Looking at a map, an island gives us the illusion of being a small world unto itself. With its borders clearly delineated, it seems to contain a society impervious to the passage of time and seasons, more immediate to decipher because it is sheltered from the changing complexity of the world. But this is a mystification, all the more so if - like Sicily - it lives under the shelter of one of the most overpowering and unbreakable imaginaries that such a small place has ever managed to create. Behind the island “constructed and reconstructed by books, films, paintings, and black and white photography” today there is a new one, hidden, but no less real. The urban and metropolitan one, the one of landings, the one of wine and tropical fruit. A Sicily sometimes as invisible as the poisons that Europe's second largest petrochemical hub dumps into the sea and into the air. Like the migrants arriving in Lampedusa, kept at a distance from the trajectories of tourists and locals. Like the population outflows that give it the sad record among Italian regions for emigration. A place where extremes coexist, like the downtown neighborhoods in Palermo, where the capital of culture vibrates and the invisible city of crack thrives. Sicily where climate change is transforming the agricultural landscape increasingly at risk of flooding and desertification, and someone is taking advantage of this to replace vines with coffee and avocados. Far from trying to explain it, the pages that follow collect postcards from this new Sicily.They are blurry images, because the subject is in great motion.Because Sicily also moves and, yes, changes.
Davide Enia is a playwright, actor, theatre director and novelist.
His shows are Italia-Brasile 3 a 2 (2002), Scanna (2003), maggio ’43 (2004), I capitoli dell’infanzia (2007), L’abisso (2018). Davide Enia has been awarded the Tondelli Prize at the Riccione Prize (2003), Special Ubu Prize (2003), Hystrio Prize (2005), E.T.I. Prize (2005), Vittorio Mezzogiorno Prize (2006), Gassman Prize (2006). In 2017 he was stage director of Mozart’s opera L’oca del Cairo, at the Teatro Massimo in Palermo.
Davide Enia wrote and performed the radio drama Rembò (2006) for RaiRadio2.
In 2012 he published his first novel, Così in Terra (Baldini & Castoldi Dalai), translated and published worldwide, and awarded in France in 2016 the Prix du Premier Roman Étranger and the Prix Brignoles as best foreign novel of the year. Così in terra is republished by Sellerio in 2023.
His second novel Appunti per un naufragio (Sellerio, 2017) has been published in France, USA, Germany, Spain and awarded the Mondello International Literary Prize (2018).
The novel inspired the show L’Abisso (2018), Hystrio Twister prize for best show of the year, Le Maschere del Teatro prize for Best Monologue Interpreter, Ubu prize for New Italian Text or Dramaturgical Writing.
In 2023 he writes and directs Eleusi with a production by the Piccolo Teatro di Milano - Teatro d'Europa.
Gaetano Savatteri was born in Milan in 1964 and lives in Rome.
He is a journalist and writer.
He began his journalistic career at Giornale di Sicilia, then moved to Rome where he collaborates with Tg3 and Tg5.
His books include La congiura dei loquaci (Sellerio, 2000), La ferita di Vishinskij (Sellerio, 2003), I Siciliani (Laterza, 2005), Gli uomini che non si voltano (Sellerio, 2006), La volata di Calò (Sellerio, 2008), Uno per tutti (Sellerio, 2008), I Ragazzi di Regalpetra (Rizzoli, 2009), Strani Nostrani. Storie di Siciliani fuori dal comune (Novantacento, 2010), La fabbrica delle stelle (Sellerio, 2016), Non c'è più la Sicilia di una volta (Laterza, 2017), La congiura dei loquaci (Sellerio, 2017), Il delitto di Kolymbetra (Sellerio, 2018), Il lusso della giovinezza (Sellerio, 2020), Quattro indagini a Màkari (Sellerio, 2021) and I colpevoli sono matti (Sellerio, 2022). In 2022 he edited, also for Sellerio, the volume L'isola nuova. Trent’anni di scritture in Sicilia. He has also published several short stories in anthologies published by Sellerio.
He has published essays and surveys on Cosa Nostra.
In November 2015, the novel of the same name Uno per tutti was made into a film directed by Mimmo Calopresti.
In 2021, the TV series Màkari starring Claudio Gioè, based on the novels and short stories featuring journalist and investigator Saverio Lamanna, premiered on Rai 1 in prime time. The series has met with great critical and audience success and reached its third season in 2024.