 1576 steps.

James: Unbelievable!

Chico Scimone: OK let’s go! Come on! Hurry up!

James: Chico, do you mind if we stop for a minute, just for a minute?

Chico Scimone: Why? We haven’t finished yet!

Because he’s lived abroad, Chico is a good judge of the Sicilian character.

James: What’s it like being Sicilian?

Chico Scimone: Well, Sicilians are, let’s say they’re an honest people, a good law-abiding people, but also very intelligent. I like being here with them, I like it a lot, yes. But why am I saying ‘them’? I’m Sicilian too!

James: And what do you like best about living in Sicily? Is it the weather?

Chico Scimone: Yes, I like it here, it’s as if I’ve been given a new lease of life: I cultivate the land, I do sports, I play the piano- all those things are important to me. I do a bit of everything. It’s important to keep very busy. It’s very, very important. 

Chico ends his training every day with a good swim in the ionic sea. Today, after a bit of arm-twisting, he has found himself a bathing companion.

Chico Scimone: Well then, come on! Let’s go! Come on!

James: This man is mad!

Chico, it seems, has another string to his bow.

James: Well done! Beautiful, beautiful! What was it?

Chico Scimone: That was a Sicilian folksong, it’s very popular here.

James: And where did you learn to play so well?

Chico Scimone: Well when I was young I went to America to study music at the New England Conservatory in Boston. After that I played with orchestras, and I even played at sea, on luxury cruise boats. I’ve always loved music.

James: And how did you feel when you came back here?

Chico Scimone: Oh I was very happy to come back here, mainly because I still had family in Sicily. I also wanted to come back here, to San Domenico, because this is where I played for the first time in 1928. So you see, it’s very satisfying to be back here after 72 years.

James: Now I’d like to make a request please. Can you sing something that tells us a little about the kind of person you are?

Chico Scimone: Ah! Well I have just the thing! Sinatra did a song called ‘My Way’. I’d like to interpret that song for you in my way!