due to be released in April by Bordighera Press takes us to a postwar Sicilian world not often written about or discussed: the sulfur mines where young boys called carusi worked in abysmally dangerous conditions victims of a type of indentured servitude known as a soccorso morto Cerrone effortlessly threads research with narrative so that we nearly forget that the writer is a contemporary American And the novella does more than locate characters in a dramatic setting; it tells a suspenseful tale of collapsing mines and efforts to escape them I sat down with Cerrone to ask her questions about her work David Winner (RAIL): How did you first learn about the sulfur mines and the carusi who worked in them Olivia Kate Cerrone: I first heard about the carusi in 2010 through a Sicilian language class organized by Domenic Giampino of the Sicilian Cultural Institute of America in New York City I began studying the language to understand the culture on a deeper level Though my family is originally descended from Sicily I had very limited access to my heritage growing up outside of pasta dishes or movies like The Godfather more complex representations of Sicilian people and their social history connected me with greater dimensions of truth and stories that didn’t rely on vapid stereotypes or sentimental notions of the past Learning about the carusi compelled me to conduct a deeper investigation one that eventually led me to visit Sicily in 2013 where I visited the grounds of the now defunct Floristella-Grottacalda sulfur mines near the town of Valguarnera Caropepe and interviewed surviving miners about their labor experiences Rail: What made you decide to write fiction about them Cerrone: I was shocked over how little was written about the carusi Washington had produced a haunting sociological study in 1913 called The Man Farthest Down: A Record of Observation and Study in Europe which included an essay depicting his travels to Sicily to document the presence of child labor abuse in the sulfur mines like Luigi Pirandello and Giovanni Verga had published some short stories involving the carusi and there was an Italian film produced called Acla’s Descent into Floristella A handful of Italian-American writers have also written about related mining experiences of their grandparents there’s been so very little portrayed in books or the media about it especially since the abusive practice of soccorso morto The sulfur-mining industry itself lasted in Sicily until the 1980s Fiction serves as such a powerful means of connecting readers to a more nuanced I’m interested in producing fiction with a social consciousness stories that connect people to themes of social justice along with the fallout of trauma through communities and its inheritance across generations I strived to create a compelling story that would breathe life into the carusi while examining the ways in which something as tragic as child labor abuse could be normalized in a society Storytelling can deepen our sense of compassion and understanding of others especially in the face of contemporary fears and alienating socio-political issues Stories offer us a greater intimacy with others in cutting across barriers of time politics—even death—to bring us closer together as a human family I hope to offer through my work a greater understanding of how people are transformed by suffering Rail: Can you tell us a little about how you were able to embed your research so smoothly Cerrone: In 2014 I had the incredible privilege of attending the Tin House Summer Writer’s Workshop and studying with Anthony Doerr who wrote the Pulitzer-Prizing winning novel All the Light We Cannot See In addition to being a brilliant master craftsman One bit of wisdom he shared was that “the path to the universal runs through the individual.” It’s those specific felt-life details particular to a character’s sense of being alive and navigating through his or her circumstances that connect readers to understanding history in a larger way I kept that insight in mind as I sifted through the research I gathered I spent years immersing myself in information about the carusi and the devastation and poverty of Sicily in the immediate aftermath of World War II Yet my job as a fiction writer wasn’t to document every single detail of a miner’s job or recount the progression of Italian labor laws but instead to create an engaging story where those details could be woven throughout adding depth and complexity to the reader’s experience of the mines through language that research was also essential in informing me how to shape the overall narrative and its characters how can this or that detail serve the immediate story at hand How could it be translated into those vivid details that bring the carusi and the grit of their existence alive Rail: The characters speak in Sicilian dialect How did you learn how to use it so evocatively Cerrone: In addition to studying Sicilian through a language class I also immersed myself in the folk music of the island and read everything I could that was published or documented about the carusi I kept a very detailed journal while traveling through the region of Enna and conducted oral histories with former miners and soaking up their expressions and mannerisms All of the miners I spoke with expressed great pride in their work despite the difficult and tragic presence of child labor abuse The people of Valguarnera Caropepe in particular were extremely friendly and generous All of these various streams of information fed into my imagination and my ability to weave together certain words and expressions into creating the larger narrative of The Hunger Saint Rail: The Sicily of the ’40s that you portray is a dark and corrupt place How do you think that has changed over the years Sicily has become more stabilized and is safer in some regards but Southern Italy and Sicily still struggle a great deal economically and socially in terms of corruption and present job opportunities I have been very fortunate to visit Sicily several times in recent years where I volunteered at a refugee center in Siracusa for women many of whom were from Somalia and Eritrea At that time the unemployment rate among Sicilians living in that city was around fifty-seven percent It remains extremely difficult to obtain steady employment without having special connections I met many people who were very frustrated by the lack of opportunities despite the fact that they’d earned graduate or law degrees There is still a great amount of low societal trust within Sicilian communities one driven by an undercurrent of desperation and hardship Sicilians rely a great deal on their families and personal connections to survive and navigate society things have not changed so much from then to now Rail: Can you draw any parallels between the experience of the carusi and the refugee crisis in Sicily now the people taking the dangerous trip by sea to Lampedusa Cerrone: Obtaining a work visa or permanent residence in Italy is very complicated and can take years to accomplish I met various refugees and economic migrants some who had managed to find jobs working as street vendors or off the books at restaurants and cafes There was very little protection for them against exploitation and abuse Many worked twelve-hour shifts without any breaks The Guardian just published an article about the horrific and violent working conditions of Romanian women “employed” with little or no pay on farms throughout Sicily There is little enforcement of labor laws to protect against exploitation many of whom were left physically deformed through laboring in the mines or being raped and beaten by the older miners they worked alongside Extreme poverty forced them to endure such brutality so they could earn a small income to support their families While there are some efforts being made in Sicily to prevent further labor abuse there is still a long road ahead to solve these problems which questions what it means to be an American in a time fraught with political and social tensions over immigration policies The novel also involves themes of migration trauma Home This website is using a security service to protect itself from online attacks The action you just performed triggered the security solution There are several actions that could trigger this block including submitting a certain word or phrase You can email the site owner to let them know you were blocked Please include what you were doing when this page came up and the Cloudflare Ray ID found at the bottom of this page The investigative activity made it possible to acquire a serious circumstantial framework regarding the reorganization of Cosa Nostra assisted in the operational phase by the Carabinieri of the provincial command of Enna issued by the Judge for preliminary investigations at the Court of Caltanissetta the investigating judge ordered the precautionary measure of detention in prison as they were seriously suspected of the crimes of mafia-style criminal association and extortion aggravated by the mafia method the judge for preliminary investigations also ordered the precautionary measure of custody under house arrest against: Marzipan A 51 years old investigated for the crime of money laundering investigated for the crime of assistance to associates The precautionary measures constitute the outcome of a complex investigation activity conducted for two years by the Carabinieri del ROS and coordinated by the DDA of Caltanissetta with particular reference to that area which is commonly known as " Dittaino Valley”; in fact the main production area of ​​the Enna area which as already established in various final sentences has always aroused the appetites of mafia crime The investigative activity has made it possible to acquire a serious circumstantial framework regarding the reorganization of Cosa Nostra would have proclaimed with satisfaction his status as a man of honor a role that placed him at the top of the mafia association operating in the aforementioned area The monitoring focused not only on Gurgone an extremely important element of Cosa Nostra Enna killed in 2003 due to conflicts that arose within the mafia organisation and respectively nephew and brother-in-law of the deceased Calcagno D The investigation has revealed serious clues regarding an alleged typically parasitic extortion pressure to the detriment of important production activities in the Dittaino Valley systematically harassed in order to mainly profit from sums of money a symptom of the continuing subjugation of some economic operators in that area would have implemented criminal strategies aimed at collecting the "protection money" with the indispensable complicity according to the serious evidence found by the investigating judge receiving sums of money on an annual basis from two entrepreneurs from the Dittaino Valley The alleged association headed by Gurgone S would have had the availability of weapons to be used if necessary to pursue the illicit purposes some of which had been held for several years because they would have already belonged to the deceased Calcagno D In the context of an alleged extortion episode seriously suspected of the crime of money laundering as he would have done his utmost to carry out operations capable of hindering the identification of the illicit origin of part of the money; he would have issued in favor of an entrepreneur who was a victim of extortion which never occurred and for an amount corresponding to the sum of money extorted the investigating judge of the Court of Caltanissetta recognized the circumstantial gravity of the investigative findings collected against Greco F. as a contiguous subject but not belonging to the mafia association as he allegedly provided assistance to Gurgone S there are serious indications to believe that Greco offered himself to act as an intermediary between Gurgone and the owner of a commercial business 3 of Valguarnera Caropepe; as well as against Catalano R. a person already definitively convicted in the past for mafia association for the crime of continuous usury to the detriment of the aforementioned merchant During the execution of the precautionary order the judicial police also carried out search activities both on the initiative and delegated by the Caltanissetta DDA just to show how much small municipalities are investing in it.Do you want to spend your retirement in the countryside or in the mountains Do you want to work in a setting that allows you to reflect and relax Then now is the time to take a look at the offers out there; many municipalities will roll out the red carpet for having you as their fellow citizen This is because very often among the requirements you need to take up residency you will certainly fall in love with many places there is no illusion that they will give you a cottage that is all up to code and already furnished Often they are old houses that the owners got from grandparents or relatives that need to be completely renovated but in these places the cost of living is lower and they will welcome you as if at a party as happened in Laurenzana: “An appointment that crowns the commitment strongly desired,” explains the municipal administration “to try to stem the worrying phenomenon of depopulation and to be able to urbanistically redevelop the town center.” The project aims to “refurbish” the existing area bringing it back to life with occupied apartments and then in prospects new stores and stores you won’t find the Colosseum or the Brera Art Gallery there but they are still that part of the territory that forms the backbone of our country which may be populated only in winter or summer but has year-round potential The price is symbolic as are the historic centers that made Italy before the great migrations to the cities now is the time to rediscover them for those who are going looking for a bit of tranquility and it is also the time to do something useful for those who perhaps inherited a block of flats from their grandfather but do not know what to do with it and would not sell it to anyone In the ranking of the regions with the most municipalities that have joined this formula of repopulating their towns (according to the locations reported on the site Case a 1 euro) we have Sicily with almost 30 locations from the mythical Canicattì to Serradifalco 400 inhabitants 80 kilometers from the capital Oristano also grants non-repayable contributions for the purchase and renovation of first homes to the extent of 50 percent of the expenditure up to 15 thousand euros within the town So much so that a house in Salemi (the first town to launch this initiative) was purchased by a British television program production company (Voltage TV) and the BBC also reported on it Some municipalities as a requirement have determined to sell only to young couples or large families but in the variety of offers there is everything have 50 houses for 1 euro in the historic center that have been left abandoned for years While a village just above the Cinque Terre (Pignone) in 2021 received 2,500 requests from all over the world and here is the list of municipalities where there is such a project: Albugnano (Piedmont) In Sardinia there are 5 localities: Bonnanaro The honour was awarded to Navarra by the Associazione Degli Emigrati Isolani nel Mondo Filippo Navarra received the Siciliani nel Mondo award “for having spread the values of Sicilian .. All of the 133 cardinals expected to take part in the secret conclave to elect a new Pope have arrived in Rome with the race to succeed Pope Francis seen as wide open AC Milan scored twice in two minutes to beat Genoa 2-1 in Serie A and keep alive their slim hopes of a place in next year’s Champions League from 46th in 2024 to 49th place in 2025 in the Press Freedom Index drawn up every year by Reporters Sans Frontières (Reporters Without Borders - RSF) Researcher and lecturer Flavia Marcello explores the fascist influence on the architecture of Rome the race for the fourth Champions League qualifying spot from Italy’s Serie A has become even tighter Napoli didn’t allow flares and delays to affect their performance as Antonio Conte’s side ground out a 1-0 win at Lecce to take firm control of Serie A in Italy Fiorentina have lost the first leg of their UEFA Conference League semifinal tie 2-1 away to Real Betis Inter Milan’s Serie A title defence is on the line with the busy champions chasing a fresher Napoli side who have the finishing line in sight Carlo Ancelotti has turned down the Brazil job and is mulling a mega offer to coach Saudi Arabia Spanish sports daily ‘Marca’ said Wednesday British director Ken Loach has blasted plans to tear down much of Milan’s iconic San Siro stadium to make room for a new home for Inter and AC Milan Talking about Sicily his voice begins to quake - how he wishes he could return to his loved ones for a hug Filippo Mongiovi in 2012 during a roof inspection in Melbourne's CBD Filippo Mongiovi is a partner in a structural/civil engineering firm and lives in Melbourne with his wife and two ..