Topic Index
The font size for a topic word is sized by the number of articles that reference that topic. The more articles the bigger the font.
Click on a word to search for posts with that topic. This page will reload with the search results.
La Rosalia – A Happy Marriage of Watermelon, Aperol and Basil
Call it a cooler. Call it refreshing. And call our weather hot, hot, hot. For the last few days I have been looking for cool, but not too sweet drinks, and I came up with this one. In our house watermelon defines summertime, and since it’s still watermelon season, I thought I would use it in a beverage. Read the remainder of this entry »
Il Festino di Santa Rosalia and The Black Plague
Yersinia pestis. The Plague, the Black Death, the Work of the Devil and God’s Retribution, the people of Palermo called it all that and more in 1624 when they were struck by a microbe whose name man did not yet know. As they prayed, built fires and collected the dead, they waited for the only help they knew, Salvation from Above. Salvation came in the form of a citizen’s fever dream, and Santa Rosalia was her name. Though dead for 400 years, “la Santuzza” appeared to one Sig. Bonello and directed him to retrieve her bones and carry them in a Grand Procession to all corners of the city. This he did, and the Plague abated. The Palermitani were saved, and a patron saint was born to Palermo. Read the remainder of this entry »