have expressed outrage over the intended sale of his former house and are appealing to the Sicilian regional authority and the government in Rome to help save it as a national treasure Sciascia was a novelist and politician whose works were often set in his troubled He hailed from Racalmuto in the south-west of the island and lived there for much of his life Such is the literary wealth of that corner of Sicily that authorities are planning to create a writers' road birthplaces and museums devoted to local boys made good: alongside Sciascia Nobel prize-winning playwright Luigi Pirandello and Andrea Camilleri author of the popular Inspector Montalbano detective novels These grand plans may have hit a snag in the planned sale of the now dilapidated house in which the author of The Day of the Owl lived as a boy and then later in life – as a married man and burgeoning writer – for more than a decade "We cannot let the house be sold to a private citizen," wrote Enzo Sardo to step in to ensure the property is bought by a public body which could then transform the home into a museum on the appropriately named road Via Sciascia is reportedly where the author lived from 1948 to 1957 Sciascia died in Sicily 25 years ago this November Features Sicily is far removed from the gracious suavities of Tuscany With the souk-like atmosphere of its markets and obscure exuberance of life in the old Cosa Nostra towns the Mediterranean island is halfway to Muslim Tunisia The British Tuscanites who descend on the hills around Florence during the summer holidays as part of their ‘Toujours Tuscany’ dream – Tony Blair David Cameron – are thankfully nowhere in evidence In our post-Godfather world no history of Sicily would be complete without mention of the Mafia Already a subscriber? 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Log in Australia's best political analysis - straight to your inbox The Spectator Australia's Morning Double Shot delivers a hearty breakfast of news and views straight to your inbox Weekly round up of the best Flat White blogs - delivered straight to your inbox The last round of the “Time Attack Championship” was held at Autodromo Valle Dei Templi at Racalmuto in Sicily last weekend Fifty-two Maltese drivers were among the 300 from various countries who competed in this 11th championship The Maltese flag was present on every podium The Racalmuto Time Attack Championship was the “baby” of young 38-year-old circuit director Dr Michelangelo Romano the main driving force behind Sicily’s most successful motor racing circuit in the last decade Daniel Montebello raced at Racalmuto for several years now and won two classes in this year’s championship in his Nissan GTR and his Mitsubishi EVO in the Stock and Pro groups please register for free or log in to your account Cardinal Newman soccer players pose with the Hamilton/Racalmuto twin city sign during a recent Italian excursion Cardinal Newman soccer players and coaches toured the Stadio Renzo Barbera in Palermo during their recent cultural exchange in Italy or as they say in Italy: Un'esperienza indimenticabile or as they say in Italy: Un’esperienza indimenticabile That old adage was true for a group of 21 student soccer players and four educators from Cardinal Newman Catholic Secondary School They began a 10-day excursion flying from Toronto to Rome on March 28 While in Sicily the group was centered in Racalmuto (a twin city of Hamilton) played a series of games with local Sicilian soccer team Libertas Racalmuto The idea to bring a soccer team from Cardinal Newman to Racalmuto started in 2016 when Hamilton and Racalmuto celebrated the 30th anniversary of their city twinning Hamilton has a well-documented connection with the city with an estimated 25,000 Hamiltonians tracing their roots to the region vice-principal and soccer coach at Cardinal Newman had the opportunity to oversee the venture “As Festitalia chair I had a chance to travel to Racalmuto in 2016 with other local delegates from Hamilton,” he said “We made a commitment with their local government to renew the connection between our communities Part of that began with the Leonardo Sciascia statue project in 2017.” Leonardo Sciascia was an influential writer playwright and novelist who was born in Racalmuto An identical statue of him that exists in Racalmuto was erected last year outside of Liuna Station in Hamilton Cardinal Newman has a proud history when it comes to high-school soccer in Ontario The school has won five OFSAA provincial championships the most recent coming from the senior girls soccer team in 2016 who was one of the teachers to accompany the group explained how the trip exceeded all expectations it was an amazing chance for the students and staff to experience Holy Week in Rome As a Catholic school it provided a really unique opportunity for our students to deepen their faith,” Moretuzzo said I was pretty impressed with the technical skill of the Sicilian side Our players matched up against them well.” Coaches and players from both sides shared meals and had a chance to bond together in between games The Newman players even received local jerseys with their names and numbers on the back The group was able to tour the traditional sites in Rome including the Vatican and Colosseum Highlights of the trip included visits to Sicilian cities Agrigento and Siracusa where the students saw the famed Teatro Massimo opera house one of the day trips was a visit to a salt mine in Racalmuto Grade 10 Newman student Luca Bertolo called it a surreal experience “Being five kilometres below sea level and knowing that there was only one way in and out of the mine definitely caught my attention,” said Bertolo “It was amazing to see this massive facility in such a small town.” The group capped off the trip in a fitting way taking in a professional soccer game between two Serie B sides (Italy’s second tier soccer division) US Citta di Palermo and Pescara at the Stadio Renzo Barbera The President of Palermo soccer Giovani Giammarva even joined the Cardinal Newman team for dinner the night of the match It was an important acknowledgement of not just Cardinal Newman Catholic Secondary School Your browser is out of date and potentially vulnerable to security risks.We recommend switching to one of the following browsers: Account processing issue - the email address may already exist Invalid password or account does not exist Submitting this form below will send a message to your email with a link to change your password An email message containing instructions on how to reset your password has been sent to the email address listed on your account The City of Hamilton will officially welcome the mayor of its “Twin Sister City,” Racalmuto Mayor Vincenzo Maniglia is visiting ahead of Festitalia’s Lights of Taormina event at Liuna Station on Friday evening The Town of Racalmuto has a special and long-standing relationship with Hamilton spanning 37 years of exchange and city-to-city friendship The Racalmuto descendant population in Hamilton is over 25,000 strong.  A portion of Murray St West is known as Corso Racalmuto in honour of the Racalmutesi who lived in the area Racalmuto is a comune in the province of Agrigento in Sicily Mayor Fred Eisenberger invites community members to join Sindaco Vincenzo Maniglia for a reception and photography exhibit in front of Council Chambers his heart” is a tribute to the writer Leonardo Sciascia and is an initiative of the Racalmuto Foundation A post shared by Festitalia (@festitalia1975) Festitalia is a three-month celebration of Italian culture in Hamilton an Italian immigrant working at Allan Candy the manager of Hamilton’s Eaton’s Store “I was given your name by the Vice Consul of Italy “My name is Roy Walker from Eaton’s I have just returned from a business trip to Italy I want to meet with you to see if we can collaborate with the Italian community to promote Italian culture.” A list of remaining events can be found online at festitalia.ca/events. Subscribe to INsauga – Ontario Headline News’ daily email newsletter for a chance to win a $100 gift card to Toronto Eaton Centre OR Sherway Gardens The last round of the “Time Attack Championship” was held at Autodromo Valle Dei Templi at Racalmuto in Sicily last weekend The Racalmuto Time Attack Championship was the “baby” of young the main driving force behind Sicily’s most successful motor racing circuit in the last decade Daniel Montebello raced at Racalmuto for several years now and won two classes in this year’s championship in his Nissan GTR and his Mitsubishi EVO in the Stock and Pro groups he scored 400 title points out of a possible 700 driving his highly-modified Mitsubishi EVO race-prepared entirely by his brother Miguel Second was Simon Camilleri in the Pro 4 wheel drive category driving Aldo Laferla’s Mitsubishi EVO in the “Open” group for highly modified four-wheel-drive cars a class dominated entirely by Maltese competitors and Ronnie Mercieca took the bronze driving his Subaru Impreza All three Maltese racers finished the seven-round championship on equal points Spiteri made the quickest lap of the class The fourth Maltese winner was veteran Joe Anastasi who topped the Open 1600 class with 490 championship points with 30 competitors 2021 is the fifth year in succession in which “John Bull” known within the local motorsport fraternity Nikolai Degiorgio beat another nine competitors in the “Stock Road Cars” to place an excellent third in his Alfa Romeo Stelvio Lawrence Grixti finished the championship in a superb second place in his impressively quick Mazda RX7 Grixti is expected back next year with an even bigger and better RX7 next season Driving their Honda Civic cars in various states of tune two newcomers Darren Formosa and Luke Schembri Young Formosa placed an excellent third in the 2 litre Pro category among ten competitors whilst Schembri placed third in the Open 2-litre class from 13 competitors At the end of last Sunday’s awards presentation ceremony Dr Romano presented three special awards to the three oldest regular drivers in the championship A lovely gesture and one of the reasons the Autodromo Valle Dei Templi is held in such high esteem by so many motorsport enthusiasts Asian Football Confederation (AFC) president Sheikh Salman bin Ibrahim Al Khalifa The head of South American football’s governing body CONMEBOL called on FIFA to expand.. 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The 2013 season of motor racing at the Racalmuto circuit has again finished on a high with five Motorsport Team Malta drivers winning their respective classes in two championships held at the Sicilian circuit Johann Spiteri had an excellent campaign in which he won five of the six rounds in the Campionato Siciliano di Velocita in Pista promoted by Sikelia Corse and run under the auspices of CSAI Spiteri drove his DDM-sponsored Jedi Suzuki faultlessly throughout also establishing personal best lap and race times in the process His only retirement was caused by a differential failure while leading the race in last month’s round five In the seven-round Time Attack championship Maltese drivers enjoyed equally strong success with four class wins and front-running performances throughout the season Nicky Xerxen had little opposition this year in his efforts to lower the outright touring car record at Racalmuto The record had stood at 69 seconds but two Maltese drivers bettered that – Xerxen driving his Concorde Racing Mitsubishi EVO and Mark Galea with his ever-improving Subaru Impreza The record now stands at an incredible 64.9 seconds Josef Calleja had to deal with lots of competition in the Pro four-wheel drive championship from Italian and Maltese competitors yet he still managed to win the class for the second year in succession The last round in early December was quite dramatic to say the least Calleja needed a win to beat Sicilian Ninuzzo Romano in the standings a clutch problem appeared on the Sunday morning which would have resigned most people to immediate retirement changing as few gears as possible on his GSI Subaru and succeeded in winning the race.. Steve Calleja’s performances in his Twistees Mazda RX7 improved with every round mechanic Frank Spiteri constantly updating the car in every area Calleja had a comfortable lead in the Open Class for two-wheel drive cars before claiming the title Roderick Borg just got on with the job despite plenty of competition in the Stock 4 wheel drive category the Subaru Impresa driver was a pleasure to have with us and like the rest of them he is very much looking forward to 2014 with more competition from both local and foreign drivers and cars At the end-of-season presentation of awards circuit director Michelangelo Romano singled out the Malta team for sportsmanship presenting the team with a commemorative plaque With more improvements to the rules in both championships Our thanks go to Virtu Ferries who have supported Motorsport Team Malta throughout the championship The Autodromo Valle dei Templi at Racalmuto is increasingly becoming a happy hunting ground for Maltese motorsport enthusiasts The first two rounds of the Time Attack championship have alre-ady been held there this year producing some spectacular results for drivers from Motorsport Team Malta Nicky Xerxen and Josef Calleja finished first and second overall on both occasions Last weekend was no less successful when three drivers competed in the first round of the 2013 Campionato di Velocita which means another step up in quality in all aspects For Formula Jedi Suzuki driver Johann Spiteri this was no new experience having competed at Racalmuto regularly in recent years He drove his car to pole position on Saturday and then went on to win his class comfortably with a faultless drive in Sunday’s 12-lap race The same could not be said of newcomer Adrian Muscat Azzo-pardi While his knowledge of the circuit is undisputed last weekend he was still “finding his feet” in his new Radical SR4 Suzuki before Muscat Azzopardi was producing some very respectable lap times On Sunday morning Muscat Azzopardi entered the slalom event to gather even more experience and finished third overall in the classification boosting his optimism for the afternoon’s main race improving his lap time and also bagging some very valuable championship points Joshua Anastasi drove his JBR-4 Kawasaki in Racalmuto The John Bull Racing team had a number of new items to try on the car and these provided the desired results An electrical glitch during Saturday’s qualifying session only allowed Anastasi to produce two flying laps but this was enough to place him fourth on the grid A couple of laps during the Sunday morning warm-up showed the car’s real potential when Anastasi lapped a whole second quicker than he has ever done before at Racalmuto and gave him just the confidence lift he needed then inherited second when the race leader retired with gearbox problems the car’s engine cover came undone and started flapping badly at which point Anastasi had no choice but to retire Johann Spiteri was the only Maltese driver present at the first round of the Campionato Siciliano di Velocità in Pista held recently at the Autodromo Valle dei Templi but he still left his mark with a fine win The 2012 championship got off to a fine start with a good entry of interesting machinery in all classes Spiteri’s Jedi Suzuki was registered in the 1000cc Formula a race which attracted seven other competitors Spiteri and his team soon settled into a good race pace during Saturday morning’s free practice He then put the Jedi Suzuki on pole during the afternoon qualifying for Sunday’s race The 12-lap race was a repeat performance with Spiteri taking an immediate lead from pole position and retaining it throughout to take his first win of the season and head the points table Racalmuto this year has also started a six-round Time Attack series This differs from the racing championship in that all competitors are timed individually throughout Sunday and they may compete with either racing cars or normal road cars Two Time Attack events have already been held this year and in both cases Maltese drivers excelled was not only the quickest of the Maltese drivers on both occasions but he was fastest overall in the February event and second fastest overall from over 40 competitors in last month’s second event The third Racalmuto Time Attack takes place on April 28 and 29 One may obtain more details on the event through local Racalmuto representative Joe Anastasi Six Maltese drivers will be travelling to Sicily on the Grimaldi ferry tomorrow to participate in the last round of the Campionato Siciliano della Velocità in Circuito at the Racalmuto circuit near Agrigento Grimaldi Team Malta will field six cars for this last of four championship rounds and all driven by young Maltese drivers under team manager Joe Anastasi They will all be looking for another good placing for the team and for Malta John Zammit will be returning with his black Lotus Elise hoping for another positive result which will put him in the runner-up spot in Group S A similar situation faces F2 competitor Johann Spiteri in the popular 1000cc class could win his class with another good performance no mean feat considering that he will only have participated in two of the four championship rounds Matthew Zammit is also entered in the F2 class with his Van Diemen Suzuki K5 This will be his first appearance in Sicily this year In the bigger-engined F4 class for single-seaters Joshua Anastasi will be out to repeat his hitherto unbeatable qualifying form then cap that with another class win with his ever-improving JBR-4 Kawasaki Alan Curmi will also be looking to consolidate his position in the championship with his winning JBR-3 Kawasaki This class has been dominated by Grimaldi Team Malta drivers throughout the F7 class for two-litre single-seaters in Racalmuto sees the return of Jamie Sammut with his red Reynard Cosworth "It's been a fabulous year again for the Grimaldi team with wins galore wherever we go," said Joe Anastasi said "Sunday at Racalmuto will be the team's 10th appearance in two seasons of racing We have a really decent group of very quick young lads who I am very optimistic will put Malta on the top step again." A contingent of 28 Maltese racing drivers will be travelling to Sicily to take part in another round of the Time Attack Championship at Racalmuto in the limits of Agricento The Maltese contingent is formed by Nicky Xerxen currently track record holder for the touring car class with his Mitsubishi EVO current champion for the Pro 4WD class with his Mitsubishi EVO there will also be other drivers racing formulas and sports cars such as James Dunford Roderick Vella and Dominic Zammit on Radical PR6 Suzuki Kenneth Micallef on a Honda Dallara and Emanuel Bajada on Formula Kawasaki The Racalmuto circuit is 2,530 meters long and is fast getting more popular with Maltese racing drivers In fact another record of Maltese drivers will return to Racalmuto between June 7 and 10 for the Historic Car Festival an event organised purposely for classic cars The sixth and final round of the Sicilian Time Attack championship was held at the Autodromo Valle dei Templi The event produced yet another Maltese champion Pro class Subaru driver Roderick Borg joined Racing class champion Josef Calleja to win two of the most keenly-contested classes in this ever-growing championship While Calleja took the honours with one round still to go the scoreboard showed both Borg and Maltese Lotus racer the organisers declared Borg the winner of the Pro class It was great to see both drivers congratulate each other on the podium in an exemplary show of sportsmanship when the final results were announced Saturday practice was dry and sunny and the eight Maltese drivers made the best of their track time to set cars up for Sunday’s racing In the case of two first-timers at Racalmuto Stephen Ellul (Subaru) and Jacques Mizzi (Renault) it was more a question of putting in as many laps as possible to get used to the track Sunday was overcast but this did not deter the public from flocking to Racalmuto for the final event of the year It was clear that the weather was not going to get any better so most drivers made sure they clocked respectable times in their first heats Tyre temperatures were already a problem with the cold track but when the rain came after the lunch break it was clearly going to be more difficult to clock any fast times It was one of those unfortunate situations where the track was not wet enough to warrant “wet” tyres but not dry enough to get the best out of “slicks” He was followed by Racing class winner Calleja (Subaru) and third place overall went to the first of the Italians Steve Calleja had another trouble-free weekend and Muscat Azzopardi posted another class win in the Pro class Mizzi improved as well and the same can be said of Ellul who was thrilled with the entire weekend and was already asking for next year’s dates Ronald Mercieca had to abandon earlier than expected with gearbox maladies in his Hyundai Coupe This first Time Attack Champion-ship may have had its pitfalls but at the end of the day all went home happy at a job well done For next season the organisers have already sat down with various team personnel to discuss improvements which will include a revision of class rules to bring them further in line with the international Time Attack scene and I am sure that next year’s Time Attack Championship at the Racalmuto circuit will be even bigger and better than the one which came to an end last weekend that saw two new Maltese drivers crowned champions While Monty Bugeja and Chris Polidano were consolidating their positions at the top of the FIA European Top Methanol Drag Racing championship in Santa Pod last weekend Motorsport Team Malta driver Johann Spiteri was dominating proceedings at the Autodromo Valle dei Templi during the fourth round of the Campionato Siciliano di Velocita Spiteri was the only Maltese driver in Racalmuto but he certainly left his mark steering his Jedi Suzuki superbly to capture pole position then dominating the 12-lap race from start to finish This was the first occasion in which I was not busy looking after half-a-dozen or more competitors so I was able to spend more time admiring Spiteri and his father Charles go about their racing I have known Spiteri senior since I myself started racing in 1964 and have always known him to be a meticulous craftsman and perfectionist Son Johann has inherited these excellent traits A perfect example was qualifying on Saturday bedding in tyres and getting everything up to the correct temperatures Again he would do a couple of slow laps to cool the system down This went on for the whole 20-minute session and in the end he finished up half-a-second ahead of the next man and considerably faster than the rest of the field of Formula cars which included quite a few bigger and more powerful vehicles and the points system which requires competitors to drop their lowest scores Spiteri now leads the class jointly with Filippo Costa The latter had a win in Spiteri’s absence but Spiteri had to miss round two of the championship due to business commitments was second in round 3 and won again last weekend Round five of the championship takes place on the third weekend in October and for this race a healthy Maltese entry will be present in a number of classes Competing in the third round of the Campionato Nazionale Siciliano Velocita in Circuito held at the Autodromo Valle dei Templi in Racalmuto drivers from Grimaldi Team Malta extended their successful streak Five cars and their Maltese drivers braved the heat wave and crossed over to Sicily last weekend for another bout of motor racing at Sicily's premier circuit a number of regulars chose to spend the weekend at the beach while on track and sometimes tempers suffered from the immense heat Steve Zammit Cutajar kept his concentration The young driver led his Grimaldi Tatuus Hyabusa to the front row during Saturday's qualifying and then drove a superbly calculated race the next day to finish second in group and Zammit Cutajar now leads the class championship and is third overall He made an explosive start in Sunday's race after qualifying his JBR-3 Kawasaki on row two but got a bit over exuberant into the first corner and slid helplessly into race winner Michele Quattrocchi's pole-sitting Radical which luckily recovered well to win the race The third Maltese competitor in the 10-lap Formula race was newcomer Christian Schranz in his fabulous new Reynard VW Judd Schranz was racing for the first time with his new car and intelligently treated the whole weekend as a learning curve Luck does not seem to be on Zach Zammit's side at Racalmuto He broke the differential on his Ralt Honda in practice last month and followed that up with a broken engine in his Westfield Megabusa last weekend his Van Diemen Suzuki refusing to work on all four cylinders all weekend The endeavours of the many Maltese motorsport enthusiasts who cross the channel to practise their sport at a higher level are attracting a lot of publicity for our country Adorned with ‘Visitate Malta’ (Visit Malta) stickers David Anastasi’s Mini Doda captured even more attention than the race winner Leogrande himself recently Anastasi was fulfilling a lifelong dream by racing in the Coppa Monte Erice one of only two FIA championship hillclimbs held annually in Sicily On the same weekend at Racalmuto’s Autodromo Valle dei Templi some 20 Maltese drivers challenged their Italian peers in a direct clash on the 2.6 kilometre track during the third round of this year’s Time Attack championship driving his impeccably-prepared GFI Subaru Impresa,was again the fastest of the popular Maltese contingent but other drivers either bettered their times or won their respective classes they thoroughly enjoyed their two-day venture at the Racalmuto circuit Adrian Muscat Azzopardi gave his Lotus Elise a perfect baptism Neil Falzon had a busy weekend setting up his Subaru Impresa finishing third in the competitive Racing class Nikolai Degiorgio (Lancia Delta Integrale) and Steve Calleja (Mazda RX7) also made the most of the hours of tracktime available to improve their cars Roderick Borg went quietly about his business and improved his lap times steadily to place second in the Pro class with his Subaru Impresa Edward Calleja was glad to be back at Racalmuto with his Lotus Elise He improved on his previous best lap time too More colour was added to the Racalmuto weekend by the Toyota Supra of George Zarb and the Honda S2000s of Darren Brownrigg and Nicky Xerxen with added variety coming from the Porsches of Keith Cardona and Jackson Agius the Mitsubishi EVOs of Joe Montebello and Johann Meli the BMWs of Clint Busuttil and Alan Zerafa and the interesting Alfa Romeo-powered Skoda of Ivan Vella Racalmuto will again be ringing to the sounds of Maltese racing cars Adam Bugeja has just finished a complete rebuild of his potent little OMS Kawasaki He will be looking to challenge for class honours in the 1300 Formula class Sunday’s event will be the second in this year’s popular Campionato Siciliano di Velocita Virtu Ferries have been most helpful towards the Maltese motorsport fraternity please register for free or log in to your account.